Edmonton Oilers Need to Do a Better Job of Supporting McDavid

Miracles do happen. On Nov. 26, the Edmonton Oilers came all the way back from three goals down in the third period against the New York Rangers to beat the Broadway Blue Shirts 4-3. It could be a season-defining win for them as Evan Bouchard and Dylan Holloway broke out in a big way to help lead their team to victory.

Having young players such as Bouchard, Holloway, Warren Foegle and Ryan McLeod take over a game rather than depending on Connor McDavid could be a good sign for the Oilers moving forward this season. However, that remains to be seen. When you compare McDavid, who is obviously this generation’s best player, to other superstars and their teams, it seems that the Oilers aren’t quite where they need to be yet.

Looking Back at Generational Players and Teams

When you look at generational superstars going back to Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby, each of them had a team built around them that struck fear into the opposition. Unfortunately, not many teams fear McDavid and the Oilers. Players in today’s NHL might fear getting beaten in open ice by McDavid, or having Leon Draisaitl make them look foolish with one of his patented backhand passes. But it’s not that they fear the team overall.

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Back in the day, when the Boston Bruins led by Orr came to town, teams genuinely were scared to play against them. Orr had a great team around him comprising Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Wayne Cashman, John Bucyk, and Gerry Cheevers. When you look at Lafleur and the great Montreal Canadiens, they had Steve Shutt, Pete Mahovlich, Bob Gainey, and the big three on defence that included Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, and Guy Lapointe. If you beat any of the big three you had to face Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden who was steady as a rock in the Habs net. Even Gretzky had Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, and the acrobatic Grant Fuhr in goal – who always came up big when needed.

When you look at these great players and their teams, the majority of them were always at the top of the standings in the regular season. From the Bruins being in first place in the early 70s, the Habs only losing eight games in the entire 1976-77 season to the great Oilers teams of the 80s and Penguins teams of the 90s and early 2000s, they were all feared in the regular season. The only exception could…