I was listening to the always informative podcast Lowdown with Lowetide, and in the Sept. 13 interview with former Hockey Night in Canada Producer, Steve Lansky, they both spoke at length about how the start of the 2024-25 NHL season is going to be so intriguing to watch. Try as you might to forget the start to the previous season, including the 8-1 opening night beatdown at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, but you have to know the Edmonton Oilers can ill afford to come out of the gate like that again if they want to have any chance of making noise in 2024-25.
Out With the Old, In With the New
Two key members of the Oilers that contributed to the slow start in 2023-24 are gone – goaltender Jack Campbell and Head Coach Jay Woodcroft. Campbell was bought out in the offseason and found a new home with the Detroit Red Wings. Woodcroft, who I think is still a good coach, was given his walking papers on Nov. 9, 2023, after he couldn’t turn the losing ship around. The Oilers record at the time of Woodcroft’s firing was 3-9-1 and Woodcroft was replaced by Kris Knoblauch. I felt bad for both Campbell and Woodcroft because it wasn’t entirely their fault. There were injuries to Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm that also contributed to the Oilers slow start but unfortunately, someone had to be the scapegoat.
After Knoblauch helped turn the tide for the Oilers in 2023-24 and guided them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2024, belief is running high in Oil Country that the Oilers can return to the Stanley Cup Final again in the Spring of 2025. But there’s some work to do—especially for General Manager Stan Bowman and CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson.
The Oilers are looking strong in their top-six forward group with McDavid and newly signed Leon Draisaitl leading the charge. They’ll be joined by 50-goal man Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and offseason additions Viktor Arvidson and Jeff Skinner. The Oilers also kept their third line together in the offseason by re-signing Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, and Mattias Janmark.
The battles up front will be intense for the fourth line in training camp and will be interesting to watch. The biggest mystery on the Oilers in 2024-25 will be on defence. As great as Evan Bouchard and Ekholm are, Darnell Nurse needs to have a big comeback year. If Nurse can show glimpses of…
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