Memo to the NHL: Watch out for the Oilers

With some shrewd moves, the Edmonton Oilers have seemingly revitalized their season, which should scare the pants off of the rest of the NHL.

On Nov. 20, it seemed like the Edmonton Oilers were going downhill in a hurry.

Coming off of a disappointing 2017-18 season, the Oilers were pegged as one of the teams who could make a run to the Stanley Cup Final. However, a bad start from starting goaltender Cam Talbert, shaky play on the blue line, and a high-powered offense that looked to be shackled, led Edmonton to stumble out to a 9-10-1 record.

So, after a 6-3 loss at home to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Oilers brass decided that changes needed to be made.

They fired head coach Todd McLellan and replaced him with legendary coach Ken Hitchcock, who brought much-needed discipline to the Oilers leaky blue line. Then, they made a change in net, replacing the struggling Talbert with Mikko Koskinen, who hadn’t played in the NHL since the 2010-11 season.

Bringing in the quite, rigid Hitchcock and starting a goaltender who hadn’t played in eight years had many in Oiler nation scratching their heads, but, to their surprise, the moved have worked.

The Oilers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and have given up more than three goals only twice during this span. Half of the credit goes to Hitchcock preaching a renewed focus to defense, which was Edmonton’s sore spot so far this season, and the other half goes to the play of Koskinen, who has put a padlock on the net.

In his 13 starts in net, he’s 9-3-1 with a 2.06 goals-against-average, with a save percentage of .929. Those numbers improve at Rogers Place, where he hasn’t lost a home game (6-0) and has opposing offenses scratching their heads at how to beat him (.970 SP/0.91 GAA).

The Oilers are now back in the thick of things in the Western Conference playoffs, and if they can get their high-powered offense to click again, watch out.