NHL: 2021-22 Preview – 3. Edmonton Oilers

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The NHL 2021-22 season is upon us in just over 5 weeks. I am going to preview the season from the basement of the league to the top, ranking each position group as I go along. Will this finally be the year that the Oilers can get over the hump and go to the finals? They are built to be an offensive powerhouse with those two great centers in the top six. The goaltending gave them a chance in 2020, and I really don’t know if they can repeat it. This is a team with no excuses. McDavid and Draisaitl need to step up in the playoffs and put this team on their back. I use the stats from the last three years to determine a players value and will reference them below in the depth chart. The stats were found utilizing https://www.capfriendly.com/signings/ and https://www.hockey-reference.com/ .

Team Rank: 3^rd

Off-season signings: 10th most efficient

• One-Way
  • Cody Ceci/Penguins (D) – 4 years x 3.25 million
  • Zach Hyman/Maple Leafs (L/R) – 7 years x 5.5 million
  • Derek Ryan/Flames (C/R) – 2 years x 1.25 million
• Two-Way
  • Brendan Perlini/Switzerland (R/L) – 1 year x .75 million

Forwards Rank: 3^rd

Top Six Rank: 3rd

Line One

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	L/C	199	66	99	165	73	515	128	113
Connor McDavid	C	198	108	210	318	115	652	137	72
Leon Draisaitl	R/C/L	209	124	175	299	109	617	121	57

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Two

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Zach Hyman	L/R	165	57	54	111	13	365	223	83
Derek Ryan	C/R	192	25	55	80	17	242	44	74
Zack Kassian	R	165	32	33	65	1	228	421	26

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Three

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Warren Foegele	L/R	198	33	32	65	3	326	250	48
Kailer Yamamoto	C/R	96	20	29	49	6	126	115	64
Josh Archibald	R/L	182	31	25	56	4	218	518	118

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Line Four

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Devin Shore	L/C/R	159	20	30	50	10	159	219	104
Kyle Turris	C	144	18	41	59	16	193	58	48
Jesse Puljujarvi	R	101	19	15	34	5	168	147	46

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Extras

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Ryan McLeod	C	10	0	1	1	0	3	35	5
Seth Griffith	C/R

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Defense Rank: 9^th

Top Four Rank: 4th

Pair One

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Darnell Nurse	L	209	31	79	110	22	520	451	387
Tyson Barrie	R	204	27	119	146	60	533	121	228

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Pair Two

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Duncan Keith	L	197	13	69	82	21	362	101	352
Cody Ceci	R	183	12	39	51	1	238	286	291

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Pair Three

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Kris Russell	L/R	162	3	31	34	2	149	205	361
Slater Koekkoek	R/L	91	4	13	17	0	100	128	137

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Extra

Name	POS	GP	G	A	PTs	STP	SOG	HIT	BLK
Evan Bouchard	R	21	3	3	6	2	48	17	19

GP – Games Played, G- Goals, A- Assists, PTs – Points, STP – Special Team Points, SOG- Shots on Goal, HIT – Hits, BLK – Blocks

Goalies Rank: 7^th

Name	GP	W	L	SO	SV%	GAA	QS%	RB%
Mike Smith	113	63	34	6	.907	2.67	52%	20%
Mikko Koskinen	119	56	47	5	.908	2.92	49%	16%

GP – Games Played, W- Wins, L- Losses, SO – Shutouts, SV% – Save Percentage, GAA – Goals Against Average, QS% – Quality Start Percentage, RB- Really Bad Start Percentage