Edmonton Oilers: A Surprise Team?

[Dado]

Originally Posted by missinthejets

Continued improvement will show up more noticably in the standings going forward since they were much more closer to the competition last season than the previous.

Sure! But that's only IF there is continued improvement. That's not in any way shape or form guaranteed. It is also quite possible they will backslide or stagnate, as has happened to any number of other high-picking cellar dwellers in the past.

For every Chicago and Pittsburgh, there's an Islanders and Columbus...

Time will tell. I hope they improve, personally.

[Wheatking]

Originally Posted by Bank Shot

Goa Differential:

07-08--> -16
08-09--> -14
09-10--> -70
10-11--> -76
11-12--> -27

They clearly took a large step towards respectability last season. You will likely see it in the standings this season. A little more improvement in G/D and they probably finish in the 10-11th range which means they are at least getting competitive.

...and considering people are talking about the current core group of players, those final 2 years are the only ones worth looking at. Progression.

[lakai17]

Vegas gonna lose money from the Oilers.

[missinthejets]

Originally Posted by Dado

Sure! But that's only IF there is continued improvement. That's not in any way shape or form guaranteed. It is also quite possible they will backslide or stagnate, as has happened to any number of other high-picking cellar dwellers in the past.

For every Chicago and Pittsburgh, there's an Islanders and Columbus...

Time will tell. I hope they improve, personally.

sure anything can happen, but should we really expect regression? I mean guys like Hemsky and Belanger and whitney have shown they can be much better than they were last season, if those guys rebound even if there's some regression from say an eberle it can still balance out. The Oilers have some issues and areas of concern for sure, but I also think there's more there than some people give them credit for having.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by missinthejets

sure anything can happen, but should we really expect regression?

History says its a coin toss.

Like I said, for purely selfish reasons I hope they improve, as it makes our divisional games more interesting.

[Bank Shot]

Originally Posted by Dado

History says its a coin toss.

Like I said, for purely selfish reasons I hope they improve, as it makes our divisional games more interesting.

Its not a coin toss with forwards picked first in the draft.

You have to go all the way back to Patrik Stefan to find a guy that didn't show substantial improvement by his second or third year in the league.

The odds are with guys like Hall, and Hopkins going supernova, rather then falling back.

The teams you mentioned that got stuck in the cycle usually drafted 5-10th overall and didn't get the super elite talent like the Oilers have.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Bank Shot

Its not a coin toss with forwards picked first in the draft.

Not talking about a player, talking about a team.

[Vdhawan89]

I really havent seen one Oiler fan saying that the oilers are going to be "World beaters". All I'v seen is Oiler fans just trying to say while they may not make the playoffs this year, they are progressing in the right way.