Oilers 24-25 Season Review

"Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Famous words spoken by a wise man who knew it's about the journey, not the destination. Going into the season, no one had the Oilers competing. After missing the playoffs the year before, the team actively took a step back by moving key names to contenders. It was then to everyone's surprise, including the Oilers brass, when the team found itself clinching the Pacific with a handful of games to go, even leading to a 1st round series win against the Hawks before being swept by the surging Kings.

So what exactly went right this season? Was it luck, skill, hard work, chemistry, level of competition, or a perfect storm combination of all of the above. One of the key lessons to take away from this past season was that forcing things often does not lead to victory. They say when you stop trying to find true love, it will come. So do they Oilers need to simply stop trying to win in order to win?

Perhaps it's not as simple. The team still had key contributions from key free agency and trade acquisitions. Sean Monahan seemingly put the team on his back in the 2nd half of the regular season and playoffs. Free agent acquisition Mats Zuccarello was a mainstay in the team's top 6 and power play. Jake Middleton, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Nick Jensen solidified the team's defensive core, and made up for once again futile efforts from (now traded) Rasmus Andersson. Juuse Saros played at vezina level all season and playoffs. So it looks like luck was not exactly it.

That was the good, but there is always room the bad. Oilers special teams was truly abysmal this past season. The power play was often non existent and was league worst 20th ranked at 19%. Ultimately, there was not enough production out of the team's snipers like Carter Verhaeghe and Jordan Kyrou who just could not convert on a lot of their opportunities. Another point to consider is the lack of puck moving defense outside of Gostisbehere. Oilers were heavily relying on Andersson to provide the offense after signing a 7.25M contract extension, however, he was only able to add 11 points to his total from the season before, and only few of them were on the power play. This is an area the team will be looking to address going into this off season.

The special teams futility does not end there as the Oilers were one of the league's worst on the penalty kill at just 77%. The saving grace was they were 2nd best in the league in not taking penalties with only 129 team combined PIMs. If that number wa any higher, we could be looking at a much different outcome on the season. 

With all of that said, the season was still a monumental success. The pacific division title and playoff win came with another accolade, the Jim Gregory GM of the year award for the Oily man. This was unexpected and humbling, but no laurals will be rested on. There is a lot of work to do this offseason. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series that dives into the preview for the 25-26 season ahead.