Oilers' terrible start is even worse than what Canucks did last year
When the Vancouver Canucks face off against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night, it’ll be a battle of two teams in completely different moods.
The Canucks are off to their best start in franchise history as virtually everything has gone right. In contrast, the Oilers are near the bottom of the NHL standings and close to firing their head coach.Â
We only need to turn the clock back 12 months for things to look nearly the opposite of how they are now. After the first 10 days of last season, the Canucks were the team on the brink of making a coaching change after an ugly 2-6-2 start.
During that time, the Canucks’ fanbase was going through a dark period. The atmosphere in Vancouver was not good and yet the Oilers, who started the season as a favourite to win the Stanley Cup, are somehow in a worse position through 10 games this year.
The Oilers have somehow put together a worse start than last year's #Canucks, after 10 games.
Oilers this year: 2-7-1
Canucks last year: 2-6-2— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) November 5, 2023
When the two teams met on October 11 to kick off their respective seasons, the Oilers were expected to cruise to a high seed and easily earn a spot in the postseason while the Canucks were expected to fight all year long for a wild card spot. Their fates have now flipped. It all started with an 8-1 drubbing by the Canucks in that first game.
With American Thanksgiving just around the corner, now is a good time to take note of which teams are in playoff positions. Historically, roughly three-quarters of the teams that are in a playoff position when this holiday rolls around end up making the postseason.
The Oilers are already six points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. While that may not seem like a ton, it’s a sizeable gap the team will need to make up. It is also a gap that they will not likely be able to overcome before American Thanksgiving, meaning that they will fail to meet the historical barometer.
That doesn’t mean all is lost in Edmonton. The Oilers still have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and thus potentially more reason for optimism than the Canucks last year, but things are looking bleak in Alberta’s capital. Sweeping changes will be coming if things do not turn around soon.
On the other hand, the Canucks are sitting in the top five of the entire NHL. While there is still a lot of season left to play, they are on the right path to hosting their first playoff game at Rogers Arena since 2015.
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