Oilers eagerly waiting on Connor Brown to hit his stride

When Connor Brown took a discount to sign with the Edmonton Oilers, he stated his desire to win a Stanley Cup. Early on, he and his teammates look nowhere close to being able to do so.

The season is only four games old for the Oilers, but they have looked dreadful early on. Through those four games, they have already allowed 17 goals and look completely lost on their own end of the ice.

While their defensive play has been disappointing, they haven’t been exceptional offensively either. Seven of their forwards have yet to score a goal, including Brown. The 29-year-old was expected to have a significant role offensively this season but has yet to record a point with his new team.

Given their struggles early on, head coach Jay Woodcroft has already been playing with line combinations in order to find a spark, which has resulted in Brown being pulled off of McDavid’s line, instead playing alongside Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway. It hasn’t paid dividends for the three, as both McLeod and Holloway are pointless on the season as well.

To Brown’s defence, this is a player who is undoubtedly still working rust out of his game. He was limited to just four contests in 2022-23 after tearing his ACL early into the year. That said, at some point, concern has to begin regarding whether or not he can get back to being the player he was prior to his injury. Early into his Oilers tenure, he doesn’t appear to be anywhere close.

The good news for Brown, as well as his Oilers teammates, is that they have a get-right game of sorts tomorrow versus another struggling team, the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are one of only three teams in the NHL to have allowed more goals against than the Oilers with 19, which could help Brown get on the scoreboard for the first time this season. If his pointless drought continues much longer, however, concern from the fan base will begin to grow exponentially.

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