It’s no secret the Edmonton Oilers are off to a great start this season. A quarter of the way through 2016-17, the Oilers are still atop the Pacific Division with a 12-8-2 record and their plus-10 goal differential is second-best in the Western Conference. Cam Talbot has been solid and consistent and, of course, Connor McDavid has been amazing and leads the league with 28 points.
If you’re expecting Edmonton to fall back to the basement of the West this season, don’t hold your breath. This might be the year they finally break through into the post-season. And as much as their star player is getting well-earned attention, in Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night, Don Cherry pointed out the increased physical play as a major factor in Edmonton’s success.
“Everybody talks about McDavid, I do all the time, Talbot and everything. But watch the hits here,” Cherry said before rolling a highlight reel of physical play which you can see atop this post. “That’s the difference in Edmonton right now. It used to be a piece of cake to play them, now once in a while you get nailed.
“You gotta have your head up.”
Although the Oilers have had some exciting youth in recent years, their defensive play has been lacking. And Cherry is right, they’ve been too soft in the past and that has been a noticeable difference so far this year.
Ron MacLean also pointed out the excellent shutdown defensive pairs of Adam Larsson-Oscar Klefbom and Andrej Sekera-Kris Russell.
Two of Edmonton’s summer additions, Larsson and Milan Lucic, are in the top 16 in the NHL in hits, while Eric Gryba, Darnell Nurse and Tyler Pitlick all crack the top 30. Last season the Oilers’ top hitter was Matt Hendricks, who ranked 39th league-wide with 175 hits.
