Top Things Edmonton Oilers must focus on next season -NHL Special
The Edmonton Oilers might be one of the most unfortunate and luckiest teams at the same time in the National Hockey League (NHL).
For one, the Oilers have faced a lot of disappointment these past few seasons and have failed to make the playoffs in each one. Edmonton has become more of a minor league team due to making a strong start to kick off the season but failing to keep that momentum
going.
On the bright side, Edmonton has been given three straight chances by the league to get some top name players for the longer run in order to make the team better in the future instead of grabbing some quick fixes. Short term solutions might seem attractive
but Edmonton is working on making their team the top club in the NHL for the next few years to come.
They signed on top draft pick of the 2010 Entry Draft, Taylor Hall, followed by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011 and Nail Yakupov as the latest to be added to the top pick club. Edmonton is now loaded with talent, now just leaving it to their abilities of being
able to harness all of the talent and utilising it to the maximum potential.
One of three top picks must emerge BIG
Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov have the chance of a lifetime, which is to take a struggling club and make it a playoff contending, Stanley Cup winning, championship yearning team. Each and every team wants the Stanley Cup but not all clubs have three straight
top draft picks.
Not just that, Edmonton has some serious leadership in the form of Jordan Eberle along with Ryan Jones, Nikolai Khabibulin and a number of others, so not being able to utilise it to their favour is only their fault at the end of the day and nobody else’s.
Edmonton had a lot of expectation from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and to his credit, the 19-year-old did deliver with 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) but was limited to just 62 games due to various injuries. The NHL is a tough place to play hockey and these youngsters
need to realise that they are in the big leagues now.
Oilers were at the top of the Western Conference during the start of the season but were quick to fall down as they ended at number 14 with 74 points when the pressure started mounting. They were number 29 in the entire league, just above Columbus Blue Jackets,
certainly a major disappointment.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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