Edmonton Oilers: Everything you need to know before playoffs begin

The Edmonton Oilers smell blood in the water. After nearly making the Stanley Cup a season ago and running back with a more talented group, the Oilers are ready to reclaim their success from a season ago.

With everything clicking this season, the Oilers should be either the second or third seed in the playoffs. With the scorers they have, there’s no telling how far they could go.

Here’s a look at where the Edmonton Oilers stand as they contend for the NHL playoffs

Forwards

Everyone knows what the Edmonton Oilers' strength is, and it’s right up front, down the middle of the ice.

The Oilers have the best 1, 2 center depth in the NHL in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Heck if they wanted to, they can put Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down the middle of the ice, but he needs more minutes than a third-line center can get.

A sneaky acquisition at the deadline for the Edmonton Oilers was bolstering their bottom six by adding Nick Bjugstad, who’s been a major part of a recent scoring bump on the bottom two lines.

Bjugstad has helped players like Warren Foegele and Klim Kostin become better threats when they’re on the ice. That makes the Oilers attack that much more lethal.

Defensemen

The Edmonton Oilers knew what they needed to improve at the NHL trade deadline, and it has paid off in spades.

The trade may have cost a team favorite in Tyson Barrie, but the Oilers got exactly what they needed in Mattias Ekholm. It took a few games to break him in, but lately, Ekhom has been one of the highest rated defensemen in the NHL.

The blue line is decent elsewhere. Darnell Nurse hasn’t yet lived up to expectations of the massive extension he received in the offseason, but paired with Cody Ceci, the two have been a quality top blue line. Evan Bouchard is still developing and could prove to be a future Oilers centerpiece.

Goalies

Let’s address the elephant in the room. When the Edmonton Oilers came out and acquired Jack Campbell in the offseason, they expected Campbell to be the primary netminder for the team, at least through the season.

It has not panned out that way at all. Campbell has been practically unusable for most of the season, with a saver percentage of .882 and a GAA of 2.57.

---

The good news for the Oilers is that they got a decent contribution from Stuart Skinner, who represented them in the All-Star Game.

Skinner’s numbers have dipped slightly since the NHL trade deadline, but otherwise he’s sporting a .909 save percentage and GAA of 2.93. WIth a talented scoring unit like the Oilers', that should be enough to get the job done.