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Cult of Hockey Game Day #33: Are the Edmonton Oilers really built to win the Pacific? They had better hope so.

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Much was made of Peter Chiarelli’s rebuild of the Edmonton Oilers as one designed to “win the Pacific”.

At the time when Chiarelli took over the helm of the Oilers, that certainly seemed to be the mountain that required climbing. Big, heavy hockey out West had been popularized by Cup success in Los Angeles. Through that painful period, the Oilers were taken out to the woodshed over and over again, by bigger, tougher, meaner opposition such as the Kings, Sharks and Ducks. Fighting fire with fire seemed to be a pretty sound play. Unless Edmonton could match the West hit for hit, as much as goal for goal, the “Decade of Darkness” seemed destined to stretch out far past 10 years.

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So, Peter Charelli went to work.  By the time the Oilers exited the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a hard-fought series versus Anaheim (and having dispatched old nemesis San Jose earlier), the General Manager surely had made believers of many. And it can be argued that Chiarelli further modeled his roster in this fashion, during the off-season.

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Did it work? Well, today the Oilers are 13-17-2. Their playoff hopes, while still attainable, are dimming fast.  They enter play against the Minnesota Wild Saturday afternoon seven points back of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They trail 3rd place in the Pacific by the same gap. To be honest, the situation is grave.

The Oilers have played .500 hockey (6-6-0) against the West, but just 7-11-2 versus the East. Mercifully, it would then seem, the bunk of the Eastern schedule is done.  The Oilers now enter the heart of their schedule, one during which Peter Chiarelli surely anticipated his team would be capable of making hay.

In fact, 25 of the Oilers next 30 games are against the West. 16 of those 30 are against Pacific rivals, 13 against teams they are chasing for one of the Top 3 spots in the division. As a result, at this juncture, it would seem the Oilers have a better shot of squeaking in within their own division, as opposed to grabbing a Wild Card birth.

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If the Oilers make-up is really designed to “win the Pacific”, then you could say that the schedule now plays in their favor. After all, they have to catch 5 teams to make the playoffs within the division. It gets much tougher in the wild card race, as they have to catch 7 teams to accomplish that same goal.

For all intents and purposes, the true test of Peter Chiarelli’s vision?

Starts now.

STK oilers cam talbot

Projected Oilers Lineup

Talbot

Lucic – McDavid – Puljujarvi

Nurse – Russell

Maroon – Nugent-Hopkins – Cammalleri

Klefbom – Benning

Khaira – Draisaitl – Strome

Davidson – Auvitu

Slepyshev – Letestu – Kassian

Scratches: Brossoit (back-up), Gryba, Caggiula, Walker.

Short Shifts:

Oilers (13-17-2): Cam Talbot returns to from the I.R. According to “mistakes on goals against” compiled by The Cult of Hockey’s David Staples here, Talbot gives the Oil a full goal-per-game advantage over back-up Laurent Brossoit. Can that be a bigger difference maker than special teams? The Wild’s Power Play is 5th in the NHL (21.6%), while the Oilers PK is dead last (72.1%). With Adam Larsson due back from I.R. soon, this would seem to be a must-game for waiver-eligible Anton Slepyshev.

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Related: Staples on Talbot’s return coming not a moment too soon

Wild (17-11-3): Minnesota is one of the teams in a log-jam at 37 points, in that final wild card spot in the West. Do the Oilers catch a break, with Devan Dubnyk on I.R.? Hard to say. Edmonton has had more success against starters recently. The Wild are on a 4-game winning streak, their latest triumph 2-0 Thursday over Toronto. Eric Staal leads the Wild in scoring (12-15-27 in 31 GP).  While the Oilers power play has struggled for consistency, Minnesota’s P.K. is 93.6% at home, 1st in the NHL.

The game starts at Noon, MST.

Find me on Twitter @KurtLeavins

Cult of Hockey David Staples

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