Mark Messier's stark criticism of Edmonton Oilers for their rough start to the season

By Abhishek Dilta

Modified Nov 01, 2023 20:29 GMT

The Edmonton Oilers have had a rough start to the 2023-24 season, which their fans had not anticipated. The Oilers entered the season as one of the heavy favorites to lift the Stanley Cup.

This season, though, the Oilers have been disappointing. In eight games, they have only five points and two wins. the team is currently sixth in the Pacific Division, 14 points behind the division leaders, the Vegas Golden Knights (9-0-1).

The Edmonton Oilers' poor start to the season has widely been attributed to issues with their defense and goaltending. On Sportsnet, club legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier, while discussing the importance of depth in a team, criticized the Oilers for the lack of depth.

Messier stated that with the best players on the team in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, expectations will always be high. However, hockey is a team sport, and those players will not be able to win on their own without the presence of depth around them:

"Well, the expectations are going to be great when you have two of the world's greatest players on the team. There's no question but unfortunately, the two greatest players in the world can't win alone. So they do need the players and the depth around them in order to win."

He also pointed out that the Oilers are not playing with the urgency that they require to show on the defense:

"I just don't see that the Oilers at this point right now playing with the kind of urgency defensively that you would need or you'd expect from a team. And then to come out and lose eight one and then compete battle around in front of their net, getting defense getting pushed off pucks, getting out of position. I just don't see it"

Messier further added:

"They got a lot of work to do in Edmonton in order to get themselves in position to be able to take on a team like Vegas, over seven games and beat them I don't see it right now. But maybe they'll make some changes as we go along."

What is wrong with the Edmonton Oilers this season?

2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic - Calgary Flames v Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers (2-5-1) entered this season as one of the heavy favorites to lift the Stanley Cup. In addition, the team entered the ice with the goal of "Cup or bust." However, the odds have remained completely unfavored for the Oilers so far.

In their first two games of the season, the Edmonton Oilers were defeated 12-4 by the Vancouver Canucks (6-2-1). Following those two games, the Oilers have only managed two victories: one against the Nashville Predators (6-1) and one against the Calgary Flames (5-2) in a "Battle of Alberta" Heritage Classic game.

The Edmonton Oilers' early season failure this year has been exacerbated by a lack of depth in the blue line and subpar goaltending. There were games where the Oilers could have won but their defense couldn't hold the lead and blew it away.

They are currently the league's third-worst defensive team. At this early stage of the long season ahead, judging them makes a little sense. However, given the Oilers' current level of regression, it raises several questions, particularly about the team's depth on the blue line and Jay Woodcroft's game plan going forward into the season.

Nevertheless, Edmonton is riding high after a convincing win over their archrivals, the Calgary Flames (2-6-1), in their most recent game. They'll look to carry on that momentum when they face the Dallas Stars (5-1-1) on Thursday, Nov. 2. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.