Monday Mailbag – Where is the Oilers’ depth scoring?

A fresh week means a brand new Mailbag is here to help you get your Monday started and also to make sense of everything that’s going on with our beloved Edmonton Oilers. This week, we’re talking about the losing streak, fishing for trades, depth scoring, and more. If you’ve got got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk and I’ll get to you as soon as we can.

Young D-men like Broberg and Niemelainen getting some NHL experience.

And the losing streak is now and not in May, but moral victories don’t mean much ultimately.

Not really looking for silver linings, but at least they’re 16-10-0 instead of 10-16-0 as they try to snap out of this funk they’re in. They built in some margin with a great start, but they’ve used it up now. Depth scoring isn’t there and the power play has dried up. Not sure that’s the type of adversity that leads to success. Injuries are a legit cause for struggle, but every team goes through them.

I would hope that they’re learning some hard lessons about how slow starts can sink you and that there are no easy nights in the NHL. On top of that, they have shown that they can win despite having a pile of injuries, so that is one encouraging sign that’s come from all of this. For right now though, they just need to string together some wins.

The silver lining is that the Oilers have Connor and Leon on the roster, but the bad news is that there aren’t many people helping them out right now. That’s a huge problem, in fact.

I don’t see him making a move until 2022.

The results and record will dictate. Hard to believe Holland will settle for more of the same for much longer if three’s not some signs of a turnaround by the Christmas break.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he is more proactive. This team could use some scoring depth and a left-defenseman right now, so if there’s a deal to be made, Holland should be all over it. Making a move early also gives a player more time to get used to your system, which is a benefit. It usually costs more to make a move now, but I think it’s something that Holland should be exploring.

I’d like to see him make a move sooner than later to bolster the lineup but I doubt it happens. He doesn’t exactly have a history of moving quickly.

Many guys couldn’t score in a brothel with $500 in their pocket right now. They need some guys to find their touch, but they also aren’t blessed with a lot of offensive depth.

If the goal column doesn’t have big enough numbers in it, there’s your trouble. The numbers say the depth scoring is almost non-existent and that’s the story. No need to Corski and Fenski beyond that.

Even if there are players struggling to hit their potential, that’s still on those players. They need Foegele to start finding the back of the net and Kassian to start consistently putting in more effort. Nugent-Hopkins and Yamamoto have to start consistently putting up offence as well. They just have way too many passengers right now and that’s unacceptable. I don’t care if someone if they’re snake bit or not. It can’t happen.

The snakebite is real right now. I don’t know what it’s going to take for some of these guys to get going, but it needs to happen immediately. I mean, Kailer Yamamoto has now gone five straight games without even registering a shot on goal.

No. They weren’t as good as 9-1 and aren’t as bad as 0-5. They are probably a 9-6 team realistically.

No. Teams and seasons go in ebbs and flows. The Oilers weren’t destined to be Stanley Cup champions because they were 9-1-0 through 10 games and they aren’t dogspit now because they’ve lost five straight. The real deal is in the middle. The record they have now isn’t far off what I expected overall, but the huge swings in performance are a surprise.

No. I think they have too many players playing below what they’re capable of and if those players get going, this team will start to look like a contender again. No guarantee that it happens, but this isn’t the real Oilers in my opinion.

Somewhere in the middle. They’re not a 9-1 team and they’re not going to lose every game either.

Their future will depend on playoff success. Have to win one round to stay.

By nature of their positions, Holland has a longer shelf life than Tippett. Missing the playoffs this season — I don’t see that happening — gets the coach fired.

If they get bounced in round one, Tippett is likely gone. Simple as that. Or if they’re out of a playoff spot at some point in January or later.

I wrote about this on Saturday and while I certainly understand why some folks want a coaching change, I really doubt it’s going to happen unless the wheels totally fall off here.

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