Reviewing the previews: How I forecasted the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers season
By Zach Laing
10 months agoAs the offseason progresses on and we get closer and closer to legitimate hockey news kicking off, we’re preparing to kick off our player review series from this past season.
We’ll have about 30-odd articles from myself and Cam Lewis looking at dozens of players that donned the Oil Drop this season. I was looking back to last year’s articles and it piqued my interest when I realized I did a brief note about what I’d expect said player to do in 2022-23.
But before I go look back at each player, what I wrote about them, and how accurate I was as a whole in articles every day for the next week, let’s look at some of my bigger predictions this season.
Big Predictions
Art Ross Trophy
Without a doubt in my mind, Connor McDavid. He’s scoring 130 this year.
Looks like I was a little shy in the numbers here.
Rocket Richard Trophy
Is it too much of a homer pick to say McDavid? I think this is the year he hits 50 goals, but he might be hard-pressed against Auston Matthews. Dark horse: Kirill Kaprizov.
Kaprizov dealt with some injuries this year and played just 67 games but had 40 goals. He paced for 49 over 82 games, and that would’ve had him sixth overall.
Hart Trophy
This could be Cale Makar’s year. Everyone knew last year how good he was, but he truly hit another level in the playoffs. He’ll be front of mind for the voters.
After the post-season that he had, I really thought he was going to have a big year. Injuries impacted him this year as he played just 60 games, but he still scored 16 goals and 65 points. If he played a full year, I think he would’ve been a finalist.
Vezina Trophy
Thatcher Demko is a dark horse that could make sense. He was great last year and the Canucks could make some noise.
Yikes.
Norris Trophy
Makar, Cale. See above.
See above.
Calder Trophy
Dylan Holloway is a sneaky longshot if he stays in the top-six. Add in some powerplay time and boy oh boy, he could make some noise. I’ll hang my hat on Matty Beniers.
Beniers looks like he could make good on this one, but who would’ve thought Stuart Skinner would be a finalist?
President’s Trophy
I think it’s the Carolina Hurricanes. They had a great season last year and added Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty, the latter of whom is out until the new year.
Second in the race and a mere… 23 points back of the leading Boston Bruins.
Connor Bedard sweepstakes
Why do I feel like some random team like the New York Islanders are going to miss the playoffs but somehow win the Bedard lottery?
The Islanders somehow made the playoffs!
Stanley Cup Champions
Edmonton Oilers, Ho, pe Will Never Die.
*spits*
BOLD PREDICTION
The Seattle Kraken make the playoffs. I think this team took a big step forward in the offseason by adding goal-scoring, which was their biggest issue last year.
Nailed it. Not a lot of people had them as a playoff team, let alone going deep into the second round.
What’s next?
Every morning for the next week, I have an article coming live at 7 a.m. MST reviewing my 2022-23 previews of 29 Oilers players.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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