The Edmonton Oilers are approaching the midpoint of their seven-game road trip, and with two wins in their last three games, that’s quite alright in the eyes of Oilers fans for a team that’s struggled with consistency this season and on the current trip.

Zach Hyman’s return to the lineup gave the club a nice jolt of energy, and with that in mind, let’s dive into this edition of Oilers thoughts: his return, Isaac Howard’s reassignment to the AHL, saying goodbye to Troy Stecher, and two key Oilers who might be turning the page on the season.

Zach Hyman made his season debut last game against the Carolina Hurricanes, returning to the lineup for the first time since last May, and for someone who hadn’t played in nearly six months, his stat line and advanced numbers in his first game back show what a freak of an athlete he is.

He played 23:10 of ice time, posted a 60.45 xGF%, added an assist and a +1, and threw 11 hits. What a machine.

His assist was the typical Zach Hyman-esque helper — he received the puck, dropped it in the perfect spot for Leon Draisaitl, and got drilled, taking a hit to make a play and drawing the Hurricanes defender to him before Connor McDavid put the puck in the net. Nothing flashy, just the meat-and-potatoes effort Hyman’s known for that gets the job done.

Additionally, the 11 hits he threw are significant — not just because of the number itself, but because in one game, Hyman jumped into a tie for seventh among Oilers forwards in hits thrown. If he dishes out seven more next game, he’ll move up to fourth, which basically tells you the Oilers need to start throwing their bodies around more. For parts of the season, things haven’t been going right, and when the puck isn’t going in, the least you can do is throw a hit to help swing momentum for your team.

That said, Hyman’s hit heater likely isn’t sustainable over the rest of the regular season, but the fact he came out blazing with that level of physicality might be a sign that he’s noticed his team isn’t doing it enough and he’s setting the example for his teammates.

On a different note, with Hyman back, Jack Roslovic on a heater, and Matt Savoie on the rise, it’s hard to remember the last time the Oilers had this much right-handed firepower up front.

With Hyman’s return, the salary cap gymnastics had to be worked out, and as a result, Isaac Howard was sent down to the AHL to play with the Bakersfield Condors.

He had some good moments during his cup of coffee with the big club, like scoring his first NHL goal off a snipe of a shot against the Ottawa Senators. He added another goal and a helper in his 17 games, and another interesting stat I found is that, according to NHL Edge data, he was clocked at a top-end speed of 23.04 MPH, which ranks in the 94th percentile in the NHL.

Yet overall, Howard heading back down to the Condors is great for his development — he gets more minutes playing the pro game, and the results have been almost instant. In his first AHL game on Nov. 15, the ‘Iceman’ picked up two assists, and one of them was a nice cross-ice one-timer feed to Quinn Hutson on the power play, helping his team win 6-3.

Howard’s used to being leaned on as the go-to scorer — in his college days, he was the one jumping onto the ice with a minute left to try and tie the game and trusted on the first-unit power play to blast home PP goals — but unfortunately, he didn’t get that opportunity much during his stint with the Oilers. In Bakersfield, he (hopefully) gets those opportunities again — to feel good about his game, build confidence and get the chance to raise his hands in the air more often. It’s anyone’s guess if he remains with the Condors for the full season, but if he does, just look at what a full season of AHL time did for Savoie’s development, as he looks very seasoned now, with the Oilers using him in a top-six role.

A player who was lost to abide by the salary cap gymnastics to make room for Hyman’s return was Troy Stecher, who was put on waivers recently and claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 15.

Stecher played in 79 regular-season games with the Oilers and eight in the playoffs, tallying nine points (3G, 6A) over parts of three seasons. At 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds, what he lacked in size he made up for in bite, as the 31-year-old was full of compete and never seemed afraid to go into the corners or take a hit to make a play. As a #6 or #7 D-man, he was as reliable as they come, and even when he didn’t play for days or weeks at a time, you knew you’d be getting that consistent effort.

Additionally, at one point, he seemed like he was the Darnell Nurse whisperer, seemingly bringing out the best in Nurse. At one stretch in the playoffs last season, Nurse’s underlying metrics boosted significantly while paired with Stecher, with Corsi jumping from 42.47% to 55.68%, scoring chances percentage rising from 44.12% to 64.52%, and high-danger chances percentage climbing from 42.11% to 66.67%. But alas, that magic wore off, with Stecher suiting up for only six games with the Oilers this season.

While the 31-year-old is off to the land where the Leafs are made of maple, he leaves behind what I feel is his signature moment in orange and blue: last season, after the Oilers had lost their first three games, Flyers’ Sean Couturier hit Stuart Skinner, sending the netminder to the ice.

As soon as Stecher saw his goalie go down, he went after the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Couturier without hesitation. He dropped the gloves, and despite giving up over six inches in height to the Flyers captain, he landed some punches and took some too. He helped rally his bench, and the Oilers came back to win, earning their first two points of the season.

All in all, best of luck to Troy Stecher. But if the Oilers ever face the Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final, hopefully, he remembers the motto, “once an Oiler, always an Oiler,” and a little Steve Smith-esque mishap would be more than welcome.

Stuart Skinner is usually one of the first players to have fingers pointed at him for his team’s inconsistent start, as his .891 save percentage on the season is far from ideal for a number one netminder.

Yet, after giving up four goals against the Avalanche on Nov. 8 and another four in regulation against the Columbus Blue Jackets two nights later, he made a huge stop in overtime against the Blue Jackets that led to a goal the other way. I posed the question of whether Skinner can build off that big OT save — a potential defining moment that could help him turn things around.

After just two games on this road trip, it’s still early, but it’s starting to look that way. Since then, he’s won both games, posting a .952 SV% against the Philadelphia Flyers and a .917 SV% against the Hurricanes. Of course, he doesn’t always paint Picassos in net — for instance, he was turned around and out of position on the second goal last game against Carolina — but overall he’s looked much more dialled in and composed, stopping nine of the last ten high-danger shots he’s faced.

To top it off, his last win, the 105th of his career, surpassed Cam Talbot for fifth-most wins in Oilers history, and overall, here’s hoping “Stu” is writing a new chapter in the season.

It’s like clockwork — start slow, stir up some panic in Oil Country, and then get the engine running. Evan Bouchard, however, looks like he’s finally working his way out of his early-season struggles.

Over his last ten games, he’s tallied 12 points (2G, 10A) and is +4 in that span, having not registered a negative plus/minus since the rough game against the Avalanche on Nov. 8.

On top of that, his 12 points put him in a tie with Josh Morrissey for most points by defencemen over the last ten games, behind only Miro Heiskanen and Cale Makar’s 13 points. Moreover, Bouchard, who is often criticized for his defensive game, has been better in that area — the egregious giveaways have been fewer, he’s paying better attention to detail in the defensive zone, and according to Natural Stat Trick, over the last ten games, he leads all NHL D-men with 10 takeaways.

I’ve mentioned before that when Bouchard’s career is all said and done, there should be full-on lab experiments to figure out why he starts seasons so slowly. But credit to him for sticking with it and working his way out of his funk, and over the last ten games, the NHL’s fourth-highest paid D-man has been playing like the price tag suggests, at least offensively.