After two seasons of being one of the top defensive teams in the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves in the bottom third of the league at the one-quarter mark of the season. It is a problem, and the players and coaches need to fix it. Quickly.

The challenge is that there isn’t just one area to fix. Every facet of their defensive game is subpar. They are giving up too many high danger chances. Some are from egregious turnovers and bad decisions, which fall solely on the players’ decision-making on the ice. They are losing too many important battles. Losing a puck battle in front of your net is very different to losing one in the neutral zone, for instance.

Kevin Woodley, who tracks metrics courtesy of Clear Sight Analytics, outlined the problems of the Oilers.

The numbers don’t lie. The Oilers are struggling defensively. They only have four players who have been on the ice for more goals for than against at 5×5: Leon Draisaitl (20-10), Jack Roslovic (15-10), Vasily Podkolzin (16-14) and Ty Emberson (8-7). Too many players are on pace for the worst defensive numbers of their career, or close to it at 5×5.

Connor McDavid has never had a season where he was outscored 5×5, but so far, his GF% is 47%. His expected goals against/60 is the highest it has been since 2019.

Mattias Ekholm has been on the ice for 20 goals against. He’s on pace to be on for 78 GA, which would crush his career high of 61. He already has 17 defensive zone turnovers and is on pace for 66. His career high was 54 in 2016.

Andrew Mangiapane has never had a season (minimum 20 GP) where he was outshot 5×5. He’s been outshot 124-106 thus far, and he’s been outscored 21-8.

Brett Kulak has been outscored 12-0 at 5×5 in the month of November (nine GP).

Draisaitl has 13 defensive zone turnovers so far. He’s on pace for 50. He’s only had more than 30 once, when he had 35 in 2018.

Darnell Nurse has 16 defensive zone turnovers and is on pace for 62. His previous high was 52.

Evan Bouchard had 20 defensive zone turnovers and is on pace for 78. His previous high was 72.

You get the point.

Defensive zone turnovers have crushed this team thus far. They need to manage the puck better. They also need to support one another better and stop flying the zone so quickly. The forwards and defence are too spread out at times. Turnovers high in the offensive zone have been an issue as well. The Oilers rank high in offensive zone possession time, but it isn’t leading to shots or goals. Too often, they pass it around the perimeter, and then either they don’t penetrate the middle of the ice, or they have a turnover. Time of possession in the offensive zone isn’t leading to enough quality scoring chances.

The players need to play better, and the coaches need to help them minimize the errors. A coach can’t do much about giveaways, as those are decisions by players, but coaches can encourage and enforce better positioning and defensive zone support. And too often the Oilers haven’t matched the energy level of their opponents. Losing important battles, losing board battles, positioning in front of the net and overall, the team’s emotional level hasn’t been consistently high enough.

Hockey is an emotional game, but we haven’t had much of it from the Oilers.

They’ve had more than 20 hits only four times this season. They are 3-1 in those four games. It isn’t a coincidence that they play better when they play with more emotion. They beat Carolina, Vancouver and Columbus when they had 22+ hits. Their only loss was the season-opener vs. Calgary, and you can argue that if Stuart Skinner just moves the puck to the corner, they win that game. I’m not expecting the Oilers to suddenly become one of the NHL’s most physical teams — it hasn’t been their identity for years — but 22 hits from 18 players isn’t a massive ask. And it doesn’t have to be every night, but considering they are 3-0-1 when they have 22+ hits, why wouldn’t you at least consider adding a bit more physicality to your game?

The Oilers need to be more engaged mentally and physically if they have any hope of emerging from their season-long dance with mediocrity.

— How much do the Oilers miss Paul Coffey? Coffey didn’t do video work, but focused more on what he saw and discussed it on the bench or off the ice. He didn’t have long video sessions, like most coaches do, and he had an old-school mentality. His approach rubbed some people, including other coaches, the wrong way. But no question his intensity and direct approach led to results, so until the Oilers find their defensive game, it is valid to question how much they miss his presence and voice in the room.

— Puck management has been an issue, even for the Oilers’ best players. McDavid has 34 giveaways while Draisaitl has 33. McDavid is on pace for 132 and Draisaitl 129. That would be career highs for both superstars. I realize the giveaway stat tracking by the NHL isn’t the most accurate, but the eye test matches the numbers for those two this season. Draisaitl only had 88 last year, and he’s only been over 96 twice in his career and never more than 116, while McDavid had 74 last year, and his career high is 89. He’s on pace to obliterate that number. Neither of them has been as sharp at managing the puck this season.

— The Capitals have allowed one goal or less a league-high eight times this season. The Oilers will need to work for their goals.

— The Capitals have only allowed 4+ goals four times, while the Oilers are tied for the most at 10.

— Alex Ovechkin has three goals in his last four games and now has six on the season. He’s been known to get hot and stay hot, so the Oilers need to limit their turnovers when he’s on the ice. Ovechkin scored his 32nd career hat trick against the Oilers last February in Washington. It was his first three-goal game against Edmonton, and they were the 20th franchise he’s tallied a hatty against. He has three vs. Montreal, Florida and Ottawa.

— Ovechkin has slowed down, and it shows in his shots on goal. He’s averaging 2.31 shots/game. His lowest shot/game in any season was 3.44 in 2024 when he fired 272 shots and averaged 3.44/game. He finished 19th in shots on goal that year. Last season, he fired 237 shots in 65 games (3.64/game), but he still scored 44 goals as he had the highest shooting percentage of his career at 18.6%. Even though he isn’t shooting as much, he is still dangerous, and his recent streak suggests he could be finding his stride again.

Logan Thompson has been stellar for the Capitals and should be one of Canada’s three goalies at the Olympics. Thompson leads the NHL with a .925Sv% and a sparkling 1.85 GAA. He’s made 13 starts, and he’s only allowed more than two goals twice. Both of those games came in his last four starts.