It’s Christmas Eve, which is the perfect time to write to ol’ Saint Nick in the hopes that he’ll bring a few gifts to our beloved Edmonton Oilers. Considering the team is on a roll as we head into the break, I think the Oilers are on Santa’s Nice List, meaning this is my chance to ask for the moon.

If there’s one thing I know about Santa, it’s that he’s a reasonable fellow who loves milk and cookies. But with the items I’m about to ask him for this year, we need to update his snack to some Wilhauk Beef Jerky and a couple of Nation Beers for when he’s finished travelling for the night. Then, and only then, do I believe he will take my requests seriously. The good news is that I’ve got a line on plenty of jerky and Nation Beers to satisfy the ol’ fella, which has me feeling confident that we will get some business done. Are you ready? Of course you are.

Santa, the greatest gift you could give us heading into 2025 is a healthy roster for the stretch and playoff drive. The Oilers team is so good that the only ones who can stop them are themselves, and a big part of that is keeping everyone’s bodies feeling fresh for the most important stretch of games of the year. If you could do us a solid and gift the Edmonton Oilers some magical forcefield that keeps them safe and healthy, the city would be eternally grateful to you. If you could do that, I feel very confident in the team’s ability to keep pushing this ship forward and ultimately win the sport’s ultimate prize.

It’s weird to think that I would ever be asking for some help with the Oilers’ power play, but I’m humbling myself before you ask for our swagger back. As I write you this letter, Edmonton is sitting in 15th place at 21.6%, and that’s a scary place to be in, considering our PP has been the league standard for years now. Could you imagine how many goals the Oilers could score if their power play got hot again? You have the power to make that happen, Santa. You’re the one that can push this team over the top with one little flick of the pen or whatever it is you use to grant Christmas wishes.

I don’t know what exactly happened to land Jeff Skinner in Kris Knoblauch’s doghouse, but our man is setting down roots in that spot in the lineup. Through his first 34 games as an Oiler, Skinner is averaging 13:06 in TOI — that number has been slowly dropping over the last few weeks — which is more than three minutes lower than his career average. When the Oilers brought Jeff Skinner in on a one-year deal on July 1st, the expectation was that he would help with some secondary scoring alongside Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid, but that obviously hasn’t happened. Instead, he’s been stapled to the fourth line over the last little while, and I’d love nothing more than to help him get out of there. I don’t know whether that get-out-of-jail card needs to be a dose of confidence or what exactly is needed, but having him stuck down there is really bumming me out, considering how high our expectations for him were.

I love Evan Bouchard, and anybody who reads this website regularly knows it. The guy is one of the best offensive defencemen in the league, and when he’s at his best, it seems like he can put points up at will. The problem is that sometimes he has no ability to check down on his options and tries to force through the hero plays that he had no business trying in the first place. I’m sure we can all think of a time or two when Dad has tried to bomb a long distance pass up ice that was intercepted, when there was likely a much safer option around him if he had only seen it. That’s why I need your help, Santa. I don’t want to eliminate the things that make Bouchard special, but I would certainly appreciate it if you could give him some awareness that he doesn’t always have to swing for the fences.

When Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard are playing their best hockey, it’s a goaltending tandem that I trust with my life. After all, this duo brought the Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and they did it by sharing the net and trusting each other to get the job done. When those two are buzzing, there’s a good chance the Oilers are winning, and that’s precisely what’s happened over this last stretch where the Oilers have won 11 of their last 13 games. What I’m asking for is some help with smoothing out the ebbs and flows that happen from time to time. If we reduce the gap between the highs and lows, I truly believe the Oilers can be unstoppable. Even though we all know back games are bound to happen, a little help in this department would go a very long way.

As much as the NHL has moved away from being the goons-on-ice league that it was back in the day, there’s still a need for team toughness in the moments when the game gets spicy. There are always times when a dirty hit needs to get handled, or a scrum around the crease starts to get carried away, and I think the Oilers could very much use a dose of team toughness to handle those moments. From my side of the laptop screen, nothing galvanizes the boys quite like a good old-fashioned line brawl, but I don’t see many guys on the roster who would be willing to engage if that opportunity/need arose. Santa, if you could help make some of these dudes a little bit angrier, I think it would go a long way to pushing the ship downhill.

Sometimes, all you need is a good PDO heater to really get the engines running at full capacity, and I think that would be a fine gift for this Oilers team, who is already starting to score as we expected them to. Even so, you saw what happened with the Canucks in 2023-24 and how their PDO heater carried them into the second round of the playoffs, so imagine what one could do for a team that’s actually good? Could you imagine? I’m imagining it right now. And that’s why the final item I’m asking for this Christmas is the gift of a PDO heater that extends into June. Just think of what we could do with an extra percentage or two on the team’s 5-v-5 shooting percentage and in net? Mmmm…. imagine.

Now that you’ve seen my list for Santa, I want to know if there’s anything I missed? While I could have probably gone on forever, I also felt like putting down 1300 words worth of needs was more than enough for Santa to get started on. That said, there’s always room for more ideas to throw on the Oilers’ Christmas wishlist, and if you have anything you’d like to add, be sure to let me know in the comments section.

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