I know this may not be the most popular thing to say right now as the Oilers are coming off back-to-back losses, but this team is really close to turning a corner.

This feels like a point they were at early last season, where they were generating a lot of great chances and controlling puck possession, but the results just weren’t there yet.

It’s frustrating to watch, and fingers are pointed at the goaltending and at the star players for not converting their chances, but the reality is that they’re playing a style of play that’s very conducive to winning hockey games. They just need a little bit of luck.

Sure, they made some sloppy plays when they were up by two against the Carolina Hurricanes, and yes, Stuart Skinner should have stopped that first Matt Duchene goal in the loss to the Dallas Stars. I am not sitting here and saying that the team has been perfect, but for the bulk of those two games, which were against teams that have legitimate shots at winning the Stanley Cup, the Oilers were the better team.

They need a few bounces to go their way, they need a few more saves, and I’m very confident that those two things will start to come. When they do, get ready for a really solid winning streak.

Every take you dish out this time of year really needs to come with a “I know it’s early” disclaimer.

However, when you look at how the Oilers attacked the first few days of free agency, I wonder if there isn’t a little bit of regret there.

Viktor Arvidsson is going to turn out just fine, but when you look at his slow start to the season and the massive gap that exists on the Oilers blueline, it’s easy to wonder if the team would have been better off just picking between one of Skinner and Arvidsson and then taking care of their two RFA pieces, Holloway and Broberg.

Again, it’s way too early to say that any team in the NHL truly regrets anything that they did over the summer but if you injected the Oilers front office with some truth serum, I’m sure they’d like a chance to re-do some things.

It’s a bigger conversation, but this team has always been hesitant to give young players meaningful and sustained opportunities. How much different would the perception of either Broberg or Holloway had been if they were given ten straight games in a meaningful role?

That ties into what’s going on with Ty Emberson right now. He is a young player who has shown, albeit in a small sample size, that he is more than capable of putting together good results and yet the Oilers are healthy scratching him in favour of NHL journeyman Travis Dermott.

Make it make sense.

Emberson was playing fine as well. After being on the ice for two goals against at 5v5 in each of his first two games of the season, he then went three straight games without being on the ice for an even-strength goal and his reward was a seat in the press box. Ridiculous.

Give him a spot next to Kulak for ten games and let him learn from his mistakes.

Which hot starts around the NHL are actually sustainable?

We’re only a few weeks removed from making our usual bold predictions ahead of a new NHL season and I will admit, there are a few of mine that are already looking a little tough.

For one, I said the Calgary Flames would come last in the Pacific Division and while I suppose that’s still possible, I think there were a few things I didn’t consider.

First off, the Flames have a somewhat decent group of vets. Kadri, Andersson, and Weegar aren’t just going to roll over and be on a team that gets stomped every night. Now, I also don’t think the Flames are anywhere close to being a playoff team despite their 5-0-1 start.

The Flames are going to come back to earth at some point here and I’m sure there will be a nasty eight-game losing streak or something like that.

Where I was maybe off in my calculation is how I viewed the San Jose Sharks. They’re really bad again.

I know they’ve been missing Macklin Celebrini for basically the entire start of the season but still, they are far away from competing. Their blue line is just pitiful and they lack any sort of significant scoring depth. It’s going to be another long season in San Jose and because of that, I don’t think the Flames can bottom out and come in last place in the Pacific.

I also probably shouldn’t have written off the Minnesota Wild. That may be a bit of a poor way to frame it, but they were an after thought at best for me. I saw some analytical models project them to be a 100-point team this season and I thought that was absolutely insane considering they weren’t close to that last season and did basically nothing over the summer.

However, despite some injuries to their back end, they’re not only finding ways to win, but they actually still haven’t trailed in a game yet this season.

It’s early, but their hot start coupled with the Predators’ early season stumble is going to make it hard for Nashville to get back in the mix.

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