Oilers quarterly report 2017-12-05 The Oilers have developed an identity as a defensive Juggernaut this year. The days of rebuilding are over, and the Oilers are ready to do some damage in the MRFHL this year. GM Tanner Braithwaite raved about his teams defensive ability recently claiming "Our defence is like if Lidstrom and Orr got together, had some wine, some candles, and some kinky ass sex, then one of them got pregnant with their defensive love child, then that love child became the Oilers defence." The Oilers are first in the league for goals against, and top 5 in shots against, on their way to 4th place in the league, and third in the division. But the Oilers offence is nothing to scoff at either as they are in the top 10 in goals for. The effort has been by committee, coach Alain Vigneault has rolled three lines evenly, and currently have 9 players on pace to put up more than 45 points, and three players hovering around a point per game. Jack Eichel seems to have found his game after putting up 4 points in his first 13 games, Eichel has put up 15 points in the last seven. "We knew Eichel would start scoring, it was only a matter of time. Patrik Laine has had a rough start to the year, only putting up 9 points in 20 games but he has had terrible puck luck and will start to score soon enough as well" The offence is lead by Mikael Backlund, an offseason pickup who has put up 22 points in 19 games, while taking some of the toughest matchups in the league. Johnny Gaudreau has also been scoring for the team, after finding some chemistry with Jack Eichel. Other players who have been scoring for the oilers include O'Reilly, Steen, Gagner, Ristolainen, Reinhart, and Jarnkrok, who have all scored over 10 points at this point in the season. "We knew we didn't have an offensive leader on the team, and we would all need to pitch in to get scoring were it needs to be." The 4th line has contributed at times, but William Karlsson and Andrighetto were sent to the minors for more seasoning after some games with the big league, they were replaced by Blake Comeau and Reid Boucher. Comeau has fit into that 4th line like a glove, and Boucher is expected to be sent back down to bring Karlsson up, as Karlsson is scoring 2 points per game in the minors. The individual players seem to be having promising seasons, but the proof is in the pudding. The Oilers hopped out of the gate strong, winning 6 of their first seven games. A four game losing streak, where the Oilers struggled to find some scoring luck occured, and the Oilers fell behind in their division. This was followed by an 8 game winning streak that came to an end Sunday night against Dallas. The Oilers play 8 of the next eleven games on the road, and are poised to make some noise out east. Even with the early season success, the Oilers are paying attention to the Coyotes and the Canucks, two interdivision rivals who arethe 1st and second best teams in the league. "We want to win the division, it's plain and simple. We don't care who we are competing with, that is our goal." The Oil are in the best division in the league, but that doesn't stop their resolve, and given the play of the team, it wouldn't be surprising to see them walk out with a division title at the end of the year.
