When you think of the bad NHL teams, the Edmonton Oilers may escape your mind. A lot of people don’t consider the Oilers a bad team because they didn’t get the coverage at the beginning of the season that the Toronto Maple Leafs or Carolina Hurricanes did.

Unlike these teams, they weren’t at the bottom of the standings in October. At one point, they actually looked like they could become a playoff contender. However, we were once again shown why the NHL season doesn’t end in October. Recently, the Oilers’ play has been anything but spectacular.

In the last ten games, they have gone 1-8-1, the worst in the NHL. However, their lack of solid play goes much farther than that. That one win they have in the last ten games, is also the only win they have in the last 16 games. That’s worst than the Toronto Maple Leafs at the beginning of the season.

The thing that makes this really bad for the Oilers is that the Carolina Hurricanes are on the verge of catching them. At one point, the ‘Canes were a good ten points away from any other team, a safe distance in last place. However, they are now two points away from the Oilers, who are still having trouble winning.

Now, the question is why the Oilers are having trouble.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that injuries have been a factor. However, it’s not the leading factor. Most of the players that are on the injured reserve right now weren’t on it when the team was still playing badly. Even with the players off the injured reserve, they still weren’t winning games.

Granted, injuries definitely are hampering the team now. Thankfully, most of those are short term and the players will be back on the ice quickly.

The biggest problem is defense. They are letting in way too many goals to win games. In those 11 of those 16 games, Edmonton has allowed 4 or more goals. Goaltending has been an issue, however, Khabibulin and Deslauriers have never had good defense in front of them. This defense needs to see some big changes if it wants to win games.

Offensively, the team hasn’t been much better. In those same 16 games, they have only score more than three goals one time. That was in an OT loss against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Unfortunately, they can’t make excuses. They have had a lot of time to turn this around and they haven’t been able to. I really don’t know what else there is to say. The whole team needs to be changed, it is simply unacceptable to play this badly for this long. Everything needs to be changed. Absolutely everything.

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