Post-Mortem: What Should The Edmonton Oilers Do After A Disappointing Season?

The Edmonton Oilers were a tired bunch as they entered the playoffs. 

Having never found the same high level of play as they'd done in the past couple of years, there was something about this group, still led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, that felt off. 

"We were an average team all year. When you're an average team with high expectations, you're going to be disappointed," Connor McDavid told reporters.

Despite having home-ice advantage and the experience of back-to-back Stanley Cup final appearances, the Oilers lost 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks in their first-round series.

"There was a lot of (high) expectations on this team," coach Kris Knoblauch told the media after Thursday's Game 6 loss that eliminated Edmonton. "We had some holes with our team. I thought we made the most of it." 

In one sense, Knoblauch wasn't wrong. There were holes in this roster. 

The team still had its top stars, and it had arguably the best six defensemen to start the year that they'd had to begin any of their previous three. 

However, there were still questions in goal, where management initially chose to run it back with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.

That was not the game plan. GM Stan Bowman had hinted at the start of the off-season that goaltending would be addressed. It wasn't. That put a dark cloud over the group from the opening of camp. 

There was a sense the other shoe would drop at any time, and when Bowman did make a move, he traded for Tristan Jarry in what felt like a team jumping on Plan C, when A and B had already failed. 

Jarry didn't mesh, so Edmonton ran with another pivot they'd made earlier in the year, acquiring Connor Ingram as a "project" from the Utah Mammoth. 

Ingram played better than expected, but neither goaltender gave the team enough confidence.

That same team hadn't really addressed its depth at forward. 

Bowman offloaded Viktor Arvidsson, let Corey Perry walk, saw Connor Brown leave in free agency and was still reeling from the offer sheets to Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg from the season prior. 

Bowman kept money available to deal with the off-season contract extension of Connor McDavid – drama the club didn't necessarily need. They signed Trent Frederic to too long a deal, gave Jake Walman a seven-year contract extension and re-upped Mattias Ekholm to a three-year extension.

There were still holes at forward, so the club signed Jack Roslovic halfway through the first game of the season. The team hoped Roslovic and rookies Matt Savoie and Isaac Howard would do the trick. 

Howard wound up in the AHL, while Roslovic provided depth during the regular season but faded in the playoffs. Only Matt Savoie became the pleasant surprise of the bunch. 

Injuries then took their toll.

Draisaitl suffered a lower-body injury and missed the last 14 regular-season games. He returned for the playoffs, but wasn't whole.

Zach Hyman returned for the final game of the season after missing six games, but he wasn't 100 percent either. 

McDavid then suffered an injury in Game 2. He finished the series, but it was clear he was playing on one good ankle while trying to do too much on his own. 

The kicker? The Oilers didn't respect how good the Ducks were. 

They should have, given that the Ducks gave them all they could handle in the regular season. Yet, in much the same way the Oilers appeared to pace themselves to start the year, Edmonton didn't enter this first-round series with a sense of urgency. 

The Ducks, which were the one team in the Pacific that could outscore the Oilers, took advantage of Edmonton's lackadaisical approach. 

"That's been the whole year – we've been searching for consistency the whole year," McDavid said. Obviously, we didn't find it in the playoffs." 

Added Draisaitl: "Never really found what you need to find this time of year, especially to go all the way. In my opinion just not good enough."

When it's Cup or bust, losing in the first round will leave the Oilers in a state of uncertainty. 

This team was not deep enough to go all the way, even if it had been healthy all season and in the playoffs. 

They added Jason Dickinson, Connor Murphy and Colton Dach, but only Dach remains under some level of team control as an RFA. 

Edmonton has nine pending UFAs in the NHL, 10 including Pickard, who was sent to the AHL mid-season. 

They can't keep everyone. Frankly, they shouldn't want to. 

Roslovic was good in the regular season but possibly cost himself a big extension after recording just one point in six playoff games. If the Oilers were considering a longer-term extension, they should carefully reconsider. 

Kasperi Kapanen was one of the Oilers' better forwards in the playoffs, with six points, but there's a limit to how much the team can and will pay. 

Murphy is worth retaining, but questions about how much to offer are fair. At 33 years old, how much more is he worth than his current $4.4-million cap hit? If they want to add term to lower the average annual value, that would carry risk as well.

Adam Henrique was sidelined early in the playoffs with an injury. The Oilers definitely missed him on the penalty kill and in the faceoff dot. On a cheap and short-term extension, he might have value. Then again, it might be time to move on.

Dickinson is another player the Oilers should look to re-sign. The 30-year-old has never posted more than 35 points in a season. He's scored 22 goals once, but that's not who he is as a player. He's more of a two-way depth center.

Then there's the goaltending. 

The Oilers made a bet on Jarry that early signs suggest wasn't successful. He's got two more seasons on his deal. 

Ingram is a pending UFA. He provided decent value this season with a $1.15-million cap hit, but he may be better off as a 1B goalie or a backup.

Ultimately, the Oilers face a handful of burning questions this off-season.

Does Bowman try to offload Frederic's eight-year contract after he recorded seven points in 74 games this season? Do the Oilers try to find a legitimate top-six forward? Can any of the rookies take a step? Will Knoblauch remain the coach?

As they look at all these options, what is the voice in the back of their heads saying about McDavid? 

He gave them two more seasons on an extension. The plan was to offer another window to win with this core. In their first attempt to do so, Edmonton never found its high-end game and was ousted in the first round by an underdog Ducks group. 

No one will be surprised if whispers about him considering his next stop start to surface. But for now, he's with the Oilers under contract and likely going nowhere.

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