Adam Proteau ranked the Edmonton Oilers top six forwards as the second best in the NHL. Here's why I think he's wrong.
Recently The Hockey News main site posted an article titled, Top Five NHL Teams With the Best Top-Six Forward Groups Entering 2023-24. It's a fascinating article that only has one surprise - the Edmonton Oilers are not the top team.
Adam Proteau lists three Canadian teams in the top five, the Ottawa Senators, Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs - the Maple Leafs being the number one team. On this list he has Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Connor Brown for the Oilers. For the Maple Leafs - Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Matthew Knies.
I vehemently disagree with this take for a couple reasons. The Oilers had a record breaking power play this past season, they scored the most goals in the NHL in 2022-23, and the Oilers group blows the Maple Leafs out of the water with their point production.
Oilers Power Play Is On Another Level
The Oilers absolutely dominated other teams when it came to the power play in 2022-23. They set a new record for power play percentage with 32.4%. They beat the previous record set of 31.9% by the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens. They are the only team in the last 20 years to have two seasons in the top 10 of all time for power play percentage.
Conversely, the second best power play percentage in 2022-23 belonged to the Maple Leafs with 26%. The 6.4% difference between the two teams might not seem like much - but every other team in the NHL was within one percentage point of the team ahead of them.
Oilers Scored the Most Goals in the NHL
The Oilers were first in the NHL in goals scored this past season with 325. The next highest team was the Boston Bruins with 301. The Maple Leafs finished ninth with 278 goals. That's 47 more goals scored by the Oilers than the Maple Leafs.
If we just look at points and goals for the two teams, we clearly see which team is superior:
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That's 205 goals and 496 points for the Oilers top six. Let's look at the Maple Leafs:
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Their top six scored 154 goals and 382 points - a 51 goal, 114 point difference. If it wasn't clear to someone before this assessment, it should be now - the Oilers top six is second to none.
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