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Top NHL analyst gives Oilers shocking season rank heading into playoffs
Photo credit: Imagn Images
The Edmonton Oilers might have some concern heading into the playoffs with so many injuries, but top NHL analysts still have them as the best team in the league.
The Oilers have been the Cup favourites for most of this season, with their chances jumping to near 20% earlier this year. They're a bit lower now, but still the best team.
Top NHL analysts rank Edmonton Oilers as best team in NHL over this season
According to the near season ending rankings from Private analytics company SportLogiq, the Edmonton Oilers have the best expected goal differential in the NHL.
SportLogiq has the Oilers on top after 80 games of the regular season, and shows that their only negative month was February - around their losing streaks on either side of the 4 Nations Faceoff.
These rankings aren't directly a reflection of the best teams in the NHL, but they're quite close with expected goal differential. Essentially, the Oilers consistently have the best ratio of quality chances for and against.
While the Oilers are finishing the season in the top place, another look at the data shows it could've been a lot better. Their xG+/- sits near 0.8, but their actual number finished near 0.3.
That discrepancy suggests the Oilers' finishing or goaltending wasn't as good as it could've been this season, and sure enough, the data reflects that. Also according to SportLogiq, the Oilers lost 12 points this season on finishing and goaltending.
So far, the Oilers have scored 38 less goals this season than last. Connor McDavid alone has scored 33 less points this year from last year and has played less games. The drop in raw offensive numbers comes from there, and unlucky offensive seasons from many other forwards.
Starting goalie Stuart Skinner finished the season far below average in most categories, also affecting their differential.
Making sense of the data heading into the playoffs and next season
The data shows that on the year, the Oilers have still controlled play against their opponents, but underperformed on offence and in net.
The scoring will surely come back after a down season from McDavid, nobody's worried about that. If the goaltending can just get to average, the Oilers should have no problem handling any team in the playoffs.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 14 | 759 ANSWERS Top NHL analyst gives Oilers shocking season rank heading into playoffs Do you think the Oilers are still the best team in the NHL? | ||
| Yes | 418 | 55.1 % |
| No | 341 | 44.9 % |
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