Mike Babcock has not coached a regular season game in Edmonton yet and the critics are already lined up, which makes the Oilers opening stretch matter more.
David Staples laid the whole thing out Tuesday. The fastest way to quiet a room in this business is winning early.
The schedule helps. Edmonton draws Vancouver twice and Seattle once to start, a detail Matt Marchese and Mike Futa picked apart on Monday's edition of The FAN Hockey Show.
Those two clubs did not exactly terrorize anybody. Vancouver finished 32nd at 25-49-8 with a goal differential of -100.
Seattle was not much better, landing 27th on a 34-37-11 record. Combined, that is the softest possible landing.
Marchese put it bluntly. Anything short of near perfect out of the chute, and there is going to be some explaining to do.
The history is what makes it sting. Staples notes eight straight seasons of rough starts, two of which cost Todd McLellan and Jay Woodcroft their jobs.
“Mike Babcock has not coached a game in Edmonton, but the pressure has already arrived. The Oilers' early results will shape the conversation immediately. In this market, winning is the fastest way to silence the noise.”
- Adapted from David Staples, Edmonton Journal
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Leon Draisaitl said the quiet part himself. This is a one or two year window, and the clock runs on the captain's current deal.
That captain is coming off 138 points. You do not waste a season like that waiting for October to sort itself out.
Because last spring already answered one question. Anaheim took the series in six games, and the Ducks finished with 92 points to Edmonton's 93.
Read that again. A team one point behind them in the standings ended their year.
The captain went -8 across those six games. Evan Bouchard landed at minus-7 in the same stretch, and neither number was about effort.
Futa put his finger on the actual issue. The lineup is solid, the goaltending is the question it has always been.
Tristan Jarry posted a .882 save percentage last season. Frederik Andersen is not expected back until at least October 20.
“The Oilers cannot afford another slow start with Connor McDavid's window narrowing. Babcock inherits a roster built to contend now, not to find itself in November. Every early loss will raise the volume around the team.”
- Adapted from David Staples, Edmonton Journal
Staples then lists what comes after the soft opening. Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Utah twice, Minnesota and Carolina.
Some of that is legitimately hard. Carolina piled up 113 points and Minnesota sat at 104.
Some of it is not. San Jose finished 22nd with a -41 differential and Los Angeles landed 20th.
“Edmonton's opening stretch gives Mike Babcock a clear opportunity to make a statement. The schedule may be manageable, but the expectations are not. A stumble against weaker opponents could turn the pressure into a full-blown problem.”
Six wins in 10 would be a solid start. But judging a coach on three games against the 32nd and 27th place teams is like grading a chef on his toast.
The Oilers went 3-0-1 against the Canucks last season and 3-1 against the Kraken. Nobody is handing out credit for repeating that.
Stan Bowman hired him in June knowing exactly how this market works. The first bad week in November is when we find out if either of them actually had a plan.
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Should Mike Babcock be under real pressure if the Oilers stumble through their first 10 games?
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