What We Learned: The NHL’s biggest surprise this season




It's been the Edmonton Oilers.
The team just about everyone said would finish dead last in the league for the third consecutive year is, instead, first in cheap NHL jerseys the West with just two regulation losses in 11 games. Through the same stretch last season, they had just three wins.
So what's different? Looking at the roster, you would probably have to say "not much."
They've got many of the same players they did last year, including, obviously, the large number of young guys. In fact, 12 of the 25 players that have dressed for at least three games this season are under the age of 26. And while many of them aren't scoring a lot if at all, those that are have done so at an extremely high rate.
Obviously the contributions of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins(notes) — a team-high five goals and 11 points — despite getting shielded pretty well in terms of ice time and quality of competition (he averages a little under 16:30 a night against some of the weakest defenders other teams ice) can't be overlooked, but his running buddies on the so-called Kid Line seem to have improved considerably over the summer. Jordan Eberle(notes) and Taylor Hall(notes) led the team in points last year with totals in the low 40s, but now have 10 and nine, respectively. And in fact, Hall rebounded from what many saw as a slow start with one goal in his first six games pretty impressively. But because those kids aren't even the first line, perhaps everyone is overvaluing their contributions in the grand scheme of the Oilers' success.
How about Ryan Smyth(notes), whose return to Edmonton seems to have sparked a career renaissance? He's logging hard minutes against top wholesale NHL jerseys competition and, like Eberle, has 10 points. How about Ryan Jones(notes) eating hard minutes as well, even if he's not producing anywhere near Smyth's level (a result of his not getting much time on the power play)?
How about Shawn Horcoff(notes) with seven points in 11 games coming off an injury-shortened season? How about the fact that Ales Hemsky(notes), typically the team's top points man (he had 64 in 69 games over the last two years), has played just two games?
Then of course there's the defense, buoyed by a major contribution from Ladislav Smid(notes) and Tom Gilbert(notes). Smid is 15th in short-handed time on ice per game, despite all but one player ahead of him being on teams that take more penalties than do the Oilers. He's also tops in blocked shots in the league with 40 in 11 games.
Gilbert eats nearly 25 minutes a night against the best competition opponents have to offer, most on the team by about three minutes per game. Meanwhile Corey Potter(notes) has chipped in big-time San Jose Sharks jersey offensively with seven points in nine games. The whole team is third in the league in blocked shots with 184. It's crazy.
But that last bit plays a huge role in what is obviously the most important thing here. The starts by Devan Dubnyk(notes) and especially Nikolai Khabibulin(notes), have just been spectacular. The Oilers have allowed more than two goals in just one game out of 11 this year, which is an insane amount, all things considered. They allowed that few in just 24 games last year. And obviously Khabibulin will never be able to maintain a 1.12 GAA or a save percentage of .960 forever, and when he falters, the team's inability to score goals en masse will probably prove disastrous. Allowing just 18 goals in 11 games is all well and good, but scoring just 25 in that time isn't going to help anyone win over the course of a season.
But for now, the Oilers are an extremely exciting team, despite playing in a slew of low-scoring games because, as you might expect, it's all scramble scramble scramble every time the other team comes into their zone. Most changes look like a fire drill. And if that kind of play isn't your kind of thing, the games are always worth tuning in for if only to see the young, talented players' moments of precocious brilliance, which seem to become more common all the time.
Really, it would be great to see the Oilers keep this up all season, but San Jose Sharks #19 Joe Thornton Black NHL jersey that's unrealistic for a number of reasons. So let's just enjoy this fun, exciting team winning game after game after game while we can.