How, oh How Will the Edmonton Oilers Blow it This Time?

Well, folks, the Edmonton Oilers are back in the playoffs. What, do they want a parade?

Let's make one thing perfectly clear. This is the tenth year of the "Connor and Leon" Era in Edmonton. Hard to believe, isn't it? Yes, it's now been a full decade since the dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been leading the Oilers together. Let's look at how that's fared for them, shall we? Playoffs don't come to them until 2016-17, which is Year Two of the duo playing together. Not bad. Beat out the defending West champs in San Jose, and made it to Game Seven of Round 2. More's to come, right? Not so fast.

No playoffs the next two years, but 2019-20 saw the Oilers as part of the the 24-team playoffs in the bubble, where they were eliminated in the Qualifying Round by a Blackhawks team who was literally starting over. The following year was the shortened season with the Oilers in the North Division, and they were swept by the Winnipeg Jets, yet clowns decided to harp on the Maple Leafs for losing that year, even though they did better than the Oilers. In 2021-22, the Oilers finally reached the Conference Finals with that duo, but they couldn't win a game against the Colorado Avalanche, who started our backup goalie for most of the series.

2022-23 saw the Oilers go backwards; ousted by the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 2, but last year, they did it. They reached the Final. Finally, McDavid and Draisaitl had a chance to become champions. However, they fell behind 3-0 against the Florida Panthers. They did make it interesting, winning the next three games and moving on win away from a historic comeback, but Game Seven did not go their way.

So yeah, the Dynamic Duo's been together for all these years, and the result is a bunch of nothing. And they're back in this year. The Oilers are set to defend their Western Conference crown, but already, the Oilers fans are getting their excuses ready for when things go wrong.

The Oilers have been losing a few games lately, and already, Oilers fans are blaming injuries. "It's because Connor and Leon are out," they keep saying. Here's the thing. Those two were only out for a week. Oilers have spent a month losing games they should be winning. Plus, I've seen the Maple Leafs beat good teams without Auston Matthews. And they'll use this crap to say, "See?! Draisaitl should be the MVP!" You mean the same Draisaitl who, in a game where the Oilers scored goals, he had no points!? You mean that Draisaitl?!

But wait, there's more!

Fans are also blaming the goaltending as well. It has been shaky this season. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have been sharing the net this year, and the numbers have not been good for the most part. They only have two shutouts, and Skinner has both of those. Pickard has the higher save percentage, as Skinner's is under .900. Now I would sympathize with them, but here's the thing: they've had goaltending problems for about three or four years now. Yet they never really bothered to fix it because they feel that Connor and Leon are just enough, along with Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman. Yet it's my Avs that get called, "top-heavy." Here's the thing. We made it work in 2022. The Oilers haven't. They're not even bothering to try.

The Oilers are pretty much destined to face the Kings in Round 1 for the fourth straight year, but it's different this time. It definitely looks like the Oilers will start on the road this time, and that definitely means curtains for this season. I normally don't make playoff series predictions on Vocal, but I'll just say it: there is no way in hell that the Oilers make it past the Kings. Looks like the 10th season finale of Canadian Horror Story: Edmonton will have a much earlier date than Season Nine's ending.