When a veteran in the room starts raising a worry, it’s important to pay attention. This is serious. And they don’t have much time left.
They will be okay.
This happens every year.
Just hold on until March, April, and May.
Isn’t that what fans of the Edmonton Oilers keep telling themselves? Isn’t that what the people on TV talking about hockey keep saying?
Sure, they will complain about ice time, mistakes, penalty kills, goalkeeping, scoring depth, and a bunch of other issues that hockey fans like to moan about, but no one really believes their team is about to have a big crash at the end of the season.
Nobody thinks they’ll miss the playoffs. Nobody thinks they’ll get knocked out in the first or second round.
They have star players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and one of the strongest power plays the NHL has ever had.
And they have reached the Stanley Cup Finals for two years in a row, saving their seasons when it seemed, just like it does now, that they were a chaotic team.
But as the losses keep piling up and time runs low, that team is still not performing. We’re not seeing any hint of the tough, smart team that made it through 11 playoff rounds in the past three years.
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