That defence is ranked 32nd in the league, behind the Vancouver Canucks, you should feel ashamed

Ranked before ever setting foot as a unit on the ice? Not that I love it, but probably early to conclude how a turned over defensive corps will perform.

Forward group is definitely better. Hyman and Foegele bring energy and are good puck hounds. Waste of talent having Holloway play 4th line and Kassian in top 6. The D-core will put up goals but concede more, none of those D-men are known for their defensive play besides Keith (Sam could be but is unproven in NHL). Goaltending is still atrocious. Mike Smith is not the answer

Forward group looks better for sure. Guess that's it for Chiasson. The loss of Larsson is huge in my view. The D core looks average at best, (Did they even give David Savard a phone call?) and the goaltending... well....I like Smith, but another year of Koskanen? Seriously? Thought he'd be bought out, and they sign Mrzak. I guess the Oilers plan to win by 8-7 scores during the season, but as far as playoffs go...yikes... They will likely have to trade prospect(s) and/or picks to upgrade the D core, since cap space is now down to next to nothing. If they elect to do nothing, would be another 1st round exit from playoffs. Pacific Division is weak, so think they can get into the playoffs at least.

Edmonton fans say that EVERY year.

And every year they forget about the incapacity of their defence to defend, stay blind to their abyssal goaltending and overestimate the contribution of fringe players on their bottom 6.

Bottom line, they added Hyman and now have 4 good players. First round exit written on the wall. Again.

Alot of shade being cast, particularly toward the defence and goaltending. People are entitled to their opinions.

FWIW, the Oiler defence ranked 12th last season, Nurse and Barrie remain in the top 4, Keith & Ceci should be an upgrade over Larsson & Kulikov/Russell/Lagesson/Jones/Koekkoek, and Bouchard absolutely is a bigger, stronger, more talented RHD than Bear.

Koskinen struggled with inconsistency, but his stats were actually quite strong while Mike Smith was healthy and the goalies shared the workload. Smith was ranked fourth among all goaltenders. Age, health, and consistency are the concerns this year, not talent or ability.

well yes. that's because most oilers fans are completely clueless.

The defense has down graded big time. Keith was a terrible add. And trading Bear to sign Barrie/Ceci was also stupid (Ceci is still a good player Bear is just better and cheaper). Goaltending is completely random lol so I'm not really mad that we didn't crazily overpay for one. And our bottom 6 unlike years before is actually competent now. Foegele and Derek Ryan were some great pickups while guys like Benson and McLeod are also available.

I see the roster being very fluid on the wings. I would assess as a whole. It’s interesting guys like Farabee and Necas both started down in the lineup. Don’t see it as a waste.

I could see this team securing a playoff spot then spending a 1st round pick on a pending UFA to bolster either G or D. As it is now, yea probably a 1st round exit, 2nd at best.

Defending wasn’t their downfall in 2020-21. In 2019-20 only in the playoffs and largely because of injuries.

In 2020-21 The bottom six had something like 30% of goal share, being close to worst in the league and probably same the year before.