Edmonton has played really well so far, and this isn't meant to completely discount their success, because again, they've played well, but...

In 9 games so far, they've only played 2 games where their opponent was a team that made the playoffs last year.

Special teams will carry them, other aspects of the game will eb and flow, they've played 2 teams with winning records as of today and lost to one of them. So the rampage may not be as rampagey as you think.. Good team no doubt but let's not get ahead of ourselves on the d play terrific, 23 GA against a lot of teams that aren't supposed to score a lot.

Holland has stated that he feels the next step for the Oilers is to be well within the top ten at the end of the regular season. At 8-1-0, with a +16 goal differential, it looks like the team is headed in that direction. However, they still have 90% of the regular season left to play.

I've watched all nine regular season games they've played and can see they have a deeper lineup, have improve defensive zone puck retrieval, and are playing with more aggression in the offensive zone. That's all good, but as stated previously, the competition has not been top-tier. Yet, in most games, there have been lengthy stretches during which the Oilers have been outplayed. This cost Edmonton their one loss. Carter Hart was outstanding and Edmonton could not outscore the Flyers that night. Thatcher Demko also put in a very strong performance that could have cost Edmonton another loss, if not for some luck and a great performance by Koskinen to secure the win.

In the past the coach has said he liked some things that the team has done, but there are areas of their game they need to clean up and improve. Last night, after the game against Nashville, Tippett took questions from the media and made it clear that his team needs to improve puck management in the defensive zone. I think if the players can do that on a consistent basis, and goaltending remains strong, the Oilers should finish 8th, or better, in league standings.

very insightful, thank you for commenting!