Oiler killers.

Growing up, it was a phrase used to describe the early 2000s Dallas Stars (we got you in 1997, though, Stars fans), the Minnesota Wild (the Wild won 17 straight home games against the Oilers from 2007 to 2011), or Patrick Kane when he played for the Chicago Blackhawks (Kane’s points per game are about 27 per cent higher vs. the Edmonton Oilers than his career average).

In my books, Oiler Killers are teams the Oilers struggle with, players who seem to up their game against the Oilers and goalies that become brick walls when playing the copper and blue. So, who are the Oiler Killers now? We looked at stats since the 2020 season to figure it out.  Note that these stats focus more on the regular season, which gives us an excuse to ignore perhaps the biggest current Oiler Killers of them all, the Florida Panthers.

Nikita Kucherov

Career Points/Game

GP vs. Edmonton

Points vs. Edmonton

Points/Game vs. Edmonton

Increase vs. Career

1.28

10

18

1.80

40.7%

Perhaps some of you will recall the infamous Hockey Night in Canada game that made a lot of headlines for the Oilers players praising the Lightning and their coach Jon Cooper after losing handily last season. Somewhat lost in that was a four-point performance by Nikita Kucherov that included a short-handed goal, an even-strength marker and two assists. Kucherov had a very quiet first period, looking disinterested at times. During the first intermission coverage, Elliotte Friedman’s feature was on Kucherov, with the expectation that he was going to wake up in the last two periods. And was he ever right?

Kucherov is among the league’s top scorers each season, but he brings it to another level when he plays the Oilers. Averaging over a point per game in his career, he has upped this to almost two points per game against Edmonton since the 2020 season. He is one of the players that your gameplan involves limiting chances and contributions more than a complete shutdown because you know he will find a way to make an impact on the game. So, how do the Oilers deal with him in their two meetings this season? Kucherov thrives when he’s able to set up on the half wall in the offensive zone. It allows him to find passing lanes and sift pucks on net if nothing is there. Keeping him out of this spot will be important to limiting his impact on the game. Forcing him to defend is the best way to limit his opportunities, so the Oilers might consider matching his line against one that can retain pucks in the offensive zone and force Kucherov to spend some of his shifts in the defensive zone. It’s hard to fully limit him on the power play when there’s inevitably more time and space to be had – the important thing is to not overcommit on the PK and instead try to........

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