The Edmonton Oilers have waited a long time for this.
It has been more than a decade since the Oilers made the playoffs, despite drafting first overall four times and changing general managers, coaches and owners. This season, they are finally competitive, sitting in third place in the Western Conference as we head down the stretch toward the postseason.
All of the advanced stats point toward Edmonton's results being sustainable. Since shot attempts started being tracked by the NHL in 2007-08, the Oilers have never ranked in the top half of the league in any season. Currently, Edmonton sits in 15th place, taking 50.5 percent of the total shot attempts in their games. Their goal scoring and goaltending have also been playoff-worthy: The Oilers have scored the second-most goals in the Western Conference and sit eighth in 5-on-5 save percentage.
