I think a lot of people were aware of not just how bad the bad defence was going to be, but the big holes on the PK before the season started. You can't lose that many penalty killers without replacing them. A lot of the scoring is drying up because the forwards aren't getting the same support from the back end and can't take as many chances if they know the puck is probably going in if it gets turned over. If someone pushes the Oilers to the perimeter, the Oilers seem happy to play a perimeter game and chip pucks towards the net for stats and fun. Desharnais will have a lot more impact tomorrow night than Podkolzin will.
I think a lot of people were aware of not just how bad the bad defence was going to be, but the big holes on the PK before the season started. You can't lose that many penalty killers without replacing them. A lot of the scoring is drying up because the forwards aren't getting the same support from the back end and can't take as many chances if they know the puck is probably going in if it gets turned over. If someone pushes the Oilers to the perimeter, the Oilers seem happy to play a perimeter game and chip pucks towards the net for stats and fun. Desharnais will have a lot more impact tomorrow night than Podkolzin will.