The Oilers have won three of their last four games, demonstrating their recent strong play, but their two stars have not lived up to expectations.

Head coach Jay Woodcroft was fired by the Edmonton Oilers due to the team’s appalling start to the season. The Oilers’ lack of output from their two best players, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, is one of the many reasons they are in this situation.

Together, the two scored 3.4 points per game in the previous campaign, with McDavid taking home his third MVP honors. After scoring 107 goals in the previous two seasons, Draisaitl only has six this year while McDavid has just 13 points in 14 games.

“That’s what we were discussing the other day,” Draisaitl as stated by Mark Spector. “It has never happened that we both felt like this. This is a bad moment.

In his last six games, McDavid has scored three points, while Draisaitl had just two points in his previous five games before scoring six in his next two.

Not by any means to our standard, Draisaitl remarked. “It seems like things are a little harder now than they usually are, and that causes things to spiral a little bit. We care a lot because, well, we’re human. I’m trying to figure out my game as soon as I can.

The Oilers have experienced some postseason success in the last two seasons, following a few seasons without making the playoffs and multiple first-round exits. Three consecutive playoff series victories coupled with back-to-back seasons of 100 points have primed Edmonton for a major 2023–24 campaign.

A 2-9-1 start was undoubtedly unexpected, and until it became the only option, firing Woodcroft probably didn’t seem like a realistic option. McDavid was caught off guard by the move and will probably use the head coach’s firing as motivation.

We’ve been doing this for a very long time, listen. And we’ll return there,” stated McDavid. Even though everyone else may have given up on their faith, we don’t. We have faith in our group, in ourselves, and in each other.

In the end, Woodcroft was fired as a result of the players’ poor performance. The Oilers must make up for lost ground during the first few weeks of the season because they are aware of this.

McDavid has too much talent to stay in this rut. Even though he might not score close to two points per game this season, he should still be among the top scorers in the league and push 100 points once more. Even though he isn’t scoring goals, Draisaitl has begun to learn his lessons and is at least participating in them.

Although they might not be sufficient to propel the Oilers back into the postseason, Edmonton will be much more optimistic about its chances if both McDavid and Draisaitl are performing as anticipated.

The Oilers have won three of their last four games, demonstrating their recent strong play. When the calendar turns to the new year, they could be a formidable team if Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl keep up their current upward trend.