September 24th marks the last day the Oil Kings scored a goal on home ice…
Since the 2013-14 Memorial Cup run, the Edmonton Oil Kings have failed to finish in the top 15 for goals scored, a trend that’s unlikely to stop anytime soon. The WHL is cyclical, for most teams, meaning there’s quite a bit of turnover following a big playoff push, usually resulting in two or three years of mediocrity. The problem for the Oil Kings is that there isn’t a ton of offensive help on the way. Given they’ve finished just inside the playoffs for the past two years (an impressive feat), they haven’t had the option to add elite level forwards like a Peyton Krebs or Kirby Dach, both of whom were top-three selections in this year’s draft. In fairness to Randy Hansch and the rest of the Oil Kings staff, they have built up an impressive pool of defensive prospects, most notably Matthew Robertson who looks poised to be a No. 1 WHL defender not far down the road.
The Oil Kings’ scoring woes stem from a lack of production outside of their first line, and that’s been the case for a few years now. Over the past two campaigns, Lane Bauer and Brett Pollock became the go-to guys up front, contributing a combined 260 points, without any real production from the bottom nine outside of a couple 40-point seasons in 2014-15 from Andrew Koep and Brandon Baddock. This year is a bit different in that Bauer is centering two new linemates in Trey Fix-Wolansky and Davis Koch. However, the problem remains that only two of those players have been able to produce anything of substance, with Koch sitting at a 0.5 point-per-game average and not appearing to be the best fit on that top line.
The solution? Tough to say. They obviously need to acquire offensive prospects, and that may come at the trade deadline with both Bauer and Aaron Irving as potential trade targets for contenders, but that doesn’t help them right now. They have some dynamic pieces up front, including first-round import draft pick Artyom Baltruk, who has played a bottom-six role so far but looks like he could be a potential top-six winger. They also need to find some chemistry within the middle six, and that may involve moving Fix-Wolansky down, specifically to the centre spot to play alongside Adam Berg, while moving veteran Tyler Robertson next to Bauer.
It will be a tough test for the Oil Kings in the weeks ahead as they have a tough schedule, facing the Victoria Royals on Friday, then Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, and Brandon in the weeks ahead. The Oil Kings will need to find a way to score at home over this seven-game homestand, or they may find themselves in the basement of the WHL standings.
