On October 30, the Edmonton Oilers received some good news: the worst case scenario was avoided regarding the ankle injury suffered by Connor McDavid against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 28.

Related: The Oilers’ poor start this season plays like a repeat of 1 year ago

No matter how long McDavid is out (two or three weeks), the Oilers will need to step up and fill the void left by the best hockey player in the world. The team has the power to win games without their captain, but their mentality is concerning. New additions to the team such as Viktor Arvidsson And Jeff Skinner haven’t found their rhythm. Goalkeeper Stuart Skinner seems lost several evenings. And, overall, the team seems out of sync, especially when compared to the focused group that reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Oilers’ first 10 games were disappointing

Through the first 10 games of the season, the Oilers have looked nothing like last season’s Western Conference champion team. The team needed a wake-up call and, unfortunately, it might have taken losing McDavid to refocus.

Players like Leon DraisaitlZach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins especially need to improve their offensive game. Draisaitl stepped up his efforts McDavid was last injured for an extended period of time and ended up winning the Hart Trophy during the 2019-20 NHL season. Can he start again? He will lead a new power play unit, which has been underperforming all season.

There’s no better time than now for Hyman to step up his efforts. He currently has one point in 10 games. which is not enough. You can see he’s trying but nothing is going into the net for him. He will have to start finishing, and even prove to many that he is a great player without McDavid giving him the puck.

The other leader on this team who needs to improve his game in McDavid’s absence is Nugent-Hopkins. The former 100-point man has four points in 10 games and looks like a shell of his former self. Is age and the wear and tear of 13 seasons in the NHL starting to catch up with the likeable forward? Maybe. But he’s still relatively young at 31, and based on his performances over the years, there must still be something left in the tank. This would be a great time for Nugent-Hopkins to break out of his early season slump.

Oilers not living up to their potential, even with McDavid

Much has been said about the Oilers’ poor defense and goalkeeper this season, and their special teams are nowhere near where they could or should be. Will Skinner or Arvidsson replace McDavid on the top power play unit, or will head coach Kris Knoblauch completely revamp his power play and penalty kill units? I wouldn’t be surprised to see a player like Vasily Podkolzin get a power play. He’s shown some flashes of physicality and maybe he’s what it takes to score some dirty goals up front.

There’s no excuse for a team with this much firepower to shoot blanks so often. Maybe the barrage will open up in terms of goals because they’re getting a lot of shots on goal, but it seems like the puck isn’t going in. So far, the team has not played as a cohesive unit. , with the exception of a few games. Dealing with the adversity of losing your best player can sometimes have a positive effect on a team’s mentality. Individually, they may know they need to go deeper, focus more and play hard for their injured captain.

The Oilers franchise knows what it takes to build a team when it loses a leader. Take the example of 1989-90. A season after losing Wayne Gretzky in a trade to the Los Angeles Kings, the Gretzky-less Oilers, under captain Mark Messier, shocked the hockey world by winning the Stanley Cup in 1990. If this current group of Oilers are looking for answers, maybe all they need is a brief history lesson on how this Oilers team came together and accomplished great things without the greatest player in the world on their team .

November schedule will be difficult for the Oilers

November will not be an easy month for the Oilers. They will face the Calgary Flames on the road on November 3 before returning home to face the New Jersey Devils on November 4. Those games will be followed by the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on November 6 and the Vancouver Canucks on Hockey Night in Canada on November 9.

It’s been a busy schedule with McDavid on the ice, but there’s no better time than now for the team to come together. If they can play .500 hockey without McDavid, that should be considered a success. If they go on a winning streak, it could mean they’ve finally turned a corner in the season. Hopefully, with or without McDavid, they can get on a winning streak and put early season disappointments behind them.