Former Oiler Ryan McLeod's Hot Start With Sabres Puts More Pressure on Oilers Front Office

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Ryan Hall
November 9, 2024 (6:04 PM)

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The Oilers season is over a month old and it appears that the changes made during the offseason this past summer may have been too extensive as the team continues to struggle for consistency.

Then interim general manager Jeff Jackson went on a spending spree as he brought in several players including Victor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner while trading Cody Ceci, Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele another players in an effort to get cap compliant and have a new look for the Oilers.

It appears that these changes may have been too much as the team cannot find the consistency they had in the second-half of the season and into their playoff run. Jeff Skinner who was to help with the offence has only scored three goals through 13 games and he's only scored one goal in the past five games.

Arvidsson has also been a disappointment as he has only scored one goal through the same amount of games and he was supposed to be a player that was supposed to score at least 20 to 30 goals a year.

Fans look at trades like the Ryan McLeod trade to Buffalo and begin to grade how poor it looks due to the fact that he has 11 points in 14 games which would put him second on the Oilers in terms of offence. The player he traded for Matthew Savoie has yet to crack the lineup and will continue his time with the Bakersfield Condors.

The Oilers had another set back when they lost two of their younger players in Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to offer sheets from the St Louis Blues. Even though many feel that it was the right move to do, it's very hard on an organization who have spent time and money on these players developing them just to lose them to an offer sheet.

It remains to be seen on whether the Oilers can find their way back into their consistent ways and the team still has plenty of time to turn things around. But it's safe to say that the extensive changes may have played a role into how the team is playing and it just takes time for players to gel and begin to make an impact.