Oilers and Canucks playoff preview shows Oilers' shocking odds to win

With the injuries sustained by Demko and DeSmith, the Canucks are already very short handed playing against the Oilers. They are having to run with rookie goalie Arturs Silovs against the high powered Edmonton offense, which is why the Canucks are huge underdogs coming into the series.

The Canucks also don't have nearly as much playoff experience as the Oilers do, as most of their core is still relatively young. The Canucks have their run from 2020, but other than that have missed the playoffs in the other 6 of the past 7 seasons. They are not a gritty team like the Oilers have changed their roster to be, and most likely won't be able to survive long in a postseason run, especially without their true star in net in Thatcher Demko. This seems to be public opinion, as ESPN ran a poll on the series length and winner where the results weren't even close.

Public betting odds heavily favour the Oilers as well as favourites under -200.

The Oilers will still be in for a good series however, as the Canucks went 4-0 over the Oilers in the season. The Canucks are still a very good team and if Elias Pettersson ends up showing up in the second round it could make it very close. The only issue for the Oilers is that the Canucks are great at shot suppression, so it may be very hard for the Oilers to generate some good chances. The key for the Oilers will be to exploit Silovs' lack of experience to be able to pass the Canucks and make another Conference Finals appearance.