The Edmonton Oilers will score goals this season. Equipped with one of the deadliest offensive arsenals in the NHL, in 2022-23, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman all finished the season with more than 30 goals apiece. I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to say this season the team might add another 30-goal man to the group, finishing the 2023-24 campaign with five active 30-plus goal scorers. That would be an incredible embarrassment of riches.
Who are the players that will lead this team in goals? Let’s take a look.
Connor McDavid Scored 64 Goals Last Season
McDavid decided he wanted to score last year, so he did. Urged on by his good friend, when challenged by Draisaitl to be a bit more selfish and shoot, the NHL got to see what a dangerous threat McDavid is to score on every shift, finding new and unique ways to put the puck past the opposition’s netminders. Now that he’s got a taste for it, expect McDavid to score 50 every season.
In fact, assuming he stays healthy, it’s hard to bet against McDavid putting up 60 again. He’ll come into the 2023 season with a new arsenal of moves he’s yet to pull out of his bag. His shot will be improved, his release may be different, and goalies just can’t predict what he’ll do.
The fact that he’s already called the captains in to get going on drills proves he’s motivated to win and winning includes him scoring.
Draisaitl is a Consistent 50-Goal Guy
Ending last season with 52 goals, if Leon Draisaitl hits 50 again, it will be the fourth time in six seasons he’s done so. In the two years he missed, he scored 43 in 71 games and 31 in 56 games. Had he played full seasons, it’s likely he would have reached the 50-goal mark there too.
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He’s the go-to man on the power play and there’s no reason for that to change unless defenses over-extend themselves trying to cover his shot. That would leave McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, and others open, so it’s logical to assume Draisaitl will still get plenty of looks. He scored 32 goals on the power play in 2022-23. Teams can’t stop him if the Oilers get their chances.
Zach Hyman Has Figured It Out
When you consider Zach Hyman had at least seven goals disallowed last season, you quickly realize that he would have scored more than 40 goals if just half of those markers hadn’t been called back. Hyman is tenacious on the forecheck, knows where to go with McDavid and Draisaitl, and is a net-front presence similar to Ryan Smyth. Now in his third year with the team, Hyman is more comfortable with the star players on the team and he knows what they want him to do and where to be. 30 should be on his radar.
Every time someone looks at this team and says it’s just McDavid and Draisaitl, Hyman will remind you that he’s a pretty darn good hockey player. He knows how to use the superstars to boost his point production, but he’s also the engine that keeps going when those superstars are having an off night.
Nugent-Hopkins Will See a Production Dip, But Could Still Hit 30
Just because he won’t score 104 points again doesn’t mean Nugent-Hopkins isn’t a candidate for the 30-goal club. He’s an integral part of the Oilers’ power play and his five-on-five numbers have improved. He scores in all situations and even if he were to see an 18% decline in his goal-scoring, he’d still have over 30.
Nugent-Hopkins can play wing, center, top-six, or top-nine and he can partner up with anyone and still produce. He’s the team’s quiet assassin. Expect him to have another big year.
Who Is the Fifth Player to Score 50?
The Oilers have three other legitimate candidates for 30 this season. Frankly, if the offense really clicks, it’s feasible that two of these players hit the 30-goal mark.
If Evander Kane stays healthy, he should have a bounce-back season. He scored 16 in 41 games last year, but it’s safe to assume that only a handful of those were played at anything close to 100%. His return from freak injury was admirable, but it’s clear he wasn’t the same player. That said, this is the same forward who scored 22 in 43 games when he joined the team in 2021. He’s got 30 in him for sure.
Connor Brown has never hit 30 in his career, but he’s never played in the NHL with McDavid either. These two are stoked to play together and Brown is going to get lots of looks early. During the 2020-21 season with the Ottawa Senators, Brown scored 21 goals in 56 games, which is just over a 30-goal pace over the course of a full season. This is a motivated player looking to do well and hit a home run this summer in contract talks. Expect him to shoot and crash the net.
The long shot here is Bouchard. No defenseman has scored 30 since Mike Green did so with the Washington Capitals during the 2008-09 season. Green scored 31 goals and had 73 points that season and it was because he was the quarterback one of the deadliest power plays in the NHL at the time. That environment is very similar to the one Bouchard finds himself in this season. Bouchard will have the entire campaign to launch bombs from the point and he’ll be encouraged to do so to make the NHL’s best power play even more unpredictable.