But there’s at least one more crucial on-ice piece to the rise of the Edmonton Oilers this year: the improved performance of the team’s defencemen. HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPARISONSIn three major categories of underlying numbers (Corsi, individual scoring chances and individual Grade A scoring chances), Oilers defencemen are doing better this year. This holds true in 31 out of 35 comparisons of underlying numbers of Oilers defencemen season to season. But the biggest shot in the arm for the Oilers on defence has been the addition of Adam Larsson. He represents a massive improvement, with the Oilers having gone from a weak link in that top right defence spot to having a solid player there.

Source: National Post February 02, 2017 17:31 UTC