Division rivals play a huge part in determining the success of an NHL team. Throughout the rest of the off-season, we’ll look at how the Calgary Flames stack up against each of their division rivals heading into the 2024-25 season, continuing with their biggest rival, the Edmonton Oilers.
As a sports organization, athlete, or even a fan in general, there is nothing worse than seeing your bitter rivals flourish while the same type of success and progress hasn’t been within reach, unfortunately for the Flames and their fans, that has been the case when they check in on their neighbours to the north.
It was just a couple of seasons ago when the Battle of Alberta was competitive and at its peak. The Flames and Oilers split the 2021-22 season series with both teams going 2-2-0. That same season they went on to face each other in round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
To make matters worse for the Flames, it was being eliminated in that second round by the Oilers in five games back in 2022 which led to the departure of not only Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk but the ability for this franchise to continue building toward being a consistent competitive playoff team, and instead kick-started this rebuild.
Current state
The Oilers are coming off a wild season where they went from being last place in the entire league at one point to falling short by one goal in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers.
Making it to the Stanley Cup Finals and coming as close as the Oilers were to winning it all only increases that hunger and that motivation to win and you can expect that the Oilers are going to do everything they can to try and get back to that same spot.
2023-24 season series
Apologies for continuing to remind you all of that dreadful playoff series against the Oilers in 2022 but ever since that series the Flames have not fared too well against Edmonton only winning twice out of seven match-ups.
The Flames played the Oilers four times last season where they only managed one win in four games going 1-3-0. Not too much of a surprise considering the trajectory of both these teams with one on the decline and the other on the rise.
Game 1: 5-2 loss on Oct. 29
Game 2: 3-1 loss on Jan. 1
Game 3: 6-3 win on Feb. 24
Game 4: 4-2 loss on Apr. 6
Key additions
The Oilers have had a busy and interesting off-season so far, they have made some great moves and decisions and some not-so-great moves and decisions. They brought back Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Troy Stecher and Adam Henrique. They somehow managed to acquire the 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie from the Buffalo Sabres in return for Ryan McLeod. They also went out and hired previous Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman to replace Ken Holland and given the history the Oilers have had with questionable controversial signings in the past it’s not all that surprising they were the ones to bring Bowman back into the NHL.
- Signed forward Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year, $8 million deal
- Signed defenceman Josh Brown to a three-year contract worth $3 million
- Signed goaltender Collin Delia to a one-year contract worth $775,000
- Signed forward Jeff Skinner to a one-year contract worth $3 million
One thing seems to remain constant with the Oilers every offseason and it’s their inability to improve their defence and goaltending. They made some great moves to bolster their depth and build a strong forward group, but nothing that is going to improve the glaring holes this franchise has had for multiple years. Stuart Skinner smartened up after a rough round two against the Vancouver Canucks but with an .894 save percentage career-wise in the playoffs and the trouble he has with making that big save or getting out of a rut easily, it’s not very convincing that he can be the guy to anchor this Oilers team. On the defensive front, aside from Matthias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, it’s not very pretty for a team wanting another shot at the Stanley Cup.
Positional advantage
Forwards: Oilers
It’s no surprise but the Flames’ forward group is incomparable to what the Oilers have formed heading into the 2024-25 season. The Flames only have two true NHL centremen in Mikael Backlund and Nazim Kadri and as far as wingers go whether it’s Blake Coleman, Connor Zary, Anthony Mantha, Martin Pospisil, or Andrei Kuzmenko, none of them should be on a first line except Zary who definitely has the potential but is still transitioning into being a regular in the NHL.
It’s already tough to play against a team that has both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their prime and the past concerns about this team’s forward depth have now been more than addressed with all the moves and additions they have made throughout the off-season. The Oilers now have the best player in the world along with a very solid supporting cast. On paper, they have one of the strongest forward groups in the league.
Defenceman: Oilers
Aside from MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson the Flames’ defensive group is very weak. While the Oilers’ defensive lineup isn’t great, it’s still still stronger than what the Flames are rolling with. The Oilers’ first defensive pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard is elite. Ekholm brings in that shutdown presence while Bouchard provides playmaking skill and can be a threat offensively.
Things get a little problematic for the Oilers when taking a look at their bottom four defencemen of Darnell Nurse, Phillip Broberg, Brett Kulak, and Cody Ceci. Broberg, the 2019 eighth-overall pick who only has 81 NHL games to his name and only played 10 playoff games last season, is the only player out of those four to have a plus rating throughout the Oilers’ cup run. Nurse, Kulak, and Ceci finished with a combined minus-17.
Defence has always been one of the Oilers’ issues and heading into next season it looks like it will remain one as they continue to stay on the path of trying to outscore their problems. It’s very possible that the Flames’ bottom four defencemen could finish the season with better numbers than the Oilers’ bottom four, but because of how inexperienced they are at the NHL level it’s hard to predict how they will perform.
Goaltending: Oilers
It’s not hard to have a better goaltending tandem than Skinner and Calvin Pickard but right now the Flames’ main guy Dustin Wolf is a total wildcard. It’s tough to project how Wolf will perform because it will be his first full season in the NHL. Even though he hasn’t played many games in the NHL, he dominated the AHL for multiple years and has performed his way into being one of the top goalie prospects in the NHL. Right now, Skinner is a starting goaltender (at least on most nights) with more NHL experience.
Taking a look at the backup goalies neither of them has a significant amount of games played in the NHL. As far as cold hard numbers go, Pickard would be considered the stronger out of the two. Through 139 games played in his career, Pickard has a .904 save percentage and a 2.93 goals against average whereas Vladar through 75 games played in his career has a .894 save percentage and a 3.09 goals against average. It’s tight, but the Oilers do have the stronger goaltending tandem right now.
The Oilers are the better team in all three departments and they should be. The Flames’ goal this season shouldn’t be to try and be competitive with teams like the Oilers. One team is trying to win the Stanley Cup while the other is trying to secure a top 10 pick.
2024-25 season series
The Battle of Alberta will only take place three times next season with two of them happening in the first two months of the season:
- Oct. 13 at Rogers Place
- Nov. 3 at Scotiabank Saddledome
- Mar. 29 at Rogers Place
2024-25 prediction
The Oilers won’t make it past round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next season in their attempt to make it back to the Cup Finals.
