What the Oilers could learn from the Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers came into the season listed among the favorites in their respective conferences to reach the Stanley Cup Final - quite a laurel, considering where both teams were a few seasons ago.

Fast-forward to the second week of January, and only one of these teams remains in the hunt for a championship berth - while the other might soon be getting ready for yet another plum seat at the draft lottery.

While Maple Leafs fans continue to enjoy seeing their team jockey for position at the top of the Eastern Conference table, Oilers supporters are deciding which guy they want to see fired this week. It's an incredible divergence between two franchise that entered 2017-18 full of hope and promise following stronger-than-expected playoff showings last season.

So, what exactly went wrong for the Oilers? And what can they learn from a Maple Leafs team that has mastered its rebuilding process to the point where it finds itself a Stanley Cup contender just two seasons after stumbling to the worst record in the NHL?

Plenty, as it turns out. And while there's a tongue-in-cheek element to this post, it's fair to say nearly everything that has gone right for Toronto this season has gone horribly wrong for Edmonton.

Your star center can't do it all

Connor McDavid might be a better overall player than Auston Matthews, but that hasn't made a lick of difference in the standings. In fact, while McDavid has emerged as the only reliable scoring option in an otherwise inept Oilers offense, the Maple Leafs have already shown they can score in bunches even with Matthews on the shelf due to injury.

Consider that Toronto has 10 players with at least 20 points, while Edmonton boasts just five. The Maple Leafs have four skaters who have surpassed the 14-goal mark, while the Oilers have just two. Balanced scoring is critical, and Edmonton is getting nothing in that department, having scored just four goals over its past six games while going an unsurprising 1-5-0.

Solid goaltending matters

It took some time for Frederik Andersen to find his form, but he has emerged as one of the league's top netminders since the beginning of November, going 16-8-2 with a 2.36 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts. He's a major reason why the Maple Leafs haven't lost more than three games in a row at any point during that stretch.

Things haven't gone nearly as well for Edmonton netminder Cam Talbot, who put together a sensational 2016-17 campaign but has been a shell of that player this season. Not only are his 3.09 GAA and .902 save percentage the worst marks of his career, he has been downright abysmal so far in 2018, going 1-4-0 with a 3.59 GAA and a woeful .885 save percentage.

Don't ignore special teams

With a few exceptions, successful franchises excel in at least one area of special teams. And the Maple Leafs have been terrific in that regard, coming into Thursday ranked eighth in power-play conversion (20.9 percent) and fourth in penalty killing (84.8 percent). It's an extension of their success from last year, when they were second and 10th, respectively.

As for the Oilers ... it's bad. Their 16 percent power-play success rate ranks 26th out of 31 teams - a long, long way from their fifth-place showing last season - and they've been even worse on the penalty kill, sitting in the NHL basement at 71.4 percent. And things are getting worse, with the Oilers having surrendered nine power-play goals in their last seven games.

Play your cards right

Both teams have been blessed with a trove of talented forwards - but you wouldn't know it by looking at the Oilers' roster. In just over a year and a half, Edmonton has traded two former No. 1 picks (Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov) and a fellow first-rounder (Jordan Eberle) for a reliable but offensively challenged blue-liner (Adam Larsson), an erratic young center (Ryan Strome), and a former fourth-rounder toiling in the ECHL (Zach Pochiro).

Since beginning the rebuilding process, the Maple Leafs have had to deal with bouts of inconsistency from young forwards Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Nazem Kadri. But rather than send them packing, Toronto opted to hold onto them, bolstering its goaltending, defense, and forward depth in other ways. Given the way all three have embraced pivotal roles up front, it's safe to say the Leafs are happy they did.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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