The Edmonton Oilers will ice the two deadliest line combos in the NHL

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Finnegan Frost
September 20, 2024 (10:30)

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Things are starting to look bright for the Oilers as the team have been rolling their preliminary lineups throughout training camp.

With the offseason additions of Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, the Edmonton Oilers now enter this upcoming season with a legit top 6. Every single player on the Oilers 1st and 2nd line are proven 30+ 40+ goal scorers, and other NHL teams should be absolutely terrified of the Oilers.

According to Jason Gregor, With the addition of Jeff Skinner, the Oilers now have four of the top-20 most productive 5�5 scorers over the past three seasons. That isn't a small sample size, and if the goal is to give Draisaitl a more consistent producing winger at 5�5, then sliding Skinner on his left wing is ideal.

Skinner has always been productive at 5�5. He's scored 27 goals twice at 5�5, had 25 goals in 2022 and 2023, and he's produced the 20th most points in the NHL at 5�5 the past three seasons. In that time he played 1983 minutes with Tage Thompson, which was 63.7% of his total TOI. I believe both benefitted from playing with each other, and I expect the same with Skinner and Draisaitl.

I hope Knoblauch gives the top 6 an extended look together because having two dominant lines 5�5 could make the 2024-25 Edmonton Oilers even more dangerous than before and they could become only the 10th team in the salary cap era to score 200+ goals at 5�5.

The NHL should be on high alert this season regarding the Oilers. Not only does our top 6 lineup look unmatched, our bottom 6 forward lineup looks equally as formidable.

source: Oilers Nation
Oilers hit the ice with potentially two dominant duos