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Oilers Fans Optimistic: Project Oilers 9th In West

40 wins in 2014-15?

Derek Leung

Last week, I asked:

30 goals better this season means five more wins, or 10 more points. That's enough for a tie for 13th, but assuming the distribution of the teams surrendering those 10 points aligns with conference standings, it should be enough for 12th. But is Ryan right? Is he too pessimistic? For that we turn to the wisdom of crowds.

Ceteris paribus, how will the Western Conference finish?

The results are in:

Rank Team
1 Chicago Blackhawks
2 St. Louis Blues
3 Los Angeles Kings
4 Anaheim Ducks
5 San Jose Sharks
6 Dallas Stars
7 Minnesota Wild
8 Colorado Avalanche
9 Edmonton Oilers
10 Vancouver Canucks
11 Arizona Coyotes
12 Nashville Predators
13 Winnipeg Jets
14 Calgary Flames

462 responses later and the fans have the Oilers finishing 9th in the Western Conference. The jump from 14th in 2013-14 to 9th in 2014-15 is akin to a goal differential improvement of +66 and 11 additional wins.

The Oilers most common ranking was 10th, with 118 responses:

Mode Team Count
1 Chicago Blackhawks 192
1 St. Louis Blues 116
2 Anaheim Ducks 93
3 Los Angeles Kings 99
5 San Jose Sharks 116
6 Dallas Stars 132
7 Minnesota Wild 133
9 Colorado Avalanche 97
9 Vancouver Canucks 84
10 Edmonton Oilers 118
11 Arizona Coyotes 103
12 Nashville Predators 104
13 Winnipeg Jets 160
14 Calgary Flames 343

However, only Minnesota and Colorado received more 8th place votes than Edmonton. In fact, 56% of respondents ranked Edmonton either 8th, 9th, or 10th.

23% of responses placed the Oilers inside of the top 8.