The Oilers are winning, and the mood around them has not caught up

The loudest talk about the Oilers this week has been about mood and empty seats. The standings tell a different story. Edmonton sits at 9-2-2 through 13 games, and that is the number any slump theory has to explain before it gets going.

The record does not fit the mood

A team that loses two games in regulation in a month is not in a hole. The Oilers added to that record with a 4-0 win over Calgary, with Tristan Jarry in net for the shutout. A shutout in the Battle of Alberta is the kind of result that usually ends a debate about a team's pulse. Here, it did not, because the conversation had already moved from the ice to the stands.

The announced crowd for that game was 17,032. That is a visible dip for a building that sold out at a near-constant rate in recent seasons, and a rivalry night is the game where fans notice it most. It is a fair story. It is a business and fan-mood story, though, and it should be kept apart from the question of whether the team is good. Attendance measures what fans are willing to pay and when they are willing to show up. It does not measure goal differential, and it does not decide a single point in the standings.

The stars are carrying the load

The production explains much of the record. Connor McDavid has 36 points in 13 games, built on 8 goals and 28 assists. Leon Draisaitl has 24 points in the same 13 games, with 12 goals and 12 assists.

Look at how the two split the work. Draisaitl is the one scoring, with 12 goals against McDavid's 8. McDavid is the one creating, and 28 assists in 13 games means he is setting up teammates at a rate that lifts everyone on his line and the power play. When one star shoots and the other passes at that pace, a team can win a lot of games without everything else working.

That is also the fair caution. A record built on two players is only as stable as those two players and the goaltending behind them. Edmonton has used both Jarry and Devon Levi in net, and a team that rotates goalies a month into the season has not settled the most important position on the ice. The shutout against Calgary helps Jarry's case. One game does not close it.

What to watch next

The useful test for the Oilers is not the next crowd figure. It is whether the wins keep coming on nights when McDavid and Draisaitl do not both score or set up goals, and whether one goalie takes the job. If the team keeps winning through a quiet night from either star, the record is real and the empty seats are a pricing and sentiment problem the club can address on its own schedule.

If the wins start to depend on McDavid and Draisaitl scoring on every shift, the mood around the team will look more reasonable. For now the standings back the Oilers, and the stands are the part that needs explaining.