Winners of 16 straight games and on the verge of making unbelievable NHL history, it's hard to believe the Edmonton Oilers were once 5-12-1 in 2023-24.

It's been an incredible turnaround for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the entire organization; the Oil haven't lost since Dec. 19, have suffered just three defeats since Nov. 22, and are two victories away from breaking the all-time consecutive wins record that was set by Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 1992-93.

Although everything is going right for one Alberta franchise, it wasn't long ago that Edmonton was floundering, leading to Jay Woodcroft being fired. Both McDavid and Draisaitl shared intriguing takes on the early season woes this week.

Belief was always there, says Oilers captain

“There's a lot of things that went wrong,” McDavid admitted to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek in the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast.

“You bring in a new coach, of course there was a sense of anxiety in the room. But I think with our group, there was always an underlying belief that was always there, that was never shaken, at least in my mind, and talking to other guys I think they felt the same way. That eventually we were gonna get out of it, we just didn't want to dig ourselves too big of a hole, it felt like we were on some free fall and we couldn't catch ourselves, and we just hoped we caught ourselves in time to be able to save the season.”

Draisaitl expanded even further on McDavid's thoughtful comments.

“When you're in a situation like that, you go into every game like ‘this is the game where we're going to turn it around. This is the one,'” asserted the German superstar. “And we go out and just lay an absolute egg. … It felt like we couldn't play hockey anymore, it was crazy.”

Certainly interesting comments from two of the best players in the National Hockey League. But it goes to show how much parity is in the league, and how ridiculously good Edmonton has been over the last two months.

Just as the Oilers were being considered an afterthought in the Western Conference, they've now surged to 29-15-1 and third place in the Pacific Division. Without a doubt, this is a Stanley Cup favorite again.

But first, a chance to tie history against the Vegas Golden Knights on the strip Tuesday.