In the early fall of 2015, Todd McLellan was trying to figure out a way to use his three centers (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl) in the most effective way. His reasoning and his decision, is fascinating these years later.
THE ATHLETIC!
Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. I am proud to be part of The Athletic. Here are the most recent Oilers stories.
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Notes from Oilers’ scrimmage: McDavid flies, Jones adapts, Athanasiou stalls
- New Lowetide: Imagining the city of Edmonton with the Oilers in a deep playoff run
- Lowetide: Ken Holland’s roster construction options over the next five months
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Inside the bubble: Details on where and how NHL players will live in Edmonton
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Marco Sturm on Leon Draisaitl’s evolution and his impact on German hockey
- Jonathan Willis: Evan Bouchard’s AHL debut has him on track to become a No. 1 NHL defenceman
- Lowetide: Philip Broberg fortunate to arrive with Oilers under mature management
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: A ‘different’ Oilers initiation leaves Olivier Rodrigue wanting more
- Scott Powers and Daniel Nugent-Bowman: What to know from training camps as Blackhawks and Oilers prepare to meet
- Lowetide: Though shy offensively, Gaetan Haas is an intriguing playoff option
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Setting the record straight: Why Caleb Jones revealed his COVID-19 test
- Lowetide: Zack Kassian’s role on Oilers top line must include responsible play
- Lowetide: What should Oilers fans expect from Connor McDavid in the playoffs?
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers get good cap news: Long-term outlook is tight but workable
- Lowetide: Dave Tippett’s postseason strategy against the Blackhawks
BACK IN 2015
Todd McLellan: “I look at Leon Draisiatl, and in my opinion Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid are going to be #1 and #2 centremen in our organization for a long, long time, they’re that talented and that good. Not that Leon isn’t, but career-wise, he might love to be on one of their wings and playing in the top six rather than maybe being that third-line centre. I think it’s really unfair to peg him there, but we have to look at it from that perspective. [The defensive] responsibilities as a winger are somewhat less, his board work is quite good, and one of the things that impressed me the most about Leon is his ability to play on his backhand. Joe Thornton has incredible eyes and makes incredible passes on his backhand. For a young man like Leon, he did the exact same thing at our summer development camp, which is something I wasn’t aware of.” Source
McLellan ran some interesting lines and pairings in preseason 2015, including a fantastic trio (Hall—McDavid—Draisaitl) in the first pre-season game against the Calgary Flames. McLellan would move Teddy Purcell to the line with Hall-McDavid (trio would go 7-0 Corsi and 2-0 shots) while Leon landed with Anton Lander and Nail Yakupov (11-0 Corsi and 4-0 shots).
Dave Tippett’s first preseason game in 2019-20 saw him place McDavid with Leon and Kassian a trio that has played a lot together since.
Speed!
Yakimov is one of a pile of draft picks by Edmonton during the past decade who had foot speed as a concern. At last year’s draft, Philip Broberg’s scouting report suggested he was the best skating defenseman available. Edmonton took him. Here are the fast trains in this year’s draft:
- LC Tim Stutzle, DEL. Dynamic player, highlight reel offense. Tremendous skater.
- LC Connor Zary, WHL. Quick, smart two-way center effective across 200 feet.
- RC Seth Jarvis, WHL. Jarvis is a fantastic player, undersized and skilled. Big second half.
- LD Jake Sanderson, USHL. Smart, fast two-way defenseman has complete skill set.
- RC Jacob Perreault, OHL. Skates well, great shot, great numbers, excellent passer.
- LD Kaiden Guhle, WHL. Big defenseman has good foot speed and full skill set.
- LW Brendan Brisson, USHL. Undersized speedster spiked late. Big riser.
- RW Alexander Pashin, MHL. Small winger with impressive skill can score and pass.
- LW John-Jason Peterka, DEL. A speedy winger with skill, survived in a men’s league.
- RC Jean-Luc Foudy, OHL. Speedy center plus skill, mediocre season.
I don’t believe Holland and Wright will draft a defenseman but if Sanderson or Guhle are there it could get interesting. I think Holland will trade in to the second round for someone like Foudy.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning it’s a big day, TSN1260. The Seattle NHL team will be announcing its name. I’m going with Murder Sockeyes! We’ll talk to Geoff Baker from the Seattle Times about an exciting day in franchise history. Joe Osborne from OddsShark will set us up for opening day in major league baseball and we are searching for a Jays guest too. 10-1260 text @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Yes, I’m sure the nice zone starts they got when together helped their results.
If they were to end up as a line again though it’s very easy to imagine them sharing some but not all of the workload that Sheahan’s line gets now. They wouldn’t just be wholesale taking Sheahan’s zone starts (and they’d presumably be facing easier competition than they were when they played together as the 2nd line).
I don’t know – of course – none of us know anything that may or may not happen in the future – doesn’t stop us from talking about it. I base my opinion on factual background – i.e. previous playoff performances in a top league and championships won.
No, I’m not necessarily wrong. He may plan on splitting them but I have full confidence that, even if that is his plan (and I’m not even close to sure it is), a plus performance by the game 1 tender that contributes to the win would earn a game 2 start.
We don’t need to put a top-6 player at 3C, we need a 3C who can take defensive responsibilities away from our top-6. Ideally Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl would see their PK minutes reduced as well as their D-zone starts. They are 4th and 5th in both D-zone starts/60 and D-zone faceoffs/60, and 3rd and 5th in PK TOI, among forwards. It’s inefficient to have your best offensive players defending so much.
I wonder what it would take to pry Faksa out of Dallas?
jp,
I wonder if the results with Neal and Chiasson are partly deployment.
To my recollection, Tippett loves those guys for ozone starts. They seem to be fairly effective in that role.
Yes it is a bit like whack-a-mole, but that’s very often the way.
To be clear again, I’m not advocating for Nuge as 3C permanently. I don’t think it’s the way to the promised land and I’m fairly certain that Tippett doesn’t either.
At the same time I can see the logic to it and 3C/3rd line IS the weakest link on this version of the Oilers. I actually do think we may see Nuge at 3C at times during this playoffs, depending on the opponent. And yes, there will definitely be lots of line juggling and bench shortening as well.
I’ve been pushing back mostly on the idea that the Oilers don’t have the players to give decent wingers
to all of McDavid, Draisaitl and Nuge.
I pointed out earlier that Neal-Nuge-Chiasson had good results together earlier this year (as the Oilers 2nd line) and was met with “sure, play Nuge at 4C and put Khaira with McDavid”. Well Neal-Nuge-Chiasson did have good results as a 2nd line. Chiasson had good on ice results with bottom 6 players this year too. I’m not sure why they couldn’t be a saw-off 3rd line.
And seemingly everyone else here thinks some or all of Kassian, Athanasiou and Ennis aren’t top 6 quality players. I think they’re all at least in range, personally. All of them have actually scored like top 6 players in their recent (>1 year) pasts and their on ice results (with the exception of Athanasiou this season) have been decent/good. The Oilers *could* run 3 lines of wingers and I think there’s a legitimate argument they’d be a better team for it (at least in context of how the current 3rd line has performed).
All of that said, I agree all of this isn’t the optimal every day use of Nuge going forward, and it’s extremely unlikely we see it used for an extended period.
https://www.nhl.com/news/results-2014-15-oilers-skills-competition/c-745931
RESULTS: 2014-15 Oilers Skills Competition
by Marc Ciampa / Edmonton Oilers
December 28, 2014
FASTEST SKATER
Team Blue:
Arcobello (14.949)
Draisaitl (14.537)
Hall (14.617)
Team White:
Pitlick (14.772)
Klefbom (14.583)
Pinizzotto (15.035)
Leon Draisaitl wins the event with a 14.537 time.
=======================================
The previous year Hallsy won with a 13.9x, to add some context. We know he’s faster but it’s not like Leon is a slow skater. By any stretch. Also, Kelfbom ?
He won the fastest skater showdown his first year at the Skills Comp. Albeit no Hall or Connor present but still.
I would start Koskinen as well. Just pushing back against the notion that Smith is too old play well. He was very good in the playoffs last year.
It’s almost impossible to respond to garbage like this. Junior high crap.
I like Koski as the starter.
He was very consistent towards the end of the season by memory. And I just checked, in his last 5 games played he was 2 – 1 and had a .956 Save Percentage.
Smith went 2 – 2 and had a Save Percentage of ,895.
I like Smith coming off the bench, rather than as a starter.
Thing is there’s lots of outliers. Neal was never a great skater, yet he was an impact winger for years. Even Lucic is an example. He was a productive winger until his hands abandoned him. As an Oiler, he was slow, but managed to get to the right spots. He simply didn’t have the hands and skill to make plays.
I’m not advocating for Smith in the net, but he was the best player in Calgary during last year’s playoffs. That’s about as recent as you can get.
I disagree it’s bordering on elite, at least in so far as acceleration and top speed. However, this doesn’t address the argument as the point is that a drafting philosophy centered around skating wouldn’t have had us drafting Drai because his skating wasn’t great. Similar goes for many of the players succeeding in the NHL now.
The Canucks have caught up to the Oilers in your dreams only. Taking a long look at the quality of 26 year old and younger D there is no comparison. When you are trying to sell Brrgun Raftree as a bonafide top four D when the Oilers have four top four D with a number of others pushing there is no comparison. You really need to check our your bridge in case some other troll is taking up residence. When you talk forwards no other team has the top two scoring forwards. The Canucks are not even close in quality players except in your fantasy world you need to get real or get gone!
Yes we can tell they caught up with all those hart and art ross nominees they have right now
They just let one of the recent better amateur heads go to the Minnesota
They already mortgage their futures
Draisaitl’s skating may not be elite but it is way above NHL average bordering on elite.
jp,
It’s the biggest hole on the team so I can understand the desire to fix it. We’re still a little short on reliable forwards though… it really becomes a game of whack-a-mole.
Also I’m not sure how much trust Tipp has in Neal and Chiasson any more. Or maybe they just have to earn it back. Tipp seems to be the type who is more than willing to shorten his bench, (which is something Sather would start doing in like the first freakin period so I’m okay with it).
And we might see the Sheahan line on the outside instead depending how the two lines perform. I don’t have a lot of faith in that 3rd line either. Tipp will be keeping an eye on which one is going on any given night methinks.
What I’d like to see Tippett do is double-shift Connor and Drai with the wingers on the bottom two lines every second one of their shifts. Give AA 97 and 29 to the two slow boats.
OK.
First, I’m not trying to claim that Neal-Nuge-Chiasson will continue 55% GF in whatever role/minutes they’re given. Rather that we know Sheahan’s line got fed badly all year long. So attempting to curb that bleeding by using Nuge as 3C makes some sense at the team level.
Second, Sheahan’s line got difficult zone starts but their qual comp was not high (Sheahan was 8th in TOI vs elites of the Oilers 12 most used forwards this year). I don’t know what Neal-Nuge-Chiasson’s qual comp was either, but as the 2nd line I expect their TOI vs elites was higher than Sheahan’s (while their zone starts were clearly easier).
Yup. I think there was a group of us that thought that but the Oiler management didn’t bother to consult us.
Yes, that’s right, you don’t know.
And no, you’re wrong, if the coach decides to split them before the series starts, it doesn’t mean they lost Gm 1 at all.
The problem is—as I pointed out back in 2010, and 2011, and 2012—is the organization decided to build the forward group first.
I claimed then that there was no chance for that group of forwards to be successful till the D arrived, and because they were drafting them after the forwards, and because they take longer to develop, that would likely be when the Austins were in their mid to late 20s.
And here we are…
Have they though? They’re way behind the Oilers in cup odds. Seems more likely they’ve set themselves up for mediocrity again, as they have for the past 50 years.
I don’t think that the NHL pressure will get to Mikko anymore than the KHL pressure.
I hope they don’t split the first two games as that probably means the Oilers have lost game 1.
me too. Won’t be upset either way.
Well a big effort from him came just one year ago.
Kessel is 32 and his career is winding down. I think that makes a difference.
No it isn’t… and that includes “playoff pressure”. So we don’t know.
I’d tell both goalies they’re going to split the first two games in the opening series… Smith Gm 1 and Koski Gm 2, and that “we will go from there.”
You might want to start looking at how long teams have been rebuilding.
The Oilers rebuild started in 2010 when Taylor Hall was drafted.
The Canucks rebuild started eight years later when the Sedins retired.
The Canucks have already caught up despite not having four first overall picks.
So those that put their money down say the Oilers are the best Canadian team. And the Oilers Cup odds are exactly in line with their regular season finish?
And the Canucks are…. Ah, in group of teams that wouldn’t have made the playoffs in a normal year. How is that $25M bottom 6 working out?
motion seconded and… carried
7 years wasted. Two in the playoffs.
You might want to start reading some of the stuff you post
They are 2:1 favorites over the Canucks with their greatest player ever Brogan Rafferty
Arizona is moving to the Central Division.
What’s the word on reorganization of divisions? Do the Kraken join the pacific then and if so does Vegas go to the Central.
Fair enough.
And, if you believe those you put their money down, the Oilers core of McDavid and Draisaitl is far enough from a cup to make your eyes bleed.
https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/nhl-odds-2020-stanley-cup-predictions-title-picks-best-teams-to-avoid-from-top-rated-handicapper/
They lack a #1D a #2D, a reliable top six scoring winger, a #3C and the bottom six forwards get creamed whenever they’re on the ice.
Almost impossible to be so bad after picking so high for multiple years in a row.
– The problem was that Hall and Nuge aren’t in the same calibre as Drai and McD
– We were sold a bag of goods based on the promise that if we surrounded the “core” of Nuge, Hall and Ebs, with good players we’d be great. Those players weren’t the game changers a la Drai and McD, and the management were inept in terms of building a team
– Even perfect management, I never believed we had enough high end talent
– AnYak, by that point, they were in the teaching lessons mode. The management was poor, and they didn’t afford Yak the same nemates as the Steve Austins, and they couldn’t get enough good players. Yak’s best attribute was scoring, but they had enough scoring, he needed to be different
– Yak was a bust, Nuge pretty good, not an “all-star”, and Hall and management didn’t mix
– But that got us to McD. I don’t believe we win a Cup with a “core” of Hall, RNH and Yak: they weren’t collectively good enough, and certainly management had no werewithal to build
We all remember the 1st Overall Picks.
2 are still there.
1 was a consensus #1 Overall, but did not show himself to be an NHL player on 3 different teams. It was a weak draft and as much as the Oilers had a big hand in the failure of the player, the player also had many warts that he could not overcome. Very few teams would have been a good landing spot for him.
Taylor Hall was undervalued by his new GM and the trade was not a good one.
The Oilers did not “piss away” 4 first overall picks.
They “pissed away” one.
It would be great for the 3rd line to run at 55% GF. However, it’s worth noting that the line you mention was deployed as a 2nd line that saw 63% off. zone starts in it’s 121 minutes together. I don’t know what it’s qual. comp details were, but it’s safe to assume they weren’t taking on the top players given Tippett’s deployment of the McDrai line was often Power V Power.
Encouraging numbers came out of that deployment, but I have a hard time imagining them continuing to receive such favourable deployment if there are two lines ahead of them that are capable of scoring rather than the one from the sample.
The Canucks really are the Minnesota Vikings of the NHL
Just try so damned hard to be relevant
At least they have someone they can play with soon
I’ve never thought about that direct comparison to tell you the truth.
I think that, when Kassian is on and rolling, he is full value on that first line, he is strong, makes good plays and adds to the line (as oppossed to just riding coattails). He has shown to be quite inconsistent though and, when he isn’t on, he is poor defensively and makes mistakes that can lead to goals against.
It’s tough to argue with 27 goals in a season.
My only point was that straight out speed is often not as important as smart speed – first to arrive isn’t necessarily the best play. Maroon had a knack for getting to the scoring area at the right time.
I remember when the Oilers had FOUR first overall picks and pissed them away.
I live in Oak Bay which is as physically close as you can get to Seattle and still live in Canada.
I will go to some games in Seattle but will never, ever cheer for them over the Oilers. I would like to see them kick Calgary”s butt, however.
Nice
– I agree with this. Its true, but your missing the really driver, which I will get to
– Nuge since day 1 has been a golden boy: played always with the best players: from Hall to Ebs to Drai and McD
– My favourite RNH though was when he was centering for a brief time Jar and Pool
– He’s one of the few that crticized Coach about line-up shuffles, and not consistent linemates
– So RNH doens’t want to play 3C, becasue 3C’s dont’ get paid. As a result of RNH’s skill and results with always best linemates, he will command a lot of money in his next contract.
– He’s not going to accept less than elite money. Put him with good players and he delivers
– But untill he signs that contract with the Oil, he’s not going to accept playing 3C: It’s not reputation, or pride, it’s money.
– IKessel is happy lighting it up on 3rd line, becasue he’s betting paid 1st line $
And they both took pay cuts to walk away with 0 cups, too.
Now I’ve got to ask. Do you think Maroon was a better McDavid winger than Kassian is? If so, why?
The Saturday intrasquad game should be called “Being Colby Cave”! -).
Cave shoots. Cave saves. A goal to Cave, from Cave and Cave. Cave going wide on Cave. Drop pass to Cave. Cave slams Cave into the boards.
I remember when the canucks organization wasted 17 years of D. Sedin’s career and 17 years of H. Sedin’s career – 34 years, 0 cups.
I have full confidence in Dave Tippett to deploy Nuge in his lineup in a manner he thinks best helps the team win without having Nuge think he’s under-appreciated.