What did the Edmonton Oilers 2016-17 edition look like 22 games into the season? Did that team have more depth, better options? What did the team look like and how much of an impact were the spring stars of 2017 have on the fall of 2016? Let’s have a look.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Analyzing Cody Ceci’s importance to the Edmonton Oilers and future deployment
- New Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021
- DNB: Brendan Perlini subscriber Q&A
- DNB: Oilers turn to Markus Niemelainen
- Lowetide: The Oilers won often in November, but is their roster built to keep winning this way?
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ prospect pipeline has produced 2 call-ups on defence this season. Who’s next?
- DNB: What I think and what I know about the Oilers through their first 20 games
- Lowetide: How promising is the Oilers’ Russian prospect pool?
- DNB: Could Leon Draisaitl score 50 goals in 50 games?
- Lowetide: How the Oilers most pressing needs have changed since the offseason
- DNB: Tales from the days Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard and Tyler Benson were minor league roommates
- DNB: For Emily Cave, Colby’s widow, a trip back to Boston is about memories, love and legacy
- Lowetide: Is the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl even better than we think? A look at his stunning historic comparables
- DNB: Philip Broberg’s first NHL game was as special as he’d hoped
- Lowetide: Philip Broberg is ready for his NHL audition
- Lowetide: Why Kailer Yamamoto is still on the Oilers’ No. 2 line
- Lowetide: Three auditioning Oilers who are finding their groove and hope to find their place
- Lowetide: Should the Oilers move Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the 3rd line?
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: PIT (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: LAK, MIN, BOS, CAR, TOR, CBJ (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: ANA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: LAK, SJS, CAL, STL, NJD (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-7-0, 16 points in 15 games
- Actual December results: 1-0-0, 2 points in 1 game
- Oilers in 2021-22: 16-5-0, 32 points in 21 games
This is the path I’ve chosen for the month, although with Darnell Nurse and Duncan Keith not far away it may land outside reasonable by new year’s eve. I’m still impressed the club pulled out a victory against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
2016-17 OILERS AFTER 22 GAMES (Five-on-Five)
- Lucic-McDavid-Puljujarvi: 57 minutes; 57% shots, 6.34 goals-60; 75% goal differential
- Maroon-Nuge-Eberle: 48 minutes; 68% shots; 3.76 goals-60; 60% goal differential
- Pouliot-Draisaitl-Caggiula: 10 minutes; 41% shots; 0 goals; 0 goal differential
- Kassian-Letestu-Pitlick: 20 minutes; 44% shots; 3.03 goals-60; 33% goal differential
- Klefbom-Larsson: 319 minutes; 54% shots; 2.44 goals-60; 46% goal differential
- Sekera-Russell: 213 minutes; 47% shots; 2.26 goals-60; 73% goal differential
- Nurse-Benning: 90 minutes; 54% shots; 4.01 goals-60; 75% goal differential
These are the totals after game 22 of the 2016-17 season for the starting group. We can see by the gap in minutes between defense and forward lines there was some major shuffling going on, Todd McLellan trying to find the rhymes. McDavid and Draisaitl had played only 22 minutes together by then, 14-7 shots but 0-1 goals.
McDavid’s big line before game 22 was Maroon-Eberle as his wings. In 78 minutes, the trio went 53.6 shot differential and 6-5 goals.
McLellan would settle on Maroon-Draisaitl for the heart of the season. The line went 543 minutes with a 54 percent shot share and 60.4 goal share.
MOST COMMON LINES, 2021-22
- Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto: 171 minutes; 43% shots; 3.51 goals-60; 62.5% goal differential
- Hyman-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi: 142 minutes, 53% shots; 2.94 goals-60; 58.3% goal differential
- Foegele-Ryan-Kassian: 78 minutes; 53% shots; 2.29 goals-60; 33.3% goal differential
The best line I can find is Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujarvi, roaring through 108 minutes with a 56.6 percent shot share, 4.99 goals-goal and a 63 percent goal share. Funny how often Puljujarvi shows up on a powerful McDavid line.
BALANCED SCORING
So I have this line in the sand for Oilers scoring and balance. It works like this: If the team is delivering satisfactory scoring across the group, there should be three players inside the top 96 at five-on-five per 60, followed by another three from No. 97 to No. 192, and a third group who rank from No. 193 to No. 288. Ideally, they are the players who are occupying those roles (first line, second line, etc) but it rarely works that way. Here are the current Oilers forwards and their ranks at five-on-five per 60 among the 384 most deployed forwards in the league this season.
- Leon Draisaitl 3.05 (No. 14) First Line
- Connor McDavid 2.71 (No. 30) First Line
- Jesse Puljujarvi 2.14 (No. 80) First Line
- Zach Hyman 2.10 (No. 84) First Line
- Zack Kassian 1.95 (No. 106) Second Line
- Warren Foegele 1.70 (No. 154) Second Line
- Ryan McLeod 1.52 (No. 190) Second Line (just shy of qualifying)
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 1.41 (No. 209) Third Line
- Kailer Yamamoto 1.05 (No. 279) Third Line
This is very good. Music! Hyman and Foegele are productive five-on-five forwards and that’s a big boost for this team. Puljujarvi is living his best life and 29 plus 97 are carving through the brush with lightning speed.
Young McLeod is a pleasant surprise, with Nuge and Yamamoto needing to pick up their boots and increase the pace based on playing with 29. Kassian has been productive through 21 and is playing on the No. 1 line heading into the second quarter.
I know the world is ending despite the 16-5-0 record, but if you’re a long suffering Oilers fan have a long look at these numbers. They’re majestic compared to the past.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we hit the ground running with a show that earns a Friday billing. Steve Lansky will talk about the Oilers, Brian Williams retirement and the Beatles special. Matthew Iwanyk will chat about the Oilers weekend, the CFL weekend and we will also have a CFL guest to tee up the East and West finals. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. It’s Friday, baby! Fill the beer fridge!
Yamamoto needs to give us more effort.
Remember people were calling him a gnat or a tsetse fly or wherever? He used to be a little buzz saw.
He too often takes offensive zone penalties.
A unique crowd in Seattle. A lot of hair!
Russels Evga took a kicking tonight.
Who was he Paired with?
of 50 evmin dmen
Only Top 10 Lagesson #9 1.13 evga is in the top 100.
At this point, when Nurse and Keith return, I would keep Niemelainen. We can really use his player type.
Kassian should have been benched after the Larsson goal. One of the most pathetic defensive efforts I’ve witnessed in a long time. I’m not even sure how he let Larsson walk in like that. Was it lack of awareness, slow reaction, disinterest? If he was benched the third goal doesn’t happen.
Yup – if Kassian wasn’t dressed last night, the Oilers probably win the game.
Tough homestand coming up. Some very good teams at 5 v 5 (Wild, Canes, Leafs). Slow starts will mean some drubbings are in store.
Not said very often, but a couple of poor decisions made by McDavid on that 6 on 4.
Yup – more throughout the game as well to my eye.
Nuge made the worst pass on it though (to my eye) and he was one of the few having a good game (again, to my eye).
Helluva victory for the Seattle fans. Gru was ungodly. Great finish to the game.
Fun game for sure, the Oilers keep the entertainment value high. Probably one of the highlight games for the Kraken fans in this young franchise history. (Haven’t watched them all though) Oilers are the better team right now, however, and I thought they dominated possession throughout that game. Skinner needs to stop at least 1 of those early goals and it’s probably a tie game.
Damn. Too many forced passes at the end. On to the next game….
Brutal…No excuses for losing to those bums.
Slacked off for way too long.
While i definitely agree they took way too long to get going, I can think if plenty of excuses, probably just as many as more as WSH, FLA and CAR who have all lost to the Kraken recently
Put the goalie back in.
Roughing. LOL!!
Holy shit. Larsson cross-checks Leon in the head.
Thanks Adam!
Solid third for Skinner. Shame he dug a bit of a hole for himself. Still coming out of it with some confidence and least.
Kassian dug the hole. Skinner was unable to fill it.
If Benson was in over Kassian, they may not lose this game.
Dear God how did Drai miss
Another massive save by Skinner a minute ago, didn’t realize how tough that one was.
Pujo just misses on the tip and than Gru robs him post-side
Jesse robbed! Ugh.
For how bad certain players have been in this game (Kassian, Russell, Barrie, and Skinner) this might be the best game I’ve seen Bouchard play. He’s started to exert his talent and ability. Great PK and then phenomenonal pass/shot to McDavid.
He’s been way more physical, too. A really good game for Bouchard.
Bouch’s placement is like an ace pitcher working the strike zone.Even when he misses he;s working something he saw or something he senses will be available.
Like Greg Maddux with a 95 mph heater
That Bouchard guy is going to be a clear #1 before anyone expected.
Constantly making a difference.
Takes it off the heel of his stick. So awesome.
Connor scores! Amazing deflection.
Well that was fortunate!
I know Niemelainen had no stick but that was a “walkabout” as one can get – yikes.
Yeah he chased the hit and abandoned the slot. Not his best moment of the night.
But it was a walk about with purpose, he plastered that fella.
Haha, never seen someone skate so hard away from the scoring threat.
Love Niemalien & Broberg (future D).
Lagesson doesn’t have it
Niemalienan is an unpleasant fellow LoL
Big stop there by Skinner, even if he’s been meh otherwise tonight.
Not a great penalty by 56.
They call interference when the puck so inconsistently when the puck is near the players feet. Yam didn’t do anything out of line with the way they usually call that. There probably wouldn’t even be a call if Lind didn’t go down.
Refs judge the play based on the player on the receiving end of the infraction, instead of the play itself.
I can see the call, but that was about 0.5 seconds after Lind missed the puck.
Yams is a bully
Niemelainen catches Donato with another big hit.
80 is amazing
Let him play 4th line wing for the rest of the season after the cavalry returns. Spend half a year nuking opposition D.
My mildly crazy idea box is never empty.
He’s been doing what I think they think KooKoo does lol
Broberg flashes his skill set.
Great play by Jesse there on the early back check.
SHOCKINGLY the 2 oldest Oilers are on LTIR 🥸
Oilers coming out with a better effort in the 3rd.
Great chance for Lagesson.
That 2nd line has some game for sure.
Kass sees the ice – paired with Perlini on a double shift with McDavid.
Skinner needed to make some saves. Not a lot of high end scoring chances from Seattle.
Why can’t the Oilers ever have a pick outside the first round that turns into something special?
They have.
BEAR = FOEGLE
MARINO = wouldn’t sign
MCLEOD = full time.young roster player
SKINNER = playing NHL @ 23
LAGESSON…. NIEMELAIN …
Foegele/Ryan/Sceviour gets the 3rd shit – I am hopeful that 44 is done with this game.
Does autocorrect discern that you use the word “shit” more often than “shift”?
Granted, as an Oilers fan, it would be totally justifiable.
Where was the urgency in their game before the 3rd
The Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujarvi reset seems warranted.
Why does Stauffer keeping calling the puck ‘the pill’? Who else calls it that?
Senior hockey league players 🤣
“RIP THE PILL!”
Him and Michaels use a bunch of ridiculous words and non-hockey terms and that. It doesn’t make any sense. Using football terms as if anyone cares what side the teams are on from his POV…mispronouncing basic names like Bouchard and Kulak and others.
Sure would give a lot for Rod Phillips and crew calling McDavid and Draisaitl’s prime years.
Rod was the man.
Off the plexi…good grief.
”Dasher…dasher…dasher…”
”Buttonhooks…”
”Interior pass…”
Ugh….
Too many bad defensive mistakes and goaltending that hasn’t been very good through two periods.
lol….Jesse is chaos incorporated on the forecheck
Putrid PP
Ugly looking pp to end the period.
Pretty determined effort by the Krak there. About as good as I’ve seen them play.
Give them some credit but our guys did not look focused at all. Leon with a sloppy back pass to Connor that missed. Nuge with a backhand no look pass to the point when the Dman wasn’t even in the zone yet.
McDavid is somehow out to lunch at the moment. This is weird.