Oilers at Kraken, G39 2024-25

I grabbed the verbal from an old game summary from a decade ago to highlight the current line shuffling by coach Kris Knoblauch. We see from the old summary that the fourth line didn’t get much play, as Todd McLellan scrapped the depth trio for parts.

Knoblauch, like many Oilers head coaches of this era, has gone full McLellan at times with his fourth unit. I’ve never understood why management doesn’t use it as an outscoring unit, and really don’t understand why the current fourth line is sometimes ‘all the slow guys’ but with Matthew Savoie pushing and Noah Philp clearly earning a look, perhaps the Knoblauch shuffling we are currently witnessing is a harbinger for change.

The Athletic article today answers the question ‘what would Sather do?’ and suggests a currently available target of note. Article is here.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN JANUARY

• At home to: ANA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
• On the road to: SEA, BOS, PIT, CHI (Expected 2-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
• At home to: LAK (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
• On the road to: MIN, COL, VAN (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
• At home to: WAS, VAN, BUF, SEA, DET (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
• Overall expected results: 8-4-2, 18 points in 14 games
• January result: 1-0-0
• Oilers in 2024-25: 23-12-3, 49 points in 38 games

Three more games before the official halfway point of the season for these Oilers, and there’s a chance the team lands there with well over 50 points. It looks like this is a 100-point team with a chance to win the division. Music!

THE NUMBERS

The Oilers allowed the plucky Ducks back into the game with a poor decision along the blue line. It’s such an avoidable play, but Edmonton did it time and again last night.

When shutdown winger Gilles Tremblay joined the Montreal Canadiens in the late 1950’s, he told coach Toe Blake that he could be counted on to help keep the puck out of the net, but he wouldn’t be of much help offensively. Blake reportedly told him to look after his own end and “I’ll show you were the goals come from” and they were a highly successful coach-player tandem over the next decade.

Kids, if you grow up to play in the NHL, and play against the Oilers, spend time lurking around both blue lines. The Oilers players can’t resist, and the coaching staff can’t convince them this is a bad idea. Damndest thing. You’d think the parade of breakaways would sink in after a time, but we’ve been waiting about a decade and it is still happening. Baffling.

Stuart Skinner had a fine night (you’d like, but can’t count on a stop when breakaways occur, and there was a double screen on the other goal) and now owns a .917 save percentage at five-on-five since October 15. Calvin Pickard is at .915, I believe the Oilers goalie tandem represents value based on a $3.6 million cap number. There aren’t many of us left who are on Team Skinner, and Stan Bowman wants to put his stamp on this team, so we’ll see.

Darnell Nurse had a strong night, Jeff Skinner made a lovely pass (but his line wasn’t as good as was being hyped last night) and Leon Draisaitl’s winner continues a legendary season for the big man. Connor McDavid had zero points, zero shots and zero HD chances, so my guess is we see Zach Hyman on his wing soon.

Knoblauch spoke about his line shuffles and matching, but I’d like to see much stronger line matching as this season rolls along. Last night would have been a good opportunity to give the captain some clean air against a third pairing that was clearly sheltered, but 2:37 at five-on-five is a low total.

I wish Knoblauch luck in constructing a strong fourth line, I really do. I would suggest getting some youth (Savoie, Philp) on that line at some point, even for a brief audition.

Speaking of Savoie, do you remember earlier in the year when many comments suggested he was a young winger in trouble because the points weren’t coming? Do you remember what I wrote?

“Matt Savoie is in one of the best positions of any prospect in any NHL system. If he can avoid being traded in the next few months, there’s a chance he will replace a high-priced veteran on an Oilers skill line. That would mean lining up alongside one of Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.”

In the last six games, he has scored 5-7-12 for the Bakersfield Condors. If Kris Knoblauch really wants a fourth line that can outscore, I would suggest he find a forward who can score and go from there. Management has slow-played Evan Bouchard in the recent past, so I expect the same with regard to Savoie. That said, maybe we see a surprise recall in the new year.

All any team can ask of a prospect is that he play well enough in the minors to force the issue. I would suggest we are seeing that from Matthew Savoie.