The Edmonton Oilers swept the brief road trip, led by Leon Draisaitl’s 1-1-2 in each game and combined 11 shots on goal. Even the most biased observer has to admit No. 29 is the de facto leader in the Hart Trophy race, and should add a pile more hardware if he continues to play at this brilliant level. The rest of the roster struggled at times and my goodness this group needs home for a rest.
The Athletic article today looks at goaltending. It is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN FEBRUARY
- At home to: TOR (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: STL, CHI (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- At home to: COL (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: PHI, WAS, TBY, FLA (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected results: 5-3-0, 10 points in 8 games
- January result: 2-1-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 34-15-4, 70 points in 52 games
Everything’s coming up Oilers at this point in the season. You could make the case the club was lucky to win both games on the trip, and Edmonton struggled at times during both contests. That said, the Glimmer Twins and Evan Bouchard, with some support from a few veterans who have been lagging, won the day both nights.
THE NUMBERS
I wanted to write that anyone can play with Leon Draisaitl and score these days, but that would be unfair to Jeff Skinner. Since January 1, he owns a 3.52 points-60 at five-on-five, and that includes 2.01 goals-60. In the 12 games he’s played since January 1, Skinner’s five-on-five goal share is 8-2, 80 percent. Music! At this point, if Stan Bowman traded him it might cause a riot.
Keep your powder dry is a thing.
Viktor Arvidsson also scored 1.84 points-60 since January 1 and seems to be coming around slowly. He is at 56 percent goal share since January 1.
Evan Bouchard is at 68 percent goal share in that time, Darnell Nurse 56 percent. John Klingberg, in four games, is 3-1 goals.
I thought Calvin Pickard played well. I never ever know what people think about Pickard after a game, but for me the issues last night were mostly about fatigue and coverage.
I wanted to comment quickly on Connor McDavid and his season. He’s a brilliant player and is on pace for 110 points, but he’s not quite the player we’ve seen all these years. My guess is injury and the long season, but placing things in context, his five-on-five points-60 since January 1 is stark for the best player in the world:
- Jeff Skinner 3.52
- Leon Draisaitl 3.23
- Corey Perry 2.37
- Vasily Podkolzin 1.94
- Zach Hyman 1.86
- Viktor Arvidsson 1.84
- Kasperi Kapanen 1.78
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 1.67
- Connor McDavid 1.65
- Adam Henrique 1.59
- Noah Philp 0.84
- Mattias Janmark 0.61
- Connor Brown 0.59
When we talk about the coach playing Draisaitl with McDavid, this year it might just be to optimize McDavid’s minutes. That wasn’t always the case, but the numbers suggest it is this year. McDavid, for the season, is scoring 1.13 goals-60 and 3.38 points-60 with Draisaitl. Without 29? He’s at .71 goals-60 and 2.00 points-60.
This morning, at five-on-five, McDavid’s points-60 is 2.53 including all linemates. It is the lowest total of his career.
His goal share without Draisaitl (and excluding those early Jeff Skinner minutes) is 52 percent. His line is scoring 2.67 goals-60. Last year it was 4.07 goals-60 with a 59 percent goal percentage.
It’s Thursday so we’ll hammer Oilers talk senseless and also chat NBA trade deadline. PLUS, there’s a Super Bowl to be played! Guests include Bagged Milk from Oilers Nation and we’ll dig deep on the NBA with Declanations, too. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio, Radioplayer Canada, it’s available post-show on apple and spotify, and we tweet it out on X.
With 81 points in 54 games, Draisaitl is avraging exactly 1.50 points per game, & is leading the league in points.
Compare & contrast to 2021 season, when Drai scored 84 points in 56 games, exactly 1.50 per game, & finished a solid second in league scoring… a mere 21 points behind McDavid! #97 scored 25% more points than the runner-up, & a staggering 52% more than the nearest non teammate (Brad Marchand, 69 points).
Starting to think Connor has peaked as a point scoring machine, though i have little doubt he will remain highly productive for the foreseeable future. The focus of each season will be geared towards the playoffs.
Not sure what KK is thinking sometimes. In no way should Corey Perry be playing back-to-back games(or on the first line for that matter). He had nothing going last night. Give the old guy a break and keep him fresh. Maybe the upcoming Nations break played into the decision making, but as a rule, Perry shouldn’t be subjected to the rigors of back to backs.
Prospectuous!
It’s prospect vs. prospects tonight as the House of Stone opposes the Birds of Fire.
Stonehouse’s scoring rate since becoming a Pete hasn’t improved much. He has 3+2 in 10 games with his new squad. (It also doesn’t help when their leading point-getter has only 27 in 46 GP.)
Now that Nicholl has gotten off his schneid, perhaps Clattenburg can do likewise as he has gone nine games goalless.
Day-man’s play has improved lately with six GA his last 3 games. On the season, he has a 3.10 GAA with an 88.9 SV%. Will that be enough to earn him a contract later this year? We wait.
The Flint/Stonehouse match will be a yabba-dabba-doo time when the puck drops at 6 p.m. Chisholm time.
82 game point pace in the last 3 months:
131pts — Connor McDavid (1st in NHL)
130pts — Leon Draisaitl (2nd in NHL)
Dear McDavid, pick it up pal.
Ha. Perspective!
Maybe the Oilers should negotiate that McDavid can’t get a higher percentage of the cap on signing than Drai got? You know, given Drai is the best player in the league this season, not McDavid????
I kid – $16M-$17M X 8!
Sit down say hey, we will give you what you want. Period. But what is that exactly? 17M? Better players on the 3rd 4rth lines? Whats most important, to the most important player?
“Even the most biased observer has to admit No. 29 is the de facto leader in the Hart Trophy race”
LT set the bait, now we wait.
Connor Hellebuyck says hi. 😈
McDavid’s lack of performance to his singular standard is most noticeable on the powerplay, where this team is drastically underperforming. Not being number 1 with a bullet is bad enough…but 7th?!?! Brutal.
My conclusion is not injury – I think he’s in his own head about trying to play differently. This is a mistaken conclusion that top-flight players often reach after not winning championships in what they deem an acceptable window.
One of the reasons Sather was so great is that he kept most of the 80s team from ever venturing there in their own minds. They all focused on their own strengths. Wayne never tried to win the Selke even though he probably could have if that is what he wanted to do.
McDavid should be focused on the attack, shooting more and specifically shooting high more, and driving teams back. Instead he looks like he’s overthinking his reads and worried about defending too much.
People can love that OT goal all they want – he messed it up the first time – which he wouldn’t have before. He also messed up right before the goal against the Blues.
He’s great enough that he gets by – but this is a player who should be on pace for 50+ 90+ and 140+ – especially with the extra gear Leon has found – and he’s just not there.
Just play the damn game Connor. You don’t need to be all the things.
This post just shows how spoiled we are as OIL fans having this special player. Good lord.
I feel fortunate sometimes being born after the cup winning teams, because I feel that fans who remember that era can be spoiled by anything less than “arguably the greatest roster/team ever constructed”, and unfairly always compare/hold the team to the unreasonable standards of those 80s teams.
Those teams/rosters should not be the measuring stick. There shouldn’t be a measuring stick, other than “good enough to win the cup this year”
Finally, if the 86-87 Oilers had the 7th best PP in the NHL, I don’t think we should fault the current team for being #7 either …
For all their goal scoring prowess, the Dynasty Oilers were not a cycle team, they were a counter attack team. Their dominant special team was the penalty kill, where they led the league in shorties for years on end.
From 1982-90 the Oilers scored 207 shorthanded goals, an average of 26 per season. Only one team (Philadelphia, 135) had even half as many shorties as the Oil. Edmonton scored at least 20 SHG in all 8 of those seasons, a feat accomplished just 7 times in total by the other 20 teams combined.
in other manpowr situations they scored a ridiculous percentage of their goals off the rush (no stats available). Such opportunities occur far less frequently on the PP, when opposing players, especially d-men, are far less prone to take risks & get trapped up ice.
Whereas the modern Oilers are terrific at in-zone play, puck recovery, cycling, pinching, the sorts of things that work well on the PP. Not saying the old Oilers couldn’t do those things too, but they weren’t their stock in trade.
https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?aggregate=0&report=penaltykill&reportType=season&seasonFrom=19821983&seasonTo=19891990&gameType=2&sort=shGoalsFor&page=0&pageSize=50
Good comment. The league is SOOO different now. More teams, less talent per team, Salary Capped makes that even worse. It is very unfair to have that as the measuring stick. I watched then but was young, but just WOW. You did expect to win really.
I generally agree with this. What others who don’t like comments like this don’t get is that saying such things isn’t complaining about the team or players, or not appreciating them, it’s understanding what is being left on the table given the talent on the roster
Does that matter? If you want them to win a Cup it sure does. The players want to win a Cup, badly, at least one
To me their attack has gotten very pedestrian. ‘But they score a lot’ – yes but given who is on the team they should be, I would say even more. It’s as you said about getting the most out of the players, not less, based on their strengths
I have commented a lot about their offense, and collect the scores for the Power Wins project I do so I see all of the game results. The Oilers are sick yes, but the other main teams are starting to get it together or have it together, and are starting to beat lesser teams cleanly, and some other teams
The big issue I think is how they are setting up in the O zone. The other team almost always is able to get into their structure, and the Oilers are working at chances that are the lowest percentage wise. Points shots (often with no traffic), contested shots from the slot, etc
They are also trying to pass through the middle which is full of players and turning it over regularly, often leading to rush chances or odd man breaks against, playing right into the weakest part of Stu’s game
Their rush chance game is well off, KK mentioned it a while back. I think they should be more creative and far quicker to attack, and look to cycle if that doesn’t work, not as the first choice. They are also dumping it in quite a bit, and that is also the lowest percentage play for scoring – you want to come in with possession and try to make cross seam plays and screened plays because the odds go way up
Do you take appointments? I feel that I am underperforming at my job trying to be something that I am not.
Or he’s pacing himself during the season because the Cup is more important that his stats
Ty Emberson has changed agencies.
let’s get the deal done.
24 years old, UFA eligible in 2027. Smart move is to buy a few UFA years with a nice pay bump, hopefully sign him to a deal with term he out-performs.
Who says no to 5 x $2.5M?
If he wants an extension, my guess is the end up near something like 2 x $1.25M or 3 x $1.85M.
While I agree that McDavid is not playing up to his standards, for whatever reason, he is 4th in the scoring race and right around his overall average scoring %. Just saying.
On another note, it looks like the Oil are not going to run Philp as 4C, and if so, I wish they would get a 4C sooner than later.
What about running Nuge 3C/Henrique 4C? Edmonton has 4 NHL quality centers, and adding a Top 9 winger moves the needle more than a 4C who Henrique is probably better than.
I like that idea. Boeser, Palmieri and Patrick Kane come immediately to mind. I’m thinking that RW is the higher priority with Podkolzin/Skinner/E Kane handling top-9 duties on the left side and Hyman/Arvidsson/x on the right.
LOL …How about a player with the ability to play all three forward positions?
Someone else (Pouzar?) posted elsewhere about KK saying he likes Arvidsson on the left side so it will be interesting to see what side he slots in on most frequently between now and the deadline. Also, Podkolzin’s played both sides and by playing RW he can fit on a line with 53 and 29, and I think he’s a good fit there. Finally, Kane is 33 and coming off significant injuries, and I don’t know if it’s a certainty he’ll be back in time for Game 1 of the opening round, and if he is he may not be ready for Top 9 minutes.
I don’t see Patrick Kane leaving Detroit, and if the Oilers made a “swing for the fences” move I think Marchand is more likely to be moved/a better fit. I still think he stays put in BOS, however. Palmieri is a bit of a PP merchant but he has 14 EV goals already this year. Boeser’s a “younger Palmieri who doesn’t PK” to me. I’d take Palmieri out of those 3 options, although I have 0 idea how good of a PKer Palmieri actually is.
A 20-goal winger who can play both sides (or C) and PK would be perfect IMO. If a winger is added and Kane is in the lineup, that means one of Brown, Perry, or Janmark is in the press box, and I can’t see them pulling Perry out of the lineup unless he’s really struggling to keep up in a fast series. We talk about the Oilers being a wagon now, but if G1 SCF they run out this lineup, watch out (although the 3L could be a bit slow):
33-97-18
53-29-92
91-93-Palmieri
13-19-90
It looks like Skinner is gaining the trust of the coach which is no small feat considering he was demoted, benched and scratched earlier in the year .Skinner never bitched, moaned are whined as he became the new whipping boy in these parts. I still believe he gets 20 but more importantly has a good and memorable playoff. You can’t teach skill around the net some players are all thumbs and then there’s natural born scorers we sure could of used one of those in game 7.
Yep he’s been a pro the entire season. He’s accepted and implemented constructive criticism and adapted his game without (publicly) complaining, which isn’t something you always get out of a 32 year old multi-millionaire pro athlete.
How good is this team if he sticks and flourishes as the Hyman to Draisaitl’s McDavid?
I think Podz is Draisaitl’s Hyman.
Trying to envision Hyman with 6 goals.
Well, Podz helps Leon in other ways. Plus, Leon has said so himself. So, I’ll stick to what I’m saying.
All true. If you mean “favourite sidekick” i’ll buy in, at least if you take “each other” off the table for 97/29.
Was interesting to see Podz on the starboard side last night.
Two things Hyman excels at is puck retrieval and cashing on scoring chances (among other things), and that makes him a great fit with 97. I think Podz is good at the former, not so much the latter.
Skinner’s always excelled at the latter, and in recent weeks has been great at turning pucks over (just look at the takeaway to set up 29 last night). If he can continue to succeed at both, I think that’s a similar complimentary fit to 29 as 18 is to 97,and their give-and-go/two-man game together looked awesome last night, hence the comparison.
If Podz can start cashing chances around the net more consistently? Great! But I don’t think he has the same dynamic offensive ability and chem with 29 that 97 and 18 have together.
Still, he’s a valuable player and his game (puck retrieval, defensively conscious, physical) is a great fit with those two.
Podz is the worker bee, which every line needs. Hyman is the same type but cashes in on more scoring chances. Now that Skinner has improved his two-way play, he can use his scoring prowess with Leon to improve the production of Leon & Podz.
Skinner is a better goal scorer than Arvidsson. I like the combination of Podz & Skins with Leon better.
I will take a “ho-hum” 100 pt plus year from Connor if it means the Oilers feel they can rest him in March and April to be at his best for the post-season. I am just sorry he is playing in the 4 Nations tourney. I would much rather he rest.
*edit* to be clear – I think the 4N is a gimmicky thing, especially in the first go round, and benefits only the NHL league revenues. Nothing else.
Leon will be well rested after the 4 Nations.
Oilers are not playing well over the last while. Yup, they are creating a lot but not finishing but their puck play and support from the neutral zone back has been poor overall.
Lots of details not being paid attention, lots of mistakes.
Quite a bit of luck over the last two games to come away with the points but, at the end of the day, they did.
This team hasn’t been near its best for most of the season but have a four point gap in the Pacific and are 3rd in the NHL – with a TON of room to be so much better – as individuals (many of them) and collectively.
I have little doubt that this team is doing what they need to do to get their points and will absolutely take many parts of their game to the next level as they head towards the playoffs.
This team is going to be a wagon!
I’m going to suggest this team already is a wagon.
Just a disclaimer – this is not meant as disrespect for 97, but for some time he has been the undisputed “best player on the planet”. Right now (and this is with a 50+ game sample size) he is not even the best player on his team. So what exactly does that make Draisaitl?
Imo Drai has gone through several periods in time when he looked better than McDavid. But to say McD is not even the best player on his own team at times, makes it sound as if there must be all sorts of guys better then him.
No. Draisaitl at times is the best in the league. At other times McD is. We are that blessed right now.
Sorry, I only meant Draisaitl and perhaps his lack of accolades compared to 97. And agreed that we are blessed – history has shown that these one-two combos have been rewarded – Gretzky/Messier, Lemieux/Jagr, Sakic/Forsberg, Toews/Kane, Crosby/Malkin – the Oilers have their own Glimmer Twins in McDavid/Draisaitl, let’s hope that they can cash in.
There was once a theory floated in basketball (cant remember who it came from) that you need 3 superstars to win a championship. Personally i think 2 superstars and a set of perfect role players.
Wonder what you’d find in hockey.
Question to John Lennon in an interview: “Is Ringo the best drummer in the world?”
John Lennon: “He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles.”
Amazing.
Interesting note by coach post-game that he thinks Arvy has been much better on the left wing.
Good to know.
Well, I’m not so sure if Bowman traded Jeff Skinner, it would cause a riot. But he sure is making a case for himself. The combination of (Skinner -Leon-Podz) works quite well and since anyone can play with McDavid & Hyman it puts the top six in a fine spot. Arvidsson might be the tradable asset since he has no trade clause. If Skinner keeps this up, I don’t see Arvy as a regular in the top six which can only be good for the bottom six. And they seem to have solved the 4c situation, if you can call it that, with Henrique. Nuge can easily play 3c. There’s still a spot for Philp on the roster for when they decide to load up Connor & Leon together, although I’m sure even he could play with McDavid & Hyman. They could even just call back Ryan from the farm and return Philp to allow him more ice time. On the other hand, I hear Ryan is enjoying mentoring in Bako. Oilers are in a fine spot depth wise but could use more depth on the backend and between the pipes.
I was just thinking anyone might be able to play with Draisaitl & Podkolzin too. Those two pairs, McDavid & Hyman plus Draisaitl & Podkolzin are dynamite.
I’m going to throw out there that (Janmark & Nuge) along with (Henrique & Brown) are a couple fine pairs too.
I’m curious – do people care about the 4 Nations? It’ll be better than an All-Star game for sure, but what would you prefer as a hockey/Oilers fan: 4N or a two-week break?
Personally I’d take the 2 week break. Understand by there’s no Russian team, but “best-on-best” rings a bit hollow if so many of the world’s best players aren’t there.
In a few years/in a less conflict-ridden world, I think the best format would be 6 teams: CAN, US, FIN, SWE, Russia, “Rest of Europe” (CZE, SVK, GER, Kopitar, etc.)
I’d rather a two-week break.
I’d rather they placed these fun but meaningless (in terms of what counts in the NHL, winning Stanley) games in the offseason.
I do not care about it. I agree having a few more teams, including a “Rest of (the world)” team would be great.
Is the all star game cancelled for this event? This is certainly better than an all star game.
I imagine there are fans/players who are very excited – likely those from non-Stanley Cup contenders. For us, it isn’t a great year. Too much risk, and not enough reward.
Sign me up. That’s the tournament I want to see. I would love a team Europe. And maybe also a young guns team. To me only Olympics count as national pride tournament. The rest should be for fun.
Highly underrated and brilliant play from Bouchard in OT to see 4 Hawks on the ice and rip one off a stick. They likely don’t win without that play. High hockey IQ and awareness move right there.
I’m not always a fan of DS’s writing/tone, but today he nails it in an Edm Journal article on Bouchard. This player is gold.
I was at the Oilers store downtown the other day. I always check the pro stick rack to see what interesting curves and models the team might be using. Usually there’s a couple different models for a given player, or just one.
There were I believe 6 with BOUCHARD on them.
As a golfer and equipment tinkerer, I get it, but on the surface that would suggest he’s either in his own head or searching for something with his shooting/passing.
Interesting for one of the best pure shooters in the league…
Their game leaves a lot to be desired lately, but props where due, they have dragged themselves to a 4 point lead in the Pacific and 3rd in the league
I imagine after the break they will get back to being more like normal, hopefully Connor and Ek can manage to recover as well through that tournie
Connor will look great with Alex Tuch on his RW
Yeah that Hyman guy is garbage
Deductive reasoning, a skill long-forgotten
Noone knows what sort of reasoning is being used if that reasoning stays in your head.
It just doesn’t matter Hyman can play LW.
calls for an impossibly deep ‘YeaEHEAYEAAH’.
Connor’s fine. Holding back the magic a little bit now so that when he unveils it on the (sort of) international stage next week it has full, transcendent impact.
I hope he doesn’t go all out for this meaningless tournament if he’s holding back in current games. He just needs to reach full, transcendent impact in the playoffs.
I ageee, but do you think he has other gears besides “all out”.
1) Wanted to check in on something I looked at earlier in the season: Which top teams get a greater proportion of their wins in OT compared to other top teams? Unsurprisingly, the Oilers (9 of 34 wins in OT) lead the way, followed by WPG (6 of 38) and WSH (5 of 35). FLA (2 of 32) and LV (2 of 31) have some of the fewest OT wins, but FLA has 4 shootout wins compared to LV’s 1.
Because Edmonton is so good in 3-on-3, I wonder if the team plays more conservatively in tight games in the 3rd period, knowing that all they have to do is get to OT and the cheat code that is 97-29-2 at 3-on-3 will likely get them the win.I also wonder/worry if it blunts some of the team’s killer instinct/willingness to keep their foot on the gas, and how that might hurt them come playoff time.
2) Last night was the worst game I’ve seen from 97 in a while, and he still set up the winning goal in overtime with a beautiful feed. Whatever is ailing 97 (injury, hangover from last year), I hope the team prioritizes getting him healthy/ready down the stretch. Missing a few games for maintenance days in February or March is worth it (in my opinion) if you get a healthier, better rested 97 in April-June.
3) LT is right that sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make, and there might be merit in Bowman keeping his powder dry at the deadline. I think Skinner’s not going anywhere, but Arvidsson and Henrique are less safe. Both don’t have a NTC/NMC, but Arvidsson is coming around. Hope they both (and Klingberg) have a strong second half and show Bowman there’s no need to make a move for a major (Top 6 F, 3C, Top 4D) piece at the deadline. Skinner and Pickard too!
4) I thought Ryan Donato had a great game last night, pending UFA with a $2M cap hit, can play C and LW, 28 and in the middle of a career year with 15 G, albeit not playing a ton/faring particularly well against elites. 14-12-26 at even strength in 51 games. Seems very dogged on the forecheck and made a great play to turn over the puck and set up Martinez on the tying goal Potential upgrade on Henrique that can offer some depth scoring? Does a 3rd and a near-NHL prospect (Wanner?) get it done? Who says no?
5) PK is a worry – I want to see them give 29 a look on the PK with a speedy forward partner, he’s such a defensive force, having him out there to take the first faceoff on the PK and kill for .5-1 minute and then rest before going out with 97 after a successful PK is a good use of his minutes IMO.
6) Draisaitl putting together his best season, and should be a shoo-in for the Hart/Lindsay. I don’t care if he wins either, but he will probably be the most deserving player for both.
I think the play of Draisaitl allows McDavid to take his foot off the gas. Which isn’t a bad thing.
Connor is still great, and does some mesmerizing things; but he just doesn’t seem as explosive this season.
I hope that he’s just cruising through the regular season, biding his time for playoffs; but do worry about an ongoing injury issue.
I think its fair to say theres some dip in 97’s game this year, proven in the numbers. The speed remains, but not the flurry of bursts. The hands are there, but not with such persistence. the shot remains, but its too selective. It is possible we have seen peak McDavid, but also possible he is doing what he always does: adapt. And this year he is riding a strong 5v5 team to the stretch drive and he’s getting ready to be primed for the drive. I think this is wish-casting, but without more info, its as good a theory as any.
Let’s see if Connor can heat up a bit and go 1.7 ppg for rest of season, landing him at 118 for the season and 1100 points all-time… one better than Glen Anderson!
More stats because I woke up early: Connor McDavid scored his 1000th point in the 17th game of the 24-25 season. Leon can score his 1000th point in the 17th game of the 25-26 season if he goes 69 points in 45 regular season games until then, or 1.50 ppg… which is his exact pace so far this season.
And more stats, unrelated sort of. But: Zach Hyman is 8th in the league in goals (16) since Dec. 5, when he wasn’t announced to team Canada. The only Canadian with more in that time, is Mark Scheifele (18). He was also not named to Team Canada. Bo Horvat (14), Jordan Kyrou (14), and Tom Wilson (13), also have more goals than the leading Team Canada goal scorer since the announcement, Sam Reinhart, himself the eighteenth best goal scorer in the NHL since the team was set.
Agreed on 97 adapting. Recognizing team is good enough to win without him going flat out game in game out and he knows what is going to be needed come playoffs and that’s where his focus is.
Yeah the decision makers at Hockey Canada (and the people they choose to coach/pick players) have seemed quite poor/out of touch the last few years. I hope there’s some organization housecleaning.
McDavid also has the lowest PDO of his career this season. 0.975.
Worst onsv% of his career at 87.83%
Third worst on ice sh% of his career at 9.66%.
All this is to say, Connor is having an off beat season but I think his bad luck/struggling linemates make it appear worse than it really is.
The line blender is probably not helping in this regard either. I think Knoblauch is doing a good job at tweaking and adjusting, but maybe after the 4 Nations it might be time to settle on exactly what role everyone up front should have. McDavid has had a revolving door of wingers in the last few weeks.
Knoblauch could use ice time with Connor & Hyman as a reward and just use Nuge at 3c.
I like using Nuge as a 3C but not to open up 1LW as a “reward”, but because Nuge’s offense has been shy this season and 3C might be a better fit on the current team.
Who plays 1LW should be driven by one question: “Who fits with/elevates that line the most (besides 29)?”, not “who’s worked hard and deserves it”.
Should players who do well get an audition? Sure. But the goal there shouldn’t be rewarding them for doing well, it should be finding out who makes that line the best it can be.
B-I-N-G-O and Bingo is his name-o.
This post deserves more love. Here have some green.