The day Edmonton drafted Leon Draisaitl was a franchise turning point. It has been obscured by what happened the following year at the draft, but my oh my he solved a lot of problems.
My favourite thing about Leon is he got better each season. I think some of that was hanging around Connor McDavid, playing with, and practicing against, was a little different than the Shawn Horcoff-Sam Gagner era. However, credit where due: the big man has been a difference maker.
Once you acquire an elite talent, it’s vital to keep them. In the coming days, when Connor McDavid signs his extension, the team’s three elite talents (McDavid, Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard) will be in place until the end of the decade or close. That’s an exceptional top tier.
Stan Bowman’s job is to improve the second tier, the quality tier that includes players who can make a difference and play a complementary role alongside the elites. Bowman inherited Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse plus Brett Kulak, and has added Jake Walman and Vasily Podkolzin. We’ll see about Matt Savoie and Ike Howard in the days to come.
Bowman’s next step is to make a decision on players who are in feature roles who may not be on solid footing. I’ll include Stuart Skinner, Trent Frederic and Andrew Mangiapane on this list. If any of those three men can’t make the grade, and the organization has no internal replacement, Bowman will need to deal. The Oilers are in a good spot. Bowman needs to make the right moves and in some cases the path forward is not clear. It’s going to be a fantastic winter in Edmonton.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk to Kevin McCurdy about the makeup of the team and I’ll ask him about ideal placement for Savoie, Howard, Mangiapane and Frederic. We’ll also talk to Geoff Robertson about Milky Way Day on the Labour Day Sunday. Lots of Oilers, Jays and Elks talk, noon to 2pm on Sports 1440.
Evan Bouchard is one of three elite talents on the Edmonton Oilers roster. A story about coming to grips with chaos when the results are so very good.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6575252/2025/08/27/oilers-evan-bouchard-chaos-defence/
Some people think that folks a long time ago, hundreds or thousands of years ago, were more simple than we are today. Weren’t as smart perhaps. This of course is not supported by the evidence of the great thinkers and discoveries made in science and math. At least once humans became as they are, however that happened. In fact it would be a strong argument to say that they may have been smarter, living as they did coming up with those things
I have always been skeptical about a lot of thought around comparing eras. I get the era adjustments which are usually trying to balance scoring averages between times. There are so many factors involved it is far more complex than that. A typical argument would be that the players are more fit now, the bottom of rosters have better players, the equipment is better, etc
That Wayne and Mario put up gaudy numbers destroying bottom six players that couldn’t skate and weren’t in shape. And bad goalies. Except according to Wayne, that wasn’t the case. Coaches line matched hard, and Wayne said for example with the Islanders, he wasn’t playing the team, he was playing their best five players all of the time. Time against the lessers was not a lot. That doesn’t happen as much these days. It’s rare to see players shadowed like they were back then
And the good teams had good goalies. The Oilers always did for sure. The equipment was smaller, but the sticks were basic unlike today where stick tech gives everyone a faster more accurate shot
The biggest difference if you look at the 70’s and 80’s was the level of violence. Players today do not face what Wayne and Mario did, or anyone playing Messier. If you plopped a top forward from today into a time machine yes he would be more fit, but I bet he would be off his game, and probably hurt until he got used to it
Of course if Wayne played starting in 2015 he would be fit and would have trained as they do now, he’d have a better stick. He’d still be head and shoulders above the rest, maybe less so Connor. In fact today’s game probably suits Wayne better than back then, far less hacking and obstruction
If Connor started in 1979 the opposite would be true. It is logical to me that the best comparison between eras is a player versus his peers. It eliminates the noise. You can compare the greats of different eras by how big that difference is, at least for offense. Of course there is a lot more to being a great player than that. After all it’s Mess that has the 6 Cups. He won a Cup in 25% of his seasons, not bad
Part of that plan was, while wanting to keep the likes of Brown and Perry, making the decision to move on as they prices themselves out of his contract structure.
One hopes that Matt Savoie and Issac Howard can join the second tier – I am fully comfortable with, at least, Matt Savoie being a middle six/third tier player come October with definite second tier upside.
Comfort levels are one thing, but proving it for Savoie is still in the future. I think he’s done everything required in earning the spot and do think he’ll succeed. However, if I’m honest, injury worries are a factor for me in regard to Savoie.
and, in my opinion, he keeps getting better. He signed an 8 X $14MM contract and, before it even started, had his best season ever.
Dominant goal scorer last season with a rotating cast of middle/bottom six wingers playing with him.
Sixth in Selke voting, on merit.
Traditional plus 32 (McDavid plus 20) and 59% goal share.
Adam Oates doesn’t like how many teams structure their offense these days. He feels it reduces the effectiveness and thus production for regular players, who make up most of a team. Only the elites can do it
He didn’t go into detail when I heard him talking, but mentioned being too spread out. That happens a lot to the Oilers, the forwards get disconnected from the defense. At times we see the C coming down low to support the break outs, but it never seems to last. Then we get the stretch passes and jail breaks, and if it’s against a well structured team a lot of defensive zone time ensues
I don’t think Florida’s roster is better than the Oilers, but they play better, and I fear have a coach that has a better system. Perhaps the Oilers were too old up front to keep pace with the PEDs Cats. But it’s not like the DoD where the team didn’t have 23 proper NHL players
Bowman will keep changing the team to suit the style he and Knoblauch want, and to players types he likes better than maybe some of the roster. But I think at this point it’s more on the coaching staff who have two players at their disposal that are clearly better than anyone on Florida, and maybe three if Leon is better than Sasha, and haven’t had the answer, twice
Game 7 will get mentioned as a rebuttal, but in those playoffs the Oilers went to 7 games in two series, which doesn’t happen often with Cup teams. They were down in games won twice to the Canucks, and of course down 3-0 to the Panthers. That they came back is great, and that is largely because of having those elite players
But it isn’t what you see from championship teams. They have to change something to be what they should be. There is something off in how they attack, I don’t know specifically what. They can light up teams that let them do what they want, but still have a very hard time with teams that don’t, and this is the key to taking the next step. Just getting some different players may not be enough as I see it
And having a offensive D isn’t going to put them over unless they are getting the puck to the forwards in the scoring areas. Using the point too much kills production because the scoring and SH% percentages drop so much, this has been well documented. I think you need all aspects in your game (being good at screens and tips, it’s like spreading the D out in football), but the focus has to be creating the best scoring chances consistently closer to the net. I don’t see that in tough games enough
I believe this is precisely what the article is about – we need players who can complement the elites to spread out the scoring chances. Last year, the Oil had Kapanen and Perry in the top 6 for game 6. Add to that an ineffective Kane/Frederic/Henri/Brown/Janmark and that is a poor match for Florida regardless of systems.
I’m excited to see what Paul McFarland will implement.
This was clearly a targeted add based on some knowledge of him as a coach.
Since the hire, I have learned that he’s given talks at coaching seminars over the years – teach offensive strategies. One was on how to create off the rush and the integral nuances in connection therewith.
I didn’t know that he was a “teacher of offence”.