Oilers Thoughts: McDavid and Draisaitl haven\u2019t been \u2018nuclear\u2019 at 5-on-5, first impressions of Dickinson, Walman\u2019s struggles, and more<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> added key defensive pieces to their roster before the trade deadline<\/a> to lower their goals against, but in the first game since retooling the lineup, they once again had a tough time keeping the puck out of their net in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no other way to put it \u2014 the pressure is on the Oilers to start winning games. They\u2019re now only three points above the playoff cut line, and it doesn\u2019t get any easier with upcoming matchups against the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n That said, in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we discuss the drop in impact from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together at five-on-five, early impressions of Jason Dickinson, the goaltending situation, Zach Hyman\u2019s hot streak, and Jake Walman\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl haven\u2019t been \u201cnuclear\u201d at 5-on-5 latelyAfter the last game against the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, Jason Gregor mentioned to head coach Kris Knoblauch that McDavid and Draisaitl together at five-on-five are only +1 and actually have better numbers when playing on different lines. He asked Knoblauch about his thought process for putting them together and why that duo hasn\u2019t had the \u201cnuclear\u201d factor as much as in the past, and the head coach responded by saying<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure. You\u2019re hoping that it\u2019s going to break at some point. Obviously, they spend a lot of time in the offensive zone.\u201d He added,\u00a0 \u201cThey spend a lot of time in the offensive zone, you don\u2019t get anything, and then they have to counter and defend, maybe tired. Maybe that\u2019s why they haven\u2019t been scoring as much as they typically have. And I think probably the biggest downtrend would be, just obviously, not scoring as often as they used to.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m glad Gregor brought that up to the coach, because when all else fails, loading up the top line with McDavid and Draisaitl is Knoblauch\u2019s number one go-to. But the fact is, the dynamic duo haven\u2019t been lights out like they used to be. According to Natural Stat Trick, they\u2019ve scored 18 goals together at five-on-five while allowing 16. In trying to figure out why that pairing hasn\u2019t been \u201cnuclear,\u201d perhaps Knoblauch is onto something \u2014 with them getting offensive zone time but not scoring, other teams take advantage on the counterattack, combined with the opposition scouting their plays and keeping them in check.<\/p>\n I understand that at some point, you hope the dam breaks and the floodgates open, but for whatever reason, loading up with McDavid and Draisaitl just hasn\u2019t had the impact it used to. That doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t be impactful together in the future at five-on-five, but it just isn\u2019t happening right now.<\/p>\n Now, if the Oilers wanted to mix things up to generate more offence at five-on-five, the player they should try on the first line with McDavid is Vasily Podkolzin<\/a>, who has the best goals-for percentage with McDavid at five-on-five, scoring 8-3 for a 72.73 per cent GF% this season. Zach Hyman has the second-highest at 56.25 per cent GF%, so a top line of Podkolzin \u2013 McDavid \u2013 Hyman could be worth trying again.First Impressions of Jason DickinsonThe Oilers made a splash before the trade deadline, first acquiring Connor Murphy<\/a> for a second-round pick, and then trading for Jason Dickinson<\/a> and Colton Dach, sending Andrew Mangiapane the other way along with a conditional first-round draft pick.I feel that, especially with Murphy and Dickinson, they\u2019re excellent pieces to add to the Oilers\u2019 roster to limit goals against. Although it didn\u2019t pay off immediately last game<\/a>, I believe it will in the long run, and I wanted to highlight Dickinson\u2019s first game in particular.<\/p>\n The centreman played 12:43 in total against Carolina, and his line with Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen scored a goal. They created three scoring chances while allowing three, on a night when they were the Oilers\u2019 most effective line.<\/p>\n Jason Dickinson will be pivoting the third line in his Oilers debut. Podkolzin & Kapanen on the wings. #Oilers<\/a><\/p>\n Dickinson went 3-2 in the faceoff circle on the penalty kill, had a shorthanded scoring chance, and used his good reach on the penalty kill. At one point during the game, he also made a fabulous block, sacrificing his body to get in front of a point shot. Some players only make it look like they\u2019re going to get in the way to block a shot, but Dickinson did it with full intention.<\/p>\n Moreover, the Georgetown, Ont., native said before the game against the Hurricanes<\/a>, \u201cMy favourite thing about doing what I do is seeing the frustration and the will to win come out of guys during the game,\u201d which is exactly the kind of thing you want to hear from a defensive specialist.<\/p>\n That said, for someone so defensively minded, one thing I noticed last game was that he had nice hands on the rush. The Hurricanes were preventing Oilers\u2019 entries all game, but Dickinson had some smooth entries, making a couple of nice moves near the offensive blue line to get past defenders.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very early, but Dickinson showed some promising plays after just one game.<\/p>\n Neither Jarry nor Ingram has claimed the starting role so farBefore play resumed after the Olympic break, I touched on how the Oilers should handle the goaltending situation<\/a> and who should get most of the minutes down the stretch. I mentioned that whichever goaltender is winning, you stick with them. If neither is winning, you go with whichever goaltender is playing the best.<\/p>\n Having said that, for both Jarry and Ingram, you can summarize their play coming out of the Olympic break as almost identical: \u201cWell, the team in front of them didn\u2019t play great, the goaltender made some big saves, also let in some saveable ones, and still gave up more than four goals,\u201d with Ingram allowing four or more goals in his last two starts and Jarry allowing five or more goals in his last two. It\u2019s the same story we\u2019ve been seeing \u2014 the Oilers haven\u2019t played well in front of their goaltenders, but the man between the pipes still has to make some big stops.<\/p>\n As for who gets the next start against the Vegas Golden Knights, despite neither of them playing lights out, I feel you go with Ingram, who has banked more points in the win column for his team as of late, with Jarry\u2019s last win coming on Jan. 26<\/a> against the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n That said, the starting role is up for the taking, and for the sake of the Oilers and their fans, can one of Ingram or Jarry please step up and claim it?<\/p>\n Hyman has been one of the hottest scorers in the NHL over the past four months<\/p>\n In a season filled with ups and downs for the Oilers, Zach Hyman has been one of the few steady positives.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old scored two goals last game against the Hurricanes<\/a>, opening the scoring by burying a wonderful backhand on a breakaway. He has also been a reliable offensive threat in the five games since the break, with seven points in that span (five goals, two assists). He\u2019s also tilted the ice in the Oilers\u2019 favour at five-on-five, posting a 26-12 edge in high-danger chances.He was injured last playoffs, missed several games to start this season<\/a>, and needed some time to adjust to game speed, yet he still has 27 goals in 44 games, which puts him on pace for 50 goals over a full season. On top of that, Hyman hasn\u2019t just been one of the Oilers\u2019 best scorers \u2014 he\u2019s also been one of the most consistent scorers in the NHL. Since Nov. 29, over a span of 38 games, his 27 goals lead the entire league.<\/p>\n On that note, I think it\u2019s still within the window to say, before this thought fades and before I fully get over it, but boy, Team Canada really could\u2019ve used one of the NHL\u2019s hottest scorers this season at the Olympics, couldn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n The Oilers need Jake Walman to step up<\/p>\n Over the last five games, Jake Walman has been on for 11 goals against at five-on-five, the most on the team, and simply put, he\u2019s struggling.<\/p>\n Diving deeper, in the last game against the Hurricanes, he was on the ice for three goals against. On the first goal against, he had a failed clear and got tied up with his netminder, Jarry. Then, with the Oilers down a goal in the third, Walman had a series of defensive breakdowns \u2014 including poor positioning and even dropping his stick \u2014 which led to the fourth goal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n His play is nowhere near the standard he set in last year\u2019s playoffs, when he was a shot-blocking machine<\/a>, made good transition passes, and was a pillar on the back end \u2014 the kind of performance that earned him the seven-year contract worth $7 million a season<\/a> that kicks in for the 2026-27 campaign. Lately, he\u2019s had a lot of mental errors, giveaways, and a lack of attention to detail on the defensive side of the game.<\/p>\n For much of the season, he\u2019s played on the right side despite being a left-handed shot, which I feel has contributed to his lacklustre play at times. However, last game he was paired with defensive stalwart Connor Murphy and played on his natural left side. While they were on the ice for a couple of goals against, there were still some encouraging moments defensively. Fingers crossed they can build more chemistry down the stretch.<\/p>\n ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oilers Thoughts: McDavid and Draisaitl haven\u2019t been \u2018nuclear\u2019 at 5-on-5, first impressions of Dickinson, Walman\u2019s struggles, and more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-521423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}