Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYou media guys think you\u2019re so smart, with your \u2018Don\u2019t put them out together\u2019 bull—-,\u2019\u201d a former Oilers coach said to me recently, only half-joking. \u201cIf you were behind the bench you\u2019d be throwing those two out there before the 10-minute mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
From what we\u2019ve seen, and what players have told us on and off the record, I\u2019m not so sure we would.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how it works: The moment a game appears to be slipping away \u2014\u00a0the second a 2-1 game goes to 3-1 \u2014 the lines are ripped up so that McDavid and Draisaitl can slide down the pole, don their silk capes, and save the day like Batman and Robin when the Bat-Signal illuminates.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an issue here for as long as the Oilers have contended, in equal parts helping them win and hindering their team-building. I found these quotes in a four year old column, penned after a well-rounded game that hinted at a total team effort back in February of 2022:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like the NBA, where you can have two guys and you can win a championship,\u201d Evander Kane instructed. \u201cYou see how hard it is to win, and the teams that win don\u2019t always have the best players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think in the game of hockey that you can win the Stanley Cup with two guys,\u201d fourth-line centre Derek Ryan added that night. \u201cThat is the beautiful thing about hockey. You can\u2019t just have the best player and win. You have to have the best team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose guys are amazing and we can speak to that all day. But we need to support them,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWe also needed the opportunity to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somehow today it\u2019s still a topic, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast this week.<\/p>\n
Even general manager Stan Bowman appears to coaxing his coaching staff in that direction, with the acquisition of a quality third-line centre in Jason Dickinson and a rowdy fourth-liner in Colton Dach at the Trade Deadline.<\/p>\n
Dickinson has \u201cleader\u201d written all over him, and is ready to take on the responsibility of dragging this Bottom 6 into the fight \u2014\u00a0if Knoblauch gives them the minutes to fight with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like going out there and making everybody feel comfortable,\u201d Dickson told Sportsnet. \u201cWhen I get out there it’s a sense of security that, OK, I can count on him. \u2018If I pinch, he’s got my back. If there’s a bobbled puck, he’s got my back.\u2019 To solidify a Bottom 6 is what I like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Oilers got a welcome fourth-line goal from Trent Frederic, who was rewarded with 10:59 of ice time \u2014\u00a0decent fourth line minutes. But his linemates, Dach (5:05) and Josh Samanski (7:39) were not so fortunate.<\/p>\n
Dickinson played 15:33 (12:34 at even strength), as Knoblauch begins to trust \u2014\u00a0for one game at least \u2014\u00a0a more traditional four-line system.<\/p>\n
The irony for Dickinson lies in the fact that, while most players come to Edmonton gushing over the opportunity to play with 97 and 29, if he plays his cards right he won\u2019t play with them at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly,\u201d he said. \u201cMy role is to make their jobs easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnor and Leon are special players, and me coming in is not going to change that,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo what I want to do is give them better matchups. Take a little bit off their plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Connor was killing penalties every now and then. (Dickinson wants to) take that off his plate, so he’s not wasting his energy out there on the kill. Better having him play five-on-five and on the power play with full energy, and (with Dickinson) being able to take some of the match-ups off his plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDavid took a regular turn killing penalties in Vegas, playing 1:56 shorthanded, but regular PK centreman Adam Henrique was not in the lineup. Only Dickinson played more among forwards than McDavid on the PK.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not sure why McDavid is killing penalties, an art that should increasingly include shot blocking as the playoffs approach. Many coaches use their PK unit to find ice time for depth forwards \u2014\u00a0to include them in the process \u2014\u00a0rather than going back to their star player on yet another occasion.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the fact that this season, for some reason, McDavid and Draisaitl have not produced at five-on-five the way they have in past years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe (expected goals) stats are overwhelming. They’re about 70%, which is an unbelievable number,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cBut they just haven’t been able to put the puck in the net.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn’t been the same this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
We asked Draisaitl about it, and he was steadfast, despite the metrics:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure when you look at the chances created and the way the ice is tilted, it’s probably still in our favor,\u201d he said. \u201cI know how it feels when we’re out there together, and that the ice is tilted most of the night. Sometimes that’s just as important as actually scoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the puck hasn’t gone in as much as we’d like, but I wouldn’t bet against us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014\u00a0The addiction is real. Dave Tippett and Todd McLellan both had it. Jay Woodcroft did his best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-526890","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\/526890","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=526890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n