{"id":946474,"date":"2026-10-26T03:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946474\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:50:17","slug":"one-of-babcocks-prized-edmonton-oilers-forward-lines-is-failing-how-will-coach-react","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946474\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Babcock’s prized Edmonton Oilers forward lines is failing. How will coach react?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Mike Babcock’s two prized lines on the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> is crushing it.<\/p>\n

But the other prized line is getting crushed.<\/p>\n

How will Babcock react?<\/p>\n

The line that’s doing so well is chasing NHL history in spectacular fashion with its high level of scoring.<\/p>\n

Connor McDavid<\/a>, Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin have together scored 15 goals and given up just six, a 71.4 Goals For Percentage (GF%) in 138 even strength minutes.<\/p>\n

But the checking line that Babcock has put together of newcomers Owen Michaels, Alex Formenton and Mathieu Joseph is getting out-played, out-shot and out-scored, five goals for, eight against, for a 38.5 GF%<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Two lines<\/p>\n

On an individual level, McDavid and Draisaitl are one-two in NHL scoring, with McDavid second overall in 5-on-5 scoring rate, 4.92 points per 60, Draisaitl ranked eighth, 3.75 per 60, and Podkolzin ranked 243rd at 1.42 per 60 (though this metric doesn’t take into account his heavy lifting on the backcheck and great work screening the goalie).<\/p>\n

As for the checking line, they’ve done OK getting five goals in 11 games, but they’ve given up eight goals against in 11 games, too many for their role on the team.<\/p>\n

In the last few games against tougher NHL teams, Utah, Carolina and Toronto, they’ve had a few great rush plays, but spent little time in the o-zone winning the pucks and cycling it. When it comes to crowbarring possession with heavy sticks and holding it down low on the attack, they’re not getting it done.<\/p>\n

All this can be seen in their low rate of major contributions to Grade A shots at even strength. As a group the Oilers centres average 2.39 major contributions to Grade A shots per 15 minutes of even strength play. Michaels has only half the rate of the next lowest centres, Josh Samanski and Jason Dickinson.<\/p>\n

Oilers wingers have averaged 2.33 per 15, but Formenton has by far the lowest rate of any winger, just 0.9 per 15, with Joseph in the bottom group of wingers at 1.62 per 15.<\/p>\n

\"Grade<\/a><\/p>\n

Grade A major 11 games<\/p>\n

What should Babcock do?<\/p>\n

I give the coach credit for committing to certain lines and for giving the players on those lines time to work issues that come up. I suspect the Oilers would have one more line that had played together most of the 11 games if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman had been healthy through October.<\/p>\n

It’s refreshing to see a commitment to giving three forwards the time to figure out how to work with one another on the attack and on defence on the same line.<\/p>\n

But Babcock’s prized checking line isn’t figuring it out. It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse.<\/p>\n

Babcock has been full of praise for rookie Michaels since early in training camp, but Michaels brings almost no offence to the NHL game right now. He hasn’t been heavy on the puck in the o-zone. And after starting out red hot in faceoffs, he’s now at 47.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Formenton has also struggled to win battles and cycle the puck. He’s got great speed that allows him to get in fast on the forecheck and to earn the occasional odd-man rush or breakaway, but he’s not getting it done as a forechecker.<\/p>\n

Joseph has come closest to earning a spot with his individual play, but he comes across more as a fourth line player than having a featured spot on a third-line checking unit.<\/p>\n

Of course, Babcock’s options have been limited by injuries to numerous key forwards, with checking centre Jason Dickinson and Top 9 winger Matt Savoie still out.<\/p>\n

What might the coach do when it comes to a checking line just now, given the struggles of Michaels-Formenton-Joseph. I suspect the coach will stick with this group until Dickinson returns to the line-up. Dickinson is expected back in the line-up as early as this coming Wednesday against Calgary.<\/p>\n

But down the road, I can see Michaels getting some benefit from playing in the AHL and learning the ropes on the attack and on the forecheck in pro hockey against slightly less skilled competition.<\/p>\n

Formenton is still adapting to the NHL after three years in the Swiss league and his speed is such an asset that it’s likely best to stick with him as well. Perhaps with big, fast Dickinson as their centre, Formenton and Joseph will also hit their stride.<\/p>\n

P.S. I’ll also suggest that Kasperi Kapanen is off to a mixed start, especially with major lapses in his own zone, which include blowing the zone too often looking for a break-out pass. It’s going to be difficult enough for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to succeed as a second-line centre. But he’s got no chance without two big, strong wingers. I’d like to see RNH with Hyman and big, aggressive Colton Dach on his wing.<\/p>\n

RNH did his best work in the 2025 playoffs at centre with Hyman and big Evander Kane on his wing. Dach can try to fill the Kane role.<\/p>\n

At the Cult of Hockey<\/p>\n

Is an Edmonton Oilers loss under a bright Saturday spotlight a canary in a coalmine?: 9 Things<\/a><\/p>\n

Player grades: Tragedy of errors as Edmonton Oilers lose 7-2 to Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Mike Babcock’s two prized lines on the Edmonton Oilers is crushing it. But the other prized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-946474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946474","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=946474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}