Draisaitl Says Last Year’s Playoff Sweep was Good for the Oilers

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Sportsnet

Alongside Oilers’ newfound depth, Draisaitl looks to grow from past losses

Usually, when a team sweeps a playoff series, you look at the opponent and say, “Man, they just couldn’t handle that team.” But when the Winnipeg Jets swept the Edmonton Oilers last spring — winning three games in overtime — the analytics told us that Edmonton had actually had the better of the play through four games.

“It’s really hard to pinpoint one thing,” said Draisaitl, when asked what Edmonton could improve on. “It’s the little things: We couldn’t score at the right time. When it was 3-1 or in overtime, we couldn’t find that goal that really put the game out of reach. We couldn’t score at the right time.”

This year’s team is deeper. Derek Ryan’s faceoff prowess will allow Draisaitl to sit out some key defensive draws, and be more fresh. Zach Hyman will free Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to stay on Draisaitl’s wing long-term, and the hope is that Warren Foegele will beef up production from the bottom-six.

“We’ve learned from last year. Maybe the bounces weren’t there, but that’s also something you have to earn. Maybe that is something that is good for a team. As much as it hurts in that moment, we’ll be better for it.”

With Hyman on board, and the maturation of Jesse Puljujarvi, there’s no more talk about whether Draisaitl and Connor McDavid will play together or apart.

“I think they kind of like it that way,” said Tippett. “They both want to take the responsibility of making us a more balanced team. (Uniting them) is a nice card to have in our pocket, if you need it.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Leon and Connor can like leading their own lines all they want, but together they are a nuclear deterrent and if the Oilers are down a goal or two with 5 minutes left in a game, you can be sure that they’ll be seeing upwards of four of those five minutes together as they attempt to tie the game up.

How can a team learn to win if they don’t lose some meaningful games? As we know, the Oilers should’ve beaten WPG in the playoffs last year but they got tripped up by a netminder who’s never played better and they lost the battle with regards to some small, seemingly insignificant, plays.

A veteran team knows how to prevent making those small mistakes and they know how to plough through them and forget about them very quickly.

We’ll see if this older more experienced team can exhibit those traits in 2021-22.

The Athletic

Oilers training camp observations: Evan Bouchard looks ‘like he belongs,’ Tyler Benson’s early impact and more

Bouchard isn’t just here to stay; he’s here to make an impact.
Bouchard has mostly lined up against the top line. That means the righty has seen a steady diet of left winger Zach Hyman, known as one of the league’s top board players and forecheckers, and centre Connor McDavid.
The top three lines appear set and a 10th forward slot was pegged for Josh Archibald, whose place on the team is now in question… That leaves two or three regular jobs and four or five roster spots up for grabs up front, assuming the Oilers keep 14 forwards.
A clear front-runner in that group is Benson.
He’s leaner, dropping five pounds from his 190-pound frame while building muscle.

“You just watch him play out there. His confidence is at a point where he knows he can play in this league,” Tippett said. “He put the work in this summer. He looks quicker. He’s more determined.”

Benson is competing with Shore and Perlini for the fourth-line spot.
At camp, Turris has lined up at right wing, where he got spot duty to finish the season. Only this time, there has been a discernible difference in how Turris looks on the ice compared to how he looked last season. He said he worked on gaining strength in his legs, so his skating would be more explosive.

BLH’s Thoughts: Louie DeBrusk was saying on Oilers Now this week that Benson started off really well at last year’s camp and then kinda trailed off as it wore on. I hope that doesn’t happen this year but that being said, things don’t get any easier as we draw closer to the end of TC and there are two other guys with NHL experience and size fighting for that 4th line LW spot too.

Spector’s Hockey

WGR 550: TSN insider Darren Dreger said the Buffalo Sabres and Jack Eichel remain at an impasse over how he should rehab the herniated disc in his neck and the best medical course of action for the 24-year-old center.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy reports one NHL executive claims the Buffalo Sabres asking price for Jack Eichel remains high. “It’s insane what they’re still asking. They’re going to be stuck with him and his value is going to decline even more.”

SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sheng Peng reports Sharks GM Doug Wilson said he’s had “several conversations” with the agent for pending free agent center Tomas Hertl. He indicated he would keep those discussions in confidence.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy reports “numerous NHL teams” have reached out to Wilson about Hertl. It appears he’ll be staying in San Jose for the time being. Meanwhile, those clubs that asked about him are waiting to see how their rosters shake out through training camp and the opening month of the season.