This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!
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Cult of Hockey
What time is it when Leon Draisaitl shoots the puck?
- So far this year Draisaitl has taken 67 shots on net and scored 20 goals, a 29.9 per cent shooting percentage.
- Fifty of those blasts have been Grade A shots — hard or difficult shots on net from the slot, including outside one-timers where the goalie isn’t set. Draisaitl has scored on 20 of those Grade As, 40 per cent of them.
- Of his 50 Grade A shots, 23 of them have been one-timer blasts. He’s scored on 10 of his Executioner’s Shots, a 44 per cent conversion rate.
BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t have too much to say on Draisaitl’s goal-scoring this year aside from it’s other-worldly. I was lucky to grow up watching the NHL during its highest scoring era. 3rd liners were scoring 40 or 50 goals and 2nd pair defensemen were producing 60pts a year. Not to mention goalies were tough as nails considering they hardly wore any equipment and loved fighting.
We’re not at the point to where the dmen are scoring like that and the goalies are scrapping it up, but for some reason, the offensive has arrived in droves this year and I don’t know if it’s going to let up. If that’s the case, and you grew up watching hockey in a later era than myself, you’re in for a treat.
Oilersnation
How should Edmonton’s defensive pairs look at full-strength?
- The duo of Keith – Ceci had an extremely strong start to the season, with a 60% goal differential and a 62% expected goal differential in their first 4 games. However, the pair have begun their decline, posting a 45% goal share and 47% expected goal share ever since. The 2nd pair requires a change in some way or the other, and perhaps Broberg could be the solution to that issue.
- Edmonton should continue to deploy Broberg on the 2nd pair for the time being, at least until/if Broberg struggles and can’t sustain his play over a broad sample in a top 4 role.
- In terms of scoring chance share, both the pairs of Russell – Barrie, and Koekkoek – Barrie have placed in the bottom 20 in the league for defensive pairs with at least 30 minutes played.
- …perhaps the best decision is to keep Barrie on the top pair, where he can hide his defensive shortcomings behind Connor McDavid’s play. Meanwhile, Evan Bouchard on the third pair helps the bottom six.
- I feel that Edmonton should consider moving Tyson Barrie… Barrie is just not a great fit for a team that already has defensive struggles, especially when you already have a younger, and more well-rounded RD in Bouchard.
- A potential idea is to add some other pieces alongside Barrie, and acquire several pieces the other way, including a defensively stable 3RD as his replacement.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’m all for switching and swapping in an attempt to find the right combinations, but Barrie just signed a three year deal and GMs rarely trade players they’ve just signed like that. Plus it’s just bad form, ask the guys in Vegas about Brad McCrimmon…
So suggesting to consider the trade is all fine and dandy, but it’s a wasted thought experiment, in my opinion. That said, next year and the year after are open game.
I’m curious, is this team lucky to have such a good record despite the analytics or are the fancies wrong?
Lastly, the team is 15-5-0… We should be grateful for what we do have and not grumble for what we don’t. I mean, everybody has their wish lists, but I have to say, just when I think this team is due for a loss, they scrape one out. This current group of Oilers is a good hockey team and it’s winning games despite dealing with injuries to its no.1 goalie and top three left-shot defenders. I might just have to sit back and watch this monster grow…
Spector’s Hockey
- NHL.COM: In a recent mailbag segment, Dan Rosen was asked if the New York Rangers might kick tires on Arizona Coyotes winger Phil Kessel or Vegas Golden Knights winger Reilly Smith to add a scorer to play alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
- TVA SPORTS: Anthony Martineau and Nicolas Cloutier discussed possible offseason free-agent targets for the Montreal Canadiens next summer. Martineau suggested pursuing San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl while Cloutier recommended Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman (and Quebec native) Kris Letang.
