Houston, I know we keep calling and telling you we have a problem, but we really do. The Edmonton Oilers can’t seem to stop themselves from getting in their own way. They’ve got a fantastic group of forwards in their top-six but for the love of Pete, it doesn’t matter what coach they have or who the GM is, their bottom-six is constantly getting caved in; and now, to top it off, their once glorious special teams is now a laughing stock… It helps nobody that their no.1 defenseman and their backup goalie are hurt and nearly all of their roster additions over the summer are firing blanks… Please… Help.
Some Suggestions For the Forwards
So, I’m going to piggyback off of Lowetide for a moment here. A couple of days ago on his radio show, he suggested that the Oilers move Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to 3C because Kyle Turris was, and these are my words not his, getting his ass handed to him; and with the loss to the Maple Leafs last night, the time has come.
Edmonton’s problem is not their top-six and I can’t foresee it ever being a problem as long as Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are around. So, with a 3-6-0 record, it’s time to shake the foundations a little bit here and attempt to cauterize the wound that is the Oilers’ third and fourth lines.
Since the club has an overabundance of wingers and one winger who actually plays center, here’s what I’d do,
Kahun-McDavid-Kassian
Neal-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Nygard/Ennis-RNH-Puljujarvi
Archibald-Turris/Shore-Chiasson/Russell
So you can probably notice right away that there are pairs on almost every line that have found success with each other at one point or another in the past. Familiarity is an important aspect of these line combinations.
I think you have to have at least one disruptor on a line if the plan is to get on the other team’s defense quickly. It helps if that player also has high-end skill in one facet or another. Like Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi, for example. They are outstanding forecheckers but they also have the ability to score and make plays. Whereas Nygard and Archibald lack that cutting edge. Zack Kassian could be in the Yamo/Pulju tier if he wanted to be, but it appears he’s either saving his physicality for a rainy day or has abandoned it altogether.
This would be my solution to fixing the Oilers’ bottom-six problem. You get a third line that is defensively responsible but still a threat offensively and a fourth line that can be considered an energy line and doesn’t require a lot of TOI.
I’m not ready to write off the season yet, but I am at the point where I’d like to see something different being iced. We’re nearly through a fifth of the season and we’re still waiting for offense from a plethora of forwards, maybe it’s time to shake up the roster a bit.
What do you think? How would you set the forward lines up? Let us know in the comments below!
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