One Analytics Blogger Ponders if the Edmonton Oilers Would be a Better Team Without Tyson Barrie

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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Oilersnation

GDB 5.0 Wrap Up

Zach Hyman continued his hot run with a power play goal (1-1) that tied the game only moments after the Golden Knights grabbed the lead… Hyman tied the game up for a second time (2-2) early in the period after McDavid found him in the high slot where he was able to tee off on the one-timer(??).
Connor McDavid became the 12th player in NHL history to register five straight multi-point games to start the season.
Outside of maybe the third goal that came on a slapshot from the point, I thought that Koskinen stopped basically everything we could have hoped he would and gave his team a chance to win. Koskinen finished the night with 36 saves and a .923 save%.
Make it a four-game point streak for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins when he picked up his 300th career assist on Leon Draisaitl’s second period marker.
I thought that this was Kailer Yamamoto’s best game of the season and it’s not really close.
Big shout out to Duncan Keith for picking up his first point as an Oiler with his beautiful stretch pass on Zack Kassian’s breakaway goal.
Tyson Barrie only played 14:40 tonight and that is not nearly good enough for what we need from him.

BLH’s Thoughts: In year’s past my anxiety would start to crank up when the Oilers went down a goal or two, but this year things are different. I don’t get anxious when the other team scores because I feel quite strongly that Edmonton has a good chance of scoring sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time.

It’s very similar to when the Pittsburgh Penguins of the early 90s were running the show with a top-six of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, Joe Mullen, Mark Recchi, or Rick Tocchet. The opposition knew that at any point, Bob Johnson or Scotty Bowman could throw three of those six players over the boards and there was a good chance they might score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyA4ZLVJZRU

Cult of Hockey

Edmonton Oilers rise to top of NHL standings with pulsating win in Sin City

#10 Derek Ryan, 4. Just 2/8 on defensive zone faceoffs, with 2 of those lost draws leading directly to Vegas goals.
#19 Mikko Koskinen, 8. Responded to the challenge of back-to-back starts with a solid effort under heavy pressure. 39 shots, 36 saves, .923 save percentage, and his third W in 4 days.
#22 Tyson Barrie, 3. Moved down the line-up to the third pairing, his weak start to the season continued, especially behind his own blueline… His shot shares at 5v5 — 6-24 shot attempts, 4-13 in shots, 2-10 in scoring chances, 0-5 in High Danger chances — were across the board the poorest of any Oiler.
#37 Warren Foegele, 4. Had some issues at the defensive end, though, where soft coverage and/or missed assignments was a factor in 2 Vegas goals.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 9. What can’t this man do? Finished 2-1-3, +2 to become just the second NHLer to surpass the 10-point mark in the young season… He tied McDavid with 7 shots on net, 9 attempts, and 11 contributions to Grade A looks. Plus he had another monster night on the faceoff dot (16/23=70%).
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. Played 21:41 in all situations… Now has 7 assists on the season, in a three-way tie for the NHL lead with (wait for it) McDavid and Draisaitl.
#97 Connor McDavid, 8. Chipped in his fifth straight multi-point game to open the season, just the second Oiler ever to do so. (Wayne Gretzky was the other, opening his other-worldly 1983-84 campaign with 7 straight multi-point games to kick off a 51-game scoring streak.)

BLH’s Thoughts: The Cult of Hockey only awarded a 7 to Zach Hyman… Woof! Tough grade for a guy who scored a brace for the second game in a row. For me, he was one of the better players on the night and was just as integral to the win as RNH, Connor, and Leon.

Kailer Yamamoto showed very well too. He was right up in Vegas’ equipment all night long and really showed some zip on the evening. If he keeps that up, the goals are going to come.

Evan Bouchard with over 24 MINUTES! Well done young(ish) man! Did he take out another player with his shot again too?

Not much of a mention for Tyler Benson who didn’t look too out of place. The youngster had some pep in his step and played a physical game when tasked. In addition to that, he had some extra time to show some of his playmaking skills. I liked his line’s night compared to the Golden Knights’ 4th line. Benson, Shore, and Sceviour brought some real energy when called upon.

Does Jesse Puljujarvi make some of the most subtle plays in the league or what? Whether it’s taking two guys out in front of the net in order to give Connor McDavid more room to cut into the slot for a chance on net, or a stick lift from behind, he just finds a way to make quiet little plays and when he’s not getting things done on purpose, his massive bison ass makes them happen inadvertently.

TheSuperfan.ca

Tightening up

Outscoring their opponents 23-13, the Oilers have 10 points in the bank thanks in large part to their special teams.
Even-strength (5v5) is where the Oilers are just getting by, posting a goal-differential of +1 (11 goals-for, 10 goals-against) and a goal-share of 52.38% – good for 17th in the league.
One of the Oilers current issues is their overall team defence at even-strength (5v5) as we’ve seen some pretty sloppy play in their own zone, resulting in extended zone time for opponents and additional shots and scoring chances against.
If the Oilers coaching staff can figure this issue out and make the necessary tactical and deployment adjustments, I’d expect the Corsi For% and other shot-share metrics to be closer to 52%, and closer to what we see from the top teams in the league…
One player in particular that needs to be a lot better is Tyson Barrie… The Oilers spend more time defending and hemmed in their own zone with Barrie on the ice, as his on-ice Corsi For% is currently 42.31%, while his on-ice Fenwick For% is 38.14%.
… it’s pretty apparent that he’s (Barrie) a major drag with whoever he’s playing with, including McDavid.
With the two (Barrie/McDavid) deployed on the ice together this season, the Oilers have posted a Corsi For% of 43.53% – which should be a red flag right away…
…when McDavid doesn’t have Barrie on the ice with him, that number jumps to 57.53%.
It’s a little scary to think how many more points McDavid could have had if he didn’t have to play with Barrie.
…how much better the rest of the roster would be if Barrie was deployed less often.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers have played five games and have won all of them, what’s better than winning 100% of the games? If Barrie was on another team, would the Hockey Gods magically present the club with another win out of thin air? I mean, what the f*ck are we talking about here? Honestly.

The Oilers have FIVE players inside the top-15 in scoring and Barrie has tripled his production in the last three games if I’m not mistaken. Does he make questionable plays on a nightly basis? Yes. Might he need some time to get going every year? It’s something worth looking at, yes. But at the end of the day, if his form rounds into shape around game 10 or 11 and he’s a f*cking all-star for the rest of the year, who the hell cares if his possession metrics are shit in the second week of the season?

Now, I’m not saying Tyson Barrie has been great to begin the campaign, he hasn’t been. All I’m getting at is when I see somebody ponder whether or not the undefeated team he’s playing for could be better without him, it raises some flags.

All that said, I encourage you to go to Sunil’s website to take a gander at the metrics he’s dug up to support his take.