Penton: Oilers overly reliant on their two superstars
By Bruce Penton
It’s a good-news, bad-news scenario that Edmonton Oilers have the two highest-scoring team-mates in the National Hockey League.
The good news is that Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are a threat to score almost every time they’re on the ice, but the bad news is that the team’s secondary scoring beyond the two superstars is scarce.
Memo to NHL coaches: Figure out a way to stop, or slow down, Draisaitl and McDavid, and you’re more than likely to stop the Oilers.
Recent NHL stats show that while goal production from the top two scorers on each team in the NHL represents, on average, 28.5 per cent of a team’s offensive output, the figure is a league-high and unhealthy 40.2 per cent for the Oilers.
Through the end of November, Draisaitl had 17 goals and McDavid 12. The next-best goal output by an Edmonton forward was four — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner.
Other teams quite dependent on their top two scorers are the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Habs depend heavily on Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, who provide 36.7 per cent of the team’s goals, while the Leafs relied on William Nylander (15) and John Tavares (11) to lead the offence. The Toronto situation could hardly be called dire, though, because high-scoring Auston Matthews missed almost a month due to injury and Toronto’s offence is spread out further now that he’s back.
At the lower end of the statistical story are Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets, whose top two scorers provide a little more than 20 per cent of the team’s total.
Oilers' general manager Stan Bowman is obviously burning up the phone lines trying to find a dependable scoring forward to add to his roster, because if either Draisaitl or McDavid were to be sidelined for any length of time, the Edmonton offence might come close to drying up.
On the other hand, McDavid and Draisaitl are so prolific, that coach Kris Knoblauch gives them an extraordinary amount of ice time, which reduces the chances for lesser players to shine. Anther point in Edmonton’s favour is the status of the slumping Zach Hyman, coming off 36- and 54-goal seasons, but with only three in the team’s first 20 games. A Hyman breakout can be expected, easing the requirement for the Oilers’ big two to carry the heaviest load.
The season isn’t half over yet and there's no reason to think the Oilers can't get things going. They started slowly last year, then ran off a 16-game winning streak at one point, and were powerful through the playoffs, losing in Game 7 of the Cup final to Florida.
"It's about bringing a level of urgency … and doing your job and doing what you need to do and understanding that everybody else is going to go out and do their job,” Hyman told NHL.com. “We're not playing up to our standard.”
Canadian rapper Drake, quoted by Mike Bianchi on X: “When writing the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Molly Schuyler once won the Wing Bowl in Philadelphia by eating a whopping 501 chicken wings in 30 minutes. She was poultry in motion.”
Headline at fark.com: “Tom Brady just can’t understand how all QBs aren’t just like him.”
Michael Traikos of the Hockey News, on the controversy surrounding offer sheets: “It's the NHL equivalent to asking out someone who is wearing a wedding ring.”
NFL quarterback Jameis Winston, after throwing three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, amid a 497-yard passing game vs. Denver: “I’m praying for the Lord to deliver me from pick-sixes.”
Canadian parody website The Beaverton, on the most popular Christmas present in Ontario: “Raptors tickets (mostly as an excuse to get rid of them).”
Another one from The Beaverton: “Report: Juan Soto in talks with Ohtani about best way to get Canadians’ hopes up before crushing their dreams.”
Another fark.com headline: “New Toronto WNBA franchise chooses name … seriously, the Tempo? Even ‘Hoserettes’ would have been better.”
Anthony Lingus, on Bluesky.social: “Kinda weird how the Lakers hired a Boy Genius to replace the worst coach the NBA has ever seen and yet the Lakers have the exact same problems as they did last year, only everyone is a year older.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “Who is currently the highest paid athlete in Canadian professional sports? Immanuel Quickley of the Raptors, who is being paid $32.5 million this season and has played in three games, all of them losses.”
Simmons, with more money talk: “When Scottie Barnes’ new deal kicks in next season, he’ll be getting $44 million U.S., which is about $60 million Canadian, which is $10 million more than the nine rosters in the entire Canadian Football League pay out to their players, give or take a dollar.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca