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Splitting McDavid, Draisaitl sparks the Oilers

Columnist Bruce Penton writes about the Edmonton Oilers
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A common refrain around the National Hockey League for the last couple of seasons was that the Edmonton Oilers were nothing more than a two-man team and that two-man teams couldn’t possibly win a Stanley Cup.

Sorry, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the hockey-following public didn’t like your chances. Playing on the same line meant offensive fireworks, but defensive problems while the other two lines tried their luck.

Suddenly, however, things changed. Oilers’ coach Dave Tippett apparently made a New Year’s resolution to split his two superstars — putting Draisaitl with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the speedy mighty mite, minor-league callup Kailer Yamamoto, and McDavid with a variety of wing mates (Zack Kassian, Josh Archibald, newly acquired Tyler Ennis and Andreas Athanasiou were among the most regularly interchangeable parts).

It took only a few games, but suddenly Draisaitl stopped looking for McDavid — and vice-versa — and both carried on with offensive fireworks, meaning only one Oilers’ line had to concentrate on defence. And on that theme, opposing coaches could put their No. 1 defensive pairing on the ice against either Draisaitl or McDavid, but not both, further enhancing scoring chances for the Oil.

Edmonton streaked to a 15-9-1 record in the first 25 games after Tippett’s line-changing experiment, which started on Dec. 31. The Oilers have become a Stanley Cup contender again, challenging Vegas Golden Knights for top spot in the Pacific Division. Their power play, featuring Draisaitl and McDavid together, is No. 1 in the NHL, and their penalty killing numbers are in the league’s top five. Draisaitl in early March was running away with the NHL scoring race and — horrors! — some observers were suggesting the German-born centre was more deserving of the Hart trophy (MVP) than his glorified team-mate, McDavid.

Coinciding with the Draisaitl-McDavid split was the arrival of Yamamoto, a 2017 draft pick who showed little in the way of the offensive talent he exhibited with Spokane in the Western Hockey League. But he paid his dues in the minors, came up to the Oilers on New Year’s Eve and has been on a flashy point-a-game run by using his speed and playmaking ability to complement his two linemates.

With Mike Smith emerging as a solid No. 1 goalie (and Mikko Koskinen a solid No. 2), and the blueline with Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, Ethan Bear, Adam Larssen and Caleb Jones providing a more-than-competent top five, the Oilers have become a fun team to watch — perhaps all the way into June.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.  

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