The Oilers are 6-1 and I honestly don’t remember how I’m supposed to feel in this situation. Good? Is that…happiness? I’m confused.

The Oilers are still in the lower middle tier of the league in terms of Shot percentage, Unblocked Shot Attempt percentage, and total Shot Attempt percentage. They live in that 20th-21st position in the league. However, in Scoring Chance percentage they rank 12th. What that suggests is that there is still plenty of room to improve, even with the success that the team has had.

That increased success can, hopefully, come at the heels of stronger performances from the Nuge and Draisaitl lines. Last game we saw Pouliot score two and win the club’s internal player of the game award (Motorcycle Helmet). Now RNH and Pouliot have 4 points in their last 5 games each. Draisaitl’s been quiet the last three games but he had started off the season strong.

There’s a bizarre subset of fans who seem to want Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shipped out of town. This is a sentiment I simply do not understand. He’s been hard-matched against top opposition at home this entire month and has performed well keeping the likes of Tarasenko and Ovechkin contained. By doing this, it has also freed up McDavid and Draisaitl to play against lesser competition whenever possible. The trio of centermen has been critical to Edmonton’s early success.

In fact, having those three lines plus a fourth that is content to play fewer minutes has made Edmonton a dangerous club. Of course, Tyler Pitlick wont be shooting the lights out all year so production from the 4th line will tail off, but the big three lines are finding a way to be successful. Letestu’s line has been crushed in shot attempts, but they’ve also taken on the highest percentage of defensive zone draws by a wide margin. With both Letestu and Lander capable of winning a lot of faceoffs, that line was always going to get the grunt work.

It’s RNH and Pouliot also lagging behind in shot attempt percentage that is odd. Pouliot has always been a strong possession player. The fact that they’ve taken on tough assignments and had a rotating right winger early on might have a lot to do with their performance to date. The fact that 5 of their 7 games have been at home where last change allowed McLellan to keep them out against star players is probably a place to look for an explanation of their CF%. Road games like tonight should help normalize the numbers to some degree.

At least that’s the theory.

Semi-related: Teemu Pulkkinen was put on waivers again today. He didn’t find a great fit with the Minnesota Wild and he’s once more available. Despite the fact that he’s been dropped twice I still think it’s worth the Oilers putting a claim in.

The reward outweighs the risk. In 8 games with the Wild he has a roughly team average 47.4 Corsi For percentage. And averaged just around 9 minutes per game. However, in Detroit he was performing significantly higher in that same metric, at 57.1% CF, while averaging roughly 11 minutes a night. It costs nothing. His contract is tiny and could be hidden in the AHL if he clears waivers again in the future. No assets need to be spent on this player at all. That’s an important factor for the club.

It only needs to make sense for the Oilers to take him on even if they want to simply get Slepyshev playing games in the AHL instead of sitting in the pressbox in the NHL. Of course, I think Puljujarvi should be in the AHL too, but that’s a bone of contention and he has the talent to grow into an NHL sooner. Slepyshev on the other hand could absolutely benefit from playing again, whereas if the Oilers simply use Pulkkinen as the 13th man until injuries subside then it’s no wasted development.

Pulkkinen’s on-ice save percentage in Minnesota (completely out of his control) was a team-low .842, which is shockingly low. Lots of goals were being scored while he was out there. There is no reason to believe that will stick with him wherever he goes.

The way I see it, at worst he allows a young Oiler prospect to play games in the minor leagues instead of sitting. At best he can become a useful forward for the club. Either way, all he costs is 1 contract spot. That’s it.

LINEUP

All the injured people are still injured.

Lucic McDavid Eberle
Pouliot RNH Kassian
Maroon Draisaitl Puljujarvi
Pitlick Letestu Lander

Klefbom Larsson
Sekera Russell
Nurse Gryba

Talbot
Gustavsson

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) Too Close To The Sun. The fear for the Oilers is that the success allows them to overlook a team like the Canucks, who have lost their last three games. The team passed the test against some tough teams like St Louis and Washington. However, another charge against the Oilers during these dark ages has been that they’ve “played down” to their opponent. If a team is struggling then instead of taking advantage, they would put up a lemon and help bust some slumps. The McDavid led Oilers need to go for the jugular. We’ve seen this team take games lightly before. It doesn’t end well.

2) 5v5 Drought. One area the Oilers might be able to take advantage of the Canucks is with their 5v5 scoring. The Canucks have scored an NHL low 2 goals per game thus far. At 5v5 they are scoring just 1.03 Goals per 60 minutes. The Oilers are scoring the 2nd most Goals per 60 minutes 5v5 and are tied for the most total Goals per game. The Canucks have 5 players who have scored one 5v5 goal and none with more than that. The Oilers have 9 players with at least one 5v5 goal and 6 with more than one.

3) McDavid’s Shot. Jason Gregor of TSN 1260 noted that Connor McDavid had zero shots on the Power Play this season. ZERO. This has been indicative of a player trying to set up his teammates for high percentage tap-ins. But, that only works if the pass makes it across to the intended recipient. In the last game he gave up a glorious chance in the slot to pass off to Eberle. It’s important for McDavid to keep shooting. Goaltenders, and defending players in general, have to respect McDavid’s shot and the best way to make that happen is to start unleashing it.

Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 360. Game On!

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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