Things are not well in Oilerland. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went from having a minor upper body injury that would be fine after the Bye-Week to having, more specifically, a bruised sternum which would still be no issue, to having a bruised sternum OH AND SOME CRACKED RIBS which will keep him out 5-6 weeks.

RNH has been having a solid season in what has been otherwise a lifeless campaign. RNH was pacing out to a 55 point season and is 3rd in overall team scoring and 1st in goal scoring. The Nuge had established himself as a 50+ point player in the NHL before his hand injury but he came in under the mark last year and one wonders if the multiple injuries he’s had were taking their toll on Edmonton’s longest serving player. This season was proof that RNH was still ready to produce offensively.

What the Oilers have been getting from Nuge is scoring away from McDavid. He has played just 8:13 with McDavid through 46 games (5v5). Compare that to the other members of Edmonton’s top 5 in scoring.

Draisaitl – 297:43 with McDavid
Lucic – 280:58 with McDavid
Maroon – 380:49 with McDavid
RNH – 8:13 with McDavid

With Edmonton losing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, it places an extreme amount of pressure on Leon Draisaitl to perform away from McDavid. That in itself has been a struggle in this – his first season making $8.5M per year on the Cap. After all of that, it places a ton of pressure back on Ryan Strome, who has been largely invisible. Edmonton has been their best when they were rolling three quality centers.

Realistically, the Oilers don’t have the personnel to run 3 offensive lines without RNH. At least, not based on the body of work we’ve seen from Edmonton’s middle 6 forwards.

***

Bob McKenzie tweeted that the Oilers have added Paul Coffey in some kind of capacity to the organization. It’s unclear exactly what he’s going to do, but McKenzie suggests that it may be in a coaching role.

Paul Coffey’s coaching experience appears limited to AAA hockey in Ontario and he is a co-owner of the Pickering Panthers of the OJHL. Outside of that there really isnt much to speak of, which means that the Oilers are going to be giving him the role without a resume to support it from his post-playing career.

Obviously, as a player, Paul Coffey was incredibly accomplished. He’s a Stanley Cup champion, Norris Trophy winner, and a Hall of Famer. He is 2nd All-Time in scoring by defensemen and an Oiler Legend. That final point is hard to separate from this rumoured coaching position. Darryl Katz is collecting ex-Oiler legends like they’re Pokemon.

Cynically, I am concerned about more and more ex-Oilers running this organization with little to no experience and even less accountability. This team couldn’t even fire Craig MacTavish. How could they fire Coffey, Gretzky, or Messier? I don’t care how Katz spends his money. He buy gajillion dollar Malibu homes, his own film company, and pay all the ex-Oilers he wants to hang out with him, but how much power should these players have?

Points Back: 12

LINEUP

Maroon McDavid Caggiula
Lucic Draisaitl Puljujarvi
Khaira Strome Cammalleri
Pakarinen Letestu Kassian

Klefbom Larsson
Sekera Russell
Nurse Benning

Talbot


OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) Advantage Nurse. Darnell Nurse has been held out of the top PP unites all year, but that ends tonight. The Oiler defender will now man the point on the top PP unit. Nurse has been Edmonton’s all-around best defender this year. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. In a perfect world we’d like to say that Klefbom was doing better, but he hasn’t. With Nurse playing well in the OZ, it makes sense to give him a chance on the PP. I’d like to think that Nurse could succeed on the PP but the test begins tonight.

2) Brock. Canuck rookie Brock Boeser is having a Calder-type season with 22 goals and 40 points already on the campaign. Yes, he’s overachieving a lot based on that wild 18.2% shooting this year, but he’s leading their team in shots on goal by a country mile. He’s getting very lucky, but he’s definitely the most dangerous Canuck on the ice. Normally we would suggest that RNH’s line would take on Boeser’s but Edmonton may be forced to go power vs power now that Nuge is on the IR.

3) Break Out. The Oilers came out of their last lengthy break and proceeded to play some of their worst hockey of the year. They will go into tonight with an even bigger break than Christmas and they are so far back that there’s simply no room for poor play. Edmonton is 12 points back of a playoff spot. If there isnt a major winning streak in them now then the last Hail-Mary chance at saving the season is gone. Most fans are coming to terms with the fact that the Oilers will likely not make the playoffs. The players, though, are always the last to admit defeat. We hope.

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

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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