Edmonton kicked off the California road trip with their 734th loss in a row to the Kings at home. It was a tight game until the Oilers vacated the net and the Kings took care of the job. From the 2nd period on it was Edmonton’s game, by my eye. Unfortunately, the tradition of allowing teams to score in the first couple minutes is a tough one to do away with and the Oilers played the majority of that game behind the 8 ball.

We are now two and a half weeks out of the NHL trade deadline and the Oilers are 14 points out of a playoff spot. They are clearly sellers. One name that has come up consistently is Mark Letestu. The NHL veteran bottom sixer is apparently in demand. According to Darren Dreger (I Know) he’s in more demand than even Patrick Maroon. This probably speaks to Maroon’s perceived value more than it does Letestu’s.

Mark Letestu is a solid NHL veteran in the midst of a particularly poor season. He ihas the worst Goals For percentage among all the 13 forwards who have played at least 200 minutes 5v5 this year. He is bottom 3 in all major fancy stats categories, which is to say that when he’s on the ice the Oilers are more likely to be hemmed in their own zone and scored on than anyone else.

In terms of creating any offense himself, he is 12th among the 13 forwards with a 1.15 P/60 this season. Last year he was 9th with 1.41 P/60 and that’s before we get to his PP contributions. Letestu found himself as a feature shooter on the PP last season and was quite good there. He was 4th in total Power Play points per 60 minutes (4.74 P/60), but 1st in PP Goals per 60 (3.72G/60). He was taking a team high 14.56 shots per 60 on the man-advantage.

This season on the Power Play Letestu is actually taking slightly more shots, but he’s producing goals at less than half the rate (1.4 goals per 60) and overall offense is almost half as well at just 2.79 Points per 60. I guess expecting him to keep up his 25.6% shooting on the Power Play was pie-in-the-sky thinking. The good news for the Oilers is that NHL GMs have long memories and are really bad at assessing risk. So many GMs will believe that all Letestu needs is a change of scenery and magically his ability to shoot the lights out will return.

One other thing they care a lot about is Faceoff percentage. Mark Letestu owns a 53.3% Faceoff Win Percentage and hockey people lap that stuff up. It doesn’t matter that the winning percentage hasn’t helped his team with possession or goal scoring. He wins faceoffs and that’s good enough. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a right-hander.

Edmonton might be able to squeeze a 2nd round pick (but probably not) out of this rental center. One destination already linked to Letestu has been his former club, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The bottom of the Penguin order is very weak but the club still has potential in the post-season because of all that high-end ability.

Where will Mark Letestu find himself before February is over? We wait to see.

LINEUP

Expecting no major changes

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

Nurse Davidson
Klefbom Russell
Sekera Benning

Talbot

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) Kids. We are in the final 30 games of the year and it’s time for the kids to play. I was delighted to see Puljujarvi take more shifts on the top line even after he took a dumb penalty in the 3rd against the Kings. The Oilers need to develop the kids who are going to play bigger roles next season. Along those same lines, I am happy to see Khaira and Benning get minutes. It’s easy to say Khaira. It’s harder for Benning because he has struggled. Still, let’s see what they’ve got.

2) Leon. If there’s one thing the Oilers depend on in games against the Ducks, it’s Leon Draisaitl’s offensive contributions. Be it the southern California sun or a love of Disneyland, Leon gets up for games against Anaheim. He has 13-13-26 in 20 games played between the regular season and playoffs against the Ducks. It’s where he experienced a stretch of hockey that enriched him about $2M more than his other comparables, and the Oilers are putting him back as center on his own line.

3) Ryan and Rickard. The Ducks aren’t the same powerhouse they were in the past and some of the names we’ve associated with them in the past are fading while others are surging. Ryan Getzlaf is still a great playmaker and better than a point per game this season, but Corey Perry has been dropping in productivity for a while. Meanwhile, the team is being led in scoring by Rickard Rackell, who already has 22 goals this season. These Ducks are changing to adapt to some injuries in the lineup and Oiler fans should be prepared to see different names featured in the highlights.

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

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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