Oiler player usage is one of the last things we can talk about with this 2017-2018 team. We’ve covered everything else to death and I’m sure we’ll keep doing it after the season is over. Right now, I have my concerns about what Todd McLellan is doing with his wingers. I don’t really get it.
I understand that the Oilers signed Milan Lucic to a boat-anchor contract and that the General Manager needs to save face, but playing Milan Lucic in offensive scenarios has gone from just trying to get a struggling vet going again to watching Sideshow Bob step on rake after rake – except we desperately need him to cross the path of rakes to score a goal.
Watching him play the final 2 minutes of the game on the PP and with the extra attacker was painful. This player hasn’t had a power play point in 33 games. He is the exact wrong person to be on the ice when the Oilers are trying to score in an extra-attacker scenario. He has been struggling to accept and make passes, he’s not fast, and he hasn’t been a scoring threat personally for half the year. He essentially turned a 6v4 into a 5v4 with a 250 pound pylon in the way.
The biggest question-mark for me is how this team is approaching the development of Jesse Puljujarvi. This is a 19-year-old player who the Oilers NEED to turn into a top 6 contributor. He is a 4th overall pick with obvious physical skill and talent, but he is mired on the 3rd line with Ryan Strome as his center. With just 13 games remaining (including this one), I fail to see how playing him at LW while Pontus Aberg and Mike Cammalleri play at RW ahead of him is helping his development.
Puljujarvi logged just 11:45 last night but still had 4 shots on goal, which was 2nd only to McDavid. JP is 10th among Oiler forwards who have played this year in average ice time per game. He’s 6th in total goals. He’s 4th in 5v5 goals, ahead of Lucic, Strome, and Nuge. He has a higher 5v5 goals per 60 minutes than Leon Draisaitl. And just for good measure, it doesn’t appear to be because he’s riding a crazy shooting percentage – he’s 9th among Oiler forwards in 5v5 shooting percentage (8.49%).
When you want a goal scored and there are extra attackers, Jesse Puljujarvi should probably be on the ice. He’s one of only 5 Oiler forwards with a goals for percentage above 50%. The others are McDavid, Draisaitl, Maroon, and Pakarinen. So really, he’s one of three regular, current Oiler forwards who can boast that.
Puljujarvi has played 246:30 with McDavid 5v5 this season and was producing 1.95 points per 60. This is clearly an upgrade over Aberg. He has played just 51:55 with Draisaitl, who is now centering his own line. With Leon, Puljujarvi was producing 3.47 P/60. It’s a small sample size, but this is EXACTLY the time they should be playing together to see if the chemistry was real or accidental.
Why on Earth should he be trying to work with Strome, when a career as a 3rd liner would be a worst-case scenario for a player drafted so high? I worry that this team is taking the Yakupov approach with Puljujarvi. Eventually, if you train a guy to play the 3rd line that’s what he will become. A 3rd liner.
LINEUP
Klefbom will actually return today, but undergo ANOTHER procedure next week which will end his season. Try to make sense of the decision to play him a couple extra games when he needs to be shut down and they know it. I can’t. Benning is sick and Montoya will start.
RNH McDavid Aberg Lucic Draisaitl Cammalleri Puljujarvi Strome Slepyshev Caggiula Khaira Kassian
Nurse Larsson Klefbom Bear Sekera Russell
Montoya
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Aberg Absent. I’m starting to understand why Pontus Aberg only has 3 career NHL goals. He might be fast, but he is essentially invisible out there. He is averaging 14+ minutes a night out there of pure nothingness. The worst part is that he was elevated to the top 6 ahead of other players almost immediately and based on nothing more than the fact that he was the primary return in the trade of a well-like vet. He has to start at least picking up chances if he’s going to be playing with McDavid.
2) No Time To Think. The Oilers were shut out last night and while McDavid and Nuge probably had a couple nightmares about Mike Smith’s acrobatics, they don’t have time to dwell on it. There’s just no time. The San Jose Sharks are an even stronger team than the Flames and there’s just no time to waste thinking about what could have been done differently. That said, I would like the team to rethink using Milan Lucic in the final 2 minutes down by a goal. Maybe there’s enough time to rethink that.
3) Little Joe. Joe Pavelski is once again the leading scorer for the San Jose Sharks. He has 18-37-55 in 69 games, which is actually well below his standards, but at 33 we might be witnessing his natural decline. Then again, maybe he just needs to play the Oilers more. He has 4-5-9 in 3 games against Edmonton this season. He has feasted on Oiler blood this year and playing against a club that just played yesterday evening certainly isn’t hurting his odds of adding to that total. It’s been Paveslki at 9 points then a huge cliff down to the next highest scoring Shark vs the Oil this year. Stop Little Joe.
Puck drops tonight at 7:30PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Tank On!
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