Here we are at almost the midterm mark of the Oiler season and there are several players who are headed down the path to failure. Some are more spectacular about their implosions than others. Very quietly Anton Lander is limping towards an exit from the NHL.
The former 40th overall selection in the 2009 Draft has had a very uneven NHL career to date. Thrust onto the club too early and allowed to die of exposure before his resurrection in the American Hockey League. His triumphal return to NHL action last year only to follow it up with pure disaster this year. Anton Lander has an interesting story, but I fear the end of the Oiler chapter is only a few pages away.
Lander started the season in the bottom 6, but he was started out with Yakupov and Korpikoski as linemates. He was still getting some kind of offensive push by the coaching staff. Letestu in October, meanwhile, was the pivot between Gazdic and Slepyshev. Combined with a healthy dose of PP time in the early goings of the season, it’s hard to conclude Gazdic wasn’t given an opportunity to succeed.
Despite the push in those early days and a total of 37 games played by the Swede, he has 0 goals and just 2 assists to show for it. That’s it.
This isn’t a player who is without skill. He isn’t a goon who made it to the NHL dragging his knuckles behind him. Anton Lander was at one time one of the best scorers in the AHL and just last year produced 20 points in only 38 games with the Oil. Now he has only 2 in 37. It’s hard to fathom how any player in the NHL can lose 90% of their offense from one season to the next. It’s even harder still to imagine how their careers can survive if things don’t change for the better.
Lander doesn’t draw a lot of attention to himself on the ice. He’s averaging barely more than 1 shot per game on Edmonton’s 4th line. He’s not particularly physical, though his calling card even as a teenager was his Hockey IQ and leadership, not his punishing style or point production. Still, too often this season Lander has played wallflower for Edmonton. We’ve been concerned about his confidence since the Oilers made the mistake of playing him 56 NHL games in his first North American season. His career looked stunted because of that error but to Lander’s credit he became a better than point per game player in the AHL under the watchful eye of Todd Nelson.
When Nelson took over as interim Head Coach last season it didn’t take that long for him to bring his top C with him and when he did it looked like Lander had finally been unlocked at the NHL level. He produced at a 43 point pace (over 82 games) in his half-season with Nelson’s Oilers. That kind of offense from the 3rd line would have been huge for the club this year.
Anton Lander isn’t without his positives, though. Lander is still one of Edmonton’s top 4 Penalty Killing forwards based on ice-time. Even if his scoring has vanished into thin air, he still has the defensive chops to be useful on at least 1 special teams unit.
He’s also the best faceoff man among the team’s most used pivots. Only Hendricks has a better faceoff percentage among semi-regulars on the dot, but he’s still 300 total faceoffs behind Lander. Even though faceoffs are likely the most overrated facet of the game, there will always be time for players like Lander who are winning 55.1% of their draws.
Nonetheless, the future for Anton Lander is uncertain. The complete lack of offense is disconcerting to say the least. With Connor McDavid returning to the Oilers sometime in the new year there are going to be roster decisions to be made. Assuming he dodges that bullet, he hasn’t shown the new Management much to cement his future in Edmonton. 4th line centers aren’t exactly difficult to find and it’s clear the franchise can’t count on him reprising the 3rd line role they envisioned at the beginning of the year.
It’s been a difficult to season to watch, with respect to Lander. There’s lots of hockey to be played yet, but if he doesn’t start to prove he can do more than win a faceoff it might not be enough. I hope 2016 brings the young man some puck luck and enough confidence to re-establish himself at the NHL level.
LINEUP
Davidson will return to the lineup tonight. The player coming out will be Gryba. McLellan said this morning that Gryba is a little banged up. Khaira is also going to be in for Pakarinen, who had a head injury of some kind. Yakupov took part of the skate this morning. It’s the first time that he’s skated with the main group since a linesman tackled him, spraining his ankle.
Hall-Draisaitl-Purcell Pouliot-RNH-Eberle Hendricks-Letestu-Korpikoski Gazdic-Lander-Khaira
Nurse Schultz Sekera Fayne Davidson-Gryba
Talbot OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Getting The AHL Band Back Together. The pair of Hunt-Davidson was an AHL duo for a long time and should be relatively comfortable with each other. I thought Hunt played an OK game in his season debut. His shot was instantly dangerous on the PP and that’s exactly what he’s there for. He was a little slow but it didn’t cost him too much. Davidson has progressed to be far more useful than I ever believed he would be. I think he’s the 4th best defender on the team and I know there’s an argument he’s potentially Edmonton’s 3rd best blueliner. 2) Nurse’s Legs. Darnell Nurse’s effectiveness has been very up and down, to be expected for an NHL rookie. He stood up for his teammate and dropped the mits with Lucic for his first ever NHL fight. He didn’t win but he showed a lot of courage and that’s the stuff that gets noticed. What I would like to see more of from Nurse is him transporting the puck up the ice. He’s an incredible skater and he should be using it to his advantage as much as possible. Edmonton has trouble breaking the forecheck and traversing the neutral zone. Nurse’s legs can be just as dangerous as his fists if he wants them to be.
3) 4 Points. This is another 4 point game and even though the Oilers are dead last in the West, they are also just 4 points out of a Playoff spot. They have more games played than most so the gap between them and 3rd in the Pacific might be larger than they appear. That makes this game against the Ducks that much more important. The team has blown opportunities against the Kings and Flames with mental gaffes. They cannot afford to keep up the idiotic play during this homestand.
Puck drops tonight at 7PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Get Better, Connor!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy