That was a rough start to Taylor Hall’s return to NHL action. He ultimately factored into the winning goal with an assist as Nuge finished off the Flyers, but before that he was very rusty. His own evaluation of the game was very blunt about it, he knew he wasn’t very good early in the game.
That’s not just an athlete being hard on his own performance, it was accurate. Hall was bad early on. He made two flubbed passes that turned into scoring chances for Philadelphia in the first 10 minutes of the game. He got better as the night progressed, but not so much that there isn’t a strong case to keep him on the Lander line at least one more game (potentially longer).
Offense hasn’t been an issue for the Oilers this month. They are averaging 3.22 Goals per game in the month of March and they are being pushed along by a top line playing sans Taylor Hall. Even with Hall inserted back in the lineup the Eberle/RNH duo didn’t try to defer to Hall’s offensive leadership. Those two continue their torrid pace.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 5 multi point nights in his last 7 games, collecting 14 points in that span. The Nuge won’t turn 22 until the day after Edmonton’s season has finished and yet he’s been a 1C in the NHL since he was 19 years old. The offensive potential has always been there but he has focused a lot of his attention on being the defensive conscience of a line that featured both Hall and Eberle.
With Hall away from him, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been forced to assert himself more offensively and the results are fantastic. At Even Strength, RNH is having a pretty impressive year. He has 38 Even Strength points which places him 18th in the NHL for Centers. He’s ahead of players like Datsyuk, Pavelski, and Bergeron at 5v5 scoring. The issue with his boxcars came from Edmonton’s inept Power Play at the beginning of the year.
The Eakins Power Play was broken for a variety of reasons, but from the beginning of the season until just before Nelson took over the solo job as the Head Coach Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (power play wizard) only managed 3 measly points with the man advantage. 33 games. 3 assists. That is a shockingly low point total for a player with his talents, pedigree, and usage.
Since Nelson took over, the Power Play has been rectified and RNH is once again producing on the Man-Advantage. In the 34 games Nelson has coached solo, the Nuge has 11 Power Play points. It seems as if the maligned Power Play from the beginning of the season has robbed RNH of roughly 7-8 points this season.
Keeping Hall off of that line except for potentially the Power Play not only spreads around the offense, but it keeps forcing RNH to play the role of offensive difference maker. As the player who still most resembles the kid that he is, he is developing into exactly the kind of player the Oilers envisioned. From my perspective, it would be beneficial to keep Hall away until RNH no longer uses him as a crutch, but instead uses him as an offensive equal.
Hall will be back in the top 6 soon enough. I only hope that this time without him has helped the Nuge gain enough confidence in his ability to know that the offense is there and he can lead the attack. The future is so bright for this kid. He’s a beauty.
LINEUP
Ryan Hamilton was placed on waivers. The OKC Barons are in desperate need of forwards. Brad Hunt was forced to play Center for them the other day. Hamilton was lagging behind offensively and in possession metrics. Other than his size he wasn’t really contributing to anything desirable and it was the right choice to send him down. I like what Miller can do with his speed and creativity. He would be a good extra forward option in the future, I think. Who wants to bet Scrivens starts again?
Pouliot RNH Eberle Purcell Roy Yak Hall Lander Miller Hendricks Gordon Klinkhammer
Klefbom Schultz Marincin Ference Nikitin Fayne
Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Get Ready For A Fight. Ok, maybe not an actual fight (that could still happen though) but the Jets have made the Oilers fight for every inch of space on the ice this season. Byfuglien turned Gazdic into a human pretzel along the wall last time and that sets the tone for the game tonight. The Oilers arent generally built to play the physical game, but the Wagon line has never shied away from a good hit and all 3 scoring lines have at least one player who isn’t afraid of contact (Pouliot, Yak, Hall). That said, they will need to dial it up tonight as a group.
2) Getting up To Speed. The final 10 minutes of the game were where Hall played his best. Hopefully that rust has been knocked off. The Jets (because of their aforementioned physicality) will be a big test for Hall as he continues to get back into game shape. He can be tough to handle with his speed and power game if he’s back playing to his abilities. The Jets should rightly be focusing on the RNH line but with Hall and Yak on 2 other lines somebody should be facing lighter competition.
3) The Final Countdown. There are just 10 games left in this season. For the Oilers this final 10 game segment will go a long way in proving who might be here next year. The GM has said a majority of the team will be the same, but there should be 4-5 very key positions up in the air. The Defense is questionable. The Goaltending is questionable. The players in these spots need to step up in a big way against an All-Western Opponents final 10 games. Several of these teams are fighting in tooth and nail for the last playoff spot and Winnipeg is no exception.
Puck drops tonight at 7:38 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Tank On!
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