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Improvement From Within: Ryan McLeod |
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With the exception of Jack Campbell in net as well as bottom six additional Mattias Janmark, the Oilers will be icing essentially the same team that made it to the Western Conference Final last season. While making it that far again would still make for a solid season, the goal is obviously to push further than that and win a Cup.
There are a couple reasons to be more optimistic than simply status quo. For starters, the Oilers will have Jay Woodcroft as coach for the entire season as opposed to simply the second half. Another key aspect will be internal growth. Guys like Yamamoto and Puljujarvi we have discussed at length but today we are instead going to begin talking about some other candidates for breakout seasons, starting with Ryan McLeod.
In the 20/21 season, Ryan McLeod made his NHL debut with 1 assist in 10 games. His natural speed was on full display in those games but he wasn’t able to utilize it effectively or find his way to get into scoring positions. Not a terrible showing for a rookie but there was a clear need to see more from him.
This past season, McLeod started the year in the AHL but quickly made his way back onto the roster. Under Dave Tippett, McLeod went 5-3-8 in 33 games, averaging the 10th most minutes at 5 on 5 among forwards and the Oilers were outscored 11-10 when he was on the ice. On special teams, McLeod played just a hair over 16 minutes in 33 games on the powerplay and 5 minutes on the penalty kill.
Things improved drastically once Jay Woodcroft came in. McLeod became a far more trusted player under Jay, his overall ice-time bumped up and at 5 on 5 he played the 7th most minutes among all forwards, going 4-9-13 in the final 38 games of the season. At 5 on 5, the team was still outscored by a hair 15-14 when McLeod was on the ice. But some context is needed there. When McLeod played with the likes of Foegele, RNH, or Derek Ryan than the line outscored the opposition. When McLeod was anchored to the likes of Zack Kassian or Josh Archibald, the line was outscored. Luckily the latter two players are no longer a factor.
Not only did McLeod receive a boost at 5 on 5, but he became a relied upon special teams option. Woodcroft actually used his 2nd PP unit and in the final 38 games, McLeod played 39 minutes on the PP, going 2-3-5. Where McLeod really got a boost though was on the penalty kill. Once JW came aboard, no Oilers forward played more minutes on the PK than Ryan McLeod. Under Tippett, the Oilers allowed the 11th most goals against on the PK. After Woodcroft took over the Oilers allowed the 15th most goals against on the PK and were also tied for scoring the 2nd most. In the playoffs, the Oilers also had the best PK out of the final four teams at 82.5%
Under the Oilers new coach, McLeod started to look very much like a young Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. A fast, cerebral player who is responsible at both ends of the ice and excels on special teams.
What are reasonable expectations for McLeod this season? The soon to be 23 year old put up 9 goals and 21 points in 71 games last season, most of which were in the bottom six and not gravy minutes with McDavid or Draisaitl. On a third line with consistent usage on the second unit PP, a 13-20-33 point season does not seem farfetched to me.
More importantly than overall numbers, if McLeod can continue to develop into a strong two way centre that can outscore the opposition on the third line he will be a key piece in the regular season and even more vital on hopefully another long playoff run.
Currently McLeod is not signed by the team but Holland has spoken at length about the player. We know the Oilers need to shuffle some things to clear cap space but McLeod is an RFA without arbitration rights who should cost the team no more than 1 to 1.2 million in cap-space. Edmonton needs useful players on team friendly contracts that can make a difference. McLeod can absolutely be one of those players.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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