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Jujhar Khaira Is Out Of Time

January 10, 2020, 12:10 PM ET [15 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Last night, the Edmonton Oilers were able to turn around a horrendous showing in the first period and eventually come out with a 4-2 win. Through the first period, Edmonton played a plodding, lackadaisical game which can be completely personified by this play here.

Allow me to present: This Was All Jujhar Khaira's Fault - In 4 Slides



Above we have the beginning of the play; a turnover at the Canadiens blue line has them moving towards the Oilers zone. At the top of your screen is Jujhar Khaira who is coming back to join the play, which should make this a 3 on 2 for the Oilers.



Khaira does something peculiar here and by peculiar I mean bad. McDavid and Kassian were up at the Canadiens blue line when they lost possession, making Khaira the closest forward coming back. Khaira takes a couple steps to jump in but instead halts and decides to stop and head to the bench instead.



Khaira effectively turns this into a 2 on 2. Danult gets the original shot off and Caleb Jones does the right thing by tying up the other man. Russell gets turned around by Danault who takes his own rebound for the goal.



And we all know how this ended.

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Kris Russell made the final mistake that resulted in the goal (when Benning is ready to return it needs to be Russell getting taken off the ice, not Jones), but the original culprit was Khaira and this is not an isolated case for the big man.

The 25 year old Khaira has now spent 5 seasons in Edmonton playing for the team. His most successful year was in 2017/2018 where he put up 11 goals and 21 points through 69 games. During that season, he spent the most time with Ryan Strome and Iiro Pakarainen as his linemates. Back then Khaira was looking like a big physical player who could continue to evolve into an effect middle six producer.

The following season he played 60 games, managing only 3 goals and this season has 6 goals through the first 42 games but only 2 assists. Khaira has been able to capitalize on some chances but isn't bringing much to his linemates at 5 on 5.

Five of Khaira's six goals this season were scored within a 7 game stretch. Between November 16th and December 4th accounts for more than 80% of Jujhar's total production.

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Here are the last 10 games looking at Khaira, who he was playing with, and the amount of shots for (SF) and against (SA) when he was on the ice, and the goals scored during that time. All numbers are at 5 on 5 and taken from NaturalStatTrick.

Oilers @ Canadiens
Khaira-Haas -Chiasson - 2SF/8SA - 1GF/0GA

Oilers @ Leafs
Khaira-Sheahan-Archibald - 4SF/3SA - 0GF/2GA

Oilers @ Bruins
Khaira-Sheahan-Archibald - 2SF/3SA - 0GF/0GA

Oilers @ Sabres
Khaira-Sheahan-Archibald - 2SF/6SA - 1GF/2GA

Oilers @ Rangers
Khaira-RNH-Gagner - 6SF-6SA - 1GF/2GA

Oilers @ Flames
Khaira-Sheahan-Russell - 4SF/5SA - 0GF/0GA

Oilers @ Canucks
Did Not Play

Oilers @ Canadiens
Did Not Play

Oilers @ Penguins
Khaira-Sheahan-Archibald - 0SF/0SA - 0GF/0GA

Oilers @ Blues
Khaira-RNH-Chiasson - 3SF/7SA - 0GF/0GA

It might be oversimplifying to say that any line that Khaira is a part of is out-chanced but not by too much. The blender was out in some of these games but any line that Khaira is a detriment on the ice. If we don't see the Khaira-Sheahan-Archibald trio again this season fans should be perfectly happy. Last night Nygard-Sheahan-Kassian were a force and Tippett should see how many games he can get out of that trio.

Through these ten games, Khaira has 2 assists, both of which came against the New York Rangers. First was Khaira passing to Bear who took a shot that RNH deflected in for the goal, the second was passing to Yamamoto for an empty new goal.

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Tippett likes his bottom six forwards to kill penalties and Khaira is a regular on the PK. As far as I can see that is the only reason why Khaira continues to get into the lineup over a player like Gagner.

Yamamoto was used frequently on the PK with the Condors and eventually I would like to see Tippett give him a chance there. Alternatively it should also be time soon to bring up Tyler Benson.

When it comes to 5 on 5 play, Khaira just isn't bringing close to enough. Tippett needs to make a decision soon on what is more important to him; having a player in the lineup who is useful for 2-6 minutes on the PK or a player that can be put out during the other 56-60 minutes of play.

Thanks for reading.
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