The Oilers’ “4th” line of Hendricks, Gordon, and Joensuu are the sacrificial lambs of this team. Placed on the altar of Zone Starts and handed over to the Hockey gods to do with what they may, the trio is inserted in the most difficult situations every single game. Their usage is so extreme that the fact that they arent shell-shocked is a minor miracle.
The two elder members of the line, Hendricks and Gordon, average 13:00 and 13:50 of icetime respectively while Joensuu will play less because he isn’t a regular penalty killer. Otherwise, the trio play roughly 10.5 minutes of even strength time per game. Those 10 minutes are easily the most difficult minutes of the game based on starting position and opposition.
The trio of Oiler forwards are numbers 3, 4, and 5 in terms of the most caustic Zone Starts in the entire NHL. That is to say that Gordon starts in the Offensive Zone only 7.3% of the time, Hendricks only 8.5%, and Joensuu just 8.6% of the time,
as per stats.hockeyanalysis.ca. The only two players who have at least 100 minutes of 5v5 time with fewer OZ starts are Nashville’s Gaustad and Nystrom. These guys are put in offensive zone to take faceoffs so little that it wouldn’t shock me to learn that the majority of those OZ faceoffs were taken early in their shifts after an icing call.
If we switch over to Defensive Zone Starts the trio actually moves up the list, occupying spots 1, 3, and 4 in the NHL for highest percentage of DZ starts. The distinction of taking the highest proportion of DZ starts in the entire NHL goes to Boyd Gordon (surprise, surprise) at 71%. Hendricks and Joensuu fall just shy of the mark Gordon sets at 67.9% and 67.6% respectively. They arent just being kept away from the Offensive Zone, but they arent even getting Neutral Zone starts. Edmonton’s 4th line is easily collectively taking the league’s most difficult deployment.
In terms of Corsi, the total shot attempts for and against, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that the trio ranks near the bottom of the team’s forwards, but perhaps the fact that despite the situations Eakins puts them in they are still 46.4% (Hendricks), 47.5% (Gordon), and 47.8% (Joensuu) might. Given their terrifying opposition and starting placement I think their ability to remain even that close to par is fantastic.
The problem with the Oilers is that they are throwing this line to the wolves every night and still not taking advantage of easier Zone Starts for the rest of the lineup. The sacrificial 3 are absorbing the worst situations night in and night out, the other 3 lines need to produce more as a result but it isn’t happening.
On the flip side of this equation are players like Draisaitl, Perron, and Purcell who are getting lots of offensive sugar time (proportionally) and have yet to produce at the required rate. If the coach is going to sacrifice an entire line to the Zone Start Gods then the others need to perform when they are given the opportunities. A lot of this is going to fall at the feet of Rookie Leon Draisaitl. He plays in the offensive zone more than any other forward and has just 3 even strength points.
I’m not advocating that the big German go back to Jr because I’m not convinced the Oilers have a better option and there’s every chance he gets better as the season wears on, but I am saying that his struggles go a long way in making the sacrifices done in the name of OZ Starts go unrewarded. Whomever the Oilers start in the OZ because the Gordon line absorbed the danger in their own zone has to perform. They have to score. Otherwise, how can they even look at that Wagon Line in the eyes when the game is over?
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