While the management group spins its tires trying to find traction in the trade market, the Oiler coaching staff is making adjustments to the lineup 5v5 and on special teams. Some combination has to fit…right?

The 3-6-1 start has plunged the team into a river of despair and now articles are being written about Edmonton’s lost swagger. That’s going to happen when the goaltending isn’t quite good enough and the shooting percentage rests at almost half what it was a year ago. Nothing seems to be working, even when history tells us these things should come around, at least a little.

There was always going to be a hit when you lose a top 6 goal scorer and don’t replace him, but losing Jordan Eberle does not account for a nearly 5% drop in shooting percentage (all situations). That’s just some hella-bad luck and the occasional stellar goaltending. I mean, the last time the Oilers played the Penguins Murray made a mid-air paddle save on Mark Letestu that defied all logic. These stretches will happen in a season. It’s just painful when they happen in the first month.

That said, obviously the coach needs to get some energy into the lineup and some tweaks might be part of the answer. The biggest area of concern is a Power Play that is looking particularly useless right now. The Oilers are 4 for 33 to start the year and only half of the goals have come from the McDavid unit despite the fact that McDavid is averaging 3:49 per game on the PP.

Per practice the last couple days, the PP units now look as follows:

Unit 1 – McDavid, Caggiula, Letestu, Maroon, Klefbom

Unit 2 – RNH, Strome, Lucic, Draisaitl, Benning

What this change up does it move Maroon and Caggiula onto McDavid’s unit and push Draisaitl and Lucic to RNH’s. As you can imagine, this should spread offense out between the two units. Draisaitl’s presence on the 2nd unit instantly makes it much more dangerous, but also demands that they get more ice time per game.

Draisaitl was averaging the exact same 3:49 per game on the PP as McDavid, but Nuge was getting only 2:16 so the units were definitely not getting the same amount of sugar time. If I’m reading the tea-leaves correctly, we should see a more even split. That also means that clubs cant use their top penalty killing units for McDavid only and gamble that Unit 2 wont get the job done.

LINEUP

Yamamoto draws back into the lineup and that pushes Strome to Centre. The defense gets mixed right up.

Maroon McDavid Draisaitl
Lucic RNH Yamamoto
Caggiula Strome Slepyshev
Jokine Letestu Kassian

Nurse Larsson
Klefbom Benning
Russell Gryba

Talbot

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) New Blue. Todd McLellan’s juggling wasn’t confined to the Power Play. He mixed up the defense a healthy amount. Nurse has been elevated to be Larsson’s partner and Klefbom now matches with Benning. Russell has been dropped to the 3rd pairing with Gryba. These new pairs should place the most pressure on Darnell Nurse, so all eyes will be on the 22 year-old blueliner. Nurse is playing some of the best hockey in his career and he’s making things happen with his feet. Every new elevation in the lineup is another test, however. He will likely see a lot of time against the Penguin top 6 and they will be checking to see just how effective Nurse can be. That is a guarantee.

2) Crosby and McDavid. It’s the matchup everyone is watching. The two players both have 5 goals and 6 assists through November. McDavid has only played 10 games to Crosby’s 13, but even still the two players are unhappy with their respective performances. Both are unhappy with their goal scoring and McDavid in particular should feel like he could have at least 3-4 more points by now just off the special teams. McDavid is better than a point per game against the Penguins in his career, but he has never won a game. It’s about time that changes.

3) The Thrill. I don’t know what it is about Phil Kessel that makes me cheer for him, but I do. It’s probably the way he was treated by the Leafs media who never seemed to appreciate him. He is physical freak in a way that surprises you. For example, when you look at Darnell Nurse you think “This kid is a beast.” When you look at Phil Kessel you don’t think “I bet this guy can dead lift 500 pounds and skate like the wind”, but he can. He’s in a tie for the lead in Penguin scoring with 13 points and the last time the Oilers played him, he made Milan Lucic look like a pylon in overtime. He will always be overlooked when you have to focus so much on Malkin and Crosby, but he’ll burn you if you do.

Puck drops tonight at 6:30 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 360. Game On!

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