Pacific Division Snapshots: Brown, Strome, Russell
Dustin Brown spent eight seasons as the captain of the Los Angeles Kings, helping the team to two Stanley Cup championships during that time. He scored 54 points in 2011-12, the fifth consecutive campaign of at least 22 goals and 53 points, but since has seen his performance decline. Brown did tally 18 goals during the strike-shortened 2012-13 season but in the three full seasons since he’s averaged just 0.35 points-per-game. That performance regression in part prompted the Kings to remove the “C” from Brown’s sweater in order to give it to Anze Kopitar.
The Kings did look to move Brown this summer but with six seasons remaining on a contract that calls for an AAV of just shy of $6MM, there wasn’t much interest. Brown was critical of the decision, particularly in how the situation was handled, but the 13-year veteran has handled his business like a pro this season. In fact, as Josh Cooper of Yahoo writes, not having the responsibilities of the position any longer allows Brown to focus on playing hockey and his play has improved this season as a result.
“I’m not taking the game home with me, which in years past was a difficult thing not to do, partly because I … just as a competitor you want to take everything personally. Now I’m kind of detached a little bit from it, which is a good thing. So I get to come to work every day and do my job. It has been much easier to leave it here, which has been much healthier.”
Brown has six points in 20 games, a per-game average of 0.45. That prorates to a full, 82-game total of about 37 points. Brown has been part of an effective third line with Devin Setoguchi and Nic Dowd and for the first time in a long while he says he is enjoying the game:
“This is probably the first time I’ve had fun playing hockey in a couple of years. I know in saying that we play a game for a living. But I always say no matter if you’re playing a game or whatever you’re doing in life if you’re not having fun it’s tough to do.”
Even with the uptick in production it’s unlikely Brown will ever again be worth his cap charge. But the Kings must nonetheless be pleased to see even a moderate improvement from their former captain.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- Dylan Strome has tons of skill and plenty of hockey instincts. But Arizona GM John Chayka and team bench boss Dave Tippett believe the one thing holding him back at this point in his young career is a lack of physical maturity, as Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports writes. Strome was recently returned to the Erie Otters of the OHL after a seven game spin at the NHL level. He tallied just a single assist and was a minus-5 while averaging 13:41 of ice time per game. Strome’s struggles represent one of the issues regarding Canadian junior players. His development won’t be helped by returning to the OHL as he’s simply too good for that level. But as we’ve seen, he isn’t physically ready for the challenges of the NHL and he can’t be sent to the AHL to play against other professionals due to the rules in place. However, as Morgan notes, Strome will be eligible to represent Canada at the upcoming Word Juniors, which as Chayka points out, will allow him to serve as a leader on the Canadian squad: “I think that’s important to be in Canada for him,” Chayka said. “He should be a big part of that team; a big part of that leadership group.”
- Kris Russell has his critics as a player, particularly among the analytical community. Yet the Edmonton Oilers, who signed the veteran defender late in the offseason, are pleased with what he has brought to the table, as Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Journal writes. The numbers that matter most to the Oilers is the team’s won-loss record when he is in the lineup versus when he is out. Edmonton is 9 – 3 – 1 with Russell playing and just 2 – 5 – 0 when he does not play. While he isn’t putting up big counting numbers, in the opinion of bench boss Todd McLellan, Russell has helped add stability to a unit that has been below-average over the last several seasons: “I don’t think it’s coincidence. I think he does bring enough stability back there that he has an impact on the outcome of games.” Russell had to wait through the summer before landing a deal with Edmonton but if he continues to impress Oilers management, the team could look to lock up the 10-year vet before he hits the free agency next July.
Snapshots: Burns, Ramo, Pouliot, Steen
The Sharks and pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Brent Burns are making progress on a contract extension, reports ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun (Twitter link). He does, however, note that the deal is not yet done. LeBrun also adds in a follow-up tweet that there are still some deals to be ironed out but that lots of progress has been made. Speculatively, one of the areas that likely would be getting worked on is the amount of no-trade or no-move protection and how it may vary – if at all – over the life of the contract.
Last season, Burns finished second in points among all NHL defensemen with 75 while he averaged just shy of 26 minutes per game. He’s off to another strong start this season with seven goals and nine assists in 19 games; his 16 points lead all blueliners.
Back in September, we took a closer look at his contract situation and suggested that he could be in line for a seven year extension with an AAV of $7.875MM.
Other news from around the league:
- Unrestricted free agent goaltender Karri Ramo is close to receiving the green light from doctors to return to game action, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). Ramo is currently skating with the Maple Leafs but does not have a contract, similar to UFA left winger Brandon Prust. While the goalie market has been quiet as of late with Andrew Hammond passing through waivers, Ramo could draw some attention as potentially a cheaper option for teams. He could also take a minor league deal to get in some game action and showcase himself to potential teams that way.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have assigned defenseman Derrick Pouliot to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on a conditioning stint, the team announced. The former first round pick has spent the bulk of the season on injured reserve with a lower body injury and last played on October 21st, his lone game of the season. The Penguins plan to play him in three minor league contests and then be re-evaluated by team doctors next week.
- Blues forward Alex Steen is not with the team on their two-game road trip although the team hasn’t ruled him out of playing the second game on Wednesday in Washington, writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has missed the last two games with concussion-like symptoms (though the team is stressing that it’s not a concussion). Steen has two goals and eight assists through 17 games this season.
Snapshots: Murphy, Jones, Condra, Hamilton
After being placed on the trade block last week, Hurricanes defenseman Ryan Murphy now finds himself in the AHL for a conditioning stint.
Murphy has played just four games so far this season, and has just one assist to show for those games. He has split his last several seasons between the Hurricanes and Checkers; he’s scored 36 points in 128 NHL games and 65 points in 82 AHL games. Murphy was the Hurricanes first round pick, 12th overall, in 2011. He was a proficient offensive defenseman with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL. Murphy scored 220 points in 228 games.
It’s not clear what the asking price would be to acquire Murphy. In the above link, TSN’s Darren Dreger speculated that the Hurricanes were looking to move him as part of a package for defensive help. While he’s shown flashes of offensive brilliance and is right-handed, Murphy has also been inconsistent and injured more than most teams would care for. The price to acquire him shouldn’t be large, if a team is interested in taking a look. Murphy is signed through 2018 at $787K.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets will likely welcome back Seth Jones to the lineup tonight, after the young defenseman was taken off Injured Reserve on Monday morning. To make room on their roster, the Blue Jackets assigned rookie winger Markus Hannikainen to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. Jones had six points in 10 games before fracturing his foot on November 5th. The hairline fracture kept Jones out of the Blue Jackets’ last six games, in which they had a 5-1 record. It’s not yet known if Jones will be in the lineup on Monday night when the Colorado Avalanche visit Columbus.
- After suffering a rash of injuries, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Erik Condra from their AHL affiliate in Syracuse, according to Mike Halford of NBC Sports. Steven Stamkos is out for four months or more, Jonathan Drouin took a hit to the head in Philadelphia this past weekend, Brian Boyle missed their last game, and Cedric Paquette is also a little banged up. The Lightning signed Condra to a three-year, $3.75MM contract back in July 2015, but Condra has struggled with just 11 points in 54 games last year. He cleared waivers in October and was sent to the AHL, where he has found his scoring touch with nine points in 13 games.
- ESPN’s Craig Custance writes that the Flames Dougie Hamilton is raising his trade value with his recent strong play. Hamilton has been moved up from the third pairing to play with captain Mark Giordano on the top pair, and Hamilton’s play has risen. There has been some speculation over the last few weeks that Hamilton could be available, but at a high price. Custance writes that fellow managers believe Flames GM Brad Treliving won’t want to trade Hamilton for anything that would look bad compared to the price Treliving paid to acquire Hamilton: a mid-first round pick and two second round picks. Should Hamilton’s play continue to rise, other teams may be more willing to pay the price to acquire him.
Snapshots: Olympics, Vanek, Kane
The NHL is using the Olympic dream to play hardball with the Players Association, according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post.
As we’ve previously reported, the NHL is offering Olympic participation in exchange for a three-year extension of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA). But the NHLPA isn’t likely to accept that proposal due to their unhappiness with the escrow agreement.
Brooks compared the escrow situation to a classic Seinfeld quote, “the players are angry, my friends, like old men trying to send back soup in a deli.”
The players are not happy with losing 15% of their yearly salary. And they’re furious, according to Brooks, that the NHL is holding the Olympics over their head to increase the CBA’s length. Originally, the NHL said they needed the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to cover player costs, which President René Fasel ultimately agreed to. But then NHL decided it needed more from the players in order to go to the Olympics. As Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist put it, “it sounds like they’re pretty happy at the league with what they have, doesn’t it?”
Brooks writes that this could be the issue that finally unites the Players Association for the first time since they fractured during the 2004-05 lockout as different parts fought for and against the implementation of a hard salary cap. They could fight for a hard cap on escrow, like the NBA has.
With the NHL publicly open to extending the current CBA, it would be “an Olympian task” for them to lock out the players for a fourth time under Gary Bettman.
- The Detroit Red Wings will have some scoring help when they face the Calgary Flames on Sunday as Thomas Vanek is set to return to the lineup. Vanek has missed 11 games, in which the Red Wings had a paltry record of 3-7-1. They’ve had trouble scoring just 18 goals in those 11 games. Vanek has four goals and eight points in seven games played, and should boost the Red Wings. He’ll play on the top line with Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin against the Flames, according to George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press.
- On Friday, we reported that the Vancouver Canucks were no longer interested in pursuing hometown boy Evander Kane. On Hockey Night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Sabres’ asking price was too high for the Canucks, and that’s what lead to the breakdown of talks. Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshnyski wrote that the two would have been a poor fit, as the Canucks are rebuilding and Kane averages “a police investigation per season and can’t stay healthy.” Wyshnyski said he doubts Kane would be able to stay on his “best behaviour during a prolonged rebuild,” and concluded “thank God for high asking prices.”
Central Division Snapshots: Landeskog, Barrie, Kristo, Bitetto
It must be mailbag day on the NHL beat. Earlier we linked to Joe Haggerty’s piece on the Bruins and now Mike Chambers of The Denver Post chimes in answering some tough questions regarding the Avalanche. First and foremost, Chambers discusses Gabriel Landeskog and what his expectations are for the gifted power forward. In the opinion of the scribe, based on his talent and the fact he was the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Landeskog has to start producing 30-goal seasons in order to live up to his billing.
Landeskog posted a career-high 26 goals in 2013-14 and since has recorded seasons of 23 and 20 markers. He has netted four goals in 15 games this season which would put him on a full-season pace of 20 – 21.
As Chambers notes, Landeskog is a good NHL player and is the Avalanche captain, but with Colorado once again off to a slow start, Colorado needs him to start being great if they want to sneak back into the playoff race. Currently, the five-year veteran left wing is out of action due to a lower-body-injury.
There were rumblings that Colorado could shake up its core this past summer and one player rumored to perhaps be moved in such a scenario was Landeskog. GM Joe Sakic instead kept the core intact and simply made a couple of changes around the edges. However, if Colorado doesn’t start playing better soon, they may revisit that choice and Landeskog could be made available later this season.
Elsewhere around the Central Division:
- In the same mailbag, Chambers took a question on Tyson Barrie. Barrie, prior to inking a four-year, $22MM extension this summer, was also thought to possibly be available via trade. As a right-handed blue liner with plenty of offensive ability, many teams would have been interested in Barrie’s services. Clearly he is viewed as a top-end puck moving defender, which as Chambers notes, often comes with high-risk, high-reward tendencies. Chambers argues that when the team is going well, the mistakes are easily overlooked. On the flip side, when things are not going so well, each mistake is magnified.
- St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh completed a minor deal today, with minor league forward Danny Kristo headed to the Penguins and defenseman Reid McNeill headed the other way. The news was first reported via the Blues official Twitter account. Kristo was Montreal’s second-round pick in 2008 and has also played in the New York Rangers organization. He appeared in 71 games for the Chicago Wolves, tallying 25 goals and 48 points. McNeill, two years Kristo’s junior, was selected in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft by St. Louis. With 409 penalty minutes in 234 career minor league games, the 6-foot-4, 216-pound blue liner appears to be more of a physical force than an offensive threat. The trade likely serves as little more than two clubs searching for minor league depth with the Blues moving a forward while acquiring some blue line help.
- Nashville Predators defenseman Anthony Bitetto has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate on a conditioning assignment, tweets Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Bitetto has been out since opening night with an upper-body-injury. It will be interesting to see what the Predators do once the 26-year-old blue liner completes his conditioning assignment. In his absence, Yannick Weber has stepped into the top-six and has three assists in 15 appearances. Former Shark Matt Irwin has replaced veteran Matt Carle in the lineup and has responded with three goals and five points in 10 games. It seems likely that Weber would be the odd man out though there is no indication from Nashville or Vingan that this is the case.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Miller, Shattenkirk, Pastrnak, Sabres
In a recent mailbag feature appearing on CSN New England, Joe Haggerty tackled several Bruins-related questions. Chief among them was a query regarding the possibility of Boston making a move for St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk, who is in the final year of his contract and is expected to be one of next summer’s most coveted free agents, has been rumored to be available at times since the outset of the offseason and Boston, thought to be in the market for a top-four blue liner for just as long, has been linked to the veteran defender previously.
Haggerty reasons that while the Bruins would likely welcome a player of Shattenkirk’s ilk, the fact he has been the Blues best defenseman so far this season and given St. Louis considers themselves Stanley Cup contenders, they would probably not have much interest in dealing him away at this point. Additionally, it’s been suggested the Blues would require a scoring forward in any hypothetical trade of Shattenkirk, and until Frank Vatrano returns from injury, the Bruins don’t have the depth at that position to sacrifice.
Ultimately, while Haggerty expects the Bruins to have interest in Shattenkirk closer to the trade deadline, assuming the Blues do indeed make him available, right now it doesn’t make much sense for Boston.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- One of the reasons Boston could eventually find themselves in the market for a top-four defender is the mediocre play of young blue liner Colin Miller. Haggerty noted in the same mailbag that Miller’s performance so far has been “indifferent,” and while he’s had his moments this season he simply hasn’t played up to his abilities. Miller has just one goal and two points in 15 games this season and carries a minus-6 plus-minus rating.
- Staying in Boston, Bruins winger David Pastrnak has officially been ruled out for tonight’s home game against Winnipeg, according to the team’s official Twitter account. Pastrnak is day-to-day with an upper-body-injury. The Czech winger is tied for fourth in the NHL with 10 goals and has added four assists for a total of 14 points in 14 games.
- The Buffalo Sabres and GM Tim Murray have not been shy about spending owner Terry Pegula’s money the last couple of seasons but still didn’t expect to be a “cap team.” Despite adding Evander Kane via trade a couple years back, taking on his $5.25MM cap hit in the process, and signing unrestricted free agent Kyle Okposo this summer to a seven-year, $42MM contract, Murray figured he’d still have plenty of cap space to work with this year. But, as John Vogel of The Buffalo News writes, injuries to several key contributors have forced Buffalo to call up replacements from their farm system and as a result they’ve walked a fine line relative to the salary cap ceiling. The Sabres have four players – Tyler Ennis, Cody McCormick, Jack Eichel and Nicolas Deslauriers – currently on IR. That totals $7.8MM in cap space on the shelf. As Murray noted in Vogel’s piece, Buffalo has 27 players drawing NHL salaries and pushing the team closer to the cap ceiling than they are comfortable being. It remains unclear why Buffalo hasn’t utilized LTIR as that would at least temporarily alleviate the problem. Ennis is out until mid-January after groin surgery and would have been eligible for a stint on LTIR.
Metro Division Snapshots: Oshie, Eller, Jones, Flyers
Washington lost three players last night to injury in the team’s gutsy 1 – 0 win over Detroit, forcing the Capitals to play with just nine forwards for the last two periods of the contest. T.J. Oshie exited in the first frame with what is being called an upper-body-injury after absorbing a heavy hit from Riley Sheahan, writes Isabelle Kurshudyan of The Washington Post. He is being listed as week-to-week, suggesting he could miss at least the next few games for Washington.
Kurshudyan adds that Lars Eller, also suffering from an upper-body-injury, is currently day-to-day though head coach Barry Trotz says he is doubtful for tomorrow night’s game after not practicing today.
Andre Burakovsky was also hurt during the game and sat out the final two periods but was a full participant in practice this morning and should be ready to go tomorrow. Trotz says the 21-year-old winger is “trending in the right direction,” in terms of his chances of playing tomorrow. Burakovsky is confident, saying, “I feel good” and “I feel ready,” when discussing his availability for the game.
The loss of Oshie for any length of time hurts Washington as the veteran winger plays in all situations and logs big minutes for the team. He has eight goals and 12 points in 17 games this season for the Capitals.
Eller, acquired from Montreal in the offseason in exchange for two, second-round draft choices, has just two goals on the season. Washington pulled the trigger on the deal with the idea the Danish pivot would address the team’s longstanding hole for a third line center who can contribute in all phases.
Kurshudyan also reports that Trotz indicated the team will recall a forward from Hershey of the AHL, with the expectation that Oshie and Eller will be out of the lineup tomorrow. Though Trotz didn’t offer any insight into who might get the call, Paul Carey, Chris Bourque and Christian Thomas are all having good seasons for the Bears and each has at least some NHL experience.
Elsewhere in the Metro Division:
- According to Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch, Seth Jones, out the last couple of weeks with a hairline fracture of his foot, was back at practice this morning. Jones was originally expected to miss three weeks with the injury so a return to practice lines up well with that time frame. In his first full season with the Blue Jackets, Jones has three goals and six points in 10 games. Fortunately for Columbus, the absence of Jones hasn’t hurt the team as the Blue Jackets have won four of the five games he has missed.
- On one hand, the influx of talented youngsters into the Philadelphia Flyers lineup has been a welcome one. But, on the other, there is generally a learning process each must go through and several of the team’s young players are finding that out, as Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post writes. Head coach Dave Hakstol recently made second year defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere a healthy scratch and benched rookie winger Travis Konecny for much of the third period in Thursday’s 5 – 2 win over Winnipeg. Hakstol reminds his charges that a healthy scratch or a benching is simply a part of the process as young players learn what it takes to be a successful NHL player, and not to necessarily take it as a bad thing: “It’s easy to take some of the moves that we make in a negative way, but that’s not the case,” Hakstol said. “For young players, it’s a learning process. I used the word (Thursday) ‘accountability.’ There is that element within a team and most importantly just taking positive steps forward as you become a more consistent player at this level and that’s not an easy step for young players to make and Ghost is still a young player.” Gostisbehere, who finished second in Calder Trophy voting a year ago, and Konecny, a 19-year-old rookie, have both been productive this season with the “Ghost” posting 10 points in 17 games while Konecny has 11 points in 18.
San Jose Sharks Snapshots: Burns, Labanc
Brent Burns and his potential free agency next summer is already a hot topic and will only continue to grow more popular as the season progresses with no contract extension between the blue liner and the San Jose Sharks. There is no doubt Burns is set to cash in whether he re-signs with the Sharks or heads to the open market and as Adam Gretz of FanRag Sports Network argues, Burns will be well worth every penny on his next contract.
Gretz speculates that given what similar defenseman have received, Burns should have no trouble finding a deal worth anywhere between $7MM and $8MM annually. That would place him easily among the highest paid blue liners in the game as only P.K. Subban has a contract with an AAV in excess of $8MM. But as Gretz points out, since becoming a full-time blue liner in 2014-15, Burns has more goals than anyone else at the position with 50.
Further, Burns ranks behind only Erik Karlsson in points with 149 and has more shots on goal than any other defender with 673.
Of course it’s easy to rationalize paying Burns or any other defenseman $8MM-a-year based on his current production level; the real question is how he is going to fare the longer his contract runs.
At 31, Burns is likely to get the seven-year max contract – eight if he re-signs with San Jose – which will take him well into his late 30’s. Naturally, Burns’ performance will decline as he ages and whoever signs the 6-foot-5, 230-pound defenseman will have to hope it’s a slow decline rather than a sudden one.
Assuming Burns finishes the current campaign strong he has a strong chance to join an accomplished group of defenders who have averaged 0.80-points-per-game or better between their age 29 and 31 seasons. According to Gretz, just 16 others have done that and many of those played during the 1980’s when scoring was significantly higher than it was in any other era. Gretz takes it further, noting that those blue liners saw on average a 19% decrease in point production over the four years following that stretch between 29 and 31. If Burns follows that same trend he would still be a 50-point scorer in year four of his next contract.
Granted, Gretz’s analysis does leave open the likelihood that Burns’ performance will decline further in years five through seven. In fact, he may well not be worth what he will be paid during those seasons but that’s a risk every team that signs a big money, long-term deal accepts. The hope is to get enough surplus value in the first half of the pact to offset the losses likely to be seen in the back half.
In other San Jose Sharks news:
- An unlikely top prospect, Brooklyn-born Kevin Labanc, who was selected by the Sharks in the sixth round of the 2014 entry draft, made his NHL debut last week. In five contests since joining San Jose, Labanc only has one point. But the rookie winger had his best game so far, as Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area reports, playing on a line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski in Thursday’s loss to St. Louis. Labanc notched his first NHL goal and nearly had another later in the game. The Sharks are going to need more games like that from the youngster as they may be without the services of Tomas Hertl for a while.
Snapshots: Vegas, Eriksson Ek, Shootouts
Las Vegas owner Bill Foley is hoping to accelerate the final expansion payment to the league by the beginning of March, reports Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt (Twitter link). Until the payment is made in full, the pending expansion team (whose named will be officially revealed one week from today), the team is not permitted to be represented at any league events such as the Board of Governors meetings or GM meetings, including the one taking place today in Toronto.
The reason for the March 1st deadline is to allow the team to get approval from the league to pursue undrafted college free agents. Many of their seasons end towards the end of March but they want to ensure they’re all set well before then so that they can get into the bidding process. As they have to essentially build an entire farm system in the span of a few months between the expansion draft, free agency, and trades, it’s likely that Las Vegas will be extremely active in the college UFA market this year.
Other news from around the league:
- Although the Wild can assign 19 year old center Joel Eriksson Ek to either the AHL or the SHL if they decide to not burn the first year of his entry-level deal, GM Chuck Fletcher tells Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune that their preference would be to have him play in Sweden and at the World Juniors next month. Eriksson Ek has played nine games so far which means that the next game will officially begin his entry level contract. The team will hold him out of the lineup tonight for the second straight game to further ponder the route they’ll take.
- One topic that was discussed during the GM meetings that will be carried over to their meeting in March is potentially changing to international shootout rules, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). In international shootout rules, players can shoot as many times as a team likes after the first set of three shooters make their attempts. The thought process behind this might be to better showcase the elite shootout players while hoping to avoid some of the longer shootouts that see players further down the roster forced to take shots.
Oilers Notes: Early Goals, Eberle, Depth
It’s been a tale of two seasons so far for the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers were 7-1-0 on October 30. That night, they lost an emotional game versus Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators. Since then, it’s been tough sledding for the Oilers. Including the Senators game, Edmonton has gone 2-5-1 in the last eight games.
Their recent losing streak has shown a tough tendency: the Oilers have been scored on in the first two minutes eight times so far this season. Six of those early goals have been scored in the last eight games, including the last three games straight.
It’s not clear why the Oilers keep surrendering early goals, but they do seem to be able to score their way back into games. Despite being down so early in half their games, they’ve only trailed at the first intermission twice in those eight games.
Perhaps no player embodies the Oilers recent struggles as much as Jordan Eberle. The longest-serving Oiler has five points in his last five games, but besides a two-goal outburst in last week’s loss against the Penguins, he hasn’t scored a goal since October 18. He spent his summer working on his shot and one-timer to help him playing with Connor McDavid, but Eberle’s shot hasn’t looked any better or helped him score on the power-play.
Eberle was pulled off McDavid’s wing during Sunday night’s loss to the Rangers., and coach Todd McLellan told reporters post-game that “based on tonight, Ebs wouldn’t get a passing grade in my books. Or else he would have stayed [on McDavid’s wing]. You earn your keep, and Ebs didn’t earn it tonight in my mind.”
Having a $6MM sniper like Eberle struggle like this is tough for any team, let alone one with little depth behind him. Beyond Eberle, the Oilers have Jesse Puljujärvi, Zack Kassian, and Tyler Pitlick.
Kassian has looked solid this season, but isn’t suited to playing above a third line checking/ depth scoring role. Pitlick has been a pleasant surprise for the Oilers, making the team in his sixth pro season and working his way up the lineup. His five goals tie him with McDavid, Milan Lucic, and Eberle for second-most on the Oilers behind Patrick Maroon. Pitlick was the one to replace Eberle on McDavid’s line during Sunday night’s loss.
Puljujärvi appeared to be getting the hang of the NHL game before missing a game with a Charley horse. He’s been held pointless since and looks like he could use a stint in the AHL to get his confidence back. That may not happen, unless the Oilers move Leon Draisaitl to the wing or add a veteran NHLer. TSN Edmonton radio host Allan Mitchell (aka Lowetide online) wrote that the Oilers “problems are identifiable, but the solutions will cost assets — and I wonder if Peter Chiarelli is willing to make those sacrifices at this point in the season.”
The Oilers appeared to be counting on college rookie Drake Caggiula to play third line center and move Draisaitl to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins‘ wing, but Caggiula suffered a hip injury in pre-season action and has been out since. It will be interesting to see how Chiarelli handles the Oilers season: despite a tough stretch, they’re still tops in the Pacific Division and are probably two or three pieces away from being a contender. If Chiarelli can add a veteran right winger and an offensive-minded defenseman to help the power-play, then Oilers fans can be confident that the team’s first eight games are more indicative of their real ability than the last eight games.