Can the Oilers powerplay be better next season?
4 years ago
Last season, the Oilers powerplay was actually pretty good. They ranked 9th in powerplay percentage, 13th in powerplay goals scored, and 16th in shorthanded goals against. It’s hard to complain about the season they had, but I will. The team only had four players (Draisaitl, McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Chiasson) score more than two powerplay goals last season. It’s great that their top unit clicked as well as it did, but they need to establish more depth on the second unit.
This season, I have the bar set even higher for this group. There are a few reasons for that.
First, I don’t believe their top ten powerplay percentage last season was a fluke. I think that top unit, mainly the duo of McDavid and Draisaitl, can be just as good next season as they were in 2018/19. Their shooting percentage on the powerplay was 14.92, which was eighth highest in the league but that’s not astronomically high. There are five teams below them that are still above 15% and the league average this season was 13.64.
Some of the teams ahead of them were the @Tampa Bay Lightning, @Boston Bruins, @Winnipeg Jets, @Winnipeg Jets, and @Colorado Avalanche. All of those teams were also in the top ten in terms of pure powerplay percentage and they all have a tremendous amount of skilled forwards on their top units. The high shooting percentages for those teams isn’t really luck, it’s a reflection of skill. I think the Oilers belong in that group.
Looking at their individual scorers, Chiasson shot 23.53%, Draisaitl shot 23.19%, Nugent-Hopkins shot 17.78%, and McDavid shot 14.75%. Nugent-Hopkins had a pretty sustainable shooting percentage when you consider that it’s on the powerplay and shooting percentages rise when you consider just shots taken with the man advantage. McDavid’s shooting percentage checks out, it could even go up a bit. Chiasson could come back to earth, but as a net-front presence on a powerplay where he is surrounded by skilled players, it shouldn’t be surprising to see him post a very high shooting percentage. The same can be said for Draisaitl. I don’t think those two players high shooting percentages from last season are a result of luck. I think they’re a result of @Connor McDavid setting them up with great scoring chances.
They were also 25th in powerplay opportunities. Considering the skill they have, there has to be a time where McDavid and Draisaitl get a little more respect from the officials. Maybe this year they start getting the calls that they deserve.
Looking at the numbers, there isn’t really a reason to believe that they’ll be worse than last year. Which brings me to why I think they’ll be better.
The addition of James Neal should help in my opinion. Adding another left-shot isn’t ideal considering that McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins all shoot left but at the end of the day, I view Neal as a legit shooting option for the top powerplay unit. In the three seasons before going to Calgary, Neal produced an average powerplay goals/60 of 1.44. Nobody outside of Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid, and Chiasson scored at a better rate than Neals average over the three years prior to last season. He is a proven powerplay scorer and that has to be viewed as a positive.
The addition of @James Neal could allow them to slide @Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Chiasson to the second powerplay unit and give them two units that the opposition will need to plan for. How does this look?
UNIT ONE: McDavid – Draisaitl – Neal – Kassian (net-front presence) – Klefbom
UNIT TWO Nugent-Hopkins – Chiasson (net-front presence) – Gagner (down low, like Letetsu) – Nurse – Benning
I like the look of those units. @Sam Gagner has had success as a powerplay scorer in the past and so has Chiasson. Nugent-Hopkins has looked good when used as a powerplay quarterback off the half-wall. That second unit could provide some good scoring when going up against the other teams’ second group of penalty killers.
Finishing top ten in the league was great, but considering how much high-end talent they have on the roster, I want to see them take another step forward this season.
A fully healthy @Oscar Klefbom will no doubt help. When he played all 82 games back in the 2016-17 he finished tied for 13th in the league for powerplay assists by a defenseman. On top of that, he shot the puck on a regular basis and most importantly, he got shots through to the net.
Even in an injury-shortened 2018-19 campaign, he posted good numbers. He was 20th in powerplay assists per 60 minutes and 23rd in individual shots/60 by a defenseman. He can be a driving force on that top unit with his ability to move the puck up the ice and be a reliable point shot.
Injuries have hampered him and there’s obviously no guarantee that he plays all 82, or even close to that, but there was a point where I believed that Klefbom was on his way to being a high-end powerplay quarterback. If he can stay healthy, then I think he could get closer to hitting that potential.
For the second unit, if @Darnell Nurse can take another step forward it would help immensely. Last season he was 27th among defenseman in powerplay points/60 and 34th in powerplay shots/60. Those aren’t incredible numbers, but he held his own on the Oilers top unit last season. If he can improve on his ability to pass the puck up ice and help out the Oilers second unit, then the teams’ powerplay percentage should rise.
Last year, the powerplay was good. It was better than just average but wasn’t quite elite. This coming season, I think we could see this team develop an elite powerplay that could help them win an extra handful of games next season. Am I being rather optimistic? I suppose, but you can’t disagree that the potential is there with this team.
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