The longstanding narrative around Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid has been they don’t play good defensive hockey.
It’s been around for years, dating back to their time as young players entering the NHL trying to find their game. The struggle of understanding a 200-foot game isn’t something that comes to many of the fresh faces entering the league, but those issues were only amplified in Edmonton.
While they oozed offensive talent — something the team needed them to push for — it often came with a sacrifice in their own zone. That, however, has gone out the window, as both of the Oilers superstars have become the best versions of themselves as players who can turn in on in either zone, driving play on either end of the rink.
Draisaitl, with an Art Ross Trophy and a Hart Trophy on the shelf already, has now begun to find himself in the conversation for one of the league’s most prestigious awards: the Selke Trophy.
Handed out annually to the league’s top defensive forward, the list of players who have won the award in the last decade isn’t exactly robust, with Patrice Bergeron winning four times, Aleksander Barkov winning twice, Anze Kopitar twice, and Sean Couturier and Ryan O’Reilly each taking the trophy home once.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch backed Draisatl in March for the award, saying he couldn’t see why he wouldn’t win the award amid a year where “he’s doing it all” for the team. Draisaitl, meanwhile, told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that winning a Selke could be even more important than any other individual trophy out there.
“That would be “almost more important than any other (individual) trophy at this point in time,” he said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of chatter about when we were younger that we can’t defend. And the reason we don’t win is because Connor and I can’t defend or don’t defend. And I think we’ve really changed that narrative around the league and especially the last couple of years.“We’re both really, really good defenders when we want to be. I think it’s just the consistency part of doing it every night. And I think I’ve done that for the most part this year.”
A recommitment to the defensive game was a significant reason why the Oilers were able to go on a run to the Stanley Cup Final last year and it’ll be key again if they have plans of coming out on top this time around.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
