Edmonton Oilers player review and 2023-24 preview: Ryan McLeod

Welcome back, Ryan McLeod.

In terms of Edmonton Oilers players, I’m excited to see this year, Ryan McLeod is right near the top of the list. He’s coming off a career season where he scored 11 goals, 12 assists and 23 points — the first and last of which numbers were career highs.

McLeod became a key matchup player for the Oilers, and in my opinion, a player who wasn’t utilized in the team’s playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights last year.

His impacts on the ice were significant. As seen in his isolated impact charts, he was a positive for the Oilers in every situation beyond time on the power play. That’s not an easy thing to do, and he’s very clearly become one of, if not the Oilers’ best penalty-killing forward.

A cerebral player, he’s shown the ability to play up and down the lineup with different styles of players on his wing. As I wrote about in Warren Foegele’s player review the other day, the two have played a lot of time together at 5×5 and could be a significant piece of the Oilers’ puzzle this year.

Depth is key for any team, and if you can have a third line controlling the pace of play, you’re in a good spot.