FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM
By Lowetide
8 years agoDuring last night’s loss to Nashville, Todd McLellan went to the blender in an effort to unlock some offense. Oilers fans, used to the MacT blender, were shocked and amazed when someone other than the ghost of Toby Petersen appeared beside 97.
BLENDER (5×5)
- Nail Yakupov 8-4 .667 Corsi events (6:23 EV TOI) G2
- Anton Slepyshev 7-4 .636 Corsi events (9:20 EV TOI) G1
- Benoit Pouliot 8-6 .571 Corsi events (8:38 EV TOI) G2
- Lauri Korpikoski 5-5 .500 Corsi events (4:42 EV TOI) G2
- Taylor Hall 6-10 ,375 Corsi events (11:44 EV TOI) G1
- Source
The Lander—Yakupov duo had some spark in pre-season, but they were playing with better offensive talent (hello, Leon Draisaitl!), and since the year began they’ve been quiet. That isn’t quite fair — the entire team has been poor offensively (one goal in two games) — but McLellan has tried five wingers in two games with McDavid and the results are above.
Early days, and I think we’ll see Hall and McDavid as a tandem in the future, but Yakupov looked good last night and the quote above suggests Todd McLellan noticed. It doesn’t take much, especially in times of trouble. Will we see McDavid—Yakupov in Dallas? Hope so.
ROOKIE CLASS
I was asked yesterday about the McDavid rookie class and where it ranks among Oilers past rookie crops. I can’t answer yet—Connor McDavid, Griffin Reinhart, Anton Slepyshev and Anders Nilsson may have some company as the season wears on—but it’s going to have some competition from the 1979 and 1980 class.
1979
- Wayne Gretzky (79, 51-86-137) (NHL didn’t consider him a rookie)
- Dave Lumley (80, 20-38-58)
- Dave Hunter (80, 12-31-43)
- Ron Chipperfield (67, 18-19-37) traded during season
- Risto Siltanen (64, 6-29-35)
- Mark Messier (75, 12-21-33)
- Kevin Lowe (64, 2-19-21)
- Cam Connor (38, 7-13-20) traded during season
- Dave Semenko (67, 6-7-13)
- Peter Driscoll (39, 1-5-6)
- Jim Corsi (26, 3.65)
1980
- Jari Kurri (75, 32-43-75)
- Glenn Anderson (58, 30-23-53)
- Paul Coffey (74, 9-23-32)
I wrote about those drafts here.
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