Life without Leon is never ideal for the Edmonton Oilers, but it’s what they’ll have to get used to — and quick — Thursday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets.
Draisaitl was banged up in Tuesday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club where he was held scoreless in a 7-1 victory and despite finishing the game searching for his 50th goal of the year, he’s considered doubtful to play tonight. This, according to Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who noted Thursday if this were a playoff game he would be able to play.
The Oilers approach here is a sound one. There’s ample time for him to hit the 50-goal mark, and is about as much of a lock as can be for the first Rocket Richard trophy of his career as the league’s top goalscorer. We all know Draisaitl can play through pain. Last year, he dealt with a broken rib and finger through the Stanley Cup Finals, and how could anyone forget the 2022 playoffs when he played through a vicious high ankle sprain?
He’s a gamer, no doubt.
But now the rest of this Oilers lineup is going to need to pick up the slack left behind with his likely absence tonight as there really is no sense in Draisaitl lacing up the skates with no real playoff implications in this game.
Here’s what we know about how the lineup is going to shake out:
- Jeff Skinner will remain on the top line alongside Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.
- The second line is likely to just be what the Oilers’ third line has been the last two games, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins centring Vasily Podkzolin and Viktor Arvidsson.
- Adam Henrique will likely replace Draisaitl centring Corey Perry and Connor Brown.
- Mattias Janmark will likely centre the fourth line with Max Jones and Kasperi Kapanen.
- The blue line remains the same.
Knoblauch sang the praises of Nugent-Hopkins’ line after Tuesday’s win, saying their plan was to ride that line for a while.
“Those three have been playing real well,” he said. “They should be a good line. For the most part, those three have been on our top six for most of the year, so they’re good hockey players, but also those three playing together, they’ve been able to play their game.
“The matchup, the other team we’re playing, if we’re on the road, stuff like that, he can certainly move back to left wing,” he added of Nugent-Hopkins’ versatility in the lineup. “We know that that can be useful for us, but right now, it looks great and we’re going to ride it for a while.”
Nugent-Hopkins himself spoke about how he felt more comfortable up the middle, and this might be the best thing for the club moving forward.
Backhanders…
- The Oilers and Jets have had fairly even battles as of late, with Edmonton going 5-4-1 in their last 10, despite getting outscored 33-28. Tonight’s game marks the second game between these two clubs this year after the Jets dropped the Oilers 6-0 in an embarrassing season-opening performance in October.
- McDavid has dominated the Jets over his career, scoring 12 goals and 56 points in 33 games. Seven of those games have seen him score three or more points, totalling six goals and 23 points. We all know he can score in bunches, and his game appears to be trending in a great direction with a few solid performances.
- Connor Hellebuyck, undeniably one of the top few goaltenders in the league, has struggled in his career against the Oilers. He’s gone 13-13-3, posting a .907 save percentage and 3.04 goals against average in 30 regular season games against them. Those save percentage and goals against average marks are each the seventh worst against any team in the leauge.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Oilers
DailyFaceoff projected lineup
J. Skinner – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Nugent-Hopkins – Arvidsson
Perry – Henrique – Brown
Jones – Janmark – Kapanen
Podkolzin – Nugent-Hopkins – Arvidsson
Perry – Henrique – Brown
Jones – Janmark – Kapanen
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Kulak
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Kulak
Skinner
Jets
Connor – Scheifele -Vilardi
Ehlers – Namestnikov – Perfetti
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Tanev – Barron – Iafallo
Ehlers – Namestnikov – Perfetti
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Tanev – Barron – Iafallo
Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Schenn
Fleury – Miller
Samberg – Schenn
Fleury – Miller
Hellebuyck (Projected)
TONIGHT…
Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk from Handmade by Tom
Game Day Prediction: The Oilers step up in Draisaitl’s absence, squeezing out a 4-3 win.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: McDavid is the primary person who picks up the slack, scoring a goal and three points.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: There’s nobody hotter on the Oilers right now than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with back-to-back three-point games. He too steps up with a multi-point effort.
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.
