Leon: How Good?
4 years ago
Is @Leon Draisaitl of the @Edmonton Oilers the best player in the NHL right now? I’m not sure I’d go that far, especially when teammate @Connor McDavid, the other obvious candidate who comes to mind, is never far away. His running mate, most of the time.
No matter what you think, though, it’s a not a ridiculous question to ask right here, right now. That some people are pondering the question about the big German, that he’s even in the conversation, isn’t something I ever considered even 12 months ago. No chance. No way. Here we are.
We’ve been watching the strong argument Stauffer talks about unfolding for 14 games this season, the latest chapter coming in last night’s 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game in which Draisaitl scored two goals and added an assist. This on the heels of a 2018-19 season in which Draisaitl scored 50-55-105. Numbers aside, Draisaitl leads all forwards in ice time at 23:51. He produces on the power play. He works the PK. A lot of dimensions here. So, who is better than Draisaitl right now? It’s a short list of contenders.
AT THE TOP
The answer you come up with depends on how you frame the question. Does “right now” literally mean today? Since the start of this season? In the last three years? What if you were to ask, “If you could start a franchise tomorrow with one player, who would it be?” Does that change the answer? In that context, age is part of the question. Would you even start with a forward? Who’ll be best three years from now?
At just 24, Draisaitl ticks a lot of those boxes. Then again, so does McDavid, who is tuning 23 in January. What about @David Pastrnak? What about @Nikita Kucherov, last season’s Art Ross Trophy winner? Like I said, it depends on what you read into the question beyond “right now.” What about underlying numbers? By any measure, Draisaitl has played himself into the conversation.
“He has an impact on every game,” coach Dave Tippett said of Draisaitl after beating the Blue Jackets. “Tonight, everybody sees the goals, but that 5-on-3 penalty kill we had was a big part of the game. We took two poor penalties in the second period in the offensive zone. You got a team down, you hate to let them back in the game with some poor power plays. Draisaitl did a heck of job on the 5-on-3.”
For me, and likely the vast majority of you, McDavid remains the straw that stirs the Oilers’ drink. Three straight seasons of 100-or-more points. The numbers we know. MVP. McDavid is just two points back of Draisaitl coming off the knee injury he rehabbed all summer. Given that, it’s ridiculous how good McDavid has been. It’s ridiculous how good McDavid and Draisaitl are together — especially in OT, when they’re money.
THE WAY I SEE IT
Oct 22, 2019; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (29) protects the puck from Minnesota Wild forward Luke Kunin (19) during the third period at Xcel Energy Center.
Regardless of where you slot Draisaitl in relation to McDavid, it’s difficult to imagine scratching out a list of the top five forwards in the NHL right now and not having both on it. For my money, there isn’t another team boasting a better one-two punch – not even the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Of course, that guarantees nothing. Having Draisaitl and McDavid wasn’t nearly enough to get the Oilers into the playoffs last season or the season before that with Pete Chiarelli running the show as GM before Ken Holland arrived to clean up the mess he made.
That brings up another question, and it’s one that’s been raised before. It used to go like this: how can a team with the best player in the game in McDavid not make, or at the very least contend, for the playoffs? With Draisaitl’s emergence, the question now is: how can the Oilers, now 9-4-1, not make the playoffs when they have two of the best players on the planet?
Previously by Robin Brownlee
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