Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to all of you. I’ve got a fresh mailbag ready to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their take on whatever is on your mind. This week, we’re talking about secondary scoring issues, Corey Perry’s workload, John Klingberg, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

Edmonton needs a second line scoring winger. It is amazing Draisaitl leads the NHL in 5×5 scoring with 43 despite having no second line winger who can produce consistently. Podkolzin and Arvidsson each have six goals at 5×5. RNH only has seven playing in the top six.

Perry has been great in his minutes with 12 goals, while Skinner has 10 in limited minutes, mainly in the bottom six. But you can’t play them regularly on the same line as it would lack speed. Oilers should look to acquire a scoring winger.

I would love to see Stan Bowman add another scoring winger at the deadline, especially if the plan is to have RNH as the 3C and stretching out the centre depth. Please.

He doesn’t play enough minutes to get that fatigued, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down. He is a true pro. He is 11^th among forwards at 11:36/game. I see no reason to rest him now, especially with how he is producing.

What’s amazing is that he’s playing around 12 minutes in TOI and getting all this production done despite the limited minutes. I don’t think we’ll see any load management for Perry, he’s not a basketball player. *wink*

It is better to look at his GF-GA at 5×5.

In 2021 he was -4 (36-40).
in 2022 he was -12 (54-68)
In 2023 he was -24 (32-56) with ANA, but he was +5 (12-7) with MIN.
In 2024 he was -5 (9-14) with TOR.

He spoke openly about how his hip issues limited his ability to defend. The past, due to his injury, isn’t what I’d focus on. I’d look at how he is playing now. His mobility looks better, but you can still see some rusty spots. At times when he is backwards skating he gets on his heels a bit, and looks off balance. I’m guessing that is due to being off for 15 months and getting used to the speed of play again. He is even (3-3) through five games with Edmonton.

He has 27 games before playoffs to get up to speed, but the Oilers only have seven more games before the trade deadline. He will remain in EDM over the break and keep skating and working on his mobility, which is wise. If they can land a top-four RD, I’d look at it, if the asking price isn’t too steep, but through five games I have seen more positives than negatives from him.

I think Klingberg looks rusty and like the game is going nine million miles per hour. That’ll happen when you haven’t played in over a calendar year and get thrown into the lineup mid-season. I’ve got time to see if he keeps getting better, but it will be interesting if the Oilers look for more at the deadline anyway.

Not really since they are 6^th in the NHL in goals against and fourth in goals four. Also how much they have outshot teams regularly. I don’t punish a team because they have high skill to win in OT. Here are the OT/SO records of the playoff teams:

EDM 9-4
DAL 6-2
WPG and FLA are 6-3
MIN 6-4
COL and TOR 5-2
WSH 5-7
CAR 4-4
NJ 4-6
LA and VGK 3-6

WSH is best team in NHL and have been to OT 12 times, but only one five. EDM has been 13 times and won nine. I don’t think that makes them a way worse team.

I see what you’re getting at, but I ultimately think wins are wins, and the Oilers are finding ways to get them over losses.

It isn’t as easy to just say cover Draisaitl. As it would open up the inner slot more. And most teams now play a “pack the house” defensive zone, and the fact McDavid can make the pass through the seam and Draisaitl has a good enough one-timer to beat the goalie from distance, just means you can’t defend elite plays at times.

The game is not as static as you think to just tell someone “cover Draisaitl.” First off which player is doing it? The D-man, centre or winger. And if it is the LD, then Draisaitl can just slide farther into the corner and the D-man would then vacate the front of the net. Which is a more dangerous spot to vacate. Or what is Draisaitl slides behind the net. Does D-man go with him? Draisaitl is very smart, he’d figure out they were shadowing him and move away from the play, opening up a lane, or he’d move beside another defender thus taking out two of them. You can’ just defend every play with a simple “cover him” mentality.

It’s kinda like Alex Ovechkin scoring on the half-wall on the power play. Everyone knows he’s going to be there, but no one has been able to stop it.

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