Player review: Edmonton Oilers Alex Chiasson and his turnaround season

Alex Chiasson joined the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 2, 2018. He had just come off a Stanley Cup-winning campaign with the Washington Capitals where he scored 18 points in 61 games.

Chiasson wasn’t able to find a home through free agency and Edmonton took a chance on him on a one-year deal paying him a league minimum of $650,000.

He stepped in and had an immediate impact on Edmonton finding a home on the powerplay and alongside Connor McDavid.

He finished the year posting career highs in goals (22) and points (38) and was set for a new deal. Edmonton gave him a two-year, $2.15-million deal and off he went.

Chiasson struggled early this year scoring only five points in the first 20 games and many questioned the signing. After all, his success was largely predicated on playing alongside McDavid, and Leon Draisatil.

Since then, however, Chiasson was able to turn his season around. In the last 45 games, Chiasson scored 10 goals and nine assists as his shooting percentage rebounded to near his career average.

All in all, Chiasson has totaled 24 points in 64 games for the Oilers this year. Over an 82 game season, that adjusts to 30 points.

Chiasson has shown an ability to be a very useful player for the Oilers bumping up in the lineup when need be, as well as being a net-front presence on the powerplay.

While his even-strength underlying numbers are considered average (50.24 CF%, 52.38 xGF%), they get a significant bump considering all situations (57.02 CF%, 60.39 xGF%). Overall, Chiasson has had a very solid season thus far for the Oilers.

At even-strength, Chiasson’s most common linemates this year have been Gaetan Haas, James Neal, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Success with Haas has been moderate, as the pairs GF% is 50, while their CF% is around 48.65 percent. xGF% is on the lower side of 47.97.

Chiasson’s sweet spot, however, has been with a Neal and to a slightly lesser extent Nugent-Hopkins. The best even-strength numbers for Neal and Chiasson both seem to when playing together. In 228 even-strength minutes, the pair have posted a 56.72 CF%, a 66.67 GF% and a 60.08 xGF% with a slightly high 103.7.

Unless the Oilers find a significant upgrade over him, I don’t really see the club moving on from Chiasson this offseason. At $2.15-million, he might be making a bit too much money but I’m relatively happy with the production he’s had this year.

Chiasson individually hasn’t been written about all too much, but here’s the last two we’ve penned on him:

On Twitter: @zjlaing