Questions on defence: Part One

7 years ago

Oscar is ready! #NHL #oilers #YEG
A photo posted by OilersNation (@officialoilersnation) on Sep 14, 2016 at 12:13pm PDT

There has been a lot of discussion and debate in Oilersnation about forward line combinations and the best combos for success. It is in an interesting topic, but for me the play of the Oilers defencemen will have a much larger impact on where they finish in the standings.

The Oilers overall team defence needs to improve, but the play of the D-men will be crucial if they hope to lower their goals against. Of course Cam Talbot will need to play well, but he doesn’t need to be out of this world if the defence is solid. Last season 19 goalies started 50+ games, and Talbot’s .917sv% was 12th.

Only Ben Bishop (.926), Cory Schneider, Corey Crawford (.924), Braden Holtby, Roberto Luongo (.922), Marc-Andre Fleury (.921) and Henrk Lundqvist (.920) were above .920. If Talbot had allowed five fewer goals he’d been at .920. Better defence should lean do fewer quality scoring chances, and I believe Talbot is good enough to be around .920 this season.

Will the defencemen be better?

On paper the Oilers are better. Oscar Klefbom, Brandon Davidson, Darnell Nurse and Griffin Reinhart are a year older, stronger and hopefully wiser. Adam Larsson gives them a solid defensive right-shot defender, while Andrej Sekera and Mark Fayne are solid NHL players.

Being better should be easy considering the Oilers have allowed the most goals in the NHL over the past five seasons. They’ve been scored on 1171 times, while Los Angeles has allowed the fewest goals at 871.

The Oilers have struggled scoring goals as well during the past five seasons, sitting 26th in GF at 941. They are woeful -230 in GF/GA ratio, with only Buffalo being worse at -255.

Despite looking better on paper, each one of the bluelines has some questions surrounding their game heading into this season. Today will be the first in a series of seven profiles on each D-men and the questions surrounding them.

We’ll start with Oscar Klefbom.

THE BASICS

He stands 6’3 and weighs 215 pounds. He’s very strong, a good skater and has deceptively good offensive instincts. He’s only played 107 NHL games, but when healthy he’s looked very good.

The main question for Klefbom is simple: Can he stay healthy?

He has made a full recovery from the staph infection that forced him to miss the second half of last season. It was a rare ailment, but combined with previous shoulder and foot injuries until he plays a full season there will be questions about his ability to stay on the roster. He will wear a specially fitted skate which he hopes will protect him from any further infection in his ankle.

“The infection was right on the edge
where the skate is on the outside of the ankle. So the skates I’m going to
get right now have so much padding and there’s, I don’t know, I guess there’s
some different material that is going to take away some of that pressure that I
had in my old skates. And they’re going to make a new cast, a mold of my foot
so I get the best possible fit for my foot. So hopefully that’s going to take
the pressure point away from the surgeries,” Klefbom explained to me during the off-season.

He has been skating with his teammates for the past week and said he feel great and is 100% healthy.

When healthy, Klefbom can be an impact player at both ends of the ice.

He is big and strong enough to handle any forward in the league. He’s an excellent skater, has good positioning in the D-zone, an active stick and he’s quite good offensively.

In his last 66 NHL games he’s produced 30 points. That is excellent production. In a full 82-game season that would equate to 37 points.

Last season only 26 D-men produced 40 points, and only 38 had 35+ points. If Klefbom can stay healthy, and be close to 35 points, then he’ll have a stellar season.

However, I’m more concerned about his defensive play than his offensive totals. Obviously the Oilers need more production from their backend (they only had 100 total points from the blueline in 2015), but it will start in the D-zone. If they are better defensively, and more accurate with their passing, then the team will spend less time defending and more time attacking. Better defensive play from their blueliners will naturally lead to more offence, but they have to be better in their own zone first and foremost.

The question surrounding Klefbom is the most difficult to answer, because it is impossible to know if a player can remain healthy. I don’t believe a staph infection means he is “injury-prone,” but for whatever reason he hasn’t been able to play a full season in the AHL or NHL.

If he can stay healthy this season, the Oilers’ chances of being in the playoffs will increase dramatically. Last year, I argued Klefbom’s injury was more damaging to the team than Connor McDavid’s, because when McDavid went down Leon Draisaitl stepped up and produced 30 points in 37 games.

When Klefbom went down no D-man was able to fill his shoes offensively or defensively. Klefbom had 12 points in 30 games before being injured. Andrej Sekera was the only defender to finish the season with more points than Klefbom, and no defender was able to replace his 22 minutes/game effectively.

The Oilers need Klefbom in the lineup. The good news is his play on the ice isn’t a concern, it’s whether or not he can get stay on the ice regularly. I hope he can, because I’d like to see how much of an impact he could make in a full season.

Recently by Jason Gregor:

Questions on defence: Part One

THE BASICS

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