The Edmonton Oilers have experienced what life without Leon Draisaitl has been like over the past three weeks, and now they’ll get a taste of life without Zach Hyman as well, as it’s reported he’ll miss the team’s next three road games.

Missing two bona fide first-line weapons from the lineup, combining for 66 regular-season goals this campaign, is a definite blow. As the saying goes, the Oilers will need to dig deep and find that extra gear, facing a major test of resilience over the next three games without Hyman.

While NHL_Sid recently outlined what the forward lines might look like with everyone healthy, with Hyman and Draisaitl out, finding the right mix up front will be crucial on the upcoming road trip, which includes matchups against the Utah Mammoth, San Jose Sharks, and Los Angeles Kings. Here’s how I’d set the forward lines:

In my view, the Vasily Podkolzin, Connor McDavid, and Matt Savoie line shouldn’t have been broken up last game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The trio had been playing together over the last stretch of games, and while they didn’t produce lights-out results in the previous three games they played together, with only a 1–0 combined goal share, they did control play against the opposition, outshooting them a combined 20–12.

Podkolzin, like he has all season, is hard on the forecheck, gets the puck in his linemates’ hands with ease, and chips in on the scoresheet, while the blossoming chemistry between McDavid and Savoie has Oilers fans giddy that the captain may have a fixture on the wing for years to come.

Moreover, among Oilers who’ve played regularly in the top six this season, Savoie and Podkolzin statistically have the best goals for per 60 minutes when playing with the Oilers’ captain at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, with Savoie first at 3.97 goals per 60 with McDavid and Podkolzin second at 3.54 goals per 60.

I’ve mentioned this before – without Draisaitl in the lineup, and after McDavid, the next best offensive option down the middle is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Despite a quiet stretch offensively with only two points in his last six games, Nugent-Hopkins should stay at centre until Draisaitl returns.

That said, on the upcoming road trip, I’d move up Kasperi Kapanen onto the second line. Despite more of an injury-riddled season, he’s been decent offensively in the games he’s played, and his eight goals in 36 games would’ve put him on pace for 18 goals this season.

Additionally, at five-on-five, the Finnish forward has fairly solid underlying metrics playing with Nugent-Hopkins. In just over 60 minutes together, they’ve posted a 54.55% shots-for percentage, a 3–2 goal share, and a 53.82% expected goals-for percentage (xGF%), which ranks third highest on the team, with only McDavid and Hyman posting a better xGF% alongside Nugent-Hopkins.

Moreover, the Nugent-Hopkins and Kapanen duo showed some chemistry as far back as January 17 in a 6–0 win over the Vancouver Canucks, while Draisaitl was in Germany for personal reasons, with the centreman setting up Kapanen for a couple of nice-looking goals, one of which is shown above.

To complete that line, and for as long as Draisaitl and Hyman are out, I’d keep Jack Roslovic alongside Nugent-Hopkins, positioning him on the left side of the ‘Nuge’ on his off-wing. That spot maximizes him as a shooter — being a right-handed shot, he gets a better angle from the left, and we’ve seen him finish from there multiple times this season.

Overall, with Roslovic, Nugent-Hopkins, and Kapanen, this line feels like the best mix for generating secondary scoring.

This third line, featuring Trent Frederic, Jason Dickinson, and Josh Samanski, will be your meat-and-potatoes line. Their M.O. is simple: chip in on the scoresheet occasionally, but above all, play solid defence and be downright nasty to play against.

Since the Olympic break, Frederic’s game has taken a step forward, and he seems to have found his rhythm since returning from injury a couple of games ago. On top of that, I especially liked his end-of-game antics against Vegas — trying to find a dance partner to square off with, then chirping the Vegas bench after the game. He showed that type of gamesmanship in spurts earlier in the season, but at the time, it seemed somewhat forced. Now, however, it feels more natural for Frederic, suggesting he’s feeling good about his game — an important element as the games become even more tense down the stretch.

Down the middle, you have Dickinson, who I’ve recently written about as playing a heavy style of game, not producing a lot of offence but showing a strong willingness to shut down the opposition.

Now for Samanski — while I feel in the long term he’s best suited down the middle, in the interim, with Hyman and Draisaitl out, I’d like to see him on the wing next to Frederic and Dickinson on the third line.

For one, he’ll get more minutes than if he were centring the fourth line. Also, despite not showing a lot of flashy offence, he does subtle things that kickstart plays — like low-key drop passes or one-touch setups — often putting his linemates in position to score. In fact, we saw that in the first period of the last game against Vegas, when off the rush, he made a drop pass to Frederic that created a good scoring chance.

On top of that, I mentioned recently, Samanski isn’t afraid to get into the mix. With the chippiness of Frederic and Dickinson on the line, it’ll push Samanski to engage even more. Also, Samanski has skated alongside Dickinson in recent games, and I feel the young German could pick up a few traits from playing more with the veteran centreman, as I view Samanski as having the potential to be a future 3C with the club.

Rounding out the fourth line on the upcoming road trip would be Max Jones, Curtis Lazar, and Adam Henrique.

This line, of course, would receive the least amount of minutes, and their role is to play solid defense and not get scored on. Still, with Henrique finding the back of the net two games ago after going scoreless in the previous 51, perhaps that’s the catalyst for more offensive production from him.

With Lazar, you know what you’re getting: hard work, grit, and a couple of hits a game, and I’d put him down the middle because he’s been hot in the faceoff circle, going 7–1 last game.

Additionally, I recently wrote that Jones has been very effective in limited ice time as of late. He’s scored a couple of goals since his recall on March 13, both game winners, and he leads the team in several underlying metrics at five-on-five. One of them is high-danger chances-for percentage at 80.77 HDCF%, and I view him as the driver of this fourth line.

That said, if these lines don’t click or the Oilers struggle out of the gate on the upcoming road trip, I feel Jones could be a bit of a wildcard. I understand that some players are mainly fourth-line guys, but with him perhaps nearing his prime as a power-forward type, it might be worth giving him a shot higher in the lineup for a game or two.

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