I’ll admit, I never got around to watching the TV series Stranger Things before it ended, despite everyone in my circle urging me. Still, just as everyone says it was must-see TV, so too are the Edmonton Oilers, with their up-and-down ways lately.

Between the way the Oilers have been playing, some questionable lineup moves, and the hit-or-miss performances of a few players — yet still flirting with first place in the Pacific Division — it certainly feels like some strange things are happening with this club. We dive into it below in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, along with a look at the red-hot play of their captain and an update on the latest player making an impact in the AHL.

The Oilers as a whole haven’t played great in the four games coming out of the Christmas break, and while there’s a pile of players who could be pointed at to play better (Trent Frederic, Mattias Janmark, Andrew Mangiapane, and Adam Henrique have combined for just two goals since December 1st), Leon Draisaitl, one of the biggest leaders on the team, needs to step it up.

The centreman goes through stretches where he doesn’t move his feet enough at five-on-five, which works against him and leads to tough nights, and the last game against the Philadelphia Flyers was one of them. It was one of his toughest games of the season, with a notable giveaway, a couple of falls, and being stripped of the puck off the rush, finishing the night with a -3 plus/minus.

Overall, he’s registered only one even-strength point over the last four games, and according to Natural Stat Trick, he’s been outshot 38-28 at five-on-five, outchanced 16-9 on high-danger opportunities, and outscored 7-2 during that span.

Am I concerned? Absolutely not. Much like he went through a goalless stretch of eight games in December and then exploded with a hat trick against the Calgary Flames on December 23rd, he’s proven he can turn it around. And for him, there’s no better team to help break his little slump than the Nashville Predators, who are up next, a team Draisaitl has dominated over his career, scoring 27 goals in 29 games against them.

There’s a theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master at a skill, and with the way Oilers’ captain Connor McDavid has been toying with the opposition lately, it seems like he’s practiced hockey for around a billion hours in his 28 years on this planet.

McDavid recorded two points (one goal, one assist) last game against the Flyers putting him at 72 points on the season, which extended his point streak to 15 games, and in the process, he recorded his sixth 15-game point streak in his career, moving past Peter Stastny for third all time, trailing Mario Lemieux (seven) and Wayne Gretzky (19).

Additionally, the Oilers’ superstar scored his 25th goal of the season against the Flyers, the tenth time he has reached that mark in a season, putting him in a tie for first place for most 25+ goal seasons in Oilers franchise history, tying Jari Kurri. Moreover, McDavid has scored 386 regular-season goals, and scoring six more will put him in a tie with Mark Messier for fifth place in Oilers franchise history.

Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard was not selected to the Team Canada Olympic roster, much to the disappointment of some Oilers fans. Would I have liked to see Bouchard make the team? 100 percent. Watching him regularly produce and score clutch goals over the last couple of postseasons, I know what the blue liner brings to the table, and more Oilers representation in a best-on-best tournament is always a plus.

That said, his play last game against the Flyers was a perfect example of the kind of high-event style Hockey Canada may have seen as too risky to select him for the Olympic team.

On one instance, he absolutely hammered a one-timer for his eighth goal of the season, but earlier in the first period, he tried to thread a 60-foot Hail Mary pass up the middle, while a safer, shorter option to his left was available.

The pass was intercepted by the Flyers, the play went the other way, and the puck ended up in the back of the Oilers’ net. And in the Olympics, that type of costly turnover could make all the difference in a close, elimination game.

Still, we already have enough of a sample to know that Bouchard raises the bar when the stakes are at their highest, and he’s been one of the most productive blueliners in the NHL this season, with his 38 points ranking fourth among all defencemen. And who knows, perhaps that Team Canada snub will motivate him to limit his occasional Bouchard blue line blunders. One can hope.

Connor Clattenburg made his NHL debut in late November and made his impact felt in the five games he suited up for the Oilers, scoring his first NHL goal and hitting everything in sight. From November 22nd to December 4th, during those five games, his 28.31 hits per 60 minutes ranked fourth in the entire NHL.

The 20-year-old suffered an eye injury on December 4th, went on LTIR, and was recently loaned to the Bakersfield Condors on December 29th. In the three AHL games he’s played since returning, he’s picked up where he left off with his menacing ways, scoring a goal and racking up 24 penalty minutes, including getting into fights in back-to-back games.

We don’t know if Clattenburg will get another crack at the NHL this season, but with the Oilers’ bottom-six struggles and the 20-year-old’s ability to bring his relentless, wrecking-ball style in limited minutes, it feels like the legend of Connor Clattenburg still has more chapters to write with the big club this season.

The big hype heading into the game against the Flyers was the newly formed ‘Kid Line’ of Quinn Hutson, Matt Savoie, and Isaac Howard.

The trio was outshot 7–1, though they didn’t make any glaring mistakes. However, chalk it up to jitters from the hype, but they struggled to settle the puck or keep possession. But credit to the Flyers, once they got possession against that trio, they hemmed them in their own zone for stretches, never allowing them to build any momentum, which was likely the game plan.

Yet, what stood out to me was the way they were deployed. The trio started just once in the offensive zone, with their third-period usage drawing the most attention. Head coach Kris Knoblauch sent the ‘Kid Line’ over the boards to take a defensive-zone draw in the final frame. Matt Savoie, playing his first NHL game at centre and having won just 25% of his faceoffs at that point, lost the draw. The puck went to the point, and Nick Seeler sailed it into the Oilers’ net.

I’m all for giving the rookie line an opportunity to run wild, but there also has to be an element of putting them in a position to succeed. Being down by a goal and sending them out for a defensive-zone draw — especially after struggling to find momentum all night — wasn’t it. Knoblauch addressed that decision postgame, saying:

As mentioned, Savoie was only 25 percent on the draw before taking that pivotal faceoff, and if Knoblauch didn’t want to play the top two lines in that scenario, perhaps you just switch out Savoie for Adam Henrique, who is 55.3 percent on the dot this season. Once the Oilers have possession and play goes the other way, switch the centremen.

That said, my interest in this ‘Kid Line’ was piqued, and with their first game together and the jitters likely out of the way, I’d like to see Knoblauch’s creation get a longer leash and play together for the next couple of games.

However, just like the pattern we’ve seen all season, the blender is in full effect. According to the line combinations Bob Stauffer posted recently from the Oilers’ practice, it appears the ‘Kid Line’ has been broken up, without a chance to try the experiment again, at least for now. And if that lineup from practice plays out next game, and Hutson is in fact sitting out against the Predators, what was the point of calling him up and disrupting his momentum?

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