When news broke that Leon Draisaitl would be out of the lineup for the remainder of the regular season, I think everyone in Oil Country went through their own mini stages of grief, before the reality set in that it would take a team-wide effort from the rest of the Edmonton Oilers to fill his shoes.

That said, Elliotte Friedman recently shared that GM Stan Bowman said the German superstar is expected back at the end of the regular season, but the team will still need everyone to step up in the meantime.

And so far, so good sans Draisaitl, with five different scorers and all four lines pitching in to beat the San Jose Sharks 5–3 in the last game. With that in mind, this edition of Oilers Thoughts will focus on a few Oilers who’ve stepped up as of late and will need to keep elevating their game.

When Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned to Edmonton for personal reasons before the final game of the Oilers’ recent four-game road trip, Matt Savoie was moved up to the top line against the St. Louis Blues. Since then, he’s looked smooth and slick on the first line, making the most of his opportunity.

His chemistry with Connor McDavid clicked almost immediately against the Blues, finding his captain in stride multiple times, playing fetch, and had chances to score himself. That said, McDavid talked about his recent chemistry with the youngster, “I’ve been getting the puck in great spots because of him. Getting the puck off the wall isn’t an easy thing to do.” He added, “He seems to do it really well.”

That chemistry continued two nights later against the Nashville Predators, with a couple of nice give-and-gos and quick plays, one of which resulted in Savoie scoring the game-winning goal, finishing off McDavid’s saucer pass on a 2-on-1. Adding to his point total, he also picked up an assist last game against San Jose on Zach Hyman’s insurance marker.

Overall, according to Natural Stat Trick, the line of Savoie–McDavid–Hyman has combined for three goals at five-on-five over the last three games, giving up none, with scoring chances 24-14 in their favour.

With Draisaitl out of the lineup, the Oilers need a solid go-to line, and Savoie, who has three points in three straight games, has added another dynamic layer alongside McDavid on the top line, amplifying the captain’s ability to make dangerous plays at warp speed.

Max Jones has played in just ten games this season, but he’s been very effective in his fourth-line role, averaging 7:44 of ice time per game.

He scored a big goal last game against the Sharks, which was his first game-winning goal as an Oiler, and he has recorded three points overall this season. That said, each time he’s been recalled from the Bakersfield Condors, he’s brought a jolt of energy to the fourth line, using his 6-foot-4 frame effectively and throwing 27 hits this season.

Notably, his 20.97 hits per 60 minutes rank third on the team, behind Connor Clattenburg (five games played) and Colton Dach (three games played).

On top of that, his underlying numbers are positive. He’s played 77:16 minutes this season, and while he’s been on the ice, the shots are 32–25 in the Oilers’ favour, and high-danger chances sit at 13–7.

Overall, when Jones is on the ice, he helps tilt the ice, generate momentum for his team, and has been almost exactly what you want from a fourth-line player.

With Savoie elevated to the top line recently, the Oilers had to find a spot for Nugent-Hopkins against the Predators on March 15th, and they placed him on a line with Jason Dickinson and Jack Roslovic. While they didn’t score, their underlying numbers were strong, going 6-3 in scoring chances and 4-1 in high-danger chances.

Against the Sharks, from my view, they were one of the Oilers’ best lines in the first half of the game, really controlling play off the cycle. Very early in the game, with pressure down low, they forced former Oiler John Klingberg to take a holding penalty on Roslovic, giving Edmonton a power play.

Moreover, they had stretches where they controlled possession in the Sharks’ zone. In one instance, Dickinson won a draw; they played fetch for about 25 seconds, went low to high, and then Roslovic faked a shot and slid the puck to Jake Walman, who just missed the net by inches. Later in the second period, after Roslovic almost scored on a near breakaway, the Nugent-Hopkins–Dickinson–Roslovic trio cycled for almost 40 seconds before the Sharks finally cleared the zone.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for that line, though — Dickinson had a turnover in the first period that led to the Sharks’ first goal. But the line bounced back, combining for a tally of their own, with Dickinson winning the draw that led to Connor Murphy’s goal. That said, after the Sharks’ third goal, it seems the coaching staff split that line for whatever reason, but I’d like to see more of them together moving forward.

A line of three NHL veterans combining for 36 seasons of experience, with a mix of defensive savvy and offensive skill, who have shown signs of reading off each other well, could have real potential as a solid playoff line.

Sometimes it’s hard to find adjectives to describe Connor McDavid’s play — words like ‘insane,’ ‘incredible,’ ‘tremendous,’ and ‘extraordinary’ barely scratch the surface sometimes. And with how Vasily Podkolzin has played this season, I’m almost running out of adjectives for him as well. I’ve been overusing words like ‘solid’ and ‘hardworking,’ but now I can add ‘fan favourite’ to the mix.

All three of those words perfectly describe him. His play has been absolutely solid, he’s incredibly hardworking, and as a result, he’s become a fan favourite in Edmonton, and it’s easy to see why.

As of late, Podkolzin has stuck up for teammates, like not too long ago when he came to the aid of Mattias Ekholm after Ridley Greig hit him and fought thereafter, or when he didn’t hesitate to drop the gloves with 6-foot-6 giant Nicolas Hague against Nashville two games ago.

Then you add a scoring touch, like the goal he scored last game. When you add it all up, I’d imagine the Oilers are going to see an uptick in Podkolzin jersey sales down the stretch for the playoff run.

That said, touching on his goal from last game, if you follow my writing, you’ll know I’ve conducted a series of interviews with Podkolzin’s skills coach, Ned Lukacevic. In one of the earlier interviews, I asked him what he worked on with Podkolzin last offseason, and he mentioned:

Like anything in life, practice makes perfect, and Podkolzin’s goal last game is proof that practice has paid off.

And in Oil Country, a city full of blue-collar workers, with people who know hard work when they see it, Podkolzin’s continuous hard work to improve his craft is one of the many reasons he’s become so beloved by Oilers fans.

Losing Draisaitl until the end of the regular season is a definite blow, but as the cliché goes, opportunity knocks for others, and one of the players the Oilers will lean on most is none other than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

When news broke on March 17 that Draisaitl would be out of the lineup, Nugent-Hopkins said before the game against San Jose, “He’s one of the most elite players in the league, and it’s not like one guy can step into his shoes. We kind of talked about it this morning — it’s a collective thing with our group, and everybody’s going to need to pick up a little bit of slack.”

Nugent-Hopkins didn’t waste any time stepping up and taking on some of that slack, scoring the Oilers’ first goal last game, playing 20:37 minutes, and posting a team-best 71.43% in the faceoff circle.

On that note, one area where the Oilers will rely on the 32-year-old to play an even larger role moving forward is on the power play. Normally, on the first unit, he gets the third-most puck touches among the forwards, behind McDavid and Draisaitl, but going forward, the play will run through him more often.

We saw that last game against the Sharks — he was moving all around the zone on the man advantage, looking like classic ‘Nuge,’ distributing the puck fluidly. In the first period, he set up in ‘Draisaitl’s office, McDavid found him, and Nugent-Hopkins buried his 18th goal of the season from the German superstar’s signature spot.

Also, stepping up in the wake of one of the team’s elite players being out of the lineup is no stranger to the Oilers’ vet. Last season, when both Draisaitl and McDavid were out for several games last March, the Burnaby, BC, native rose to the occasion — playing more minutes down the middle and even scoring a hat trick with the dynamic duo sidelined.

Nevertheless, the Oilers will be counting on him to rise to the occasion once more. As Baggedmilk recently put it, “For the longest-tenured Oiler, this is a big moment where he needs to step up and be the next man up.”