<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/7f/be/article_7fbe3025-f5cc-47e1-bb08-4518d0975969.png" alt="29-Draisaitl-7" width="600" height="359" />
Even without a real third line centre this year, Todd 
McLellan and his staff kept bumping Leon Draisaitl over to right wing on the 
Edmonton Oilers’ top line. At the deadline, the Oilers brought a legitimate 
candidate in to fill that third line role in David Desharnais. Thus it seemed 
like a logical assumption that this would lead to full-time deployment of a 
McDavid/Draisaitl duo on the top line.
McLellan <a href="https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/837403958893109248">talked to 
the press</a> on Thursday, and explained that such an assumption was not at all 
in line with his thinking on the subject.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/65/2b/article_652bac45-4b6d-4cf2-8139-58eb50257082.png" alt="Todd McLellan10" width="600" height="276" />
Asked whether Draisaitl would be used full-time on the top 
line, McLellan acknowledged that having Desharnais made that configuration 
easier but shot down the idea that Edmonton would go to static line 
combinations:
<blockquote>“It gives us that luxury. Whether we use it all the time or 
not, and it will depend on David’s play and others, having a little more depth 
down the middle allows us to choose to keep Leon up there. But if that line 
isn’t going well, if our group isn’t going well, if a team is shutting down a 
group of players, well then Leon’s going to go somewhere else and try and get a 
line going.”</blockquote>
The top line running into a slump is always a possibility, but 
the more likely reason for a change would be trouble elsewhere. The Oilers’ 
secondary scoring has been one of the relatively few negative storylines this 
season, and it’s arguably a problem that has been made worse by the frequent 
decision to play the team’s two most effective forwards together.
Right now things are going well. The trio of Milan Lucic, 
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle have scored three even-strength goals in 
the last five games, with the rest of the club’s attackers (including the top 
line) combining for four. If that changes, Draisaitl could well be shifted down 
again.
<blockquote>That’s really what we’re looking for. We’re not just 
looking to keep Connor and Leon together all the time, we’re looking for 
success. Leon’s been tremendous with it. He’s been able to go all over the map, 
all over the board and find success with whoever he’s playing with. I think 
that’s a sign of a real good player.</blockquote>
Obviously, nobody is going to argue with an overarching goal 
of team success. Few would even disagree with the idea of having a player or two 
whose specific role is something akin to duct tape, being used here and there 
whenever there’s a need to keep things from coming apart.
Where there’s room for a little bit of skepticism is the 
claim that Draisaitl is that player.
I’ve been critical for most of the year of the way McLellan 
kept going back to the McDavid/Draisaitl tandem, especially given the way it 
opened up holes further down the lineup. But being a coach is all about 
juggling conflicting responsibilities, and when I looked at how Draisaitl’s 
various lines have performed this season McLellan’s reasons for preferring that 
combination looked awfully clear.
Via puckalytics.com, every Draisiatl forward combo that has 
spent at least 30 minutes together at 5-on-5 this year:
<table border="1" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Left Wing</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Centre</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Right Wing</td>
<td style="text-align: center">TOI</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GA</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GD/60</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CA</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CD/60</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">McDavid</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">320.9</td>
<td style="text-align: center">18</td>
<td style="text-align: center">11</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.31</td>
<td style="text-align: center">312</td>
<td style="text-align: center">252</td>
<td style="text-align: center">11.22</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Puljujarvi</td>
<td style="text-align: center">70.6</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.70</td>
<td style="text-align: center">72</td>
<td style="text-align: center">53</td>
<td style="text-align: center">16.15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">McDavid</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">67.4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center">4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-0.89</td>
<td style="text-align: center">79</td>
<td style="text-align: center">50</td>
<td style="text-align: center">25.82</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">RNH</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">50.4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.19</td>
<td style="text-align: center">41</td>
<td style="text-align: center">41</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Pitlick</td>
<td style="text-align: center">46.6</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-1.29</td>
<td style="text-align: center">29</td>
<td style="text-align: center">38</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-11.59</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Slepyshev</td>
<td style="text-align: center">40.1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0.00</td>
<td style="text-align: center">33</td>
<td style="text-align: center">47</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-20.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The three numbers to watch are ice-time (TOI), goal differential 
per hour (GD/60) and Corsi differential per hour (CD/60).
Draisaitl’s really been at his best in a defined role. Early 
in the year, that was as a centre between Patrick Maroon and Jesse Puljujarvi. 
That line didn’t score a lot in its hour-or-so of existence, but it had a 
massive edge on the shot clock and it certainly didn’t get scored on. Of late, 
that’s been on McDavid’s right wing, either with Maroon or Milan Lucic.
What hasn’t worked as well are Draisaitl’s stints on other 
lines. As right wing with Nugent-Hopkins the results were not great. As a 
centre with Lucic and a rotating right wing, they were worse. I still look at 
Lucic and Draisaitl and wonder if there isn’t some combination of those two that 
would work well, but given the results it isn’t hard to figure why McLellan 
doesn’t want to experiment.
Nevertheless, it is plain that the coach likes having the 
player, and he drew on a specific parallel from his time in San Jose to drive 
the point home:
<blockquote>Joe Pavelski was like that for us in San Jose all those 
years; you could move him all over and those lines had success.</blockquote>
This isn’t the first time that McLellan has referenced 
Pavelski. It’s been <a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2015/12/2/todd-mclellan-on-ryan-nugent-hopkins-i-believe-in-him-100">a 
little over a year</a> since the Oilers coach compared one of his centres to 
the versatile Sharks forward. Back then, the comment was in reference to Ryan 
Nugent-Hopkins, and came right after McLellan told the assembled media that he 
believed in that player “100 percent.”
It would seem that Draisaitl has displaced Nugent-Hopkins as 
McLellan’s all-purpose centre. Given the years they’re having, it’s hard to 
argue against the 21-year-old Draisaitl as the best fit for that role on the 
roster.
Nevertheless, his results this season haven’t come all over; 
they’ve come mostly from one place. Draisaitl has been most effective as 
McDavid’s right wing. That’s why he’s spent so much time there this year 
regardless of what it did to the team’s third line. Now that Desharnais is 
around, there’s going to be even less temptation to bump Draisaitl off that 
wing.
<h2>RECENT POSTS</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2017/3/1/oilers-add-forward-depth-at-trade-deadline-but-leave-open-opportunities">Oilers add depth at the deadline, but leave opportunities open for internal growth</a></li>
<li><a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2017/2/28/edmonton-oilers-trade-barndon-davidson-for-david-desharnais">Edmonton trades Davidson to Montreal for Desharnais</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nhlnumbers.com/2017/2/23/carolina-hurricanes-trade-ron-hainsey-to-the-pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh picks up Ron Hainsey from Carolina</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanWillis">Follow Jonathan Willis on Twitter </a></li>
</ul>

<img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/7f/be/article_7fbe3025-f5cc-47e1-bb08-4518d0975969.png" alt="29-Draisaitl-7" width="600" height="359" />

Even without a real third line centre this year, Todd
McLellan and his staff kept bumping Leon Draisaitl over to right wing on the
Edmonton Oilers’ top line. At the deadline, the Oilers brought a legitimate
candidate in to fill that third line role in David Desharnais. Thus it seemed
like a logical assumption that this would lead to full-time deployment of a
McDavid/Draisaitl duo on the top line.

McLellan <a href="https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/837403958893109248">talked to
the press</a> on Thursday, and explained that such an assumption was not at all
in line with his thinking on the subject.



<img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/65/2b/article_652bac45-4b6d-4cf2-8139-58eb50257082.png" alt="Todd McLellan10" width="600" height="276" />

Asked whether Draisaitl would be used full-time on the top
line, McLellan acknowledged that having Desharnais made that configuration
easier but shot down the idea that Edmonton would go to static line
combinations:
<blockquote>“It gives us that luxury. Whether we use it all the time or
not, and it will depend on David’s play and others, having a little more depth
down the middle allows us to choose to keep Leon up there. But if that line
isn’t going well, if our group isn’t going well, if a team is shutting down a
group of players, well then Leon’s going to go somewhere else and try and get a
line going.”</blockquote>
The top line running into a slump is always a possibility, but
the more likely reason for a change would be trouble elsewhere. The Oilers’
secondary scoring has been one of the relatively few negative storylines this
season, and it’s arguably a problem that has been made worse by the frequent
decision to play the team’s two most effective forwards together.

Right now things are going well. The trio of Milan Lucic,
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle have scored three even-strength goals in
the last five games, with the rest of the club’s attackers (including the top
line) combining for four. If that changes, Draisaitl could well be shifted down
again.
<blockquote>That’s really what we’re looking for. We’re not just
looking to keep Connor and Leon together all the time, we’re looking for
success. Leon’s been tremendous with it. He’s been able to go all over the map,
all over the board and find success with whoever he’s playing with. I think
that’s a sign of a real good player.</blockquote>
Obviously, nobody is going to argue with an overarching goal
of team success. Few would even disagree with the idea of having a player or two
whose specific role is something akin to duct tape, being used here and there
whenever there’s a need to keep things from coming apart.

Where there’s room for a little bit of skepticism is the
claim that Draisaitl is that player.

I’ve been critical for most of the year of the way McLellan
kept going back to the McDavid/Draisaitl tandem, especially given the way it
opened up holes further down the lineup. But being a coach is all about
juggling conflicting responsibilities, and when I looked at how Draisaitl’s
various lines have performed this season McLellan’s reasons for preferring that
combination looked awfully clear.

Via puckalytics.com, every Draisiatl forward combo that has
spent at least 30 minutes together at 5-on-5 this year:
<table border="1" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Left Wing</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Centre</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Right Wing</td>
<td style="text-align: center">TOI</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GA</td>
<td style="text-align: center">GD/60</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CA</td>
<td style="text-align: center">CD/60</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">McDavid</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">320.9</td>
<td style="text-align: center">18</td>
<td style="text-align: center">11</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.31</td>
<td style="text-align: center">312</td>
<td style="text-align: center">252</td>
<td style="text-align: center">11.22</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Puljujarvi</td>
<td style="text-align: center">70.6</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.70</td>
<td style="text-align: center">72</td>
<td style="text-align: center">53</td>
<td style="text-align: center">16.15</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">McDavid</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">67.4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center">4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-0.89</td>
<td style="text-align: center">79</td>
<td style="text-align: center">50</td>
<td style="text-align: center">25.82</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Maroon</td>
<td style="text-align: center">RNH</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">50.4</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1.19</td>
<td style="text-align: center">41</td>
<td style="text-align: center">41</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Pitlick</td>
<td style="text-align: center">46.6</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-1.29</td>
<td style="text-align: center">29</td>
<td style="text-align: center">38</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-11.59</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">Lucic</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Draisaitl</td>
<td style="text-align: center">Slepyshev</td>
<td style="text-align: center">40.1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1</td>
<td style="text-align: center">0.00</td>
<td style="text-align: center">33</td>
<td style="text-align: center">47</td>
<td style="text-align: center">-20.95</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The three numbers to watch are ice-time (TOI), goal differential
per hour (GD/60) and Corsi differential per hour (CD/60).

Draisaitl’s really been at his best in a defined role. Early
in the year, that was as a centre between Patrick Maroon and Jesse Puljujarvi.
That line didn’t score a lot in its hour-or-so of existence, but it had a
massive edge on the shot clock and it certainly didn’t get scored on. Of late,
that’s been on McDavid’s right wing, either with Maroon or Milan Lucic.

What hasn’t worked as well are Draisaitl’s stints on other
lines. As right wing with Nugent-Hopkins the results were not great. As a
centre with Lucic and a rotating right wing, they were worse. I still look at
Lucic and Draisaitl and wonder if there isn’t some combination of those two that
would work well, but given the results it isn’t hard to figure why McLellan
doesn’t want to experiment.

Nevertheless, it is plain that the coach likes having the
player, and he drew on a specific parallel from his time in San Jose to drive
the point home:
<blockquote>Joe Pavelski was like that for us in San Jose all those
years; you could move him all over and those lines had success.</blockquote>
This isn’t the first time that McLellan has referenced
Pavelski. It’s been <a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2015/12/2/todd-mclellan-on-ryan-nugent-hopkins-i-believe-in-him-100">a
little over a year</a> since the Oilers coach compared one of his centres to
the versatile Sharks forward. Back then, the comment was in reference to Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins, and came right after McLellan told the assembled media that he
believed in that player “100 percent.”

It would seem that Draisaitl has displaced Nugent-Hopkins as
McLellan’s all-purpose centre. Given the years they’re having, it’s hard to
argue against the 21-year-old Draisaitl as the best fit for that role on the
roster.

Nevertheless, his results this season haven’t come all over;
they’ve come mostly from one place. Draisaitl has been most effective as
McDavid’s right wing. That’s why he’s spent so much time there this year
regardless of what it did to the team’s third line. Now that Desharnais is
around, there’s going to be even less temptation to bump Draisaitl off that
wing.
<h2>RECENT POSTS</h2>
<ul>
 	<li><a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2017/3/1/oilers-add-forward-depth-at-trade-deadline-but-leave-open-opportunities">Oilers add depth at the deadline, but leave opportunities open for internal growth</a></li>
 	<li><a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2017/2/28/edmonton-oilers-trade-barndon-davidson-for-david-desharnais">Edmonton trades Davidson to Montreal for Desharnais</a></li>
 	<li><a href="http://nhlnumbers.com/2017/2/23/carolina-hurricanes-trade-ron-hainsey-to-the-pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh picks up Ron Hainsey from Carolina</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanWillis">Follow Jonathan Willis on Twitter </a></li>
</ul>

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