EDMONTON — So, let’s see what these Edmonton Oilers have. Who this year’s Edmonton Oilers really are.
If they’re good enough to survive the next five weeks without Leon Draisaitl, their top faceoff man and sniper, maybe they’re good enough to be a Stanley Cup contender once again.
But, if losing Draisaitl for the rest of the regular season with a “lower body injury” (believed to be a knee) is too much, then to be honest, they probably weren’t going to be champions anyhow. And that’s all that matters anymore, here in “Cup or Bust-ville, Alberta.”
“The one thing that is going to be most important is checking. Playing that stingy game,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “You probably lose a little bit of the scoring, but you’ve got to check your way to finding those opportunities.
“He’s a huge piece of this team. We’ve got to find ways to win games without him.”
The Oilers are the only team in hockey that enjoys the luxury of two top-three or four scorers in their lineup every night during the Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl era.
Now they have one, to which pretty much every other team would say, “Boo hoo…”
Like 31 other teams, the loss of Draisaitl makes Edmonton less reliant on two superstars and a world-class power play, and more dependent on solid defensive play and (gulp!) goaltending.
“He’s a Top 4 scorer — one of the most elite players in the league. It’s not like just one guy can step into his shoes,” Nugent-Hopkins said, after the morning skate, but before the Draisaitl news had been released by the team. “We (the Oilers players) talked about it this morning: it’s a collective thing. Everybody is going to have to pick up a bit of the slack.”
So, what do the Oilers lose in this exquisite shooter, world-class faceoff man, a player who plays through injury and delivers his best when the games mean the most?
• Draisaitl is the NHL’s second leading scorer over the past eight years, behind only McDavid.
• He has scored 50 goals and 100 points four times in the past eight seasons. More times than any other player.
• Draisaitl’s 172 power-play goals over the past decade place him first — a distant 37 goals ahead of Alex Ovechkin. As such, Edmonton’s power play is tops in the NHL this season, and tops over the past decade.
So, although it’s a serious blow to the Oilers team construct to lose their second-line centre — not to mention the “nuclear option” of playing the two superstars on the same line — in reality, they’re still no worse off than anyone else when it comes to high-end talent.
“Five-on-five, you don’t have one of the best players on the ice playing 20-24 minutes a night. It’s really important that our team simplifies our game,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’re not going to be able to score as many goals; we can’t outscore our troubles. So it’s going to be important that we play good defensive hockey.”
Still in a fight to qualify for the 2026 post-season, the Oilers will have to learn to succeed the way 31 other teams do — with a 20-man team effort and a balanced attack that gets goals from everywhere.
“You don’t fill the void,” McDavid said of losing his buddy to injury. “It’s the old cliché: Everyone is going to have to be better.”
Captain Obvious says, there is no positive spin to losing a player as valuable as Draisaitl. But perhaps there is an opportunity here, a chance to piece together a late-season game that can put Edmonton in good position when the playoffs start.
Down the middle, Knoblauch still has McDavid at 1C, now Jason Dickinson at 2C, young Josh Samanski at 3C and veteran Adam Henrique centring his fourth line. Nugent-Hopkins, a 1,000-game NHL centreman, will play left wing next to Dickinson tonight against San Jose but is available to move into the middle at any time.
For months now, this team has spoken about getting its goals against down, defending like a successful NHL team defends, and drawing on all the lessons that come with having played in 13 playoff series over the past four springs.
Now, it’s time to deliver — without one of their leaders.
“We’ve got lots of guys in here that can lead. Lots of different guys who have a voice in here,” said McDavid, standing inside the Edmonton dressing room on Monday. “Obviously, he’s got a big one, (but) if he’s not playing for a little bit … it doesn’t matter.
“We need leaders at this time of year, and we need our group to be lively and energetic. That’s with or without him.”
