Even McDavid or Drai you can argue no-showed in Games 6-7. I don't like picking small samples for evaluation though, it makes no sense. Why are we talking about a 7 game stretch when we have like 25 games to go off of in determining player contributions in last years playoffs? Or in the case of Foegele like 46 games of playoffs? You might be willing to excuse it, I'm not, and neither did the Oilers management who gave Foegele his shot and he blew it, and they decided to move on.
I mean Kings fans will tell you Byfield is probably their future, and best center. Top 6 minutes for Foegele should explain his rise in production.
Again, Foegele is clearly improving every season. His production is getting better year after year, and during his most recent stretch of games in the playoffs he found his scoring touch, which seems to have continued into this season. Arvidsson peaked earlier, where as it seems that there is more to come for Foegele offensively. His ice time is increasing, his points are increasing, and he's in the top six of a team that currently has a better record than the Oilers.
Anze Kopitar is still with the team and still one of their best players, so I don't think anyone is calling Byfield LA's best Centre. He's 8th in team scoring and on pace for 40 points... Foegele has three more points, two more goals, and is +19 (second on the team) and well ahead of Byfield's +7.
Obviously I hope you're right about Arvidsson, and I'm glad he's scoring more, but I also see Foegele joining the list of Ryan Strome, Miro Satan, Ray Whitney...Dylan Holloway, and many others who the team gave up on too quickly.
Guess what, Arviddsson put up 15 pts in 18GP last year on that same squad. A pace Foegele will never touch. Like I said earlier, Arviddsson had a slow start to the year cause the Oilers had a slow start to the year. Guess who didn't have a slow start to the year and has been firing on all cylinders from the beginning? The Kings. The Oilers new acquisitions usually also have a slow start in general, something in the water type things, lets see how the rest of the year goes.
The injury concern is a valid for Arviddson though of course. But we'll see, he's looking plenty healthy these days and is contributing. Foegele is all those things, big, fast, and durable. But he's also got the YIPS and his hands fail him and his head fails him when shit gets tough. I think people are sleeping on Arviddson, give him time and he will surprise you.
Even removing Arvidsson from the equation, I still wish we signed Foegele and/or Holloway over Perry or Jeff Skinner. Perry will be a healthy scratch come playoff time and Skinner already is.
EDIT: I found this article with some quotes on Foegele's impact on the team (though it is almost a month old):
"When away from Byfield, Foegele carries a 60.24% Corsi, outshooting opponents while he's on the ice 97-50, an almost two-to-one margin. On top of this, the team outscores opponents 9-1 while he's away from Byfield. It would appear that the team's play dips when the two are paired together.
That's not to say the pairing is poor, as they've done well together. It is more indicative of Foegele impact on the team in a holistic manner and might be starting to take hold of Byfield as the two continue to grow their chemistry."
www.hockey-reference.com
