Post-Game Talk: Hyman Hattie!

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Drai stated that he should be off the pk. The famous "I'm not exactly a juggernaut on pk" sarcastic comment. Happened around 10 games into season and he's been hardly on it since as per his suggestion. Its a stupid spot to put him. RNH can exact more than enough mischief off the pk and has become more dangerous recent seasons playing shorthanded. Of course Hyman also a handful scoring threat to keep teams honest.

McDavid honestly is still poor choice for ownzone play. Putting him on the pk is plain silly.

Interesting. I'll have to watch that clip again. My impression was moreso Draisaitl being self-effacing during the subterranean phase of toilet seat team and not absolving himself from the team issues of a brutal PK. Deflecting that this was a team issue not to be blamed or use to scapegoat those killing at the time. We're all in this together mentality. I saw it as a sign of his leadership.

We know Draisaitl's value as a PK as the first forward over the boards on the toughest kill situations, 5 on 3. He is good at all facets of this game. But as others have said McDavid is better built to carry extended huge minutes while Draisaitl can wear out from them. Frankly I don't like either of the super elites killing penalties (except Drai for 3 v 5).

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

So I, and we, know McDavid is just the best, but he leads the league in goals, assists and points, incredible.

And leads Draisaitl in points by 8, who's the 2nd leading scorer

 

[SwedishFire]

Campbell finishes with a 0.906 save percentage. Maybe a start to build from? He seemed confident and steady in the 3rd. So his rough starts are obviously a symptom of something in his head/mentality.

Id feel comfortable with skinner, and would make Campbell my backup. Until he really proves me wrong.
I Cant have player to play ahead because salary. Lets see how it plays out.

 

[tardigrade81]

I think we're seeing McDavid on the PK lately just because the PK has been ass. I mean, if it ain't working, try something new, I guess...? He's been no worse on it than any of the so-called PK specialists. Plus he'll bang in the odd shorthanded goal. I don't want to see him out there too much; maybe just once or twice a game and for a 30-50 second shift. Just enough to keeps teams' honest.

That's interesting if Draisaitl was actually sort-of removing himself from the PK. He's so versatile and wins face-offs, so you can understand the coaches (multiples of them, by now) wanting him out in every possible situation. But I do think it's nice if he can be off the PK more or less. Save his energy for better opportunities.

By the way, I would love to know Draisaitl's faceoff percentage in offensive zone PP faceoffs. It seems to me like he wins about 95% of these.

In the five games he's been back, Yamamoto has looked really good. He's credited with 14 hits and just one minor penalty in those five, which bodes well. He can be quite an effective player even if he's not scoring, but he needs to avoid taking those cheap minor penalties. Of course, it's nice if he can score a bit.

Team still needs another shut-down defenceman. Preferably a big one. Preferably the reincarnation of Chris Pronger.

Well said

 

[Tobias Kahun]

The pk personnel decisions are mysterious. Particularly being that they're not working and yet we continue to plug players in there that are not ideal. Even Yama last night gets hurt in the game, but there he is still out on pk and not covering well, and we get scored on. Would try some differnet players on pk duty and some should be obvious.

Oilers didn’t give up a goal on the PK

But the penalty kill looking good has more to do with Nashville being useless on the powerplay I think

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Although Drai's mind and hands are still there, I think it's safe to say his skating (outside of top end speed) hasn't been great. It's one of the reasons he didn't look himself at centre to start the year, and it likely ties back to last season's injury. His starts/stops and pivots are limited, and that's going to limit his effectiveness on the PK.

It reminds me a bit of McDavid during Drai's MVP season. He was able to put up points, but that explosiveness just wasn't there after not being about to train all summer following Gio taking out his feet in game 82. I'm not worried about Drai, but I do think he's going to need a healthy summer of training to get back to the level where he was. Until then he's best served as McDavid's winger and not on the PK.

 

[Whyme]

Although Drai's mind and hands are still there, I think it's safe to say his skating (outside of top end speed) hasn't been great. It's one of the reasons he didn't look himself at centre to start the year, and it likely ties back to last season's injury. His starts/stops and pivots are limited, and that's going to limit his effectiveness on the PK.

It reminds me a bit of McDavid during Drai's MVP season. He was able to put up points, but that explosiveness just wasn't there after not being about to train all summer following Gio taking out his feet in game 82. I'm not worried about Drai, but I do think he's going to need a healthy summer of training to get back to the level where he was. Until then he's best served as McDavid's winger and not on the PK.

McDavid and Drai have been net negatives when playing without each other. While it's true e.g. Puljujarvi benefitted from playing with McDavid the same applies to McDavid and Drai. Fans may not admit it, but they both have the advantage of playing with one of the best players there are.

I wonder why they both turn to minus players (at least this season, I didn't check further but have seen it before) witbout each other. Is it that they are trying too much? Or is it that they simply want to play together and lack something mentally when that's not the case?

I know this may seem provocative, but at the moment it is better to keep them together and try to build other lines around that. That's when both players score more than they allow, which is what you can expect from your star players.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Although Drai's mind and hands are still there, I think it's safe to say his skating (outside of top end speed) hasn't been great. It's one of the reasons he didn't look himself at centre to start the year, and it likely ties back to last season's injury. His starts/stops and pivots are limited, and that's going to limit his effectiveness on the PK.

It reminds me a bit of McDavid during Drai's MVP season. He was able to put up points, but that explosiveness just wasn't there after not being about to train all summer following Gio taking out his feet in game 82. I'm not worried about Drai, but I do think he's going to need a healthy summer of training to get back to the level where he was. Until then he's best served as McDavid's winger and not on the PK.

Well expressed. But it reminds me questioning why Drai and others came back to Edmonton for informal skates with othe players and multiple weeks before camp started. It was already a short offseason. I would rather that Drai have as much time as possible away from hockey and skating and just spending summer doing rehab and training. The very action of skating exacerbates injuries of the type that Drai allegedly has. Yes, I imagine there could have been some consultation with medical team on whether coming back to skating early was OK, but the same medical advice was saying that Drai playing all the late season games and playing a lot of minutes in playoffs was also OK when it seemed to have exacerbated his condition.

 

[AM]

Idk - I kind of like Mcdavid on the PK. It adds an element that kind of forces the other team to respect the fact that he can blow by the defense if any errors are made.

Looks to me like they are trying to teach him how to play defense. Better late than never. And yes, if there is one player who could be effective playing one side of the puck, it’s him.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Looks to me like they are trying to teach him how to play defense. Better late than never. And yes, if there is one player who could be effective playing one side of the puck, it’s him.

Been good defensively on the PK and at 5on5 are two completely different skill sets.

Theres lots of good PKer's who suck at 5on5.

 

[AM]

Been good defensively on the PK and at 5on5 are two completely different skill sets.

Theres lots of good PKer's who suck at 5on5.

That’s not been my experience. Regardless, doing something different and directly carrying some defensive load is something his teammates need to see and he needs to get his brain around. And that doesn’t mean he can’t play the spot to his style. Every player on the other team will be noting when he is on the ice. And it’s hard to change the narrative up in your brain….

 

[SwedishFire]

McDavid shouöd bot waste energy on pk, although he could easily get some nice breakaway goals.

Let MacLeod, good ole Nuge, Ryan, Yamamoto (they say he good..)fix that part. Keep Nurse and Bouchard away from PKing.
I guess Hyman, Draisaitl and McDavid can work as PK backups if needed, but not as main PKers.

Wow. This make me realise MacLeod importance to this team.
3C, main Pker, and 2ndPP..

 

[Stoneman89]

My bad. Didn't they score just after a pk? With the pk players still on ice? In anycase Preds PP is awful.

And Yama did well.

 

[SnooPac]

Jesus Christ... I thought Robertson was like 2 to 3 points behind McDavid's scoring like two or three weeks ago? You look today and it's a 16 point gap.

Ya I posted this to my brothers (who happen to be Habs fans, but that's irrelevant) after this game: