Because Draisaitl is a far better defensive player than 97 and generally plays with linemates more focused on the two way aspect of their respective games.It is surprising for a few reasons:
1. McDavid almost has the same expected goals last year (2.59 xGA/60) to this year (2.68 xGA/60).
2. Draisaitl actually has a much higher save% at 90.61% than Connor who only has 86.49%.
3. Connor saw his on ice save % drop from last year from 87.98% to 86.49% this year.
So if "McDrai is a double edge sword why is it worse than last year and why is McDavid's save % lower than Draisaitl?"
McDavid's line is the chaos line defensively.