Where are McDavid and Draisaitl when it matters?

[Reindl87]

Well McDavid has played 15 real playoff games and sores a pedestrian 9 Points. He real needs to get his act together. His drop Off between the regulär season and the post season has been pretty dramatic so. Of course, this can Change quickly, but the pressure is mounting Up.

 

[koyvoo]

Against actual playoff teams (8th seed or better), McDavid has two 5v5 points in 15 postseason games.

Honestly, this is shocking.

 

[bobholly39]

It's two games people series is not over. Jets are no pushover either give them some credit. If McDrai continues to be shutout than they failed. However this series is far from over.

Agreed - far from over. I still expect Edmonton to win, and McDrai to explode.

But to be fair - I still expected Tampa to win when they were 0-3 vs Columbus in round 1 2 years ago too lol. Didn't work out so well

Plenty of time for McDrai to get going - but if they don't, it'll be a very bad look imo. McDrai maybe can't win a cup on their own - but a round 1 series against a very vulnerable Jets team? Yeah - they should be able to carry their team to victory...

 

[GOilers88]

It'll be a really bad look on McDavid if he doesn't get going.

1. You see Mack (who media/fans hype as 2nd best in league, maybe) exploding so far in playoffs this year and last, while McDavid is scoreless in 2

2. Jets sucked to end the year. No offense Winnipeg fans - but that team was a mess. They even made my Habs look good in comparison. They should have been easy picking for Oilers/McDavid

3. McDavid was going absolute max/full throttle to end the season, trying to amass very high point totals. Which is great, and fun, and entertaining....but if flipside ends up being he can't get going in playoffs, people will always point the finger and say 'regular season hero - you should have saved some energy for playoffs instead of padding stats'. It's a bad look.

The story out of Edmonton for years has been "team sucks - McDavid can't win on his own". That doesn't really hold true anymore. Edmonton did great in regular season last year, and lost in 4 to 23rd place Chicago in round 1. This year - great season again, very easily top 2 in North, facing a lesser opponent. Maybe if Edmonton gets to round 3 to face off against a team like Tampa or Colorado and they don't measure up you can start saying "McDrai can't win on their own, team game" - but for these early rounds, Edmonton has the better team and should be winning.

It's only 2 games. McDavid can still turn this around and win a smythe/cup this year. But so far - this is simply not a good look, being scoreless in 2, for all the obvious reasons.

It doesn't look bad to anyone but people arguing on internet forums. It won't won't make him any less of a player.

If we're having this same discussion 10 years down the road and he still hasn't moved past round one that's different.

 

[bobholly39]

Honestly, this is shocking.

Hrmm yeah it is - I didn't realize it was that bad. Pretty unprecedent for a player of his magnitude too. Only comparables I can think of are:

Lemieux didn't make the playoffs for a long time....but when he eventually did for the first time in 89, he had 12 goals in 11 games.
Ovechkin sucked at team results, and disappointment after disappointment never past round 2 - but individual production-wise was always there. 21 points in 14 games in 2009 for example.

McDavid has similar team failings as those 2 so far - but unlike them, he also isn't producing himself.

I still expect him to turn it around, but it's starting to add up

 

[bobholly39]

It doesn't look bad to anyone but people arguing on internet forums. It won't won't make him any less of a player.

If we're having this same discussion 10 years down the road and he still hasn't moved past round one that's different.

"Still hasn't moved past round one 10 years from now...." lol - that's such a putridly low bar. That would be like the worst playoff performer in the history of hockey, and not even close. You could have at least put forth a more sensible benchmark as a target.

But yes - people arguing on an internet forum - there's been a lot of talk all year about McDavid's historic regular season. If he follows that up with an extremely disappointing playoffs where he can't get going, fingers will be pointed "should have kept energy for playoffs". Media/fans/social media - you can dismiss it all you want, but when you're at the level he is, comparisons like this are going to happen.

 

[DearDiary]

Two games.

True, 2 games left before McDavid starts planning next seasons Art Ross strategy.

 

[Del Preston]

It'll be a really bad look on McDavid if he doesn't get going.

1. You see Mack (who media/fans hype as 2nd best in league, maybe) exploding so far in playoffs this year and last, while McDavid is scoreless in 2

2. Jets sucked to end the year. No offense Winnipeg fans - but that team was a mess. They even made my Habs look good in comparison. They should have been easy picking for Oilers/McDavid

3. McDavid was going absolute max/full throttle to end the season, trying to amass very high point totals. Which is great, and fun, and entertaining....but if flipside ends up being he can't get going in playoffs, people will always point the finger and say 'regular season hero - you should have saved some energy for playoffs instead of padding stats'. It's a bad look.

The story out of Edmonton for years has been "team sucks - McDavid can't win on his own". That doesn't really hold true anymore. Edmonton did great in regular season last year, and lost in 4 to 23rd place Chicago in round 1. This year - great season again, very easily top 2 in North, facing a lesser opponent. Maybe if Edmonton gets to round 3 to face off against a team like Tampa or Colorado and they don't measure up you can start saying "McDrai can't win on their own, team game" - but for these early rounds, Edmonton has the better team and should be winning.

It's only 2 games. McDavid can still turn this around and win a smythe/cup this year. But so far - this is simply not a good look, being scoreless in 2, for all the obvious reasons.

It still holds true. McDavid had 9 points in 4 games in the play-ins, and the Oilers still lost because of bad defensive play and goaltending. He set the NHL record this season with points on 57.4% of the team's goals. If McDavid and Draisaitl are held off the scoresheet, it likely means the Oilers have lost in regulation. It's been that way since 2017. The forward depth is atrocious and will hopefully be addressed this offseason with some cap space opening up.

 

[johan f]

I have said it before, McDavid plays a rushing game and not a sound centerman-game. He is still in peewee where one skate up the rink back and forth. Not working when things tightens.

 

[Sinistril]

Hrmm yeah it is - I didn't realize it was that bad. Pretty unprecedent for a player of his magnitude too. Only comparables I can think of are:

Lemieux didn't make the playoffs for a long time....but when he eventually did for the first time in 89, he had 12 goals in 11 games.
Ovechkin sucked at team results, and disappointment after disappointment never past round 2 - but individual production-wise was always there. 21 points in 14 games in 2009 for example.

McDavid has similar team failings as those 2 so far - but unlike them, he also isn't producing himself.

I still expect him to turn it around, but it's starting to add up

Bad comparables. Looking more like Joe Thornton at this point.

 

[GOilers88]

"Still hasn't moved past round one 10 years from now...." lol - that's such a putridly low bar. That would be like the worst playoff performer in the history of hockey, and not even close. You could have at least put forth a more sensible benchmark as a target.

But yes - people arguing on an internet forum - there's been a lot of talk all year about McDavid's historic regular season. If he follows that up with an extremely disappointing playoffs where he can't get going, fingers will be pointed "should have kept energy for playoffs". Media/fans/social media - you can dismiss it all you want, but when you're at the level he is, comparisons like this are going to happen.

Took Ovie and some ridiculously stacked teams 13 years to get over the hump and shake the leadership crap after years of first and second round exits. Guy is only 24 and people are talking like he's done nothing but disappoint repeatedly in the playoffs over his career when he really doesn't have much of a playoff career at all. McDavid has 19 total playoff games to date and has 18 points and it's pretty frequently said that two players carry the whole team. Of his two prior runs one was as a sophomore and they were a hair away from the WCF and the other was the covid cup so it's not like he's never helped his team succeed either. People can compare all they want and talk about how he's not a leader and blah blah blah. That doesn't mean it has any weight or makes any sense.

If by the end of his career he still hasn't lead a team to a cup then this stuff actually has merit.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

So McDavid should just rest a few games every season at the end of the regular season?! You do know that McDavid had 5 points in his last 3 games and 9 points in his last 4 games, right?! If McDavid did that during his whole career he would miss out way more than 100 career points, possibly even close to 200 career points. How the hell is he going to pass 2000 career points with dumbass advice like this!

Does he want 2000 pts or a Cup? Most seasons (hopefully) won’t be like this last one where most teams had to play condensed schedules to make up for canceled games, sitting the last couple out wouldn’t affect his career.

 

[Del Preston]

delete

 

[SotasicA]

Generational Loser.

 

[BlueAzN]

So far the first two games, the Jets plan again McDonald is pretty f***in sound. Anyone who's played hockey at a high level knows that it's not easy when you get all the attention from the opponents and get physical with you and play smart and safe. You can't expect the man to carry the noodles he has for teammates during the playoffs when you play against quality opponents.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

That said, the double standard with him and McDavid is absolutely hilarious. When Crosby goes games without registering a point everyone points to his defensive play and dominance on the ice. McDavid's been more dominant on both sides of the ice

He's more dominant when it's time to get his team to open the checkbook and ruin the cap space or get a C he doesn't deserve. That's about it.

 

[Mogo]

It sucks when you cant just play Ottawa level teams every night

 

[CpatainCanuck]

He's more dominant when it's time to get his team to open the checkbook and ruin the cap space or get a C he doesn't deserve. That's about it.

There isn't a single NHL GM who wouldn't trade any one of their nhl players with their current cap hit for McDavid and his. So don't talk nonsense.

 

[El Travo]

There isn't a single NHL GM who wouldn't trade any one of their nhl players with their current cap hit for McDavid and his. So don't talk nonsense.

Even after McDavid's amazing season, I'd still take MacKinnon at 6.3M. You can't overstate how valuable that cap hit is.

 

[Sinistril]

There isn't a single NHL GM who wouldn't trade any one of their nhl players with their current cap hit for McDavid and his. So don't talk nonsense.

There's a few really atrocious GM's

 

[JPeeper]

I have said it before, McDavid plays a rushing game and not a sound centerman-game. He is still in peewee where one skate up the rink back and forth. Not working when things tightens.

It's true. Until he changes his game, teams will just lock him down in the playoffs. His defensive game is laughable, usually the first guy blowing the zone, as a center.

Not saying he isn't an amazing player, he's the best player in the game, but he needs to bear down and show it in the playoffs.

I watch my own team and Gaudreau is the same, fantastic regular season player whose game doesn't translate to the playoffs.

 

[780il]

Puljujarvi is the only Oilers forward that showed to the playoffs. Everyone has been ass not just Mcdavid (including Draisaitl) this team has horrific depth.

 

[grentthealien]

McDavid had 6 high danger chances today and was on for 14. (No Jets player was on for more than 6 high danger chances, in comparison).

Yeah I’m neutral in the Jets Oilers series but I’m not sure how many of the people piling on McDavid today actually watched game 2. That was as much exciting end to end action as possible for a 1-0 game to have, really enjoyed it,both teams competed hard and Smith and Hellbuyuk had a duel. Tough way to lose for Oilers fans for sure though.

The Jets need a ton of credit for how well they’ve played McDavid, he needs to break through and produce eventually obviously but the Jets are playing him almost perfectly.

 

[bobholly39]

It still holds true. McDavid had 9 points in 4 games in the play-ins, and the Oilers still lost because of bad defensive play and goaltending. He set the NHL record this season with points on 57.4% of the team's goals. If McDavid and Draisaitl are held off the scoresheet, it likely means the Oilers have lost in regulation. It's been that way since 2017. The forward depth is atrocious and will hopefully be addressed this offseason with some cap space opening up.

Edmonton was heavy favorites going into round 1 of the playoffs 2 years in a row. It doesn't hold true anymore.

Maybe if they make it to round 3 and have to face a super stacked Tampa team and get dominated you can point to weak team. But last year Edmonton had the better team vs Chicago by a lot, and this year Jets are very vulnerable too.

McDavid's role is to produce points, which he hasn't in 2 games.
McDavid's role as captain is to help ensure his teammates show up - which they didn't last year, and haven't so far in this round either.

 

[sr edler]

When was the last back-to-back games (obviously before now) when McDavid and Draisaitl went pointless? Including regular season games obviously.

McD went without a point in three straight games against Toronto this past regular season, just three months ago. Draisaitl had an assist in the last one of those three games, so yeah, if you include both players for back-to-back games, it happened this season against Toronto.

Now I feel the Jinx is on and he is going to have a 6 pointer on Sunday

6 points in one game is still only one game though, you can win. Seems a bit stat pad-ish, almost? Playoffs is about winning games. Wouldn't 2-2-2 be better than 0-0-6? Especially if you play on a team with shitty depth? If McDavid had two points just this last game, Oils would have won.

This scenario kinda reminds me of the 1992–93 Winnipeg Jets. Teemu Selänne went on a mad goal scoring/point scoring spree down the regular season stretch, and ended up with an iconic regular season, registering at least a point in his last 17 games. In the playoffs though, 1st round against Vancouver, he was held off the scoresheet in 3 out of 6 games. He did have a hattrick in one of the games though, which made his stats (6 points in 6 games, still way below his regular season output, but not bad for the playoffs) look respectable, but for much of that series he was a relative non-factor and Vancouver won 4 games to 2.