Where are McDavid and Draisaitl when it matters?

[TimeZone]

Leon was great last night.
I thought McDavid, despite the assists was still two steps behind his regular season self.

 

[StumpyTown]

McDavid and Draisaitl were both great in the first yesterday and produced 2 goals in that period. Neither of which would have been scored without both of them and their chemistry. People ragging on McDavid in this series have to realize that the Jets are like bees buzzing around him. Everyone takes a piece of McD when they get a chance. That saps energy incredibly quickly. Draisaitl is the same, but with a bigger body he has a little more in the tank than McD. To me it looked like McDrai simply ran out of gas in the second period and the Jets depth took over in the third. When Smith hung his head after the Wheeler goal my son called it and said he's ripe for the picking now and a soft goal which one could argue the JoMo goal was. The high end talent came to play for the Oilers. McDavid and Drai by themselves cannot win games in the playoffs and be consistent with 25+ minutes of ice time per game. No one can.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Cup is a coin flip and reflects his managements ability to put together a 23 player team while getting lucky breaks along the way. You're gonna inevitably have a few plugs win the cup this year that won't be in the NHL a couple years from now. Might as well gauge your worth by whether you win the lottery or not

I agree with your point when it comes to actually winning Cups. People need to get used to the idea that this is a 32-team league and franchises are only going to win 1-2 Cups in an average lifetime. There are going to be first-ballot HOF'ers who don't win Cups... a lot of them. This isn't 1955.

That being said, unless something dramatic happens in the next few days you better believe McDavid's historically-dominant 2021 is going to be defined by his falloff in the playoffs. It's like the Patriots going 16-0 and losing the Super Bowl. People will never talk about one without talking about the other. He's going to have to exorcise the demons of this (and 2017) at some point, and even then it's probably going to stick with him unless he wins a Smythe someday. Playoff narratives are strong.

 

[tvilling]

to win you need a great goalie....... in 09 87 and 71 had fleury , what do 97 and 29 have?

 

[abo9]

all of those players are significantly better then the oiler one with the exception of mcd/drai. pens also had bill guerin and sykora and a bunch of other role players who score ~30 points. you have to be insane to think the oilers roster is close to the 2009 penguins.

All that doesn't matter if McDrai doesn't score. If every lost was a 5-4 loss and they both had 3 points I would not even think to worry about their contribution - obviously the rest of the team is not getting the job done.

But they lost 2 other games when not even scoring a point. They're the Oiler's offense, like Crosby and Malkin were the Pens offense.

Idk, I don't care too much, they're both exceptional players.

 

[Avelanche]

How much of the additional "depth" is due to the fact Crosby and Malkin played on separate lines and helped boost those middling wingers' totals? Edmonton keeps insisting on stacking McDavid and Draisaitl, so of course their depth guys who don't play with them will produce less than the depth guys on the Pens.

I honestly believe that's a huge issue with the Oilers and their lack of depth. Instead of splitting McDavid and Draisaitl up to give them two lines who can produce, they stack one line to pile up points and leave the rest of the roster to look like crap. How many Cups do the Pens win if they did the same thing and played Crosby and Malkin together, then hoped that the likes of Talbot, Sykora, Fedotenko, etc. could carry the second and third line?

Sykora played outside of the pens big guy. It wasn’t Crosby’s magic. One of the most delusional things pen fans push.

 

[Cotton]

a honest question and I could do research, but how many of these generationals have a cup? All of them? Crosby, Lemieux, Gretzky, Bossy, Orr, B.Hull ...

it might be a requirement to have SC to truly become generational? The skill is there thought.

 

[abo9]

to win you need a great goalie....... in 09 87 and 71 had fleury , what do 97 and 29 have?

Doesn't matter who's in net when you score 1 and 0 goals, also:

Mike Smith 2021 playoffs:
Record: 0-3-0
GAA: 2.49
SV%: .914

Fleury 2009 playoffs:
Record: 23-16-8
GAA: 2.61
SV%: 0.908

If McDrai gets shut down in 3/4 games of that series, it's totally on them and not on their supporting cast. Come on

 

[JohnnyBerts]

I agree with your point when it comes to actually winning Cups. People need to get used to the idea that this is a 32-team league and franchises are only going to win 1-2 Cups in an average lifetime. There are going to be first-ballot HOF'ers who don't win Cups... a lot of them. This isn't 1955.

That being said, unless something dramatic happens in the next few days you better believe McDavid's historically-dominant 2021 is going to be defined by his falloff in the playoffs. It's like the Patriots going 16-0 and losing the Super Bowl. People will never talk about one without talking about the other. He's going to have to exorcise the demons of this (and 2017) at some point, and even then it's probably going to stick with him unless he wins a Smythe someday. Playoff narratives are strong.

Haha interesting post. 100% agree with the first half and 100% disagree with the second half.

The Oilers are not a good team. They have no goaltending and a subpar D. It's too easy to shut one or two players down in the playoffs and limit the good scoring opportunities. I don't think the Oilers are anything like the 16-0 Patriots who already had championship success and simply failed to cap off the perfect season. The Oilers have had no success and do not show any signs that it's coming without significant roster changes. Very different situation.

 

[74 others]

I don't know if overplaying two guys helps to create a good team spirit which is essential in the playoffs.

 

[rymr66]

as a jets fan i thought draisaitl was by far the best player on the ice last night - i also though mcdavid looked dangerous and i was scared every time he was on the ice - the problem is not mcdavid and draisaitl

 

[rangersfansince08]

There a plenty of top players who have and who continue to perform in the postseason. MacKinnon, Kucherov, Pasternak, etc.

Didn't the Avs win game 3 without a single point from Mackinnon and Makar? Kucherov plays on the most or second most stacked team. Pastarnak on one of the best lines and best defensive teams.

 

[daver]

Didn't the Avs win game 3 without a single point from Mackinnon and Makar? Kucherov plays on the most or second most stacked team. Pastarnak on one of the best lines and best defensive teams.

Yes, what's your point?

 

[CTZ181]

The team lacks defense, tenacity, toughness. I’m not surprised by what’s happening at all. Crosby has always lead his team with a grinding, two-way style that lead to early successes that I just don’t see with the Oilers stars.

 

[sr edler]

Heard of Bobby Hull?

 

[The Grim Reaper]

to win you need a great goalie....... in 09 87 and 71 had fleury , what do 97 and 29 have?

How about to win a single game?

 

[paracord]

I agree. It was cool seeing him hit 100 in the shortened season this year but I could care less about trophies from here on. It’s about the playoffs now and he has choked badly in the big moments. Gave the puck away tonight on the game tieing goal which effectively ended the series. The oilers are 1-5 in playoff OT games with Mcdavid he just doesn’t rise to the occasion in these moments.

It was a shortened year but also one where he played the same 6 teams over and over, not the rest of the NHL's best. I doubt he scores 100+ points in 56 games in a normal NHL year.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I agree. McDavid sucks.

Send him to Columbus-you don't need trash like him on your team. He's taking away valuable ice time from Nugent-Hopkins and Archibald.

 

[paracord]

to win you need a great goalie....... in 09 87 and 71 had fleury , what do 97 and 29 have?

In 16 and 17 they had Matt Murray too though! Did they make him look better than he is?

Also in 09, Fleury didn't set the world on fire. He never had great individual stats with the Pens, and in several series was the biggest reason they lost.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Oilers lacks depth everywhere and that's why they won't win against the other 3 canadian teams in the playoffs.

Hopefully, depth can be easily solved, if they can get rid of some bad contracts

 

[Dingo]

The team lacks defense, tenacity, toughness. I’m not surprised by what’s happening at all. Crosby has always lead his team with a grinding, two-way style that lead to early successes that I just don’t see with the Oilers stars.

Malkin is also far grittier than either Oiler star.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Oilers lacks depth everywhere and that's why they won't win against the other 3 canadian teams in the playoffs.

Hopefully, depth can be easily solved, if they can get rid of some bad contracts

This post doesn't make any sense. No one is going to help the Oilers. They are paying the price for:

* Poor asset management
* Poor drafting
* Edmonton being an undesirable place to play (relatively speaking)

McDrai is great and they have a few other nice pieces but overall they lack depth (in particular at forward), aren't what I call defensively sound, and are poorly coached. Getting back to this game for a minute though, let's not blame McDrai. They did their part. Let's not blame Archibald either. He made a boneheaded play but the Oilers were still up by two midway through the 3rd period and couldn't get the job done. It was death by a thousand cuts. The details. Poor defensive coverage, inexplicable mistakes by Smith, not winning key faceoffs. The Jets wanted it more and it showed.

 

[Dingo]

You can shovel this entire thread into the trash.
Look at the oilers bottom 9 and D. And geriatric goalie.

goalie got 1 goal in two games for support. tough to win on 5 goals over 3 games plus ot, too.

 

[wetcoast]

I agree with your point when it comes to actually winning Cups. People need to get used to the idea that this is a 32-team league and franchises are only going to win 1-2 Cups in an average lifetime. There are going to be first-ballot HOF'ers who don't win Cups... a lot of them. This isn't 1955.

That being said, unless something dramatic happens in the next few days you better believe McDavid's historically-dominant 2021 is going to be defined by his falloff in the playoffs. It's like the Patriots going 16-0 and losing the Super Bowl. People will never talk about one without talking about the other. He's going to have to exorcise the demons of this (and 2017) at some point, and even then it's probably going to stick with him unless he wins a Smythe someday. Playoff narratives are strong.

I think some people are also overlooking the incredible series Connor Hellebuyck is having.

Also it seems this postseason and many in the recent past people are being lazy (this isn't directed at you but in general) and looking at counting stats and either not watching the game to get an eye test or looking at possession stats either.

You are right though narratives are often stronger than actual facts and playoff success, or lack of it is going to follow McDavid around much like it did Ovechkin rightly or wrongly.

 

[BattleLevel]

to win you need a great goalie....... in 09 87 and 71 had fleury , what do 97 and 29 have?

Fleury is an above avg goalie career-wise, but during that Cup run his numbers were fairly pedestrian. (.908, 2.61)