Defensive linemates Klefbom and Larsson feed off one another
Oscar Klefbom feels he’s only scratched the surface as a toppairing National Hockey League defenceman in a tag-team with fellow Swede Adam Larsson, but it’s the only Edmonton Oilers’ partnership that’s lasted almost all season.
Klefbom leads the team, averaging 22 minutes a game, and he has No. 1 blueliner potential, for sure. When it comes time to vote on the Oilers’ best defenceman this year, it’ll likely be a three-horse race with partner Adam Larsson and Andrej Sekera.
He hasn’t reached his ceiling; there are still some growing pains.
“I’m a little disappointed the last couple of weeks, actually. It’s easy to get frustrated when you get as much power-play time as I do,” Klefbom said. “You get a lot of responsibility, you get a lot of minutes on the backend and I want to do the best I can, but I have more to give.
“I have some goals (12) and I’ve shot the puck more, but I can help the team more.”
He was starting to look like he was living up to being a first-round draft pick last year, actually.
“I think my breakthrough might have come last year if I hadn’t been hurt (50 games lost with an infected foot), but it obviously helps playing with Adam all the time because you get that consistency,” said Klefbom, still only 23. “Obviously, Cam (goalie Talbot) has been playing great, too, and he helps everybody in the room, but especially us defencemen.”
Do we make too much of defencemen playing tougher for long stretches?
They should be able to play with everybody else, but familiarity breeds content.
Andrej Sekera has played a lot with Kris Russell on the Oilers’ other top-two pairing, but Russell’s has suffered groin issues which have had him sidelined three different times this year, so Sekera’s had rookie Matt Benning as a partner, too. Darnell Nurse, Benning and Eric Gryba have rotated on the third pairing.
“You get better results on the back end when you stay with one guy, and this year, we’ve been playing well so we’ve stayed together … that’s a huge part of being a defenceman,” said Klefbom. “We’ve had patience to build some chemistry on the back-end.’’
Oilers head coach Todd McLellan really likes the combination, a righty (Larsson) with a lefty (Klefbom). Larsson is a more abrasive rearguard who came to the team from the new Jersey Devils in a trade for Taylor Hall and is paired with a smoother skater.
How much emphasis is there from a coach on having at least one consistent pairing?
“When the Larsson trade was made and we said Oscar would play with him, most people said that was a natural because they were two Swedes,” said McLellan.
“But that’s not natural. It was the rightie-lefty thing, the physicality, and the puck-carrier.”
“They just complemented each other. They are very firm with each other … they take care of each other but they also challenge one another. I think Klef needed that and I think Larsson provides that, and as a result they’ve become a pretty darned good pair.”
How do Klefbom and Larsson play off one another? Larsson can be mean in the corners and in front of the net with his stick. He learned his battle drills from former Devils assistant coach Scott Stevens. Klefbom is more the puck-carrier, the better skater.
Same size, but different things brought to the table, for sure.
“I want to play a hard game, but I can’t go out there and just look for hits. We have Adam for that, and he does a really good job of that,” Klefbom said.
“You have to find each other’s weaknesses and strengths. I want to be the strong two-way guy who can play physically but can also follow up some rushes and get some shots going.”
Jim Johnson, the Oilers assistant coach in charge of the defence, deserves a lot of credit for the much-stronger back-end this season. The puck definitely isn’t in the Oiler zone as much; it gets out more crisply, with more thought, less nervous energy. There is more structure defensively on puck-carriers, too.
“Jim is very ambitious with the details and with the penalty-kill,” Klefbom said. “Everything goes so fast, and every team’s so well rehearsed as a unit so you don’t have time to be in the wrong spot or have your stick in the wrong spot. They punish you right away if that’s the case.”