OILERS’ TOP DUO NOT TO BE OUTDONE
Consistent play of McDavid, Draisaitl driving force of Edmonton’s success
When Wayne Gretzky was in the process of rewriting the NHL record book, he was often a postgame study in the Edmonton Oilers dressing room.
No. 99 would often wait until after a teammate, who had scored a key goal or registered a significant achievement, had been thoroughly interviewed before he made himself available to talk about his routine night of two goals and an assist.
On such a night, if the threestar selector had chosen to give the teammate one of the star selections ahead of him, as was the case with Sportsnet selecting goalie Mikko Koskinen first star in Friday’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia, he’d let the selector know he made the right call. If Mark Messier was ignored in the star selection, as Leon Draisaitl and his three assists Friday was in order to select Alex Chiasson the third star, the response would be the same.
To some, there might be the thought that Edmonton is starting to take its superstars for granted with the way the city is getting giddy celebrating Koskinen and Chiasson at the moment. But one look at all those orange Oilers jerseys in Rogers Place that have “McDavid 97” and “Draisaitl 29” on the back, makes that a ridiculous suggestion. Yes, Koskinen is one of the best stories in the entire NHL right now with his 11-3-1 record this season. His save percentage coming out of the Friday win is now .930. That’s tied for third in the league. His 2.12 goals against average also ranks him third in the NHL.
And he’s tied for second in shutouts with three.
His unbeaten record at home is the story within the story. His 7-0 record at home includes all three of his shutouts, just seven goals against, an insane 0.92 goals against average and .970 save percentage. And good news for the Oilers is after playing at Vancouver late Sunday night, they’ve got five consecutive home games — against St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, San Jose and Winnipeg — on their docket to complete the calendar year. It’s not as if McDavid and Draisaitl aren’t still leading the Oilers charge as they’ve gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 and 9-2-2 since the arrival of Ken Hitchcock as head coach.
McDavid has scored goals in four straight Oilers home games and is on an eight-game run in which he’s produced 15 points. And Draisaitl is on a five-game point streak with three goals and nine assists.
McDavid with his three points Friday moved into a tie for second in the points parade, tied with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and five points back of the leader, who happens to be MacKinnon’s linemate, Mikko Rantanen. McDavid is looking to win his third straight Art Ross Trophy. After 33 games, McDavid has 48 points and is on pace for a 119-point season to follow his 100 and 108-point seasons of the last two years.
My pre-season prediction that McDavid would score 50 goals and produce 125 points isn’t drawing the social media abuse it once was and with his 18th and 19th goals of the season, 50 goals suddenly has become something to track for the rest of the way. McDavid went into Sunday’s game in Vancouver needing two assists to join five players — Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk and Ron Francis — to reach 200 points prior to his 22nd birthday. That birthday comes on Jan. 11 and there’s another stat out there to follow in the meantime: most game-winning goals prior to turning 22. Gretzky had 24 while McDavid has 23. The other day, in his 240th game, McDavid became the second fastest player to reach 300 points in Oilers history. Only Gretzky did it faster (159 games) with Glenn Anderson (242), Jari Kurri (245) and Paul Coffey (294) following. McDavid also became second youngest behind Gretzky do it, with Coffey dropping to third and Mark Messier to fourth. Draisaitl, meanwhile, used his three points against Philly to move into the top 10 tied with Alex Ovechkin and Johnny Gaudreau for seventh. Draisaitl is suddenly on a pace for a 104-point year.
The last time the Oilers had two 100-point players was during their five- Stanley-Cup era between 1984 and 1990. There’s no suggestion in Edmonton that the Oilers aren’t getting full value from McDavid’s $12.5-million-per-year deal and that Draisaitl so far this season is earning his $8.5-million-per-year contract. Indeed, when compared to Toronto’s John Tavares and his $11-million per year deal and the 33-points he’s produced so far this season, Draisaitl looks like a steal of a deal.
As much as Koskinen and Chiasson deserve to be the toast of the town during the Oilers current charge into contention, it seems like a pretty good time to remind one and all of two things. McDavid is signed to be an Oiler for seven and a half more seasons. Draisaitl is under contract with Edmonton that runs through the 2024-25 season.