Brodziak off to slow start in second stint with Oilers
Like every new kid at a new school, Kyle Brodziak may take a while to get the hang of it.
OK, Brodziak isn’t a kid. He’s 34, the oldest Edmonton Oilers player. But playing for the Oilers, even if it’s the second go-round after starting his NHL career with them in 2006, is still like the first month or so of class.
So, yes, Brodziak has had a lukewarm pre-season and first game in Sweden as the No. 4 centre. They need more from him, more from the whole fourth line, the third as well off the game in Goteborg.
“Kyle’s still finding his way within the team, maybe new systems, new words,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “He’s played a lot of games (848) and sometimes those guys take longer. The pace of the game and early energy has affected him a bit. The opposition’s been pretty quick.
“We’ll trust him on the faceoff circle and penalty-kill. Shifty quality on the fourth line will be important. There’s more there.”
Brodziak, who signed a twoyear free-agent deal July 1, doesn’t argue.
“I have to be better for sure. There’s always an adjustment period. I thought I started the game OK in Sweden and felt like I was skating fine and felt good where my head was at, but in the second period when the game started to go sideways, I didn’t handle it well and it got worse,” he said.
McLellan knows his fourth line (Zack Kassian and either Tobias Rieder, Drake Caggiula or Alex Chiasson) can check, but he wants more offensive juice.
“I’m used to being on a fourth line and you have to get to your game as fast as you can,” said Brodziak. “You get your 10 minutes of ice time and you better make the most of it. The best fourth lines in the league do that. We didn’t do a good job of grabbing that in Sweden after it started to go bad.”
YAMAMOTO STILL THINKING PASS FIRST
Kailer Yamamoto, who had two
shots in the 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Sweden, drove the net a couple of times but may still be too deferential to his linemates. Time to be unselfish?
“We’ve been telling Yamo that but sometimes you have to give yourself permission,” said McLellan. “When he looks over and sees Milan Lucic on one wing and Leon Draisaitl in the middle, it can be intimidating. You want to get them the puck and feel you have to, but I know the other two are saying ‘shoot the puck and we’ll go get it for you.’
“We’ve seen that with Jesse (Puljujarvi). Ty Rattie seems to have solved that with Connor (McDavid). It’s understanding you’re allowed to play your game with good players.”
That said, McLellan has no problems with Yamamoto through camp or the first game loss.
“I thought Yamo had a good game and kept a lot of plays alive. He was around the net in Sweden.”
JET LAG HITS OILERS IN EUROPE
Brodziak thought he could adjust to the eight-hour time difference from Edmonton to Europe when the Oilers went over, but he got bit by the jet lag.
“It seemed like everybody had trouble sleeping the first night over in Europe and coming back (Boston) it seemed nobody could stay awake, no matter how much they tried,” said Brodziak. This ’n that: Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron’s hatty against Ottawa in Boston’s home opener was the fourth since the first NHL expansion in 1967 — Phil Esposito, 1973; Rick Middleton, 1976, and Cam Neely, 1995, when they opened the Fleet Center, moving from the old Garden ... Keith Tkachuk’s youngest boy Brady, playing his first NHL game for the Senators against Boston on Monday, got a twothumbs up from Boston veteran David Backes, who used to be in St. Louis and knows papa Tkachuk. “He went to the net hard, his helmet came off. With the lack of flow (hair) that wasn’t a great look,” kidded Backes, who was the third-line centre for Boston against Ottawa and will likely be there Thursday against the Oilers ... After being drilled 7-0 in their first game in Washington, Boston’s scored 10 goals in the last two against Buffalo and Ottawa and Brad Marchand has seven assists. Marchand only has three shots in three games. His linemates Bergeron and David Pastrnak have 24 ... Bakersfield forward Mitch Callahan got a one-game suspension for a slewfoot against the San Jose Barricuda last weekend.