In the last four full seasons, the Edmonton Oilers‘ Leon Draisaitl has tallied 279 points, or close to 70 points a season.
This season is turning out to be a career high for the 2014 third overall NHL Entry draft selection for the Oilers. The Edmonton club has enjoyed many first-round choices, including none other than one Connor McDavid who went first overall the next year.
He now trails McDavid by just nine points and that’s saying something.
Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl is One Gifted Player
Edmonton Oilers Leon Draitsaitl Now Has 81 Points
With his goal today against the Columbus Blue Jackets he now has joined the hefty 40-goal club for the 2018-19 season. To display his all-around play he also added two assists to give him 41 for the campaign.
Why is Edmonton so Bad?
With a one-two punch of McDavid and Draisaitl, most are scratching their heads as to why they still flounder out of the playoffs by five points with just 17 games remaining.
Special teams win hockey games and the Oilers’ are lacking in that department. As of this writing, they at 24th in goals scored with a 2.77 goals per game average. Their defence is worse placing them 25th with 3.25 goals allowed per game.
The power play you would think should be over the top, right?
WRONG!
They are near the middle of the NHL placing 12th with a 21.7 percent success ratio with the man-advantage. The penalty kill is almost non-existent with a terrible 75.4 percent kill ratio, placing them 29th in the league.
So, even if you have two exceptional scorers like McDavid and Draisaitl there’s no guarantee you will succeed.
Cam Talbot is Gone and That’s a Good Thing
They Oilers unloaded Cam Talbot at the trade deadline. He just wasn’t bringing it and something needed to be done. His mediocre 10-15-3 record was only superseded by his horrific .893 save percentage and 3.36 goals against average.
When you examine all NHL goalies who have played at least 30 games, Talbot is at the very bottom. Even if McDavid and Draisaitl combined for 100 goals (they have 73 now) it is doubtful the Oilers could win more games.
As it is now, the duo accounts for 41.2 percent of the Oilers’ goals. Where’s the rest of the team?
Had the Oilers played goalie Mikko Koskinen more often could that may have helped significantly? Apparently, the Oilers feel more comfortable with him in net and showed that confidence when they extended his contract.
It seems as much.
His record is a much more respectable 18-15-4. He carries a .911 save percentage and a good 2.76 goals against average. Sometimes teams play better in front of a certain netminder as opposed to another.
For Leon Draisaitl This is a Special Season
Even if the Edmonton Oilers fail to qualify for the playoffs, Draisaitl will remember this season as one of his best in the NHL.
He is paid handsomely to perform with an eight-year $68 million contract and he’s only in his second year of that agreement.
Still, it can be assured that he’d rather be in the playoffs than score 40-50 goals.
Until that’s decided, Leon Draisaitl will keep on scoring goals and assisting on others to help his team move forward.
The big question is… will that be enough?
