After jumping out to a strong start with five points in his first five games on the back of a four-point performance against his former team the Montreal Canadiens, Michael Cammalleri has gone ice cold with only a goal and an assist in his past 10 games. His short tenure with the Kings ended after just 15 games when they traded him to the Edmonton Oilers for similarly cold Jussi Jokinen.
Jokinen has been criticized this season in Edmonton for his slow start, and he hasn’t appeared to be a fit, but this is one of those situations where it looks as if Edmonton is simply making a move to make a move, because at age 35 Cammalleri isn’t exactly bringing the speed the Oilers clearly need on the wing.
With that said, one thing Cammalleri hasn’t lost with age is his ability to finish plays. He’s a career 12.3 per cent shooter, and when he’s given the puck in the right spot, his team will benefit. One problem, though, is Cammalleri doesn’t get to the right spots as often as he used to.
When comparing Cammalleri to his new Oilers teammates, the offence he produces at even strength puts him clearly in the bottom half of the lineup, with his only area of strength being shot attempts from the perimeter. It’s true that he’ll likely score off a few more of those than the average Oiler not named McDavid or Draisaitl, but you’d like to see him get into the sweet spot in the high slot a bit more often.
One thing to keep in mind is that Patrick Maroon wasn’t much of a scoring chance generator when the Oilers acquired him either, but his ability to skate and play with McDavid took him to another level.
It’s doubtful Cammalleri will have a similarly big chance with his tendencies at 35 years old, but he has high hockey intelligence in the offensive zone, so there might be something there.
But the trouble for the Oilers with this trade isn’t the offence. Jokinen puts up similar third-line level offensive numbers to Cammalleri and is less consistent, but he’s also very strong outside the offensive zone — Cammalleri isn’t.
While Jokinen hasn’t put up points, when he was on the ice the Oilers played dominating hockey without getting rewarded for it, boasting a 58.27 per cent Corsi (+4.26% relative to teammates) and 72.97 per cent expected goals for percentage (+21.69% relative to teammates) based on Corsica’s model.
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Cammalleri, meanwhile, saw the Kings put up a lowly 43.79 per cent Corsi (-8.01% relative to teammates) and 43.72 per cent expected goals for percentage (-5.85% relative to teammates) while he was on the ice. Not all of that is on Cammalleri, just as not all the Oilers’ strong play with Jokinen was due to his presence, but it’s a strong signal of what they were able to accomplish on the ice.
With all that said, the Oilers have the second-best Corsi and expected goals for percentage at five-on-five in the NHL, so they can stand to lose a bit of two-way play if Cammalleri can add more goals.
Ultimately this is a pretty small trade, but it’s one in which you can understand the logic.
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