EDMONTON — They probably could have saved everyone some time and combined the Zoom calls for the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Trophy. But there they were Tuesday — Leon Draisaitl, Artemi Panarin and Nathan MacKinnon — gathered together on our computer screens for the Hart media call, exactly as they had been for the NHLPA’s Ted Lindsay Award the Tuesday before.
So, which one is more special?
To be voted the Most Outstanding Player by the members of the NHLPA? Or to win the Hart, the NHL Most Valuable Player as voted on by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association?
“It’s always great to get recognition from your teammates or guys you go up against on a regular basis,” said Draisaitl. “It’s hard to pick one, but the one (voted on) by opposing players and teammates, that one is special for sure.”
Connor McDavid took a friendly shot at the media when asked Tuesday what he thought about Draisaitl’s chances of winning both awards.
“He probably should, but I don’t have a lot of faith in the media voting,” McDavid said. “I don’t know who’s going to win, but it should be Leon. I think the players will get it right and vote Leon. You never know with that media.”
After being the NHL’s only 50-goal, 100-point player in 2018-19, it’s almost like Draisaitl had to do something special again to prove he was a true superstar. So he led the league in scoring this season (43-67-110), becoming the NHL’s only 100-point player, and besting Panarin and MacKinnon by 15 and 17 points, respectively.
“When he first came into the league he seemed like more of a passer,” said Oilers teammate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “Now, he can obviously score — he put up 50, an incredibly hard thing to do. But he just sees the ice so well. He knows where guys are going to go. He can really read the play.”
It’s hard to characterize Draisaitl as either a passer or a shooter, which is part of what makes him so dangerous. If you combine the past two seasons, he leads all NHL players in points (215), trails only Alex Ovechkin in goals (99 to 93) and stands fourth in assists.
“His skill set is unbelievable,” said Oilers head coach Dave Tippett. “The ability to get the puck away quickly and accurately on the backhand … he’s definitely up there as one of the best in the game.
“He spent a lot of time watching (Pavel) Datsyuk on tape. Datsyuk’s puck skills and backhand were outstanding, and I think Leon has tried to follow that vein a little bit,” Tippett said. “But you watch him — he passes the puck as well on his backhand as he does on his forehand. His wingers, they’d better be ready. Because there are times when you think he can’t get it to you, and he’ll zing it to you on the backhand. You don’t think it’s possible, and it’ll get there.”
• I took a ton of heat in the replies to the tweet below — on Monday, announcing this story on 19-year-old Swedish defenceman Philip Broberg, who has been the talk of Oilers camp thus far.
Has the 2019 first-rounder really passed Edmonton’s 2018 first-rounder, Evan Bouchard? Well, at this camp Broberg is head and shoulders above Bouchard, and Tuesday when Tippett wanted to work on special teams, he moved Bouchard to an earlier skate with the Black Aces, while Broberg took some shifts next to Oscar Klefbom with the big group.
“It was power-play/penalty-kill day today, and we needed an extra defenceman on the penalty kill,” Tippett explained. “That’s not Bouch’s strength, so he skated with the other group today. Nothing more than trying to get the right numbers for special teams today.”
Bouchard is still a promising young defenceman who may end up being Broberg’s right-side partner for years to come. But the Oilers have been trying to instil a sense of urgency into Bouchard’s game since he turned pro this season. He still has some ground to cover in that regard.
• If there is one area that tips the scales heading into the Oilers’ qualifying round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, it’s special teams.
Edmonton had the best power play in the NHL this season at 29.5 per cent and the second-best penalty kill at 84.4 per cent. Chicago’s penalty kill ranked ninth (82.1 per cent), but the Blackhawks powerplay ranked 28th at 15.2 per cent.
Why has Edmonton’s power play been so good?
“Our power play is good because we have good players,” McDavid said. “We have lots of different looks — we don’t all have to be stuck in one position. It’s all very fluid. It’s fun to be a part of.”
The Oilers run out McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and the lone defenceman Klefbom, usually for about 1:45 of any power-play chance. When James Neal is on the unit, it is made up completely of left-hand shots. When Alex Chiasson works net-front, he is the only righty.
There are good players there, for sure. But there is more to it than that, Tippett said.
“I agree we have talented players, but I like the work they put into it,” he said. “They realize that’s a big part of our team, and they’ve dug into it hard, and found some success.”
In the season series, won 2-1 by the Blackhawks, the Oilers won the power-play battle 42.9 per cent to 0.00 per cent. Obviously, they clobbered Chicago on the other side of the special teams battle as well. And it wasn’t just bunch of pretty goals.
“We know it makes a big difference in games, and we take a lot of pride in it,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “We can make plays out there, but at the same time you’ve got to get pucks back, and I thought we did a really good job of that this year. Out of the chaos we create a lot of offence.”
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