We are now just over a week past the trade deadline, and the Edmonton Oilers biggest acquisition was forward Adam Henrique from the Anaheim Ducks.
In his first four games, Henrique has one assist and is +2 in 14:21 in icetime.
In that time, Henrique has seen himself play both on the wing and at centre, which makes sense as one of the reasons he was acquired was due to that versatility.
So the question becomes where in the lineup does Henrique fit the best? We asked the Oil Country faithful that this week.
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Henrique belongs as the third line centre
It’s not surprising that this was the runaway number one option, given that Henrique is a natural centre. It also makes the most sense when looking at the lineup, and it is the spot that Henrique has held for three of the four games he has played.
Having Henrique as the 3C allows the Oilers to move Ryan McLeod up the lineup as a winger, where he has shown chemistry with Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele, which in turn allows for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to continue to play on Connor McDavid’s wing.
This creates a third line with Evander Kane and Corey Perry, which is a veteran line that is only lacking in speed. They’ve only played 12 minutes together, so it is bit too early judge on whether it will be a good line or not, but if they at least tread water then it should be more than sufficient.
The further benefit of Henrique as the third line centre is that if/when the Oilers load up McDrai, the centre depth doesn’t suffer as a result, since Nugent-Hopkins can be the second line pivot.
2LW could also be an option
It again makes sense that this would be the second place finisher, as this is the other position Henrique has played in his short time with the Oilers.
He played his first game on Draisaitl’s wing, which was a way of easing him into the lineup, although he only ended up playing a grand total of 3:25 with Draisaitl that game.
Still, it all comes down to that versatility. With Henrique, Draisaitl, McLeod, McDavid, and Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers have five centres with the ability to play in the top six. This means a whole lot of different line combinations available for Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, which would include having Henrique on the left wing of any of them.
Henrique shouldn’t have been acquired
Four of you were clearly not very happy with the trade, choosing to have the team be better off without him.
I am going to assume that is related to the belief that the acquisition cost was too high, or disappointment that Holland didn’t go after bigger fish at the deadline when other Western Conference teams pulled out the fishing trawler.
While there is some validity to both of those opinions, neither of those actually negates that Henrique does add value to the team. Also, the fact that the Oilers got a player with 42 points on pace for 25 goals and 57 points at a cap hit of just under $1.5M meant that there still was the ability to make other moves.
Therefore, I would suggest your beef is really with Holland, not with Henrique.
Or maybe you do believe that, in a vacuum, Henrique doesn’t add anything to the team, in which case I would welcome hearing the reasoning behind it in the comments.
Does Henrique belong on the first line?
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have one person who really believes in Henrique, putting him up on the top line. Which begs the question: who is this person? Holland? A family member of Henrique’s? Henrique himself?
That spicy comment may sound counterpoint to my positive review of Henrique, but it’s really that I don’t see Henrique occupying that spot other than on an occasional, mid-game shuffle basis.
Zach Hyman is basically a guarantee to continue to be stapled on McDavid’s wing, the real question is just on which side. Hyman is a natural left winger despite being a right hand shot (maybe he was Russian in a past life), but has been mostly moved to the right side since the depth on the left wing is better with Nugent-Hopkings, Kane, Foegele, and McLeod all playing there at times (when McDrai happens Draisaitl tends to the be the right wing).
So technically, Henrique could play first line left wing because Hyman would move to the right. But I think the only way that happens is if the blender comes out at one point and Henrique shows some insane instant chemistry with McDavid.
Henrique’s value to the team is really the lowest in that first line spot, but it isn’t necessarily out of the realm of possibility he ends up there. After all, his 43 points puts him fifth among Oilers fowards and his 18 goals sixth, and McLeod or Nugent-Hopkins can easily run as the third line pivot.
Of course, now that I have said this, Henrique will now play with McDavid and become Hyman junior and this one person will never let me live down my flippancy to them.
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