When it comes to these playoffs, plenty of Edmonton Oilers are grabbing the headlines. Connor McDavid leads the league in points, followed by Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, as well as assists (followed by Bouchard and Draisaitl). Zach Hyman leads the league in goals, followed by Draisaitl.
The Oilers have had players hit some pretty impressive historic marks as well. Draisaitl became the third fastest player to hit 100 career playoff points, taking just 10 more games than Mario Lemieux and 14 more than Wayne Gretzky. He also started the playoffs on a 13-game point streak. Evan Bouchard, meanwhile, became the first defenceman in NHL history to score 20+ points in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I mean, if you scroll down the Sportsnet Stats X page you can just see how many times the Oilers players pop up.
But what about the guys who don’t get as much attention? This is a team sport, after all, and you need more than just the top guys to show up if you want to win the hardest trophy to win in sports.
We asked Oil Country who you thought has been the best depth player so far these playoffs, and boy was it a close one.
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Brown showing up
Coming out on top was Connor Brown by just 0.9%, or one vote, ahead of linemate Mattias Janmark.
If you had told people that he would be winning this poll at the start of the regular season, they would have been confused that he was being considered a depth player when he would be playing with Connor McDavid.
If you told people he would be winning at the start of these playoffs, people would be confused that he was even in the lineup enough to be an option.
But the playoffs are a funny time, and here we are.
It’s not necessarily surprising to see Brown win this poll, considering a bit of recency bias on his three-game point streak and legendary “s**t burger” comment. But even before that, Brown was definitely contributing, especially on the penalty kill.
Janmark making an impact
Janmark has been a steady presence during these playoffs, being a bit of a Swiss army knife in terms of where he slots in the lineup (including a game on McDavid’s wing), but he has settled in nicely on the fourth line with Brown.
More importantly, Janmark has been a beast on the penalty kill, and is a big reason why it has been so good. How good has the PK been? They just tied the franchise record for the most consecutive kills in the playoffs with their 25 straight kill.
Janmark leads the Oilers forwards in shorthanded individual shot attempts (and is tied for seventh in the league), is one of only 12 players these playoffs to score a shorthanded goal, and he’s second on the team among forwards in shorthanded ice time.
It’s not just shorthanded that Janmark has been making an impact, however. He is fourth on the team in iHDCF/60, and when playing with Brown, they have a ridiculous 64.29% high danger chances for percentage. To put that into perspective, McDavid and Draisaitl’s is 66.67%. Now I’m not saying Brownmark is the same as McDrai, but I’m not not saying it (note to self: brainstorm better nickname for Janmark and Brown).
Positive contributions made by Holloway
Wrapping up the tight race at the top is Dylan Holloway, just 1.8% behind Janmark.
Holloway has worked his way up the lineup, going from an average TOI of 9:42 in the first round to 15:18 in the five games of the Western Conference Finals.
Holloway only has three goals and four points in the 17 games he has played, but that is still good for ninth on the team in scoring. Holloway has shown lots of versatility as well, and has been a mainstay on the second and third lines. Two of Holloway’s points came in Games 6 and 7 of the second round, where he opened the scoring in Game 6 and assisted on the first goal in Game 7 (although it was a Cody Ceci goal in a game 7, so really everyone knew if you touched the puck before him you’d get a point).
Holloway is right behind Janmark for iHDCF/60 and is second on the team in hits/60. He’s done a good job to solidify himself in the lineup, and while the point totals might not quite be there, he is buzzing and helping push the pace in the right direction.
Don’t count Kulak out
With a distant, but still not insignificant, 9.8% of the votes is defenceman Brett Kulak.
Kulak actually has the most points of everyone on this list at five, and his four assists is good for fifth on the team.
Kulak is last among the regular six defencemen in icetime, but I think if you asked most Oilers fans they would play him over Ceci for sure, and possibly even over Vincent Desharnais. It’s been his left handedness that has held him back to the third line, though. In the last two games, Kulak was moved up to the top four with Philip Broberg getting into the lineup, and has played over 19 minutes in each game.
Kulak appears to be the best pairing with much maligned Darnell Nurse, as the pair have a 50% in CF and 63.61 in xGF%.
That in itself provides huge value, as if Nurse can turn his game around—as it appears he has in the last two games—then that gives the Oilers a huge boost on the backend behind the top pair of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard. For that reason alone, a very strong argument could be made that Kulak should win this poll.
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All in all, the above shows just how much the depth players are contributing to this year’s playoff run. Despite much handwringing after each and every loss, the fact remains that the Oilers are one game away from their eighth Stanley Cup Finals, and first since 2006. You don’t get to this point just by sheer luck, or on the backs of just a few players. Kudos to the lesser sung players, and let’s see who steps up tonight in a crucial Game 6.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
