The Edmonton Oilers started the regular season as bad as last year, dropping the first three games of the season. They then managed to string a couple of wins together before dropping a Saturday matinee against the Dallas Stars to fall to 2–4 on the season.
As a result of the rough start, the forward lines have seen multiple shakeups. It appears the Oilers have settled on their lines for the near future in light of the two wins, albeit with some swapping of players between the second and fourth lines.
At this point, which of these new lines has been the most impressive for the team? We asked Oil Country for your thoughts.
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Skinner-Henrique-Brown impressing fans the most
The overwhelming choice with 88.5% of the vote was the Oilers “third” line. Third is in quotation marks, because frankly this line has been playing more like the second line for the team.
Entering the season it was a foregone conclusion that Connor Brown and Adam Henrique would be linemates, given their success and chemistry in the Stanley Cup Final last year. Jeff Skinner was penned to be on the second line as a triggerman for Leon Draisaitl.
These three have come together to form their own chemistry, with Skinner’s skill meshing well with Henrique and Brown’s more hardworking style.
In their first game together against Philadelphia, the three had a CF% of 57.14 together and a goal for, helping shift the momentum in the Oilers favour.
The next game against Nashville they again had a CF% of 57.14, although they didn’t get a goal as a line (Skinner did score right after a power play, however).
The line faltered a bit against Dallas however, with a CF% of 25, the only line below 50% (well, other than when the team swapped Mattias Janmark back in for Skinner for a minute and a half, resulting in 12.5%).
This is a line the Oilers should certainly look at keeping together for the foreseeable future. Having a non-McDavid and Draisaitl line that can not only hold its own but control play is huge boon for the depth.
Janmark-Ryan-Perry still has work to do
In a distant second place with 6.4% of the votes is the Oilers new fourth line.
This line actually came together in the loss against the Calgary Flames, playing five minutes together but getting absolutely walloped with a CF% of 14.29.
They only played 2:25 together the next game against Philadelphia, a result of the amount of penalties taken, but they did improve to an even 50%.
Against Nashville they had a CF% of 71.43, the best of all the Oilers lines, and had a goal for, setting up Brett Kulak’s first goal of the game.
This line was broken up for the game against Dallas, however, with Janmark being flipped with Vasily Podkolzin. That seemed to be a good switch, as in the six and a half minutes played together they had a CF% of 80, again the best of all Oilers lines.
Corey Perry and Derek Ryan are a veteran duo, and with Janmark it adds another veteran, more defensively minded forward to their group. However, a young and energetic Podkolzin may work better with Perry and Ryan, to help increase their tempo, something important for two slower skaters.
Going into the season, people looked at the fourth line, and specifically Perry and Ryan, as a potential concern. However, at 67.29% and 63.86% respectively, they are fourth and seventh on the team. Podkolzin actually leads the team with 69.37%, but Janmark is dead last at 46.22%.
So, it may be a good idea for the Oilers to stick with Podkolzin on this line instead, in which case all the votes for this line are null and void. Sorry.
Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman surprisingly not the best
With only 3.8%, the Oilers first line was considered the second least impressive line, a shocking place for what is arguably one of the best lines in the league.
After starting the season on separate lines, Coach Kris Knoblauch hit the break in case of emergency glass and put his two best players together once again.
Against Philadelphia, the line had a 56.25 CF% and helped set up Evan Bouchard’s late third period goal to send the game to overtime. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid then combined in overtime to win it, as is tradition.
They continued their strong play against Nashville, with a CF% of 62.86 and again scoring a key goal, this time the game winner.
This line’s best game was against Dallas, with a whopping CF% of 77.50 over 15 minutes together. They were also the line that scored the Oilers only goal of the game, although it was a six-on-five empty net situation that involved Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, so it maybe doesn’t go in their favour here.
At the end of the day, this is the first line and a pretty reliable one. The fact that they finished third is likely because Oilers fans expect more magic from this line, rather than just being pretty good.
Is it too early to judge Podkolzin-Nugent-Hopkins-Arvidsson?
In dead last with just one vote was the Oilers “second” line. The reason it is in quotation marks is the other side of the coin of why the “third” line above was also.
In the game against Philadelphia, this line was the only one that had a sub-50 CF% and were notably unremarkable, at best. They improved a bit in the win over Nashville, with 66.67%, but still unnoticeable.
That likely led to the swap of Podkolzin with Janmark for the game against Dallas, which did have a CF% of 60 at least.
Janmark had an assist in each of the Oilers two wins, but neither with Nugent-Hopkins and Arvidsson. This would suggest that Podkolzin should stay on this line. Further, Nugent-Hopkins only has one assist in the three games since centering his own line, which was on Draisaitl’s six-on-five goal against Dallas. Meanwhile, Arvidsson and Podkolzin have no points in the first six games of the season.
While the Oilers other three lines seem to be pretty good, this line is a real concern. It begs the question of whether or not the Oilers can continue to keep Draisaitl and McDavid together, or if they do have to separate them again. The irony is that the offseason appeared to have finally resolved the Oilers top six depth, and yet the second line is still a huge issue. Granted, if/when Evander Kane comes back, maybe he could be the missing piece, but that isn’t coming anytime soon, meaning the Oilers have to figure something else out, and fast.
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