Unlike some other sports, hockey is very much a team sport where you need solid depth beyond your superstars in order to be successful. For a team with a top heavy roster salary wise (53% of their cap is taken up by six players), quality depth becomes even more important.
The depth has started to pick up for the Edmonton Oilers, which has been a big part of the team’s turnaround from the less than stellar start.
But who has been the best depth player for the team this year? The prototypical “unsung hero”? We asked Oil Country who they thing should be getting that mid-season award.
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Janmark outplaying expectations
With 65.1% of the vote, Mattias Janmark was the clear frontrunner, and for good reason, as he seems to have continued his great play from the Stanley Cup Final.
He is tied for sixth on the team in scoring with 12 points in 29 games and is fourth in assists with 11. That ties his entire point total from last season in 42 less games and has him on pace to tie his career high 34 points he put up in 2017–18.
This isn’t a result of Janmark getting an ice time or top six push either. He is averaging just 13:12 a game, ninth most of all forwards on the team.
It’s not just points that Janmark is providing the Oilers with good play either. He is third among forwards in shorthanded ice time per game and has two shorthanded points in that span, which ties him for fourth in the league.
Perry is a controversial favourite
In second place with 22.9% of the vote is Corey Perry, which if I told you would have been the case prior to the season, I am guessing those same people would have scoffed at me hard.
Many Oilers fans were not super happy about the team re-signing Perry, having felt he had lost a step and is paid too much for what he is now in any event.
Perry has made those same fans eat crow this season. While eight points in 29 games doesn’t look all that impressive, he is tied for fifth on the team with five goals, which at only 11:35 minutes per game puts him fourth on the team behind only Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and nine games of Kasperi Kapanen.
Perry also has brought is hard and “troll” game this year, having drawn 1.43 penalties per 60 minutes, the only player with double digit games played to have that stat above one on the team. He also leads the team with two fights this season, both of which seemed to spark the team to comeback victories.
Perry has definitely brought value this year and gone from “why is he on this team” to “we need a momentum shift, throw him out there.”
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Brown outperforming last season already
Another member of the Stanley Cup Final depth has kept up strong play got 9.6% of the vote.
At 10 points in 29 games, Connor Brown is only two shy of his total last season with 42 games to go. He also has tied his goal total from last year, although that would have been difficult to not to be fair.
Like Janmark, Brown also provides other intangible play, especially on the penalty kill. He also has two shorthanded points, including a goal, and seems to have at least one shorthanded chance every game.
While he maybe still isn’t quite what Oilers fans initially envisioned when the team signed him last season, Brown has made himself an integral part of the team and a fan favourite with his dogged play.
Derek Ryan
Derek Ryan brings up the rear, with just 2.4% of the vote.
This isn’t surprising, as it looks like the league’s ninth oldest player may have lost a bit of a step. His three points in 27 games puts him on pace for just nine points this year, which would be his worst season of his career. While some may not be a fan of plus-minus, a third worst -5 on the team isn’t great for a player who is expected to have more of a defensive conscious.
It doesn’t help that the Oilers have Noah Philp in the minors, who looked like he had made the team out of camp but is being blocked by Ryan.
Ryan has been a good soldier and a fan favourite in his previous three seasons with the Oilers, but his time as a regular in the lineup may be coming to end.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
