It’s Christmas time, which means that Santa Claus is currently busy determining who has been bad or nice for his naughty and nice lists. Doing so for the entire world is certainly an endeavour, so since the big man has so much on his plate, I decided to help him out a bit this year and let him know some of the Edmonton Oilers who should be on which list. I’ve left out some of the obvious names who he wouldn’t need any help determining would be on the nice list, like Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Mattias Ekholm, and instead focussed on a few players he may have overlooked.
No thanks needed, St. Nick, just happy to help (and maybe to get the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup as my present?).
Who’s on the nice list
At the beginning of this season, the nice list was certainly a short one. However, as the Oilers have turned things around heading into the holidays, there are a fair amount of players who have managed to get themselves changed over.
Leon Draisaitl
Leon Draisaitl has been the Oilers unanimous MVP this season. His 52 points leads the team, and he is second in total league scoring. So far this season, he has only gone pointless in eight games, while having at least two points in more than double that amount (18 games). He almost has as many games with 3+ points (seven games) as he does with zero!
Draisaitl looks like he is shooting for his first Rocket Richard Trophy (pun intended), as he currently leads the league with 24 goals, and also may have a second Hart, Art Ross, and Ted Lindsay on his list, in case Santa is looking for what stocking stuffers to give him.
Mattias Janmark
Mattias Janmark has certainly endeared himself to Oilers fans with his play this year, including winning the prestigious The Oil Rig Best Depth Player of the Year Award. With 14 points in 34 games, Janmark is on pace to tie his career high of 34 points. He also sits ninth on team scoring, and sixth among forwards. In addition to his strong defensive and penalty play, Janmark certainly deserves to be on the Nice list.
Vasily Podkolzin
While 11 points in 34 games and 13 minutes a night doesn’t jump off the page, Vasily Podkolzin has certainly earned himself a spot on the Nice list.
Podkolzin appears to be a perfect fit with Draisaitl and seems to have played a role in Draisaitl’s great year, even if the points don’t show it.
Podkolzin definitely brings gritty play to the team, leading the team in hits with 76 on the season, and just generally plays hard every shift, making him a fan favourite.
Brett Kulak
Brett Kulak might be playing some of the best hockey of his career this season. With 11 points in 34 games, he is on pace for a career high season, including being just one goal shy of his career high 6 back in 2018–19.
He’s playing a career high 19:46 a game, and has gone from being the #5 defenceman to #4, and is arguably the Oilers second best D some nights. His ability to play the right side with Darnell Nurse has been a boon to the team, allowing for a solid top two pairings.
Darnell Nurse
Darnell Nurse is usually on Oilers fans Naughty list, especially since inking his massive contract extension.
However, Nurse has really stepped up this season. He has the lowest Goals Against per 60 minutes on the team, and his Goals For percentage is second only to Draisaitl. He is playing a physical style again, second on the team in hits with 55 and his giveaways per 60 minutes is the second best among the Oilers main six defencemen, behind only Ty Emberson.
Nurse has brought the offence as well, tied with Mattias Ekholm for second on the team’s blueline with 15 points.
As mentioned above, Nurse seems to have found a partner in Kulak and has played some of the best hockey of his career.
Who’s on the naughty list
Evan Bouchard
Evan Bouchard has been a polarizing player for Oilers fans for most of his career, as he will make a defensive gaffe one play and then an amazing offensive play the next.
This year has seemed to have more of the former than latter, especially recently. It seems like Bouchard is making one obscenely terrible play a game, whether on defence or on offence. It doesn’t help that the points aren’t quite as high as they were last year, as he has 25 points in 34 games, a 0.74 points per game compared to 1.01 last year. Obviously that is still good offensive production for a defenceman (he’s tied for 11th in the league in points and ninth in goals), but with the seemingly worse defensive plays he’s making he needs to score more to balance it out.
But the eye test and the numbers don’t seem to match up. Bouchard is still +7 on the season and in fact has the lowest Chances Against per 60 minutes on the team and fifth best among all NHL defencemen who have played at least 400 minutes this season. If you increase it to defencemen who have played at least 600 minutes, Bouchard is first in the league.
During the 10 games in December, where it seems that Bouchard has been playing absolutely terribly, Bouchard has seven points and is a +3. He still has the lowest CA/60 of defencemen on the team, although he drops to 19th in the league among defencemen who have played at least 100 minutes this month.
Granted, he does lead the team in giveaways with 17, but he also leads the team with five takeaways, really leaning into the “Bouchard taketh and Bouchard giveth away” mantra.
It has seemed like every mistake during this stretch has ended up in the back of the net though, including pretty egregious giveaways against Ottawa and Florida recently.
Maybe being put on the “naughty” list seems a tad harsh looking at his overall season, but having such a bad stretch right before Christmas meant he got wiped off the Nice list.
Jeff Skinner
Oilers fans were very happy when they signed Jeff Skinner on a one-year, $3M deal, lauding it as a steal of a deal for a guy who could very easily score 30 goals.
Unfortunately, Skinner hasn’t quite panned out that way this year, with just six goals and 12 points in 34 games. He is also a team worst -10 on a team with a +16 goal differential, which doesn’t help things.
All the above has led to Skinner being moved down to the fourth line, having lost his top six spot to Podkolzin and waiver wire pickup Kasperi Kapanen.
It doesn’t help when you see that Dylan Holloway, who the Oilers lost to an offer sheet in no small part due to Skinner’s signing, has had a great start to his St. Louis Blues career with 10 goals and 19 points in 35 games.
Who has yet to make a list
I know there isn’t an actual OK list, which makes me wonder if Santa is actually a Sith lord since he deals in absolutes (and his main is red…), but there are a few players on the Oilers who I think don’t deserve to be on the Naughty list but who are a bit on the fringe to be on the Nice list.
Stuart Skinner
I’ll be honest, I only made the OK list because of Stu.
After an atrocious start to the season, Stuart Skinner has been lights out in December. He’s fifth in the league in 5v5 save percentage among goalies who have played at least 300 minutes this month (0.926) and has won five of his seven games.
In fact, he has had only one bad game this month, where he let in six goals against Florida. However, his other six games, he has had a save percentage of 0.938, 0.935, 0.955, 0.929, 0.923, and 0.952. So just an absolute tear.
But with the start he had, Skinner has to show that this isn’t just a hot streak before I can confidently put him on the Nice list. Hence, the OK list.
Viktor Arvidsson
Like Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson was brought in to be a veteran goal scorer that could slide in to play with Leon Draisaitl. And like Skinner, his offensive totals have been a bust, with just three goals and seven points in 19 games.
The historically injury prone forward also got hurt for 15 straight games. He does have two points in his three games since coming back, both against Ottawa in the last game before Christmas.
But while the counting stats may not be great, Arvidsson has still been playing well. He is fifth on the team in CF% at 5 on 5 with 59.48, and is the second best foward in CA/60 behind only Connor McDavid. He has looked good and more snakebitten than anything else, so he doesn’t deserve to be on the Naughty list, but at $4M, he needs to produce before he can be put on the Nice list.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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