Now is the time to try RNH with McDavid...

[Cloned]

With Strome and Khaira playing C full-time, and the season a lost cause, now is the perfect time to try it:

RNH - McDavid - Slepyshev
Lucic - Drai - Aberg
Cammy - Strome - JP
Pakarinen - Khaira - Kassian

Let's get it done TMacT.

Click to read more...

 

[ujju2]

Agreed. I'd switch Slepy and Aberg in your lines though.

 

[MessierII]

I agree. They have to give this look. These are two of the most skilled players on the team. It has to be tried. We could have an in house solution to mcdavids LW sitting under our noses.

 

[oobga]

You realize that's Lucic's spot though right?

Like, for life.

I do agree with your idea though, assuming we were in an alternate universe where Lucic didn't exist.

 

[Cloned]

You realize that's Lucic's spot though right?

Like, for life.

Lucic needs to demote himself to the second line (or lower).

 

[Canovin]

No. McDavid, Drai and RNH need to earn their contracts and carry their own lines.

 

[Cloned]

No. McDavid, Drai and RNH need to earn their contracts and carry their own lines.

Being good enough to play with a great player isn't a bad thing. They can "earn their contracts" just fine if they score 70 points next to McDavid.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

With Strome and Khaira playing C full-time, and the season a lost cause, now is the perfect time to try it:

RNH - McDavid - Slepyshev
Lucic - Drai - Aberg
Cammy - Strome - JP
Pakarinen - Khaira - Kassian

Let's get it done TMacT.

I agree they should be tried together, but can someone explain to me why Aberg should be ahead of JP in any situation?

I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of him but according to his stat lines since he’s entered the league, his best year was this year with Nashville where he was even less productive than JP who’s been treated like garbage by this coaching staff all while being 4-5 years older.

I’m not trying to bring him down, I’m just genuinely curious about what makes him such an attractive option over our own highly touted, younger forward prospect who we should be putting in a position to succeed.

 

[ujju2]

No. McDavid, Drai and RNH need to earn their contracts and carry their own lines.

You think RNH can earn his contract as a 3C?

Every good team except Pittsburgh has multiple stars on the top line. Ovi-Backstrom? Toews-Kane? Seguin-Benn?

 

[ujju2]

I agree they should be tried together, but can someone explain to me why Aberg should be ahead of JP in any situation?

I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of him but according to his stat lines since he’s entered the league, his best year was this year with Nashville where he was even less productive than JP who’s been treated like garbage by this coaching staff all while being 4-5 years older.

I’m not trying to bring him down, I’m just genuinely curious about what makes him such an attractive option over our own highly touted, younger forward prospect who we should be putting in a position to succeed.

Aberg has more polish to his game. I think JP could benefit from some easier competition at times. Strome is a good C for him to play with for now.

 

[rickysusedsht]

Sounds like todd had him centering the 3rd line in practice. So doubt it will happen anytime soon.would love to try it for 5 games and see how he looks with mcd im sure nuge feels the same.

 

[Cloned]

I agree they should be tried together, but can someone explain to me why Aberg should be ahead of JP in any situation?

I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of him but according to his stat lines since he’s entered the league, his best year was this year with Nashville where he was even less productive than JP who’s been treated like garbage by this coaching staff all while being 4-5 years older.

I’m not trying to bring him down, I’m just genuinely curious about what makes him such an attractive option over our own highly touted, younger forward prospect who we should be putting in a position to succeed.

New Toy Syndrome.

The other wings can sort themselves out. Point is, if you run McDavid-Drai-Strome-Khaira down the middle, it should open up RNH for a wing spot which would really open up his offensive game IMO.

 

[Canovin]

You think RNH can earn his contract as a 3C?

Every good team except Pittsburgh has multiple stars on the top line. Ovi-Backstrom? Toews-Kane? Seguin-Benn?

Pittsburgh is the only team that runs this format. Seems like repeating is doing something right. Possibly a 3peat it looks like. Why wouldn't we want copy them?

 

[ujju2]

Pittsburgh is the only team that runs this format. Seems like repeating is doing something right. Possibly a 3peat it looks like. Why wouldn't we want copy them?

Why are Oilers fans always intent on following other teams? First it was Chicago, with Hall-RNH-Ebs. Then it was Boston and LA, with Lucic and Maroon. Now it's Pittsburgh. We're always behind the curve.

As for the reason, it's because our wingers are far worse than Pittsburgh's wingers. And I'm betting that Pittsburgh doesn't win this year.

 

[Cloned]

Pittsburgh is the only team that runs this format. Seems like repeating is doing something right. Possibly a 3peat it looks like. Why wouldn't we want copy them?

If the Oilers had 2 McDavid's I might agree with you. Pittsburgh is the only team in the league that can run TWO 100 point centers. That's why they can get away with spreading the wings out more.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Pittsburgh is the only team that runs this format. Seems like repeating is doing something right. Possibly a 3peat it looks like. Why wouldn't we want copy them?

We don’t have 2 centres on mcdavids level is a good reason

 

[Dazed and Confused]

No. McDavid, Drai and RNH need to earn their contracts and carry their own lines.

Honestly I think this only works if you have enough wingers who can keep up with them.

For example, take the Khaira-Draisaitl-Strome line from a while back. That line went stagnant towards the end, and only when Cammy was swapped onto it, did it look better.

That's because Cammy's pace is more in line with the other two, and thus the group works together more cohesively vs. just being carried by Leon's talents.

I'm happy with McDavid, Drai, Strome, and Khaira down the middle, thus that frees up up to play Nuge on the wing, which strengthens that spot.

I had this in the other thread, but this makes the most sense to me...

Cammy-McDavid-RNH
Slepyshev-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Lucic-Strome-Aberg
Pakarinen-Khaira-Kassian

 

[Canovin]

Why are Oilers fans always intent on following other teams? First it was Chicago, with Hall-RNH-Ebs. Then it was Boston and LA, with Lucic and Maroon. Now it's Pittsburgh. We're always behind the curve.

As for the reason, it's because our wingers are far worse than Pittsburgh's wingers. And I'm betting that Pittsburgh doesn't win this year.

Because the Oilers have 27M tied up to 3 C's. That's the reason why we don't have good wingers. Our wingers have to be develop through our system or sign for cheap during free agency. It's nice to have a great top line but not when it's dry and crusty everywhere else

 

[Jamin]

Gregor just wrote this on oilers nation a day or two ago and in the comments said he will ask coaching staff why they won't try it

 

[Jet Walters]

Pump and dump. I like it!

 

[Sugi21]

RNH is a natural centre and using him as a winger is a waste of his positional skill sets!!! If we gonna do this do it right and trade him for a real legit scoring winger!!! not sure who is all available but Chia's job to find that out and kick some tires at least lol this summers to do list is #1 find McDavid a trigger man!!!!

 

[oobga]

RNH is a natural centre and using him as a winger is a waste of his positional skill sets!!! If we gonna do this do it right and trade him for a real legit scoring winger!!! not sure who is all available but Chia's job to find that out and kick some tires at least lol this summers to do list is #1 find McDavid a trigger man!!!!

There is value in having C's that play wing though, because if one of your top C's are injured you have a very easy fill in. Lots of good teams in the present and past have loaded up with C's and played some on the wing. Team Canada is almost always loaded with C's intentionally.

For Nuge in particular, I don't even feel he's that great of a C. His best asset IMO these last couple years has been his shot, but he is so consumed by his defensive responsibility at C, he rarely gets to use it. McLellan has compared him to Pavelski, but still refuses to try him on the wing.

 

[Spawn]

The fact that they haven’t tried it yet suggests they aren’t going to. It’s pretty clear they see Nuge strictly as a Center.

 

[MessierII]

The fact that they haven’t tried it yet suggests they aren’t going to. It’s pretty clear they see Nuge strictly as a Center.

At the worlds though the Chiarelli/TMac built team had Nuge as a winger and he had success which makes it even weirder.

 

[Digger12]

If you want to try RNH on LW (and judging by the lines from today's practice it's not happening tonight), sure go ahead. It's garbage time anyway.

Just my opinion though, I don't see RNH looking better on the wing than Draisaitl does. If I had to pick one of them to play wing and one to play center, the best combination is RNH at center and Drai on the wing.

And I couldn't care less about the "Drai needs to play center to earn his 8.5M" argument. Why does he have to? To make the fans feel better?

The way I look at it, they're paying Drai and RNH a total of 14.5M for their skillsets, and they should be deployed in a way that most helps the team. If that means Drai on the wing with McDavid to make one of the most proven lethal combos in the entire NHL, and RNH centering his own line then that's what should happen. Perhaps once we have better wingers to offer, putting Drai on his own line will make sense once again. Problem is, we don't right now.