All summer I was pushing that rhetoric. First Williams, then Gionta, now Leivo...We were missing a top six RW when JP flopped in camp. And no one should've expected him to be ready. But I have no interest in a shoulda, woulda, coulda discussion because they never go anywhere.
The Oilers swapped out Eberle for Strome, who has shown he's a capable scoring forward. As is Milan Lucic. As is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Other than that one move, this is the same team that put up 103 points last season. There's no reason why all of these guys are snakebitten--even McDavid. These guys are capable of scoring on their own. They just need to find a way to get themselves out of this funk. I'm not convinced that these guys just aren't going to score all season.
None of these guys can drive a line. RNH doesn't drive offense. Lucic supports offense. Strome exists. The rest of our lineup outside of McDavid and Draisaitl don't produce or drive the play. They are all support players. We put our 2 play making line drivers together and hope the rest of the lineup can just not die.
Our team makeup is wrong. Too much supporting players not enough playmakers or scorers. I mean look at our make up.
Line drivers: McDavid, Draisaitl
Big bodied grinders: Maroon, Lucic, Kassian, Slepyshev, Khaira, Malone
Support Players : RNH, Letestu, Jokinen, Yamamoto, Cagguila, Pakarainen
Scorers: none
Lots of middle guys, no scorers and lack of drivers. We over corrected. We used to be full of soft push over. Now we aren't but all the skill is gone.
Last year the team was 100% supported by McDavid's offense and career years from a few guys and a goalie who played most of the season and overachieved a bit. That's fine it happens.
So what happens is you improve our roster, you make it better to push you over the top. Fill the holes or attempt. What did we do? Stand pat and make a small downgrade.
The team is moving skilled and we just bought in to size.