Regarding why players don't want to play here after a while - think about it for a second. In juniors, they played to fuller houses. If those stadiums held 6,000 people, they would be filled nightly. Now they are playing in front of 3,000 additional people, but they see empty seats. That is a change that they need to get used to.
I already mentioned that there is probably a thought process with playing in Phoenix where people associate this idea that they can just come in and be given a position, b/c we haven't made the playoffs recently and some energy needs to be provided. However, we have never been lucky enough to get a McDavid, Eichel, or Matthews. We get players who will take a little bit of time to develop into that. There is likely a mindset that they are already at the level where they can get significant minutes, but that isn't the case.
Here are some excerpts from Connor McDavid's first NHL game in October of 2015 against St Louis:
He got better and he looked more comfortable as the game went along.
"I thought his best period was his third," McLellan said. "He was dangerous coming through. I think if you lose your composure or lose your focus, that tends to be your worst period, so it says a lot about him as a young player. He could stick with it. When we needed him to be an offensive threat, he was. He almost scored there in the third."
Perhaps it was what McDavid didn't do that made the biggest impact on his teammates and coach. He didn't get caught napping in the neutral zone, cherry-picking at the far blue line, or burned in the defensive zone. His minus-1 was the result of an empty-net goal.
Though he had but a few flashes of brilliance with the puck, he had a steady, consistent game without it. For an 18-year-old offensive player making his NHL debut, that isn't a small thing.
"He's not thinking, 'I've got to get 120 points to prove I am who I am,'" Oilers forward Matt Hendricks said. "He's trying to play the game to win a hockey game as a team. I see a guy who's coming back. He's not cheating. The puck is not in McDavid's net all night. The best players in the League play that way, and they end up winning Cups."
McDavid might one day do that with the Oilers. The expectation is that he will. For now, he needs time to get to know who he is and what he can be in the NHL. He deserves it. Everyone does, especially at 18 years old.
"We're not going to put ridiculous pressure and expectations [on McDavid]," center Ryan Nugent-Hopkinssaid. "We just want him to feel like he's one of the guys, and he is one of the guys."
Think about the idea of getting to know who he is and what he can be in the NHL. Do any of us know exactly what Strome is at this point? Is he a 1st line C? 2nd line C? PP guy? Guy who you want on the ice with the game on the line? I think that what Strome thinks he is and what our staff thinks he is are on two opposite sides of the spectrum. He thought he was a legit first line talent, which he may be in the future, but not at this moment.
McDavid is now averaging close to 23 minutes a game, yet in his first year, he was averaging just under 19 minutes a game. I can't guarantee that he was automatically put on the first line and hasn't looked back, but you put him in situations that can be handled. As he proves that he can do that, you add in other layers of minutes for him to showcase his skills. The problem is that we never saw Strome get to that point, even on the 4th line. For someone who is that close to McDavid and could ask McDavid if he started off on the first line right away or did he have to prove that he could handle situations before moving up, I can't buy into the idea that Strome never equated the idea of doing the little things on the 3rd and 4th line so that you can be a top line player down the line. Maybe our issue is that the kids we had drafted wanted some sort of instant gratification before ever being in the league, and when they didn't get it, they reverted into the thought that it sucks to be here. We came into this season stating that it was our goal to be a playoff team. Chicago may not be in that position since they are starting the action of re-building. We still thought there was a lot more for Strome to learn. I am sure Chicago also has that idea.
But they are 0-8, so maybe the trade isn't working out so well.
