Player Discussion Leon Draisaitl | 19-20 Art Ross, Ted Lindsay & Hart Trophy Winner | Congrats on 500 Career Points!

[TB12]

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Actually, believe it or not, there are a small but vocal minority that actually still think Draisaitl rides McDavid's coattails and they emerged from their dirt holes after last game. I didn't think people were actually this uninformed. Are people stupid? Jealous? Enjoy triggering others? Or just hate the Oilers? Who knows....

When I see posts like that it’s just an instant block. Absolutely no clue about hockey, clearly.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

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Actually, believe it or not, there are a small but vocal minority that actually still think Draisaitl rides McDavid's coattails and they emerged from their dirt holes after last game. I didn't think people were actually this uninformed. Are people stupid? Jealous? Enjoy triggering others? Or just hate the Oilers? Who knows....

Westie thinks draisaitl is a top 20 at best NHL player, he's one of those leafs fans that comment on stuff on facebook with less than zero IQ.

Poor guy should be more worried about his hairline than how good Draisaitl is.

 

[subnet]

Short Answer: Outside of a hockey-interested circles people will likely know VERY little to nothing about NHL or even their local DEL team. In a hotspot they will know about their DEL team and maybe a tidbit about NHL, especially like knowing Draisaitl or Seidenberg.
Some passionate hockey fans & people who actually play inline or ice hockey will know very much, watch NHL games, have a favorite NHL team, and so on.

Oversharing:
Again I am super biased. I play in a men's hockey league here, so interact with people who play the sport. I live in a big city which is also a hockey hotspot. Generally speaking Cologne and Mannheim have big pro arenas and something like a cult following of hockey fans & good youth programs. Note that Dusseldorf is only 40km away.
Looking at the attendance rankings you may get an idea where pro hockey is popular in Europe. In Germany: Berlin, Cologne, Mannheim, & Dusseldorf.
IIHF - European attendance ranking

I have seen Oiler jerseys randomly in the city (note that I have an eye for this, but it is really surreal).
At a local DEL game I would expect to see more NHL jerseys and run into people who know NHL Teams and Players for sure. The Oilers played here in 2018 and in 1991 in a mini-tournament called Epson Cup in Dusseldorf (an older guy I skate with refereed one game and showed me the scoresheet in person!)

Subjectively I noticed a lot of German NHL fans seem to like the Ducks (maybe from the Mighty Ducks Movie?), otherwise Original 6 esp. Boston (Seidenberg?), Tampa, or in general the California Teams.

Oddly I ran into a few Scottish & British hockey fans that are super passionate and know the game. One English guy loves DEL and travels often to Germany to see games. He has NHL Jerseys, and I think calls games on the radio in his local arena!

Average sports fan will not know McDavid in Germany, no.

Very random, I was in a small ciity near Hannover (Barsinghausen) a number of years ago to visit my former German exchange student. We're talking 35,000 or so people. On a walk around the neighborhood, there was a house that had a flagpole. On it was an Edmonton Oilers flag lol - totally random - so I guess what I'm saying is yes, there's more German hockey fans than may be expected which is great!

 

[Oilerfan88]

Is it me or is he hibernating?

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Is it me or is he hibernating?

He looked a bit gassed yesterday in some shifts but he still made some good defensive plays. I think overall his offense clearly hasn’t been as good as last year but he’s definitely paying more attention on the defensive side of things (back-checking hard, supporting the defense in deep, etc).

 

[Broberg Speed]

I think he might be playing through a concussion he got in the third period against Winnipeg.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He looked a bit gassed yesterday in some shifts but he still made some good defensive plays. I think overall his offense clearly hasn’t been as good as last year but he’s definitely paying more attention on the defensive side of things (back-checking hard, supporting the defense in deep, etc).

The reality is not much is going for the line in terms of production, EV wise. Leon also intelligent enough to realize that if he holds up the fort in topsix on a line that cost 10M, and outscores, and plays roles on PP and pk he's doing his part. He's saving himself somewhat EV, and working more on GA prevention. Not a bad strategy when your linemates have around a combined 4-5pts over the last 10GP. Putting too much into offense with the present line would be using his energy in less effective way. Leon puts winning over individual glory, and he's still floating while his linemates are struggling.

No question in anycase Leon is earning his pay pretty much every game he plays. His new version of struggling is being valuable defensively, and still finding ways to be PPG.

Every player should have such struggle.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I think he might be playing through a concussion he got in the third period against Winnipeg.

Why would he play through one? It would be a bad call by the player and the team to do that.

 

[Cam98]

Hes playing great two way hockey, hes in a offensive slump. But he still looks usual.

 

[McShogun99]

When I see posts like that it’s just an instant block. Absolutely no clue about hockey, clearly.

Draisaitl would be the undisputed 1C on almost every team in the league.

 

[McShogun99]

Hes playing great two way hockey, hes in a offensive slump. But he still looks usual.

We have such high expectations for Draisaitl that he quietly has a 3 point night, still 2nd in league scoring and we think he’s slumping.

 

[Duke74]

I'm not sure what's going on with him. On the one hand, he seems to go through these "lazy" or "tired" periods every year, so if that's the case, hopefully it's just something we'll have to wait through. By the seventh year of his career, you'd think he'd have worked out these kinks in his game. As a 25-year old in the prime shape of his life, he shouldn't be fatigued unless something else is going on with him. Some people have commented on his body language. Maybe now he's annoyed that Connor has the better linemates? If, in fact, he is injured, it might be best for him to take some time off and heal, especially since we've been winning in spite of his minimal contributions.

BTW, I think they took one of his assists away last night so it was only a 2-point night

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

You guys know drai has 30 points right? He’s fine.

 

[xoczar99ox]

Hes playing great two way hockey, hes in a offensive slump. But he still looks usual.

Did you watch the game yesterday and Friday? If by two way you mean he touches the puck then gives it right back or gets the puck and attempts to clear it down the ice but it goes deeper in our own zone then yes he’s playing a great two way game right now.

edit: he’s a hot mess right now. If anybody wants to know what a Leon Draisaitl is going to look like at the tail end of his career...these last couple games is your preview.

 

[Broberg Speed]

I'm not sure what's going on with him. On the one hand, he seems to go through these "lazy" or "tired" periods every year, so if that's the case, hopefully it's just something we'll have to wait through. By the seventh year of his career, you'd think he'd have worked out these kinks in his game. As a 25-year old in the prime shape of his life, he shouldn't be fatigued unless something else is going on with him. Some people have commented on his body language. Maybe now he's annoyed that Connor has the better linemates? If, in fact, he is injured, it might be best for him to take some time off and heal, especially since we've been winning in spite of his minimal contributions.

BTW, I think they took one of his assists away last night so it was only a 2-point night

I believe he's hurting. At least he'll get a few days rest. Our Hart Trophy winner gets slew footed, cracking his head on the ice, and our own fan base doesn't even notice. People wonder why I'm acting crazy. It's because I'm really pissed off.

 

[Cam98]

Did you watch the game yesterday and Friday? If by two way you mean he touches the puck then gives it right back or gets the puck and attempts to clear it down the ice but it goes deeper in our own zone then yes he’s playing a great two way game right now.

edit: he’s a hot mess right now. If anybody wants to know what a Leon Draisaitl is going to look like at the tail end of his career...these last couple games is your preview.

I feel like all you are doing is watching his mistakes and not watching what he does right. Get your blinders off bud.

 

[xoczar99ox]

I feel like all you are doing is watching his mistakes and not watching what he does right. Get your blinders off bud.

What he’s doing wrong will cost you games bud. I don’t use blinders thanks, I’m just the teller of hard truths. You might want to pocket your rose tinted glasses though...

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Last season through 20 games he had 36 points. Then his 21st game was the one against Colorado where he got 5 assists, and then over the next 22 games he "only" scored 22 points, looked tired and was poor defensively going -29 over that stretch, and the Oilers lost a bunch. Then he shook off that funk and went on to win the Art Ross, Hart and Ted Lindsay awards.

This season through 20 games he'd got 30 points. Over the last 9 games since the 6 point game against Ottawa he has 9 points, is +3 and the Oilers are winning. He'll get going soon enough, the good news is that in spite of this relative slump for the most part he's been better defensively than last year. Pretty lucky to have two players who when they're scoring at a P/GP clip it's considered a slump.

 

[frag2]

I'm not sure what's going on with him. On the one hand, he seems to go through these "lazy" or "tired" periods every year, so if that's the case, hopefully it's just something we'll have to wait through. By the seventh year of his career, you'd think he'd have worked out these kinks in his game. As a 25-year old in the prime shape of his life, he shouldn't be fatigued unless something else is going on with him. Some people have commented on his body language. Maybe now he's annoyed that Connor has the better linemates? If, in fact, he is injured, it might be best for him to take some time off and heal, especially since we've been winning in spite of his minimal contributions.

BTW, I think they took one of his assists away last night so it was only a 2-point night

I think he just has the same bad habit of not moving his feet. When he's 'struggling' offensively, you'll notice he has a penchant to just glide, wait for the puck to get to him or just reach with his stick rather than skate and move his legs.

 

[Wewillrise]

He definitely is not playing to last seasons standard yet, not that he can’t. His defence is great, power play is normal. So I think it’s most likely just missing having two good wingers that slows him down. IMO he is making to many complicated plays for the quality of his line mates. I still think he hasn’t gone beast mode yet, and no real need to unless they are out of the playoff picture. Fingers crossed Holloway pans out for him

 

[Stoneman89]

I think he might be playing through a concussion he got in the third period against Winnipeg.

I didn't realize guys were allowed to "play through" concussions anymore. Docs are pretty over the top careful about that stuff these days.

 

[Stoneman89]

People are forgetting he went through this last year as well. Then, Yamo showed up and he took off again. Just a lull where maybe some of the heavy minutes are catching up to him. He'll be fine.

 

[Stoneman89]

He's waiting for Kahun to catch up and provide some chemistry for the both of them.

 

[Soundwave]

I think when Tippett does the whole "playing McDavid and Draisaitl for the last 4-5 minutes of a game thing" ... that doesn't seem to phase McDavid, but Leon is a normal human being and that stuff seems to catch up to him.

I've noticed this for a couple of years, any time Tippett or a previous coach pushes Leon to the "ridiculous McDavid minutes", like a normal human being it catches up to him and there follows a period of some what lethargic play until he inevitably recharges his batteries and goes back to being regular Leon.

I think you have to be careful with that, just because Connor is superhuman doesn't mean everyone else is.

 

[Cam98]

What he’s doing wrong will cost you games bud. I don’t use blinders thanks, I’m just the teller of hard truths. You might want to pocket your rose tinted glasses though...

I think you are looking at older games than the last week or so. It's okay, we all get old and don't realize what we are watching