Player Discussion Leon Draisaitl - 2019 All-Star

[HockeyGuy1964]

I don't but luckily the internet exists now.

I just don't get your "Eastern bias" take. Bias would indicate an opinion like "Mathews is better than Draisaitl" & not factual things like "Draisaitl elbowed Krug in the head".

I didn't read the article so I might be missing some context like they said he should have been suspended for 10 games or something but it was a pretty blatant textbook elbow & he would have been suspended if Krug had gotten a concussion from it, like the Perry situation, so let's not try to kid ourselves about that.

 

[Black Gold Extractor]

To be clearer, the Oilers are 0-9-3 when Draisaitl goes pointless. Out of curiosity, I've decided to look back at other players for comparison. Since we're talking about "German Gretzky", let's start with the Canadian one:

Wayne Gretzky:

Season	Record when pointless	Notes
1979-80	1-15-1	Hart; Oilers also lost the lone game where Gretzky was out
1980-81	0-9-4	Hart
1981-82	1-6-1	Hart (unanimous 1st place), Pearson
1982-83	3-0-1	Hart, Pearson
1983-84	2-1-0	Hart, Pearson; Oilers went 1-5-0 while Gretzky was out
1984-85	1-4-0	Hart, Pearson
1985-86	1-2-0	Hart
1986-87	1-5-0	Hart, Pearson Oilers won the lone game where Gretzky was out
1987-88	1-5-0	Oilers went 7-5-4 while Gretzky was out
1988-89	0-5-2	Hart; Kings went 1-1-0 while Gretzky was out
1989-90	0-9-1	Kings went 1-5-1 while Gretzky was out
1990-91	2-3-0	Kings went 0-2-0 while Gretzky was out

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The closest comparable teams would be the 1980-81 Oilers or 1989-90 Kings, so bubble playoff teams that would win a round but get crushed by a dynastic team... speaking of which:

Mark Messier:

Season	Record when pointless	Notes
1980-81	5-19-7
1981-82	9-6-5
1982-83	7-7-3
1983-84	9-8-0
1984-85	11-7-2
1985-86	11-6-2
1986-87	11-7-1
1987-88	8-11-0
1988-89	6-13-3
1989-90	2-8-5	Hart, Pearson
1990-91	3-11-1
1991-92	7-7-1	Hart, Pearson

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

It's weird looking back and realizing that Oilers (alumni) won 11 of 13 Hart trophies (to be fair, 9 of them were Gretzky). Maybe if Pocklington could have held the team together for a few more years... speaking of which:

Mario Lemieux:

Season	Record when pointless	Notes
1984-85	3-11-0	Calder
1985-86	1-13-0	Pearson
1986-87	5-10-0
1987-88	2-8-1	Hart, Pearson
1988-89	2-6-0
1989-90	1-3-0
1990-91	4-0-0
1991-92	1-6-1
1992-93	3-3-0	Hart, Pearson, Masterton
1993-94	1-2-0
1995-96	2-5-0	Hart, Pearson
1996-97	1-10-2

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Lemieux is someone who probably could have won more, which reminds me of someone who also could have won more:

Connor McDavid:

Season	Record when pointless	Notes
2015-16	2-11-3
2016-17	8-12-3	Hart, Lindsay
2017-18	3-19-2	Lindsay
2018-19	2-10-0
2019-20 (so far)	3-10-3

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Gordy Elbows]

Looking back to the days when Leon played in Prince Albert...I thought we were going to lose him....the PA team wasn't up to snuff (and the future looked dimmer), and Leon was really discouraged and wondering, "what next?". Thank God, MacT jumped in and got Leon to Kelowna - a much better and brighter path for Leon and the Oilers.
Thanks MacT!

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He probably had 15 similar hits to this and many worse to choose from, but just happened to pick an oiler on a play where Krug played the very next shift.

That wasn't his elbow, it was his arm. A penalty for sure but hardly an elbow.

 

[Llamamoto]

That wasn't his elbow, it was his arm. A penalty for sure but hardly an elbow.

It was a tricep hit lol. Not Draisaitl's fault that he has 2x the muscle mass of Krug.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

He probably had 15 similar hits to this and many worse to choose from, but just happened to pick an oiler on a play where Krug played the very next shift.

I love this for multiple reasons.

1. Draisaitl is an absolute star but still engages for a hit and really wants to wreck Krug.

2. You can see him line him up and you can identify the moment when Drai is like “oh shit, this guy is a f***ing midget”

3. He doesn’t back down and completes the hit and then doesn’t give a shit that he just de-brained the Bruins’ best defender.

 

[guymez]

That wasn't his elbow, it was his arm. A penalty for sure but hardly an elbow.

Agreed...when you watch it slowed down from that angle.
At full speed (especially at the angle the ref had) it would have been impossible to tell...it most likely would have been called elbowing.

 

[BlackDogg]

That wasn't his elbow, it was his arm. A penalty for sure but hardly an elbow.

And at that - a two minute penalty, for a play that regularly happens - not worthy of suspension.
If they suspended for those hits, then there wouldn't be enough players left to play the games....

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Funny how everyone said Leon would fall back to earth this year after shooting 21% last year, he’s still shooting at 19%. Being such an amazing playmaker he doesn’t take the same volume of shots as the other top goal scorers but should still be good for 40-50 every year

 

[Aceboogie]

Itll be interesting to see how he does next year. Alot of his production is coming on the PP. The PP is largely systems based, and other teams will get a full offseason to gameplay to limit the Oilers PP. Itll be interesting to see how the PP does next year. Some teams maintain a great PP for years (Caps), whereas other teams have a extremely good PP one year, and it falls back to normal in the following years

Producing on the PP is just as valuable as 5x5 (a goal is a goal). I just hope that the GM and coaches dont get complacent with the PP this offseason. We will need to improve it/make it more dynamic to adapt to teams game-planning just as hard to limit it. If the teams lives and dies on the PP, hopefully we add pieces to make the PP even better

 

[CycloneSweep]

Funny how everyone said Leon would fall back to earth this year after shooting 21% last year, he’s still shooting at 19%. Being such an amazing playmaker he doesn’t take the same volume of shots as the other top goal scorers but should still be good for 40-50 every year

I had thought his shooting percentage would fall if away from McDavid, mostly cause he would be taking more shots to try and create.

Also thought he would have his points fall a bit away from him cause his linemates quality would drop.

I was completely wrong. Knew he was going to be good away from McDavid, but not THIS good

 

[CycloneSweep]

Itll be interesting to see how he does next year. Alot of his production is coming on the PP. The PP is largely systems based, and other teams will get a full offseason to gameplay to limit the Oilers PP. Itll be interesting to see how the PP does next year. Some teams maintain a great PP for years (Caps), whereas other teams have a extremely good PP one year, and it falls back to normal in the following years

Producing on the PP is just as valuable as 5x5 (a goal is a goal). I just hope that the GM and coaches dont get complacent with the PP this offseason. We will need to improve it/make it more dynamic to adapt to teams game-planning just as hard to limit it. If the teams lives and dies on the PP, hopefully we add pieces to make the PP even better

They have been tweaking the PP system anytime it's gone a bit cold, it's why it's been this good all season

 

[3IR]

Itll be interesting to see how he does next year. Alot of his production is coming on the PP. The PP is largely systems based, and other teams will get a full offseason to gameplay to limit the Oilers PP. Itll be interesting to see how the PP does next year. Some teams maintain a great PP for years (Caps), whereas other teams have a extremely good PP one year, and it falls back to normal in the following years

Producing on the PP is just as valuable as 5x5 (a goal is a goal). I just hope that the GM and coaches dont get complacent with the PP this offseason. We will need to improve it/make it more dynamic to adapt to teams game-planning just as hard to limit it. If the teams lives and dies on the PP, hopefully we add pieces to make the PP even better

I think the PP next year will be even more dangerous overall, and we might be able to run 2 legit units. Once Bear gets a bit more comfortable it'll open up more options, and Bouchard likely being on the team next year will help too. If we manage to re sign Ennis we could run

Yam Neal Drai Mcdavid Bear as unit 1

AA Ennis Mcdavid/Drai Klef Bouchard as unit 2. with Drai/Mcdavid switching out on who plays the full 2 minutes.

 

[PeakMcOil]

What about the Lady Byng?
L.D has 16 minutes in penalties and over 100 points?
Sounds like a winner to me.

Not that it’s my favourite trophy and all but if J.Goudreau can win it, during the same year he was fined for diving (which proves he was warned previously) Drai should at least be a candidate.
He may have quite the trophy haul this season.

Honestly I dont see him having a chance at the byng. Drai's a little bit dirty and chippy and he loves to talk trash. Not the most Byng like qualities but diving, embellishing Guadreau also won so who knows.

 

[bucks_oil]

I had thought his shooting percentage would fall if away from McDavid, mostly cause he would be taking more shots to try and create.

Also thought he would have his points fall a bit away from him cause his linemates quality would drop.

I was completely wrong. Knew he was going to be good away from McDavid, but not THIS good

I've been a big advocate for Drai at C, mostly for his distribution...I figured his shooting % would stay the same, but he'd be distributing the puck far more (to crappy linemates), so figured goals would go way down since he'd only shoot when in great position (he's very unselfish) and assists would stay reasonably high but entirely dependent on the quality of the supporting cast.... Yama has been so huge for us.

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Draisaitl is what you get If you combined 2000s joe Thornton with 2000s Milan Hejduk with the way he uses his size, pass, and can score

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Funny how everyone said Leon would fall back to earth this year after shooting 21% last year, he’s still shooting at 19%. Being such an amazing playmaker he doesn’t take the same volume of shots as the other top goal scorers but should still be good for 40-50 every year

I don't think you'll see his shooting percentage drop too much. His shot is insane. It's hard and really, really accurate.

I mean most of his goals are post and in, that's some crazy accuracy.

 

[Tw0Shoes]

I think the PP next year will be even more dangerous overall, and we might be able to run 2 legit units. Once Bear gets a bit more comfortable it'll open up more options, and Bouchard likely being on the team next year will help too. If we manage to re sign Ennis we could run

Yam Neal Drai Mcdavid Bear as unit 1

AA Ennis Mcdavid/Drai Klef Bouchard as unit 2. with Drai/Mcdavid switching out on who plays the full 2 minutes.

I'm sure we'd keep Nuge on one of the powerplays...

 

[3IR]

I'm sure we'd keep Nuge on one of the powerplays...

Oh right, I don't know how i missed that. We could even run him on the second and rest McDrai. Even without them that should be a strong pp unit.

 

[joestevens29]

They have been tweaking the PP system anytime it's gone a bit cold, it's why it's been this good all season

This really is the key we are seeing with good coaching. A coach that isn't afraid to go away from his original plan.

Every pro sport is about making adjustments. If you can't tweak you'll never be successful.

Just listening to Tippett you can tell he knows this. That and it doesn't hurt that the guy breaks down film unlike any coach we've had in quite some time.

 

[Zaddy]

Turns out this guy is pretty good at this hockeying thing eh?

 

[ohheyhemsky]

He's now over PPG in his NHL career.

The only league he hasn't been over PPG in is the AHL.

 

[oobga]

One thing I've noticed Drai doing this season, more and more as it's gone on, is that he will just charge right into defenders in open ice with the puck if he's being heavily covered. He will turn his body into them to shove them away. Defender will usually get his stick near or on the puck, but a lot of the time Drai can chop it back down and grab control back. With the defender or defenders on top of him, and with possession back, he usually has a nice option open for a pass. Who needs to charge hard into open ice? Drai just makes it for himself and teammates anywhere.

Guy is so comfortable now in the NHL, he's really starting to own the ice when he's out there. And he's just gonna keep getting better and more complete as a player.

 

[Gordy Elbows]

Watching Drai play, I'm sometimes reminded of Eric Lindross or Cam Neely (as power forwards), with the finesse of Steve Yzerman. Deadly!

 

[BlueCheeseWithWings]

Watching Drai play, I'm sometimes reminded of Eric Lindross or Cam Neely (as power forwards), with the finesse of Steve Yzerman. Deadly!

With Sakic's shot.