On Dec. 27, general manager Ken Holland, assistant general manager Keith Gretzky, director of salary cap management and assistant to the president Bill Scott, coach Dave Tippett and his staff sat together for two hours in the coaches office at Rogers Place to brainstorm after a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames was the Oilers' eighth in 10 games.
"We knew that we had to try to do something, so we called up (forward) Kailer Yamamoto (from the American Hockey League) and the coach made a decision that he was going to separate (forwards) Leon [Draisaitl] and Connor [McDavid]," Holland said. "From that point in time ... Yamamoto came up and found chemistry with Leon, and we had Leon on one line and Connor on another, and it made it a little more difficult for the opposition matchups."