What's wrong with Drai?

[ThePhoenixx]

It's the fate of McDrai in general to carry that whole franchise for years. Not a recipe for success for sure, not individually and not in terms of team success.

lol

 

[Duke74]

I've been wondering the same thing myself and many of you mentioned some possible reasons:

1. Permanent injury/discomfort from dirty slash (which, btw, should have entailed a longer suspension). This would explain his shooting being off all year.
2. Seasonal depression. This would explain all of his December slumps.
3. Subpar linemates. He's managed to elevate weaker linemates in the past and besides, McLeod and Foegele have been very good in the last few games.

A few other possible causes:
1. Maybe he's been nursing a minor injury all year - one bad enough to affect his shot mechanics and his desire to shoot but not bad enough to miss time
2. Apparently, he worked on his shot during the summer, so he may have changed something that messed with his mechanics.
3. He's passed his peak and is starting his natural decline due to age as well as wear/tear.

 

[SK13]

Some crazy stats, thanks!

It's the fate of McDrai in general to carry that whole franchise for years. Not a recipe for success for sure, not individually and not in terms of team success.

When they were asked to "carry the whole franchise", they missed the playoffs. Twice.

I'm a little sick of the disrespect to Nugent-Hopkins, Hyman, Nurse, Ekholm, Bouchard, etc from other fanbases. There are genuinely 7 or so great players on this team. They're probably 2.5 pieces from completely solid but the way people talk, you'd think they were 19 pieces.

 

[Spawn]

Just thought I'd bump this thread since Draisaitl has now officially put up another 40+ goal 100+ point season. This is his 5th 100 point season.

There is only 2 active players with more 100 point seasons than Draisaitl now.

McDavid with 7 and Crosby with 6.

There are only 16 players in NHL history who have had more 100 point seasons than Drai. If he gets one more he's going to be tied with the aforementioned Crosby, but also players like Sakic, Yzerman, Messier, Lafleur, Orr and Esposito.

Sometimes it gets lost in the successes/failures of the team. But we're watching a guy having one of the greatest careers ever here.

 

[McIce Whole]

Just thought I'd bump this thread since Draisaitl has now officially put up another 40+ goal 100+ point season. This is his 5th 100 point season.

There is only 2 active players with more 100 point seasons than Draisaitl now.

McDavid with 7 and Crosby with 6.

There are only 16 players in NHL history who have had more 100 point seasons than Drai. If he gets one more he's going to be tied with the aforementioned Crosby, but also players like Sakic, Yzerman, Messier, Lafleur, Orr and Esposito.

Sometimes it gets lost in the successes/failures of the team. But we're watching a guy having one of the greatest careers ever here.

it’s crazy to me that he still managed this and visually, he looks like he’s nursing an injury or something.

Something about him seems off, he seems to be getting knocked around more when trying to shield the puck and his first step seems slower than usual.

But he’s got world class iq and will always find ways to produce and score. We’re lucky to have him and hopefully he elevates his game as he usually does in the playoffs

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

He seems fine to me

He still seems fine to me

 

[JordanGalhanth]

it’s crazy to me that he still managed this and visually, he looks like he’s nursing an injury or something.

Something about him seems off, he seems to be getting knocked around more when trying to shield the puck and his first step seems slower than usual.

But he’s got world class iq and will always find ways to produce and score. We’re lucky to have him and hopefully he elevates his game as he usually does in the playoffs

I still can't help but wonder if the Pietrangelo slash caused more damage than initially thought.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I still can't help but wonder if the Pietrangelo slash caused more damage than initially thought.

Age and cumulative damage does too. People seem to forget that powerforwards that are puck control guys eat a lot of punishment through their career. I read some player bios and a lot of players will talk about how much harder it is as career goes on. That you end up just being able to manage playing full seasons, playoffs, that you start having to really struggle with other things. Guys talk about sitting around in rehab, in ice baths, physio, whatever treatments they can get and having trouble even walking on a lot of days and then you go to the games, throw on skates and you're expected to dial it up to 100% immediately as if you are 100%, which you never are this far into your career.

Injuries are also multifold. One impacts another. Basically when playing through any injury (and Drai has done this tons) one compensates and moves differently, strides differently, and carries frame differently. This is especially hard on joints/physiology of bigger individuals and can cause wear, or other problems or subinjury. Indeed this is one reason why rehab and ongoing work and treatment is so important. Otherwise each injury impacts subsequent movement, the body, Range of motion etc. Drai in recent years didn't just have the Petra slash. He injured himself going for a check in an Anaheim game 2yrs ago. Impacted ankle. Then he was wrestled to the ice in the LA series and further injuring himself. Then he played rest of playoffs and next season still impacted. Then there would be other conditions one doesn't even hear about.

Then theres the whole aspect of what carrying clubs does. Both McDrai will have suffered this and it potentially impacts the longevity and peak play of the players.

I'll mention something from last night as well. Anderson is slashing at Drai repeatedly. He got slashed and sticked several times last night by different Flames and all targeting he, McD, and Hyman. Those were the primary targets. When you are the target most games you get a lot of abuse and you get reslashed, rehit, reabused in often the same places. So if for example you get sticked in the wrist or arm or ankle 100's of times a season how much would that hurt each time?

 

[Duke74]

I still can't help but wonder if the Pietrangelo slash caused more damage than initially thought.

That seems to make sense given that his shot has suffered all year. So many posts and missed nets in situations where he usually scores. Given that the slash occurred in the shoulder/arm, it seems likely that his shot would be affected.

 

[Dirk Dangler]

I've been wondering the same thing myself and many of you mentioned some possible reasons:

1. Permanent injury/discomfort from dirty slash (which, btw, should have entailed a longer suspension). This would explain his shooting being off all year.
2. Seasonal depression. This would explain all of his December slumps.
3. Subpar linemates. He's managed to elevate weaker linemates in the past and besides, McLeod and Foegele have been very good in the last few games.

A few other possible causes:
1. Maybe he's been nursing a minor injury all year - one bad enough to affect his shot mechanics and his desire to shoot but not bad enough to miss time
2. Apparently, he worked on his shot during the summer, so he may have changed something that messed with his mechanics.
3. He's passed his peak and is starting his natural decline due to age as well as wear/tear.

The one thing that has bothered me since the coaching change. Or at least something I’ve noticed. Mcdavid’s line gets loaded up and drai gets the leftovers. Nuge has struggled production wise this year too. But as far as I’ve noticed they haven’t been tried together much of at all. Which is super weird because they have a history of success together. Nuge drai Yamamoto was the best line in hockey for a spell. And let’s be honest yams was filler on the line. Kinda baffles me tbh.

 

[Duke74]

TBH, this thread should actually be titled "What's Wrong With the Oiler Fanbase?"

Yes, he's had a bit of a down season this year: his shot isn't up to par, he seems weaker on the puck, resulting in more giveaways than usual, and he's taking a lot of unnecessary penalties.

As I mentioned, this can point to one or more nagging injuries, but I think part of it is also the frustration after last year's playoffs and the start of this season.

That being said, he will still finish with 40+ goals and 100+ points in a DOWN YEAR. On Friday, he hit two milestones: 500 career assists and his FIFTH 100-point season, which puts him in extremely elite company. There was literally not a single peep from the fanbase about this, which is especially strange considering that if McDavid had reached a milestone, there would be pages and pages of worship for the Lord and Saviour McJesus. Not only were his accomplishments utterly ignored, but posters ragged on him all game as usual. Some poster literally called him "straight trash" simply because he hit a post.

The hate towards this man never ceases to blow my mind. I understand that he has a few bad habits in his game, such as the giveaways and the needless penalties, but I believe that the good far outweighs these warts. Besides, what superstar is perfect? Some people overly magnify his small flaws while completely disregarding all of his good. Almost as if he's a robot and expected to spit out 50+ goals and 120+ points every year while NEVER making a mistake.

If he does decide to explore other avenues in free agency, I hope the members of the fanbase who mocked him his entire time here suffer especially badly through another decade of darkness and realize the foolish nature of their comments and attitude.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

TBH, this thread should actually be titled "What's Wrong With the Oiler Fanbase?"

Yes, he's had a bit of a down season this year: his shot isn't up to par, he seems weaker on the puck, resulting in more giveaways than usual, and he's taking a lot of unnecessary penalties.

As I mentioned, this can point to one or more nagging injuries, but I think part of it is also the frustration after last year's playoffs and the start of this season.

That being said, he will still finish with 40+ goals and 100+ points in a DOWN YEAR. On Friday, he hit two milestones: 500 career assists and his FIFTH 100-point season, which puts him in extremely elite company. There was literally not a single peep from the fanbase about this, which is especially strange considering that if McDavid had reached these milestones, there would be pages and pages of worship for the Lord and Saviour McJesus. Not only were his accomplishments utterly ignored, but posters ragged on him all game as usual. Some poster literally called him "straight trash" simply because he hit a post.

The hate towards this man never ceases to blow my mind. I understand that he has a few bad habits in his game, such as the giveaways and the needless penalties, but I believe that the good far outweighs these warts. Besides, what superstar is perfect? Some people overly magnify his small flaws while completely disregarding all of his good. Almost as if he's a robot and expected to spit out 50+ goals and 120+ points every year while NEVER making a mistake.

If he does decide to explore other avenues in free agency, I hope the members of the fanbase who mocked him his entire time here suffer especially badly through another decade of darkness and realize the foolish nature of their comments.

“You don’t know what it’s like till he’s gone” Joni Mitchell.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

I think part of the issue is Draisaitl line gets the left overs from the McDavid line. He's had chemistry with Foegele and McLeod but neither guy are point producers and are better suited for building a strong 3rd line.

People will say I'm nuts, hear me out. There's a player on the Oilers who's taken their game a massive step forward these last dozen games. He was also a guy brought in to round out the top 6. I'd like to see Connor Brown get some looks on the top line with McDavid and Hyman now that his game is rounding into form before the playoffs start. It could free up RNH to be stapled to Draisaitl's wing.

 

[EchoesoftheEighties]

A bad year for Drai is 40 goals and another 100 points.

Damn what a shitty player

 

[Duke74]

I think part of the issue is Draisaitl line gets the left overs from the McDavid line. He's had chemistry with Foegele and McLeod but neither guy are point producers and are better suited for building a strong 3rd line.

People will say I'm nuts, hear me out. There's a player on the Oilers who's taken their game a massive step forward these last dozen games. He was also a guy brought in to round out the top 6. I'd like to see Connor Brown get some looks on the top line with McDavid and Hyman now that his game is rounding into form before the playoffs start. It could free up RNH to be stapled to Draisaitl's wing.

I think a line of RNH-Draisaitl-Foegele would be an outstanding second line. Foegele has some chemistry with Drai and RNH can add much-needed speed to the mix while giving Draisaitl another skilled player to work with. I'm not sure why Knob has never considered this.

 

[Faelko]

We all should know by now that Drai has an on/off switch. Just be happy that it’ll be in permanent “ON” when playoffs start.

 

[Oilslick941611]

A bad year for Drai is 40 goals and another 100 points.

Damn what a shitty player

I don't think it's wrong to say Drai doesn't look like his usual self this year, he doesn't. It's a testament to how good of a player he is with his point totals this year, but he does still look off. Hell McDavid does too, they give away the puck a lot, their passing is terrible and their shots look off. They clearly have the talent to overcome whatever issues they are going through, but in a "normal" season if they aren't hurt they are head and shoulders above the league rather than just at or near the top.

 

[Duke74]

We all should know by now that Drai has an on/off switch. Just be happy that it’ll be in permanent “ON” when playoffs start.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Fingers crossed.

Draisaitl is third all time in playoff point per game he’s always played his best in the playoffs

 

[VainGretzky]

Poor Drai could finish top 5 in scoring again to join the very few superstars who have done it 6 times Names like Gretzky Lemieux Howe McDavid Lafleur Crosby

 

[The Nuge]

Just thought I'd bump this thread since Draisaitl has now officially put up another 40+ goal 100+ point season. This is his 5th 100 point season.

There is only 2 active players with more 100 point seasons than Draisaitl now.

McDavid with 7 and Crosby with 6.

There are only 16 players in NHL history who have had more 100 point seasons than Drai. If he gets one more he's going to be tied with the aforementioned Crosby, but also players like Sakic, Yzerman, Messier, Lafleur, Orr and Esposito.

Sometimes it gets lost in the successes/failures of the team. But we're watching a guy having one of the greatest careers ever here.

Just goes to show how special he is when even in a down year where he’s looked a bit off the entire year, he still puts up these numbers.