Oilhawks
Oden's Ride Over Nordland
- Nov 24, 2011
- 26,520
- 46,045
When all of RNH, Yamamoto, Kassian, Neal, and Kahun have unperformed relative to expectation at the start of the season ... that's not just "well a couple of guys are down and Puljujarvi cancels that out".
I like what Jesse has brought but his 13 goals don't make up for like the combined 50-60 we should be getting from Kassian + Yamamoto + RNH (5 on 5).
But the broader point that just shows you McDavid and Draisaitl don't need everything to go perfect, not everything has gone perfect this year. Just give them one top pairing D guy (Klefbom or Nurse, doesn't even matter who) who is actually playing and not hurt and one good starter (Talbot 16-17 or Smith Jan 2020 onwards) and voila ... playoffs with a winning record.
It's actually kind of frightening if Chiarelli wasn't a total moron and hadn't bet the damn farm on an unproven KHL goalie and instead got an experienced NHL guy to help Talbot out during his down year ... Chiarelli might still be employed here, lol.
The bar is that low and he still found a way to f*** that up.
My point is last season’s offense was largely on the back of DRY (Draisaitl) and a recovering McDavid. This season it’s largely McDrai. Neal and Kassian weren’t as good last year as their point totals suggested (especially Neal), they gave back a lot of what they produced.
This team is better this year because of Smith (which you’ve pointed out) and more production from the blue line. McDrai are a constant. You could say that Pulju, Barrie and Nurse (his increased offensive output) have covered off for Neal and Kassian falling off and the slighter dips in Nuge and Yams production.
The bottom 6 forwards are about as useful offensively. Neal and Kassian put up most of their offense while on the PP (Neal) or playing with McDrai 5v5 (Kassian).
I like Holland but they need another top 6 guy that can help the 2nd line and the third line needs to be more productive next season. I think the third line could be handled by Kahun - McLeod - Holloway but I’d try to sign a proven 3rd liner to put in one of those spots to be safe.