Edmonton Oilers: Ranking Players Trending Up So Far This Season
By Phil Gretzky
Second Player Trending Up
Draisaitl is another player having a great year. The best German-born player to lace ’em up in the NHL by a country mile already, Draisaitl currently sports a 1.2 PPG, which projects out to 98 points – of which 38 will be goals. Both of which will be a new career high for the 23-year-old (which means he’s already putting up mind-boggling numbers and hasn’t even hit his prime yet) and with +2 rating on the right side of things without the puck.
To put that in perspective, Draisaitl would’ve finished 4th in the league in scoring last season with those numbers.
Still think he’s not worth his $8.5 million cap hit, haters? Unless he goes on a huge slump – which at this point is unlikely – he’ll easily finish in the top 10 in league scoring, maybe even top 5, and continue to be a valuable player for the Oilers for years to come. Who can cycle between wing and center easily and can score whether he’s carrying his own line or riding shotgun with Connor.
He’s even become an awesome faceoff man, top 25 in the NHL regarding FO wins and is following up last seasons 56.25% with a 50% this season.
The one interesting thing about Draisaitl’s ice time is he gets more PK time than Connor does – 1:01 which is good enough for 13th on the team, six spots above Connor’s.
As you would expect, he gets almost as much time at ES – 16 minutes a night to Connor’s 18 – and sits at #2 in PP ice time next to only Connor.
Along with Connor, the Oilers have a lethal duo in the three on three format in OT, too – the Oilers only have 3 OT losses on the season, and that’s usually because of either McDavid or Draisaitl score – it’s incredibly hard for the opposition to contain both of them at the same time.
Is there any criticism of Draisaitl? Nothing glaring. You can always be better – and since he’s two years away from PPY, I highly doubt he’s peaked yet, which is good news for us. On most teams, Draisaitl would be the undisputed 1st line center, having Connor Mcdavid to pair with is a massive chest of riches.