Third Player Trending Down
You know you’re having a bad season when Milan Lucic only scores one goal in the 1st half of the season and is outscoring you by one goal.
That’s the story of Toby Rieder who has seven assists on the season and no goals, after being brought in to provide some secondary depth scoring and not drown defensively, which is what he has been known for up until now.
Rieder has only put up 124 points in 339 NHL games and has never cracked the 20 goal mark in his career (16 is his career high). So it’s not like we were expecting him to carry a line, but would 15 goals and 40 points be too much to ask when you spend most of your season riding port side to Nuge or Leon Draisaitl? Not IMO.
Unless he picks it up in the 2nd half of the season, he’s on pace for no goals and 21 assists – and that’s probably flattering him.
Time will tell what happens next with him. If he starts scoring, he could be back for another season or 2 at a cheap price range, exactly what the Oilers need right now.
If not, he’s as good as gone by season’s end if not at the deadline.