Edmonton Oilers Depth Chart: Previewing the Centers

The Edmonton Oilers need to have depth at a lot of different positions to have success this season. Today we are kickings things off by looking at the centermen position for Edmonton.

Last season Edmonton won 50.4 percent of their faceoffs with the majority of those wins coming from Leon Draisaitl.

This season the team has a nice centermen depth in their lineup, so let’s jump in and list the entire rundown of different options down the middle.

Connor McDavid

Leon Draisaitl

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Kyle Turris

Derek Ryan

Devin Shore

Ryan McLeod

Dylan Holloway

Raphael Lavoie

Seth Griffith

Tim Soderlund

More from Oil On Whyte

Obviously, the names further and further down on the list here are AHL players and prospects so there is little impact on the NHL roster for the coming season there. It is the top group that matters that are in bold. Having Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the wing is probably going to make more sense throughout most of the season, but if they wanted to shake things up the fact that he can play center is good. He was sixth on the team in faceoff wins last year.

The centers for this team will be McDavid, Draisaitl, McLeod, and some combination of Kyle Turris or Derek Ryan. Luckily for the roster, they have a lot of options as a team really needs center depth more than anything.

Hopefully that percentage right around 50 when it comes to overall faceoff wins throughout the season will go up even higher this season. Getting puck possession is key to scoring goals and winning games, for every team in the league that means winning faceoffs.

Let’s hope this season the centers on this team all take the next step forward. A guy like Ryan McLeod got a really small chance last season during the regular season, but he seems to have made the most of it. If he gains some confidence and can be a good third-line center throughout the year then this team is going to have a heck of a time in the postseason.

Home/Analysis