The Edmonton Oilers need more from Duncan Keith

Through the first two games of the regular season, one player on the Edmonton Oilers has looked underwhelming. Duncan Keith needs to be better.

Granted it is just two games into the season, but Duncan Keith has looked worse than he did in Chicago through two games, and the stats are not disagreeing. Keith’s Corsi and Fenwick percentages are at an all-time low with 32.1 and 38.1 respectively.

Through the first two games, Keith has averaged just over 17 minutes of ice time, a significant drop off from what he was doing in Chicago. While that should be a benefit for an older defenceman, it has still been a struggle to keep Keith consistent.

Now the Oilers have played him with just three defencemen so far. His pairings have included Tyson Barrie for seven seconds, Evan Bouchard for about a minute, and everything else has been with Cody Ceci. While they do not have the best numbers together compared to other pairings, Keith and Ceci have one of the lowest expected goals against amongst pairings that have spent more than a minute or two together.

Bouchard and Keith had a really good shift together when they were on the ice. Bouchard definitely is going to rise in the standings from the bottom pairing, and before he makes it to the top line with Nurse for good I hope he stops on the second line for a few games to take on more responsibility. It would be great to see Keith play with a big talented defenceman like Bouchard.

Keith doesn’t need to get seriously involved offensively, in fact, he probably won’t considering his defensive zone starts are at an all-time high this season. At the same time though he needs to put some pucks in the net and get some assists.

Luckily there is no better time like Tuesday for Keith to have a big game considering the Oilers are scheduled to play the Anaheim Ducks. That should be the momentum he needs to get to the Vegas game where the Oilers are going to need everyone at their best to win.