Anyone who thinks the Oilers lack depth scoring, like this guy, hopefully, tuned into the Detroit game on Feb. 7 when the Oilers beat the Wings 5-2 and the McDrai duo scored exactly zero goals and had but a single assist combined.
This would be concerning if it happened for many games in a row but for an occasional exception it’s fine.
Warren Foegele had a mini outburst with two goals while Ryan Mcleod and the Nuge produced the other two from the bottom six ranks.
In fact, the only top-six forward who produced a goal was Evander Kane, and it was an empty netter. That’s four out of five goals produced by the bottom six.
This is a great ingredient for this team to have because it’s inevitable that the opposition will key in on Mcdavid and Draisaitl in some games, meaning other players will be left open – and thus will be able to pick up the ball and run with it. Also, Mcdavid and Draisaitl themselves are only human and like every other NHL player will have a bad game once in a while. Important for the rest of the rosters to pick up the slack when that happens too.
Depth in the lineup is part of what made the 80s Oilers so great. Key in on Gretzky and Messier? No problem, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Craig Mactavish, Esa Tikannen, or Paul Coffey will burn you instead.
Today those guys are Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Kailer Yamamoto, the Nuge, Ryan Mcleod, Tyson Barrie, Darnell Nurse, and coming soon, Dylan Holloway.
This might be the best depth the Oilers have had in quite some time which will prove valuable come playoff time. No longer will the opposition be able to key in on Mcdavid and Draisaitl and take away our offence like in 2020 and 2021.
And if anyone takes liberties with them, Kostin, Kane, Desharnais, or Nurse will come on over and answer the bell for you to deal with.