The Edmonton Oilers wake up this Sunday morning in First Place in the Pacific Division, and third overall in the NHL.
The Oilers went 2-1 with Connor McDavid out due to suspension and have been 25-8-2 since November 9th.
How different will the Oilers look when Connor is back is not the question. How officials will look at him…is.
That and more in this edition of…
9 Things
9. No one should be thrilled with the game the Oilers turned in on Saturday. But you should not critique a victory. Besides…really good hockey teams find a way to win. And the Oilers are that.
8. Mattias Janmark has reached the fastest skating speed of any NHL-er this season. He hit 24.36 MPH in the game against Dallas. In fact, it is the second highest speed ever tracked.
7. I 100% agree with the audition Noah Philp is getting at 4C. But how will you know if he is ready to do be that in The Stanley Cup Playoffs if you only play him 6:49 against…checks notes…the thirtieth place Buffalo Sabres?
6. There are some folks out there who would make a #1 goaltender the Oilers target at the deadline. I just do not get that. Stuart Skinner got you to within a goal of a Stanley Cup last year. And Skinner was the #1, #2 and #3 reason the Oilers beat Buffalo Saturday. His Save % is now up to .902.
5. I have always been one of the guys who believed that even at 39 years old Corey Perry remains a useful player for the Oilers. But full disclosure: I have also been one of the guys wondering oud loud whether or not he should be an every-game player. Well, after watching him own that game against the Canucks on Thursday…I realize I may have been wrong.
4. I sometimes think Mattias Ekholm flies a bit under the radar. Part of that is the fact that he plays with a talented but high-event partner. However, Ekhom is among the most elite NHL defencemen this season. His CF% headed into Saturday was 60.69, third among all D-men who have played ten or more games. And he was excellent against Buffalo, too. Evan Bouchard is fourth (60.42) league-wide.
3. While I do not disagree with a couple more additions to this roster who can play sound defensive hockey, some folks are under the impression that the Oilers are a barely competent defending squad. Going into Saturday’s action they have allowed the second fewest 5v5 High Danger Chances Against in the league (next to L.A., who is #1). Edmonton’s defence may not be elite. But while they bend, they break less often than almost any other team.
2. Living out on B.C.’s coast now I do not hear the same amount of Edmonton as I used to when I was a General Manager in that market. But I did catch a segment this past week with Jason Gregor and a one-on-one interview with Derek Ryan. One, Ryan is highly intelligent, well-spoken, and willing to talk candidly about the challenges in his career. Two, Gregor did the thing so many broadcasters fail at in critical moments: He let Ryan talk. The result was a marvelous piece of radio. Good on both participants. Having cleared waivers, Ryan will set a splendid example for the kids in Bakersfield. A good pro, I hope he ends up back in the NHL before he hangs ‘em up.
1.Connor McDavid is on-pace to draw half as many penalties as he did in 2022-23. Think about that for a minute: Half! That is not merely a call here and a call there. It is way, way off from where McDavid would normally be. And it speaks directly to his recent suspension. While I did not agree with the number of games he was handed for the cross-check on Conor Garland in the Vancouver game, I did understand why it was suspend-able. If the skate were on the other foot and someone was cross-checking McDavid, you can bet Oilers fans would want a suspension, too. My real issue then and now was the play on ninety-seven by Garland leading up to the infraction and how it was non-handled.
That non-call is the poster child for what Connor has to constantly endure, without being rewarded with an appropriate amount of power play time for his trouble. I mean, here is this marvelous specimen of an athlete, this one-of-a-kind generational phenomena and what does the NHL do? Forces him (and to be fair, others like him) to slog nightly through a forest of sticks and a clutch of grabs. It is akin to asking a ballerina to wear boots. It is such a waste. I thought we fixed this for good when Mario Lemieux spoke out. I guess not.
I can hear some say “Leavins is an Oilers writer, of course he wants favoritism for McDavid.” But I could say all these things about Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado, too. One of my very favorite NHL players, MacKinnon does not draw the penalties he deserves, either. It also applies to Auston Matthews in Toronto, and others. And that is my point. It isn’t that this kind of officiating is not good for McDavid or for the Edmonton Oilers. It’s not good for the game.
And look: I do not hang all of this on the referees. Wes McCauley and Chris Lee blew that non-call. But it is important to understand that the on-ice officials do not determine on their own how a game is called. Sure, they blow the whistles and assess the penalties. But how these guys officiate is decided long before the puck is ever dropped, in a boardroom often thousands of miles from the arena. And why?
Because the hierarchy of the NHL is a collection of prehistoric owners who never played the game and dinosaurs like George Parros in the Department of Player Safety. Their rabid thirst for competitive balance and sixty-five million BC hockey justice has left officials “managing” games and rewarding players with inferior skill over the guys fans actually pay to see.
Well, it is time these dinosaurs went extinct. Call the rulebook. Free the McDavid’s and MacKinnon’s. The game would be so much better and more consistently compelling if they did.
Newly on Bluesky @kurtleavins.bsky.social. On Twitter @KurtLeavins, Threads @kleavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and even on Mastodon at [email protected]. This article is not AI generated.
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