Over at Oilersnation, I looked into how defencemen and forwards have been deployed since Kris Knoblauch was hired as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. I wanted to understand how the different forward lines have been deployed with the defence pairings, and how well they’ve performed in these last twelve games at even-strength.

Looking at the expected goal-shares of each combination of forward and defencemen, the one item that really stands out is the Oilers performance when Draisaitl has been deployed as the sole centerman with Nurse and Ceci on the blue line. In 68 minutes, the trio has posted a 24.01 percent expected goal-share – a horrendous number, indicating that the Oilers are at risk of getting outscored at a rate of 3-1 if this continues. Right now, the trio is lucky that they’ve only been outscored 2-0 in these 68 minutes. It’s worth noting, too, that Draisaitl is in a bit of a personal slump at even-strength as he’s only posted five even-strength points since the coaching change, and his 1.68 points per hour is well below his career levels (2.38 points per hour). Considering how much money is being spent on Draisaitl, Nurse and Ceci, and the expectations for them to outscore opponents and win games, this has to be a spot of bother for the coaching staff.

Sunil Agnihotri/Oilersnation

Full article is at Oilersnation.