With the NHL trade deadline one month away, the Oilers will have a chance to make some important decisions that could impact their short term goal of qualifying for the 2017 playoffs and the long term goal of establishing a window where they can be legitimate Stanley Cupcontenders.

In terms of short term needs, the Oilers could use an upgrade to their center depth as well as their right side up front. There’s also an obvious need when it comes to goaltending as Cam Talbot, who has arguably been the Oilers MVP, does not have a reliable backup that can give him a night off from time to time. There’s also a case to be made that the team could use an offensive defenceman to support the powerplay, but the team should probably refrain from spending significant assets to acquire. The issue for the Oilers is that they don’t have a lot to give up, as their own prospect pool isn’t very deep and the picks they have for the upcoming draft are needed to replenish it.

The Oilers do have veteran players like Benoit Pouliot and Matt Hendricks that could draw some attention at the deadline, but the Oilers are not likely to acquire significant pieces by moving either of these two. Both have struggled this season, although Pouliot does have a history of contributing to a team’s offence and could provide a team with skill and experience in a top six role.

Where the Oilers could tap into to address their short term and long term goals is their defence. For the first time in a long time, the Oilers have an NHL-calibre defence core, with Andrej Sekera, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson signed with the team for the next four years on reasonable contracts. Add to that core Brandon Davidson, Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning, players that will be under team control for a while, and the Oilers have a group that should provide stability on the back end.

This brings us to Kris Russell who was signed by the Oilers to a one-year deal just days before the start of the 2016/17 regular season. Serving as a well-priced stop-gap, having Russell on the roster allowed the Oilers to keep some of their defensive prospects like Griffin Reinhart and Jordan Oesterle in the AHL to continue their own development. The Oilers have been able to rely on Russell quite heavily, as he’s led the team in average ice time per game and has a respectable goal-share of 51.6%. He has spent a significant amount of time with Connor McDavid this season, which would help his numbers, and he’s also been benefiting from a 94% save percentage when he’s on the ice for most of the season, which is not exactly sustainable.

We also know that a team or players on-ice goal-share is not a good predictor of future success, so we look at the share of shot attempts which correlates better with future goal-share. Russell currently ranks last on the team among defencemen when it comes to on-ice Corsi For% (score and venue adjusted) at even-strength (5v5), as the team has had 46.55% of all of the shot attempts with him on the ice. When he’s not on the ice, the Oilers have a Corsi For% of 52.37%, which is a significant jump. Now it can be expected that the share of shot attempts would improve when Russell isn’t on the ice as he has faced better competition, but it should not increase that significantly. For instance, when Adam Larsson, who has also been playing top lines, is on the ice, the team has a 50.31% share of all of the shot attempts. That share increases only slightly when Larsson is on the bench, going up to 51.52%.

Full article is at The Copper & Blue.

The Oilers penalty kill (4v5) currently ranks 15th in the league, with an 82.1% efficiency. If we look at it in terms of actual goals scored per 60 minutes shorthanded, which serves as a more accurate assessment of a team’s success, the Oilers actually rank 9th best in the league with 5.13 goals against. This has been in large part to their goaltending shorthanded, which ranks 4th best in  the league.

Among the 25 goaltenders who have played at least 150 minutes shorthanded this season, Talbot ranks 3rd with a 90.45 save percentage, only behind Frederik Andersen and Roberto Luongo. He has faced the highest rate of shots on goals against among this group, and ranks around the middle of the pack when it comes to the average distance of the shots against.

When it comes to the rate of unblocked shot against (i.e., Fenwick) however, which serves as a better predictor for future success than actual goals against, the team ranks 21st in the league, allowing 68.01 per hour. This is definitely an area of concern as team’s that can contain shots and scoring chances against are the ones that are likely to have long term success.

What I’ve done below is list the players that have been deployed for at least 30 minutes on the penalty kill this season for the Oilers, and see how the team has done in terms of unblocked shots against with the player on the ice and without the player (i.e., relative to the team). I’ve also included the rate of actual goals against when each player is on the ice and how that number looks relative to the team.

In terms of the rate of unblocked shots against, the team as a whole has allowed 68.01 per hour. When players like Hendricks, McDavid, Draisaitl, Larsson, Klefbom or Pouliot are on the ice, the team tends to allow fewer unblocked shots against (negatives are a good thing). On the bottom end of the table, we see that when current roster players like Letestu, Russell and RNH have been on the ice, the rate of unblocked shots against takes a significant jump. That’s pretty alarming considering that these three have been deployed the most shorthanded.

Of the three, it’s been Kris Russell’s numbers that are the most surprising and I suspect could be what is driving down the numbers of RNH and Letestu. The rate of shots against has reached just under 80 per hour with Russell is on the ice shortanded, which is odd considering he’s had plenty of experience playing on the penalty kill, with his past team’s often doing better with him on the ice than without him.

Over the past five seasons, Russell has spent plenty of time on the penalty kill, but will likely reach a new high when it comes to total ice time this season. It makes sense if the team wants to rely on him to play shorthanded, as he has had success in terms of unblocked shots against in St. Louis and Calgary. But what the Oilers have failed to do is keep Russell on his natural side, something he often did in Calgary, and have instead paired him with Andrej Sekera and deployed him on the right. In Calgary two of his most common linemates were Deryk Engelland and Dennis Wideman, both of which were right handed options. Something the Oilers need to consider is getting Russell back on his natural side, especially if they want to continue deploying him on the penalty kill.

It’ll be up to the coaching staff to maximize each shift, whether it be at 5v5 or on special teams, especially as the team gets ready for the playoffs. For the first time in a long time, the Oilers have a competitive roster, but each player needs to be in a position to succeed, especially the defencemen.

Data: Corsica Hockey

Also posted at The Copper & Blue.

Early in his first season as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Todd McLellan emphasized the value of volume shooting, and its importance in generating offence.

Volume shooting, I don’t know what that does to Corsi or Fenwick because I don’t even know what those things are, but volume shooting is important. I think it breaks down defensive zone coverages, gets players out of position, taxes the opposition, makes them play more minutes in their zone. (Source)

Taking a look at the rate of shot attempts (i.e. Corsi For/60) the Sharks generated when McLellan was behind the bench, we see that they were always above the league average and typically ranked in the top five.

It appears that the Oilers have gradually made progress when it comes to generating shot attempts under McLellan, as they currently rank 12th in the league, 5th in the Western Conference, with 57.18 shot attempts per hour at even-strength. The top five teams: Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Washington.

As you might guess, one of the key drivers for the team’s rate of shot attempts includes Connor McDavid. When he’s been on the ice this season, the team has generated 62.66 shot attempts per hour, which is just below what Boston, who ranks first in the league in this metric, is generating. Without McDavid, the Oilers generate 54.55 shot attempts per hour, which is below league average, and would rank them 19th in the league. Also worth noting that the Oilers top line of McDavid, Maroon and Draisaitl is currently generating 71.12 shot attempts per hour.

If we break out the Oilers rate of shot generation over rolling 10-game segments, we see that they had at one point been generating over 60 shot attempts per hour, but steadily declined starting around the end of November. As I mentioned in my previous article, I suspect this has to do with two things. One, the team lost Darnell Nurse, who was showing progress in his offensive game, to a long term injury at the end of November. And two, the team began giving more and more ice time to Kris Russell, who provides very little to a team’s offence. More on individual players later.

In the graph above I have the team’s rate of shot attempts, but I’ve also added two additional lines: one for the rolling 10-game averages of when McDavid is on the ice (orange line), and one for the rolling 10-game averages of when McDavid is off (blue line). The team is having issues this season where they’re relying heavily on one line, more so than other teams with elite players. Knowing his ability to escalate the play of his team, and the importance of having depth to win a cup, we’ll need to know how the rest of the roster is doing without McDavid on the ice.

What we can start to do is look at each player this season, and how the team does when it comes to generating shots with and without them on the ice. I’ve ranked the table below by Corsi For/60 Rel, which tells us how the team does with the player on the ice, compared to how the team does when they’re on the bench. So when Patrick Maroon is on the ice, the Oilers generate 65.65 shot attempts per hour. Without him, that number drops by 11.77 shot attempts.

Full article is at The Copper & Blue.