Edmonton Oilers Playoff Talk: What Kind of Magic Does Woody Have in Store for Calgary?

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Cult of Hockey

Jay Woodcroft’s innovative “Donut Line” deployment paying dividends for Oilers

One of the secrets to Woodcroft’s success since he took over the bench has been his innovative approach to setting his lineup.
- For a couple of significant stretches during the season, he opted to go with an unconventional line-up of 11 forwards and 7 defencemen, eschewing the traditional 12/6 split.
Come the playoffs, however, Woodcroft has started to utilize his forwards in a different way.
- In the last 2 games of the Kings series, both of them must-win affairs, he essentially used 4 pairs of wingers but just 3 centres.
- That left a set of … let’s call them “free agent” wingers without a full time pivot. But those unattached wingers were a long way from being fourth liners; instead it was the second line that had a hole in the middle
The new approach does put high expectations on Kane and Hyman, who at least have each other on a shiftly basis, but who face a rotation of all 3 pivots each bringing their own game

BLH’s Thoughts: I mean, if you’re being centered by one of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or RNH, that has to be a plus all around. Now seeing as how Leon is playing on one leg, it’s probably safe to replace him in that trio with Ryan McLeod or Derek Ryan and that changes the balance of the equation a bit.

Now, I don’t know if this tactic is going to work on a team that’s as deep as Calgary is. They’re four lines deep and the problem I see arising is how Edmonton’s smaller defense is going to be affected by the Flames’ intense forecheck. I’m sure Nurse and Ceci will be fine, but what about Barrie, Keith, and Bouchard? This is a massive concern for me. It’ll put way more pressure on the forwards to come deep to help out the dmen but there’s also risk of needless giveaways when the Oilers’ defenders get overwhelmed and simply go off the glass and out…

Oilersnation

MacT’s Take

On Draisaitl’s Status

“How banged up is Leon? How quickly can he recover? Amazing guts from Leon to play the way that he did, 22 minutes that last game…”
““He didn’t have that arrow in the quiver. Those things are hard to fix too. They take a long time to heal, so that’s going to be a big part of it obviously…”

On Connor

“…That’s what I call a big-game player. Somebody that’s going to add something to their game you don’t see on a day-to-day basis. McDavid has definitely done that. That guy has been amazing.”

Targets

“They’re really going to target the stars. Connor is going to be targeted intensely every chance they get. He does have elite awareness and he’s going to need that because he’s going to have to keep himself healthy and they’re going to come after him. Leon is a little bit different animal. He’s tougher to get because he is so strong himself…”

Mike Smith’s Temper

“From what I saw in the last series, you’re not going to get under his skin. He’s too driven, he’s too focused right now. I’d be really surprised if you could get under his skin…”
“Phenomenal goaltending and battling and competing. I mean, whatever happens from this point forward, he’s going to continue to play well. Even if he doesn’t, that guy has certainly earned my respect and the respect of Oilers fans.”

It’s the Price You Pay

“It’s cliché, but it’s how bad do you want it and what are you willing to do to get it? How much more do you have left in terms of competitiveness and battle and courage to get it done…”

BLH’s Thoughts: I noticed Leon wasn’t shooting in games six and seven of their series with LA and if he can’t shoot, that’s taking a massive weapon out of Edmonton’s armory. The likes of Evander Kane, Zach Hyman, and RNH are going to have to step up their goal-scoring against one of the best goalies in the league this year.

I watched all of Calgary’s games vs. Dallas and they tried to outmuscle the Stars and push them out of games early but Dallas had some bigger vets on their team that allowed them to weather the storm. Having Oettinger do his best Curtis Joseph impression was huge for the Stars too. Can we count on Mike Smith to continue his outstanding play?

So I think the Flames will try this with Edmonton as well and it’s key that the Oilers don’t get sucked in. They need to stick to their gameplan, copy what Dallas did, and take advantage of the few chances they’re given. I think when Gudbranson and Zadorov are on the ice, if the Oilers can work the puck around and keep those big boys moving in order to tire them out, that might be an impactful tactic.

What Calgary won’t get with Edmonton is a John Klingberg to pick on… Jay Woodcroft’s club can play these games any way Darryl Sutter wants to. My fear is that the Oilers won’t be able to withstand seven games of Iron League hockey though…

There was also one planned play Calgary employed against Dallas that seemed to work like magic and it all centered around getting Elias Lindholm the puck out of the RW corner. He’d sit in a tiny bit of soft ice just off center of the slot between the dots in the offensive zone and wait like Brett Hull used to with his stick cocked ready for the shot. Almost every time Tkachuk or whoever was gathering the puck from the corner gave Lindholm a clean pass, that puck was behind Oettinger because the Swede has an absolutely unreal release. The Oilers will have to be cognizant of this play or Lindholm is going to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDX_l7EM6pw

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Matt Vensel wonders if the Penguins will let Malkin and/or Letang to depart via free agency and what effect that might have on captain Sidney Crosby.
ESPN.COM: Kristen Shilton believes the Dallas Stars’ offseason priority is signing restricted free agent forward Jason Robertson, who’s coming off his entry-level contract. Having tallied 79 points this season…
- Goaltender Jake Oettinger is also completing his ELC and looks to be their starter going forward.
- Shilton also wonders whether pending UFA John Klingberg stays or goes.
TORONTO SUN: Terry Koshan doesn’t believe the Maple Leafs should make major changes in the front office, behind the bench or on the roster despite another first-round playoff exit.
- General manager Kyle Dubas will have around $8 million in salary-cap space to work with unless he moves some players. Koshan suggested Alex Kerfoot and Justin Holl as trade candidates. Dubas must also find a way to shed backup goalie Petr Mrazek’s $3.8 million cap hit.
THE SCORE: John Matisz believes Mrazek, Kerfoot, Jake Muzzin and Pierre Engvall are four Leafs worth monitoring during the offseason.
ESPN.COM: Kristen Shilton suggested a lack of killer instinct remains a problem for the Leafs. She thinks there must be changes, likely starting in the front office as team president Brendan Shanahan and general manager Kyle Dubas have to answer for yet another first-round failure.
ESPN.COM: Greg Wyshynski wondered if Los Angeles Kings GM Rob Blake will be aggressive in adding to his roster this summer as he was when he brought in Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson last summer. He mused over whether Blake will revisit his interest in Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun.

BLH’s Thoughts: LA will be better if they have a similar offseason to last. Grabbing Chrychrun would be a good start and I’d be shocked if they didn’t go after somebody like Reilly Smith or Filip Forsberg should they make it to market. The Kings should be a good bit of competition for Vegas for that last playoff spot next year.

There’s absolutely no reason for the Maple Leafs to shake up that roster just because they lucked out and had to face the reigning champs. All they need to do is add some functional toughness to the forward group and grab themselves a no.1 goalie should Campbell move on. And by functional toughness I’m talking about a couple of power forwards who can contribute to the scoring not what Simmonds and Clifford did this year. Maybe that means adding an Andrew Copp, Zach Aston-Reese, Zach Sanford, or Josh Archibald.

Pittsburgh is going to be an interesting case this summer. Personally, I think Letang is as good as gone but Malkin I’m 50/50 on. There’ve been rumors of him moving on to Florida the last couple of seasons and with his health becoming more of a question with every passing season, it might be time for the Pens to move on from him and use his salary to add some talent depth to their team.