NEW YORK — Let’s cut right to the chase.
If the Edmonton Oilers are going to get anything done, Leon Draisaitl has to produce — and not on a line with Connor McDavid.
"That’s a fair observation and a fair assessment," nods his head coach, Todd McLellan. "He’s proven he can do it and we believe he can do it. But the proof is in the pudding and getting the results, and we’re six periods in (to the season) and we haven’t quite got them.
"Can Leon drive his own line? Yes, he can. He’s been trained that way, he’s been paid that way, and he has to produce that way."
It’s really that simple, for an Oilers team that has scored three goals in two season-opening losses — with McDavid getting a point on each of them. They’re paying Draisaitl big bucks to produce — by himself — and so far he has two points, both collected while playing with McDavid.
Guys making $8.5 million? They’re not complementary players. They’re supposed to carry a player or two themselves.
"We need to find ways to produce away from Connor as a team, and not just rely on him," Draisaitl admitted after Friday’s practice in New York. "That’s a fact."
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Through two games Draisaitl, and wingers Milan Lucic and Kailer Yamamoto, have seen almost exclusive matchups against the opponent’s second defensive pairing, while the opposition’s top checking line spends an entire game matched against the McDavid line. That’s how it will go in Edmonton for, oh, the next decade or so.
Draisaitl — who has seasons of 70 and 77 points — is being paid to be a 70-point player without leaning on McDavid. He should feast on second-pairing matchups, shouldn’t he?
"Leon is a heckuva good hockey player when he’s rolling, and it’s still early," said McDavid, chatting with a couple of scribes while walking down the long, circular ramp at Madison Square Garden towards the waiting team bus. "It’s Game 3. He’s always been a guy who needs time. When you can have two lines going and scoring it makes for a far different matchup (opposition). You see how it is in Toronto with Matthews and Tavares."
The Maple Leafs are averaging five goals per game this young season, flying out of the gate with a 4-1 record. The Oilers, meanwhile, are 0-2 with three goals scored — total. The contrast is stark, and if Edmonton doesn’t figure a way to dig out a matinee win over the Rangers on Saturday, that next stretch of games (at Winnipeg, at home vs. Boston, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Washington, at Nashville) could be crippling.
"We need to win games," said McLellan. "And we need to give the lines an opportunity to gel. Ten days ago they didn’t look too bad. The last two games, they don’t look real positive — yet there are some signs of players coming."
"Definitely not enough," McDavid said of the Oilers offence. "We have to sustain some pressure. We’ve had a lot of one-and-dones and that’s not the way to score in this league. We have find a way to roll around in the offensive zone, shoot and get it back, those kind of cliché things."
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Look, we get how McLellan plays McDavid and Draisaitl together in overtime. They are as dynamic a duo at three-on-three hockey as there is in the NHL.
And we understand that you don’t lead every night, so when the Oilers are down a goal with 10 minutes to play, why not reunite the two and try to push for the tying goal?
But outside of those minutes are about 50 minutes a night where McLellan has vowed to stick to his guns on this alignment, despite the outside advice that follows him like a shadow.
"We have a lot of coaches out there who like to put their lines together. Some of them are standing in this group right now," he said, motioning to the assembled hockey media. "Then there is my Dad, who likes to send me his lines. And I’ve got my brother, who likes his lines.
"You know what? If we sat around and put all the line combinations together, we’d go insane."
A little help from a moribund Bottom 6 wouldn’t hurt the Oilers’ cause either. Or a point from a defenceman, a group that has thus far combined for a minus-8 rating and one point between them.
In short, the big guy needs some help here, and the cavalry better come over the hill by 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
Chop chop, boys.
It’s getting late early.
