Improving the winger positions was a top objective for the Edmonton Oilers when they made their move on the free agent market this past July 1. A productive first line (and first powerplay unit) was established with center-winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and full-time winger Zach Hyman alongside Connor McDavid. The play was to provide some scoring assistance to Leon Draisaitl on the second line, which appeared to be missing Evander Kane for the beginning of the 2024–25 season.
In order to achieve this, Interim General Manager Jeff Jackson made a major impression by signing LW Jeff Skinner and RW Viktor Arvidsson. He welcomed back Mattias Janmark, Corey Perry, and Connor Brown, wingers from the bottom six, that same day, ostensibly leaving the Oilers flush on the flanks. Everywhere you looked, you could find seasoned veterans. That was the plan, anyway. The reality of today is less than ideal. First, let’s look at the injured list, which was revised by Kris Knoblauch on Monday after the coach said that neither Hyman nor Arvidsson would be ready to play this coming weekend in Utah and Colorado, even though the schedule now includes a five-day vacation.
Due to an unidentified health condition, Arvidsson has already missed six games, while Hyman has missed two. In contrast, Kane has not yet participated in a game this season and is not anticipated to do so for another three months or so. On the Oilers salary cap ledger, the aforementioned trio is ranked 1-2-3 among full-time wingers. There will be a hole left by that. The unfortunate reality was that both Arvidsson and Hyman were generating significantly less than what was anticipated when they were healthy. And they’re not alone at all. Fans and his coach have criticised Jeff Skinner’s performance, pushing him down the lineup despite his absences from the top six. He has more shots than any other winger, but he lacks finishing touch and a large
Consider also the case of Nugent-Hopkins, sputtering along with just 2 goals through 22 games. He’s nominally a centre who still gets occasional deployment at that position when Knoblauch loads up his first unit, but has gradually migrated to the wing position in recent years. For the rest of this discussion we’ll consider him a winger, designating McDavid, Draisaitl, Adam Henriqueand Derek Ryan as the pivots.
Leaving this group of (primarily) wingers, listed here in order of cap hit.
There is a great deal of experience, but very little output. After 22 games, there are just 20 goals among all of them, and no one has scored more than five goals. Only two or more players. Perry is the only player with a double-digit shooting percentage. Right now, there isn’t much productivity that resembles top-six play because Kane, Hyman, and Arvidsson are all out and RNH and Skinner are still shooting blanks. Fortunately, the lower portion of the list has a few bright spots. When the Oilers defeated the New York Rangers 6-2 on Saturday, they put on their greatest home-ice performance of the season, and several of them stepped up with strong performances.
Janmark had a terrific game, skating miles and carrying the puck with authority. He earned a pair of primary assists with splendid passes to Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard, with both rearguards burying a clean look from the high slot. In between times, Janmark drew a penalty that quickly put an end to an Oilers penalty kill and enabled a 4-on-4 situation in which Draisaitl and McDavid combined for what eventually stood as the game winner. Despite a defensive role that affords him previous little ice time with those stars at even strength never mind the powerplay, The Janitor is the surprising scoring leader of the wingers with 10 points.
Pushed into the top six to fill one of the holes, Brown fired 4 shots on net, earned a couple of secondary assists and teamed up with Janmark to excel on the penalty kill. He’s now on pace for something north of 10 goals and 25 points, decent for a player in his role and price point.
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