The Edmonton Oilers enter their series against the Los Angeles Kings as arguably the underdogs and maybe in their most vulnerable state of any of the four opening-round series between the two teams.
They were inconsistent over the last two and a half months, and injuries piled from the beginning of March to the regular season’s end. Though their lineup looked more robust in their first pre-playoff practice on Friday, Mattias Ekholm has been ruled out of the series, Troy Stecher didn’t skate and Trent Frederic and Evander Kane weren’t on regular lines. It’s questionable what condition a handful of players will be in if they do play in Game 1 on Monday. k
But the reason the Oilers have a chance — even a good chance — to beat the Kings yet again is their two superstars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Both missed time down the stretch. McDavid sat out nine games, eight for a lower-body ailment and one for rest. Draisaitl missed 11 of the last 14 contests with two separate injury stints. However, both are expected to be ready to start the series.
McDavid has 36 points in 18 postseason games against the Kings, where Draisaitl has 30. They’ve both gutted through injuries to dominate in the playoffs before, so they will undoubtedly be a force even if they’re not at full capacity.
As a former player told The Athletic this week, “Leon and Connor can bring any team to the Cup.”
McDavid and Draisaitl make up one of the best one-two scoring punches in NHL history. Though sometimes they play on the same line, Nos. 97 and 29 usually drive their own units with separate wingers. They wreak havoc on opposing centers, especially when their team doesn’t have last change, or the Oilers make a switch on the fly.
Those centers might be dealing with McDavid, one of the most electrifying skaters the NHL has ever seen, on one shift. The next, they might have to contend with Draisaitl’s brute force and craftiness.
It can be quite the adjustment to make within a game.
“It is that different,” Kings center Phillip Danault said. “It is hard to switch.
“But that’s my job, to check those lines hard.”
Danault was one of seven NHL centers The Athletic spoke with this season to discuss what makes McDavid and Draisaitl exhausting to defend and the trickiness of having to switch between the two, or face them both at once.
How successful the Kings are at figuring it all out will directly correlate with their chances of winning the series.
Trying to contain McDavid is something else.
Anze Kopitar, Kings captain and two-time Selke Trophy winner: Connor usually burns you with his speed.
Bo Horvat, New York Islanders center and former Vancouver Canucks captain: He’ll buzz right by you.
Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers captain and 2019-20 Selke winner: It’s hard when you have a guy like Connor with so much speed to get on him because he’ll just blow right by you.
Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues captain: You’re eyeing him up in his D-zone because he has the ability to beat anyone at any given time or multiple guys at one time. So, you’re always scattering to see where he is.
Adam Lowry, Winnipeg Jets captain: He does things at such a high level, at such high pace, when he has the puck. There’s a lot of fast skaters in the league when they don’t have the puck. The things he does at that speed while he’s controlling the puck makes it difficult.
Danault: You can’t expect what he’s going to do.
Couturier: When he starts winding up … obviously, you want to get right on him and not let him get the puck. But either off a change or you’re late, you just got to respect it and try to back off.
Lowry: You don’t want Connor to get the puck in his zone or in the neutral zone with speed.
Jordan Staal, Carolina Hurricanes captain and 2023-24 Selke runner-up: All five of you just have to try to take a piece of him as best as you can. When you have the fastest player in the league coming at you, it’s not easy. There’s not much you can do about it beyond don’t let him wind up. Just play in their end and hold onto the puck.
Danault: I love the challenge. He’s the best center in the league — or top three for sure. He’s very electric. The hardest to play against. Just the way he changes direction is quick.
McDavid’s speed and skill extend beyond his skating prowess.
Lowry: He has that incredible hockey IQ. It’s so dangerous, the speed he processes things and the speed he makes plays at.
Danault: It’s hard to take that away, really. In the D-zone, you don’t want to commit to his first move or second.
Horvat: If you go to hit him, he’ll just juke you and then it’s, “See you later.”
Schenn: You can’t give him too much time, but you can’t be too tight on him. It’s got to be that fine line of being in between. He’s so dynamic.
Horvat: I’m not going to skate at Connor 100 miles per hour because he’s going to make one move, and he’s going to be around me. You have to contain him by having a good stick and being positionally really good and just try not to get beat one-on-one.
Lowry: He’s also an underrated goal scorer. Everyone was talking about when Auston Matthews scored 60; he’s the greatest scorer in the league. Then, the next year, Connor scores 64. He’s underrated in that aspect, if you can call it that, in terms of his ability to beat goalies clean.
Couturier: He’s always working to get better at all aspects of his game, which makes him so good. I remember playing with him on the 23-and-under World Cup team (North America). He was only 18. I was the old guy. Me and (Ryan) Nugent-Hopkins. He was more of a pass-first guy back then. Now he’s rounded it out where you have to respect both.
McDavid’s goal totals have fallen to 32 and then 26 since that Rocket Richard Trophy campaign of 2022-23 that Lowry is referencing. Now, it’s Draisaitl who’s the league’s top sniper with 52 tallies.
Lowry: He’s a guy that can keep up with Connor, but he’s so big, so powerful. He protects the puck unbelievably (well). He prefers to almost slow it down and bring two guys to him, just because he’s so good at puck protection — and his puck distribution is unbelievable.
Schenn: He’s dominant down low. He plays off that right side so well. He can make plays off his backhand. The top two in the league are probably him and Sid (Crosby).
Lowry: He just goes to that wide stance, but he’s so strong and sturdy on it and his vision’s unbelievable that he’s comfortable going forehand or backhand. It’s not like oh, “Just force him to the backhand; he’s not going to pass it into the slot through two guys through a seam.” He’ll take risks, but he’s so good at executing those things.
Staal: He’s a player that drags more guys than one to him. It’s about being aware of not getting sucked into that and just leaving it to one guy. It’s hard not to want to help there. As soon as a guy makes a slip-up, he’ll find someone open.
Kopitar: With Leon, it’s his positioning, his strength, his playmaking ability — not that Connor can’t make plays. Of course he can.
Danault: Different than McDavid, that’s for sure. He’s a great player. He makes sick plays out there. He creates space by himself.
Horvat: I don’t feel like you’re always chasing him, but he’s always got you going. He can control you with his body. He’ll get you on his hip and then spin off you and make a play.
Couturier: He’s big, powerful and protects the puck really well. You don’t want to commit too tight on him. He’ll just bounce off of you and use his strength.
Schenn: You have to be smart with how you try and take the puck away from him. He can put a guy on his back.
Horvat: You can’t lunge at him and just try to go and hit him because he’ll counter you.
Danault: He holds your stick and your arm a lot, too. He tries to create penalties. That’s what he’s been doing the last three years, and it works. You have to be careful of that and we know what he’s doing.
Couturier: I played with (Jaromir) Jagr. He’s strong on the puck like Jags. No disrespect to Jags, but he was 40 when I played with him. Drai might be faster than him, a little quicker. But there are some similarities.
Draisaitl’s scoring ability is unique because he’s one of the few players who seems to almost prefer shooting from low-percentage areas of the ice. Between the bottom of the faceoff circle and the goal line has become almost his signature release point.
Lowry: I think of him and (Mikko) Rantanen from that spot. It’s such a sharp angle and they’re able to elevate it and deceptively get it up there or beat the goalie just over the pad from that spot on the power play. Leon’s finishing ability is unbelievable.
Schenn: He can go a little bit off the rush off the side, but it’s just sitting in his spot on the right side and hitting one-timers over there. You’re more aware of where he is in our D-zone. You know from talking to guys (around the league) that, if there’s any trouble, they’ll put it to that side.
McDavid and Draisaitl are such distinct talents that defending one and then the other from one shift to the next can be a whole new ballgame.
Schenn: They’re just so different. They’re both just so good. (Laughs.)
Couturier: When they don’t have the puck, they’re looking to get open, find free ice and get lost almost. That creates time and space (for them). You have to be aware where they’re at, even if they don’t have the puck.
Kopitar: You’ve got to know where they are and who’s on the ice.
Couturier: Even before they get the puck, you want to know where they are and you’re hard on them and you know the options they have once they have it.
Having to face one of these guys is troublesome enough. Then, there are moments when they’re used them together such as after penalty kills, late in periods or when the Oilers are trailing. Sometimes, they’ll even get full games as linemates.
Lowry: They go about their offensive games differently, but they still create so much. Then, when you put them together, it’s just another world of problems that they bring at you.
Kopitar: If you’re a good skater, you can get close to them. If you’re not the greatest skater, then you need to give yourself a little bit of room and make sure they don’t just skate around you, but they actually got to beat you. It’s a fine line.
Staal: I grew up playing with Sid and Geno (Evgeni Malkin). The odd time we’d throw them together, and it was pretty dangerous. If you have two dynamic players on the ice at the same time, it’s a challenge. Grouping your best line and best D pair against them might help.
Horvat: Both those guys, you have to contain them from a safe distance.
Lowry: If Leon’s slowing the game down, you’re drawn to him. Then, all of a sudden, Connor speeds it up again. You go from taking a breath and bringing the help and now you’re just scrambling to get back.
It can often feel like a lost cause trying to shut them down.
Lowry: Trying to defend those guys is all about … honestly, just trying to deny them getting the puck.
Kopitar: You’ve got to make sure you’re on the right side (of the puck), which, most of the time, is not the easiest thing to do. You just adjust, make sure (you know) where they are and try and just stop them.
Horvat: Having a good stick is huge and being in good position.
Staal: You just hope they’re not going (well).
Lowry: It makes for long days when you’re playing them that night, just thinking about what you’re going to have to do to try to keep them off the scoreboard. More often than not, even if you feel like you have a great game against them, they’re on the board one or two times. It’s incredible the kind of consistency that both of them produce at.
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