Oilers’ Draisaitl Can Show He’s the MVP While McDavid Is Suspended – The Hockey Writers Edmonton Oilers Latest News, Analysis & More

On Monday (Jan. 20), the NHL announced that Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been suspended three games for cross-checking Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks.

Related: Connor McDavid Receives 3-Game Suspension for Cross-Check

The incident occurred with five seconds remaining in a 3-2 loss to the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday (Jan. 18). As a result, McDavid will miss the Oilers’ games at Rogers Place against the Washington Capitals tonight (Jan. 21), Canucks on Thursday (Jan. 23), and Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (Jan. 25).

While it’s never ideal for the Oilers to be without the services of their captain, considering the circumstances, this is particularly bad timing for the superstar forward to be suspended.

Big Games Ahead for Edmonton

The red-hot Oilers have been accelerating up the standings and are now one back of the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division. After spending three months chasing the Golden Knights, the Oilers are finally poised to overtake them for the division lead, but that will require getting points against a Washington team that has the NHL’s best record and a Vancouver team that is 5-1-0 in its last six regular season games against the Oilers.

Without McDavid, the rest of the Oilers will have to step up. There might only be two or three players on the planet capable of filling McDavid’s skates, if only for a few days. Fortunately for Edmonton, one of them is Leon Draisaitl.

Draisaitl Playing His Best

At age 29, Draisaitl is perhaps having the finest season of his career, which includes 2019-20 when he won the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and Art Ross Trophy.

The veteran centre leads the league in goals (33) and game-winning goals (nine), is tied for second in points (69), and has the best plus/minus rating (plus-28) in the NHL. He’s averaging over 21 minutes of ice time per game and even ranks among the league’s faceoff leaders.

While Draisaitl arguably should be the leading candidate to win the Hart Trophy, some don’t even consider him the MVP of his team. Such is the case when one skates in the vast shadow cast by the greatest player on the planet.

Oilers Have Faced This Situation Before

These coming days will be the second time this season that Edmonton has gone three games without McDavid. The first such instance came at the end of October and the beginning of November when he was sidelined for just over a week with an ankle injury.

Over that span, Edmonton went 2-1-0. Draisaitl had three points each in wins against the Nashville Predators (5-1 on Oct. 31) and Calgary Flames (4-2 on Nov. 3), before he and every other Oilers skater was blanked in a 3-0 shutout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 4.

Draisaitl has a history of elevating his game in McDavid’s absence. Since the start of 2016-17, he has averaged 1.55 points per game when McDavid is out of action, compared to 1.30 points per game when McDavid does play. Over that span, Edmonton is 7-9-4 without McDavid when Draisaitl is in the lineup, and Draisaitl has racked up 11 goals and 20 assists in 20 of those games.

McDavid’s Actions Were Ill-Advised

McDavid was frustrated on Saturday when he went after Garland, who had egregiously held the Oilers captain without being penalized. While McDavid’s emotions were understandable, his actions resulted in the play being whistled down when Edmonton was pressing for the tying goal in Vancouver’s zone with just seconds remaining, effectively killing any chance the Oilers had of scoring the equalizer. And though the length of McDavid’s suspension may be excessive, he let his team down by putting himself in a position to face such a stiff penalty.

For nearly all of this season, McDavid has been the betting favourite to win the Hart Trophy. These next three games will be Draisaitl’s time to shine and show who is most responsible for the Oilers’ success in 2024-25.