Leon Draisaitl isn’t surprised Team Canada’s coach has been trying different line combinations during the 4 Nations Face-Off – even trying out star centre Connor McDavid with various wingers.
Draisaitl, second in National Hockey League scoring when the circuit took a two-week break for the best-on-best tournament, said finding the right players to compliment his Edmonton Oilers colleague can be a challenge because McDavid “plays the game at a speed that nobody else does.”
“He’s the best player in the world, there’s no doubt about it, but sometimes the good players can be hard to play with, too. You need guys that understand the way that he wants to play the game,” Draisaitl said of his sometimes even-strength, often power-play linemate as Oilers players not taking part in the 4 Nations tourney resumed practising on Tuesday in Edmonton.
“Sometimes it fits, sometimes it doesn’t fit, sometimes it takes a little bit of time,” Draisaitl said, adding Canadian head coach Jon Cooper “found a little bit of something there” by putting McDavid on a line with Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said he thinks “anybody” could play with McDavid because the five-time NHL scoring champ and three-time most-valuable player “can find anybody on the ice.”
“It’s important to find somebody who can give him the puck, whether it’s off the breakout or going up the rush,” Knoblauch said following practice.
“It’s important to have some net-front presence, somebody who can go there, but I’ve seen him play with many players, and he’s found chemistry with almost all of them.”
Winger Zach Hyman, often McDavid’s Oilers linemate, said the star captain is “definitely on another level” as Canada prepares to face the U.S. in Thursday’s 4 Nations championship game.
“You can see it,” he said. “He’s flying out there every time he touches the puck. He looks different than everybody else, and that’s kind of what he does, no matter what stage he’s on.”
Hyman, who before joining the Oilers as a free agent in 2022 had patrolled the Toronto Maple Leafs wing alongside the likes of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, said developing chemistry with linemates like McDavid “happens over time.”
“Guys like Connor, you try to get him the puck as much (as) you can and go to the net, go to the dirty areas, and then when he eventually gets it on your stick, try to get open and bury it,” he said.
Savoie ‘will play’ on road trip
At Oilers practice Tuesday: Matthew Savoie, the prospect the Oilers acquired in last summer’s trade with the Buffalo Sabres for Ryan McLeod.
Knoblauch said the 21-year-old forward who has scored 13 goals and 37 points in 45 games with the Oilers' minor-league affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., this season has earned a look in the NHL lineup.
“At some point during the road trip, he will play, but how many games ... that’ll be determined,” Knoblauch said.
The Oilers return to NHL action against the host Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday to begin a five-game road trip in the eastern U.S.
