Yahoo Sports Oilers' Interesting Lines From Last Year's Captain Skates
EDMONTON -- Labor day weekend is almost over, now the fun begins.
It is almost one year to the day since the Edmonton Oilers first began captain skates last season. With the team expected to start captain skates for this season soon, it seemed to be a good time to review last year's lines.
We'll look at both the forwards and defense, and assess the likelihood of seeing that line combination again this season. Let's start with the forward group.
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Last Year's Forward Lines at Captain Skate
Line 1: Evander Kane - Connor McDavid - Connor Brown
The top trio at last year's captain skates was Connor McDavid centering a line with Evander Kane on one side and Connor Brown on the other. Surprisingly, this line did not stick together.
Brown found himself relegated to the team's bottom six. Kane started the season strong, then struggled to find a consistent spot in the lineup after that. McDavid also struggled early and then put up a 100 assist campaign.
Line Probability for this year: Near zero.
Line 2: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Leon Draisaitl - Zach Hyman
The second line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman played 70 minutes together during the 2023-24 season. It was Nugent-Hopkins third most popular line combination.
In their time together they scored three goals and only allowed one goal against. While on the ice together they nearly doubled the scoring chances of their opposition.
Line Probability for this year: Respectable Plan B
Line 3: Warren Foegele - Ryan McLeod - Dylan Holloway
Well this is awkward.
The trio of Warren Foegele and Dylan Holloway flanking Ryan McLeod did not see significant time together. They didn't spent as much time together as the second line did, with only 51:32 recorded as a unit.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
They did out-shoot and out-Corsi their opponents. Despite this, they couldn't muster a goal and had a single goal scored against them. With more time together they could have figured something out. Unfortunately for Oilers fans, we'll never know.
Line Probability for this year: None whatsoever.
Line 4: Mattias Janmark - Derek Ryan - Sam Gagner/Drake Caggiula
The Oilers skated with a fourth line of Mattias Janmark, Derek Ryan with Sam Gagner and Drake Caggiula swapping in drills. Caggiula spent the season in Bakersfield. Gagner and Ryan were part of the revolving door on the fourth line. When he wasn't injured Janmark found a place in the lineup, both in the bottom and top-six.
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
The Oilers made a lot of additions during the off season. Because of that, it's tough to envision both Gagner and Ryan on the every day roster. Not to mention that Gagner is still without a contract for the upcoming season.
Line Probability for this year: Zero. Unless Gagner signs with the Oilers - then it's a little more than zero.
Last Year's Defense Pairings at Captain Skates
Pair 1: Darnell Nurse - Evan Bouchard
The Oilers were remarkably consistent with their defense pairings last season. However, they did try some unique pairings before training camp started up. Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard were one such pairings.
Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Nurse spent 80% of his ice time for the season either with Cody Ceci or Vincent Desharnais. His third most common partner was Bouchard. They played 83:31 together with somewhat mixed results. They had a fantastic 61.9 Corsi For percentage (CF%) to go along with four goals for and six goals against.
Line Probability for this year: Legitimate option when the experimenting begins.
Pair 2: Mattias Ekholm - Philip Broberg
The plan going into the season was for this pairing to get an honest run together. The idea being that they wanted to have Philip Broberg grow into an established role. That never happened and now Broberg is a member of the St. Louis Blues.
The pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Broberg only played 15:37 together. That is a far cry from a good sample size. But with Broberg now out of the picture, Oil Country will never know what Broberg could have looked like this season beside his countryman.
Line Probability for this year: Nill.
Pair 3: Brett Kulak - Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak was a stabling force on the team's third pairing in 2023-24. He and Desharnais were locked in as the team's third and final pair for a majority of the season.
It's a good thing that Ceci isn't around, because this pairing wasn't great. In 209 minutes together they had a 47.5 CF% and were a -3. Yes, the Nurse and Ceci pairing were guilty of poor decision making at times. In the grand scheme of things, they finished +8 with a 50.6 CF% skating around 20 minutes a night.
Line Probability for this year: Zero.
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