Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Secondary Scoring Needed In Edmonton

11/18/2017 at 1:04pm EST

from Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal,

... The Oilers, meanwhile, are suffering from what can only be termed “general disappointment” in their search for depth scoring.

The main men are producing at a reasonable rate. The quintet of McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Patrick Maroon and Milan Lucic have connected for 28 goals to this point, compared to 25 through 19 games a year ago. Ryan Strome’s 3 goals are within spitting distance of the departed Jordan Eberle’s 5, so let’s call the “top six” a saw-off.

But beyond that, there’s barely a pulse. Fourth-line centre Mark Letestu has 3 goals, all on the powerplay. On the wings, young bucks Drake Caggiula, Anton Slepyshev, Jujhar Khaira, and Puljujarvi 1 lonely tally apiece. The list of guys with no goals at all stretches from the departed Kailer Yamamoto and Jussi Jokinen to fourth-line regulars Iiro Pakarinen and Zack Kassian. That’s a total of 4 goals for 8 players in combined 91 games played. Whereas last season Pitlick had 6 on his lonesome by this point.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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