EDMONTON — For anyone who thinks the Oilers are missing Zack Kassian, Wednesday’s game should be all the evidence needed to the contrary.
While Kassian did very little, those remaining in or added to his old bottom-six role with the Oilers were impactful in an 8-2 win over the lowly Coyotes.
Highlighted from those on the last two lines — often an area of weakness — it was perhaps the most complete effort of the season from the 12 Oilers forwards.
“It was one of our best games. It was nice to see each line get on the scoresheet,” coach Jay Woodcroft said. “It’s something to build on, for sure. To see some unusual suspects get on the scoreboard, it’s good for their own personal self-confidence.”
This was the type of performance the Oilers have been looking for from those lower down in the lineup — something they so rarely got from Kassian here in his final days.
Wednesday’s output from Kassian was one Oilers fans grew accustomed to seeing near the end of his time in Edmonton.
Kassian played 10 minutes, and the only time he was noticeable until the last minute of the game was after a touching tribute video was aired during the first media timeout. Kassian smiled and waved to the crowd and to his former teammates on the Oilers bench. The rest of the time, he glided around the ice with the same interest that he showed in most games after he signed his big extension in January 2020 — that is to say, not much.
There wasn’t a single drive to the net. There was no big hit thrown. There wasn’t even a hard forecheck.
Most players have a little extra pep in their step when facing a former team that paid to give them away. Instead, it was the type of Kassian performance that finally got him scratched near the end of last season.
It took until 31 seconds left in the game for Kassian to do something. He instigated a fight against Klim Kostin, which got him a cut above his nose for his efforts.
“I’m not looking for a fight,” Kostin said. “I’m here to play hockey. But if fights come, I’m not going away.”
Meanwhile, the Oilers’ depth forwards factored into three goals.
It was right winger Derek Ryan who made something out of nothing when he knocked aside Juuso Valimaki, showed soft hands and scored on Connor Ingram. It would have been better had Ryan not been walked by Jack McBain on Arizona’s goal. Still, Ryan was a force throughout the offensive zone.
It wasn’t just Ryan, either. The ice was tilted in favour of the Oilers with every bottom-six forward on the ice.
Kostin assisted on Ryan’s goal and scored one himself. Those wingers drove play with centre Devin Shore.
“The coaches say they want to see a physical, power forward. Bring the puck to the net, be hard on the puck,” said Kostin, who’s quickly becoming a fan favourite for doing the things Kassian stopped doing. “It doesn’t mean hit everyone and fighting. Just be simple and try to help the team.”
Rookies Dylan Holloway and James Hamblin — along with winger Kailer Yamamoto, who was out for that shift — created havoc in the Arizona end before Brett Kulak’s second goal in as many games. Holloway got an assist on the goal. His 82.4 Corsi For Percentage at five-on-five was the best on the team; second was Jesse Puljujarvi, the freshman’s right winger.
The yeoman’s work was just as important as the goals. The offensive production has been sparse and will come and go even at the best of times. The other parts of the game can and should be a hallmark.
“We don’t have to score all the time,” Ryan said of the bottom-sixers. “We’ve got a lot of different elements to our game. It gets talked about a lot that we need to produce offensively, but that’s not necessarily the case all the time.”
The solid work from the depth guys came with the Oilers not at full strength. They’re missing third-liners Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele, which should take a couple players out of the lineup. That’s also to say nothing of winger Evander Kane’s absence. His inclusion could drop Mattias Janmark down or out of the equation altogether.
“With us returning so healthy bodies, it’s getting competitive for ice time,” Woodcroft said. “It’s not just automatic that people are going in. It’s healthy when there’s that type of competition.”
Sure, the Oilers could use a little more muscle or jam in their lineup. An upgrade to the bottom six is a necessity before the March 3 trade deadline.
But that player (or players) must be able to play. He (or they) can’t be caved in from a possession standpoint or outscored at five-on-five the way so many Oilers in that role have been for years.
The Oilers were outscored 51-46 at five-on-five in 100 games after Kassian signed his contract, for example.
It was more of the side for Kassian with the Coyotes on Wednesday. They didn’t have a shot attempt with Kassian on the ice on Wednesday. The Oilers had 10 and scored twice.
Most importantly, each bottom-six Oiler was on the ice for more goals for than against — a welcome change.
“We don’t get a ton of the opportunities that other guys do, so we need to make a difference in the game in other ways that don’t show up on the scoresheet,” Ryan said.
Kassian was a lovely story for the Oilers for a short while. He was someone whose career was teetering on the brink of combustion after he’d blown his last chance in Montreal following an injury in a car crash that landed him in the league’s substance abuse program.
Ex-GM Peter Chiarelli tossed Kassian a life raft when he acquired the rugged winger from the Canadiens for goalie Ben Scrivens. Kassian was a cult hero during the 2017 playoffs and then parlayed a solid 2019 calendar year riding shotgun next to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl into his four-year extension.
He was never the same player.
The Oilers got better. Kassian dropped down the lineup. Ice time was hard to come by. Injuries, some of the scary variety, piled up.
Kassian found the back of the net just 11 times in his last 105 regular-season and playoff contests as an Oiler.
The vintage Kassian would be a welcome addition to the Oilers now. But those days have come and gone. They’re nothing but a thing of yesteryear.
The work provided by the bottom six on Wednesday was what Kassian should have brought with far more frequency over the last couple of campaigns.
Granted, this superb Oilers performance came against the Coyotes — one of the worst teams in the league, an organization that has both eyes fixed on the draft six months away. So, let’s not get carried away and pretend all the Oilers’ bottom-six woes are cured or anything.
They could use someone willing to crash and bang, get under an opponent’s skin, and maybe chip in on occasion — the types of things Kassian was good at when he was at his best.
But they could also use someone to score or at least not get scored on when on the ice — you know, the types of things that help win hockey games.
Those were aspects Kassian didn’t bring to the table on Wednesday — just like he hardly did in his last two seasons as an Oiler.
It was also what so many Oilers depth players did so well, which needs to continue. At the very least, they must continue to do what they do best and make their presence felt — which Kassian so seldom did at the end.
“For players to have a foundation to go to, it’s important,” Woodcroft said. “You’re not going to have games like this every night.
“There are other ways to help a team win. For the coaching staff, it’s important to clarify that. It’s important to celebrate some of the little and subtle things that go into winning. We’re trying to do that.”
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(Photo: Perry Nelson / USA Today)
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