Oilers urged to take McDavid and Draisaitl off special teams unit

The central issue here is the increased ice-time that both McDavid and Draisaitl have played in the first six games of the season, where the Oilers have a record of 2-3-1 and a -3 goal differential.

McDavid's average TOI over his career is 21:44, while Draisaitl's is 20:35, as per NHL.com. So far this year, both their TOI is hovering around the 24:00 minute mark, largely due to playing on the PK.

If the Oilers were winning, of course, we'd be talking about how the team's top-scorers on the PK has been the difference. Except, they are not winning, and McDavid and Draisaitl are playing more minutes than even the team's top defense-pairing, who typically have the highest TOI in any given game.

Knoblauch's PK strategy this year has been failing, and this from an Oilers team whose penalty kill was tops in the league only two playoffs ago.

The Oilers are killing penalties this year at an 85.6%, good for only 12th overall. Two years ago, the team finished 15th overall, though in the Finals, they killed 66 of 70 penalties, a 94.3% PK rate.

Point is, the PK will fluctuate from year to year and regular season to post-season. Coach Knoblauch is clearly not happy, and making efforts to find a combination that works.

But to place your two best offensive players on the PK seems like a desperate move, one which risks burning them out before they can even get going.

The coach is turning to McDavid and Draisaitl solve what areas on the team need fixing, but is only making the problems worse, at the exclusion of other players whose minutes are being slashed so far.

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They show no signs of wear and tear early on in the season, after just having taken two months off. But it was a short off-season. And one that followed another short off-season, at that.