How Do Oilers Cope Minus McDavid?

So we know Connor McDavid will miss some time. Peter Chiarelli said yesterday that he will “miss a lot of time” while The Score mentioned he could miss between 7-8 weeks at a best case scenario. John Shannon believes that number is 12 weeks.

In the event McDavid only misses seven-to-eight weeks, that puts a return at around Christmas or New Years. Anything over that and we are looking at a mid-January return or a post All-Star break one, putting McDavid’s next game in early February. It’s a pretty large time frame we are looking at here.

For arguments sake, let’s say that McDavid will return to the Oilers’ lineup in early January, somewhere around the nine week mark.

The Oilers, even without Connor McDavid, need to take steps forward and need to turn this ship north as our friend Lowetide would say. The group needs to win some games and stay in the playoff chase. Meaningful games when McDavid gets back has to be the goal for this group.

So, how do the Oilers cope with this massive loss?

The New Hole:

The Oilers second line center and best player is gone from the lineup. That means Edmonton has an open spot at the center position now, meaning there are five forwards clearly in the top-six at this time. Now, this could change before the next game if Jordan Eberle returns from his shoulder injury, which is the expected outcome.

With Eberle back in the fold, Edmonton has six options for the top-six, making things just a little bit easier. Either way, the second line center spot is still an issue, it needs to be filled and Eberle does not play center.

Internal Options:

The Oilers made a call to the AHL yesterday when they sent down F Anton Slepyshev and recalled F Andrew Miller. Miller played right wing during his NHL stint last year, but played center in college and has played center in the AHL this season. It’s not ideal by any means, but he’s an option to fill-in if needed for a game or two.

The more likely situation is Leon Draisaitl shifting from right wing to center. This would allow Jordan Eberle to reunite with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Dr. Drai would still have some skilled linemates in Nail Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot. Only problem? Draisaitl has seven points in three games with Hall and RNH.

Anton Lander, who has struggled this season so far, is also a candidate to move up the depth chart. Lander performed very well with skilled players last season and this could be the spark that he needs to get going again. By my eye, he looked good in spot duty after McDavid went down on Tuesday night.

Mark Letestu could also move up, but he likely doesn’t have the offensive chops to handle this role. Bogdan Yakimov boils under in the AHL, but he’s still not ready for a lengthy NHL stint.

Free Agents:

The market is bare, but there is one player who could help the Oilers. Derek Roy was acquired by the team from Nashville last December and was actually quite productive. In 46 games he recorded 22 points and had a great chemistry with Nail Yakupov. He certainly could fit in.

He’s currently playing in Switzerland with SC Bern and I’m not sure if he has an out-clause.

Trade Bait:

I truly believe that Peter Chiarelli would call his old team in Boston and try to take Chris Kelly off their hands if he could. Problem is, Kelly is out for the season after breaking his leg on Tuesday night. Why mention him? He was one of the few veteran C’s that we know was on the trading block.

Other options include Tyler Bozak out of Toronto, Eric Staal in Carolina and Cam Atkinson in Columbus.

Staal will not happen because of his contract situation and the asking price from Carolina, but he’s a very good center who is on the block. Bozak isn’t that great in my mind, but we know the Leafs are shopping him and Chiarelli has done business with Toronto many times over the years.

Atkinson is interesting because Chiarelli tried to trade for him last year in Boston, but he’s a right winger. Might it make sense to move a player like Mark Fayne for Atkinson and move Leon Draisaitl to center for the time being? It’s certainly getting creative.

So…What’ll It Be?:

It sounds like Jordan Eberle will return to the lineup on Friday, so the most likely outcome is Edmonton sliding Leon Draisaitl to center on the second line and reuniting the wonder-kids line of Hall-RNH-Eberle, at least for the time being.

If that doesn’t work out, I could certainly see Peter Chiarelli pursuing a trade. He never waited in Boston and I can’t see him changing and becoming overly patient here in Edmonton. He was brought here to win, if adding a veteran center is what he has to do, I believe he will do it.

Let’s hope it does’t come to that and that this injury can be handled internally by Jordan Eberle and Leon Draisaitl.

Hurry back McDavid.