Quote:
Originally Posted by Delgar
^^^ That was actually a decent reply to a suggestion of a one line team. But looking at the stats for goals sorted by each team, and the Oilers rely heavily upon their top three goal scorers by comparison, and the drop off is much more dramatic compared to the Flames. 18 more goals by just the top 3 is not a small number, as (guessing) not even 20% of players hit 15 goals.
I won't say you're cherry picking, but keep in mind the Oilers have 8 players with more than 10 goals. The Flames have 12. And the Oilers have 12 more goals overall.
EDIT: 162 players have 15 or more goals. about 20-22%
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The Flames have rotated guys through their top six more often than the Oilers, and the Oilers haven't had the same roster night in and out as often as the Flames so it can be difficult to compare straight across.
I mean you look at Gaudreau's icetime and he's played 20% with Ferland/Monahan, 20% with Chiasson/Monahan, 12% with Chiasson/Bennet, 12% with Brouwer, etc.
Compare that to McDavid who has played 38% with Maroon/Draisaitl.
Would guys like Chiasson and Ferland have reached the goal totals they did if they had been playing 3rd or 4th line minutes the whole season?
If you didn't run Maroon with McDavid for most of the season and had rotating wingers from the bottom six, you'd have his 27 goals spread over 3-4 guys and the distribution would look like the Flames IMO.
The Oilers haven't given guys like Kassian, or Hendricks, or their other bottom sixers the opportunity to play with their best players. Todd hasn't been rotating wingers through the McDavid line like Calgary has done with Monahan/Gaudreau. Pouliot was pretty much the only guy from the bottom six to get a good shot in the top six but he's been terrible, and he only made it as high as the second line.
Calgary's most consistent line of Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik, scored 51 goals. That's the same total as Lucic-RNH-Eberle, but the second line hasn't been together nearly as often for the Oilers so do you call that a wash?
And, the Oilers have also been rotating their bottom six guys out of the lineup more often. I think they've gotten more production out of their 4th line/call up guys then the Flames, but the Flames have the edge on the third line.