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 Adam
Messages: 7757
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| Kr55 wrote on Tue, 20 January 2026 19:22 |
We may not have made the playoffs last year without Drai. It was McDavid playing below his standard almost all of last year. We’re damn lucky to have both of these guys, and Drai probably steps up again in playoffs.
Think one thing that causes a perspective issue with Drai is that he gets the leftover wingers if McDrai are centering their own lines. It’s just harder for Drai to create more 5v5 because he is always carrying one or 2 guys that would get little or no top 6 ice time on another team. Podz was working but I think Podz started to get obsessed getting the puck back to his mentor Drai and it was messing up the flow of his game. Suddenly he is with McDavid and he is keeping it simple again. I hope he stays playing simple again when Drai is back, and he should do well there again.
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My understanding is that Draisaitl WANTS Podkolzin as his winger. Apparently 97 & 29 love him in a way that they haven't with a lot of the theoretically better players that the team has acquired. Maybe he's more malleable? Although I don't fully understand why these guys wouldn't try to work a little longer with some of the talented guys. You get a natural shooter with either of them and it should really work wonders.
Maybe some of the other guys over-handle the puck for what they want to see?
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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