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New report indicates Edmonton Oilers star could be facing a major demotion after early season struggles

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Tyler Ball
November 27, 2024  (8:44 PM)
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Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shooting a puck during a home game in the NHL.
Photo credit: Burnaby Now

This season the Edmonton Oilers have continued to struggle in almost every area of the game and now a new report suggests big changes could be on the way.

Throughout the early part of the NHL season, the Edmonton Oilers have not been the electric team many expected from last season.

Poor goaltending, polarizing defensive play, and a bad power play have barely led the Edmonton Oilers to be in the Stanley Cup Playoff conversation.

Earlier this month head coach Kris Knoblauch talked about the power play needing to improve and how they were confident it would.

As a result of these struggles, there have been many suggestions on how to turn things around for the rest of the year.

This evening a new report from Edmonton Oilers journalist Jason Gregor has suggested benching one of the Oilers' major stars Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to try and spark the power play.

Oilers reporter suggests Oilers star should be taken off the power play

In a new segment, Oilers reporter Jason Gregor did a deep dive into the team's struggles on the power play this season.

The first thing he noticed was that the Oilers are shooting at a significantly lower rate than they have in past years on the powerplay.

Other teams have put their focus on shutting down one-timers from Leon Draisaitl and forcing other players to create instead.

Draisaitl is shooting at half his normal rate. Teams have focused on taking away the seam pass to him on the side, but the Oilers need to adjust. It isn't just him though - RNH, Hyman and Bouchard are all shooting at much lower rates.
- Jason Gregor


With these struggles, Jason Gregor believes discussion has begun between Kris Knoblauch and assistant head coach Glen Gulutzan who is in charge of the power play.

I do wonder how long before Gulutzan and Knoblauch my understanding is the conversation's already been started, it's just a matter of what point do you make the change.
- Jason Gregor


If the Edmonton Oilers are looking to take more shots on the powerplay it has been suggested that veteran Jeff Skinner be given a chance on the top powerplay unit.

He is a proven scorer at the NHL level and would provide another shooting threat particularly if he replaces Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who is known primarily as a pass-first playmaker.

With the Oilers set to play on Friday against the Utah Hockey Club it will be interesting to see if there are any changes made by the Oilers to try and spark their scoring on the power play.

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New report indicates Edmonton Oilers star could be facing a major demotion after early season struggles

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