- The Athletic says Mike Babcock’s biggest September call is whether Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl drive separate lines
- Babcock kept Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner apart in Toronto, where they averaged 1:07 per game together at five-on-five
- Read below for what Babcock said about the problem with splitting his two stars up
Mike Babcock’s first real decision in Edmonton has nothing to do with his goalie rotation.
Janson Duench and Jonas Siegel of The Athletic broke down what training camp looks like for the new Oilers coach, and the loudest question is what he does with his two best players. “Finding the exact balance of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl has always been a challenge for Oilers coaches,” the pair wrote. “One of Babcock’s most consequential choices in September will be whether they should drive separate lines, or team up for an unrivalled nuclear option.”
His track record says split them up. Babcock kept Matthews and Marner on separate lines in Toronto on purpose, and from 2016-17 through 2018-19 the two averaged just 1:07 per game together at five-on-five.
He also pulled Matthews away from Zach Hyman and William Nylander once Matthews grew into a play driver, all in service of three lines that could each carry a shift.
This time he sounds more flexible. Babcock was asked on Oilers Now about keeping McDavid and Draisaitl apart, and he pointed straight at the roster math:
“The problem with apart, and if you put (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) in the mix too, and then (Jason) Dickinson, well there’s no ice time for anybody.”
Here’s Babcock’s full sit-down with Bob Stauffer:
Whichever way the chart goes, the minutes are coming down. McDavid led every NHL forward at 22:59 a night last season and Draisaitl finished fourth at 21:35.
Neither Matthews nor Marner cracked a 20-minute average across three full seasons under Babcock, even the year Matthews led the league in goals.
Stacking them would make the cut easier to swallow. McDavid and Draisaitl have controlled better than 61 percent of five-on-five goals when they share the ice over the last three years, per Natural Stat Trick, though that edge faded down the stretch under Kris Knoblauch.
Edmonton’s room has already signed off on the coach. Draisaitl told The Athletic this week that the leadership group wants to be held accountable, and the stars asked all of the hard questions in the meeting that won them over.
Camp opens in mid-September, with the first preseason game against Winnipeg on Sept. 19 and the opener against Vancouver on Sept. 29. Babcock’s opening-night line chart will say more about him than anything he has said so far.
