During his introductory press conference, head coach Mike Babcock said he was going to decrease the ice time of his top players and ensure depth players had more opportunities.

“A huge priority here is to create depth in the organization, and everybody on this team has to be important,” he said.

It makes sense to have bottom-six players playing a bit more, but is reducing the minutes of the Edmonton Oilers’ top power play unit an option for Babcock?

My initial thought is no. Edmonton’s best weapon is its power play. It was best in the NHL last season at 30.6 per cent. Over the past seven seasons, the Oilers’ power play has ravaged teams at a 28.1 per cent clip. The Oilers have posted three of the best six power play percentage in NHL history with 29.5 per cent in 2020 (sixth best), 30.6 per cent (fifth) last season and 32.4 per cent (first) in 2023. There is no debate: the Oilers have the best power play in league history, and the three main characters have been Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Draisaitl has logged 1,875 power play minutes since 2020, while McDavid is at 1,873 and RNH has skated 1,762. They rank fifth, sixth, and 13th in the NHL in power play time over the past seven seasons, but McDavid ranks first in points with 324, Draisaitl is second with 293, and RNH is 10th with 195. McDavid and Draisaitl are the two drivers of the power play. RNH is a very good contributor, but those two superstars create most of the magic. The opposition has almost 2,000 minutes of video to breakdown and they’ve yet to find a way to slow them down. It is comical when the Oilers have a stretch of games where they don’t score on the man advantage, and some pundits, or fans, actually write, “Teams have figured out how to shut down their power play.” It happens yearly, only to be proven wrong time and time again.

When the season begins, the one area of the Oilers’ game that isn’t a concern is the power play. It will be good, likely great, but will Babcock tinker with it?

I’ve seen many fans, and some media people, opine that the second unit needs to play more. They need to get others involved. I think it would be asinine to do it.  First off, let’s look at some data.

Last season, Evan Bouchard led Edmonton in power play TOI at 297:46, followed by McDavid (295:51), RNH (253:48), Draisaitl (209:41) and Zach Hyman (209:41). RNH missed 10 games, Draisaitl missed 17 and Hyman missed 24.

Bouchard and McDavid missed no games and they ranked 11th and 12th in the NHL in power play TOI. Colorado had Nathan MacKinnon (second with 343:24), Martin Necas (fifth, 318:49) and Cale Makar (seventh, 313:24). Tampa Bay had two players in Jake Guentzel (third, 329:09) and Nikita Kucherov (fourth, 322:32) while Minnesota also had two in Kirill Kaprizov (eighth, 310:39) and Quinn Hughes (ninth, 308:18).

Minnesota possessed the third most efficient power play at 25.2 per cent, while Tampa was 17th at 20.7 per cent and Colorado was 27th at 17.1 per cent.

We don’t read how Minnesota and Colorado should reduce the power play time of their top units so the depth guys can get some time and produce. I agree Babcock should reduce McDavid and Draisaitl’s minutes, but I’d do it on the penalty kill and at five-on-five, rather than through the power play.

Colorado led the NHL with 216 goals at five-on-five while Tampa Bay was third at 195. Edmonton ranked 11th with 174. Let’s compare the TOI and production for the Oilers forward to Colorado, Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

McDavid played :30 more per game than MacKinnon, but MacKinnon outscored him 75-57. The Avalanche’s top players outscored the Oilers’ top guys, but so did their depth players.

Parker Kelly produced 19 goals and 32 points at five-on-five while averaging 10:23/game. He was ridiculously productive. No player in the NHL produced as much as he did in 10 minutes at five-on-five. He was an outlier, and it will be difficult to repeat, but Kelly’s 19 goals equaled the........

© Oilers Nation