EDMONTON — During the Oilers’ McDrai era, Edmonton has become a place where fourth liners come to disappear.

It emerged as an unintended consequence, with fourth-line minutes and responsibilities squeezed out by desperate coaches, salary cap issues, and an in-game mantra that went something like, ‘Why would I send an eight-goal scorer over the boards when I have a rested 50-goal or 125-point centre rested and ready to go?”

“When you have McDavid and Draisaitl, they play a lot of minutes,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There aren’t many minutes left, sometimes, especially if you don’t play special teams.”

Here, the first power-play unit eats up 1:45 of every penalty, and top-nine forwards dominate the penalty killing units. There just isn’t enough meaningful time left to go around.

For a guy like Max Jones, well, there’s a limited window to leave an impression. On the ice, that is.

Off the ice, however, Jones has become everything a team needs in a support player.

“I feel more connected to these guys than I ever have in my career. With any team — Boston, Anaheim,” Jones was saying after Wednesday’s practice. “I can be myself, and they love me for who I am. Sometimes it brings them a lot of laughs, and that’s just the way it is.”

Evan Bouchard played his junior........

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