Maybe the league has cracked down on giving its poster boy so much benefit of the doubt.
The Edmonton Oilers still have a lethal power play, but the Oilers — and specifically Connor McDavid — haven't been able to draw nearly the same amount of penalties as he did last season.
This draws some concern when thinking about the Oilers' longevity with this group again in the late spring.
Per The Athletic, the Oilers averaged 2.96 power-play opportunities per game last season, but that number has dropped to 2.49 this year—the lowest of the Connor McDavid era and the sixth lowest in the league this season. McDavid's regression in penalty drawing is directly affecting that number: he went from 1.52 penalties drawn per 60 minutes to a career-low this season in 0.82.
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The top unit of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman are still spearheading a sharp unit as the Oilers rank No. 8 overall in power-play efficiency, but they ended last season at No. 4.
They still have their 5-on-5 play going for them, ranking No. 3 overall in puck possession and No. 4 in expected goals rate per 60 minutes according to Moneypuck.com.
Both McDavid and Draisaitl are tied for seven playoff goals apiece, though neither of them ranks within the top 20 players. Draisaitl and Hyman ended last season both in the top 10.
If the slightly regressing power play can't get on the ice, it also exacerbates just how lousy the penalty kill has been. It ranks No. 25 overall, killing at only a 75.8% clip.
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"Special teams are huge," head coach Kris Knoblauch said in November. "You look at our run through the playoffs. There's no way we're going to the Stanley Cup Final if we didn't have an unbelievable power play and an unbelievable penalty kill. That got us through a lot of series. It wins you hockey games.
"We know our power play's going to get better. We know our penalty kill's going to get better. It's just finding the execution. There's no trends. When asked to identify the causes. "A lot of the metrics are pretty good on the penalty kill side of it, on zone denials, shots from the slot, preventing. It's just some mistakes and they're going in."
So then what is the real reason for the drop in power-play opportunities?
"The referees are out for us," Knoblauch said, in jest, when asked for a reason. "No, I have no answer for that."
Either way, the Oilers will need to compensate with more success on the man advantage whether the referees give them more breaks or not.
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