Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard have been holding down the fort without Leon Draisaitl as the race in the Pacific Division, including the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights, thickens.
Sometimes, the hottest players in the NHL have the biggest profile and the most pressure to perform – and this past week, that was true of two Edmonton Oilers who’ve been two of the hottest players on the planet as Edmonton battles for a playoff spot.
Oilers superstar Connor McDavid had the best offensive week of any player, but he and teammate Evan Bouchard combined for 10 assists, 15 points and a plus-12 rating.
When your best players are your best players, you win more than you lose, and that’s the case in Edmonton, as the Oilers climbed to second place in the Pacific Division thanks to their current three-game win streak. And with their crucial contributions, McDavid and Bouchard are taking pressure off their teammates.
Here’s who has been hot and cold since Monday, March 23.
Hot: Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
McDavid could’ve been labelled as ‘hot’ all season, but he ratcheted up his game this week, helping Edmonton to three wins while producing four goals and tying the league lead with eight points. Equally impressively, all of McDavid’s goals and points this week came at even-strength; they led directly to the Oilers beating the Utah Mammoth, Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks.
Those wins pulled Edmonton back from the brink of falling into a Western Conference wild-card position. Now, the Oilers sit in second place in the Pacific Division, and credit for that goes to McDavid, who’s averaging a career-best 23:01 of ice time this season.
With 124 points in 74 games, McDavid passed Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov and Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon to become the league’s top scorer. McDavid once again has been the cream of the crop, and he’s heating up when Edmonton needs him most.
Cold: Tom Wilson, RW, Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals have been trying to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and Tom Wilson wasn’t able to produce even a single point in Washington’s three games this week.
Wilson has been in a serious decline in terms of producing offense. He's only scored three points in his last 14 games and is currently in the midst of a four-game pointless streak, with only five shots on net in the Capitals’ last three games.
The right winger is a plus-10 on the season, but this week he was a combined minus-4. He has 25 goals and 52 points in 64 games this year, but Wilson needs to make an impact on the scoresheet in Washington’s final eight regular-season games.
Washington has the NHL’s 16th-best offense, scoring 3.11 goals per game, but they need timely scoring, and that’s why the pressure on Wilson is increasing. The Caps need his offense, and they need it now.
Hot: John Carlson, D, Anaheim Ducks
It was shocking when the Capitals traded veteran defenseman John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline, as Carlson was a Caps fixture for 17 seasons.
But Carlson has been terrific in his first days with Anaheim, and he - and Mammoth D-man Mikhail Sergachev - led all NHLers this week in assists, with seven helpers. And in seven games with the Ducks, Carlson has generated eight assists to give him 44 assists and 54 points in 62 games this season.
That’s Carlson’s best point total since 2021-22, when he had 71 points. The experienced blueliner has become a favorite of Ducks coach Joel Quenneville, as Carlson averaged 26:21 of ice time this week.
If the 36-year-old can produce at or close to a point-per-game pace the rest of this year, his asking price when he becomes a UFA this summer will be considerably higher than it might’ve been before the trade. But as Anaheim makes its playoff push, Carlson is doing his best to help the cause.
Cold: Tomas Hertl, C, Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are struggling mightily, losing six of their past seven games and firing coach Bruce Cassidy on Sunday. In those six losses, Vegas has produced only nine goals.
Thus, the pressure is on the Golden Knights’ well-paid forwards to start generating offense. And at the top of that list is Tomas Hertl, who didn’t have a single point in Vegas’ three games this week.
Hertl had chances, posting 11 shots on net, but not only was he unable to produce any points, but he was also a minus-4. The most troubling stat – Hertl is point-less in his past 11 games.
Cassidy’s firing may give Hertl and the rest of the Golden Knights a relatively fresh start. That said, Cassidy’s replacement – notorious hard-liner John Tortorella – may only give Hertl a short leash to turn things around. Hertl is earning $8.138 million per season through 2030, so a point-less streak of this magnitude is unacceptable.
Hot: Evan Bouchard, D, Edmonton Oilers
McDavid wasn’t the only Oiler who had a strong week, with veteran D-man Bouchard posting six assists and seven points in three games. But it was a measure of Bouchard’s strong all-around play that he also had the highest plus-minus rating of any player in the league at plus-7.
Bouchard logged an average of 24:18 this week, but in three of his past five games, Bouchard has played 26:18 or more. Also, he’s averaging 24:44 of ice time this season – also a career-high and a major increase from his previous best of 21:27.
Bouchard will never be a shutdown blueliner, but at 26 years old, he’s still got room to grow his game. If the Oilers are to improve on their recent seasons and win a Cup, it will be because Bouchard has done his part. And this week, he showed he can deliver excellent results.
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