Back in 2023, the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/stats">Edmonton Oilers</a> had lost in six games to the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/we-owe-vegas-a-good-series-edmonton-oilers-change-game-beat-golden-knights-in-five/">Vegas Golden Knights</a> in the second round, the team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup that year.

While Edmonton’s series defeat that postseason could be ascribed to several factors, perhaps the most significant one was their complete inability to neutralize Jack Eichel, Vegas’s top centre. In those playoffs, the Oilers may have out-scored the Knights 8 to 7 at 5-on-5 with Eichel off-ice, but with Eichel on-ice, Edmonton was terribly out-scored 8 to 1. Ultimately, it was the deciding factor in an otherwise tight series.
This postseason, the Oilers had a rematch with the Golden Knights in the second round, and this time around, things were much different.
With a 1-0 OT victory last Wednesday night, the Oilers successfully defeated the Golden Knights in five games, and Eichel, despite scoring a career-high 94 points in the regular-season, did not score a single goal in this series. In fact, his line was out-scored 3 to 6 at 5-on-5, equating to a brutal 33 percent goal share. 
And, a big reason for that was <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/nhl-notebook-edmonton-oilers-best-hockey-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl-era-jim-hiller-staying-on-los-angeles-kings/">Leon Draisaitl</a>.
At 5-on-5, Eichel had most commonly matched up against Draisaitl, particularly in Games 4 and 5 where head coach Kris Knoblauch separated McDavid and Draisaitl. Eichel played over half of his TOI against Draisaitl, and in those minutes, Eichel was out-scored 5 to 2 and out-chanced (in terms of high-danger chances) 15 to 8.
Draisaitl’s most impressive performance in this regard was Game 4 at Edmonton, where the Oilers had last change. Knoblauch hard-matched Draisaitl’s line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen against Eichel, and it was a huge success as Eichel’s line did not score, combining for a mere one shot on net.
Offensively, Draisaitl was not at his absolute best in this series. Of course, he still managed to produce 6 points, but for his lofty standards, it was not at the level that many would typically expect out of him. But on the other hand, outside of some rough moments in Game 3, he was simply fantastic defensively.
Overall in these playoffs, Draisaitl has been on-ice for 2.4 goals against per hour at 5-on-5, the second lowest (i.e. best) rate of his postseason career. And it’s certainly worth noting that those goals against rates been slightly brought down by Stuart Skinner’s struggles in the first two games of the first round; in terms of expected goals, Draisaitl’s 2.03 xGA/60 is the best rate of his career, and eighth overall among forwards with at least 100 minutes played in the 2025 playoffs.
This level of defensive play from Draisaitl is certainly not a new development in these playoffs. It began at the very beginning of the 2024-25 regular-season, and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/how-oilers-leon-draisaitl-has-redefined-his-defensive-game">I wrote all about his significantly improved defensive play back in January</a>. Throughout this entire season, he has been consistently involved in his own zone, greatly improved his backchecking, and has transformed his former high-event style of play to a possession-oriented, cycle-dominant game. The sample is now undeniably large enough for this to be truly legitimate.
And now, I believe there is significant potential in consistently using Draisaitl in a shutdown role at 5-on-5 moving forward in these playoffs.
There’s a couple of reasons why, and a big one is the team’s offensive explosion from their bottom-six.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-175221 size-full" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDM_bottom_six_playoffs-1.png" alt="" width="807" height="495" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDM_bottom_six_playoffs-1.png 807w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDM_bottom_six_playoffs-1-300x184.png 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDM_bottom_six_playoffs-1-768x471.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 807px) 100vw, 807px" /> 
Last season, during their playoff run all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers&#8217; bottom-six scored 12 goals without McDavid and Draisaitl on-ice. In these playoffs, they already have 16 after the first two rounds.
With the likes of Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Vasily Podkolzin, and more, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/14/depth-players-stepping-up-edmonton-oilers-playoffs/">Edmonton&#8217;s depth</a> has been consistently chipped in throughout this postseason. And considering the fact that this is not just some unsustainable stretch of games &#8211; the bottom-six is still at roughly ~14-15 expected goals &#8211; this puts a lot less offensive pressure on Edmonton&#8217;s superstars to single-handedly drive the offence. It opens up an opportunity for Draisaitl to consistently embrace a more defensive role.
The Oilers will face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals, and for the Stars, it&#8217;s Mikko Rantanen who has driven their offence at 5-on-5. With Rantanen on-ice, the Stars have out-scored opponents at an excellent rate of 11 to 4; however, without Rantanen on-ice, the Stars have been out-scored 8 to 17.
This could be a huge opportunity for the Oilers&#8217; coaching staff here. If Draisaitl&#8217;s line continues to be deployed in a defensive role against opposition top lines, and if Draisaitl succeeds in this role, it could completely shutdown the Stars&#8217; offence.
Of course, there would be a trade-off, as Draisaitl&#8217;s 5-on-5 production would likely see a notable dip. But, this strategy opens up more space for McDavid to do offensive damage, and if the bottom-six continues their performance, it could be extremely likely for the Oilers to win the overall 5-on-5 battle by a good margin. And not to mention, this is clearly a role that Draisaitl himself is fully comfortable with.
“Because I want to win, and I know sometimes that’s what it takes to win,” said Draisaitl on playing in a shutdown role against Eichel in the second round.
“I can put my own stats on the back burner for a couple of months if that means that we’re going to be the last team standing.”
*All stats via Natural Stat Trick
Find me on Twitter (<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/NHL_Sid/with_replies">@NHL_Sid</a>)
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Back in 2023, the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/stats">Edmonton Oilers</a> had lost in six games to the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/we-owe-vegas-a-good-series-edmonton-oilers-change-game-beat-golden-knights-in-five/">Vegas Golden Knights</a> in the second round, the team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup that year.



While Edmonton’s series defeat that postseason could be ascribed to several factors, perhaps the most significant one was their complete inability to neutralize Jack Eichel, Vegas’s top centre. In those playoffs, the Oilers may have out-scored the Knights 8 to 7 at 5-on-5 with Eichel off-ice, but with Eichel on-ice, Edmonton was terribly out-scored 8 to 1. Ultimately, it was the deciding factor in an otherwise tight series.

This postseason, the Oilers had a rematch with the Golden Knights in the second round, and this time around, things were much different.

With a 1-0 OT victory last Wednesday night, the Oilers successfully defeated the Golden Knights in five games, and Eichel, despite scoring a career-high 94 points in the regular-season, did not score a single goal in this series. In fact, his line was out-scored 3 to 6 at 5-on-5, equating to a brutal 33 percent goal share. 

And, a big reason for that was <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/nhl-notebook-edmonton-oilers-best-hockey-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl-era-jim-hiller-staying-on-los-angeles-kings/">Leon Draisaitl</a>.

At 5-on-5, Eichel had most commonly matched up against Draisaitl, particularly in Games 4 and 5 where head coach Kris Knoblauch separated McDavid and Draisaitl. Eichel played over half of his TOI against Draisaitl, and in those minutes, Eichel was out-scored 5 to 2 and out-chanced (in terms of high-danger chances) 15 to 8.

Draisaitl’s most impressive performance in this regard was Game 4 at Edmonton, where the Oilers had last change. Knoblauch hard-matched Draisaitl’s line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen against Eichel, and it was a huge success as Eichel’s line did not score, combining for a mere one shot on net.

Offensively, Draisaitl was not at his absolute best in this series. Of course, he still managed to produce 6 points, but for his lofty standards, it was not at the level that many would typically expect out of him. But on the other hand, outside of some rough moments in Game 3, he was simply fantastic defensively.

Overall in these playoffs, Draisaitl has been on-ice for 2.4 goals against per hour at 5-on-5, the second lowest (i.e. best) rate of his postseason career. And it’s certainly worth noting that those goals against rates been slightly brought down by Stuart Skinner’s struggles in the first two games of the first round; in terms of expected goals, Draisaitl’s 2.03 xGA/60 is the best rate of his career, and eighth overall among forwards with at least 100 minutes played in the 2025 playoffs.

This level of defensive play from Draisaitl is certainly not a new development in these playoffs. It began at the very beginning of the 2024-25 regular-season, and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/how-oilers-leon-draisaitl-has-redefined-his-defensive-game">I wrote all about his significantly improved defensive play back in January</a>. Throughout this entire season, he has been consistently involved in his own zone, greatly improved his backchecking, and has transformed his former high-event style of play to a possession-oriented, cycle-dominant game. The sample is now undeniably large enough for this to be truly legitimate.

And now, I believe there is significant potential in consistently using Draisaitl in a shutdown role at 5-on-5 moving forward in these playoffs.

There’s a couple of reasons why, and a big one is the team’s offensive explosion from their bottom-six.

<img class="alignnone wp-image-175221 size-full" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDM_bottom_six_playoffs-1.png" alt="" width="807" height="495" />
Last season, during their playoff run all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers' bottom-six scored 12 goals without McDavid and Draisaitl on-ice. In these playoffs, they already have 16 after the first two rounds.

With the likes of Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Vasily Podkolzin, and more, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/14/depth-players-stepping-up-edmonton-oilers-playoffs/">Edmonton's depth</a> has been consistently chipped in throughout this postseason. And considering the fact that this is not just some unsustainable stretch of games - the bottom-six is still at roughly ~14-15 expected goals - this puts a lot less offensive pressure on Edmonton's superstars to single-handedly drive the offence. It opens up an opportunity for Draisaitl to consistently embrace a more defensive role.

The Oilers will face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals, and for the Stars, it's Mikko Rantanen who has driven their offence at 5-on-5. With Rantanen on-ice, the Stars have out-scored opponents at an excellent rate of 11 to 4; however, without Rantanen on-ice, the Stars have been out-scored 8 to 17.

This could be a huge opportunity for the Oilers' coaching staff here. If Draisaitl's line continues to be deployed in a defensive role against opposition top lines, and if Draisaitl succeeds in this role, it could completely shutdown the Stars' offence.

Of course, there would be a trade-off, as Draisaitl's 5-on-5 production would likely see a notable dip. But, this strategy opens up more space for McDavid to do offensive damage, and if the bottom-six continues their performance, it could be extremely likely for the Oilers to win the overall 5-on-5 battle by a good margin. And not to mention, this is clearly a role that Draisaitl himself is fully comfortable with.

“Because I want to win, and I know sometimes that’s what it takes to win,” said Draisaitl on playing in a shutdown role against Eichel in the second round.

“I can put my own stats on the back burner for a couple of months if that means that we’re going to be the last team standing.”

*All stats via Natural Stat Trick

Find me on Twitter (<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/NHL_Sid/with_replies">@NHL_Sid</a>)

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