Kris Knoblauch is mismanaging the Edmonton Oilers’ ice time

2025–26 Season	TOI/GP	EV TOI/GP	PP TOI/GP	PK TOI/GP
Connor McDavid	23:39	18:45	3:31	1:23
Leon Draisaitl	22:31	17:42	3:28	1:21

2024–25 Season	TOI/GP	EV TOI/GP	PP TOI/GP	PK TOI/GP
Connor McDavid	22:02	18:44	3:13	0:04
Leon Draisaitl	21:31	18:11	3:17	0:03

2023–24 Season	TOI/GP	EV TOI/GP	PP TOI/GP	PK TOI/GP
Connor McDavid	21:22	17:24	3:24	0:24
Leon Draisaitl	20:42	16:46	3:23	0:32

2022–23 Season	TOI/GP	EV TOI/GP	PP TOI/GP	PK TOI/GP
Connor McDavid	22:23	17:11	3:56	1:16
Leon Draisaitl	21:44	17:06	3:58	0:39

2021–22 Season	TOI/GP	EV TOI/GP	PP TOI/GP	PK TOI/GP
Connor McDavid	22:04	18:08	3:43	0:12
Leon Draisaitl	22:21	17:34	3:50	0:57

Generally speaking, we can see a noticeable increase in ice time this season. Last season, and this season, actually. Indicating a growing reliance on McDavid and Draisaitl as we get further into Kris Knoblauch’s tenure as head coach of the Oilers.

McDavid and Draisaitl’s average ice time per game has increased by nearly a full minute in each of the last two seasons. Last season, both players made the jump in even-strength ice time. Entering this season, they have now taken over the penalty kill, adding that minute of ice time per game.

This is the most that McDavid has averaged per game in his career, 50 seconds clear of his next highest average. And Draisaitl has two seasons, 2018–19 and 2019–20, in which he averaged less than 10 seconds more than he has so far in 2025–26.

Oddly enough, average power play ice time has decreased over the past two seasons. Though other factors could influence this, such as scoring goals and ending the power play early.

We can see a clear trend that more and more ice time in even strength and penalty kill situations is going to McDavid and Draisaitl. It has increased their average ice time per game by nearly two minutes over the past two seasons. This is potentially problematic and not sustainable.

The impacts of giving too much ice time to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl

At first glance, it might make perfect sense to give all this ice time to McDavid and Draisaitl. After all, is it not a coach’s job to give their team the best chance to win a game? Surely, having your best players on the ice for more of the game gives you the best chance to win a game.

In reality, it is not that simple. And we are beginning to see the impacts of this. Lack of chemistry, fatigue, lack of confidence in depth players, and poor development are just some of the ways this practice can negatively impact the team.

Preventing building chemistry

Knoblauch has always trended towards running a line blender on a regular basis. Starting lineups are usually meaningless as the coaching staff will shuffle everything up by the five-minute mark of the first period, especially if things aren’t clicking in-game. The difficulty building chemistry has been persistent, although there are usually default lines that they can go back to for a reset. Or at least enough that we can tell from line stats what the main lines are.

But so far this season, the blender has been especially bad. Every other shift seems to have some change to the lines, often giving McDavid or Draisaitl new wingers as they get more ice time double-shifting.

When this is happening, there is no opportunity to learn your linemates’ play styles. It should come as no surprise that the offence is flat and defensive miscues are abundant in this environment.

Wearing players out prematurely

McDavid and Draisaitl are top athletes in an incredibly physically demanding sport. Their stamina and endurance will be elite, with access to the best recovery tools. But they can still get tired and worn out.

We may have seen the start of it at the end of the recent game versus the Dallas Stars, by the time overtime was winding down, with McDavid looking a bit gassed. An overreliance on these two star players in every situation is going to reduce their effectiveness in every situation, regardless of fitness level.

The other factor playing in with fatigue is injury risk. It has begun happening in recent years, especially with the long seasons, where injuries are happening more and more. Major injuries derailed Draisaitl’s playoffs, limiting his mobility for multiple years in a row. Fatiguing your best players this early in the season is a recipe for disaster, as it increases the risk of injuries.

Showing depth players that they have zero confidence in them

Even though we can understand that McDavid or Draisaitl taking ice time isn’t a personal attack against a depth player, it still isn’t going to feel great when your role is taken over or the coaching staff is not giving you much of a chance.

This situation is giving no opportunity for depth players to find their footing or carve out any sort of niche for themselves on the roster. Combine this with the random and seemingly uncalled-for scratches of some players, and it’s no wonder certain members of the team aren’t producing.

Though depth players occasionally get a brief chance higher in the lineup, by the end of the period, the coach demotes them again. No time to build chemistry, no time to get comfortable, no time to find one’s footing in that role. The quick demotion can’t feel good for a player’s confidence.

Poor development practices

Which leads us to honing in on a few certain players, the rookies on the roster. I’m all for slowly easing players into the lineup, rather than throwing them to the wolves like this franchise used to do. But there comes a point where it feels like the team overdoes it, taking the easing in too far. The Oilers have some NHL rookies on the team this season: Matthew Savoie, Isaac Howard, and Noah Philp. The latter two are older players.

The organization’s top two prospects, Savoie and Howard, came to the team highly touted. Savoie had a stellar season as a key member of the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, where they utilized him in every situation and praised for his intellect and work ethic. Howard, a Hobey Baker winner, was a prolific scorer in the NCAA. Currently, Savoie is seeing small increases in his ice time, but still spending almost all of his time in the bottom-six in non-scoring situations, averaging just over 13 minutes per game. Howard is barely seeing the ice, averaging 9:32 in ice time per game. The odd times that these two were on McDavid or Draisaitl’s line, they’ve looked like good players, albeit without finding the scoresheet much. But it is hard to really judge that if they spend less than half a period in those situations.

Despite Philp’s great preseason in 2024–25, veteran players were holding roster spots, preventing him from securing a full-time position. This season, Philp finally found a regular spot on the NHL roster, yet he is still finding it difficult to get ice time or even stay in the lineup regularly. He was, after all, scratched for multiple games immediately after scoring his first NHL goal.

It’s difficult to develop players when they aren’t given chances to grow and show the coaching staff what type of game they can play. When McDavid and Draisaitl are getting so much of the ice time, there is not much left to go around, especially to prospects.

We have seen plenty of frustration with the coaching staff this season already. Boring system, doesn’t suit the players, sitting back on and blowing leads. But one of the most frustrating parts is watching the management of the players’ ice time thus far. The roster is deep enough and has shown the ability to be competitive, so there is no reason McDavid and Draisaitl have to be played as much as they are. The best stretches of this team under Knoblauch’s coaching, like the 27-game span in 2023–24 where the team went 24-3, McDavid averaged 21:14 and Draisaitl 20:18 in ice time per game.

If this team wants to start turning things around, they need to start spreading the ice time-out amongst the forwards better to help build confidence, chemistry, and avoid wearing McDavid and Draisaitl out by the New Year.