Mike Babcock says the Oilers need to play their big boys less, and Thursday's ice-time sheet shows exactly why.
Bleed Oil Blue shared the comments, which came after Thursday's 4-2 home loss to Utah.
Evan Bouchard logged 27:03, while Leon Draisaitl played 23:00.
Babcock is right, and it isn't close. Leaning on your stars this hard in October is how a team runs out of gas in May.
It's like running the air conditioning full blast in spring. It feels great now, but the bill shows up later.
Joshua Samanski played 8:53, while Isaac Howard and Filip Hallander each logged 10:22 in a game the Oilers needed more from them.
Edmonton was also without Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jake Walman, according to Mark Spector, which thins out the depth Babcock needs to trust.
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Mike Babcock admits Oilers need to change how they use their biggest stars
McDavid has 18 points and a +15 rating this season.
He picked up an assist Thursday, while Draisaitl and Shakir Mukhamadullin scored for Edmonton.
McDavid already has a shorthanded goal this season, which tells you how many situations he's being used in.
Bouchard has 15 points and put 6 shots on goal against Utah.
Vasily Podkolzin still leads the team with 7 goals.
Mattias Ekholm logged 22:34 Thursday and sits at +13 on the season.
Devon Levi made 20 saves on 23 shots and took his first loss.
Clayton Keller scored twice for Utah, and Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also found the net.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 22 of 24 shots at the other end.
Jason Dickinson is out until at least Oct 17.
Edmonton is still 5-1-1 and perfect on the road, so this isn't a crisis yet.
Can Babcock actually trust the bottom of the lineup with more minutes when it's this thin?
The Oilers visit Utah on Saturday to close the home-and-home, then host Minnesota on Tuesday and Carolina on Thursday.
Babcock knows the math. The hard part is finding enough bodies he trusts to make it add up.
Should Mike Babcock cut Connor McDavid's minutes to save him for the playoffs?
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