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After the first period of Edmonton’s most recent win, a 6-2 drubbing of the New York Rangers, Oilers ace Leon Draisaitl came in for some heat for his body language during one play.
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On Hockey Night in Canada, former Oilers enforcer Luke Gazdic and former Canucks d-man Kevin Bieksa discussed a hit from New York’s Artemi Panarin on Draisaitl.
“I love watching the best on best,” said Kevin Bieksa, mentioning he once got walked by Panarin on a deke. “He’s got this edge to him and this sneakiness and he’s kind of tough in his own little way. And when he throws this hit on Draisaitl, he didn’t like that, right. (Draisaitl) has got a little edge to himself and he’s not happy with that hit.”
That’s when Gazdic unloaded. “Leon, get up and get back in the play. It drives me nuts sometimes.”
“What are you not happy that he didn’t chop him and take penalty at least?” Bieksa asked.
“I just didn’t love the reaction,” Gazdic said of Draisaitl. “The body language speaks volumes, right? And it just didn’t look right.”
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Elliotte Friedman came back to the Panarin hit and Drai’s reaction in the second period intermission. “Panarin had a good hit on him here and watch how he kind of fiddles with his helmet, gets himself back, and I do look a lot at patterns, the way that people kind of react to things and, you know, (showing Drai arguing ref on a face-off), here first of all he’s furious on this shift because he feels he shouldn’t be kicked out of the draw. He’s not going away easy. So he’s already agitated and he’s already annoyed. He feels he’s been kind of mistreated. Watch Cooley hits him, (image of Draisaitl taking a hit), again same deal, kind fix the helmet, rearrange yourself a little bit, and then later in the shift he kind of gets knocked in again. That’s the thing. He seems to have kind of a resent, where when he gets hit, he does the helmet, he fixes himself up, and he starts going again.”
“He wants everyone to know he got hit,” Gazdic said, then added, “To be honest, if I’m the Rangers, let him sleep. He’s the best when he’s engaged. When you’re in his kitchen and getting him fired up and upset like that is when he plays his best hockey.”
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Bieksa agreed, saying Jaroma Iginla was like that “There’s some guys you let sleep.”
On the Cult of Hockey podcast, my colleague Bruce McCurdy was having none of the bad body language talk. Draisaitl grew up in Germany, McCurdy noted, where soccer players are far more demonstrative when things don’t go their way on the pitch. “I’ve seen him as sort of a soccer diva and in that light, he’s just sort of normal.”
My take
1. Bruce McCurdy nailed it.
2. Leon is Leon. He’s a great player. He does things his own way. And I’m cool with that because he does things exceptionally well, generally speaking, except now and then on defense in his free-lancing moments, as well as the odd bad line change where he’s slow to get off.
Bottom line, we’re lucky to have Draisaitl as an Oiler, lucky he fell to the Oilers in the 2014 draft. He’s a gifted attacker and when he puts his mind to it and he’s healthy, he’s an unstoppable two-way force. If he hadn’t been injured in the playoffs last year, Edmonton would have won the Cup.
3. On the Panarin hit, I saw nothing but Draisaitl trying to adjust his helmet after getting clobbered.
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4. The old bad body language complaint has come up about other Oilers in the past. I get how it irks some people. I think it’s fine Gazdic brought it up and was somewhat exasperated by it. I’m also glad hockey culture is far more stoic than soccer culture, with players play-act like they’ve taken a knife in the chest, as opposed to just being tackled.
It’s best such histrionics don’t get out of control in the NHL.
If Gazdic is policing that a bit, well, he always was a solid enforcer.
At the Cult of Hockey
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