March 22, 2025 by Eric Friesen

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are undoubtedly one of the greatest offensive duos in NHL history.

Since becoming teammates in 2015-16, McDavid and Draisaitl rank first and second in the NHL in points with 1,072 and 942, respectively. They have also won a combined 17 individual awards, including six of the last nine Art Ross Trophies as the scoring champion.

They are irreplaceable and vital to the success of the Edmonton Oilers. However, the Oilers will be without “The Dynamic Duo” when they host the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place on Saturday night. It will be the first time since McDavid and Draisaitl entered the league that they will both be unavailable to play in a regular season game.

“Connor has a doctor’s appointment today, just to see how long it’s going to be,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch told the media following practice on Friday. “We’re not anticipating him playing tomorrow for sure. I would say day-to-day, maybe a week. We’ll find out more today. Same kind of timeline [for Draisaitl]. He won’t be back immediately. He’ll be probably up to a week.”

With McDavid and Draisaitl expected to miss at least the next three games, every player on the roster will be counted on to play a larger role as the Oilers look to stay in the hunt for their first division title since 1986-87.

Here are three forwards who need to elevate their play the most during McDavid and Draisaitl’s absences:

Zach Hyman

After scoring a career-best 54 goals in 2023-24, Zach Hyman has seen a major dip in production this season. He improved on his goals total in each of his first three seasons with the Oilers, but raising the bar again at age 32 would be a daunting task for any player.

The Toronto, Ontario native went 10 games without a goal to start the season and only found the back of the net three times in his first 20 contests. However, Hyman has started to rediscover his scoring touch over the past two months, tallying 10 goals in his last 21 games, including a clutch game-tying goal against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

Hyman needs five goals in the final 13 games to reach the 30-goal mark for the third straight season, and with the team’s two leading scorers out of the lineup, he will be relied to be upon to drive the offence on the first line. 19 of his 25 goals this season have come at even-strength, which is encouraging, because Edmonton’s power-play likely won’t be clicking at 25.3% for the next few games.

With two of the most skilled players in the world out of the lineup, it will take more of a hard-working, detail-oriented style of play for the Oilers to pull out a couple of wins in the next week. No one outworks Hyman in any area on the ice, making him the most important Oilers’ forward during his upcoming stretch of games.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

It’s been a disappointing season for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who is producing at a 54-point pace. Though he’s not expected to ever crack 100 points again, Nugent-Hopkins should still be able to put up 70 points in a healthy season, especially when he’s playing alongside McDavid for most of his five-on-five minutes and on the first power-play unit.

Nugent-Hopkins has always been more of a playmaker than a goal-scorer, but, surprisingly, it’s his assists total that is down this year. The former first-overall pick has just 28 assists through 68 games this season. He’s averaged 41 assists per 82 games during his 14-year NHL career with the Oilers.

But, like Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins has started to turn his season around over the past month. He has 12 points in his last 15 games (third-most on the team behind only McDavid and Draisaitl during that span), including back-to-back three-point outings in wins over the New York Rangers and Utah Hockey Club this week.

Prior to McDavid and Draisaitl sustaining injuries, Knoblauch said he planned to run with Nugent-Hopkins as the third line centre after playing mostly first line left wing for the past two seasons. Now, due to those key injuries, Nugent-Hopkins will be elevated up the lineup to the first line centre spot, where he will be played earlier in his career.

Adam Henrique

Since joining the Oilers just over a year ago, Adam Henrique hasn’t delivered as much offence as hoped from a player the team spent a first-round pick to acquire. Henrique has just eight goals and 17 points in 68 games while playing primarily as the Oilers’ third line centre this season.

I didn’t expect him to have another 24-goal campaign (18 of those goals were with the Ducks last season) due to his deployment with the Oilers, but he still needs to chip in more consistently. Now, with McDavid and Draisaitl sidelined for up to a week, Henrique is going to see more ice time than he ever has in Edmonton.

Henrique will be flanked by Hyman and Corey Perry on a veteran-heavy second line on Saturday, and will get a look on one of the power-play units as well. In the right role, Henrique can still be a solid commentary player on a line with two forwards who possess a higher offensive ceiling than him.

Although Hyman and Perry are nowhere close to the level of McDavid and Draisaitl, they are still a significant upgrade offensively over Henrique’s most common linemates in Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark. Perhaps getting moved up the lineup and playing with two of the team’s top scoring wingers could be the spark Henrique needs to get back on track heading into the playoffs?