3 Reasons the Oilers’ Scoring Is Actually Sustainable

There’s a reflex we all have when we see the Edmonton Oilers light up the scoreboard again. We tell ourselves it can’t possibly keep going like this. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on another tear? Enjoy it while it lasts.

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At a glance, McDavid sitting at 67 points in 38 games and Draisaitl right behind him at 55 feel unsustainable by definition. History trains us to expect regression. But when you slow down and actually look at how those numbers are being produced, the Oilers’ offence starts to look less fragile than people assume.

There are three reasons why.

Reason One: The Oilers’ Production Is Built on Usage, Not Luck

McDavid’s numbers are outrageous, but they’re not flimsy. He’s not riding a bloated shooting percentage or cashing in on soft minutes. He’s playing 22:37 a night. That’s the heaviest workload among the league’s top scorers. He’s also fired 128 shots on the net with an 18 percent shooting rate. That’s strong, not cartoonish.

The bottom line is that, when offence comes from volume and responsibility, it tends to stick around.

Draisaitl tells the same story. He plays nearly 22 minutes a night. Given that his 19 percent shooting rate and 11 power-play goals come from repeatable habits like positioning, patience, and timing, this isn’t puck luck sneaking in through the back door. This is Edmonton leaning on its stars and getting exactly what it asks for.

If anything, these numbers suggest sustainability because they’re expensive. They require effort every night. And the Oilers are paying that price.

Reason Two: McDavid and Draisaitl Aren’t Duplicating Each Other

One of the strengths of Edmonton’s offence right now is that its two engines aren’t doing the same job. McDavid is still the driver with 44 assists. He’s in constant motion, bending coverage until it breaks. Draisaitl is the stabilizer. He slows the game down, punishes mistakes on the power play, and makes sure the offence doesn’t evaporate when chaos isn’t available.

That division of labour matters over a long season. When one line or one style goes cold, the other carries water. The Oilers aren’t asking both players to be everything at once, and that keeps the offence from becoming brittle.

It also explains why Draisaitl’s value can hide in plain sight. His numbers don’t scream dominance, but his impact shows up every time Edmonton needs a goal that doesn’t come off a rush.

Reason Three: McDavid and Draisaitl’s Ice Time Matches the Team’s Trust

The detail that often gets overlooked is that McDavid and Draisaitl — even compared to other elite scorers — are deliberately used, not desperately.

Compare their numbers to someone like Nathan MacKinnon, who’s firing 162 shots in 36 games and carrying Colorado through sheer force of his will. Edmonton isn’t playing that game. They’re distributing the load inside the stars’ minutes rather than piling everything onto one approach.

When ice time aligns cleanly with production, it’s usually a sign the coaching staff knows exactly what it’s doing. That’s a big reason this offence doesn’t feel like it’s skating on thin ice. No wonder that, at the end of the season, both McDavid and Draisaitl will be bumping around the very top of the scoring leaderboard.

McDavid and Draisaitl’s Impact on the Team

Sustainable scoring changes everything. It shortens the bench in smart ways. It lets role players stay in lanes they can actually handle. It keeps the power play from becoming a panic button instead of a weapon.

Most importantly, when the scorers are scoring, it creates calm. Edmonton doesn’t need perfect hockey every night to win. They need their best players to keep being who they are — and the numbers suggest that’s not an unreasonable ask.

This isn’t a sprint built on adrenaline. It’s a long, grinding pace set by two players who know exactly how much fuel they have left.

People will keep waiting for the fall. That’s natural. But if you’re watching the Oilers closely, the more honest reaction right now might be simpler than that. This scoring pace looks real. And that should make the rest of the league a little uncomfortable.

Related: Could Oilers’ Top Line Soon Form Team Canada’s Top Line?