The Edmonton Oilers are high on Trent Frederic.
But the 27-year-old forward just might not be ready to be this high up in the lineup for them right now.
A physical presence who isn’t afraid to throw his body around or drop the mitts should the situation arise, the six-foot-three, 221-pound first-round draft pick in 2016 earned himself a spot out of training camp filling in for Zach Hyman, who is out for the next three weeks with a wrist injury.
And not just any old spot, either. Frederic is playing right wing on an Oilers top line that has opened the regular season featuring both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Talk about an opportunity.
It might be the most coveted spot in hockey, playing alongside the best — if not the two best players — in the world.
But it might not be for just anyone.
Exactly what are the Oilers trying to accomplish here?
The idea isn’t a bad one, in theory.
Combine the offensive artistry of that elite pair with some rugged physicality to round off an Oilers attack that will hit you both on the scoreboard and into the boards.
We saw just how good it could be in the pre-season when the top-line trio got in on each of the first two goals before McDavid and Draisaitl connected for the game-winner in a 4-3 result over the Vancouver Canucks.
Make that a visiting Vancouver lineup that didn’t feature a single member of the top six, not to mention the top defensive pair.
It’s going to be a different story Saturday when the Canucks come to play for real, just like it was in Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the Calgary Flames.
Frederic looked anything but smooth out there, finishing plus-1 with two penalty minutes in 16:46 of ice time, and not a single shot to show for his efforts. And you’d better believe the effort was there, on his part. Nobody wants this to work out more, after all.
Just how much rope does Frederic get?
The classic punchline is, enough to hang himself with.
But according to his head coach, there is still plenty of slack in Frederic’s line.
“I think he’s got a lot,” said Kris Knoblauch, indicating a level of patience. “I have a lot of respect for him as a player. Trent’s going to have a big part on this team, whether that’s up or down the lineup.
“He can provide a lot more in maybe a depth role, or he can complement skill like Leon and Connor. So, I’d look at how much O-zone time that line had the other night against Calgary, and I don’t recall Trent getting the scoring chance or the shot or making the primary pass, but I know he was around the net and making it difficult for the goalie to see shots, and recovering pucks on rebounds, and getting in on the forecheck. So, we’re going to let that play out.”
Can this sort of thing even work?
If the blueprint is the tenacious Vasily Podkolzin playing left wing next to Draisaitl last year, bumping and grinding on bodies and digging out pucks in corners to help pave the way for his talented centre to lead the league with 52 goals, just know this is not that.
Not when both elite superstars are put together.
All of a sudden, it turns into a game of pitch and catch between the two, and nobody else on the ice gets to touch the puck — opponents or teammates. Just look at the Oilers power play, it’s the two head honchos alongside the next offensively gifted players, and the rest of them barely get in on the action.
Trying to sprinkle in a physical presence like Frederic, and chances are he’s going to have trouble keeping up — through no fault of his own, of course. Before Hyman came along, many have tried.
Not everyone is a good fit, plain and simple.
And what Knoblauch doesn’t want is for a player to have to revamp his own individual playing style in order to try and fit in.
“Whoever is playing with those stars, you always want to give them the puck and you always hesitate a little bit. Sometimes things close on you a little bit quicker,” Knoblauch said. “So, we encourage whoever’s playing with them to play their game, make the play that’s available for him, not overthink it.
“That’s easier for a coach just to say than for the player to go out and execute, but we don’t want them changing their game at all.”
G-MAN’S TAKE: The amount of patience the coaching staff has with letting Frederic figure things out on the top line is directly correlated with how these next few results go, if he even gets that many. If things simply don’t appear to be panning out, there is no reason not to pull the trigger on a change at that right-wing spot.
It’s in the team’s best interest to give some others an opportunity to see if something clicks. Case in point, Jack Roslovic was signed while the season-opener was still underway. Now, it had nothing to do with Frederic’s play in the game, obviously, but as a fellow first-round draft pick, what’s keeping him from getting a shot at running with the big dogs to see if there is any chemistry there.
The good news is, the Oilers only expect to be without Hyman for three weeks. The bad news is they will be a dozen games into the schedule by then, and will need their big guns firing if they hope to avoid the same middling (to downright awful) start of the past two seasons.
Frederic has a place on this team, but this ain’t it.
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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