Draisaitl continues his noisy, Newsy playoff

He's approaching some records in record time for the Oilers.

When Leon Draisaitl played in the Western Hockey League, his junior teammates began calling him The German Gretzky.

That, of course, is unattainable. The toughest thing in hockey is to break Edmonton Oilers’ club records, because Gretzky put all of them on Betelgeuse. What Draisaitl has become is something even more significant. As he mounts his startling assault on Stanley Cup scoring records, he is the Latter-Day Lalonde.

Newsy Lalonde is a metaphor for ancient times in hockey. He helped Montreal to its first Stanley Cup, Among other things, Newsy had 15 goals in his first eight playoff games. Draisaitl got two in Edmonton’s 5-1 marauding of the Vegas Knights Saturday, a rout that tied the Western Conference semifinals, 1-1. That brought him to 13.

That also happens to be the leading goal total in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, set by teammate Evander Kane and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Draisaitl had four scores in Edmonton’s 5-4 loss in Game 1, and is scoring a goal every 14 minutes he plays in the postseason.

“A lot of nights, he’s the best player in the world,” said Connor McDavid, who is the best player in the world in all the other nights.

People didn’t traffic in hype when Lalonde played, primarily because there weren’t many ways to see him. Lalonde led the Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup, in 1919, and had 17 hat tricks in his career, leading the league in scoring twice. But in Canada he was more famous for his lacrosse handiwork, leading his league in scoring five different times and also became the best goalie, a feat that paralleledBabe Ruth. He made more money playing lacrosse, but he is in both Halls of Fame regardless..

He also punched out a player after he became an NHL coach and had a deep-seated feud with Joe Hall of Seattle. He was known as Newsy because he once worked at a newsprint plant. After all those decades, the nickname fell squarely on Derek Lalonde, now running the Detroit Red Wings bench, when he began his coaching career.

If today’s players quit taking penalties against Edmonton, Draisaitl is likely to obliterate all postseason records. Reggie Leach of the Flyers had 19 goals in 1975. Jari Kurri of the OIlers (club records, remember) also had 19 in 1985. His chances will mirror Edmonton’s play. According to NHL.com, Draisaitl could score 37 playoff goals at this pace if Edmonton plays 23 games as Tampa Bay has done in each of the past two years.

So he’s a lot more than Tonto. Together, the German Gretzky and the resident McJesus have a chance to stand with the best partners in the game’s history.

McDavid and Draisaitl have already won Hart Trophies, symbolic of the Most Valuable Player. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin did so as teammates in Pittsburgh. So did Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita in Chicago, and Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr in Boston. Montreal had three MVP winners on the same team: Toe Blake, Bill Cowley and Maurice Richard.

Mark Messier was the MVP for Edmonton in 1990, a season after Gretzky left for Los Angeles. Mario Lemieux was fighting illness when Jaromir Jagr won the Hart in Pittsburgh. The impact of two ice-tilting players is obvious, of course, yet Edmonton has not been to a Stanley Cup final in this particular era, thanks to intermittent defense and goaltending. Regardless of what the Hart winners do, the Oilers’ immediate future will be determined by goalie Stuart Skinner and emerging defenseman Evan Bouchard, and the role players that surfaced so well in the first round win over Los Angeles.

The Oilers have scored 14 power plays and are striking at a 56 percent clip. That even dwarfs their 32.4 percentage in the regular season, which was the best since the stat was recorded. Draisaitl has six power plays, three short of a single-season playoff record, held by Cam Neely and Mike Bossy..

But then last year Draisaitl had 32 playoff points in 16 games, and he has scored 100 or more points, including 128 this season, in the past four seasons in which he’s played 71 or more games, In the biggest games either he or McDavid will be on the ice for at least 45 of the 60 minutes. On some occasions coach Jay Woodcroft will play them together, although he risks being sued for mental cruelty. McDavid is known for his unprecedented speed and Draisaitl is known for his surpassing strength, but here’s the thing: McDavid is strong, too, and Draisaitl is fast. Both are imaginative. McDavid’s takeaway from Shea Theodore led to a breakaway and a backhand goal that could only be appreciated through multiple replays. Draisaitl bounced a puck off the back of goalie Laurent Brossoit and into the net in Game 1.

Draisaitl’s dad Peter was a point-a-game player in Germany for 18 seasons, then played in three Olympics, then coached three different German teams, including the Cologne Sharks in Leon’s hometown. It’s another case of a German athlete picking a sport without a natural following and taking it into world dominance. Bernard Langer had no golf models in his native land, and Dirk Nowitzki had few basketball lodestars to follow. There have been NHL players from Germany, such as Marco Sturm and 2022 Rookie of the Year Moritz Seider, but Draisaitl has scored almost twice as many NHL points as any countryman ever has.

Game 4 is in Vegas Monday night, and the Golden Knights still should be fine if they can keep the game 5-for-5. That, and hope that Jack Eichel can somehow become the Domestic Draisaitl.