Oilers' Draisaitl expected to be a healthy scratch Sunday
The Edmonton Oilers are apparently set to make Leon Draisaitl a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Dallas Stars.
Draisaitl looks like he will be sitting first game of nhl career with lander playing vs stars.#oilers
— Jim Matheson (@NHLbyMatty) December 20, 2014
Draisaitl was the odd man out in line-rushes on Saturday. Recent call-up Anton Lander is set to take Draisaitl's spot on Edmonton's third-line with Nail Yakupov and Tyler Pitlick.
The decision coming less than a week after the club opted against sending the skilled 19-year-old German-born center to the World Junior Hockey Championships is a bit baffling, but perhaps it makes sense on another level.
At least that's Oilers Nation's blogger Jonathan Willis' opinion:
Draisaitl did not have to force his way on to the Edmonton Oilers roster and he has seen virtually no competition for a spot in the lineup. The team built by general manager Craig MacTavish started the year with two NHL centres, rounded out that group with Draisaitl and Mark Arcobello, and penciled in Will Acton as its little-used No. 5 pivot, meaning that all Draisaitl had to do to stay in the lineup every night was be better than Acton. After an ugly cameo, Acton was demoted to the minors and soon departed the organization, and Draisaitl had literally no competition for a roster spot at centre.
There is virtually no better way to create a culture of entitlement than to constantly hand things to players who haven't earned it.
That's one of the reasons the elevation of Anton Lander is encouraging. He creates at least the possibility of competition for a job at centre, giving the coaches the option of scratching Draisaitl or Arcobello if they don't play very well (breaking news: for most of the year, neither has).
Draisaitl has appeared in 33 games with the Oilers this season, scoring two goals and pitching in 7 total points.