What is wrong with OEL?

[MZac]

I don't get to watch Arizona and not that diagnosing the scoring woes is going to help things, but am I the only one wondering what's up?

[brett_c_b]

He's down about a shot per game, probably a 7 point different over the course of the season from that. Although that's a 30 second thought from looking at his numbers and not having seen any games. So someone else may have more insight on why he's shooting less or something else going on in the desert.

[FFleming5]

It has recently come out that OEL has been playing with a broken thumb since November 29. This information was released about a week ago, so I'm sure that injury has finally healed. I'm sure that it took much longer to heal than the standard healing time for such an injury as he was playing with it and aggravating it every night. I have had a broken thumb before and it is hard to even write, let alone play hockey at any level. I'd imagine that this injury has affected his shot volume and other stats as well.

I was a little down on OEL from the beginning of the season, however, I didn't expect his performance to be this low. The news of this injury has earned him a slight reprieve in my eyes.

[Justinsane87]

mannn he's having a down year of the ages.. very painful to have him in my team, drafted him way to high 3 pts (assists) in is last 16 games. thats aweful. And I can't imagine him turning it around before this year.. maybe he'll bounce back, probably because he's to talented not to. But the young Yotes need to come around and perform for that to happen. Sadly he's stuck on a ****ty team. Imagine that guy with Edmonton ...!

[kgray]

Thanks for that info FFleming5! I had wondered about this but missed the news about his finger. I mean it seems obvious to expect some regression based on that terrible team, but not as much as we've seen!

[bnet]

I wonder with the emergence of DeAngelo (offensively anyways, can't play in his own zone to save his life) if the Yotes will maybe not lean as heavily on OEL as they have in the past?
The kids should give a big injection into their system though, somewhat akin to Toronto.
They could have Strome/Keller and one of Hishcier or Patrick, potentially, on their team in the next year or two. That's a lot of talent being infused into their team.

I think the Hanzal trade has hurt OEL's production as well, he isn't a #1 center by any stretch, but he was their best center and played a key role on that pp unit.

[MZac]

It has recently come out that OEL has been playing with a broken thumb since November 29. This information was released about a week ago, so I'm sure that injury has finally healed. I'm sure that it took much longer to heal than the standard healing time for such an injury as he was playing with it and aggravating it every night. I have had a broken thumb before and it is hard to even write, let alone play hockey at any level. I'd imagine that this injury has affected his shot volume and other stats as well.

I was a little down on OEL from the beginning of the season, however, I didn't expect his performance to be this low. The news of this injury has earned him a slight reprieve in my eyes.

I didn't know this but it makes alot of sense. His scoring is just down too much.

Also a good point with Hanzal being gone.

It would sure be nice if he got hot for the last couple weeks.

[The Bottlenecker]

I can see a potential bounce back season next year: a) the injury will be far behind him, b) the Yotes young guns will be that much more acclimated to playing in the NHL, and more potent offensively.

Great buy low candidate in the off season.

[Call of Doughty]

Perhaps keep him on the pine for the rest of the year, but I'm a firm believer in a bounce back year coming up. Yes that influx of offensive talent will certainly help to bolster his numbers. I've owned him for several years now, but I'm reluctant to sit him because of how good he is, time on ice, shots etc etc.

[MZac]

I've been starting him every week as well. You just never know when that 3 point game is coming but he hasn't produced really much at all for weeks.

[pmkidd]

I haven't been using OEL for the last 5-6 weeks. Good thing the rest of my d have been putting up good fantasy pts for me. But OEL is one of my keepers, so hopefully it's the thumb that's bringing down his game. Even when coyotes have awful teams OEL still scores. So next year I would expect a bumb back to his usual ways of scoring.

[Tical]

His PPTOI is down from last year as well, 5:11 to 3:49 this year. I guess this has to do with his production. As an OEL owner, i hope he will turn this around next year

[Haka]

Hi PP TOI has gone way down as Tical mentioned, also his shot rate is way down as he's been deferring more to his teammates. His huge SOG total allowed his great goal total and made him a fantasy beast. I traded him earlier this season when I saw this trend happening and his salary was getting high in my league.

[pmorrow]

Blip on the radar. AZ are stacked with excellent prospects and OEL will benefit bigly from their production.

[MZac]

Im starting him again this week over Faulk. He plays 4 games so here's to hoping he can turn it up for a few weeks. His ice time has been ridiculous lately, it's amazing he isn't at least been lucking into some secondary assists.