Janmark jumps up to Oilers' top line with McDavid for Game 1 against Vancouver

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Last spring, Mattias Janmark broke his foot, blocking an Adrian Kempe shot in the first game of the Los Angeles Kings’ playoff, then returned for Game 1 against Vegas in the second round and tumbled into the boards and may have suffered a concussion.

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Janmark jumps up to Oilers' top line with McDavid for Game 1 against Vancouver Back to video

A playoff to forget.

This year, different story.

The Edmonton Oilers forward, a staple on the team’s penalty-kill and on the fourth line, will be on left-wing with Connor McDavid to start Game 1 of the Western Conference semi-final series against Vancouver with Adam Henrique out with a suspected ankle problem.

How long Janmark sits there with McDavid and right winger Zach Hyman might be a game of musical chairs. It’ll likely depend whether the Oilers are up in the game or behind, also if Janmark fits in as the defensive conscience on the No. 1 line.

It could be three minutes or three periods, with Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who likes moving people around, monitoring things.

All we know, for sure, is Janmark draws the opening assignment and right winger Connor Brown, who sat for all of the first-round series against Los Angeles, will be back in as a right winger and penalty-killer on the fourth line with Warren Foegele moving over to left side, and Derek Ryan in the middle.

“You have to bring a little bit of a different thing with Connor. You have to be smart, play to his strengths but the principles don’t change,” said Janmark.

“Throughout my career I’ve done exactly this, been able to go up and down the lineup. Yeah, playing with Davo, every time you get the chance, you want to take advantage.”

Janmark’s portability is his calling card, certainly in regular-season.

“In Dallas, my first year, we were down in Game 7 and I got to centre a line with Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza,” he said.

“Last season, I got to play with Connor a few times, not so this year. It’s pretty easy to play with Connor, it’s the expectations really. You can play a really good game and if you don’t come out with something on the score sheet, it’s viewed as a bad game. You have to contribute, you just can’t look good out there.”

Knoblauch has options. He could move Hyman over to left wing and move Foegele up. He could slide Dylan Holloway onto left wing with McDavid if he sees some good stuff from him early on when he’s playing with Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry, although that seems a reach for a young player like Holloway, especially behind enemy lines.

“Last year, maybe I had more opportunity to move up and down, and we played 11-7 (forwards and defence). This season it’s been more set as a team (fourth-line role),” he said.

But, last spring’s playoff was a write-off for him because of the injuries.

“I didn’t know it was broken right away because I got a shot off my hand after that. But when I took my skate off I knew it was,” said Janmark, who took the shot off his foot in the first frame but still played 15 minutes. “I came back for Game 1 of the Vegas series, then hit my head into the boards. Tough to get up to speed.”

He jostled with William Carrier, lost his balance, and hit the back of his head into the boards. He came back later in the Vegas series, but was far from healthy.

“Everybody likes to play with Janmark. He’s responsible and can make plays,” said Knoblauch, reiterating that Henrique is day-to-day, and he could be throwing many combinations with McDavid in Game 1.

“We have a lot of guys who can move up but juggling lines also means things aren’t usually going well. Holloway could play a few shifts there. But I don’t think anybody can play 20 minutes a night with Connor for a seven-game series (unless it’s Henrique). We’ll do it by committee.”

FOURTH-LINE MANOUEVERS

Sam Carrick played the first three games against the Kings, but Ryan came in and was excellent in Games 4-5, and he’ll start against the Canucks. Carrick is a bigger body, tougher, Derek Ryan is shiftier, maybe with more offence.

Carrick took 40 faceoffs in the first round series against L.A. and was 19-21 and was 8-2 on draws while killing penalties. Yet, he had an off-night in Game 3, and Ryan took his spot.

“Derek’s huge on face-offs (only eight in playoffs, but 5-3, and in regular-season he was 55.8 per cent on his 409 draws). He wins a lot of key ones. He’s part of the PK which was so good in the L.A. series. We had him on the ice late in games with a one-goal leads. Obviously we have a lot of trust,” said Knoblauch.

VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITION ON 97

Vancouver Canucks’ head coach Rick Tocchet used to be a very good NHL player — one of the best power forwards ever (440 goals, 952 points, 2,972 PIMS) — and his sweat equity was exemplary. He also was in Pittsburgh as an assistant coach, seeing Sidney Crosby every day, and he sees McDavid in the same light as Crosby.

“The one thing I really respect about Connor — obviously he’s a great player, one of the best ever — is his work ethic,” said Tocchet, in conversation with media in Vancouver.

“When you see him on the ice a half-hour before practice working on his game with a skills coach or if there’s an optional he’s on the ice or the way he trains … it’s like Sidney Crosby, the (Nathan) MacKinnons, the (Cale) Makars. All those guys, they work their asses off. Connor is obsessed to be better. That’s why I respect those guys; they’re obsessed to be better.”

This ‘n that

Canucks forward Elias Pettersson is sick and missed Tuesday’s Canucks’ practice. Nils Aman took his place as the third-line centre at practice…

McDavid, who has won three Hart Trophy’s as the league’s MVP, is one of the three finalists for the Hart, along with MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov. If McDavid gets his fourth Hart, he’ll tie Eddie Shore for third all-time. MacKinnon has been runner-up on two occasions, losing to Leon Draisaitl and Taylor Hall, when Hall was in New Jersey…

While Vancouver centre J.T. Miller seems a better physical matchup for Draisaitl, he’s played a lot against McDavid, so quite possibly he’ll draw that assignment with Elias Lindholm matching up against McDavid…

Playoff coaching is about gamesmanship with referees, so it’s not surprising that Tocchet was talking about embellishment to draw penalties. He’s not saying Oilers are going Hollywood by any means, but it doesn’t hurt to lay the groundwork with the officials, especially with the Oilers 9-for-20 on the power play in Round 1.

“I can’t stand embellishment,” Tocchet told reporters. “I’m not even saying that Edmonton is an embellish team.. I’m just saying that I would be very on guard with the refs this playoff with this embellishment. Snapping heads, falling down … I think it’s become a lot. I think it’s up to the coaches. I don’t think you can promote that stuff. If not, the NHL has to do something about that stuff with the refs.”…

With Henrique injured in the series clinching win over L.A., Carrick sitting and Troy Stecher locked into the No. 7 defenceman role, the three guys the Oilers traded for at the deadline won’t be in the lineup for the first game in Vancouver.