NHL insider John Shannon believes that Kris Knoblauch needs to start coaching the hard way and limit the ice time of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. NHL insider John Shannon on the '100% Hockey podcast', said that Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has to have a firmer hand with stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and <a href='https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/edmonton-oilers-kris-knoblauch-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl-john-shannon' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>limit their ice time somewhat for the good of the team.</a> In an interview, host Bob Stauffer asked if the Oilers might be better off reducing the penalty killing minutes of Draisaitl and McDavid, who lead the team in PK minutes for forwards. Stauffer also noted how <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/edmonton-oilers/oilers-fans-share-extreme-frustration-toward-connor-mcdavid-after-unexpected-slow-start' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>McDavid looked like he was out of gas</a> in overtime against the Dallas Stars. Shannon said that when Knoblauch took over the team two years ago, he immediately raised the penalty killing ice time of players like Connor Brown and Derek Ryan, which drastically cut McDavid's PK time. The opposite is happening now. One of the most successful things Kris did when he came into the job was identify guys that were going to have some ownership with the penalty killing. And that reinvigorated Connor Brown in his job, reinvigorated in many ways a model player And that did take the pressure off Leon and Connor, because we already knew they were playing more ice time than anybody, 5-on-5 and more ice time than anybody on a power play. Perhaps that's something the Oilers have to get back to They would play 60 minutes if they could. They would make it river hockey and play all the time. I'm a big Kris supporter, but sometimes you have to coach, too, you know. - John Shannon <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/TheCultofHockey/status/1986501479059096028'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> McDavid and Draisaitl would indeed play the whole game if they could, but what is best for them and the team? McDavid did indeed look gassed in Edmonton's OT period against Dallas. <h3>Connor McDavid leads all NHL forwards in minutes-per-game</h3> This year, he's playing 23:39 per game, the most of any NHL forward, which is almost a minute per game ahead of the Wild's Kirill Kaprizov at 22:49. Draisaitl is third-highest in the league at 22:31. Last season, McDavid played 22:02 per game, and Draisaitl 21:31. There is no evidence that their increased ice time is helping them or the team. McDavid did indeed look gassed in the later stages of the game against Dallas, and even more concerning is that his overall two-way play has dropped as this young season has progressed. In his first eight games, McDavid has played 141 even-strength minutes, chipping in on 34 Grade A shots, and making mistakes on 10. In his last seven games, he's played 140 even-strength minutes, chipping in on just 21 Grade A shots, and making mistakes on 11. That's a significant decrease in recent games, so he could be feeling the grind of this difficult and compressed NHL schedule. Taking him off the PK might keep him fresher in the games ahead.