Which Oilers Forwards Are Getting The Best Teammates And Toughest Opponents?

Get the full-sized chart here.

The horizontal axis shows qualcomp, specifically Corsi relative quality of competition taken from the venerable and terrifying Gabriel Desjardins' behindthenet.ca. The vertical axis shows qualteam, specifically Corsi relative quality of teammates taken from Desjardins. The bubbles are color-coded: blue means the player in the bubble has a positive zonestart-adjusted Corsi, red a negative. Finally, the size of the bubble indicates absolute value of zonestart-adjusted Corsi.

• The fourth line is still brutal. Yes, they have far and away the worst qualteam, but it's because they are playing as a unit. At the same, they've received the weakest competition that they could possibly play and they're still getting their teeth kicked in.
• The veterans, Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth are clearly taking on the tough minutes. Only Hemsky, the guy headed out of town because of his horrible work ethic, is staying above water against the toughs. Hemsky has done the same thing against the toughs since the lockout.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has played with the best linemates and faced third-level competition. He's still in the red in the possession numbers.
• Taylor Hall has played with the third-best teammates and faced third-level competition. He's beating that level of play.
• The big surprise here is Sam Gagner. He's faced second-level competition and played with second level teammates. He's in the red, but not that far under water.