EDMONTON - Oilers associate coach Ralph Krueger is using the all-star break to fly to Davos, Switzerland, to take part in the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, which 70 billionaires are attending.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will give the keynote speech.

“My council, New Models of Leadership, has meetings and is passing on leadership advice to numerous groups and organizations during the conference. There are hundreds of smaller meetings and barnstorming sessions,” said the Oilers associate coach, who used to be the Swiss national team bench boss.

“I’m going in a supportive role because I’m new to this since last summer. I’ll only be addressing smaller groups this time.”

Dubnyk’s time to play

Don’t be surprised if goaltender Devan Dubnyk also gets the start after the all-star break against the Colorado Avalanche.

“He deserves all the recognition he gets. He got us the three points (win over the San Jose Sharks, shootout loss to the Canucks in Vancouver). He made some unreal saves against the Canucks. What did he have, 75 or more in his last two games?” asked defenceman Ryan Whitney.

“Devan duplicated his effort in the Sharks game. He was very, very solid for us,” said Oilers coach Tom Renney.

This is the time for the Oilers to find out if Dubnyk can be a No. 1 goalie. It’s time to experiment with 33 games left in the season.

Maybe Dubnyk should play 20 of them, with Nikolai Khabibulin, who hasn’t played poorly but has lost eight straight starts, stepping back a bit. Khabibulin’s last win was on Dec. 22 against the Minnesota Wild.

Petry logs lots of ice time

The beneficiary of defenceman Tom Gilbert’s absence has been Jeff Petry, who played the most blue-line minutes in each of the last two games as Ladislav Smid’s partner.

The last five games, Petry has played 23 minutes and 16 seconds, 26:22, 24:50, 26.41 and 23:15 in a shutdown role.

“Petey’s been outstanding over the last month. He’s using his size and strength and his reach to defend well, to be on right side of people. His awareness has been very good. He’s slowed the game down and that’s a great asset for a young defenceman,” said Renney. “His transition game, provided he keeps his feet moving, is really good because he’s such a good passer.”

Renney has also liked what he’s seen of Theo Peckham the last while after some very quiet nights.

“We need his battle level and just like (Petry), he’s slowed the game down so he can make the type of decisions that you have to make. I also think he realizes there will be some healthy people coming back after the all-star break.”

Team should have come first

Canucks goalie Cory Schneider, one of five American-born players on the Vancouver roster, had trouble getting his head around Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas’s boycott of meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House.

“Every person is entitled to their rights, that’s the point of the constitution, free speech, free religion, politics. His beliefs are his own, but the timing is a little odd. If your entire team is going, it’s about the team and it’s about putting your agenda aside,” Schneider told the Vancouver Sun.

Interestingly, Thomas didn’t get the start in Washington on Tuesday; the Bruins went with Tuukka Rask.

Michael Moore, always of a mind to criticize the government, wasn’t even on Thomas’s side, and they’re both from Flint, Mich., which was hit hard by the closing of several automobile plants.

“We went to the same high school. I can tell you this people in Flint, love Obama, desperately need Obama,” Moore tweeted.

Jones’ offence dries up

Oilers winger Ryan Jones played the fewest minutes of his season on Tuesday, only 8:43 on the fourth line with Anton Lander and Darcy Hordichuk.

He did draw the late penalty, when Vancouver defenceman Dan Hamhuis was called for interference, leading to Taylor Hall scoring a power-play goal, however.

Jones’ offence has dried up. He has scored only two assists in 14 games; his last goal came on Boxing Day in Vancouver.What will Smyth get offered?Ryan Smyth will always be the king of worker bees and a great leader, but his offensive chances haven’t been there over the last two months. He has four goals and six assists in his last 27 games.

It will be interesting to see what the Oilers offer him in a new deal after July 1. He may want three years; the Oilers may be pitching one but settle on two years. How much money? Maybe $6 million over two years.

This ’n’ that

Is it time to see Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle killing penalties over the next 33 games. They are both young players with lots of speed and some threat to score? It’s worth a shot.

The only disturbing thing about the Oilers’ shootout loss to the Canucks is they still can’t win when tied after two periods. They’ve been deadlocked after 40 minutes 12 times and only got three points (0-9-3 record). That’s a lot of points left on the table.

When Dubnyk robbed Henrik Sedin in overtime, it extended the Canucks’ captain’s pointless run to four games, his longest drought in a decade. Henrik also won only one of 11 faceoffs.

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo suffered some brief cramping in his quad when he stretched to rob Eberle on the Oilers’ first shootout attempt. Luongo, who improved to 2-4 in shootouts, doesn’t like the skills contest.

Say what you will about Eric Belanger’s nightmarish work around the net — one goal on 74 shots, but he ate up the Canucks 13-3 in the faceoff circle. He’s fifth in the NHL with a 57.7 winning percentage. The Oilers, who usually get schooled on draws, clobbered the Canucks 34-17. Vancouver has three guys (Manny Malhotra, 57.7; Ryan Kesler, 54.1; and Max Laperiere, 53) with at least a 53-per-cent success rate this season.

Cody Hodgson, who got the Canucks’ shootout winner, has quietly run up 29 points, including nine in his last nine games. To put that in perspective, that’s the same number of rookie points Henrik had in 2000-01 with the Canucks, and only five back of Henrik’s twin, Daniel, in his first year. Ryan Kesler had just 23 points in his first full season. Hodgson is only getting 12 minutes and 41 seconds of ice time.

jmatheson@edmontonjournal.com