Post-Game Talk: A win when you least expect it

[WaitingForUser]

I am going to keep beating this drum but the Oilers need to do what it takes to get out of Kanes contract before it's an anchor. I like the guy but I think we can use the money better. He doesn't really have chemistry with Drai or McDavid and pouts if he's on the third line.

And we replace his 20 goals a year every year where from exactly?

 

[brentashton]

Nope. LTIR for the rest of the regular season, add Guentzel at the deadline, add Kempe for the playoffs and.... voila.

Nailed it.

 

[Homesick]

To be fair. Nurse is right there with him. Terrible pairing.

To be fair. According to that analytics tool Kulak was our best defenseman.

 

[The Panther]

Only 1 point behind Vegas now, surprisingly. Good thing they've been struggling just as bad as we have. Still have 2 games in hand as well.

Oilers have been ahead of Vegas in points-percentage for, like, over a month. The Oilers are better than Vegas this season.

(The question is: Is it preferable for them to start the first playoff series at home or on the road? I'm not sure...)

It was a good game vs. LA. I thought it was huge that Brown-Nuge combined for that last goal because it seems like only the first line and Drai have scored at all over the recent minor-skid. Still a bit of a black hole with the fourth line, however. Since the start of the big winning streak they've basically contributed nothing offensively. Not that you expect much, but they need to bang in the odd goal on a semi-consistent basis.

What I think about the team these days is, they're good enough to win the first playoff round (McDavid can basically win one round by himself), and maybe the second round (as they did in '22 when Calgary sort of imploded). But...

...I personally don't see them pushing into the Cup Finals (that is, if they make it past the second round, which is also unlikely) unless something gets done about the Nurse-Ceci pairing. I've kind of had it with that pairing. They did look great, more or less, during the 16-game winning streak, but they're now back to worse than ever since the All Star break. You just never know what you're gonna get from them, and that won't cut it in the playoffs vs. deep clubs. (I actually like Ceci a lot as a player, but paired with Nurse it just doesn't work, in my view.)

Basically, I think the Oilers are adequate in goal and fine at forward (that is, if the fourth line gets back to doing anything). The key to offense in the playoffs is simply to have more than one line that can score, and with Drai and McD on separate (we hope) lines by then, they should be okay.

But at defense, they aren't going to cut it with Nurse and Ceci, together, eating the big minutes. So, I personally think Holland needs to somehow acquire one top-four shut-down defenseman, at whatever price is required. Then, the club may be a legit Cup contender.

Adding Eckholm was huge. But they're still one Eckholm-lite away from being a true contender.

 

[McTonyBrar]

going to move this

 

[bucks_oil]

That first covid shortened season really hurts. Had 97 points in 64 games and there was still 11 games left in the season when it ended. Without those missed games he'd be tracking for his 8th consecutive 100 point season.

Gretzky is 1st with 13 consecutive years. Next after that is Mike Bossy with 6.

Obviously its impossible to predict the future, but when you consider his durability and consistency so far in his career that genuinely could have been a Gretzky record he might have been able to break.

Well knock on wood... he could still make it to 11 total 100 point seasons, which would put him 2nd to you-know-who all time. It seems fairly assured that (knocks on wood) he'll end up at worst third all time behind some guy named Mario.

 

[iCanada]

That first covid shortened season really hurts. Had 97 points in 64 games and there was still 11 games left in the season when it ended. Without those missed games he'd be tracking for his 8th consecutive 100 point season.

Gretzky is 1st with 13 consecutive years. Next after that is Mike Bossy with 6.

Obviously its impossible to predict the future, but when you consider his durability and consistency so far in his career that genuinely could have been a Gretzky record he might have been able to break.

Just going to make it even more impressive when he passes Bossy.

But yeah. Painful.

 

[PULSATING]

The sound of that Bouchard goal was beautiful

Sounded like a barret 50 cal.

 

[5 14 6 1]

And we replace his 20 goals a year every year where from exactly?

With 5.25M dollars in the off-season?

 

[Coffey]

With 5.25M dollars in the off-season?

With another perennial 20 goal scorer like Brown?

 

[Oilers in NS]

Hardly any pages in the PGT. Must have been a good game

Yes
Oilernation is now in the hate stage after a few losses

 

[elmeroil]

This season will really be judged by playoff success, can Coffey get these guys to buy in for 4 rounds and can Knob get the forwards to buy in as well? 8 points separation between being out of the playoffs, pretty safe to say they'll be there. I don't think it matters where they finish, they need to beat good teams regardless.

Whatever it is they're doing since the All Star break needs to change but I'll keep saying as long as they're read in April I don't really care much about this regular season.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Holloway can’t produce with any linemates cause he isn’t NHL ready. His most common linemates are McLeod and Foegele.

All he gets is the rejects scores a goal with McDavid immediately sent back to the fourth line to rot. McLeod and foegele do f*** all when they aren't attached to draisaitl either better send them to the Ahl as well. Maybe just maybe foegele and McLeod aided to that line not being any good FFS Holloway is the only one that had a pulse physically on that line. If McLeod and foegele didn't get consistent minutes with Leon earlier on their stat lines would look just as bad as Holloway's

 

[LTIR]

I don't mind the core of your lines, though I would mix up those RWs.

I'm not a big fan of Hyman and Kane together. It's the same reason why I don't like either of those two with Foegele: They chase and retrieve the puck well, but then they just keep it to themselves, not involving their centre. That's fine when they're with McLeod or even RNH, but it's a waste with McDrai. Good thing is, I see an easy fix in your lineup: just reverse Perry and Hyman.

Also I doubt you'll get enough offence from that third line to justify RNH with two 4th liners, (even if I would keep that line together for another couple games). Once again, I see an easy fix: McLeod and Foegele work well together (especially with Drai), as do RNH-Hyman as a combo


Kane-McDavid-Perry
McLeod-Drai-Foegele
______-RNH-Hyman
______-Holloway-Gags

For the LW3, take your pick:

Janmark: Natural left winger, argubly the best defensively of the bunch here. Brings a nice combo of speed, size, and puck skills, even if his offensive IQ is low.
Ryan: We've seen Hyman-RNH-Ryan work well in the past. His smarts complement the other two well, though physically he is falling off.
Brown: Depending on where his head's at, he would be the best answer here. At his best, he's just a combination of Janmark and Ryan.

At the moment my personal picks would be Janmark with RNH and Hyman, and Brown working on rebuilding his offensive game with Gags and Holloway.

Janmark-RNH-Hyman
Gags-Holloway-Brown

Yeh, the switch up is fine but would be hard to separate McD-Hyman duo.
Perry also looked better with Drai more than McDavid.

 

[tardigrade81]

Great respect
Did I hear it correctly he was 92?


Bad mistake


Thought u were a goalie?

I am. I would have the most goals for any goalie in the NHL

 

[tiger_80]

That Bouchard clapper though.

The biggest douchard since Coffee! And Brown is getting close to scoring lol.

 

[Oilers in NS]

I am. I would have the most goals for any goalie in the NHL

Over Hextall?

 

[5 14 6 1]

With another perennial 20 goal scorer like Brown?

Sure, if you're in charge. Or instead one of these players

2024 NHL Free Agents - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

2024 NHL free agent players who are available to be signed during NHL free agency

www.capfriendly.com

 

[Yuke]

Sure, if you're in charge. Or instead one of these players

2024 NHL Free Agents - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

2024 NHL free agent players who are available to be signed during NHL free agency

www.capfriendly.com

Kane doesn't need to always fight. Just having him on the ice makes Dmen look over their shoulder twice.

 

[Coffey]

Sure, if you're in charge. Or instead one of these players

2024 NHL Free Agents - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

2024 NHL free agent players who are available to be signed during NHL free agency

www.capfriendly.com

Which one of these are you paying 5M to do what Kane does?

 

[K1984]

That was the Draisaitl I know and love last night. The difference in his game from when he's moving his feet and driving north/south and when he isn't is night and day. Fingers crossed it holds this time.

We played a much more mature game in the neutral zone and at the blue lines last night which made a world of difference. Simply cooling it on the pinches and not forcing east/west passes also makes a night and day difference.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

And Brett Kulak with another solid. But we should trade him because…we are told.

There's one thing I don't get with trading Kulak to replace him with Broberg: Yes, you save 2mil in cap space, but the defence doesn't change really.

Sure the 3rd pairing still works as Vinny still gets to play a smooth skating 2 way guy, that covers for his lack of footspeed; but it ignores the main issue on the 2nd pairing: how Nurse and Ceci to go together like oil and water.

They need more speed on the blueline, Ekholm and Bouchard aren't in the discussion to be taken out, and even though I'm sure Ceci would look great with Kulak on the 3rd pairing, Vinny already does that for a 1/4 of the price.

Although a high end option would be nice, at minimum they need to swap Ceci for another Kulak. Be that Broberg, Walker, Carrier, or even someone like Dumba/Stecher from ARI; I'm not overly picky, but the defence needs more speed.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Carrier/Walker/Dumba
Kulak-Desharnais

Even if they're a worse player than Ceci in a vacuum, I can see you getting far more mileage out of the pairing if they fit better with Nurse.

 

[Biltmore]

Bouchard with the George W Bush-like quote.

Give what they're taking you.

Ok as long as they're not Biden "Quotes"

 

[SupremeTeam16]

That was the Draisaitl I know and love last night. The difference in his game from when he's moving his feet and driving north/south and when he isn't is night and day. Fingers crossed it holds this time.

We played a much more mature game in the neutral zone and at the blue lines last night which made a world of difference. Simply cooling it on the pinches and not forcing east/west passes also makes a night and day difference.

It was a better effort but still not where we need things to be. Can’t give up 40 shots and a ton of great chances and expect to win a game.

Skinner was excellent and saved the game for them, even though they gave up a bunch of juicy chances.

 

[belair]

And we replace his 20 goals a year every year where from exactly?

Someone making preferably less than half of what he does. That money needs to be spent on making sure the team's third line is improving. Draisaitl's line needs to play a safer game.

Kane is statistically a high risk player at even strength and comes out with mixed results offensively. He's been a drag on the majority of players he's played with this year. Hard to see that improving as he gets older.