Post-Game Talk: Nashville 4 Edmonton 0

[Drivesaitl]

If you think putting eberle on our 3rd line somehow makes us a better team then I don't know what to tell you. We'd still be ****. Chia failed in putting together a competent defence. That's my gripe

Eberle is a talented player. You really think Draisaitl would setup him up 6 times right in the slot in the last few games and he would fan on every one of those setups chopping the puck into bits like Strome. You think he wouldn't manage to make one good pass to Draisaitl over several games?

You think his brain would have frozen as it did for Khaira who was for some reason just staring at Drai open in the slot instead of feeding him the puck? Eberle can cycle the puck efficiently, so can Pouliot.

Honestly, do people think a line of say Draisaitl, Eberle, Pouliot or Pitlick would not be vastly better than what we have now?

We have a third line composed of Draisaitl, playing with two AHL level players which is obviously worse.

 

[Soundwave]

Eberle was a poor fit here and mentally mind f***ed himself, the criticism about not maybe signing a Vanek for no good reason or not targeting James Neal instead are valid though. Chiarelli falling for Strome was utterly predictable.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Eberle was a poor fit here and mentally mind ****ed himself, the criticism about not maybe signing a Vanek for no good reason or not targeting James Neal instead are valid though. Chiarelli falling for Strome was utterly predictable.

Yeah Eberle sure was a poor fit. Why have talented scorers when you can load up coke machines on your wings.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I still can't fathom how lucky Nashville is. It's not like they worked for it either.
the goals.
1. A Fortunate tip.
2. Puck hits 2 players on the way to the net and literally drops on fiala's stick.. nice and flat too.
3. Puck hits a defender and drops right on Turris's stick. Credit to him for doing what no Oiler could come close to doing tonight. Executing on the shot.
4. Compliments Connor McDavid.

Perhaps it's not so much fortune but exposing a flaw in the Oilers. We're brutal puck trackers. We don't know when our players or going to shoot or what they're shooting at. We're never in position to pick up these pucks offensively and especially defensively.

Its not luck. They consistently play the game the right way. The Oilers occasionally do that but flew the coop on this one.

2nd goal RNH somehow gets his stick stripped entering the zone which results in essentially a 5 on 3 the remainder of that PP.

3rd goal is right off the faceoff. Instead of maintaining faceoff positioning in zone on a faceoff just outside the zone both Lucic and McD inexplicably fly zone leading to a predictable missed coverage situation, immediately in Oilers zone. That goal ensues due to that decision that was made on a faceoff, for which all teams have set plays. How both players adlib off the scrip of maintaining positioning between their goalie and the puck is hard to grasp. Its a cardinal rule for Centers to not let the other Center by them. What on Earth is McD doing there and why?

4th goal was McD taking a very bad penalty on very impulsive play. Did the Preds take a second ill advised penalty all night?

Also 1st goal was a deflection, they happen.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Whatever happened to the Oilers remembering not to dust shots off? When you get a feed get the puck away. Happened half a dozen times last night that the Oilers handled the puck instead of shooting immediately. The best pass of the night was to Nuge, who for some reason handled it (7secs left in 1st period) instead of immediately getting it off. By the time he muffs a shot in Soros is in position and the shot was harmless.

Its like this club has the retension span of goldfish. They can only remember the last two lessons and anything prior to that is a dark void so that each night they are playing in mind of the last couple things that have been stated to them.

How do coachng staff build messages with a team that doesn't seem to withhold instruction? Citing my comments above post as well in this.

When the best player on your team, McD, is at fault for two GA its going to be a long night.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Whatever happened to the Oilers remembering not to dust shots off? When you get a feed get the puck away. Happened half a dozen times last night that the Oilers handled the puck instead of shooting immediately. The best pass of the night was to Nuge, who for some reason handled it (7secs left in 1st period) instead of immediately getting it off. By the time he muffs a shot in Soros is in position and the shot was harmless.

Its like this club has the retension span of goldfish. They can only remember the last two lessons and anything prior to that is a dark void so that each night they are playing in mind of the last couple things that have been stated to them.

How do coachng staff build messages with a team that doesn't seem to withhold instruction? Citing my comments above post as well in this.

When the best player on your team, McD, is at fault for two GA its going to be a long night.

The Oilers had a 3 on 1 sometime in the first last night with McDavid, Lucic, and I believe JP and I knew McDavid was going to pass it. Sure enough the opportunity on an odd man rush was wasted on a night where they didn't have many of them.

Hockey's a complicated game but for the life of me I can't understand why a forward coming in on an odd man rush wouldn't put the puck on the goalies pads. Three things happen here:

1) You score
2) The goalie saves it and forces and faceoff
3) You create a rebound for the other forward(s) to go after.

Every time the Oilers get an oddman rush you can set your watch to forcing a pass or shooting high.

 

[Soundwave]

Its not luck. They consistently play the game the right way. The Oilers occasionally do that but flew the coop on this one.

2nd goal RNH somehow gets his stick stripped entering the zone which results in essentially a 5 on 3 the remainder of that PP.

3rd goal is right off the faceoff. Instead of maintaining faceoff positioning in zone on a faceoff just outside the zone both Lucic and McD inexplicably fly zone leading to a predictable missed coverage situation, immediately in Oilers zone. That goal ensues due to that decision that was made on a faceoff, for which all teams have set plays. How both players adlib off the scrip of maintaining positioning between their goalie and the puck is hard to grasp. Its a cardinal rule for Centers to not let the other Center by them. What on Earth is McD doing there and why?

4th goal was McD taking a very bad penalty on very impulsive play. Did the Preds take a second ill advised penalty all night?

Also 1st goal was a deflection, they happen.

Honestly some of that is just dumb luck. How often does a player get stripped of their stick like that for example? You can yell at them I guess, but I'm not sure what good it does.

They can't bury teams on the PP, that's killing them this year. They've been the better team on the ice for 6/7 last games but only have 4 wins to show for it. PP and PK has pretty much sunk the season. Even if you kept the PK as bad as it is, and the PP at least reverted back to last year, that would be huge.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Honestly some of that is just dumb luck. How often does a player get stripped of their stick like that for example? You can yell at them I guess, but I'm not sure what good it does.

They can't bury teams on the PP, that's killing them this year. They've been the better team on the ice for 6/7 last games but only have 4 wins to show for it. PP and PK has pretty much sunk the season.

Bad teams find ways to lose. The Oilers made it look like they were playing well last night without really accomplishing anything in the offensive zone.

 

[Drivesaitl]

^Except if the Rush is McD-Draisaitl

If those two are together last night they get 2 goals on the plays that were there.

This is no knock on Pulju, but he's still developing and still having problems reading what will occur. he had a tap in last night that he somehow got confused at. Happens with young players.

Lucic wasn't too good last night after having a very good roadtrip.

Maroon actually made a lot of good plays on the 2nd line and probably no mention whatsoever. But I would put him with Drai instead of Nuge where the two could dominate boards and give and go's. Maroon has a lot better hands than people give him credit for and works very well with Draisaitl. Of course with Oilers though they stop playing the two together. The moment that Luc went up to play with McD, Maroon should have slotted in with Drai. Why not?

 

[Soundwave]

^Except if the Rush is McD-Draisaitl

If those two are together last night they get 2 goals on the plays that were there.

This is no knock on Pulju, but he's still developing and still having problems reading what will occur. he had a tap in last night that he somehow got confused at. Happens with young players.

Lucic wasn't too good last night after having a very good roadtrip.

Maroon actually made a lot of good plays on the 2nd line and probably no mention whatsoever. But I would put him with Drai instead of Nuge where the two could dominate boards and give and go's. Maroon has a lot better hands than people give him credit for and works very well with Draisaitl. Of course with Oilers though they stop playing the two together. The moment that Luc went up to play with McD, Maroon should have slotted in with Drai. Why not?

I kinda think that play was McDavid's fault a bit though. He waited too long to pass the puck, if he makes that pass a milisecond earlier, Jesse buries it.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

^Except if the Rush is McD-Draisaitl

If those two are together last night they get 2 goals on the plays that were there.

This is no knock on Pulju, but he's still developing and still having problems reading what will occur. he had a tap in last night that he somehow got confused at. Happens with young players.

Lucic wasn't too good last night after having a very good roadtrip.

Maroon actually made a lot of good plays on the 2nd line and probably no mention whatsoever. But I would put him with Drai instead of Nuge where the two could dominate boards and give and go's. Maroon has a lot better hands than people give him credit for and works very well with Draisaitl. Of course with Oilers though they stop playing the two together. The moment that Luc went up to play with McD, Maroon should have slotted in with Drai. Why not?

Well Maroon thinks the Almighty is punishing him.... There was a readup earlier of who draws/takes the most penalties. Not surprisingly McDavid was tops, but on the flipside...

Maroon/Kassian were in the top 5 for taking as opposing to drawing. Hmm.

Weekly Reader: McDavid among biggest penalty-minute magnets

 

[Soundwave]

Bad teams find ways to lose. The Oilers made it look like they were playing well last night without really accomplishing anything in the offensive zone.

Meh, I've seen plenty of those games, they were accomplishing a lot including several odd man rushes and point blank chances at the net and more than 1 or 2 shots that simply hit their goalie who probably didn't see shit. This a game that last year, one or two of those chances goes in for them early and it's a different ball game.

They are actually in the last 6-7 games probably playing as well as last year, maybe even a bit better at 5-on-5. Crap PP is killing them though and they've likely wasted too much time this year and will miss the playoffs on that basis.

If I could have that same effort for the next 7 games I take it no question, but I don't think they can maintain it. Special teams at some point have to be on coaching.

They've been the better team on the ice for 6/7 games now, I'm willing to give them credit for that. It's not enough, but I'm not going to sit here and yell at them for being terrible when they're clearly playing better.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Honestly some of that is just dumb luck. How often does a player get stripped of their stick like that for example? You can yell at them I guess, but I'm not sure what good it does.

They can't bury teams on the PP, that's killing them this year. They've been the better team on the ice for 6/7 last games but only have 4 wins to show for it. PP and PK has pretty much sunk the season. Even if you kept the PK as bad as it is, and the PP at least reverted back to last year, that would be huge.

Special teams is part of team play, and part of playing well, or not well. But as I've mentioned the Oilers lack multiple pk players that were successful in the past and apparently thought it unimportant because we can just throw Nuge out there and see what happens. What happens is a GA on our pk nearly every night. Nuge is somewhat good at positioning (he's weak on the points) but he's a player that will rarely initiate or win, a puck battle. We are shorthanded and he plays a conservative pk game. If nobody else on the unit forces a play or strips a puck we could be in our zone the whole 2 mins. Nuge does one thing on pk. hope that he can make a play with his stick. That's it. He's poking at pucks or waving at pucks while a guy could be 3 ft from him and he's not trying to force him. He's far too passive a player to be on the pk. jmo.

Turned to the wife on the 5 on 3 with Nuge on it and I said "automatic GA" There was no way that shift wasn't going to be a GA. He had two shorthanded GA last night.

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah Eberle sure was a poor fit. Why have talented scorers when you can load up coke machines on your wings.

He himself basically has said he couldn't handle playing in this market anymore, not sure what else needs to be said.

Not all players are a fit in all situations, New York is clearly a easier situation for Eberle and a lot less taxing mentally on his fragile psyche, so good for him.

We could have gotten James Neal or added Vanek, for that sure Chiarelli deserves criticism.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

He himself basically has said he couldn't handle playing in this market anymore, not sure what else needs to be said.

Not all players are a fit in all situations, New York is clearly a easier situation for Eberle and a lot less taxing mentally on his fragile psyche, so good for him.

We could have gotten James Neal or added Vanek, for that sure Chiarelli deserves criticism.

Because the fans are so starved for success that we'll drive anyone out of town under the false pretense of... Well, just check out my title for that.

The Oilers are a slow plodding team with very little talent up front aside from a couple players. Chia should've had a sit down with Eberle to reassure him that the team needs him and that he's better than he showed.

Instead he took the first offer that came his way and dealt him for a smaller player that scores less, hits less, and... well, basically does like half of what Eberle does in every conceivable aspect.

 

[Soundwave]

Because the fans are so starved for success that we'll drive anyone out of town under the false pretense of... Well, just check out my title for that.

The Oilers are a slow plodding team with very little talent up front aside from a couple players. Chia should've had a sit down with Eberle to reassure him that the team needs him and that he's better than he showed.

Instead he took the first offer that came his way and dealt him for a smaller player that scores less, hits less, and... well, basically does like half of what Eberle does in every conceivable aspect.

Eberle honestly hasn't looked great here in a while, even in McDavid's rookie year I really wasn't overly impressed with his game with him, we were sold all this hype on how Eberle was going to be like 30, even 40 goal scorer with McDavid and in reality he always looked fairly awkward witht McDavid. I wanted him to do well here, he just couldn't cut it.

And yes, Chiarelli should have dealt for James Neal. Or at minimum signed Vanek. There were other options than the one he accepted, but Eberle did not play well here any more and was likely only going to spiral downwards here with more continued pressure.

Trading Hall was a mistake, you can't put that much pressure on a Jordan Eberle, it's too much for him to handle, it's like asking a 10-year-old to babysit a 2-year-old ... maybe they can do it for a day, but ask them to do it for like 2 months and no way. You're gonna have issues. Eberle cannot handle that kind of pressure, in trading Hall you forced Eberle into a position that crushed his fragile mental state.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Eberle honestly hasn't looked great here in a while, even in McDavid's rookie year I really wasn't overly impressed with his game with him, we were sold all this hype on how Eberle was going to be like 30, even 40 goal scorer with McDavid and in reality he always looked fairly awkward witht McDavid. I wanted him to do well here, he just couldn't cut it.

And yes, Chiarelli should have dealt for James Neal. Or at minimum signed Vanek. There were other options than the one he accepted, but Eberle did not play well here any more and was likely only going to spiral downwards here with more continued pressure.

Trading Hall was a mistake, you can't put that much pressure on a Jordan Eberle, it's too much for him to handle, it's like asking a 10-year-old to babysit a 2-year-old ... maybe they can do it for a day, but ask them to do it for like 2 months and no way. You're gonna have issues. Eberle cannot handle that kind of pressure, in trading Hall you forced Eberle into a position that crushed his fragile mental state.

He consistently puts up 50 point seasons, what more do you want from a top 6 winger? Even in his worst year he was still better than Ryan Strome will ever be.

 

[BlackDogg]

That would be sweet in a GDT right underneath the line combos.

And give them little hockey sticks. The D should have broken sticks.

 

[McShogun99]

The Eberle haters are the same people that pick one player each year and try to drive them out of town,it's an Oiler tradition. Now we've moved from Eberle to Lucic or Draisaitl. Eberle has been one of the top RW's in the league for his entire career and we just have him away for nothing instead of waiting for the right deal that would actually help the team.

 

[Soundwave]

He consistently puts up 50 point seasons, what more do you want from a top 6 winger? Even in his worst year he was still better than Ryan Strome will ever be.

A goal in the playoffs perhaps? He just didn't fit with this team, like where does he play? He wasn't playing well with RNH anymore, he never really seemed to click with Draisaitl either. So it was McDavid or bust, and he couldn't keep up with McDavid.

You can't pressure on Eberle, I think that much was evident. He is a good player to have if you can insulate him and not put any expectation on him and put him in a role where basically any offence he provides is like a bonus.

New York is a good fit for him. He can be the 4th/5th/6th top forward for them, East is a more open style of play, and no one in New York aside from the core fanbase of 15,000 folkes really gives a poop about ice hockey. None of that was possible here.

He should have been traded for James Neal, it was just sitting there waiting for us to take it. Give Nashville a damn pick. Done deal. Vegas then takes Eberle from them in the expansion draft.

 

[rboomercat90]

Totally agree with this. I'm not going to join the parade of folks crapping on LB. He hasn't been good enough, its obvious, but he could still improve.

But why not just give Ellis a start. Even just one. LB has had a bunch of chances and he hasn't grabbed the ball. What could possibly be so wrong with giving the other kid a shot? Just don't understand. Another reason to doubt this coaching staff.

Maybe what they’re worried goes wrong is Ellis plays well and takes a job away from LB after they invested so much time in him.
So much of what’s done in this organization makes so little sense you have to wonder how interested they are in winning.

 

[Burnoutboi]

And give them little hockey sticks. The D should have broken sticks.

Or we could have the muffins numbered, and all have arrows pointing to Letestu’s #55.

 

[Senor Catface]

The Eberle haters are the same people that pick one player each year and try to drive them out of town,it's an Oiler tradition. Now we've moved from Eberle to Lucic or Draisaitl. Eberle has been one of the top RW's in the league for his entire career and we just have him away for nothing instead of waiting for the right deal that would actually help the team.

Yep!

It's also funny that suddenly some of the biggest Eberle haters for years are now his "biggest fans" too.

 

[DaGap]

XXX - 97 - 29
4 -- 93 - XXX

That should have been our forward core for the next decade...

 

[McBeastMode]

Rumour is the opposing coaches may have found our PP sketch.