Post-Game Talk: Oilers 3, Wild 2

[McBeastMode]

He was credited an assist on the Lucic goal, not the Puljujärvi goal.

Sorry you correct...

 

[MoontoScott]

I think an underrated part of Puls game is his physical strength. On his goal his second effort demonstrated just how strong this guy is,

 

[McFlyingV]

Looch seemed to find a lot of space today, he wasn't on the wrong side of the puck too often and found a way to skate with the whole line. Overall he had a pretty good game. He scored a real nice shot on the one good opportunity, he was banging and going all game. He strikes his opportunities real well

He also bulldozed Dumba with the puck on Puljujarvi's goal. He's been doing that a lot lately just skating through guys and having them bounce off like flies on a windshield. I really like the Lucic we're seeing this year.

 

[McFlyingV]

Not on that play actually.

But I'm pretty sure it's Staal who touches the puck last before Lucic.

Drai knocked it off Staal's stick and McDavid got the 2nd assist because apparently they didn't consider that possession by Staal. At the same time McDavid is the one who hit the puck forward off the face-off to Lucic on the Puljujarvi goal. He deserved at least one assist on those 2. He created the breakdown to lead to Lucic's goal, but by definition he deserved an assist more on the Puljujarvi goal than on Lucic's, even though he didn't do a whole lot on Puljujarvi's.

 

[Throttlehead]

Solid road win, all that, take the 2pts and get out of dodge but just inexplicable coaching decisions continuing and starting with the lines anywhere after the 1st line. Plus that we scratch Slepy WTH, and play Caggiulia and Strome and Khaira ahead of him. I don't get it.

Drai gets a point on the one EV shift he has had in several games where he's spared playing with Strome and Khaira. I'm sure he'll be back with them for much more punishment.

Speaking of which Khaira has the puck inside his own blueline, all he has to do is move the puck out or skate it out. Instead he's caught in some kind of quicksand, gets stripped from behind (my lord) and Wild sustain another minute of pressure in Oilers end due to the worst clearing attempt I've seen this season. Which is stating a lot on this team.

I saw Strome make one good play today. It was a set play on something he was TOLD to do off a faceoff. That's it. Yet this guy is getting regular shifted with a very good Center, and getting ample PP time.

So that Strome is being gifted the opportunity not only to screw with Draisaitl EV production but RNH PP production. Man that guys a closer. Worst I've seen since Belanger.

The lines and player management by McLellan and unit assignments are just mysterious. As if he's trying to expedite playing himself out of a job.

Did you and the wife trade your Yakupov jerseys for Draisaitl jerseys or what? Dissing every player on the team does not make Draisaitl's current play any better.

 

[Soundwave]

Leon Draisaitl even strength points this year 21 ES points in 29 games.

Auston Matthews has 20 ES points in 26 games. Auston Matthews is going to get 12 million per in the summer maybe more.

Lets take a deep breath with Leon. The PP is the only reason he is not a PPG player again this year, and that is more on Jay Woodcroft than anyone else, even McDavid's point totals are being suppressed by our horrific PP setup. Draisaitl is not going to be a career 6 points/year PP player, that is ridiculously low and will self-correct probably even as this year goes on. So RELAX.

Leon will be fine. Even in an "off" year he's producing at a higher PPG clip than Nugent Hopkins is in a "good" year.

 

[oobga]

He also bulldozed Dumba with the puck on Puljujarvi's goal. He's been doing that a lot lately just skating through guys and having them bounce off like flies on a windshield. I really like the Lucic we're seeing this year.

Lucic has climbed to 47th (>200 mins played) in the NHL for 5v5 points/60 with 2.33. Drai 50th, Pulju 53rd. McDavid 9th. Nuge 79th.

Hey, we have 5 top line (top 90) 5v5 forwards

Lucic's 1.22 5v5 P/60 was a career worst for him. Last year Lucic had 23 5v5 points vs 17 this year already. Even more impressive is 11/17 of Lucic's 5v5 points were away from McDavid. So far he has achieved his goal of improving 5v5 production I'd say. Now if only our PP wasn't so terrible.

 

[Drivesaitl]

^^^How am I wrong? The three worst forwards on the team are in no particular order, Caggiulia, Strome, Khaira. With apologies to EV Letestu who is another cooler on this team. 2 of them are playing with Draisaitl.

This is Draisaitl with 77pts last season and 49 assists having virtually nothing to pass to, and nothing to play with. Sometimes we eke out a win despite the horrible depth, and line assignments but more often than not its a problem.

The above mentioned, btw, are the ONLY forwards on the team that would not be helpful for Draisaitl. He can play well with around 7 forwards we have on the club. Not well with the other 4. Is it just bad luck he has two of those on his line? lmfao.

What drives me is this is virtually the WORST POSSIBLE line Drai could have. The only way it could get possibly worse is switching out the inept Strome for the incompetent Caggiulia. Then I would know he's being consequenced. lol

 

[Oilers in NS]

Good effort by the Oilers.

Few things in this game though:
- Afternoon game and in Minnesota. And we won?
- The PP is so awful. How they just keep throwing the same players out and doing the same plays just baffles me. Quit forcing it down low. Why not try JP on the PP, I dont get it.
- This team really struggles to get the puck out of their zone. Blind wrap arounds. Why does it seem like they can never get any zip on the pucks when they ring it around the boards.
- Why does JP only get 9mins of ice time? He played the least amount of any oiler. The coaching staff needs to put players in a position to succeed. Give him some PP time ...
- Davidson is such a huge upgrade on Gryba and allows Auvitu to play his game.
- Maybe Maroon should sit for a game. Why is Cagguila in the lineup over Slesphev?.
- Talbot looked calm and collected in net. So much easier to watch.

I agree with ya. They just don’t do the basics like SCREENING THE GOALIE. Puljujarvi would be great in front of the net. Maclellal has a love thing with Letestu. Time to change it up

 

[Oilers in NS]

Davidson is looking like he was defensively 2 seasons ago. Much like that stretch he's winning a ton of puck battles and is using his great positioning to limit opposition. That season his offensive game was starting to grow before he got injured, but we haven't seen that yet. As he gets more comfortable I think we'll see him utilize his shot a little more and not be afraid to join in the rush a bit.

I think when Sekera and Larsson are back that Benning might be hard pressed to stick in the lineup. I personally would run:

Nurse-Larsson
Sekera-Russell
Klefbom-Davidson

AGREED 100%. If it don’t work , run Klefbom with Larsson

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Just read the Oilers handed Minny their first home loss in regulation since November 4th. 7-0-1 over that stretch.

 

[oobga]

How am I wrong. The three worst forwards on the team are in no particular order, Caggiulia, Strome, Khaira. With apologies to EV Letestu who is another cooler on this team. 2 of them are playing with Draisaitl.

This is Draisaitl with 77pts last season and 49 assists having virtually nothing to pass to, and nothing to play with. Sometimes we eke out a win despite the horrible depth, and line assignments but more often than not its a problem.

The above mentioned, btw, are the ONLY forwards on the team that would not be helpful for Draisaitl. He can play well with around 7 forwards we have in the org. Not well with the other 4. Is it just bad luck he has two of those on his line? lmfao.

I hope Chia is paying attention and realizes he needs to get some speedy wingers for Drai, but I think another issue at play here is that Drai hasn't played that much C for us in his career yet. Last year and this year it was just a last resort thing for McLellan. I think we were super lucky (or unlucky if you consider the contract negotiation over the summer) that Drai went on that little heater in the playoffs for a handful of games.

He was actually dominated in that 2nd round in terms of possession, but his line cashed in on every opportunity. Could have easily went the other way if the luck was flipped, and I wouldn't have blamed him, the guy hasn't been playing C. You can't just expect a guy that has barely any experience at C to just rule the league any time you're desperate enough to throw him there for a game or 2.

I think he is learning right now, and struggling a bit. The winger quality isn't there for sure, but he's also getting the weaker comp. I hope McLellan keeps him there regardless and he can keep learning the position. And of course, I hope Chia can find wingers that mesh better with Drai over time.

 

[Samus44]

Leon Draisaitl even strength points this year 21 ES points in 29 games.

Auston Matthews has 20 ES points in 26 games. Auston Matthews is going to get 12 million per in the summer maybe more.

Lets take a deep breath with Leon. The PP is the only reason he is not a PPG player again this year, and that is more on Jay Woodcroft than anyone else, even McDavid's point totals are being suppressed by our horrific PP setup. Draisaitl is not going to be a career 6 points/year PP player, that is ridiculously low and will self-correct probably even as this year goes on. So RELAX.

Leon will be fine. Even in an "off" year he's producing at a higher PPG clip than Nugent Hopkins is in a "good" year.

He's also played more than half his games, and got the majority of his even strength production playing with the best offensive player in the league. If Draisaitl was on his own the entire season and wasn't with McDavid most of the time at evens and in OT he wouldn't have this kind of production.

You always have to consider with Nuge that he benefits the least from McDavid of any player on the team and is in fact hurt production wise. Nuge often gets 30 seconds per PP of ice time, he doesn't get put in the best offensive situations like against a tired unit after icing, he doesn't get the best linemate in OT and usually has mediocre ones at evens, he also doesn't get easy minutes either although they aren't as brutal as last year. He gets slightly easier D pairings and that's about it but even then with D playing more than forwards it's not like he isn't facing top airings and it's pretty much always top 4 guys. Draisaitl has rarely faced this degree of burden.

Draisaitl is an excellent player but he got greedy and asked to be paid as a top 10 forward and CLEARLY hasn't been one, you can make excuses all you want for him but he needs to be better at his salary. He'll be worth it in a couple years but it was a dumbass contract and any player should know it opens them up to criticism and higher expectations. Draisaitl still hasn't driven a line on his own for any sustained period of time and it's a concern. McDavid is clearly going to significantly boost his points so you really should mention that. Nuge is leading the team in goals and has done it almost entirely without the help of the teams two highest paid players.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Just read the Oilers handed Minny their first home loss in regulation since November 4th. 7-0-1 over that stretch.

The tide has definitely turned.

Oilers are 7-5 in their last 12 games and have outscored their competition 43-35 over that stretch.

If they didn't have that disastrous start to the season they would be ok right now and at that 12 game pace they would be looking at a 96 pt season (and a likely wildcard spot).

Obviously that's not the case though and they have to make up 7+ pts to get back into the playoff picture, but I think they have improved enough to at least give themselves a fighting chance to make up that gap over the next 49 games.

 

[t0nedeff]

Khairas been fine how quickly forget how good he has been playing. The real killer on that line is Strome cause he has no idea how to cycle.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Khairas been fine how quickly forget how good he has been playing. The real killer on that line is Strome cause he has no idea how to cycle.

He also doesn't work on the boards. He'll kind of go to the area, but doesn't actually play for the puck. He's the epitome of a passenger.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

The tide has definitely turned.

Oilers are 7-5 in their last 12 games and have outscored their competition 43-35 over that stretch.

If they didn't have that disastrous start to the season they would be ok right now and at that 12 game pace they would be looking at a 96 pt season (and a likely wildcard spot).

Obviously that's not the case though and they have to make up 7+ pts to get back into the playoff picture, but I think they have improved enough to at least give themselves a fighting chance to make up that gap over the next 49 games.

They've dug themselves a grave, a slightly more than shallow one, but it's certainly doable with the cavalry coming back from injuries.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He also doesn't work on the boards. He'll kind of go to the area, but doesn't actually play for the puck. He's the epitome of a passenger.

Not a passenger, he's just punching way over weight trying to play at this level, and with Draisaitl.

Outside of a lucky out of body experience in Montreal Khaira has 3 NHL goals. What on Earth is he doing with a player with a 49assist season? Only Chia knows.

People think Khaira has turned some kind of corner?

Khaira was MIA again today. Totally screwed up a zone clear on one of the weakest plays you well ever see trying to get the puck out and also totally screwed up a rush where Drai shot off the pad giving an easy rebound goal if Khaira had just continued skating.

I don't dislike the player or anything, but he's a 4th line player if anything. Frankly he isn't an NHL calibre player at this point.

The lol of this line centered by Drai is Leon doing the work and digging so Strome can watch the play and load up his big cannon..

Drai must be wondering WTF is going on.

 

[McShogun99]

Just put Draisaitl on the 2nd line with RNH. We don't haven the wingers for 3 scoring lines.

 

[Throttlehead]

Khairas been fine how quickly forget how good he has been playing. The real killer on that line is Strome cause he has no idea how to cycle.

Kassian and Khaira had good chemistry and were playing well together, I have no idea why the coach wont drop Strome down and put up Kassian, that line would kill it on the cycle and wear teams down badly. All 3 of them are really good puck protectors, especially Draisaitl and Kassian.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Khaira has shown recently that he is a NHL player. I would tend to agree that Strome has been the weak link on that line.

 

[shoop]

People think Khaira has turned some kind of corner?

Khaira was MIA again today. Totally screwed up a zone clear on one of the weakest plays you well ever see trying to get the puck out and also totally screwed up a rush where Drai shot off the pad giving an easy rebound goal if Khaira had just continued skating.

I don't dislike the player or anything, but he's a 4th line player if anything. Frankly he isn't an NHL calibre player at this point.

I think you are over stating things a little bit on Khaira.

He definitely had a bad game today. I think calling him not NHL calibre is a bit much though. I would definitley have him on the fourth line.

 

[walktheboulavard]

Just put Draisaitl on the 2nd line with RNH. We don't haven the wingers for 3 scoring lines.

I think Puljujarvi would be nice winger for Drai, but right now he's gotta develop and feel good about his game. When he was drafted, I along with a couple of other posters thought he could potentially be nice line driver with Drai as he would adds significant speed. On the other hand Pulju is also the perfect winger for Connor, come to think of it, imagine the damage a line of Drai, McDavid and JP could inflict

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Just put Draisaitl on the 2nd line with RNH. We don't haven the wingers for 3 scoring lines.

I think that's the best way to go. Strome seems lost as a support player to an elite talent, but if he's got the right wingers I'm fine with him centring the 3rd line. Especially if you can have Khaira and Kassian carrying the 4th.

Lucic-McDavid-Pulju
Cammy-RNH-Draisaitl
Maroon-Strome-Slepyshev
Khaira-Letestu-Kassian

 

[Kolja]

The real killer on that line is Strome cause he has no idea how to cycle.

This! Was so notible on the PP in the 3rd that the play died on Stromes stick. Like he had no creative idea what so ever. He had all the time in the world and acted like a deer in the headlights.

If Pulj can't brake the 1st PP I can't for the life of me see why he shouldn't be on the 2nd.