Post-Game Talk: Oilers took a working vacation too

[TheNumber4]

People get thrilled when theres a game when the team pumps in a shitload of goals but such games can often be counterproductive. The Oilers did not defend well in that game and were not as good at preventing chances but were rewarded handsomely for it. McD particularly smiling as everything in that game turned to gold, comes back the next game plays loose, first line is horrible and give up the first 3 EVGA. Like its gonna be easy because it was against Detroit.

I resist the impulse to question star players too much but our star players should know better by now.

Stars are another club that can score. We'll see what we got against them.

I don't agree with you at all that what the team is missing is more offensive players.

We don't have anythign resembling a shutdown line or a premium goalie. A defensive Center and a goalie, that would be my shopping list.

Yeh I would say they bought their press clippings too much. Not just the McDrai’s but the Nuges, Hymans of the world too thought they could start taking shifts off in the D-zone and falling asleep when danger was creeping into our net front. Not to mention our D has gradually declined its risk/reward calculations by allowing odd man’s again. It’s something that needs to be fixed if this team wants to be the contender they looked like during the win streak.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Tim Peel lives in St Louis. He must have had the boys over for dinner the day earlier and explained to them “how to do it”.

"Thats some kind of sleuthing Frank Hardy!

At this rate we'll have the crooks in jail before page 200 and have the case solved. "

Franklin W Dixon.

 

[Xerloris]

I think maybe you guys should get rid of who ever the f*** #73 is taking stupid ass anger induced penalties.

 

[brentashton]

"Thats some kind of sleuthing Frank Hardy!

At this rate we'll have the crooks in jail before page 200 and have the case solved. "

Franklin W Dixon.

I had all those books as a kid. In fact I think they might be in a box in my basement. FW Dixon, aka Brian MacFarlane’s dad. Probably only 5 of us know who the Hardy Boys are or who Brian MacFarlane is.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeh I would say they bought their press clippings too much. Not just the McDrai’s but the Nuges, Hymans of the world too thought they could start taking shifts off in the D-zone and falling asleep when danger was creeping into our net front. Not to mention our D has gradually declined its risk/reward calculations by allowing odd man’s again. It’s something that needs to be fixed if this team wants to be the contender they looked like during the win streak.

Yeah. Couple things. In the Anaheim game newly acquired Corey Perry and Evander Kane were chirping and high fiving like this is easy street, this is going to be great. Drai, next to them was nonplussed and likely thinking this is just Anaheim, and we didn't even play a good game.

FF to Wings game and McD and his line are all high on the result and yet the Oilers played a poor 200ft game. Not the ideal way to play.

When players on this team get too enthused it almost seems like they follow it up with shitty play.

Another thing though is as much as people complain about the officiating there were many games in the string where the Oilers were getting the good grace. Where Desharnais and Nurse and others were two hand crosschecking players into the ice as if thats something you can do.

Thus that VD actually looked surprised when the game is actually called. "What, you mean I can't give a shitty elbow at the end of the play"

The reality of things like this is a D like JD is limited. If he has the perpetual grace of officials to maim he can get by. But he doesn't know the line, its just for some reason some officials put the whistles in pockets. Some official crews this season have been pretty work to rule. Can't even be bothered making calls.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I had all those books as a kid. In fact I think they might be in a box in my basement. FW Dixon, aka Brian MacFarlane’s dad. Probably only 5 of us know who the Hardy Boys are or who Brian MacFarlane is.

I knew you would bro. hehe

I read all of them. Every freaking one. The School Library had a ton of the originals. The later versions were edited and missing depth and pages as Dixon had originally wrote. So that 220page books were reduced to something like 180 in the revisions. Some publisher had felt the early editions too wordy whereas all us kids loved Dixons use of vocabulary.

Bought all the ones the Library didn't have or shared with friends who bought them. Every boy in our class got into them back in the day.

I have about 30 in my basement in a box. I've kept most of the books I ever bought. Reading is special to me and always was.

My other guilty reading pleasure as a kid was reading all of Farley Mowats Canadiana type tales. Also was into reading everything by the Classic Mark Twain.

 

[alphahelix]

There is no line, the line is decided arbitrarily moment to moment by whatever ref and whatever league officials. Its a shit league.

 

[TheNumber4]

Yeah. Couple things. In the Anaheim game newly acquired Corey Perry and Evander Kane were chirping and high fiving like this is easy street, this is going to be great. Drai, next to them was nonplussed and likely thinking this is just Anaheim, and we didn't even play a good game.

FF to Wings game and McD and his line are all high on the result and yet the Oilers played a poor 200ft game. Not the ideal way to play.

When players on this team get too enthused it almost seems like they follow it up with shitty play.

Another thing though is as much as people complain about the officiating there were many games in the string where the Oilers were getting the good grace. Where Desharnais and Nurse and others were two hand crosschecking players into the ice as if thats something you can do.

Thus that VD actually looked surprised when the game is actually called. "What, you mean I can't give a shitty elbow at the end of the play"

The reality of things like this is a D like JD is limited. If he has the perpetual grace of officials to maim he can get by. But he doesn't know the line, its just for some reason some officials put the whistles in pockets. Some official crews this season have been pretty work to rule. Can't even be bothered making calls.

VD does toe the line between playing hard and crossing the line. But for the most part he’s been successful at it or atleast as successful as you can be playing that type of game. But can’t argue he won’t get caught with some of his antics eventually.

But in his defence NHL officiating is so inconsistent in this League it’s not always easy to tow that line. We saw a net front cross check get called recently that I haven’t seen in a long time. Meanwhile Ekholm buries a guy net front into the post and does not get called. And VD mangles someone’s back and it also doesn’t get called. VD usually gets away with his after play jabs and elbows and cross checks but with officiating how it is, he can’t always rely on the line being where he thinks it is. It’ll be crossed here and there with his style of play.

 

[Drivesaitl]

VD does toe the line between playing hard and crossing the line. But for the most part he’s been successful at it or atleast as successful as you can be playing that type of game. But can’t argue he won’t get caught with some of his antics eventually.

But in his defence NHL officiating is so inconsistent in this League it’s not always easy to tow that line. We saw a net front cross check get called recently that I haven’t seen in a long time. Meanwhile Ekholm buries a guy net front and does get called. And VD mangles someone’s back and it also doesn’t get called. VD usually gets away with his after play jabs and elbows and cross checks but with officiating how it is, he can’t always rely on the line being where he thinks it is. It’ll be crossed here and there with his style of play.

NHL officiating is inconsistent. But one thing that is consistent, and is human nature, is when you cross officials, and really cross the line with them they don't forget, and they do take your name down. Its not incidental VD got the unsportsmanlike addon. its been noted with him before. He's earned it.

Watch him when he goes off. its not a little bit, its like a 30 second stream of raging, swearing, sheer anger. I'd throw him out of the game.

Players like JD, it seems they don't even stop to consider that officials are a fraternity, are people, and that if you rage and scream and yell profanities at them they will damn well remember it, and they will dislike you for it.

JD really crosses the line in this regard and did in the playoffs. Its not just that he's taking dumb penalites in the game. He's setting himself up to get penalties in the future, and to get no benefit of doubt.

I'm reminded that when I see VD raging I think of a lack of discipline and control, and really the kind of ranting I expect from flames and not Oilers. Its a bad look. I'll complain about it whether its VD or say Coleman doing it. Shut yer yap ass!

heh

 

[mcdingdong]

The W streak was predicated on desperation of a couple of the best players on Earth to row the club back into the race so that it isn't a completely wasted season.



Yeah, you don't get to paint me as gloom and doom. I was one of the few posters here that thought a coaching reset could change the season around.

But still, as you mention the team has a lot of holes. Unlike you I don't know how they get addressed with limited capspace.

In anycase the Oilers lost last night and got hammered. Its not like any of us are making these comments after a W.

Attributing the win streak to a couple of the best players on earth is extremely disingenuous. McDrai point production during the streak was actual pedestrian by their standards. That coupled with frequent depth scoring and excellent goaltending doesn't sound a whole lot like our superstars dragging 18 corpses around.

Not in response to you but as a general comment: I won't even go into the goaltending stuff anymore because 1) many, many Cup finals teams over the last 2 decades haven't had the kind of elite goaltending people seem to think is the base requirement for any cup run and 2) some folks on here sincerely believe Skinner is trash, which is objectively wrong.

Thought we played poorly in our own zone and undisciplined yesterday overall. Our D and W couldn't get a zone clear to save their lives. Wouldn't mind seeing a forward line shakeup tbh.

 

[TheNumber4]

NHL officiating is inconsistent. But one thing that is consistent, and is human nature, is when you cross officials, and really cross the line with them they don't forget, and they do take your name down. Its not incidental VD got the unsportsmanlike addon. its been noted with him before. He's earned it.

Watch him when he goes off. its not a little bit, its like a 30 second stream of raging, swearing, sheer anger. I'd throw him out of the game.

Players like JD, it seems they don't even stop to consider that officials are a fraternity, are people, and that if you rage and scream and yell profanities at them they will damn well remember it, and they will dislike you for it.

JD really crosses the line in this regard and did in the playoffs. Its not just that he's taking dumb penalites in the game. He's setting himself up to get penalties in the future, and to get no benefit of doubt.

I'm reminded that when I see VD raging I think of a lack of discipline and control, and really the kind of ranting I expect from flames and not Oilers. Its a bad look. I'll complain about it whether its VD or say Coleman doing it. Shut yer yap ass!

heh

Those shit for brains Refs will hold grudges and take names. They shouldn’t but I agree they will. And the NHL rulebook that gives them too much ability for judgement calls allows this type of subjective infraction calling.

That said I’m not sure that VD has gained that reputation as of yet. Hard nosed defenceman like Zadorov, Gudas, Dillon, Seeler Manson still get much more PIMs than Vinny, and by eye Vinny probably does more extra curricular a than them. It’s something for him to watch out for though and make sure he doesn’t cross that line on a level where he gets reputation for though.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Attributing the win streak to a couple of the best players on earth is extremely disingenuous. McDrai point production during the streak was actual pedestrian by their standards. That coupled with frequent depth scoring and excellent goaltending doesn't sound a whole lot like our superstars dragging 18 corpses around.

Not in response to you but as a general comment: I won't even go into the goaltending stuff anymore because 1) many, many Cup finals teams over the last 2 decades haven't had the kind of elite goaltending people seem to think is the base requirement for any cup run and 2) some folks on here sincerely believe Skinner is trash, which is objectively wrong.

Thought we played poorly in our own zone and undisciplined yesterday overall. Our D and W couldn't get a zone clear to save their lives. Wouldn't mind seeing a forward line shakeup tbh.

Didn't atribute the win streak to just the two guys but I did attribute that the desperation would have started around them. That would be felt in the room.

This is a key year that determines a lot. we couldn't afford as a franchise to have it as a wasted season. it is my theory that this seasons result will determine the Drai future here and next contract decision, and maybe ultimately McD too.

I do think the whole club, management, org recognized the severe gravity of that. Sorry for any confusion in the wording. The whole team worked hard to get out of the hole.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Those shit for brains Refs will hold grudges and take names. They shouldn’t but I agree they will. And the NHL rulebook that gives them too much ability for judgement calls allows this type of subjective infraction calling.

That said I’m not sure that VD has gained that reputation as of yet. Hard nosed defenceman like Zadorov, Gudas, Dillon, Seeler Manson still get much more PIMs than Vinny, and by eye Vinny probably does more extra curricular a than them. It’s something for him to watch out for though and make sure he doesn’t cross that line on a level where he gets reputation for though.

I think officials will excuse some of the hard edged players. Provided they are not hard edged WITH the officials. Some play is just hard play and competing. The unsportsmanlike penalty does not occur by accident, and theres usually a precedent and was in this case. Every official in the league would have seen the VD raging in the playoffs. I said at the time it was monumentally stupid for VD to be gesturing to the officials raging at them. You just don't do that. Some fans may like that sort of thing but its not a smart thing to be doing.

it isn't when drai is flapping his gums either.

 

[russ99]

I think one solution to their lack of depth scoring can be running three strong lines with McDavid, Drai, and Nuge all down the middle. Oilers should play to their strengths, and one of their strengths is the center position. You need at least three strong lines in the playoffs, all of which have complementary skillsets. Something like this may work:

Kane-McDavid-Holloway
McLeod-Draisaitl-Foegele
Hyman-RNH-Perry

Been pushing for Nuge at center since last year's playoffs.

Not looking forward to playoff space/pressure limiting his game at wing again this year.

 

[mcdingdong]

Didn't atribute the win streak to just the two guys but I did attribute that the desperation would have started around them. That would be felt in the room.

This is a key year that determines a lot. we couldn't afford as a franchise to have it as a wasted season. it is my theory that this seasons result will determine the Drai future here and next contract decision, and maybe ultimately McD too.

I do think the whole club, management, org recognized the severe gravity of that. Sorry for any confusion in the wording. The whole team worked hard to get out of the hole.

Well stated, I agree 100% that this year has major implications moving forward.

 

[TheNumber4]

I think officials will excuse some of the hard edged players. Provided they are not hard edged WITH the officials. Some play is just hard play and competing. The unsportsmanlike penalty does not occur by accident, and theres usually a precedent and was in this case. Every official in the league would have seen the VD raging in the playoffs. I said at the time it was monumentally stupid for VD to be gesturing to the officials raging at them. You just don't do that. Some fans may like that sort of thing but its not a smart thing to be doing.

it isn't when drai is flapping his gums either.

Yeh he shouldn’t be raging against officials. Not in that way. He does deserve explanations though if he expects to learn where that line is. But doing it in that way can’t lead to anything good.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I think one solution to their lack of depth scoring can be running three strong lines with McDavid, Drai, and Nuge all down the middle. Oilers should play to their strengths, and one of their strengths is the center position. You need at least three strong lines in the playoffs, all of which have complementary skillsets. Something like this may work:

Kane-McDavid-Holloway
McLeod-Draisaitl-Foegele
Hyman-RNH-Perry

The issue here is I don't think Holloway is ready to play those minutes, ESPECIALLY defensively. and that second line worked for a bit but Foegele has completely fallen off again.

 

[Ibanez]

I hate to say this but think about who lobbied hard to get Connor Brown here. Then think about who lobbied hard so that Foegele could get a new contract (and overpay) here.

Its Captain Connor McDavid. I even linked an article couple days ago where McD is saying he really wanted the Oilers to keep Foegele because he really fits in on and OFF the ice. he actually said that.

McD was lobbying for the team to get Brown last two offseasons.

Unfortunately a small part of the baggage of having Connor McDavid is giving in to his playthings being around. imo a Captain shouldn't be doing that, and the team shouldn't be listening.

I would tend to agree with you. Sure they can consult him. But ultimately the gm needs to bring the best that he can in. Foegle I’m less hard on. He’s ok. Little overpaid. I hope we can use him in a trade.

But the brown signing may be one of the worst single transactions in all of the league for last year….

 

[Duke74]

The issue here is I don't think Holloway is ready to play those minutes, ESPECIALLY defensively. and that second line worked for a bit but Foegele has completely fallen off again.

Foegele and McLeod fell off when they were separated from Draisaitl. They're not players that can thrive on their own. They're complimentary players.

 

[brentashton]

I would tend to agree with you. Sure they can consult him. But ultimately the gm needs to bring the best that he can in. Foegle I’m less hard on. He’s ok. Little overpaid. I hope we can use him in a trade.

But the brown signing may be one of the worst single transactions in all of the league for last year….

You’re not far off. I’m just glad it’s for one (nay, two) years impact. Cant imagine having HR Pufnstuf Gaudreau in CBJ at 10 sheets for another 5-6 years. Woof.

 

[elmeroil]

My hope is this: Now that they got themselves in a good spot vs where they were when they were 10 points out of a playoff spot, they are relaxing a bit and we might see win one lose one win 2 lose 1 kind of thing then they start locking it down defensively closer to playoffs again.

We know what they are capable of when they play the defensive system, as long as they are playing that game when the playoffs start they might be ok. I'll wait to judge them too much until we see what kind of run they can go on.

 

[Kirby]

We get it. You're on a mission to shit on McD

I'm on a mission to call a spade a spade. McDavid played poor defensively. Can he do better? Of course he can, he's shown he can do substantially better than this, as recent as last week against Vegas.

But blaming his linemates and suggesting McDavid played great defensively...take the glasses off. The Oilers go where McDavid takes them. When McDavid commits to consistent, solid play in the d-zone and doesn't cheat for offense (the fastest player on the planet in about 7 different ways...he will beat everyone out of the zone regardless of where's he's starting) the Oilers as a whole follow-suit. When McDavid doesn't play that way, and isn't held accountable to play that way, the team also follows suit.

Unfortunately, 6 assists only count for one game, and if not for that the story against Detroit would of been on shit commitment to team defense. When you can't do that every game (put 6+ points), you have to then commit to playing D until the breaks come. That didn't happen, and the Oilers look like collective dog shit as a result.