Rumor: Rumor Thread 3.0: Gagner fit for a King?

[Dorian2]

Has he improved the defence at all? We still have no goalies signed past the end of this season, he really needs to get on that. Would be horrible to go into this summer without any goaltender signed. He's made a few good trades and signings but some of them were later then they should have been. Hendricks for Dubnyk(Dubnyk should have been moved in the off season for a 3rd/4th line vet grinder), Bryzgalov signing(guy was playing in the ECHL while we lost any hopes of the playoffs). This team still has a long way to go and MacT hasnt addressed goaltending or defence long term. Next year isn't looking any brighter for Oiler fans then this year if Mact can't get the defence and goaltending up to at least league average.

He can't fix all the mistakes made previously in a season. Top 6, bottom 6, Centers, 1/2 D, 3/4 D, hell, even 5/6 D, Goaltending. I don't expect him to fix the entire list of issues in a season. But he's already shored up some of those issues with Gordon, Perron, Hendricks, Ference etc.

Maybe you're expecting miracles, but I'm not.

 

[Groucho]

FWIW, Bryzgalov wasn't playing in the ECHL. He attended a training camp to try and get in shape, that's it. A lot of teams were apprehensive about him, not just us.

 

[Spawn]

He can't fix all the mistakes made previously in a season. Top 6, bottom 6, Centers, 1/2 D, 3/4 D, hell, even 5/6 D, Goaltending. I don't expect him to fix the entire list of issues in a season. But he's already shored up some of those issues with Gordon, Perron, Hendricks, Ference etc.

Maybe you're expecting miracles, but I'm not.

Did he actually shore up any of these issues though? The Oilers are a worse team in almost every statistical category compared to last season. The team is substantially worse than last year.

Miracles? How about just not getting worse.

 

[yukoner88]

Did he actually shore up any of these issues though? The Oilers are a worse team in almost every statistical category compared to last season. The team is substantially worse than last year.

Miracles? How about just not getting worse.

Brutal goaltending for the first 20games really sunk this team, and for the short term, that issue has been solved. If Scrivens re'signs, and Bryz re-signs or a capable back up is brought in, goaltending issues are then solved for the next few seasons.

With Dubnyk out, and Hendricks in, the team has played way better. He's definitely not the guy to save us, but you can see the way the Oilers played in those last 10games before the Olympics, their play was much improved.

Its all baby steps, and they're steps in the right direction

 

[jbean]

Well as an Oiler fan I'm just ecstatic that we will probably trade a few decent players for 2nd and 3rd rounders.

 

[Raab]

Did he actually shore up any of these issues though? The Oilers are a worse team in almost every statistical category compared to last season. The team is substantially worse than last year.

Miracles? How about just not getting worse.

Exactly, the way I see it we basically played musical chairs and brought in Perron. I'm not saying MacT has been bad, I'm saying it once again looks like the Oilers have no plan in place for what type of team they want to build and that we should hold off on all this talk that he's been great.

 

[jbean]

Exactly, the way I see it we basically played musical chairs and brought in Perron. I'm not saying MacT has been bad, I'm saying it once again looks like the Oilers have no plan in place for what type of team they want to build and that we should hold off on all this talk that he's been great.

And coming into his second year I expect to see some results. He has to take this team outside of the bottom 10 in the league. There can be no more "well we started this plan 5 years ago" garbage.

 

[Raab]

FWIW, Bryzgalov wasn't playing in the ECHL. He attended a training camp to try and get in shape, that's it. A lot of teams were apprehensive about him, not just us.

Did other teams have goalies with a combined GAA over 4 for the first 20 games of the season roughly? MacT could have signed Bryzgalov in the summer or even that stretch. Anyone with half an eye for talent could see that Dubnyk wasn't the answer here. I still get a laugh out of the posters who said they wouldn't trade Dubnyk for Price because of their respective price tags.

 

[Raab]

Well as an Oiler fan I'm just ecstatic that we will probably trade a few decent players for 2nd and 3rd rounders.

I'm guessing you missed this emoticon

 

[CupofOil]

He can't fix all the mistakes made previously in a season. Top 6, bottom 6, Centers, 1/2 D, 3/4 D, hell, even 5/6 D, Goaltending. I don't expect him to fix the entire list of issues in a season. But he's already shored up some of those issues with Gordon, Perron, Hendricks, Ference etc.

Maybe you're expecting miracles, but I'm not.

Miracles? How about even minor improvements?
This team is regressing which considering how bad the Oilers have been for years is saying A LOT.

You can blame the goaltending at the beginning of the year but who was responsible for not addressing the goaltending in the offseason?
You can blame the crappy defense but who was responsible for not addressing the defensive issues in the offseason?
You can blame the coaching but who hired Eakins and wanted to keep Bucky and Smith?

The team is worse in every category this season.
I don't expect miracles in one season but how about some improvement ANY improvement to get this team out of the cellar?
The team is worse this season under MacT's watch. This is a fact.
I'm not writing him off as a GM long term but he has certainly made some critical mistakes that sunk this season before it even started.

 

[Spawn]

Brutal goaltending for the first 20games really sunk this team, and for the short term, that issue has been solved. If Scrivens re'signs, and Bryz re-signs or a capable back up is brought in, goaltending issues are then solved for the next few seasons.

With Dubnyk out, and Hendricks in, the team has played way better. He's definitely not the guy to save us, but you can see the way the Oilers played in those last 10games before the Olympics, their play was much improved.

Its all baby steps, and they're steps in the right direction

The record isn't bad the last 10 games but I don't think their play is much improved. We've benefited from some incredible goaltending for sure, but they've been outshot by about 10 shots per game over that span.

 

[Panda Bear]

I'm guessing you missed this emoticon

It's not a bad strategy if you do it right. When you sell at the deadline, buyers pay a premium with their draft picks for players. At the draft, buyers pay low with their draft picks for players.

Run for the cup? Players are coveted. At the draft? Picks are coveted. We could feasibly upgrade our team for next season just by flipping picks from the deadline to use at the draft.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Brutal goaltending for the first 20games really sunk this team, and for the short term, that issue has been solved. If Scrivens re'signs, and Bryz re-signs or a capable back up is brought in, goaltending issues are then solved for the next few seasons.

With Dubnyk out, and Hendricks in, the team has played way better. He's definitely not the guy to save us, but you can see the way the Oilers played in those last 10games before the Olympics, their play was much improved.

Its all baby steps, and they're steps in the right direction

The Oilers have been outshot 361 to 265 in their last 10 games... basically being outshot by almost 10 shots per game.

They are playing like crap and the goalies are standing on their heads holding them in there.

Other than the goaltending obviously improving... this team is no better and arguably WORSE than they've been all season.

 

[Tarus]

Brutal goaltending for the first 20games really sunk this team, and for the short term, that issue has been solved. If Scrivens re'signs, and Bryz re-signs or a capable back up is brought in, goaltending issues are then solved for the next few seasons.

With Dubnyk out, and Hendricks in, the team has played way better. He's definitely not the guy to save us, but you can see the way the Oilers played in those last 10games before the Olympics, their play was much improved.

Its all baby steps, and they're steps in the right direction

And brutal coaching sunk the entire year, including the goaltending in the early going with Eakin's patented "always leave an opponent open in front of the net" system.

The team hasn't been improving either, not even with goaltending being less of a problem. Outside of a couple of unsustainable career best games from Scrivins, the team itself was absolutely trounced in the games leading up to the Olympic break. They were very much looking like the team that barely managed to scrape out 3 wins in the month of October.

Not that their 5 win a month pace between Nov - Jan was any kind of huge improvement over that of course.

 

[PaPaDee]

Can we please save this thread for rumours only?

 

[Halibut]

The Oilers have been outshot 361 to 265 in their last 10 games... basically being outshot by almost 10 shots per game.

They are playing like crap and the goalies are standing on their heads holding them in there.

Other than the goaltending obviously improving... this team is no better and arguably WORSE than they've been all season.

Right and the goaltenders are both UFA after this season so as it stands we're looking to be in a worse position next year until MacT signs a goalie. Could be Scrivens but for all we know it could be a tandem of Labarbera and Bachman.

 

[Groucho]

Did other teams have goalies with a combined GAA over 4 for the first 20 games of the season roughly? MacT could have signed Bryzgalov in the summer or even that stretch. Anyone with half an eye for talent could see that Dubnyk wasn't the answer here. I still get a laugh out of the posters who said they wouldn't trade Dubnyk for Price because of their respective price tags.

Nobody saw Dubnyk's collapse of epic proportion coming. The three years previous he had very respectable numbers. It's not surprising that coaching and management tried to let him play out of his funk. MacT knew he would have been raked over the coals if he had tried to make a trade, and Bryz was never a sure thing. That's why nobody else who needed goalie depth went out on a limb for him either.

 

[Aceboogie]

Miracles? How about even minor improvements?
This team is regressing which considering how bad the Oilers have been for years is saying A LOT.

You can blame the goaltending at the beginning of the year but who was responsible for not addressing the goaltending in the offseason?
You can blame the crappy defense but who was responsible for not addressing the defensive issues in the offseason?
You can blame the coaching but who hired Eakins and wanted to keep Bucky and Smith?

The team is worse in every category this season.
I don't expect miracles in one season but how about some improvement ANY improvement to get this team out of the cellar?
The team is worse this season under MacT's watch. This is a fact.
I'm not writing him off as a GM long term but he has certainly made some critical mistakes that sunk this season before it even started.

MacT went after Schneider AND Bernier, offering up more for both of them. Is it his fault they didn't trade within the division.

Which goalies would you have brought in this offseason. Which goalies were an upgrade over Dubnyk (coming off a .920 year), could be had for a reasonable price, and were actually available? Which magical goalie could we have gotten. And why didn't Winnipeg, or Calgary, or Florida or any other team get these goalies? The two goalies that were available weren't coming to Edmonton unless Yakupov was going back the other way. Mact tried to improve the goaltending situation, but pulled out when it was too unreasonable. And if you believe that would have been a good deal I don't know what to think

Which critical mistakes did he make? He was one of the most active GMs in the league.

How could he forsee Dubnyk and Smid compeltly crapping the bed, or Yakupov going into a sophomore slump, or Eberle putting up average numbers.

This guy made every reasonable move a GM could make in signing FAs to reasonablels deals. The only way he could make this team better was by trading one of the big 4. And last time I checked those deals are few and far between.

More attention has to be put on the players and their under performance

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Can we please save this thread for rumours only?

I'm going to nuke this thread because I don't feel like cleaning up all of this crap. Hopefully the next thread keeps more on topic.