Pre-Game Talk: 10/25 vs Washington

[hallhopkinseberle]

Draisaitl with Yamamoto 39% Corsi, without 40%

Draisaitl with Pulju 36% Corsi without 42%

Whats Pulju and Yams corsi without Drai?

 

[hallhopkinseberle]

You know its ok to have different opinions right guys? get all your arguing out before the GDT please. its painful to look for good conversation amongst all this silliness.

I just find it silly to hate a player because of his size.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Whats Pulju and Yams corsi without Drai?

Pulju without, 60%
Yamamoto without 51%

The biggest difference there imo is Pulju has mostly played with Strome who seems to give everyone a massive Corsi boost. Yamamoto has played with Drai, Strome and McDavid. McDavids Corsi numbers hover around 50-55, but that's cause he has been facing exclusively top lines.

That said, both players are much better away from Drai so far this season possession wise

 

[hallhopkinseberle]

Pulju without, 60%
Yamamoto without 51%

The biggest difference there imo is Pulju has mostly played with Strome who seems to give everyone a massive Corsi boost. Yamamoto has played with Drai, Strome and McDavid. McDavids Corsi numbers hover around 50-55, but that's cause he has been facing exclusively top lines.

That said, both players are much better away from Drai so far this season possession wise

Drai has been a black hole possession wise. He needs to smarten up and build off his play against Pittsburgh.

 

[GodPucker]

I don't mind the scratch, but I would rather have him play and build up his confidence.

As a die hard Oilers fan, I want Pool Party to explode. The guy just still looks like how Drai did his first year.

He physically looks awkward when receiving a pass. he doesn't have good balance at all. Gets knocked off the puck easily on board battles. He sometimes looks like he is wearing shoes not skates on the ice.

He goes into wrong lanes.

He is young, but you should see a guy in his third season start to show something already. he's turned into more of a project already.

i would send him down to the AHL.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Draisaitl with Yamamoto 39% Corsi, without 40%

Draisaitl with Pulju 36% Corsi without 42%

Its a silly stat to post in relation to Drai who doesn't ever shoot the puck much but when he does he's exceedingly dangerous. So while Corsi is meant to be a proxy for possession it often isn't. The Drai line were rarely able to establish offensive zone pressure while carrying Yama around on that line. Soon as Pulju was put on it possession in opposition zone was happening.

It should be telling that Drai looked better, much better, with Rieder and Pulju than he did with Lucic and Yama. Really he was short a man playing with Yama.

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

Marody, Chiasson and Yams all outplayed Pulju last game. A one game scratch is nothing to get worked up about.

 

[Oilers in NS]

If he was doing better then I might agree. He could use a night off to regroup a bit IMO.

hope to see Chiasson up with drai and reider maybe. though he did well with his third/fourth line mates in the first part of last game. Like to see him on the 1st pp unit as the big boday because he can handle the puck well. looch is a turnover machine and a liability with the puck on the PP. Looch looking good in his role as a third liner though. playing with some of his old mojo now that he's off of drai's line.

You were cheating off my notes because this was exactly what I was gonna write . I have been to the last 3 games and although Lucic is playing ok, he doesn’t deserve to be on pp. Chiasson is a big man with pretty good hands. I noticed on the PP that the Oilers throw the puck around nice but don’t get anything thru to the net. If they do, easy save.

 

[Cypress]

I didn't catch the pittsburgh game because of work, but the topline looked pretty weak with Yamamoto there in the Nashville game. Not sure we have better options there anyway though. Cagguila is back so maybe we'll see him up there tonight for another downgrade. Wouldn't mind to see marody get a few looks there if he's playing well.

 

[CupofOil]

Other than drawing some bogus calls not sure how much Yama is actually getting done on topline. He's had nothing but topsix rotation and one point to show for it all season. Its actually depressing to me to note this type of topsix fill when even one player goes down to injury. This roster is so paper thin for topsix players that Yama is replacing a topsix player that is a project in the first place.

Its hard to love the team as Chia built it.

Yamamoto has been great the last 3-4 games.
I wasn't a fan of his game prior to that but he has been much better on the 3rd then now on the top line.

He's doing a lot of the little things like keeping cycles alive with tenacious forecheck drawing penalties, puck support and great D zone play. I've been really impressed with his 2 way game. He's the type of player that coaches love because they can trust him in all situations, the offense will eventually come if he continues to play like this. Watch him closely, he's making lots of smart reads out there, playing like a vet.

As for the Pulju scratch, I'm not that surprised. He's just not doing anything out there the last 3 games, turning the puck over a lot and way too soft along the boards.
He needs some time to sit and watch some games from a different perspective, or my preference, being sent down to the AHL for several games because he's lost right now and is getting outplayed by every other RW outside of Kassian. The coaching staff hasn't done him many favors over the years but he needs to earn their trust at some point and he's not doing that.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

This line up is so schizophrenic, they have a bunch of big body players but they use them for perimeter play on the PP and slow dumb(not a misspell) and chase games where they lose the races. They have a bunch of small Shrimpy players that lose puck battles due to being outmuscled but are they encouraged to play like muckers and get themselves murdered, see Yamamoto as an example. You can't tell your small skill guys to play like a big man and your big men to play like speedy talents that can handle winning races against fast defenders.

I could have sworn Lucic was there on the PP a few nights ago trying to handle the puck and pass it around like hes the distributor and not the guy that's supposed to be in front screening the goalie. Are you using Lucic as a pp quarter back Todd? I thought i was having a stroke or some weird drugged out hallucination. Hes in the wrong godddamn spot all the time! get him off that PP.

This team has no identity and the players are all being used wrong. Mclellan is a word that rhymes with carded. Why the hell does every line play the same? you are supposed to use different break outs and schemes for different lines based on their skill set. This isin't junior hockey numbnuts.

 

[joestevens29]

The accountability thing seems to be new this year. And so far Khaira, Caggiula, Benning, Brodziak, Kassian, Garrison and Pulju have been held accountable for their bad play.

What do you think Draisaitl should be held accountable for his terrible defensive play so far too? (Outside of last game)

Not one coach would bench LD right now. He has 8 points in 7 games. The guys that have been benched either have done nothing or haven't produced.

 

[Panda Bear]

Puljujarvi is a player who needs an arm around the shoulder and opportunity to succeed. I don't think he has the mentality to thrive under a tough love regime, which is a knock against him as a professional but a reality to embrace.

He is having a lot of trouble being confident and assertive because McLellan isn't able to take the right approach with him due to his own coaching circumstances.

The physical awkwardness is an issue that compounds everything. Once he fully grows into his frame, though, he'll be a monster.

 

[Oilers in NS]

There are puddles with more depth than our winger pool. Yikes.

I had a girlfriend called Puddles . We didn’t last long

 

[Panda Bear]

Then again, I thought Eakins ruined Yakupov, so what do I know?

(I still think he ruined him. Yakupov should have been a good player albeit not a #1 overall calibre one.)

 

[McDNicks17]

I didn't catch the pittsburgh game because of work, but the topline looked pretty weak with Yamamoto there in the Nashville game. Not sure we have better options there anyway though. Cagguila is back so maybe we'll see him up there tonight for another downgrade. Wouldn't mind to see marody get a few looks there if he's playing well.

I wouldn't even mind seeing Chiasson with a look there.

He's been a more proven NHL scorer than Maroon was pre-McDavid. Worth a shot to see if there's some magic there too.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Then again, I thought Eakins ruined Yakupov, so what do I know?

(I still think he ruined him. Yakupov should have been a good player albeit not a #1 overall calibre one.)

You don't improve hockey IQ with development, its just something a player has or does not. Hence why someone like Dubnyk strugged with a few teams before he got over the poison that was the Oilers organization. Yakupov had multiple attemps and shots with different coaches and systems, he even had a top 6 role for the Avs but played himself off it very quickly. Face it, he was fools gold.

 

[Panda Bear]

You don't improve hockey IQ with development, its just something a player has or does not. Hence why someone like Dubnyk strugged with a few teams before he got over the poison that was the Oilers organization. Yakupov had multiple attemps and shots with different coaches and systems, he even had a top 6 role for the Avs but played himself off it very quickly. Face it, he was fools gold.

You can improve hockey IQ with coaching by getting players to react to situations in prescribed ways. You can coach a player to make safe players and be defensively responsible.

You can't teach players how to improvise and be creative, though--you just have to give them opportunity to succeed and improve their decision making.

Yakupov was a lost cause by the time McLellan rolled around. Eakins fundamentally damaged Yakupov's approach to the game. If you look at his rookie season, sure there were some bee swarms, but he made plays and found space to exploit better than he ever did after that season.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Regarding Pulju, he had some good and bad moments last game but I don't think he deserves to be scratched. He's gone back to looking scared of making mistakes to me which speaks to fear of how the coaches will respond to his play. When he's confident he's skating and making plays quickly, right now he looks like he's thinking too much. I think with the right message/encouragement and more rope Jesse would develop that confidence he's shown when playing well. However Todd's line blendering and lack of consistency with Pulju's deployment to start the year has squandered the momentum that Jesse had going in the preseason.

Some players/people respond better to hand holding, others to using the whip. Jesse seems to me like somebody who needs more positive reinforcement and hand holding and seemingly from the outside (based on interviews) McLellan is not warm and goes hard to the whip with Jesse. If you subscribe to that viewpoint of everybody should be treated the same and that's how you coach you're going to miss opportunities with players who just needed a different approach to flourish. It's pretty obvious Jesse's usage is indicative of a coach who has a double standard and less wiggle room for Puljujarvi. If McLellan won't nurture the player as needed then clearly Todd and Jesse aren't a match for getting the most out of Pulju's potential.

Others have mentioned Jesse should be figuring things out in his third year here and comparatively Yamamoto is playing a grittier game thus deserves his place higher in the lineup. Well, Jesse's not great on the body yet, he's still learning that aspect because he grew up as one of the more skilled players in Finland playing a skill game so it wasn't his role. Whereas that grittiness is just part of Yamo's game. It takes time with players to mature physically, sometimes especially with big guys growing into their bodies. As a skill player that's how Jesse should be deployed and utilized, not necessarily in the top 6, but give him the opportunity to use that skill on the PP, on 4 on 4 and overtime. Sure there will be some growing pains but it will be worth it when you've got a skilled player capable of providing that secondary scoring the Oilers are lacking. Right now that skill is dying on the vine.

 

[Soundwave]

You can improve hockey IQ with coaching by getting players to react to situations in prescribed ways. You can coach a player to make safe players and be defensively responsible.

You can't teach players how to improvise and be creative, though--you just have to give them opportunity to succeed and improve their decision making.

Yakupov was a lost cause by the time McLellan rolled around. Eakins fundamentally damaged Yakupov's approach to the game. If you look at his rookie season, sure there were some bee swarms, but he made plays and found space to exploit better than he ever did after that season.

To be honest I was never that impressed with his goals even when Yak was a rookie.

Compared to like Eberle as a rookie, Eberle was way more skilled.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yamamoto has been great the last 3-4 games.
I wasn't a fan of his game prior to that but he has been much better on the 3rd then now on the top line.

He's doing a lot of the little things like keeping cycles alive with tenacious forecheck drawing penalties, puck support and great D zone play. I've been really impressed with his 2 way game. He's the type of player that coaches love because they can trust him in all situations, the offense will eventually come if he continues to play like this. Watch him closely, he's making lots of smart reads out there, playing like a vet.

As for the Pulju scratch, I'm not that surprised. He's just not doing anything out there the last 3 games, turning the puck over a lot and way too soft along the boards.
He needs some time to sit and watch some games from a different perspective, or my preference, being sent down to the AHL for several games because he's lost right now and is getting outplayed by every other RW outside of Kassian. The coaching staff hasn't done him many favors over the years but he needs to earn their trust at some point and he's not doing that.

Pulju's strong move to keep the puck in lead to the Oilers first goal last game by Draisaitl. Pulju has supported puck possession on 2nd line much better than Yama, Night and day better. Not sure what you mean by 3rd line. Yama has played almost exclusively with drai or McD and living a charmed life doing that. Other than drawing a few calls I'm not seeing much of anything that warrants an extended top line look now. For sure the topline was better on it with Ratiie. For sure the 2nd line was better of with Pulju than Yama who was useless there.

Puck support? Yama is awful at NHL puck support. He's virtually non existent in that capacity. Not sure what people see in this player. His pk results aren't there either. He's said to be a two way player but he's losing puck battles and position in all zones. in the Preds game he gave up the puck twice in own zone up high on the same shift. Of course if you're expecting 153lbs to force the puck out of own zone its expecting punching over weight class.

 

[LTIR]

Whats Pulju and Yams corsi without Drai?

Now do it for Yama and/or Lucic with an without Draisaitl and be amazed.
Fact: Drai only looks good with McDavid and drags everyone else down.

 

[space321]

Marody, Chiasson and Yams all outplayed Pulju last game. A one game scratch is nothing to get worked up about.

If we're going to compare the right wingers, Puljujarvi outplayed everyone vs. Winnipeg. Why didn't he get rewarded for it?

 

[CupofOil]

Pulju's strong move to keep the puck in lead to the Oilers first goal last game by Draisaitl. Pulju has supported puck possession on 2nd line much better than Yama, Night and day better. Not sure what you mean by 3rd line. Yama has played almost exclusively with drai or McD and living a charmed life doing that. Other than drawing a few calls I'm not seeing much of anything that warrants an extended top line look now. For sure the topline was better on it with Ratiie. For sure the 2nd line was better of with Pulju than Yama who was useless there.

Puck support? Yama is awful at NHL puck support. He's virtually non existent in that capacity. Not sure what people see in this player. His pk results aren't there either. He's said to be a two way player but he's losing puck battles and position in all zones. in the Preds game he gave up the puck twice in own zone up high on the same shift. Of course if you're expecting 153lbs to force the puck out of own zone its expecting punching over weight class.

He scored his only NHL goal on the 3rd line, he played 2 games there before being bumped up to the 1st line (deservedly so) because of strong 2 way play although with Mclellan's constant line shuffling, no line has had appreciable time together.

I don't agree at all with any of what you're saying about his game, although yes he did have a few rough shifts against Nashville as everybody did. His game hasn't been perfect but he's making a lot of great subtle plays that you usually praise players for, you usually have a good eye for the little plays made in all zones. Kid is playing with confidence IMO, getting better and better with each game. He made a boatload of nice defensive reads in the Pens game including the obvious one where he drew the penalty after poking the puck out of the D zone.

I wish there was a shift by shift video of his the last few games so you can see what I'm seeing because I bet that you'd change your mind if you watched it.

As far as Pulju is concerned, he needs to be a lot better. I'm really disappointed that he wasn't able to build on that performance in the Winnipeg game, it's always one step forward five steps back with this player. He's still really young but I'd like to see more consistency with this being his 3rd NHL season and if anything, he's more inconsistent now than he was even in his rookie season. Part of that is on the coaches of course but he needs to start earning his keep. He's getting outplayed by lesser talented players this season, players he shouldn't be getting outplayed by.

 

[Joey Moss]

No issue with Puljujarvi getting scratched.

Let's stop blaming this on the coach. Puljujarvi flat out sucks.

He's got a long way to go.