Post-Game Talk: A successful season?

McOilers97

Registered User
Jan 10, 2012
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He can't. Skinner is waiver exempt and Smith untradeable. That's your tandem next year
I think maybe the play is to sign/trade for someone else and go XXX/Smith as your tandem. Then when Smith inevitably gets hurt and misses like 3 months, you bring Skinner up full-time and just leave Smith rotting until the end of the season.
 

AddyTheWrath

Registered User
Mar 24, 2015
11,333
19,880
Toronto
Both teams full healthy it’s still Avs in 4
With all due respect you should take a break from HF for a few days if you’re just going to be like this. Take some time to cool off cuz it seems like you need it.

3 of the 4 games were one goal games (excluding empty netters). You seriously think Drai being unable to center his own line and Nurse being a shell of a top pairing D didn’t have an impact on the series? Give me a break.
 

MoontoScott

Registered User
Jun 2, 2012
8,125
9,306
Definitely a success. Final 4 is a big deal.

-What a brave performance by Drai--incredible
-Mc-d is the best player in the World
-Hyman a great surprise down the stretch and always comes to play
-McLeod emerged as a regular NHL'er and will be with the team for a lot of years
-Kane probably won't be back but it was a great move to have signed him

-Goaltending just wasn't good enough. I find it hard to believe that Kosko didn't warrant a start in the series. What did Smith do to justify all 4 starts? It's time to move on from this guy.

-The Oilers will have tough decisions to make on a few guys like Puls--he's well liked but his series was just brutal.

-Looking forward to seeing the new prospects in camp come September,
 

Kerberos

Hound of Hades
Nov 4, 2021
4,145
6,576
Relative to missing the playoffs sure, but that was an awful display of defense ... 80s like. Smith wasn't great but that D was atrocious for large chunks of every series really.

You can't fire wagon your way to the Finals. Holland's blue line and goaltending status quo are not good enough if the goal is to actually win.
The defense wasn't even that bad tonight. Smith let in 4 terrible goals that any starting goaltender makes in their sleep.
 

Pizza!Pizza!

Registered User
Sep 25, 2018
4,741
7,208
Good season overall. Was very fun at the beginning and end of the regular season. Playoffs had some great moments, especially beating Calgary in an 80's style series. Team has improved each year under Holland, and hopefully he makes some smart moves this summer to fix the glaring holes and cut more dead weight.

Still, losing the way they did to Colorado.....
Like, I get that the Avs were the favorites, and the Avs had the better goaltending and 10x better defense, but holy f*** --- the dirty play, diving and almost totally one-sided officiating takes all the sportsmanship out of it for me. If the Avs are so good they should be able to win without help from the league. Disgraceful.

Go Lightning! Go Rangers! f*** the Refs. f*** the Avs.
 

McOilers97

Registered User
Jan 10, 2012
6,598
6,927
They were missing their 3rd best defender, a top 6 winger and their starting goalie.

Kuemper played like shit in game 1 cause he was still having blurry vision from his injury. If he is healthy we don’t score near as much.
If Draisaitl and Nurse are healthy, that's worth 1 game minimum. You are peddling doom and gloom like you're getting paid for it.
 
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CupofOil

Knob Flavored Coffey
Aug 20, 2009
47,279
41,838
NYC
Absolutely a successful season. Pretty obvious what needs to be done to take the next step.

Defense wins games in June.
A badly injured Nurse really sunk them. They depend so heavily on him so when he's not close to his normal self, it send struggles throughout the entire group as is the case with most teams that don't have their #1 Dman.
The defense needs improvement even when healthy but I wouldn't evaluate them entirely based on these playoffs.
 

Vagabond

Registered User
Dec 24, 2004
9,361
4,196
Edmonton
Fot the record Nurse had a good game, made a huge hit leading to the tying goal. Mike Smith should have taken the night off. Remember we could have easily won 3 out of the 4 games with a little luck and a little less suck.
I agree. Nurse did play a de ent game #4. Smith was a hothead that lost his composure and focus. He put himself out of position far too many times. Plus he struggled with long shots. Bifocals maybe? I hope he retires.
 

Behind Enemy Lines

Registered User
Feb 19, 2003
15,479
16,552
Vancouver
Hella season. This team got over the playoff hump and crushed the Flamers. More than met my expectation. This is as absolute far as a Mike Smith starting goaltender is going to go. Must not go into the season with a Smith Skinner pairing or there could be regression. I felt this team was next year or two away from a final four roster. We see the quality depth gap between the Aves who are several years ahead of their window build.

I cannot be anything but satisfied with this team's playoff having beat the Flamers. Avalanche series changed with game 2 decisions and a couple highly controversial refereeing decisions. I don't believe in blaming refs for losses but this is the worst era of officiating this league has ever had. A shame the refs inserted themselves too much into this series. However, I give credit to the Avalanche for their consistent high effort and assassin elites moreso than piling on any Oil efforts in the series loss.

Still holes to plug on this team to reach this level. We saw an amazing heroic effort by McDavid and Draisaitl. Probably now learn how badly Nurse has been hurt as well. A great ride.
 

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