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Better team outside of the big two: Leafs vs. Oilers

Better team outside of the big two: Leafs vs. Oilers

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klefbombs shoulder

Registered User
Jul 21, 2023
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Pretty comfortably Edmonton. Nylander is the best overall player but Edmonton has a wider pool of talent.

Looking at the teams outside of the big 2:

Toronto:

Bertuzzi - ______ - ______
Domi - Tavares - Nylander
Knies - Kampf - Jarnkrok
Homberg - Dewar - Reaves

Brodie - McCabe
Rielly - Lyubushkin
Edmudsun - Liljegren

Edmonton:

RNH - ______ - Hyman
McLeod - ______ - Foegele
Kane - Henrique - Perry
Janmark - Carrick - Brown

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Ceci
Desharnais - Kulak
 
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BertMcDrai

BertMcDrai

Middle old guy loving sports
Nov 26, 2018
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Sidney the Kidney said:
Nylander's the best of the remaining bunch, but I kind of prefer players like Kane and Hyman because of the style they bring for the playoffs.

Leafs depth probably has more "skill", but the Oilers have a better blend of skill/physicality/grit.
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This sounds quite correct/adequate...couldn't have said it better.
 
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Buck Naked

Buck Naked

Can't-Stand-Ya
Aug 18, 2016
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Edmonton. They got the better goalie and D. Still some good forwards there too - not on Nylander's level - but enough to keep up.
 
Skolman

Skolman

Registered User
Feb 16, 2018
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Fire Sweeney said:
The oilers have two bottom parings on D, so I would go with the Leafs.
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You consider Nurse to be a 3rd pairing defenseman.....?

The Oilers also have the best defensemen between the 2 teams. Not to mention the better forward group & goaltending
 
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WetcoastOrca

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Jun 3, 2011
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Vancouver, BC
Forwards: slight edge Oilers in depth. But Nylander is the best of the bunch. So a coin toss.
D: Coin toss. A weakness for both.
Goalie: Neither team has good goaltending.
Honestly I’d say the two teams are about equal without their top two players. The standings bear that out. Leafs with 82 points and Edmonton with 81 points but one game in hand. A coin toss.
 
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Buck Naked

Buck Naked

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Aug 18, 2016
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WetcoastOrca said:
Forwards: slight edge Oilers in depth. But Nylander is the best of the bunch. So a coin toss.
D: Coin toss. A weakness for both.
Goalie: Neither team has good goaltending.
Honestly I’d say the two teams are about equal without their top two players. The standings bear that out. Leafs with 82 points and Edmonton with 81 points but one game in hand. A coin toss.
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Skinner is 11th in the league in sv% and GSAA over this and last season. I'd say that's pretty good goaltending.
(among goalies with over 50 starts or 2500 minutes played)

Skolman said:
The Oilers also have the best defensemen between the 2 teams. Not to mention the better forward group & goaltending
Click to expand...

Correction. Oilers have the two best defensemen between the two teams.
 
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WetcoastOrca

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Sidney the Kidney said:
Nylander's the best of the remaining bunch, but I kind of prefer players like Kane and Hyman because of the style they bring for the playoffs.

Leafs depth probably has more "skill", but the Oilers have a better blend of skill/physicality/grit.
Click to expand...
That’s a fair point but so far the Oilers have relied on McDrai putting up historic points to even win a couple of rounds. I think realistically it’s a coin toss at best if you remove those two.
The standings bear that out. The Leafs are one point up on Edmonton with the Oilers having a game in hand. Presumably every poster agrees McDrai is better than M&M. So you take those guys away and the Leafs probably have a bigger lead in the standings. A lot of over the top posts (not yours) claiming the Oilers are better at every position. That’s clearly nonsense.
 
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geebster

geebster

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Oct 26, 2019
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WetcoastOrca said:
That’s a fair point but so far the Oilers have relied on McDrai putting up historic points to even win a couple of rounds. I think realistically it’s a coin toss at best if you remove those two.
The standings bear that out. The Leafs are one point up on Edmonton with the Oilers having a game in hand. Presumably every poster agrees McDrai is better than M&M. So you take those guys away and the Leafs probably have a bigger lead in the standings. A lot of over the top posts (not yours) claiming the Oilers are better at every position. That’s clearly nonsense.
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It's hard to compare standings when the teams both play are so different being in different conferences.

My gut instinct was to say Leafs for this, since that's been true for the most part but looking at the lineups the Oilers just look better. Better goaltending, D is kind of a wash, and the forward group this year is just better for the Oilers. In past years the Leafs had the better support forwards though, and Tavares was a bigger factor too.

Both would be lottery teams though, of course. If you took Matthews and Nylander as the top 2 (which is arguable this year), the Leafs look a lot better. Marner affects the game on both ends of the ice and makes others better in a way Nylander doesn't. Probably not a popular opinion but it's how I see it.
 

Kuz

Registered User
May 11, 2015
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Arent the team quite close with the guys playing and the Drai+MCD are better than M & M. So in theory the rest of the lineup should be Toronto ahead. Like Hyman is a very good supporting cast on McDavid's wing, but I dont think he can drive a line as well as Nylander or Tavares could. Still quite close overall.
 
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Sidney the Kidney

Sidney the Kidney

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Kuz said:
Arent the team quite close with the guys playing and the Drai+MCD are better than M & M. So in theory the rest of the lineup should be Toronto ahead. Like Hyman is a very good supporting cast on McDavid's wing, but I dont think he can drive a line as well as Nylander or Tavares could. Still quite close overall.
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Nylander, no. But at this point in his career Tavares isn't capable of driving shit. He's entirely reliant on either Nylander or Marner (whichever RW he's playing with at a given point) to create everything at 5on5. Tavares is a passenger at this point, particularly 5on5.
 
McVespa99

McVespa99

Registered User
May 13, 2007
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This would be fairer if you just removed McDavid or Drai and left in all the others. Then compare teams. Oilers have better forward depth scoring and grit. Oilers have the best top 3 dmen (Not saying the Oilers best 3 are better than any of the Leafs, just saying the Oilers top 3 as a group are better than the Leafs) Goaltending also goes to Oilers but that could change with a hot or cold streak.

Kuz said:
Arent the team quite close with the guys playing and the Drai+MCD are better than M & M. So in theory the rest of the lineup should be Toronto ahead. Like Hyman is a very good supporting cast on McDavid's wing, but I dont think he can drive a line as well as Nylander or Tavares could. Still quite close overall.
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Tavares cant even drive his own car. He is supporting cast at this point
 
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leafsfan5

leafsfan5

Registered User
Jun 14, 2014
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Probably the Oilers

The Leafs have entered into a lull in their contention period, they need to usher in a new era of supporting cast and will have tons of flexibility to do so when JT's contract is up
 

authentic

Registered User
Jan 28, 2015
25,903
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Kuz said:
Arent the team quite close with the guys playing and the Drai+MCD are better than M & M. So in theory the rest of the lineup should be Toronto ahead. Like Hyman is a very good supporting cast on McDavid's wing, but I dont think he can drive a line as well as Nylander or Tavares could. Still quite close overall.
Click to expand...

Hyman can drive a line better than Tavares this season. Nylander is easily the best player outside of them all and Rielly is probably better than any defenseman on Edmonton at his best. Overall their supporting casts are really quite close.
 
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