Post-Game Talk: Bouchard furthering the cause

[Sanchez]

Time to give Paul Maurice a call tbh

Gazzola said on The Oil Stream podcast yesterday that he was told Maurice isn't an option right now. I would think whatever personal reasons Maurice is having will be dealt with by summer if we do have a coaching vacancy.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I don't think he does. He needs to be a #1. We're going to see a lot more #1's sign in the Nurse/Jones range as years go by.

Maybe. He will be the 5th highest paid defender in the league next year and he isn’t even a top 15 defender.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I don't think he does. He needs to be a #1. We're going to see a lot more #1's sign in the Nurse/Jones range as years go by.

The dumber orgs will sign those contracts, yes.

 

[ManofSteel55]

This. Having a shooting percentage that's 3-5x his norm...unless he hires some miracle shooting tutor, he aint replicating it

It was 2X the norm, and he doesn't need to replicate his 10% shooting percentage to earn that contract. He needs to do better than he has so far this year with his goal scoring I believe, but let's not forget that even in a "bad" season for him, he's pacing for 40-45 points at even strength on defense. That's impressive no matter how you look at it.

 

[bone]

It was a weird situation in a weak division.

His underlying defensive numbers aren’t good, and really never have been. He bleeds high danger chances and has the tendency to have some brain dead reads which lead to goals against. Sure, maybe he could pull a miracle and be a top 5 defender in the league but he simply isn’t close to that. Sure he might have the odd season where he gets maybe close but overall, not a chance.

A weak division that featured a Stanley Cup finalist and three teams that up until Edmonton's current slump were all top 5 to start the year. If all of his points were against Ottawa or even Vancouver after Covid, then fine, but he scored the most against Winnipeg. The only team he didn't produce against was Montreal, but Montreal had Edmonton's number last year.

I agree about the high danger chances, but I think it's still too much a product of coaching as this team gambles way too much, and since they consider him an offensive weapon, he's told to do it. As Bouchard matures and becomes the primary offensive option of the two, you might see a better balance from him.

Secondly, on the brain dead reads, regular mistakes often look like brain dead reads when it's other teams best players doing it against you (which is usually who he's playing against), but they are the best players for a reason.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The dumber orgs will sign those contracts, yes.

The orgs looking to sign a UFA #1 defenseman will. It's not about dumber or smarter, its about if they have it or if they don't when it comes to #1 defensemen.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Maybe. He will be the 5th highest paid defender in the league next year and he isn’t even a top 15 defender.

I'd put him around 15. He was certainly top 15 last year.

 

[Oilhawks]

There is zero point spending asssets on a stop gap 3 c this year without a goalie. No goalie? Then every trade you make is a waste of assets. If Holland isn’t planning on getting a #1 goalie he should maybe look to sell at the deadline….although we have nothing to sell cause he loves his long term deals.

Hey now, I didn’t mean that on its own. Goalie is probably even more important that shitcanning Tippy, and that’s coming from me. A good goalie can steal some games even with his garbage system and mismanagement of players and their TOI

That being said, if they could get a good, cost controlled 3C, you should do it anyhow.

I don’t think they will bother though, given the cap situation and them hoping Holloway or McLeod will grab that role by next season

 

[Oilhawks]

Gazzola said on The Oil Stream podcast yesterday that he was told Maurice isn't an option right now. I would think whatever personal reasons Maurice is having will be dealt with by summer if we do have a coaching vacancy.

Hard pass. Tippett 2.0 (the 2.0 being a slight upgrade)

 

[Soundwave]

Gazzola said on The Oil Stream podcast yesterday that he was told Maurice isn't an option right now. I would think whatever personal reasons Maurice is having will be dealt with by summer if we do have a coaching vacancy.

No Maurice, eh?

 

[Kerberos]

Nurse is about the #50 problem on the list of issues to address with this organization.

Weird to be focusing on him before the dozens of other issues that have sewered this organization into a laughing stock.

 

[bone]

Maybe. He will be the 5th highest paid defender in the league next year and he isn’t even a top 15 defender.

Well 7th actually, and within a whisker of 10th salary wise. He was 7th in Norris votes last year, so.... sounds pretty close

For the record. I wasn't a fan of the contract and wouldn't have paid $9.25M last summer, but we are in Year 1 of a market reset that Chicago started when they overpaid Jones, so it is what it is, and he'll start dropping down the list likely by Year 2 or 3. Is he likely to be overpaid, probably, but by Year 2 of that contract as the market adjusts he'll be pretty close.

 

[tardigrade81]

No, probably has a better chance at getting extended.

Most depressing thing I have read all day.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

It's always interesting and annoying when Soundwave latches onto something and just posts it in every thread, in this instance its Babcock and Price.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Offseason: Omg ChaoticOrange you're so negative and toxic saying mean things about Ken Holland's work and that Dave Tippett is a poor coach

First page of this thread: f*** you Draisaitl you lazy piece of shit you should get sat you should get traded you f***ing suck take Bouchard with you

...yeah.

 

[CycloneSweep]

It's always interesting and annoying when Soundwave latches onto something and just posts it in every thread, in this instance its Babcock and Price.

At least Price is actually good. He doesn’t always latch onto good things

 

[McDNicks17]

Nurse likely won't replicate last year because the team is playing their D significantly different this year.

Do you guys not remember last season? Nurse and Barrie were basically McDavid's wingers. They were taking like 75% of the shots when they were out there because McDavid's actual wingers were black holes at 5v5. There was like a 15 game stretch where Nurse, Barrie and Bouchard were the top 3 on the team in shots.

They've shifted back to the D never activating or doing anything but dump pucks into the corner from the blue line.

 

[ToeMcDrag83]

I'm curious if there is such a thing as a negative superstar effect. As in, the McDrai talent enables others on the team to rely on them to single-handedly win the game. They get lackadaisical in bringing their work boots to a team game. How much of this is on the coach?

I agree with this. Rest of the team slacks when they think McDrai will take them over the hump by themselves every game.
They look at those two players and think their own job can be taken lightly.
Coach needs to hammer it in those player's heads to play with yesterday's compete night in and night out, and they have to stop taking it advantage of the 2 gifts we have in our lineup.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Oh I critique Kass plenty, ftr. Because I know he is a player that leaves a lot on the table. But he's been far better this season than last. He's almost a ,500ppg player this season, despite being mired in bottomsix with players that don't ever even support any offense. Kass is far from the problems with this roster, this season. if we were talking about last season, yes he was a problem. Kass said he would be better with fans in attendance and he has been. Kass has been twice the player here this season than even Foegele has.

5 of Kassian’s 12 points have come playing with McDavid and/or Draisaitl.

 

[Stoneman89]

Gazzola said on The Oil Stream podcast yesterday that he was told Maurice isn't an option right now. I would think whatever personal reasons Maurice is having will be dealt with by summer if we do have a coaching vacancy.

I believe they said the major reason Maurice stepped down is he got overwhelmed/depressed/just plain sick of, Covid and all the restrictions. Needed a mental health break.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

For Nurse to live up to his new contract he needs to be a Norris calibre top 5 defender in the league. There is zero chance he becomes that.

Most Norris caliber d-men will make significantly more than Nurse even by the half way point of the contract if they’re UFAs.

 

[Stoneman89]

5 of Kassian’s 12 points have come playing with McDavid and/or Draisaitl.

Kassian has been garbage this year. As you said, most of his production has been with McDavid. But any value he provides needs to come from much more than just points, and that's where he's failed. Has not brought much in the way of energy, physicality, discipline and smart play, and instigation. Pretty much a non-factor most nights. For over 3 mill on a multi year contract, we need a lot more than a non-factor. Hell, for league minimum, we need more than non-factor.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Most Norris caliber d-men will make significantly more than Nurse even by the half way point of the contract if they’re UFAs.

Doubtful as most of them are signed long term already for less. Fox literally won the Norris last year and signed for 9.5 and Nurse thinks he is worth 250k a year less? Give me a break. Nurse can’t even hold Fox’s jock strap.

 

[Stoneman89]

I agree with this. Rest of the team slacks when they think McDrai will take them over the hump by themselves every game.
They look at those two players and think their own job can be taken lightly.
Coach needs to hammer it in those player's heads to play with yesterday's compete night in and night out, and they have to stop taking it advantage of the 2 gifts we have in our lineup.

If the team plays like they played last night, and we have a full and healthy lineup, we win that game.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Doubtful as most of them are signed long term already for less

Hard to tell since so many of the top defensemen right now are so young. On the other hand, older defensemen like Doughty and Karlsson were making much more than Nurse when the cap was significantly lower. I recognize they’re a lot better than Nurse is but you’re the one who brought up the top 5/Norris caliber thing.