Post-Game Talk: Brutal Bouchard, Naughty Nurse and Subpar Skinner

[McDNicks17]

But year-to-year he consistently puts up 50-plus goals and 100-plus points. That counts for something, no?

That's the frustrating part. You know what you'll get at the end of the year, but you just kind of have to put up with the December Drai stretches because you know he'll go supernova for a bit to make up for it a bit later.

 

[Mr Positive]

That's the frustrating part. You know what you'll get at the end of the year, but you just kind of have to put up with the December Drai stretches because you know he'll go supernova for a bit to make up for it a bit later.

So far December has been 4-4-1. That is bad, but not a truly bad cursed month. These last two games have had bad outcomes but some good things as well. If this is our bad month I think I'll take it.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

So far December has been 4-4-1. That is bad, but not a truly bad cursed month. These last two games have had bad outcomes but some good things as well. If this is our bad month I think I'll take it.

It's not the losses but how we lost imo. We haven't even moved in the standings but we look broken

I think Seattle's forwards make their D look bad like the oilers, and they are outscoring the mistakes like us, but they have low risk steady D to help out the forwards

The oilers have high risk forwards and high risk D and it's killing us. We need some D, multiple D, who are trustworthy and steady that can insulate some of the forwards mistakes.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

I REALLY wish I could ask Dumbnell what he was thinking on this goal:

1 - He sees the puck coming forever.
2 - He instantly Steve Staois'es it to 2 Duck player
3 - He then leaves his man entirely and chases the same guy his teamatte is chasing
4 - He bends down to play goalie to leave his guy wide open

A minimum wager would not do this sh** lol

Ya that’s terrible.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

Ya that’s terrible.

Everyone is terrible on that play.

Skinner is way too late out of his net, at this point dont bother
Ceci is coasting, not a terrible position but there no energy
Nurse let the puck go for no reason then follow the puck and forget any positional play
Skinner, nonchalantly back in follow the puck carrier and goes down in butterfly outside of his crease even before the shooter think about passing it
Light tap in 4 Oilers completely puzzled

 

[McFlyingV]

It's because he's so inconsistent.

He's always money on the PP, but you never really know what you're going to get from him shift-to-shift, game-to-game or even month-to-month outside that.

Yeah the league's 2nd leading goal scorer and point scorer over the past 5 years, who has a career 1.59ppg in the playoffs is "inconsistent". You're proving my point. This fanbase expects players to be perfect every night when no player in the league does that. You think all the other star players around the league are more consistent than Draisaitl? You're wrong, plain and simple.

 

[McDNicks17]

Yeah the league's 2nd leading goal scorer and point scorer over the past 5 years, who has a career 1.59ppg in the playoffs is "inconsistent". You're proving my point. This fanbase expects players to be perfect every night when no player in the league does that. You think all the other star players around the league are more consistent than Draisaitl? You're wrong, plain and simple.

Sure, points are fun, but you can't argue Drai doesn't have some dreadful stretches of hockey quite often.

 

[McFlyingV]

So far December has been 4-4-1. That is bad, but not a truly bad cursed month. These last two games have had bad outcomes but some good things as well. If this is our bad month I think I'll take it.

Draisaitl has 18 points in 9 games in December. Oh man I hate watching Draisaitl struggle in December, its so tough to watch.

Sure, points are fun, but you can't argue Drai doesn't have some dreadful stretches of hockey quite often.

More than any other star in the league not named McDavid?

 

[Mav3rick07]

Okay, I'm still on 'team Woodcroft' and I still support him. But the one thing that starts to puzzle me is the decisions over the starting goaltender. I don't pay attention to who's starting until I watch the game, but as soon as I saw Skinner was in again, my first thought was, "Oh no! They've over-playing him now."

I don't get why they didn't put in Campbell. This is the league's worst team they're facing, with the worst PP. Not saying they would have won, but let's give Skinner a rest already.

I agree 100 %.

I know it's easy to play the hind-sight game, but heading into the game I thought we had a perfect opportunity to get Campbell going while also resting poor Skinner. Starting Skinner was an absolute head-scratcher and who knows maybe Campbell makes one or two more saves and we get at least a point or a W.

 

[McDNicks17]

Draisaitl has 18 points in 9 games in December. Oh man I hate watching Draisaitl struggle in December, its so tough to watch.

More than any other star in the league not named McDavid?

Drai is out there for more goals against than every other star in the league, so when he struggles offensively, he really struggles.

 

[McFlyingV]

Drai is out there for more goals against than every other star in the league, so when he struggles offensively, he really struggles.

How many of those star players play on teams with defences as weak as the Oilers? How many of those stars play routinely with bottom 6 wingers at even strength?

 

[Drivesaitl]

Draisaitl has 18 points in 9 games in December. Oh man I hate watching Draisaitl struggle in December, its so tough to watch.


More than any other star in the league not named McDavid?

Drais struggles are in own zone and they've rarely been worse in terms of GA and even with us getting generally better goaltending now than Smith/Koskinen. In fact Skinner being lights out in several games has saved us from more GA. Drai for whatever reason, injury, overuse is a virtual passenger in own zone. McD not much better. Our own zone play is killing us.

For all of Drai's pts this season he has even +/- and again high GA this month. We're paying this kind of money to tread water EV adn be a trick pony on PP?

How many of those star players play on teams with defences as weak as the Oilers? How many of those stars play routinely with bottom 6 wingers at even strength?

The Pens won multiple SC's with Letang and crews of nondescript D. They had their stars playing with pretty normative wingers.

 

[McDNicks17]

How many of those star players play on teams with defences as weak as the Oilers? How many of those stars play routinely with bottom 6 wingers at even strength?

Most other stars actually support their defensemen defensively.

You can't really complain about even strength linemates when the dude is playing with Connor McDavid haha.

 

[McFlyingV]

Most other stars actually support their defensemen defensively.

You can't really complain about even strength linemates when the dude is playing with Connor McDavid haha.

This season sure, he's played with McDavid a lot. Past seasons not nearly as much.

For the record here's your list of all those star/borderline star players who don't get scored on as much as Draisaitl 5v5 over the past 5 years. Oh wait, they all got scored on at higher per 60 rates than Drai.

Connor McDavid
Patrik Laine
Tomas Hertl
Timo Meier
Logan Couture
Evander Kane
Brady Tkachuk
Kyle Connor
Johnathan Toews
Alex Ovechkin
Sean Couturier
Matt Duchene
Ryan Getzlaf
Blake Wheeler
Brock Boeser

 

[McDNicks17]

This season sure, he's played with McDavid a lot. Past seasons not nearly as much.

For the record here's your list of all those star players who don't get scored on as much as Draisaitl 5v5 over the past 5 years. Oh wait, they all got scored on at higher per 60 rates than Drai.

Connor McDavid
Patrik Laine
Tomas Hertl
Timo Meier
Logan Couture
Evander Kane
Brady Tkachuk
Kyle Connor
Johnathan Toews
Alex Ovechkin
Sean Couturier
Matt Duchene
Ryan Getzlaf
Blake Wheeler
Brock Boeser

Being in the same group as most of those guys proves my point haha.

How many of those guys would you consider frustrating if you were a fan of their team?

 

[McFlyingV]

Being in the same group as most of those guys proves my point haha.

You want some other names who are only marginally better than Draisaitl?

Malkin
Huberdeau
Giroux
Schiefele
Reinhart
Eichel

Its almost like one player, and especially a centre doesn't have as big of an impact on goals against as the defence and goaltender he's playing with.

Its ok though, if thats your proof that Draisaitl has "dreadful stretches of hockey quite often" then I think I'll just laugh at that argument while he finishes top 2 in goal scoring and point totals every year. You know, something you can actually accurately measure his individual impact on.

 

[McDNicks17]

You want some other names who are only marginally better than Draisaitl?

Malkin
Huberdeau
Giroux
Schiefele
Reinhart
Eichel

Its almost like one player, and especially a centre doesn't have as big of an impact on goals against as the defence and goaltender he's playing with.

Its ok though, if thats your proof that Draisaitl has "dreadful stretches of hockey quite often" then I think I'll just laugh at that argument while he finishes top 2 in goal scoring and point totals every year. You know, something you can actually accurately measure his individual impact on.

Your argument that he isn't frustrating seems to be listing a bunch of players that are notoriously known for being frustrating to their fan bases.

 

[McFlyingV]

Drais struggles are in own zone and they've rarely been worse in terms of GA and even with us getting generally better goaltending now than Smith/Koskinen. In fact Skinner being lights out in several games has saved us from more GA. Drai for whatever reason, injury, overuse is a virtual passenger in own zone. McD not much better. Our own zone play is killing us.

For all of Drai's pts this season he has even +/- and again high GA this month. We're paying this kind of money to tread water EV adn be a trick pony on PP?


The Pens won multiple SC's with Letang and crews of nondescript D. They had their stars playing with pretty normative wingers.

Do I think Drai is a perfect defensive player? No of course not. Does he deserve much of the criticism when you have D like Nurse and Bouchard playing the way they are this season, or goalies like Campbell letting in multiple B quality chances every game he plays? Nope, he'd be pretty far down my list of guys to be complaining or bitching about right now but yet here we are. You know things are bad when Tyson Barrie has arguably been your most reliable D this season in terms of not making glaring mistakes leading to high danger chances or goals against.

Letang in his prime was light years better than any D the Oilers have. Malkin isn't good defensively either, Crosby is stronger in that regard than either of our stars. Pens as a whole had a better roster top to bottom than the Oilers during their cup wins and didn't struggle immensely on D or in net, and often got some actual offence out of their bottom 6, which is something the Oilers don't get. There was only an illusion of that last year because some of the guys who ended up in the bottom 6 by playoff time scored while playing with McDavid or Draisaitl. The rosters are vastly different that they aren't even comparable.

 

[Drivesaitl]

You want some other names who are only marginally better than Draisaitl?

Malkin
Huberdeau
Giroux
Schiefele
Reinhart
Eichel

Its almost like one player, and especially a centre doesn't have as big of an impact on goals against as the defence and goaltender he's playing with.

Its ok though, if thats your proof that Draisaitl has "dreadful stretches of hockey quite often" then I think I'll just laugh at that argument while he finishes top 2 in goal scoring and point totals every year. You know, something you can actually accurately measure his individual impact on.

I've followed hockey for 55yrs. I've rarely heard people say that Centers don't have an impact on GA. What an odd point to make. One of the responsibilities of the position is all zone play and results. Which is what makes a Center, a top Center, such an important facet of a club.

 

[McFlyingV]

Your argument that he isn't frustrating seems to be listing a bunch of players that are notoriously known for being frustrating to their fan bases.

You're clearly missing the point. Just about every fanbase gets frustrated with their star players. Parts of Edmonton's fanbase for whatever reason has chosen to do this with Draisaitl on a consistent basis, which I suspect is because of unrealistic expectations from watching McDavid. No player in the league is as consistent as McDavid, and this is a hard league to be perfect in over a long tough 82 games season. Draisaitl does a damn good job at being consistent despite that, and better than anyone not named McDavid.

So yes, you are only further proving my point of this disconnect between Draisaitl critics and the simple reality of ebbs and flows throughout an NHL season, even for star players.

I've followed hockey for 55yrs. I've rarely heard people say that Centers don't have an impact on GA. What an odd point to make. One of the responsibilities of the position is all zone play and results. Which is what makes a Center, a top Center, such an important facet of a club.

"Not as big". Reply to this again when you've actually read it and I'll give you a real response.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Do I think Drai is a perfect defensive player? No of course not. Does he deserve much of the criticism when you have D like Nurse and Bouchard playing the way they are this season, or goalies like Campbell letting in multiple B quality chances every game he plays? Nope, he'd be pretty far down my list of guys to be complaining or bitching about right now but yet here we are. You know things are bad when Tyson Barrie has arguably been your most reliable D this season in terms of not making glaring mistakes leading to high danger chances or goals against.

Letang in his prime was light years better than any D the Oilers have. Malkin isn't good defensively either, Crosby is stronger in that regard than either of our stars. Pens as a whole had a better roster top to bottom than the Oilers during their cup wins and didn't struggle immensely on D or in net, and often got some actual offence out of their bottom 6, which is something the Oilers don't get. There was only an illusion of that last year because some of the guys who ended up in the bottom 6 by playoff time scored while playing with McDavid or Draisaitl. The rosters are vastly different that they aren't even comparable.

Campbell is barely even playing and was fine in his last start. Again Drai is Even in the month of December even though he's been stapled to the top player in the world and often having a quality third like Hyman. The line should be owning the league in outscoring. They are not. They are instead being ridiculously high event players, which detracts from all their production. We play McDrai huge minutes to essentially have players that are around Even at EV. Thats a problem. We've even loaded them up almost the entire month and not outscoring. Thats a problem.

letang and the Pens were as good as they were and disguised a paper thin D by respecting puck possession beyond all else and working teams into the ground by having the puck and not relinquishing it. you're right, the Oilers are nothing like that. Our star players turn the puck over constantly.

You're clearly missing the point. Just about every fanbase gets frustrated with their star players. Parts of Edmonton's fanbase for whatever reason has chosen to do this with Draisaitl on a consistent basis, which I suspect is because of unrealistic expectations from watching McDavid. No player in the league is as consistent as McDavid, and this is a hard league to be perfect in over a long tough 82 games season. Draisaitl does a damn good job at being consistent despite that, and better than anyone not named McDavid.

So yes, you are only further proving my point of this disconnect between Draisaitl critics and the simple reality of ebbs and flows throughout an NHL season, even for star players.


"Not as big". Reply to this again when you've actually read it and I'll give you a real response.

I did read it. Even in your statement its odd thing to comment on because Centers have the most responsibilities of any forward and Valuable Centers bend ice in terms of outscoring. The center is often the key player in that.

 

[McDNicks17]

You're clearly missing the point. Just about every fanbase gets frustrated with their star players. Parts of Edmonton's fanbase for whatever reason has chosen to do this with Draisaitl on a consistent basis, which I suspect is because of unrealistic expectations from watching McDavid. No player in the league is as consistent as McDavid, and this is a hard league to be perfect in over a long tough 82 games season. Draisaitl does a damn good job at being consistent despite that, and better than anyone not named McDavid.

So yes, you are only further proving my point of this disconnect between Draisaitl critics and the simple reality of ebbs and flows throughout an NHL season, even for star players.

Players with high highs and low lows are frustrating. That is Draisaitl to a T. Few players hit either extreme like he does.

You'd have to have rose colored glasses a foot thick to disagree with that.

 

[McFlyingV]

Campbell is barely even playing and was fine in his last start. Again Drai is Even in the month of December even though he's been stapled to the top player in the world and often having a quality third like Hyman. The line should be owning the league in outscoring. They are not. They are instead being ridiculously high event players, which detracts from all their production. We play McDrai huge minutes to essentially have players that are around Even at EV. Thats a problem. We've even loaded them up almost the entire month and not outscoring. Thats a problem.

letang and the Pens were as good as they were and disguised a paper thin D by respecting puck possession beyond all else and working teams into the ground by having the puck and not relinquishing it. you're right, the Oilers are nothing like that. Our star players turn the puck over constantly.


I did read it. Even in your statement its odd thing to comment on because Centers have the most responsibilities of any forward and Valuable Centers bend ice in terms of outscoring. The center is often the key player in that.

We don't. Draisaitl has a 54.1% GF% over the past 5 years at 5v5 (McDavid 52.86%), try again. Its ok though, we'll just focus on this December when these numbers are highly skewed by individual mistakes (a couple from McDavid/Draisaitl) but far more the D/goaltending. You can't honestly watch Darnell and Bouchard's play this month and not think they have been the top culprits by far.

Ok so you did read it, but decided to misquote me in your response. Sure, centre has more impact on team D than wingers, but not as much as D or the goaltender.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Players with high highs and low lows are frustrating. That is Draisaitl to a T. Few players hit either extreme like he does.

You'd have to have rose colored glasses a foot thick to disagree with that.

Even I see it with Drai colored glasses.

The level of play he's at EV means that he's only making a difference on PP. He's better than that and needs to be better than that.

 

[McFlyingV]

Players with high highs and low lows are frustrating. That is Draisaitl to a T. Few players hit either extreme like he does.

You'd have to have rose colored glasses a foot thick to disagree with that.

Surely I'm going to take your eye test and emotion-charged opinion over you know the fact that he doesn't go on prolonged scoreless stretches. I'm not claiming he's a strong defensive player, but he is consistent in what he's paid to do. Weird that I rarely see these criticisms of him when the Oilers as a whole are playing well and winning even if Draisaitl isn't playing at the top of his game.

Anyways, I'm done discussing this. Our fanbase can be embarrassing at times with where they put the blame on this team's struggles. Just enjoy McDavid and Draisaitl while we have them instead of constantly trying to push blame towards the only two players that keep this team afloat and competitive through terrible depth, terrible defence, terrible goaltending, and downright horrendous management. When their tenure here is done we're looking at another decade of darkness. That is pretty obvious at this point.