Post-Game Talk: Came out in the wash with a win

[SwedishFire]

How was the scrubs?
Benson, Hamblin, Holliway.
The said future of this franschise.

 

[SwedishFire]

Oi. Didn’t hear that. That sucks. Running Malone and Shore down the middle isn’t great.

More than sucks. Finally a 3C comes that is easy to play with, and he gets q long time injury. Yikes.
He boosted Fogele, and can make a 3rd line with Pulju, Järnmark or Kostin.
There are alternatives

If everyone is healthy, the 4th line is even good enough. With Kostin and
Holloway/Benson/Yamamaoto/Ryan.

 

[Sweetpotato]

I love Holloway too and no question he will be a great forward in the league eventually. But, Guhle looks great too. Diamond in the rough pretty much. Not the best offensive numbers. He needed a bit more of an eye test.

I wanted Guhle so bad. I watched a few of his games his draft year just by chance and immediately noticed him. Shea Weber esc player.

Imagine this team with with Zegras, Guhle and Wallstedt.

 

[MessierII]

I want Guhle so bad. I watched a few of his games his draft year just by chance and immediately noticed him. Shea Weber esc player.

Imagine this team with with Zegras, Guhle and Wallstedt.

Swap zegras for Caufield. Zegras is massively overrated. Wallstedt wouldn’t move the needle though. He’s still years away.

 

[Sweetpotato]

Swap zegras for Caufield. Zegras is massively overrated. Wallstedt wouldn’t move the needle though. He’s still years away.

I was referring to who I wanted us to draft at the time of the draft.

 

[MessierII]

I was referring to who I wanted us to draft at the time of the draft.

Fair enough I always wanted Caufeild.

 

[Sweetpotato]

Fair enough I always wanted Caufeild.

I mean in hind site sure haha on draft day i was cheesed Seider got taken early. It was Boldy or Zegras. Caufield wasn't on my radar but obv if I had the choice now I wouldve taken him

 

[MessierII]

I mean in hind site sure haha on draft day i was cheesed Seider got taken early. It was Boldy or Zegras. Caufield wasn't on my radar but obv if I had the choice now I wouldve taken him

Even on draft day I wanted caufeild. No idea how he fell so far being one of the best goal scorers to come through the draft in years.

 

[Harry Curry]

Maybe skinner should start every game. He might be tired but still better chance than with Campbell lmao

Pretty much. The Oilers play Monday/Wednesday/Friday against Washington, Arizona and Minnesota.

I'd like to see Skinner get all three starts. Then the Oilers have two games off and play Nashville and Minnesota back to back on the road.

Gotta give Campbell one of the back to backs.

That rotation is what gives the Oilers the best chance to win at this point.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Not the prettiest win ever, but no one remembers at the end of the season.

Two points!

Unless you are an oilers fan in which case every “bad” win is remembered and brought up when disparaging the team that is.

 

[trick91]

Any word on Foegle or Yam? I know Mcleod isnt close.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Well he was beaten cleanly and saved by the crossbar at 4-3 so

From a Montreal, and a long time general hockey fan's, perspective, it was a real treat to watch the elite level of play that the league's best duo, MacDavid and Draisaitl, can bring to the game. But the Oilers were playing a re-building, largely mediocre team with 4 very raw rookies playing that was improbably able to outplay their superior opponent for large portions of the game when playing 5 on 5 and remain competitive even in the face of having to deal with multiple 5-3 advantages which allowed the best duo since Crosby and Malkin ( Esposito and Orr?) at their prime to strut their unworldly talent.

This game was much closer than it should have been. That result was more a function of Edmonton's weaknesses than Montreal's strengths. As noted by others here, the Oilers don't have a championship level defence. Nor from what I saw, do they have the requisite goaltending. Some here have pointed out that Skinner was 'saved' by the crossbar on the Armia shot. That shot would have beaten most goaltenders. What was more illustrative of Skinner's weakness was the Danonov goal. You simply cannot kick out a rebound like that into the center of the ice. I for one have never liked Campbell as a front line goaltender. In Montreal's upset victory over the leafs in the playoffs two years ago, it was Campbell's penchant for giving up weak goals at the most inopportune time that was the difference. While Montreal lacked the skill to exploit the Oilers' weaknesses, much stronger teams will undoubtedly have more success in this regard.

In any event, congratulations on the win. It was a highly entertaining game where the clearly better team won. But when you have MacDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers, in most cases, will be the better team. It's the other cases that the Oilers' fans should be concerned about.

 

[Spawn]

Now do each players statline for non-McDrai involved goals lol

That’s a bit unfair considering one of them plays on a team, and frequently a line, with two of those players and one doesn’t lol.

 

[Spawn]

From a Montreal, and a long time general hockey fan's, perspective, it was a real treat to watch the elite level of play that the league's best duo, MacDavid and Draisaitl, can bring to the game. But the Oilers were playing a re-building, largely mediocre team with 4 very raw rookies playing that was improbably able to outplay their superior opponent for large portions of the game when playing 5 on 5 and remain competitive even in the face of having to deal with multiple 5-3 advantages which allowed the best duo since Crosby and Malkin ( Esposito and Orr?) at their prime to strut their unworldly talent.

This game was much closer than it should have been. That result was more a function of Edmonton's weaknesses than Montreal's strengths. As noted by others here, the Oilers don't have a championship level defence. Nor from what I saw, do they have the requisite goaltending. Some here have pointed out that Skinner was 'saved' by the crossbar on the Armia shot. That shot would have beaten most goaltenders. What was more illustrative of Skinner's weakness was the Danonov goal. You simply cannot kick out a rebound like that into the center of the ice. I for one have never liked Campbell as a front line goaltender. In Montreal's upset victory over the leafs in the playoffs two years ago, it was Campbell's penchant for giving up weak goals at the most inopportune time that was the difference. While Montreal lacked the skill to exploit the Oilers' weaknesses, much stronger teams will undoubtedly have more success in this regard.

In any event, congratulations on the win. It was a highly entertaining game where the clearly better team won. But when you have MacDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers, in most cases, will be the better team. It's the other cases that the Oilers' fans should be concerned about.

To be fair, you were playing a team missing half its top 9 forward group.

But yes, the defense and goaltending is not good enough to win a cup.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

To be fair, you were playing a team missing half its top 9 forward group.

But yes, the defense and goaltending is not good enough to win a cup.

That's the blessing and the curse of having two elite players like MacDavid and Draisaitl in a cap era. It greatly restricts a team's options. Its funny. From an Oilers' fans' perspective, with MacDavid and Draisaitl, you always believe you have a chance to win. From opposing fans' perspective, when you face the Oiler's goaltending, you always believe you have a chance to win.

 

[Spawn]

That's the blessing and the curse of having two elite players like MacDavid and Draisaitl in a cap era. It greatly restricts a team's options.

A bad GM has greatly restricted the teams options.

 

[xoczar99ox]

Any word on Foegle or Yam? I know Mcleod isnt close.

I know this might sound stupid but the Oilers haven’t exactly been the greatest team this year but they are still keeping afloat. Having so many players injured right now has kinda forced the rest up the team to elevate just to scrape up these wins. I think once we start to see these guys get healthy we might actually come out of these injuries a better team than before they all went down.

Same players better team.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

A bad GM has greatly restricted the teams options.

You can keep changing general managers, but the challenge of the mathematics doesn't. The cap has institutionalized parity (mediocrity).

 

[Fourier]

From a Montreal, and a long time general hockey fan's, perspective, it was a real treat to watch the elite level of play that the league's best duo, MacDavid and Draisaitl, can bring to the game. But the Oilers were playing a re-building, largely mediocre team with 4 very raw rookies playing that was improbably able to outplay their superior opponent for large portions of the game when playing 5 on 5 and remain competitive even in the face of having to deal with multiple 5-3 advantages which allowed the best duo since Crosby and Malkin ( Esposito and Orr?) at their prime to strut their unworldly talent.

This game was much closer than it should have been. That result was more a function of Edmonton's weaknesses than Montreal's strengths. As noted by others here, the Oilers don't have a championship level defence. Nor from what I saw, do they have the requisite goaltending. Some here have pointed out that Skinner was 'saved' by the crossbar on the Armia shot. That shot would have beaten most goaltenders. What was more illustrative of Skinner's weakness was the Danonov goal. You simply cannot kick out a rebound like that into the center of the ice. I for one have never liked Campbell as a front line goaltender. In Montreal's upset victory over the leafs in the playoffs two years ago, it was Campbell's penchant for giving up weak goals at the most inopportune time that was the difference. While Montreal lacked the skill to exploit the Oilers' weaknesses, much stronger teams will undoubtedly have more success in this regard.

In any event, congratulations on the win. It was a highly entertaining game where the clearly better team won. But when you have MacDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers, in most cases, will be the better team. It's the other cases that the Oilers' fans should be concerned about.

The defense could be improved substantially with the addition of a defensively solid #2LD. A guy like Gavrikov for example might make a big difference. It starts a bit of a chain reaction.

Nurse Ceci
Gavrikov Barrie/Bouchard
Kulak Bouchard/Barrie

is not elite by any standards but it should be much better than what they currently are icing. Nurse and Ceci both have their moments but on the whole they come out ahead of the game. Kulak would be playing a more natural role. This helps Bouchard as well. You give Barrie a guy who can cover for his issues and let him do what he does best. If this team simply plays even 5 vs 5 and gets the pk back on track they will win a lot of games. If the bottom two pairings play even at 5 vs 5 they probably win the division.

It also helps the pk which has gone from one of the best in the league to one of the worst, in one off season.

 

[Messrules11]

That's the blessing and the curse of having two elite players like MacDavid and Draisaitl in a cap era. It greatly restricts a team's options. Its funny. From an Oilers' fans' perspective, with MacDavid and Draisaitl, you always believe you have a chance to win. From opposing fans' perspective, when you face the Oiler's goaltending, you always believe you have a chance to win.

Ya we also had Gretzky and Kurri in a Pocklington cap era but we also had Fuhr, Messier and Anderson back then.

 

[CupofOil]

Missed the game but just looking at the stats seeing that they were heavily outshot and depending a lot on the PP, I'm guessing that it was a gongshow at even strength. It's important to bank points regardless but they have a ton of shit to fix if they want to be anything more than 1st round fodder.

 

[Soundwave]

Ceci + Bouchard + Barrie cannot be the right side D on a team that a legit championship contender. I think that's a huge problem too.

No offence to Ceci and Barrie, but the fact is the Leafs were a bottom 4 team in the NHL for goals against the one year they were there. As soon as they left the Leafs goals against improved massively.

And Bouchard is probably worse defensively than those two. Not a good combination.

Swap zegras for Caufield. Zegras is massively overrated. Wallstedt wouldn’t move the needle though. He’s still years away.

Zegras is still a 70+ point pace player leading the Ducks in scoring while also on pace for about 30 goals.

If he was here he'd be lighting up the league with McDavid or Draisaitl.

 

[Oilhawks]

They’re down 4 forwards which makes an “easy” win less likely. They were the better team in the third as well

 

[Spawn]

Missed the game but just looking at the stats seeing that they were heavily outshot and depending a lot on the PP, I'm guessing that it was a gongshow at even strength. It's important to bank points regardless but they have a ton of shit to fix if they want to be anything more than 1st round fodder.

Eh it wasn’t really a gong show at ES. It was more of a gong show on the PK.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Even on draft day I wanted caufeild. No idea how he fell so far being one of the best goal scorers to come through the draft in years.

It was commented on numerous times during the draft that beyond Hughes it was difficult to tell which players drove the play on that powerhouse USNTP team. A team selecting between 5-20 could draft a Caufield/Boldy or Turcotte/York.