[EDM/NYR] Oilers acquire Ryan Spooner in exchange for Ryan Strome (NYR retains 900k) Part 2

[North]

Take a step back and think about the line I bolded. Its a ridiculous assertion. No one with any modicum of intelligence would accept that statement. It makes no sense therefore its nonsense.

That aside...there was an obvious disconnect between the coach and the players. That was very clear to me. Doesnt mean the coach was an idiot or tha he wasnt a good coach. He was an excellent coach in 2016/17.

IMO it means that coaches simply lose their voice in the room...they lose their ability to connect with the players.
I think thats exactly what happened here.

That said I am a HUGE Hitch supporter. I also think that (aside from his systems) his type of communicating was the perfect solution to what ails this team.

Actually Kassian did say that under TMac everybody was trying to play like McDavid.

 

[stratedge]

Spooner is signed for two years. So next season too.

Oh for f***s sake Chia

 

[ujju2]

Oh for ****s sake Chia

This is really not something to worry about. If he doesn't work out here, he'll be fairly easy to trade for a pick or something. 41 points in 59 games last year means that some team will absolutely take a chance on him for a year.

 

[stratedge]

This is really not something to worry about. If he doesn't work out here, he'll be fairly easy to trade for a pick or something. 41 points in 59 games last year means that some team will absolutely take a chance on him for a year.

I don't know about that. His trade value right now was Strome; every 10 games he plays centring the 4th line will solidify the idea that season was a one off, and he's just a weak player overall. His shot metrics are an absolute dumpster fire, if he's not putting pucks into the net, the consensus is he's a liability to his team. I think he winds up an expensive cap hit in Bakersfield by next year.

 

[MessierII]

Delete

 

[guymez]

Actually Kassian did say that under TMac everybody was trying to play like McDavid.

That just means that there were some pretty confused players on the team.

To pin that on TMac is really dumb IMO. That confirms to me that the players had their own ideas on how they wanted to play. No NHL coach in their right mind tells his team to all play like McDavid. Thats so ridiculous its not even remotely realistic.

What I could put on TMac was that he should have had a better sense of what players were going off the rails and how to bring them back into the fold. That said if he had lost the room then it wouldn't have mattered what he said or did.

A change was the only fix. That's what I think is the most likely and most sensible scenario. That there was a major disconnect between McLellan and the players.

I am just happy that Hitch was the man who replaced TMac,

 

[Blowfish]

He's a good player just needs to get his confidence going. Has he looked better?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He's a good player just needs to get his confidence going. Has he looked better?

He's been decent IMO.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He's a good player just needs to get his confidence going. Has he looked better?

No. On his latest goal he actually misfired, which fooled the goalie and the puck went in. From a gimme setup from Draisaitl right in the slot.

The player has not separated himself from the pack in anyway. He's getting the current godsend to play because the current coach hates Ty Rattie and isn't apparently interested in using Zykov, who has looked better than Spooner on any shift.

Ryan Spooner has 5 pts in 30GP this season and the only reason a team would even have him up in the NHL is production. We're not getting much. Certainly not enough to keep him in the lineup. Right now he's in because the team has been winning. Soon as that changes he's out again.

 

[Blowfish]

He's been decent IMO.

Debrusk Krejci Spooner were unreal before Nash arrived. I was one of the few bruin fans that hated the trade,

 

[Blowfish]

No. On his latest goal he actually misfired, which fooled the goalie and the puck went in. From a gimme setup from Draisaitl right in the slot.

The player has not separated himself from the pack in anyway. He's getting the current godsend to play because the current coach hates Ty Rattie and isn't apparently interested in using Zykov, who has looked better than Spooner on any shift.

Ryan Spooner has 5 pts in 30GP this season and the only reason a team would even have him up in the NHL is production. We're not getting much. Certainly not enough to keep him in the lineup. Right now he's in because the team has been winning. Soon as that changes he's out again.

Who is he playing with?

 

[Drivesaitl]

Debrusk Krejci Spooner were unreal before Nash arrived. I was one of the few bruin fans that hated the trade,

One of the few would sure be accurate. Its hard to find any Bruins or Rangers fan out there that missed Ryan Spooner. I won't miss him either.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Who is he playing with?

He's played up and down in the lineup. Got his topsix looks, did nothing, now in bottomsix and doing much of nothing. The trouble with the player is he inevitably seems to find himself in bottomsix and has trouble establishing trust with coaches even by Spooners own recognition.

Its perhaps telling he starts out in topsix, and ends up in bottomsix with the 5 NHl coaches he has had. I pay attention to that.

First Spooner faulted Julien for it, but its remained a pattern ever since. I think the main thing is coaches don't see the consistent work ethic and drive that would be considered necessary in a topsix player. Indeed even the cited case why Spooner was benched in the playoffs.

This is a project player on his last out that isn't doing well.

probably be great in Europe though.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Who is he playing with?

He's been centering the 4th line mostly. Last game was Rieder-Spooner-Caggiula

 

[tiger_80]

Spooner actually had 3 pretty decent seasons numbers wise. Since 2015/2016 he scored 49, 39 and 41 points respectively. So he's a 40 point player, who's on a smaller side and weak defensively. Kind of like Sam Gagner. This kind of player is not a hot commodity, but there is usually a market for them. If he finds his game in the remainder of the year, which is not that high to imagine given his track record, he should be very easy to trade, for a pick. Or even keep him for 1 more year.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Spooner actually had 3 pretty decent seasons numbers wise. Since 2015/2016 he scored 49, 39 and 41 points respectively. So he's a 40 point player, who's on a smaller side and weak defensively. Kind of like Sam Gagner. This kind of player is not a hot commodity, but there is usually a market for them. If he finds his game in the remainder of the year, which is not that high to imagine given his track record, he should be very easy to trade, for a pick. Or even keep him for 1 more year.

This is an insult to Sam Gagner.

That's a player that was actually wrecked by years with a bad franchise. Spooner has no such excuse. Spooner has himself to blame for the hockey world passing him by.

That said both players have made some pretty good coin and are comfortable, nobody needs to feel sorry for either. heh.

I have turned the corner though from smallish players. I wasn't generally a fan of weak players anyway so it was odd I was on the Gagner bandwagon. Just like the kid and his try and enthusiasm and obvious talent.

Caggs though is what I need him to be right now. Small players have to outwork their size disadvantage. If they are prepared to do that they are useful. Neither Spooner or Gagner are doing that.

There isn't really a market for these players. They are inevitable waiver material. Spooner seemingly has a speed advantage over Gagner but lacks in hard work and tendency to even use it. I think Spooner is tentative. Which is also a death sentence for a small NHL player. You can't have size deficit, and compete deficit.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

He's been centering the 4th line mostly. Last game was Rieder-Spooner-Caggiula

Pretty sure it was Lucic Spooner Caggiula for the majority of the game and Rieder on the 3rd line with Brodziak, Hitch mentioned it post game as well talking about how the 4th line needed the heavier presence of Lucic and on the 3rd line the speed of Rieder, said both lines played better with that adjustment.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Pretty sure it was Lucic Spooner Caggiula for the majority of the game and Rieder on the 3rd line with Brodziak, Hitch mentioned it post game as well talking about how the 4th line needed the heavier presence of Lucic and on the 3rd line the speed of Rieder, said both lines played better with that adjustment.

Wasn't Lucic also getting some "cooler" shifts with Nuge to keep him off the scoresheet. I'm saying that in jest, but whoever gets stuck with Looch in a game isn't getting much of anything done. God he's awful. Watching him try to skate to pucks is like watching a starving dying bear try to catch healthy prey. His chasing play is again to the point of comical. It seems like 25-30 games into any season he loses whatever limited step he has and is then absolutely abysmal. Maybe he could retire.

 

[DaGap]

Wasn't Lucic also getting some "cooler" shifts with Nuge to keep him off the scoresheet. I'm saying that in jest, but whoever gets stuck with Looch in a game isn't getting much of anything done. God he's awful. Watching him try to skate to pucks is like watching a starving dying bear try to catch healthy prey. His chasing play is again to the point of comical. It seems like 25-30 games into any season he loses whatever limited step he has and is then absolutely abysmal. Maybe he could retire.

Yes He Took JP's place a few times when the previous shift either JP or Nuge got crosschecked

 

[tiger_80]

This is an insult to Sam Gagner.

That's a player that was actually wrecked by years with a bad franchise. Spooner has no such excuse. Spooner has himself to blame for the hockey world passing him by.

That said both players have made some pretty good coin and are comfortable, nobody needs to feel sorry for either. heh.

I have turned the corner though from smallish players. I wasn't generally a fan of weak players anyway so it was odd I was on the Gagner bandwagon. Just like the kid and his try and enthusiasm and obvious talent.

Caggs though is what I need him to be right now. Small players have to outwork their size disadvantage. If they are prepared to do that they are useful. Neither Spooner or Gagner are doing that.

There isn't really a market for these players. They are inevitable waiver material. Spooner seemingly has a speed advantage over Gagner but lacks in hard work and tendency to even use it. I think Spooner is tentative. Which is also a death sentence for a small NHL player. You can't have size deficit, and compete deficit.

Nah, Gagner reached his ceiling. Skilled player with very limited tools. I never understood the hype after I watched him in the World Juniors. He looked small, slow, and bad defensively at 18; he looked small, slow and bad defensively when he ended his NHL career.

 

[oobga]

Actually Kassian did say that under TMac everybody was trying to play like McDavid.

TMac is just a poor leader from the looks of it, poor at getting his message across in an effective way.

It really seems like he just lets his top leader guys run the show with the group, something that I guess worked for him in SJ, but here, he had guys like McDavid, Lucic, Letestu and whoever else. Communication seemed to be very poor for the middling and lower end players on the team, multiple low end guys have said as much after leaving, which is extremely rare to hear from any ex-player for any team. The other crappy part of that situation is that McLellan seemed to need to prop up leader guys like Lucic and Letestu with undeserved opportunity, so you end up with garbage like them being stapled to the 1st PP unit forever no mater how awful they perform. But he needs to try to keep those guy legitimate because he tries to send his message through them.

Not really surprising that depth on McLellan coached teams usually get nothing done.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

This is an insult to Sam Gagner.

That's a player that was actually wrecked by years with a bad franchise. Spooner has no such excuse. Spooner has himself to blame for the hockey world passing him by.

That said both players have made some pretty good coin and are comfortable, nobody needs to feel sorry for either. heh.

I have turned the corner though from smallish players. I wasn't generally a fan of weak players anyway so it was odd I was on the Gagner bandwagon. Just like the kid and his try and enthusiasm and obvious talent.

Caggs though is what I need him to be right now. Small players have to outwork their size disadvantage. If they are prepared to do that they are useful. Neither Spooner or Gagner are doing that.

There isn't really a market for these players. They are inevitable waiver material. Spooner seemingly has a speed advantage over Gagner but lacks in hard work and tendency to even use it. I think Spooner is tentative. Which is also a death sentence for a small NHL player. You can't have size deficit, and compete deficit.

Gagner was over hyped coming into the NHL, his junior season was largely due to a guy called Patrick Kane.

I loved him as a player though, not sure the oilers actually ruined him though.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Gagner was overrated. I however never would have predicted his career to spiral down so fast. The oilers didn’t ruin him, he played his best hockey in his entire career with the Oilers IMO.

 

[oobga]

Gagner was overrated. I however never would have predicted his career to spiral down so fast. The oilers didn’t ruin him, he played his best hockey in his entire career with the Oilers IMO.

Skating was always an issue for him wasn't it? League got faster and accelerated his decline. He can still put up some points, especially on the PP where mobility isn't as big a deal. But, he also never bothered to improve defensively, so if he isn't putting up big numbers, he is a net negative to your team.

I definitely don't miss his thing where after a goal was scored on us, usually after he was standing in no mans land covering no one, he gets his mouth piece hanging out and yells a profanity to the sky. Probably saw that 100+ times in his time here . At first you think, hey, that guy really cares, he's gonna improve in his own end. By the 50th time, you wonder if he has any clue that he has no clue. By time 100, you know it's never gonna change.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Skating was always an issue for him wasn't it? League got faster and accelerated his decline. He can still put up some points, especially on the PP where mobility isn't as big a deal. But, he also never bothered to improve defensively, so if he isn't putting up big numbers, he is a net negative to your team.

Yah if I can recall. Doesn’t seem to care much for the defensive part of the game. However We did witness him get 8 points in a game once. Wasn’t that bonkers? Now he’s in the minors. Mind blowing.