Pre-Game Talk: Edmonton Oilers Play-In Series Extravaganza

[Brightwing]

Mebbe the team failed, rather than their coach's game plan. Difficult to assess percentages, but putting it on Colliton? I disagree. Do you think Q or another coach would've gotten last season's squad over the hump? Doubtful.

Also this team had a disastrous fall campaign. People blame Colliton's system, but honestly the system was just an attempt to get them to stop hemorrhaging shots on goal. The problem was the poor defensive play. And our D did improve as the season wore on. Like Seabrook's play was just brutal and we were playing Denis Gilbert at one point. Dach and Boqvist coming in and gaining experience helped. And yes Nylander improved too. In fact, defensively he can play up and down the lineup.

I really hope Strome and DeBrincat can get it together because when I look back at their games in the fall they were just getting hemmed in their own zone all the time. Even Johnny did not look great at the start of the season so if we start there again we're doomed.

Remeber when Ryan Carpenter was centering the second line? I think Dach has improved where we don't need to see that. I don't want to give up on Dylan Strome either and I'm really curious to see what he looks like in playoff hockey.

 

[HawkeyTalkMan]

Mebbe the team failed, rather than their coach's game plan. Difficult to assess percentages, but putting it on Colliton? I disagree. Do you think Q or another coach would've gotten last season's squad over the hump? Doubtful.

I just havent Seen any adjustments to a crappy system that wasn't working for the team that have been effective and basically they had to force into a hybrid man2man/zone system because the pure man2man coverage was an unmitigated disaster. The only other adjustment that briefly had success was deploying the weak side winger out of the defensive zone early once we obtained possession which led to breakaways and odd man rushes. Still the amount of shots and high danger chances they bleed are atrocious and you can't tell me someone like Barry trotz wouldn't come in here and clean a lot of that up pretty fast. It's not all on the coaches, no. But there is a lot to be desired behind our bench

 

[Brightwing]

I just havent Seen any adjustments to a crappy system that wasn't working for the team that have been effective and basically they had to force into a hybrid man2man/zone system because the pure man2man coverage was an unmitigated disaster. The only other adjustment that briefly had success was deploying the weak side winger out of the defensive zone early once we obtained possession which led to breakaways and odd man rushes. Still the amount of shots and high danger chances they bleed are atrocious and you can't tell me someone like Barry trotz wouldn't come in here and clean a lot of that up pretty fast. It's not all on the coaches, no. But there is a lot to be desired behind our bench

The thing with Barry Trotz is not only does he lay out the system but he holds players accountable. And I do think Colliton holds the younger players accountable but he has struggled.with the vets. Remember when he first scratched Seabrook? And Seabrook was all, well I don't know why I got scratched. Trust me there was team drama there with the vets siding with Seabrook. I don't know if the level of respect for him has changed but if you don't have buy in from your core vets you are gonna have a hard time implementing any system.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Hell, yes! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Upon further review, there's not much in that article to get excited about. Definitely an aspirational tweet and/or click bait.

Quick question, what was better college movie?

Animal House

or

Old School

 

[BK]

Quick question, what was better college movie?

Animal House

or

Old School

Is this a real question...


The answer to your question is and will always be Animal House.

 

[HawkeyTalkMan]

Quick question, what was better college movie?

Animal House

or

Old School

Legally blonde

 

[Oilers in NS]

Legally blonde

I never watched that one. I will have to

 

[Oilers in NS]

Is this a real question...


The answer to your question is and will always be Animal House.

Old school made me laugh as well. Frank the Tank

 

[Styles]

Kane, Strome, Nylander, DeBrincat, and Subban

GALLERY: Phase 2 Voluntary Practices - June 15 and 16

 

[bwana63]

Will be quite interesting to see how our rooks fare. A leap forward from one or more of them would be fortuitous. All three have very high level skill (just lacked experience), so it's not a pipe dream, IMO.

 

[clydesdale line]

Kane, Strome, Nylander, DeBrincat, and Subban

GALLERY: Phase 2 Voluntary Practices - June 15 and 16

Kane already on the ice for voluntary practices.. not surprised.

 

[Styles]

Kane already on the ice for voluntary practices.. not surprised.

Thought the same exact thing. Dudes 1 million dollar apartment probably has black scuff marks all over the place from shooting pucks.

I like that Kane has taken younger players under his wing.

Where’s our captain though? (Not a dig)

 

[clydesdale line]

Thought the same exact thing. Dudes 1 million dollar apartment probably has black scuff marks all over the place from shooting pucks.

I like that Kane has taken younger players under his wing.

He's been doing it for so long now. I know Laz had that report about Kane seemingly "taking over the captain role" and such but his work ethic really is incredible. This is why the guy is a no doubt hall of famer and likely will go down as one of, if not the greatest Blackhawk to don the Indian head.

 

[Kevin Musto]

Thought the same exact thing. Dudes 1 million dollar apartment probably has black scuff marks all over the place from shooting pucks.

I like that Kane has taken younger players under his wing.

Where’s our captain though? (Not a dig)

You can tell DeBrincat really admires Kane. From the get go it seemed like Kane really took him under his wing.

Strome, like Kane, is a pure rink rat so he never misses an optional practice.

Really like that Nylander is fitting into this group too. Jokiharju would never...

 

[goldenbladz1]

Thought the same exact thing. Dudes 1 million dollar apartment probably has black scuff marks all over the place from shooting pucks.

I like that Kane has taken younger players under his wing.

Where’s our captain though? (Not a dig)

Kane has been very good with the younger players no doubt but here it's with players that he has played on a line with and had some chemistry so why not. In Dach's interview he said he gravitated towards Keith and Toews. I'm sure if Saad, Kubalik or Cags were there Toews would be as well (line combos)

 

[Brightwing]

Thought the same exact thing. Dudes 1 million dollar apartment probably has black scuff marks all over the place from shooting pucks.

I like that Kane has taken younger players under his wing.

Where’s our captain though? (Not a dig)

Toews is definitely in Chicago as he was at that event with the other Chicago athletes and Malcolm Subban. He's also the NHLPA rep for the Hawks so maybe he hasn't been able to practice with the group due to that. I wouldn't be surprised if he was practicing at a different time or something. I'm not gonna assume the worst about him.

 

[Styles]

From Boqvists Instagram story it looks like he’s on his way back to Chicago. I’d imagine all of the players will be doing the same in the next week or so. Fingers crossed no one tests positive.

 

[Brightwing]

Phillip Kurashev was practicing with Kane, DeBrincat and Nylander today. Interesting. Edited to add: Apparently photos are from the 18th and Alec Regula was there too.

 

[Kevin Musto]

Found this garbage on TSN:

You can look at some of the other play-in teams and see ways that the Blackhawks can pull off an upset. Not here. Edmonton is too fast, too skilled and too dangerous offensively for such a porous Chicago team.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Found this garbage on TSN:

No one seems to give the Hawks a shot in that series... There might be a lot of crow being eaten by the end of that one.

 

[Rick C137]

Not that I think we’re a world beater or anything, I just don’t think Edmonton is that good. The pacific was straight dog shit this year. Not sure they’re sitting in the same position they are if their in any other division in the league.

However McDavid and Drai with fresh legs is more than enough to win a short series

 

[x Tame Impala]

No one seems to give the Hawks a shot in that series... There might be a lot of crow being eaten by the end of that one.

Why would they? The Hawks played like trash for most of the year and were very inconsistent. Not saying the Hawks CANT do it, but I wouldn’t put money down that they’d beat Edmonton

 

[Brightwing]

Murphy and 4K in town for practice in the latest Hawks photo gallery. So far we've seen Kane, DeBrincat, Strome, Nylander, Subban plus Regula and Kurashev. We know Boqvist was headed back to town and Toews should be in Chicago too.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

I played with these lines on NHL 20 today, I liked my balance and felt like each scoring line was dangerous 4th line sucked, but at least Carpenter won draws:

DeBrincat-Toews-Saad
Nylander-Dach-Kane
Kubalik-Strome-Caggiula
Kampf-Carpenter-Highmore

When I had Strome and Kubalik with Kane, it felt like I only had two dangerous lines so I swapped them with Dach and Nylander, didn’t make Kane any less dangerous.

What do you think of the potential of this lineup in real life?

 

[Kevin Musto]

I played with these lines on NHL 20 today, I liked my balance and felt like each scoring line was dangerous 4th line sucked, but at least Carpenter won draws:

DeBrincat-Toews-Saad
Nylander-Dach-Kane
Kubalik-Strome-Caggiula
Kampf-Carpenter-Highmore

When I had Strome and Kubalik with Kane, it felt like I only had two dangerous lines so I swapped them with Dach and Nylander, didn’t make Kane any less dangerous.

What do you think of the potential of this lineup in real life?

If they're bringing a healthy Kurashev with them, I'd love to see him in over Highmore.