Post-Game Talk: Garbage PP costs us. Oilers lose 6-4 to Bolts

[oil Leaks]

Yak was also injured very early in the game and needed help getting to the bench and to the locker room. Might have something to do with why he was getting caught last night.

Why was he even playing the point on the powerplay with a injury to his leg? Just plain stupid

 

[TheRebuild]

I think that says something about the team over the last 10 years.
It may even have something to do with Canadian teams struggles.

Is there something about winter? Our dollar? this City? Pressure?

That sucks the life out of hockey players?

It just seems that whenever someone comes here to play hockey they start off great. Then something kicks in over time and they get worse and worse.

I predict Kassian's motivated play and general effectiveness will deteriorate.
More than the norm for a player. Oiler players depreciate fast.

I don't think it has anything to do with the city or Canada in general, it's more like, the player in question comes in with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, while all the other players on the team are comfy and cozy, sitting back, watching the L's roll in, collecting their paychecks, hitting up the clubs. Something to that effect.

 

[TheRebuild]

I think it just says to me that the team sucks because the players who have been here for years are unmotivated to succeed.

 

[joestevens29]

Why was he even playing the point on the powerplay with a injury to his leg? Just plain stupid

Judging from these boards I'd suggest the answer is everyone else is useless from there.

 

[cbzblaze]

I don't know why people hate on Gryba so much. He's a big, physical, bottom pairing Defenceman who plays a simple game. Guys like him and to a certain degree fayne, don't like the puck on their sticks. Their teammates need to know this and not put them in dificult situations with the puck.

Pakman has played great last 4-5 games. The effort has been fantastic and he's making some nice plays as well as hits. If kassian can be consistant and when he gets into better game shape, I see him being a top 6 guy. I thought he would be a big grinding winger but hes actually more of a power forward with good hands. Love how he finishes checks.

The oilers are actually having some games where we are out-hitting the opponents. It's nice to see.

Nillson has some fundamental flaws in his game. On the game winner, u have to either get the puck or take out the man, if neither it always ends up in the back of the net.

Everyone forgot how Purcell forgot to cover his guy that led directly to palat goal. Brutal backchecking. Hope he gets traded for a bag of pucks.

 

[Replacement*]

I don't know why people hate on Gryba so much. He's a big, physical, bottom pairing Defenceman who plays a simple game. Guys like him and to a certain degree fayne, don't like the puck on their sticks. Their teammates need to know this and not put them in dificult situations with the puck.

Pakman has played great last 4-5 games. The effort has been fantastic and he's making some nice plays as well as hits. If kassian can be consistant and when he gets into better game shape, I see him being a top 6 guy. I thought he would be a big grinding winger but hes actually more of a power forward with good hands. Love how he finishes checks.

The oilers are actually having some games where we are out-hitting the opponents. It's nice to see.

Yep. I love these players. The physical dimension they bring is essential to this club and trying to make this club harder to play against. We've seen this in the florida games which bordered on getting chippy and Tampa last night. I really feel we should have continued to be physical with Tampa but the same players doing it every night lost some steam. As I said we really need buy in from others. Of the skilled players only Hall, Drai, and Nurse are being physical. Pouliot not nearly enough, he could be doing so much more out there.

The physical compete has to spread through the lineup.

Purcell won't get traded and he's from what I've seen and heard a very solid team guy, vet, supporting players off the ice. Even had Drai over at Xmas time (I think they flew to Newfoundland to spend time with Purcells family). Purcell is tight with Hall and Drai. They are getting along more than just on the ice. A young team can't disregard the value in that and its important to the stars to have a vet like that. Purcell could do more on the ice, and I've been a critic. But he's doing a lot off it as well. The org knows that. He's also supporting offense reasonably on that line.

 

[Stoneman89]

Well it's about time guys in the bottom 6 started helping. Pakarinen, Letustu and Kassian all chipping in with goals in a game is something we don't rarely see.

Not sure where you've been this year, but we've had some decent production and effort out of most of our bottom players for a couple months now. If they were scoring more than you'd like, then I guess they'd be top 6 players, wouldn't they? Chicago is the best team in the league, and their bottome 6 have 20 goals between them. The difference between them and us, is that all of their top 6 guys are producing nearly every night, their defence steps up and contirbutes, and the goaltending has been stellar right from the start.

 

[Stoneman89]

Yep. I love these players. The physical dimension they bring is essential to this club and trying to make this club harder to play against. We've seen this in the florida games which bordered on getting chippy and Tampa last night. I really feel we should have continued to be physical with Tampa but the same players doing it every night lost some steam. As I said we really need buy in from others. Of the skilled players only Hall, Drai, and Nurse are being physical. Pouliot not nearly enough, he could be doing so much more out there.

The physical compete has to spread through the lineup.

Purcell won't get traded and he's from what I've seen and heard a very solid team guy, vet, supporting players off the ice. Even had Drai over at Xmas time (I think they flew to Newfoundland to spend time with Purcells family). Purcell is tight with Hall and Drai. They are getting along more than just on the ice. A young team can't disregard the value in that and its important to the stars to have a vet like that. Purcell could do more on the ice, and I've been a critic. But he's doing a lot off it as well. The org knows that. He's also supporting offense reasonably on that line.

I wouldn't call Drai a very physical player. He is excellent at protecting the puck retrieving it. As for Purcell, if they don't move him at the TD, it will be a big mistake. He is on record in the past as saying he wanted to play down east more near his home. I think he's sucked in the last while, and is merely hanging on to Hall and Drai's coat tails. As for off ice contris, that is all well and good, but there are also others that can do that for far less money. Andrew Ference is also great off ice.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Does anyone want to make a post based off the "10 point" argument suggesting the Oilers should be battling LA for top of the division and taking their rightful place behind chicago as 2nd best team in the west?

Fluke injuries, ref-caused injuries, ref calls, bad bounces and luck have cost the team at least 10 points and in the stretch where they need to compete against the division they have played well and hung around in close games.

For the record I don't believe this.

The team frittered away game after game. Blow it up.

 

[Replacement*]

I wouldn't call Drai a very physical player. He is excellent at protecting the puck retrieving it. As for Purcell, if they don't move him at the TD, it will be a big mistake. He is on record in the past as saying he wanted to play down east more near his home. I think he's sucked in the last while, and is merely hanging on to Hall and Drai's coat tails. As for off ice contris, that is all well and good, but there are also others that can do that for far less money. Andrew Ference is also great off ice.

Drai does hit. plus he leans on playes and squeezes them off puck as an art form. He uses his size well and is a handful for D to play against. What you want in a player. Its great that he's turned out this good.

I'm no Purcell fan and I never wanted the trade but that's harsh assessment. He was recrucited to be a support player here supporting offense on a topsix line and he's done that quite well. 10G 18A 28pts and part of the best line this club has had in countless years. he's not the straw by any means but his play somehow complements the line fairly well.

he also plays well on the pk. Something that doesn't get a lot of mention. he has a quiet game but objectively he's earning his minutes.

That said for him to remain here would probably require a cut in pay. I can't see him being worth too much but then again we're paying Nuge 6M to have two more pts than Purcell and BLEED GA.

 

[Aerchon]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the game last night. It's disheartening to hear about Yakupov though. Guy loves the sports and works so hard, and you can see the talent come through at times, but I'm not sure he's ever going to be able to have the consistency needed to be a top end NHL player. What a disaster of a first overall pick so far

Think that is set in stone.

As a first overall he is all but guaranteed to be a massive bust.

As an NHL player he is looking like a top 9 winger that needs a ton of sheltering. His defense is barely adequate to atrocious to nonexistent. Because he is a winger he should be able to stick in the NHL but he really needs to up his offensive game as well to offset those defensive deficiencies.

In all fairness I think If we don't see any real improvement by mid next year its the best thing to do for both player and team to move him.

His deficiencies are plain as day and are the reason he has not gotten more ice time, better line mates, or more success. If Yak has any trade value left from "potential" it might be a good idea to trade him this year. But I think that ship has sailed. His value is most likely next to nothing.

 

[Stoneman89]

Drai does hit. plus he leans on playes and squeezes them off puck as an art form. He uses his size well and is a handful for D to play against. What you want in a player. Its great that he's turned out this good.

I'm no Purcell fan and I never wanted the trade but that's harsh assessment. He was recrucited to be a support player here supporting offense on a topsix line and he's done that quite well. 10G 18A 28pts and part of the best line this club has had in countless years. he's not the straw by any means but his play somehow complements the line fairly well.

he also plays well on the pk. Something that doesn't get a lot of mention. he has a quiet game but objectively he's earning his minutes.

That said for him to remain here would probably require a cut in pay. I can't see him being worth too much but then again we're paying Nuge 6M to have two more pts than Purcell and BLEED GA.

By the same token I think you're giving Purseman too much credit. He's played well in spurts this year for the first time in ages. Guess what? It's contract time at the end of the year. And now he's starting to fade badly as we head down the stretch. I can only hope someone has seen enough this year to take a flyer on him and we can get something for him, maybe a 3rd rounder. He's soft and loses puck battles. On a team that needs more grit on their top 6, he is not an answer. Take him off Hall's line and I doubt he has more than a dozen points. The only reason Purcell came here is that Tampa needed to dump a lousy underperforming contract for another. Somehow they managed to do that, and avoid Gagner, who went to a cap basement team in Phoenix in a 3 way deal. Nice work by Yzerman. And now we can finally rid ourselves of one more lousy contract, either at the TD or by attrition.

 

[McAsuno]

Talbot would've blocked that shot

Talbot would've stayed in his net like a smart goalie should.

 

[Kepler 186f]

Wow, all the microanalysis continuing. Meanwhile Schultz, who actually happens to be a D, is floating all the way in and is thus absolved of any fault managing to stay out of the select sphere of Camera frame. A trick Omark perfected here. When a play looks like its going to be bad stay as far away from it as possible, Staples will never hang an "error" stat on you.

The reality here if one is watching the whole play unfold is that Yak beats Schultz back because he bothers to be hustling back before anybody else. Which only earns him ignominy for being in the camera frame during somebody elses cluster**** (Nillson)

Which reminds me. Some dolt used to keep a stat on how many times players lost a puck. This was thought to be significant and with players losing the most battles for the puck assumed to be poor players who should be traded. Further analysis however revealed those that lost puck battles the most were usually players adept enough to be in the right position for puck battles and engaging in puck battles. What got outed is that the players that lost few puck battles were actually the floaters and dog *******.

I'll rarely fault players for at least trying to be in the play.

No he isn't. He may play back there, but he is in no way, shape or form a defenseman.

 

[Cawz]

I really believe that Woodcroft isn't the reason why the sharks PP was so lethal. How the **** do you not have a decent PP with all of the firepower on this team? Brutal.

The funny thing is this team went from the 2nd best PP team in Nuge's rookie season to one of the worst now. Top 3 PP goal scorers that season - Eberle, Hall and RNH with 26 PP goals and 64 PP points. This year they currently have 7 PP goals and 22 PP points. How do the same players have that much regression in their PP ability as they mature towards their prime years?

 

[duul]

The funny thing is this team went from the 2nd best PP team in Nuge's rookie season to one of the worst now. Top 3 PP goal scorers that season - Eberle, Hall and RNH with 26 PP goals and 64 PP points. This year they currently have 7 PP goals and 22 PP points. How do the same players have that much regression in their PP ability as they mature towards their prime years?

Teams were giving them space and room to create plays. That's the standard way of playing on the PK - a box or diamond. Now they've figured out that if you simply play aggressive and get rid of their time and space, they freak out and can't make plays under pressure. Watch how other teams play the PK against us and compare it to how they play the PK against most other teams.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Why don't they just play the PP like they play at EVS?

 

[Fishy McScales]

They frequently get out-numbered along the walls and in the corners on the PP because they try to set up before they've established possession.

I think they take their foot off the gas on the PP. It's a natural reaction but it really also is the worst thing you can do since it contributes to eliminating the benefit of a man advantage.

 

[Replacement*]

They frequently get out-numbered along the walls and in the corners on the PP because they try to set up before they've established possession.

I think they take their foot off the gas on the PP. It's a natural reaction but it really also is the worst thing you can do since it contributes to eliminating the benefit of a man advantage.

2 things.

i'm amazed how stationary the Oilers are on the PP. This is such a problem. They're just killing their own PP's by passing the puck around the perimeter. So tentative and nobody challenging the box, nobody in front of net.

next Shooting the puck in on the PP continues to be a poor choice for this club which is better at gaining zone than gaining a puck on endboards. Particularly against Tampa the goalie was very adept at just playing every puck that was shot in. The goalie was very involved in the play BECAUSE we were shooting it in. What this essentially meant is we were allowing Tampa to really have 5 active players on the pk. It was as if they were not shorthanded.

This PP is bad by design and by execution.

 

[oljimmy]

next Shooting the puck in on the PP continues to be a poor choice for this club which is better at gaining zone than gaining a puck on endboards. Particularly against Tampa the goalie was very adept at just playing every puck that was shot in. The goalie was very involved in the play BECAUSE we were shooting it in. What this essentially meant is we were allowing Tampa to really have 5 active players on the pk. It was as if they were not shorthanded.

This is true, though I will say that on at least two of those plays, what happened is that the Oilers' shoot-in guy got slowed up in the neutral zone. This means that the chasers are stuck waiting at the blueline, avoiding offside with no speed, and it virtually guarantees a clear-out by the other team. One problem is that the dump-n-chase has to start with crisp, smart outlet passing and organization, and we don't have that.

 

[Cawz]

Teams were giving them space and room to create plays. That's the standard way of playing on the PK - a box or diamond. Now they've figured out that if you simply play aggressive and get rid of their time and space, they freak out and can't make plays under pressure. Watch how other teams play the PK against us and compare it to how they play the PK against most other teams.

They should just practice this non-stop. The PKers are pretty good on this team. Have a scrimmage that is just the guys trying to deal with making plays under pressure from the PKers. The PP should be better than it is, and considering the amount of close games they've been in, it could make all the difference.