GDT: Gm 54 Edmonton Oilers @ Boston Bruins | 2/1/14 | 1P ET | NESN (HD) | 98.5 FM

[Blitzkrug]

Edmonton is such a trash heap. I didn't even need to watch this to know Boston would win.

I hope their fans raise enough hell and get the changes they so desperately deserve.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

its a good win but i think everyone knows we have to make a deal for a top 3 defenseman to make a cup run.

still a long ways away so im not worrying about it yet.

 

[BNHL]

I think a case could be made that signing Julien (and sticking with him) was/is the signature move by this franchise as to why they are where they are. They had a bad team with Zee, but they've never had a bad season under CJ. Not when Bergeron went down. Not when TT had a tough season. He just delivers year in, year out.

Forgetting the historic playoff sweep and 10 game losing streak,Vezina trophies and depth.

 

[Replicator]

Anywhere you can watch the Tribute to Ference?

The Bruins "special feature" channel has it up first right now:
http://video.bruins.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=662

 

[RedeyeRocketeer]

Edmonton is such a trash heap. I didn't even need to watch this to know Boston would win.

I hope their fans raise enough hell and get the changes they so desperately deserve.

It's going to be terrifying when Nurse is a regular and they draft Ekblad. They're a Yakupov trade from really being difficult to play once that happens. Their fans probably need to wait 2 more years.

 

[ODAAT]

It's going to be terrifying when Nurse is a regular and they draft Ekblad. They're a Yakupov trade from really being difficult to play once that happens. Their fans probably need to wait 2 more years.

Terrifing for Nurse and Ekblad playing for that organization you mean when they deserve so much more

I feel bad for the fans there, try to imagine having all that young, potentially sublime talent in the lineup and a Mngt team who has no clue what or how to manage it

As long as the pieces who call the shots remain the same, NOTHING will change there. I view the Avs as a team with a similar recent history of drafting pretty high, then putting the pieces in place (ie:coach and system) that make them successful.

I watch that Oilers team and for the life of me, can`t figure out what, if any system they actually have and I`m sorry, for all the hype surrounding Eakins, whether he is or not, the guy comes off as a first class jackwagon

 

[howaryuh]

Terrifing for Nurse and Ekblad playing for that organization you mean when they deserve so much more

I feel bad for the fans there, try to imagine having all that young, potentially sublime talent in the lineup and a Mngt team who has no clue what or how to manage it

As long as the pieces who call the shots remain the same, NOTHING will change there. I view the Avs as a team with a similar recent history of drafting pretty high, then putting the pieces in place (ie:coach and system) that make them successful.

I watch that Oilers team and for the life of me, can`t figure out what, if any system they actually have and I`m sorry, for all the hype surrounding Eakins, whether he is or not, the guy comes off as a first class jackwagon

I think Eakins is there to take them through development of the young players, the painful stage. Once they get a bit older and they get a few pieces, then they will bring someone else in for the next phase.

 

[Joe Zanussi]

Edmonton is SUCH. A disappointing team...i assume they play with more heart on other days, but yesterday certainly wasn't impressive. I was under the impression they were fast....didnt see it yesterday.

 

[Era of Sanity]

Terrifing for Nurse and Ekblad playing for that organization you mean when they deserve so much more

I feel bad for the fans there, try to imagine having all that young, potentially sublime talent in the lineup and a Mngt team who has no clue what or how to manage it

As long as the pieces who call the shots remain the same, NOTHING will change there. I view the Avs as a team with a similar recent history of drafting pretty high, then putting the pieces in place (ie:coach and system) that make them successful.

I watch that Oilers team and for the life of me, can`t figure out what, if any system they actually have and I`m sorry, for all the hype surrounding Eakins, whether he is or not, the guy comes off as a first class jackwagon

Agree with this post and your assessment of Eakins. Arrogant and incompetent isn't such a good combination.

 

[Era of Sanity]

Edmonton is SUCH. A disappointing team...i assume they play with more heart on other days, but yesterday certainly wasn't impressive. I was under the impression they were fast....didnt see it yesterday.

I watch them quite a bit and the thing is they don't play with more heart on most days. Such a soft team, they have way more talent than Calgary, Calgary competes hard and is ahead of them in the standings which the Oilers should be embarassed about.

 

[BNHL]

It's going to be terrifying when Nurse is a regular and they draft Ekblad. They're a Yakupov trade from really being difficult to play once that happens. Their fans probably need to wait 2 more years.

Reminds me of an early 90s Quebec Nordiques.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I think a case could be made that signing Julien (and sticking with him) was/is the signature move by this franchise as to why they are where they are. They had a bad team with Zee, but they've never had a bad season under CJ. Not when Bergeron went down. Not when TT had a tough season. He just delivers year in, year out.

Could not agree more.

 

[Paddington]

Reminds me of an early 90s Quebec Nordiques.

That Sakic, Sundin, Nolan group was my 2nd favourite team. I had a Joe Sakic poster right beside my Bourque and Neely ones when a was a young lad. I was so happy when they won in '95 but my heart broke for the people of Quebec City. Having said that, Patrick Roy was a key part of that team and he probably doesn't get traded to that franchise if they're still in QC.

 

[BNHL]

That Sakic, Sundin, Nolan group was my 2nd favourite team. I had a Joe Sakic poster right beside my Bourque and Neely ones when a was a young lad. I was so happy when they won in '95 but my heart broke for the people of Quebec City. Having said that, Patrick Roy was a key part of that team and he probably doesn't get traded to that franchise if they're still in QC.

That's a huge difference when I compare today's Oilers,no top goalie limited success.

 

[BadBruins]

The Oilers are more than a defenseman or two and a goalie away. So much pure scoring talent up front, but there's been little to no development in finer aspects of the game. Their best players are laughably one-dimensional.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

Lol
Taylor Hall 54 points/-12
RNH -12
Hemsky -12
Yakupov -30.

They're +/- leader has only played 19 games and is a +2.

 

[Topshelf88]

Edmonton has way too much finesse and no identity. They looked so disjointed in the offensive zone, nevermind in their own end.

 

[Replicator]

The Oilers are more than a defenseman or two and a goalie away. So much pure scoring talent up front, but there's been little to no development in finer aspects of the game. Their best players are laughably one-dimensional.

Yeah. I think they're probably in a reasonably good place as far as goaltenders are concerned with Bryz & Scrivens, but considering what the Pred's coaches said about Dubnyk's "bad habits", I have to doubt the Oilers' goaltending coach.

Defensively, they're a mess, but not just because they have no top-pair defensemen. They really don't seem to know what to do with their offensive players in the defensive zone.

I've yet to see Eakins make a positive move with that team. The few things that he tried that made sense (i.e. benching Yak until he got it into his head that there was more to hockey than shooting) have failed miserably. Around the 48th game, the Edmonton newspaper had a comparison between Eakins and his predecessor, and it made a compelling argument that he was a step backwards.

Frankly, the coaching does not appear to be particularly good at any level with that team. Since they've gone through so many head coaches so quickly, you've got to blame those who hired them for either hiring the wrong guys, or not demanding that assistants be held accountable, or not demanding that offensive & defensive systems are developed.

 

[ap3lovr]

Yeah. I think they're probably in a reasonably good place as far as goaltenders are concerned with Bryz & Scrivens, but considering what the Pred's coaches said about Dubnyk's "bad habits", I have to doubt the Oilers' goaltending coach.

Defensively, they're a mess, but not just because they have no top-pair defensemen. They really don't seem to know what to do with their offensive players in the defensive zone.

I've yet to see Eakins make a positive move with that team. The few things that he tried that made sense (i.e. benching Yak until he got it into his head that there was more to hockey than shooting) have failed miserably. Around the 48th game, the Edmonton newspaper had a comparison between Eakins and his predecessor, and it made a compelling argument that he was a step backwards.

Frankly, the coaching does not appear to be particularly good at any level with that team. Since they've gone through so many head coaches so quickly, you've got to blame those who hired them for either hiring the wrong guys, or not demanding that assistants be held accountable, or not demanding that offensive & defensive systems are developed.

There isn't a coach in this league that could coach that roster to a winning record. Outside of 3 players, they are complete crap. You look up and down that lineup, who outside of RNH/Eberle/Hall would play in the top 9 in Boston? Not a single player. Their Defense is terrible and everyone looked at that team coming into the season and could see they needed a goalie.

They need to completely overhaul their bottom 8 players and get a top defender and goalie if they are going to be a team. The reality is, they will be knee deep in 2nd contracts before that team is competitive. They need to get something for Yakupov and build around their core.

Right now I don't think Edmonton would be a top 5 team in the AHL Looking at their roster it should be fairly simple to fix. However their management team is so bad they likely won't get jack squat because their prices are too damn high.

Keep Schultz, Ference, Perron, and the top line. Everyone else should be traded or waived. They could have a top line of Hull-Gretzky-Neely and they still would be in last place because their supporting cast is so damn bad.

 

[Ozamataz Buckshank]

There isn't a coach in this league that could coach that roster to a winning record. Outside of 3 players, they are complete crap. You look up and down that lineup, who outside of RNH/Eberle/Hall would play in the top 9 in Boston? Not a single player. Their Defense is terrible and everyone looked at that team coming into the season and could see they needed a goalie.

They need to completely overhaul their bottom 8 players and get a top defender and goalie if they are going to be a team. The reality is, they will be knee deep in 2nd contracts before that team is competitive. They need to get something for Yakupov and build around their core.

Right now I don't think Edmonton would be a top 5 team in the AHL Looking at their roster it should be fairly simple to fix. However their management team is so bad they likely won't get jack squat because their prices are too damn high.

Keep Schultz, Ference, Perron, and the top line. Everyone else should be traded or waived. They could have a top line of Hull-Gretzky-Neely and they still would be in last place because their supporting cast is so damn bad.

Matt Hendricks isn't a bad fourth line player either. I liked that pick up for them.

Edit: Didn't realize he made 1.8 million. That's....awful.

 

[BadBruins]

They need to completely overhaul their bottom 8 players and get a top defender and goalie if they are going to be a team. The reality is, they will be knee deep in 2nd contracts before that team is competitive. They need to get something for Yakupov and build around their core.

Honestly, I think part of the problem is the fact that the blame always gets put on the bottom half of the roster.

It makes it that much hard to build a team when your core is so flawed. Every move is about masking the deficiencies their best players.

 

[Pay Carl]

The Bruins "special feature" channel has it up first right now:
http://video.bruins.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=662

Pretty cool. Wasn't expecting too much of a highlight reel for a very unflashy defenseman. Should have put the Halpern hit in there

It really says something about someones character if they can still receive such an awesome ovation despite being pretty damn bad last year (sans the playoffs).

 

[weaponomega]

Ok, that was officially the weirdest dream I've ever had.

I dreamed that Tory Krug was actually a woman who was disguising herself as a man to play in the NHL, but came out during casino night wearing a black ball gown.