Have the Oilers improved?
- Thread starter Lord Quas
- Start date
Record wise marginally but the team is harder to play against and have way more structure to their play. A lot more dump and chase but thats probably because the coaching staff does not trust the D to make good breakouts
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
I think they are. They aren't losing to many blowouts. Lots of 1 goal games. I think the biggest thing is injuries (lame excuse but we are missing arguably our best dman and our best forward for over two months now). We still don't have an NHL defense, but we are starting to breakout better. Our passing is still atrocious, and lots of lame clearing attempts get whiffed on. Overall though I think we are playing better.
Pointteen
Registered User
Systems play is vastly improved.
Some players look night and day better than the Eakins era.
Goaltending is majorly improved.
I said the team itself improved marginally because the D still stucks. Our bottom six depth players aren't too great.
Brian Campbell would do us wonders.
Some players look night and day better than the Eakins era.
Goaltending is majorly improved.
I said the team itself improved marginally because the D still stucks. Our bottom six depth players aren't too great.
Brian Campbell would do us wonders.
NewBoysClub97*
All-Star
SupremeTeam16
5-14-6-1
Considering we are just over half way through the season and only need 5 wins to tie last seasons win total, I'd say we are better.
Pointteen
Registered User
The D is better.
Sekera > Petry
Davidison > last year Davidson
Klefbom > last year's Klefbom
Nurse > Ference
Gryba > Marincin
Lord Quas
The unseen
- Aug 9, 2006
- 358
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Ha, not even...After an early one goal lead, I had started it on my phone
When the colour guy mentioned the improved point totals every month, I thought they are probably ****ting the bed for January. Since the run in December it felt like the team was backsliding, and I doubted they'd increase their point totals much this month. I was a little surprised that this month looks as good as it does. Pleasantly though.. Must be all the one goal games stressing me out.
I prefer last year's Klefbom.
Gryba is interchangeable with the other garbage (Nikitin, Ference, etc.). I doubt he's even in the NHL is 2 years (see Theo Peckham) because he's absolutely useless with the puck.
Pointteen
Registered User
Well, last year's Klefbom played. Makes it hard to guess.
Gryba hits things so I like him more.
KarmaPolice
Snack enthusiast
2015 Stanley Cup champions. I'm calling it now. And I'm being so incredibly serious that I'm joking.
They're clearly better. They're playing a very, very good system right now. Can probably attribute that to better coaching. The D is better, though still not good enough -- especially with Klefbom out, but the really good system they are playing lately is covering up their lack of talent. Goaltending is much better. Forwards are better, but they need to stay healthy! Now Nuge is out for a while. No luck.
They're clearly better. They're playing a very, very good system right now. Can probably attribute that to better coaching. The D is better, though still not good enough -- especially with Klefbom out, but the really good system they are playing lately is covering up their lack of talent. Goaltending is much better. Forwards are better, but they need to stay healthy! Now Nuge is out for a while. No luck.
McMozesmadness
5-14-6-1
Voted yes by a lot.
This team has obvious holes, we can all agree on that, but what we've done considering we've been ****ed by injuries is pretty darn good.
This team has obvious holes, we can all agree on that, but what we've done considering we've been ****ed by injuries is pretty darn good.
Mc5RingsAndABeer
5-14-6-1
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Aerchon
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- Jul 20, 2011
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You can tell McLellan is an elite true top NHL coach. That is not even a question IMO.
I expected his impact to be more. To me that means the players just are not quiet as good as I thought they were.
The team has improved, just not as much as I thought they would.
Injuries obviously have derailed the teams chances for really taking the next step but that really shouldn't be an excuse. Good TEAMS find ways to win even with injuries. Yes I know we have gone plaid with the amount of injuries but even still I expected a bit more than what we shown.
I expected his impact to be more. To me that means the players just are not quiet as good as I thought they were.
The team has improved, just not as much as I thought they would.
Injuries obviously have derailed the teams chances for really taking the next step but that really shouldn't be an excuse. Good TEAMS find ways to win even with injuries. Yes I know we have gone plaid with the amount of injuries but even still I expected a bit more than what we shown.
gqmixmaster
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- Jun 1, 2006
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Burnt Biscuits
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- May 2, 2010
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I always thought Sekera was superior to Petry, but watching more of Sekera I'd say it is pretty close to even. Davidson is quite a bit better, but he wasn't a regular last year, Klefbom made a big leap in his quality of mins both in zone start and quality of competition, I don't know why so many people on this board struggle to recognize that, it's why Gagner was trash because if he wasn't being fed chumps he wasn't producing he couldn't handle 2nd line competition, Klef has successfully made that jump as a 2nd year d-man that's huge.
Gryba is inferior to Marincin, I like the hitting Gryba brings, but Marincin was just more effective principally cause he was better at getting the puck out of our end and his active stick broke up more plays before they got started, Gryba is a bit better at passively defending, but there is a greater tendency to get hemmed in with Gryba on the ice. Nurse is better than Ference, but people overlook a lot of the rookie mistakes he is making just because they see the promise there, he also takes too many penalties and while his offensive forays look pretty at times it generally just ends up in a hope pass trying to feed the front of the net to no one in particular
Fayne this year has also been worse than the Fayne of last year, I'd say our D is marginally better, but with Klefbom being out so long it doesn't really feel like it.
The team as a whole is better by a pretty decent margin and I think the improved goal differential margin is the greatest evidence of this. We are on pace for about a 48 goal improvement.
Up the Irons
Registered User
yes, but by how much is difficult to determine, what with all the man-games lost to key players.
McGoMcD
Registered User
I said yes, but its close. However if McDavid did miss a huge part of the year I think we would be close to substantial improvement.
Pointteen
Registered User
The Marincin/Gryba one has some interesting points. I haven't been paying as much attention as usual in the past few games but I feel like the whole team just gets hemmed in easily. Always has for years. I don't remember much of Marincin's positives. Last year wasn't an easy go for him.
Nurse's rookie plays are pretty rough sometimes. But I know he's playing more than he should right now. Easy to overlook some. Plus they don't feel as large as Sekera's at times. They don't feel like they directly caused the team to lose.
To me at least.
KeithIsActuallyBad
You thrust your pelvis, huh!
KarmaPolice
Snack enthusiast
Maybe when the universe loops around.
With any luck.
This team has already managed the near impossible by almost every key player getting injured at some point this season, so maybe they can do it twice.
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