Have we gotten better or worse?

[czar99]

If Talbot stumbles we're getting a nice pick next year...

 

[oljimmy]

If Talbot stumbles we're getting a nice pick next year...

Yeah, but this is true for 80% of NHL teams. Most teams have a single reliable goalie and an iffy backup pushing for ice time. For example, if Bobrovsky has a mediocre year the Blue Jackets are stuck with Korpisalo, a very dodgy option. That's life in the NHL... for teams that don't have horseshoes up their butt like the Penguins.

 

[THall4]

We had no choice but to downgrade.

Priority one is signing Drai and McDavid, while deterring offer sheets on Drai. That means we had to clear our cap space, and we aren't allowed to sign anyone either.

Once the extensions are in place, we can start spending up to the cap again, assuming room for bonuses.

Also, I'm bullish on internal growth. We're a young team that could have evolution that makes up for the downgrades.

I believe the Oilers will be a team to watch the TDL. They will be "all in" for rental(s) to help round out any holes in the roster.

 

[harpoon]

Make no mistake Eberles production is going to be missed by this team.

Up to the Taylor Hall trade, Eberle was in on 1/3 of all Oiler goals scored and nobody put more pucks in the net for the Oil over those years than #14. I think he deserves some credit for that. But apparently the clever fan focuses on how many 'meaningless' goals he scored against 'poor' teams. And how he '**** the bed' over a dozen playoff games against the two worst possible matchups in the league for his skill set.

He isn't on the team anymore and I'd be happy to stop talking about him, but this is hfoil where we have a special thread running down Hall and disparaging his character a full year after he's been gone. I suspect the same guys who have made hundreds of virtually identical "Ebs sucks' posts over the last six months will continue to wow us with their repetitive wisdom in the months to come.

 

[TheRebuild]

One injury away from missing the playoffs, 2 injuries away from DFL in the league. I'm going with worse.

 

[McDraekke]

One injury away from missing the playoffs, 2 injuries away from DFL in the league. I'm going with worse.

Yeah... if Pittsburgh loses both crosby and malkin (all year I'm guessing you're meaning), then they are also in the exact same boat. As is all other teams if they lose their top 2 or two of their top 3 players...

 

[TheBusDriver]

So far? Worse.

 

[kurtcobang]

Make no mistake Eberles production is going to be missed by this team.

I dont see it to be honest. McDavid scoring 10 more points next season piled with Slep and Poolparty contribution's will make up for Eberle's "loss"

Strome could also have a 40+point year which would easily make up for dropping Ebs imo
With the growth of young guys hopefully we're as good if not slightly improved next season

 

[cbzblaze]

Definitely better, just by cutting the excess fat from the roster. Fans gotta stop thinking of replacing the points of said player not on the team anymore (Eberle). That line of thinking is horrible. We're giving the minutes that players like Eberle and Pouliot played lazy, uninspired hockey to new guys that actually give a ****. Guys like drake and slepy are better, more complete hockey players, regardless of how many points they put up. They do more things right to help the team win games. They make less mistakes that end up costing us games. They fit into this teams game plan better. Giving them more minutes, responsibility and opportunity will be good for the team.

I've said it since this past trade deadline, the core of this team is set. Chia will not add any more big names for the next few years. That includes a big name Dman, pp Qb or established RW. We will grow from within and succeed doing it. At most I can see him adding a depth Dman at the trade deadline but nothing big.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Well it's very hard to argue the team has gotten better when you are down a top 4 dman until likely at least December.


Pitlick was a decent asset that was bubbling up and becoming a useful NHL player (when healthy which admittedly hasn't been often).

Desharnais is a useful talent in the bottom 6 who also had decent skills and was a net positive on the ice.

Hendricks was certainly past his prime but was a passable asset to fill in when injuries hit as a bottom line plug in.

Even Lander was a useful bottom line talent who was improving and close to being able to tread water and was at a minimum a decent fill in for when injuries hit.

Fontaine I think was another useful, depth forward that's gone... good 2-way player that was excellent, underrated AHL/NHL depth.

Davidson was traded away last season which wasn't a massive hit... but when combined with Reinhart (who isn't a huge loss in isolation) and Oesterle (who was also bubbling up to be a useful depth dman)... that's a reasonable amount of depth on D that just walked out the door for zip in return.

Again, in isolation any of these players aren't big losses... but collectively they do make quite a hit on the team's depth and ability to have some decent marginal players in place when the inevitable chain of injuries hit (like they almost always do).

Chia has brought in 8 new bodies into the org so far this summer.

Stanton seems like a good NHL depth dman.

Pasquale may be a decent AHL G acquisition.

Both Callahan and Ferlin have some decent abilities to push for bottom line NHL jobs.

The rest of the acquisitions are low risk low reward type signings who are AHL filler.


So far it's been a very muted off season in terms of quality acquisitions and yes a step back because of the injury to Sekera and some decent depth leaving the team.

Chia may have a few more moves (hopefully) to make before the season starts though so we'll have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Right now just looking at the roster and the outlook for the team I would expect a slight moving back in the pts column as I would also anticipate a higher number of injuries.

Like others have said... there has to be a relatively injury free season yet again to key roster players and internal improvement of the current roster to again expect 100+ pts... which is certainly possible.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I dont see it to be honest. McDavid scoring 10 more points next season piled with Slep and Poolparty contribution's will make up for Eberle's "loss"

Strome could also have a 40+point year which would easily make up for dropping Ebs imo
With the growth of young guys hopefully we're as good if not slightly improved next season

JP shouldn't be in the NHL next year unless he blows TC out of the water.

Slepyshev is a nice find but he's by no means a sure thing. Give me the guy that always scores 20 goals every day.

There's a lot of banking on internal growth here that's very much playing with fire. Some players are due to take a step back, which is why we should sign some veteran insurance, just in case.

 

[ManofSteel55]

A lot of our depth guys will be better. Drai and McDavid, as good as they are, could easily be better. Nuge and Lucic had awful years by their standards and should be better. The places I see that we could really regress are if Strome doesn't work out, if Maroon goes back to being pre-Oilers Maroon, but with all of the other guys who should improve, I think we should be okay.

 

[ManofSteel55]

JP shouldn't be in the NHL next year unless he blows TC out of the water.

Slepyshev is a nice find but he's by no means a sure thing. Give me the guy that always scores 20 goals every day.

There's a lot of banking on internal growth here that's very much playing with fire. Some players are due to take a step back, which is why we should sign some veteran insurance, just in case.

We likely will. Guys who don't have a contract yet will be starting to get a bit antsy. Chia has to shop for bargain guys now, not take the top free agents he can find to fill holes. Like he tried to do with Versteeg last year before Calgary scooped him. And like he did with Russell.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Up to the Taylor Hall trade, Eberle was in on 1/3 of all Oiler goals scored and nobody put more pucks in the net for the Oil over those years than #14. I think he deserves some credit for that. But apparently the clever fan focuses on how many 'meaningless' goals he scored against 'poor' teams. And how he '**** the bed' over a dozen playoff games against the two worst possible matchups in the league for his skill set.

He isn't on the team anymore and I'd be happy to stop talking about him, but this is hfoil where we have a special thread running down Hall and disparaging his character a full year after he's been gone. I suspect the same guys who have made hundreds of virtually identical "Ebs sucks' posts over the last six months will continue to wow us with their repetitive wisdom in the months to come.

Probably even after he scores 30 goals and 70 points on Tavares' wing.

 

[randomrob7]

We will be better, without a doubt. Pretty similar team to last years but McDavid, Drai, RNH, Klefbom, Larsson, Drake, Slepy, Nurse and Benning will all be better as they are still young and ever improving.

 

[The Panther]

I can't believe all the people saying the team is worse...?? The team is clearly better.

There's that tough ACL injury to Sekera to ride-out, but other than that they're definitely a better team in my mind. The main reason they're better is that they now have playoff experience and hunger to do better.

Nothing against Eberle, but he was a passenger for the past couple of years and I don't think he was serving any purpose anymore (and he was absolutely dreadful in the playoffs). Strome has a 50-point season behind him, and should get a chance to match that this year, plus having a physical presence that Eberle lacked.

McDavid, if healthy, is going to be even better than last year. Players who start young often begin to peak around the age he's at next season (20-21), and he now has knowledge, experience, and a burning desire to improve on last year.

Larsson is going to be even better. Draisaitl might be one of the top-5 or 10 players in the game next season. Talbot is already amazing.

I'm curious to see if players like Klefbom, Maroon, and Letestu can improve on what they did last season. One or two of them might regress a bit, but on balance, I think the team can handle it.

One of the keys next year will be RNH. Can he get it all together again and have, say, a 65-point season while also filling the role of checker? If so, the team's in good shape.

I'm not really arsed if the Oilers get 95 points or get 115 points -- as long as they don't have a huge losing streak and they make the playoffs, it's all good. They appear to be in a really favorable situation for the next couple of years, in terms of the strength of competition in their conference. There's definitely a window here where they can do some real damage if things work out.

There'll be some ups and downs (look for a three-game losing streak early in the season and everyone on here panicking and calling to blow the team up, followed by a 7-game winning streak and everyone shutting up), but overall the future's so bright we gotta wear shades.

 

[ImmuneEH]

Are we better? Only due to our young core growing together, then maybe. But we are losing a veteran on the right side in Ebs, who will likely have a massive rebound season in NYI (the guy had his lowest shooting % last season, improved his defensive play, and got most of his points in 2nd line minutes and 2nd PP).

That being said, he just wasn't a fit.

If things were to stay the same today, I think we will see Anaheim win the division again, facing off against one of SJ or LA. We'll be playing against Calgary who finish a little ahead of us in the standings, but we win the series. Their D core has improved by quite a lot. Goaltending will be the difference maker.

Except by then we'll have essentially our exact same D core as last year, with Klef/Larsson & Nurse/Benning taking strides forward.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Better simply because of the progression of young players. Not talking about McDavid but Draisaitl, Nurse, Benning, Klefbom, etc...

 

[VainGretzky]

Better, players still on the upside of their Careers

McDavid
Nuge He is still young
Draisaitl
Puljujarvi
Strome
Slepyshev
Caggiula
Kharia
Larsson
Klefbom
Nurse
Benning
Brossoit



Players not improving or declining
Lucic
Russell
Pakarainen
Kassian
Talbot
Gyba

slight decline expected
Sekera
Jokinen

 

[Devilspuppet666]

As a Flames fan that lived in Edmonton for a LARGE portion of my life and have many Oiler fan friends, its really awesome to see you guys come as far as you have. You guys have always been so passionate and loyal even when you justifiably could have left. I don't believe so much in the rivalry (unless i am drunk lol) and i would love to see both Flames and oilers get a cup in the next 10 Years, as for worrying about if you are better or worst than last year i would'nt worry at all with McDavid, Drai, Klefbom ( who i have been a huge fan of since his draft year), Larsson, and Talbot as a core.

 

[guymez]

I think its important to shine alight on who had career years last season.

Can we expect a repeat performance to match their career best seasons from players like Talbot....Klefbom...Maroon...Draisaitl and Letestu?

Can players like Slepyshev, Caggiula, Benning and Nurse continue to develop in a positive direction?

The defence is worse than last season (for sure for the first 2 months of the season until Sekera gets back...maybe even longer as he gets his game back). Once Sekera does return he will most certainly have a fall off in his play this season. Players recovering froma serious injury like he had simply dont hit the ice running at full speed.
I think we can count on McDavid being as good if not better...thats a given.

So to answer the question....has this team gotten better....its not just a question of looking at which players were added and which players departed.

A lot has to go right for this team next season to even match their point totals of last season. So I dont see how someone can legitimately suggest the team is better. There is just too much uncertainty.

 

[McBigYak]

There really is no definitive answer to the question. It will depend on the progression of players who haven't hit their ceiling yet like Drai,Mcdavid,Klef,Nurse,Larsson,Benning etc. If they continue to trend up, we are a much much better team.

That being said, they could regress as well. Look at Florida. Division champs to out of the playoffs. 22 point difference. Anything can happen.

The Oilers are the 2nd favorite team to win the Stanley Cup by a lot of bookies if that puts anyone's mind at ease.

 

[Joey Moss]

I think we are better. Not everyone will take a step forward, but you have to think some of the younger depth players (Caggiula, Slepyshev, Nurse, Benning) all have potential to do so. I think our 3rd line is way better than last year and we don't have to worry about depth down the middle. Only question mark for me is the bottom pairing until Sekera is back.

We need to stay healthy, that's forsure.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Better.

Strome & Jokinen in the middle six is better than Eberle and one of Slepyshev/Cagguila/etc. for next year, unless one of them doesn't work out at all.

Blueline is the same, aside from Sekera's injury and improvement from Nurse and Benning, and possibly even Klefbom.

Goalie is marginally better as I'll take LB over Gus.

The big concerns for me are if some guys had unsustainable improvements last year (Maroon, our blueline, etc), and if some guys can bounce back to the levels they were at prior to last year (Nuge, Lucic).

 

[guymez]

I think we are better. Not everyone will take a step forward, but you have to think some of the younger depth players (Caggiula, Slepyshev, Nurse, Benning) all have potential to do so. I think our 3rd line is way better than last year and we don't have to worry about depth down the middle. Only question mark for me is the bottom pairing until Sekera is back.

We need to stay healthy, that's forsure.

So you think that every player who had a career year will match or exceed their career season and every young player on the team will take a step forward.

Pretty unlikely.