Post-Game Talk: Kevin Lowe and MacT still have jobs how!?!

[Ritchie Valens]

I would agree with this if tonights game was the only evidence of Koskinen not being mentally tough enough.
Its been evident for most of the games he has played for this team. I havent even mentioned his weak glove hand which is going to be further exploited by NHL shooters as time goes on.

As for Stolarz...I have no expectations that he will ever be an NHL starter. My issue with @syz and his/her comments was that Stolarz has no value at all.
That is just false IMO.
He is an asset and just like other players in the org (that may or may not be NHL players) you dont flush them for nothing well before you know what you have.

I think part of the issue as well is Koskinen isn't used to playing this many games and/or seeing this many shots as he is is still adjusting to the NHL game as opposed to the KHL game. I think this is contributing to him allowing weaker goals as he's being played more and more. My opinion is it's more fatigue setting in. This is an adjustment season for him, which is why it's so baffling to give him a three year extension. I expect him to be better next season. If he doesn't adjust and doesn't improve...yikes as Chiarelli gave him the PC Special which is a NTC, even though it's a modified one.

Koskinen definitley needs to work on his glove hand though, no question. I think the Oilers will be and should be looking for a new goalie coach pretty quick as every goalie has gotten worse under Schwartz. Talbot, I'm sure, will look much better under a new team next season. I'm not putting all the blame on Schwartz but he's not helping either. The goalie coach position is one job I think the goalies should personally seek and hire themselves.

With Stolarz, that trade was a straight up camp dump in case something came along on deadline day in my opinion. They were in on Brown I think from the Leafs. None of the goalies in the AHL are ready for the NHL so yes Stolarz is an asset at the moment, however if they had plans on keeping him, he should have been getting more starts. As I said earlier, perhaps he isn't though because of the Oilers being caught up in the dead zone of having a (very small) shot at the postseason and finishing as low as a bottom 5 team.

 

[Oilers in NS]

My Golden Bears lose to UNB only because of goaltending. Our goalie was terrible, Reds goalie was hot, hot, hot, really the difference in the game there. Also, SOG were complete fiction. The Bears must have had 50 shots, not 34. lmao the Bears had several shots at the 31 shot mark and the total didn't increase with any of them. 3 were great saves.

Also, whats with the game being in Lethbridge and it still being a typical CIS Eastern homer broadcast. "Hopefully the Reds can score again" seriously? WTF? The broadcast pissed me off more than even the result.

Then I had the misfortune of watching an Oilers game.

This fits my mood;

I have watched the UNB Reds many times over the years. I live close to STFX. The Reds always have a team that comes at ya hard. They will skate you into the ice. They don't really have a number 1 line, they roll all 4. UNB always loads up on great defence. It was a great game I thought. Both teams are the best programs in the country.
I was dis-appointed in the crowd there. When it was hosted here in NS, they had sell-outs. They are hosting in Halifax again next year

 

[FlameChampion]

He was the Iron Fist.

At least Netflix got the message and cancelled that show after 2 seasons. We are stuck with Kevin Lowe for life.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Took Vegas 1 EXPANSION off season to create a better team than we've had since the early 90s. How pathetic does this management feel? They probably think they're doing a great job.

If you look at what they received in players in the expansion draft, they did have a great chance to look good from the start. We have been trying for years to get a good goalie and they get MAF handed to them. They also picked up very good forwards and defence. Its not that the teams didn't want these players, they just couldn't protect them.
Hopefully when Seattle does their expansion picks, we can offer them a pick and they pick Lucic (if Lucic agrees to waive his NTC)

 

[Hemsky4pm2]

Season's done. Was done when Hitch put Lucic on McDavid's wing.

If they cannot trade Lucic this summer, he has to be on Robidas island and in the press box. He's not good enough to play on this team. Maybe another team with a lot of depth and 2 great fourth liners could have Lucic as their 12-13 forward, but the Oilers have no room for error in their forward group. He cannot be playing next season. I would actually welcome the impact that benching him might have. "Good luck getting another UFA to sign here" - jittery fans and media. That would be a blessing. The organization would need to build properly rather than chasing overpriced and over-the-hill players.

 

[Yablo21]

I still have time for Koskinen, he has been very good in lots of games and very bad in a few games.
But the massive overpay is just inexcusable for a team with cap issues. If Koskinen doesn't live up to even half his money we're F'd for 3 years.

 

[I am the Liquor]

I still have time for Koskinen, he has been very good in lots of games and very bad in a few games.
But the massive overpay is just inexcusable for a team with cap issues. If Koskinen doesn't live up to even half his money we're F'd for 3 years.

That’s nice Mrs Koskinen but your son embarrassed himself, the city and the fans last night.

 

[Connorrhea]

I still have time for Koskinen, he has been very good in lots of games and very bad in a few games.
But the massive overpay is just inexcusable for a team with cap issues. If Koskinen doesn't live up to even half his money we're F'd for 3 years.

The biggest problem for me is that Bob Nicholson came out and said the organization approved this extension prior to Chia being fired which proves complete and utter incompetence!! Its as if nobody in this organization is watching this team play and analyzing it....the fact that Chia was even proposing an extension while Koskinen was playing dreadful hockey makes no *&#$ sense and that nobody within the organization would have said, "Hey Peter, why don't we wait to see how he is by the end of the season before committing to another 3 years because if he doesn't perform well at least we have to eat only 1 more year since he has a non-movement clause"....mind boggling from the top down the thought process timeline of how Koskinen ended up with an extension. To Koskinen's credit, he has played much better since Talbot left and he hasn't been helped out by his offense at all this year but he also gives up a lot of awful goals. Look at Calgary with Smith and Rittich, these guys haven't been great this year but Calgary's offense has spotted them with tons of offense, if the Oilers had more scoring depth I'm sure the numbers would look even better but the point is that Koskinen should have earned that extension, not handed it because Shane Starrett is looking like a stud in Bakersfield and will be breathing down his neck next year so again, Chia making a trigger move without being patient just continues the merry go round of stupidity oozing from Katz and Co.

 

[MettleMcOiler]

I think playing Koskinen back to back...was a poor decision and shouldn't be exercised again.

 

[Yablo21]

Managment doesn’t have a bad glove hand or let in bad goals short side at inopportune times.

Hey I know he was terrible yesterday and we have no idea what we have in this guy, and he doesn't deserve his contract. But in games that have been close he has made the saves to keep us in it. He has made lots of big saves at key times over the last 10 games. If we didn't need to win every game this would just be written off as a bad game and moved on from.

In his last 10 games he's 6-3-1 with a .922 sv% thats not bad considering the work load and pressure.
That's facing an average of 34 shots per game

 

[elmeroil]

Bob and Jack are peddling the exact same **** right now.
Shameless idiots.

Because they're so rock solid at home?

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I think playing Koskinen back to back...was poor decision and shouldn't be exercised again.

Which is why I don't blame him much for last night. He was clearly gassed in the third. The 6-3 goal was a goal a tired goalie gives up. Slow to react on a stoppable shot.

That one is on Hitchcock for riding him back to back. He played very well against Arizona, and made some good saves.

 

[Chabot84]

Well apparently its okay to tell the guys that they are allowed to lose a game and it will be "okay" as if losing one game in that stretch is a part of the plan lol... at least be honest with them and say we need to do 3 out of 4 games because Columbus should be included in this tough stretch of games.

 

[DaGap]

Call up Benson and Marody. Give them their cup of coffees in the NHL. Seasons done

Uh No No NOOOOOO

Their team is getting ready for a good run at the Calder. Leave ALL of our AHL players down there and let them compete for something other than a lottery pick

 

[FlameChampion]

Honestly the season is over. They should put Gambardella and Currie back in the AHL if they are not going to play them and let them finish what they started. Give Stolarz some games and see how he plays, to give the next GM some information.

Typically I would say to try some different line combos and see what we got going into next year but I think the roster is pretty clear in what we have and what we dont have. If you are going to keep players like Currie, Gambardella up, at least give them some minutes.

 

[Oilfan2]

From someone who's played a little goal, I'm not convinced Kosk has a bad glove hand.

The problem is positioning. He's always trying to 'glove the puck instead of being in front of it. I'm guessing that he could get by in other leagues with that hand but in the NHL, you need so much more...especially tracking and being in front of the puck. His size has helped him cover more area but always being on your knees and using the glove hand everytime can't work.

If you look back, most of his great 'saves have been with the glove hand. Unfortunately, no goalie in the league can catch every puck that's elevated. Just not going to happen. You need to be in front of the puck most of the time. Kosk relies way too much on his ability to catch...

At his age, and potential stuborness, it's too late to change now.

Another Chia failure.....

 

[Paralyzer]

FYI Koskinen signing for 4.75M is an overpay on Koskinen in performance, but it's the same amount we paid Talbot, so in hindsight, we didn't lose more cap space. Though I do agree he has to play at that amount, or we are screwed.

 

[The Panther]

Okay, I watched the highlight package. While I will never say a goalie had a good game when six go by, I thought only the two Marchessault goals were on Koskinen. I did see him make a flurry of saves in the first five minutes, when the Oilers' skaters evidently weren't ready to go. He had no hope on the first goal, nor the second. The Marchessault goals were not good. The fifth I don't think should have counted, and the last was Draisaitl's whiff and an ultimately meaningless one anyway.

 

[3IR]

Okay, I watched the highlight package. While I will never say a goalie had a good game when six go by, I thought only the two Marchessault goals were on Koskinen. I did see him make a flurry of saves in the first five minutes, when the Oilers' skaters evidently weren't ready to go. He had no hope on the first goal, nor the second. The Marchessault goals were not good. The fifth I don't think should have counted, and the last was Draisaitl's whiff and an ultimately meaningless one anyway.

Koskinen needs to work on his game a ton considering we handed him the starter position.

However, judging any goalie with this group in front of them is going to lead to us running every goalie out of town.

No goalie in the league would look good behind this pathetic group of players we call a team

 

[trick91]

not sure why they even started Koskinen after going into OT the night before.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

not sure why they even started Koskinen after going into OT the night before.

Hitchcock clearly doesn't trust Stolarz enough and believes he doesn't give them a chance to win.

 

[trick91]

i thought Stolarz had a decent game against the Leafs

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Hey I know he was terrible yesterday and we have no idea what we have in this guy, and he doesn't deserve his contract. But in games that have been close he has made the saves to keep us in it. He has made lots of big saves at key times over the last 10 games. If we didn't need to win every game this would just be written off as a bad game and moved on from.

In his last 10 games he's 6-3-1 with a .922 sv% thats not bad considering the work load and pressure.
That's facing an average of 34 shots per game

That’s all true and you make good points. He still has a frying pan for a glove hand though.

 

[edmoil3]

They won’t get another dollar out of me until these guys are done.

This organization needs to look forward. New president, new GM, new coach, new culture, New Jersey’s even. And everything surrounding the team is either in the present or looking forward. Even in the arena all pictures, painting and ads are current players. This organization needs forward thinking people and a positive working environment.

Every player that comes through gets compared to a past player because the management group can’t move on. “You remind me of Tikannen.” That needs to stop.

 

[Cypress]

Yeah Koskinen had a bad game. I'm cutting him some slack though, he's been very good for us recently. They should have played stolarz, but I can understand why they didn't with the season teetering on the brink, and after watching the game I think we would have fared about the same with stolarz in net anyway. I just hope the org learns from this and doesn't keep going to Koskinen for both halves of back to backs.