Mactavish appreciation thread

[Gret99zky]

Just in case anyone is still not convinced we need a 2nd line C that isn't Arco/Draisaitl, here's some of the top 2 Cs we'll be matched up against in the West

Toews
B Richards

Kopitar
M Richards

Backes
Stastny

Spezza
Seguin

Getzlaf
Kesler

Thornton
Pavelski

Duchene
MacKinnon

RNH/Arco or RNH/Draisaitl doesn't come close to those pairings.

Oiler management and some fans don't consider the opponent when building a roster. As long as the team is better (on paper) than last year's team it's win, win, playoffs, playoffs.

And injuries are never a consideration.

 

[DisgruntledGoat*]

Gagner can put up points at a decent clip when he is spoon-fed good linemates and pp time. He is also a complete and total ****ing disaster at every other aspect of playing hockey. That's why the Lightening traded him (with salary retained) for a 6th round pick. He sucks. I agree that going into the season with Arcobello guaranteed a top 9 role would be suicide. But I doubt he is an all around worse player than Gagner.

Not saying you are necessarily guilty of this but its funny how some people trumpet Tampa dumping Gagner as proof that he 'sucks' but then turn around and claim that acquiring Purcell was a major coup.

 

[Bangers]

Not saying you are necessarily guilty of this but its funny how some people trumpet Tampa dumping Gagner as proof that he 'sucks' but then turn around and claim that acquiring Purcell was a major coup.

I was really rooting for Gagner earlier in his career, but after the past season it became clear that he needed to be moved. That being said, it's amazing how much players 'suck' when they are with the Oilers, but become considered decent NHLers once they leave (cough cough Hemsky).

For the record, I think Purcell underwhelms and nets 10-15 goals and 20-25 points next year on the 3rd line; I also think that Gagner nets 40-45 points next year under Tippett while rounding out his defensive game.

Hopefully I'm wrong on both accounts.

 

[Up the Irons]

Just in case anyone is still not convinced we need a 2nd line C that isn't Arco/Draisaitl, here's some of the top 2 Cs we'll be matched up against in the West

Toews
B Richards

Kopitar
M Richards

Backes
Stastny

Spezza
Seguin

Getzlaf
Kesler

Thornton
Pavelski

Duchene
MacKinnon

RNH/Arco or RNH/Draisaitl doesn't come close to those pairings.

certainly puts things into perspective.

Arco may be better as all all round C than Gagner, but, as you have shown, RNH and Arco are still NO WHERE NEAR good enough to compete in the Western conference.

If mact cares about next season, he will trade a significant asset for even a decent C.

 

[oilinblood]

I was really rooting for Gagner earlier in his career, but after the past season it became clear that he needed to be moved. That being said, it's amazing how much players 'suck' when they are with the Oilers, but become considered decent NHLers once they leave (cough cough Hemsky).

For the record, I think Purcell underwhelms and nets 10-15 goals and 20-25 points next year on the 3rd line; I also think that Gagner nets 40-45 points next year under Tippett while rounding out his defensive game.

Hopefully I'm wrong on both accounts.

To me it all depends on our centers. We have skill and speed on the wings which will force defenses back. As long as we have centres that can distribute the puck, and in doing so push or pull back the pace and entry speeds, we can be dangerous through our three lines. The centres should be more focussed on using the puck and wingers for speed than using their own feet...because of defensive responsibilities. Also i think i saw alot out of Gordon that i liked when he was getting some offensive zone starts to start the year. When Gags and RNh got back and needed to be sheltered, last three quarters (moreso Gags), i began to see a slowly wearing out centre who looked a tiny bitbetter than horcoff and really was being leaned on and destroyed in the same way. It will be nice to see us when we finally have dependable centres through our lineup so that one centre isnt constantly taking hard draws all game. In my experience its best to have your top defensive centre not dead tired by february...and that is a coaching and resource/personnel decision. It will be nice, if not every defensive zone draw has to be taken by the defensive centre...and other centres can do their job and pull their share of the weight. Gordon should be out for KEY draws in final seconds etc...not every defensive draw needs to be treated as a key draw...it only is treated this way when you have guys losing 60%.
If Leon shows himself to have a good defensive understanding...i see him making the team. RNH defensively has been incresingly better and better in defensive assignment and picking his spots offensively to go deeper into the zone. They are doing a good job bringing him along. (i should say...i think its more of a case HE is doing a good job bringing HIMSELF along.)

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

certainly puts things into perspective.

Arco may be better as all all round C than Gagner, but, as you have shown, RNH and Arco are still NO WHERE NEAR good enough to compete in the Western conference.

If mact cares about next season, he will trade a significant asset for even a decent C.

Hall for Mike Richards straight up and we are a better team right

 

[oilz89*]

From what I saw Arco was our best centre last year. Better than Nuge. Because he wasn't picked first overall in a draft, he was demoted to 4th line and the AHL. I'm fine with Arco in the top 6, he earned it. For anyone to think that MacT is going to upgrade, you are delusional. Who exactly do you think MacT can pickup?

BAHAHAHHA our best centre??? better then RNH?? Are you insane???!?! You have no clue about what your talking about!! Arcobello is NOT a legit NHLer give your head a shake!! He is just a tweener

There this option you can use thats called TRADING. I'm glad your not the gm of this team. You'd be worse then JFJ and Tambo my god

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

BAHAHAHHA our best centre??? better then RNH?? Are you insane???!?! You have no clue about what your talking about!! Arcobello is NOT a legit NHLer give your head a shake!! He is just a tweener

There this option you can use thats called TRADING. I'm glad your not the gm of this team. You'd be worse then JFJ and Tambo my god

Man you get so angry about people complimenting Arcobello. Did he **** your girl or kick your dog or something?

 

[oilz89*]

Man you get so angry about people complimenting Arcobello. Did he **** your girl or kick your dog or something?

Man it's because he doesn't really deserve the compliments does he? I'm sick of this team giving players like Arcobello chances and, as fans of this team. i don't know why we are willing to give him another chance. Don't say he didn't play with our stars because he did. We need a legit second line centre. For years we haven't had one and now we think players like Lander or Arcobello can cover the second line centre spot. Arcobello is a twinge NHLer or 13th forward. Lander is a 4th line centre with maybe just a little bit of potential to be a third liner. End of Story. Fans need to get it together

 

[MessierII]

Man it's because he doesn't really deserve the compliments does he? I'm sick of this team giving players like Arcobello chances and, as fans of this team. i don't know why we are willing to give him another chance. Don't say he didn't play with our stars because he did. We need a legit second line centre. For years we haven't had one and now we think players like Lander or Arcobello can cover the second line centre spot. Arcobello is a twinge NHLer or 13th forward. Lander is a 4th line centre with maybe just a little bit of potential to be a third liner. End of Story. Fans need to get it together

I disagree with you big time here. Arco is absolutely an NHLer. In fact even if we add another center who's a legit 2C arco still makes the team and pushes Gordon down to the fourth line. When arco was playing 2C he was leading the NHL in assists and rookies in scoring while winning over 50% of his faceoffs and playing pretty good two way hockey. In the AHL he was putting up 2 PPG. I agree with you we should add another guy but arco is on the team regardless.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Man it's because he doesn't really deserve the compliments does he? I'm sick of this team giving players like Arcobello chances and, as fans of this team. i don't know why we are willing to give him another chance. Don't say he didn't play with our stars because he did. We need a legit second line centre. For years we haven't had one and now we think players like Lander or Arcobello can cover the second line centre spot. Arcobello is a twinge NHLer or 13th forward. Lander is a 4th line centre with maybe just a little bit of potential to be a third liner. End of Story. Fans need to get it together

Except Arcobello is far a better player then Lander. Better at faceoffs, better at pk, more offensive upside, lays more hits, better possession numbers as well. Arcobello is not a top 6 player. But he is for sure good enough to be an NHL player. If Draisaitl wasn't going to be on the team getting sheltered, Arcobello would be a great third line center.

 

[Oi'll say!]

We finally have a good GM folks. In just over year, MacT has added

Fasth
Scrivens
Nikitin
Ferrence
Fayne
Purcell
Pouliot
Gordon
Perron
Draisaitl

That's a good group of NHL players there. All have enjoyed success on some pretty good teams. We are starting to surround our young core with some good pieces. Time for them to step up and start carrying us now. Here is what MacT had to say after the draft

"We've got a lot of skill, but we're in need of somebody down low that's capable of sustaining the play. We have David Perron that fits that bill and now Leon will be a guy that can really protect the puck." It became pretty clear his goal was to get bigger and bring in good possession players. By replacing Hemsky/Gagner with the likes of Fayne/Pouliot/Purcell, he has clearly done that.

It's nice to have a GM that recognizes team needs and goes out and attempts to address them. Not sure about his decision to hire Eakins, but as the Gagner trade has shown us, he is not afraid to fix a mistake.

Things are looking up Oiler fans. I trust the man in charge.

MacT developed MAP and JFJ for us and he's largely responsible for hall, RNH and yak being here, he's mainly responsible for draisaitl being here.
If we could just get rid of those clowns (MacT and Lowe) and our brutal coach now we might eventually do something with all those assets.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

MacT developed MAP and JFJ for us and he's largely responsible for hall, RNH and yak being here, he's mainly responsible for draisaitl being here.
If we could just get rid of those clowns (MacT and Lowe) and our brutal coach now we might eventually do something with all those assets.

MacT brought us to the Stanley Cup finals to lose in game 7. We went down the drain from there because we were over achieving with a very medicore team and he took the fall for it.

He isn't responsible for the team tanking the management at the time was with the awful trades and deciding to tank. Since he became GM this team has the most nhl talent it has had in years.

 

[Del Preston]

MacT brought us to the Stanley Cup finals to lose in game 7. We went down the drain from there because we were over achieving with a very medicore team and he took the fall for it.

He isn't responsible for the team tanking the management at the time was with the awful trades and deciding to tank. Since he became GM this team has the most nhl talent it has had in years.

MacT is responsible for the first overalls even though he was gone from the organization for over 14 months when Hall was drafted.

 

[TheSpecialist]

MacT brought us to the Stanley Cup finals to lose in game 7. We went down the drain from there because we were over achieving with a very medicore team and he took the fall for it.

He isn't responsible for the team tanking the management at the time was with the awful trades and deciding to tank. Since he became GM this team has the most nhl talent it has had in years.

The 2005-06 team that MacT coached was supposed to be shoe ins to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for Kevin Lowe making some good moves by the trade deadline, the Oilers would have missed the playoffs for sure.

It's funny how some fans out there still have the audacity to consider MacT a great coach when it was the players that actually decided to come together and play over their heads with inspirational goaltending. By no means should MacT get any credit for the success the Oilers saw in the post season the last time they made it! If anything, MacT is the most overrated piece of **** in this entire organization.

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

The 2005-06 team that MacT coached was supposed to be shoe ins to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for Kevin Lowe making some good moves by the trade deadline, the Oilers would have missed the playoffs for sure.

It's funny how some fans out there still have the audacity to consider MacT a great coach when it was the players that actually decided to come together and play over their heads with inspirational goaltending. By no means should MacT get any credit for the success the Oilers saw in the post season the last time they made it! If anything, MacT is the most overrated piece of **** in this entire organization.

 

[Mr Positive]

The 2005-06 team that MacT coached was supposed to be shoe ins to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for Kevin Lowe making some good moves by the trade deadline, the Oilers would have missed the playoffs for sure.

It's funny how some fans out there still have the audacity to consider MacT a great coach when it was the players that actually decided to come together and play over their heads with inspirational goaltending. By no means should MacT get any credit for the success the Oilers saw in the post season the last time they made it! If anything, MacT is the most overrated piece of **** in this entire organization.

are you joking? During the cup run we did have unconventional tactics and key decisions throughout. MacT's variant of the trap worked beautifully and was copied, as well as his strategy of starting the game with his checking line and making them the most prominent line. There were also in the moment decisions like the Pronger penalty shot that seemed to always pay off (edit: but I suppose Conklin didn't work). Not only that, but after years of mediocrity we replaced MacT to embrace an offensive system, and the result was that we went from a bubble team to worst in the league in one year.

Not to mention that MacT's connection to St.Louis is why we got Pronger and Perron in the first place.

 

[TheSpecialist]

are you joking? During the cup run we did have unconventional tactics and key decisions throughout. MacT's variant of the trap worked beautifully and was copied, as well as his strategy of starting the game with his checking line and making them the most prominent line. There were also in the moment decisions like the Pronger penalty shot that seemed to always pay off. Not only that, but after years of mediocrity we replaced MacT to embrace an offensive system, and the result was that we went from a bubble team to worst in the league in one year.

Not to mention that MacT's connection to St.Louis is why we got Pronger and Perron in the first place.

If it wasn't for Rolosons outstanding performance, this Oiler team wouldn't have made it past the Wings. It was quite obvious that the only chance to Oilers had to come out of the first round was to employ the so called 'oil filter' strategy that was even obvious to many fans Nevermind MacT lol. Do any of you still remember the Oilers record under MacT after they traded Ryan Smyth during the 2006-07 season?

Bottom line is teams are consistently good under very good coaches. MacT could never get that out of his teams on a regular basis which is something very good coaches can do in this league even with subpar rosters.

Even Ralph Kruger Swiss team beat the team Canada team coached by MacT in the world championships. Don't believe me, look it up!

 

[Del Preston]

The 2005-06 team that MacT coached was supposed to be shoe ins to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for Kevin Lowe making some good moves by the trade deadline, the Oilers would have missed the playoffs for sure.

It's funny how some fans out there still have the audacity to consider MacT a great coach when it was the players that actually decided to come together and play over their heads with inspirational goaltending. By no means should MacT get any credit for the success the Oilers saw in the post season the last time they made it! If anything, MacT is the most overrated piece of **** in this entire organization.

Are you aware Markkanen, Conklin, and Morrison had a collective .881 sv% for the Oilers that season? MacTavish wasn't the reason they barely made the playoffs. With even average NHL goaltending, they would have run away with the division.

Complete nonsense that MacTavish had nothing to do with the success in the playoffs either.

 

[Mr Positive]

If it wasn't for Rolosons outstanding performance, this Oiler team wouldn't have made it past the Wings. It was quite obvious that the only chance to Oilers had to come out of the first round was to employ the so called 'oil filter' strategy that was even obvious to many fans Nevermind MacT lol. Do any of you still remember the Oilers record under MacT after they traded Ryan Smyth during the 2006-07 season?

Bottom line is teams are consistently good under very good coaches. MacT could never get that out of his teams on a regular basis which is something very good coaches can do in this league.

Even Ralph Kruger Swiss team beat the team Canada team coached by MacT in the world championships. Don't believe me, look it up!

The strategy MacT used in the playoffs was the first time the trap was used post-lockout. The new CBA targeted the trap specifically, and it was thought that the strategy was over with. So no, it was not obvious at all how we could beat the Redwings and no one picked us to win.

As for the WC thing I'll take your word on it but those tournaments are always a crapshoot no matter who is coaching because the talent is random and there is always chemistry issues, especially when random NHLers are facing a cohesive group of unknowns.

I would agree with you opinion about how MacT never achieved after the cup run, but imo the fact that the team imploded after he left is a strong indication that the group he had to work with was just not that talented.

 

[McShogun99]

The 2005-06 team that MacT coached was supposed to be shoe ins to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for Kevin Lowe making some good moves by the trade deadline, the Oilers would have missed the playoffs for sure.

It's funny how some fans out there still have the audacity to consider MacT a great coach when it was the players that actually decided to come together and play over their heads with inspirational goaltending. By no means should MacT get any credit for the success the Oilers saw in the post season the last time they made it! If anything, MacT is the most overrated piece of **** in this entire organization.

You mean the team that didn't make the playoffs the season before the lockout? We added 2 big pieces in Peca and Pronger but the goaltending was Dubnyk/Labarbera level bad. You can have an all star team but if you're not getting NHL level goaltending then good luck making the post season. Roloson saved that season for us.

 

[TheSpecialist]

Are you aware Markkanen, Conklin, and Morrison had a collective .881 sv% for the Oilers that season? MacTavish wasn't the reason they barely made the playoffs. With even average NHL goaltending, they would have run away with the division.

Complete nonsense that MacTavish had nothing to do with the success in the playoffs either.

MacT showed absolutely no confidence in his goaltending and that itself is a recipe for disaster when it comes to goalie confidence. In my opinion, MacT was never a motivational coach. He made some questionable goaltending decisions that season that would easily kill any goaltenders confidence and in this particular case, it were those 3 Oiler goaltenders at the time.

 

[Del Preston]

MacT showed absolutely no confidence in his goaltending and that itself is a recipe for disaster when it comes to goalie confidence. In my opinion, MacT was never a motivational coach. He made some questionable goaltending decisions that season that would easily kill any goaltenders confidence and in this particular case, it were those 3 Oiler goaltenders at the time.

That would hold water if Roloson came in and was awful, or if Markkanen didn't step in and play as good as he did in the SCF.

 

[TheSpecialist]

That would hold water if Roloson came in and was awful, or if Markkanen didn't step in play as good as he did in the SCF.

The Oilers had a ton of confidence in Roloson and it definitely helped that Kevin Lowe made some pretty good moves at the deadline to help the Oilers make that final push that barely got them in.

 

[oilers_smyth_94]

MacT showed absolutely no confidence in his goaltending and that itself is a recipe for disaster when it comes to goalie confidence. In my opinion, MacT was never a motivational coach. He made some questionable goaltending decisions that season that would easily kill any goaltenders confidence and in this particular case, it were those 3 Oiler goaltenders at the time.

How can you have any confidence in your goaltending when you have two backups who can't stop pucks and a "shootout specialist" ECHL goalie? He couldn't have given any of those goalies a vote of confidence when none could become the his starter for more than a few games? People forget how bad our goaltending was until we got Roloson.