Pre-Game Talk: March 24th vs San Jose

[BlackDogg]

Free him to do what?

Pass up good shots?

Hes already doing that.

Free him.to another range I think

 

[OddManRush]

Oilers have lost their last 5 at home against the Sharks. Woodcroft needs to find a way to defend against all of their point shots that always seem to get through against us.

 

[NedPlimpton]

Big win incoming!

 

[McJC]

Any word on if Meier is in? He left the game when they were playing CGY

 

[Broberg Speed]

Free him to do what?

Pass up good shots?

Hes already doing that.

I believed I conquered like what like what, 3 or 4 times now.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

JP's offense isn't great but his real value is how he disrupts plays and his puck retrieval. He's really good at that. PITA to play against.

 

[Morpheus]

Bouchard has 9 goals. Once he scores 10 he’ll trigger a $212,500 bonus so I’m assuming he will be shooting the biscuit in the next few games

 

[Broberg Speed]

Puljujarvi needs an earpiece with some shooting expert to tell him to shoot at the proper times. He clearly doesn’t listen to the crowd…

I like every other hockey fan would love to see Puljujarvi shorten his stick by at least three inches, probably more. He would get away a quicker more accurate shot from the slot I believe.

But like Ken Hitchcock said, Puljujarvi's stick is like a snake striking... ffft ffft taking away pucks and hiding his intentions.

Note: ffft is a snake striking sound. I was originally going to use pffft but that would universally be mistaken for a fart sound.

 

[Broberg Speed]

Bouchard has 9 goals. Once he scores 10 he’ll trigger a $212,500 bonus so I’m assuming he will be shooting the biscuit in the next few games

He should spend that bonus money on defensive zone coverage, holding the blue line and not making idiotic pinches at least once a game lessons.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Kane scores 3 goals maybe 4.

 

[duul]

I like every other hockey fan would love to see Puljujarvi shorten his stick by at least three inches, probably more. He would get away a quicker more accurate shot from the slot I believe.

But like Ken Hitchcock said, Puljujarvi's stick is like a snake striking... ffft ffft taking away pucks and hiding his intentions.

Note: ffft is a snake striking sound. I was originally going to use pffft but that would universally be mistaken for a fart sound.

He did shorten his stick significantly since he returned from injury. However, the lie of the blade seems the exact same, so only half of it or less is on the ice. It's so weird.

 

[ZJuice]

I like every other hockey fan would love to see Puljujarvi shorten his stick by at least three inches, probably more. He would get away a quicker more accurate shot from the slot I believe.

But like Ken Hitchcock said, Puljujarvi's stick is like a snake striking... ffft ffft taking away pucks and hiding his intentions.

Note: ffft is a snake striking sound. I was originally going to use pffft but that would universally be mistaken for a fart sound.

Ffft ffft works for me lol
He should keep a short stick on the bench for the PP. Like a soldier with a primary and secondary.

 

[Mav3rick07]

I wouldn't mind seeing these defensive parings tbh.

Nurse Ceci
Keith Bouchard
Kulak Russell



I doubt they would ever scratch Barrie though.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Bouchard has 9 goals. Once he scores 10 he’ll trigger a $212,500 bonus so I’m assuming he will be shooting the biscuit in the next few games

I'm not sure if he'll be getting worried about 1 more goal in the final 18 games.

 

[Broberg Speed]

He did shorten his stick significantly since he returned from injury. However, the lie of the blade seems the exact same, so only half of it or less is on the ice. It's so weird.

I need to pay more attention. That's sweet music to my ears. One would think it will take some time for him to recalibrate his shot and develop new muscle memory.

To be honest my hockey reading is confined to this site, visiting the Oilers website to confirm game times because my cable provider's guide is ###### up 25% of the time and going to tsn to check on the daily scores. For bare bone statistics I go to elite prospects or hockeydb.

I've had it with all professional sports analysis. It's all a crock of shit. For the NHL Bettman is the crock of shit master. And all that shit flows down to Bob Stauffer, etc etc.

I'll only watch another hockey intermission in my life if they announce the apocalypse, and I'd probably skip that to do something more worthwhile.

 

[bobbythebrain]

That would be a mistake. Free the Bison King and it will pay off.

Free what? While his teamates are playing hockey he's playing hot potato.

Drai already has Hyman to forecheck. He needs someone to help him by buying room.

I feel bad for Drai sometimes watching him get pucks in horrible positions cuz his linemates can't give him an inch to move

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I think Woodcroft will bounce back to the Forgele-RNH-Ryan line. It was an effective unit, and freed up McDavid and Drai from a lot of defensive minutes

Kane-McDavid-Yams
Hyman-Drai-Pulju
Foegele-RNH-Ryan
McLeod-Brassard-Archi/Kass


I think you rotate McLeod and/or Brassard with Pulju and Yams depending on who's hot and cold.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

It is though, that's the frustrating part, he's got a cannon of a shot when he uses it.

His "cannon" shot is too predictable, the windup is overly long and the goalies get a good bead on its trajectory before it even leaves his blade, he pretty much only uncorks his cannon shot from the perimeter and he's just not a hard enough and accurate enough shooter to be a real threat from the perimeter. Pulju is much more dangerous from intermediate and close range, where his shot has a lot less oomph, but he drops the big windup and just directs pucks to the net quickly.

On the subject of demoting Pulju, I think he's playing pretty well in general in terms of his defense, transition plays, and puck retrieval, it's the critical offensive moments that he keeps bobbling the puck, flubbing his shots, and overpassing; I say push him to play through it on a line that is likely to get him his confidence back eventually so long as he is doing the other little things right. Also if the boys tried setting him up a bit less and just do a bit of volume shooting with Pulju positioning for rebound opportunities it will probably get him back on the right path more quickly than what they've been doing.

 

[Rengorlex]

His "cannon" shot is too predictable, the windup is overly long and the goalies get a good bead on its trajectory before it even leaves his blade, he pretty much only uncorks his cannon shot from the perimeter and he's just not a hard enough and accurate enough shooter to be a real threat from the perimeter. Pulju is much more dangerous from intermediate and close range, where his shot has a lot less oomph, but he drops the big windup and just directs pucks to the net quickly.

On the subject of demoting Pulju, I think he's playing pretty well in general in terms of his defense, transition plays, and puck retrieval, it's the critical offensive moments that he keeps bobbling the puck, flubbing his shots, and overpassing; I say push him to play through it on a line that is likely to get him his confidence back eventually so long as he is doing the other little things right. Also if the boys tried setting him up a bit less and just do a bit of volume shooting with Pulju positioning for rebound opportunities it will probably get him back on the right path more quickly than what they've been doing.

A good proportion of JP's goals are ones where he actually fluffs the puck while he tries to shoot it and it goes in the net because of that. He could be a really good player -- Matthew Tkachuk level -- if he worked on his finishing ability. His hands are just pretty putrid, which makes his shooting and passing and receiving passes so clumsy.

 

[BertMcDrai]

I have just looked at our remaining schedule...this is a must win game (as always).
Out of our last 18 games we play against 11 playoff teams and the Nucks who could be one at seasons end.
So maybe 12 out of 18...3 of them against the sharks and one against the yotes/ducks/columbus...the yotes are the only club in the bottom 10 out of all teams (!)
We are far from a lock for the PO in my opinion.

 

[harpoon]

ote: ffft is a snake striking sound. I was originally going to use pffft but that would universally be mistaken for a fart sound.

Around here that sound is known as ‘hiss hiss’.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

that's Nuge's puck.

 

[NeverForget06]

I'm smelling a PP goal tonight with the return of the Nuge

 

[trick91]

Canucks aren't done yet (not sure why people were cheering for them to beat the Avs last night). Need to win these games against non-playoff teams to create a buffer as our schedule gets tougher.

 

[CupofOil]

I wouldn't mind seeing these defensive parings tbh.

Nurse Ceci
Keith Bouchard
Kulak Russell



I doubt they would ever scratch Barrie though.

Barrie has played very well recently, why would they scratch him?
It's Keith-Bouchard pretty much every game and most recently Nurse-Ceci that have been the issues.