Player Discussion Mikko Koskinen

[joestevens29]

Wasn't he promised 30 games? Both Chia and Todd in the off season, mentioned how Talbot's games would be reduced and the back-up utilized more, so Cam doesn't burn out. Almost every team has already played their back-up at least once. Todd did the same thing last year, just kept running Talbot in the ground. Koskinen needs games, and Talbot needs rest. Very simple. I hope he gets the nod for the home opener

We've played 3 games. 2/3 of the league have played at least 5

 

[bone]

We've played 3 games. 2/3 of the league have played at least 5

Speaking of which. It makes sense Edmonton and New Jersey have only played 3 games, but what's the deal with Tampa and Florida only playing 3 games and neither of them have had to leave the state of Florida yet 13 days into the season.

 

[bucks_oil]

I have watched the game for a long time, and so yes, a lot of times how we judge individual goals is unfair, but all analysis is unfair. A GM's performance has a lot of luck involved. A goalie's performance depends a lot on the quality of defense, and luck. If a goalie lets in a lot of goals that are forgivable, they will still get a lot of heat, and all teams do this. Goalies are expected to steal a few "sure things" in a game.

Thanks for your response... I'd missed it until today. So I'm making the point that the bolded is not always true. There is a double standard with respect to the quality of the analysis.

Most guys/gals who played the game can know the difference between a player losing the puck on a toe drag at the blue line when it could have been dumped in (preventable selfish bad team play) and having a puck hop over their stick while holding the point (bad bounces/luck). It's just that many players can't see that same difference when it comes to goaltending.

Most coaches (who are typically defensive minded) get it. At the team level, this game is about mistakes and bad decisions. The good teams are the ones who have 25 guys who will never excuse a mental mistake they make, never blame a teammate for a physical shortcoming (like being beat wide by McDavid as Chara was, or laser to the top corner), but hold themselves accountable and their teammates for execution within one's physical capabilities. Keep your head in the game, play to your limits and be in position to back up a teammate.

 

[FlameChampion]

They gave Cam the option for Saturday, so I'm not sure if that means they want Koskinen in sooner or if maybe they thought Cam didn't want to play his old team.

Quite a few have predicted the 28th as I believe that's our first back to back

Sometimes I just get annoyed that McLellan asks Talbot so often (at least seems that way) on whether or not he wants to play. What is the player suppose to say?

Koskinen should be starting one of the three next games for sure. I wouldnt be surprised that he doesnt. If the Oilers end up spending 2.5 mil and Koskinen hardly ends up playing, it will be another sign that the coach and the GM arent on the same page.

 

[Mr Positive]

Thanks for your response... I'd missed it until today. So I'm making the point that the bolded is not always true. There is a double standard with respect to the quality of the analysis.

Most guys/gals who played the game can know the difference between a player losing the puck on a toe drag at the blue line when it could have been dumped in (preventable selfish bad team play) and having a puck hop over their stick while holding the point (bad bounces/luck). It's just that many players can't see that same difference when it comes to goaltending.

Most coaches (who are typically defensive minded) get it. At the team level, this game is about mistakes and bad decisions. The good teams are the ones who have 25 guys who will never excuse a mental mistake they make, never blame a teammate for a physical shortcoming (like being beat wide by McDavid as Chara was, or laser to the top corner), but hold themselves accountable and their teammates for execution within one's physical capabilities. Keep your head in the game, play to your limits and be in position to back up a teammate.

I see what you mean. I just mean that there are so many factors at play here. Take an irresponsible player and put them in a better situation, and sometimes they react in good ways. Take a great player but put them in a bad situation, and bad habits can take over their game. A lot of time confidence can be a team wide thing, and once a good enough run gets going, things can snowball where everyone is happy and confident, and it actually makes them work harder in all aspects

 

[Mr Positive]

When are we going to play this guy? It seems good teams don't just run their goalie into the dirt and give their back ups a decent amount of regular games. I'd rather we don't wreck the guy by only giving him games where the team is playing like junk and Talbot gets chased.

 

[FlameChampion]

When are we going to play this guy? It seems good teams don't just run their goalie into the dirt and give their back ups a decent amount of regular games. I'd rather we don't wreck the guy by only giving him games where the team is playing like junk and Talbot gets chased.

TM will basically run Talbot into the ground and then when he struggles, he will turn to Koskinen. Koskinen will be rusty and will likely not play very well. TM basically screws the team up two fold. Koskinen should be getting a game roughly every 4 games and possible more if hes playing well. TM cant always be asking Talbot if he wants to play. He needs to come up with a system and use his backup, and put his players in a routine and position to succeed. The more time that goes, on the more it seems like TM is clueless.

 

[Mr Positive]

TM will basically run Talbot into the ground and then when he struggles, he will turn to Koskinen. Koskinen will be rusty and will likely not play very well. TM basically screws the team up two fold. Koskinen should be getting a game roughly every 4 games and possible more if hes playing well. TM cant always be asking Talbot if he wants to play. He needs to come up with a system and use his backup, and put his players in a routine and position to succeed. The more time that goes, on the more it seems like TM is clueless.

what's frustrating to me is that Koskinen isn't some 20 year old rookie. He is well seasoned and was looking pretty decent as he adjusted during pre-season. He should get a start early. Hopefully, the one after the Jets at least.

 

[FlameChampion]

what's frustrating to me is that Koskinen isn't some 20 year old rookie. He is well seasoned and was looking pretty decent as he adjusted during pre-season. He should get a start early. Hopefully, the one after the Jets at least.

He won’t get the next game because thats the Oilers home opener. If he doesn’t get the nashville game then I don’t know.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I can see not playing him because the games are so spaced out this season to start... but it also likely means Koskinen is going to be super rusty when he finally gets his first start... on top of the "rust" he already had from never having played in NA for many years.

If Koskinen shits the bed in his 1st start, it's going to be pretty hard to fully lay the blame on him for that... which means you likely have another almost sure loss baked into the win-loss column for this team right when they need wins the most to get any type of confidence and chemistry going.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Given how much time off the Oilers have had so far and they'll be coming home for a 4 game homestand with two days off between Nashville and Pittsburgh I wouldn't expcet to see Koskinen before the Nashville-Chicago road trip. If Talbot stumbles before then maybe we see Koskinen on the homestand, but otherwise leave Talbot in early as he likes to play regularly.

After that start Koskinen 2 out of every 7 games and that'll give Talbot about 10 games a month which is a more manageable workload for the year. That gives Koskinen 22 games for the year and Talbot 60.

 

[A91]

Given how much time off the Oilers have had so far and they'll be coming home for a 4 game homestand with two days off between Nashville and Pittsburgh I wouldn't expcet to see Koskinen before the Nashville-Chicago road trip. If Talbot stumbles before then maybe we see Koskinen on the homestand, but otherwise leave Talbot in early as he likes to play regularly.

After that start Koskinen 2 out of every 7 games and that'll give Talbot about 10 games a month which is a more manageable workload for the year. That gives Koskinen 22 games for the year and Talbot 60.

This is far too simple and reasonable for our coaching staff.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

This is far too simple and reasonable for our coaching staff.

Yeah, sadly Todd will probably just overplay Talbot when he doesn't need to and Koskinen will get rusty then Talbot will get the flu or something and Todd will be forced to play Koskinen a bunch when his confidence is low.

 

[TB12]

He's still on 1260 from time to time and is way better than his 630 ched days. He's evolved and matured IMO.

Disagree. He still sucks.

 

[joestevens29]

Sometimes I just get annoyed that McLellan asks Talbot so often (at least seems that way) on whether or not he wants to play. What is the player suppose to say?

Koskinen should be starting one of the three next games for sure. I wouldnt be surprised that he doesnt. If the Oilers end up spending 2.5 mil and Koskinen hardly ends up playing, it will be another sign that the coach and the GM arent on the same page.

I don't blame him in this situation though. It was only game three of the year against his former club.

 

[nabob]

Sometimes I just get annoyed that McLellan asks Talbot so often (at least seems that way) on whether or not he wants to play. What is the player suppose to say?

Koskinen should be starting one of the three next games for sure. I wouldnt be surprised that he doesnt. If the Oilers end up spending 2.5 mil and Koskinen hardly ends up playing, it will be another sign that the coach and the GM arent on the same page.

It will be a sign that we have a really light schedule and haven’t needed to give the #1 goalie a day off.

 

[nabob]

I can see not playing him because the games are so spaced out this season to start... but it also likely means Koskinen is going to be super rusty when he finally gets his first start... on top of the "rust" he already had from never having played in NA for many years.

If Koskinen ****s the bed in his 1st start, it's going to be pretty hard to fully lay the blame on him for that... which means you likely have another almost sure loss baked into the win-loss column for this team right when they need wins the most to get any type of confidence and chemistry going.

That’s the spirit!!

 

[joestevens29]

Speaking of which. It makes sense Edmonton and New Jersey have only played 3 games, but what's the deal with Tampa and Florida only playing 3 games and neither of them have had to leave the state of Florida yet 13 days into the season.

It's so stupid. I know for myself I watch a lot of hockey, but this year because we never really played a lot I haven't fully got into it yet.

MLB and NFL are filling the void for me right now

So how is a market like FLA dealing with this? Not doing any favours trying to get the casual fan to be a bigger fan or the non-fan into a casual fan.

 

[bucks_oil]

I see what you mean. I just mean that there are so many factors at play here. Take an irresponsible player and put them in a better situation, and sometimes they react in good ways. Take a great player but put them in a bad situation, and bad habits can take over their game. A lot of time confidence can be a team wide thing, and once a good enough run gets going, things can snowball where everyone is happy and confident, and it actually makes them work harder in all aspects

True... and I agree with this... in fact nearly every goalie is aware of this, but on a good team it can't be one-sided or an unequally shared responsibility (establishing team confidence).

A big save can change the team's confidence... but what are we really saying here? That a goalie is responsible for allowing 24 guys to feel like it's ok to make a mistake? The goalie, in addition to making zero mistakes himself (which is a very high psychological bar) is responsible for maintaining the psychology of his team-mates when they make a mistake? That's fine as an ideal, but not as an expectation unless the corollary is also true.

It would be like a goalie saying: it's ok that I make a mistake, Connor will get one back. Is that goalie going to play better or worse with that mentality? Worse most likely.

What eats goalies up, is having 28 shots on goal, making 25 solid saves, making one mistake that is a goal and also allowing two unstoppable goals. Meanwhile his "best" offensive defenseman makes 3 terrible pinches that lead to breakaways against (goalie only stops 2) and his "best" offensive winger fails to get the puck out at the blue line 5 times (by being soft, or trying to be fancy), including one on the first shift of the game which leads to a clean 5-hole goal (judged as a mistake on the goalie since it was the first shot of the game).

Goalie finishes with an 0.892 SPCT and wears the goat horns, despite playing an A- game while several of his best teammates played B- at best.

 

[Canada Drai]

I wonder if he regrets his decision to play behind a 70 game goalie. I also wonder if our starter playing so much makes our backups weaker.

 

[StevenF1919]

I wonder if he regrets his decision to play behind a 70 game goalie. I also wonder if our starter playing so much makes our backups weaker.

I'm pretty sure it's TMac that's the problem. He overplayed his starters in San Jose too.

 

[Canada Drai]

I'm pretty sure it's TMac that's the problem. He overplayed his starters in San Jose too.

Todd has so many quirky quirks, what a quirkster. Does he have any good traits as a coach?

 

[FlameChampion]

I wonder if he regrets his decision to play behind a 70 game goalie. I also wonder if our starter playing so much makes our backups weaker.

Yeah I think Talbot ends up getting tired and worn down (even if he doesnt admit it). And the backup never ends up getting in the groove.

I dont really blame McClellan for not wanting to play Gustavsson and Brossoit an overly amount especially during their winning season. They didnt inspire confidence.

That being said the Oilers were so far out of it early on in the season last year, that I think he could of played Brossoit more just to get a better handle on him and just to let Brossoit maybe get some more confidence before being the starter when Talbot got injured. I personally had concerns watching him, I dont think he tracked the puck well but TM didnt exactly put him in a good position.

Last year after the season was already lost and they had picked up Montoya, I dont understand why they didnt play him more. Ran Talbot in the ground for no reason.

 

[Cypress]

Should see action this Saturday, or Tuesday at the latest. Anything after that is too long.

 

[nabob]

Have people not noticed our schedule? Can’t have Talbot sitting for a week at a time during the season. No team would do that to their #1, especially when we’ve played 4 games and in the same span other teams have played 7 or 8.

It’s like pulling your #1 starter in baseball after 5 innings in a tie game even though his pitch count is only 50 and he won’t pitch for another 5 days.