Three of those guys were specifically listed as top 6 options and Neal was primarily a PP specialist, which leaves us with Turris.
But at least you tried.
Nine things that need to break the Oilers way to be a playoff team.
- Thread starter shoop
- Start date
Three of those guys were specifically listed as top 6 options and Neal was primarily a PP specialist, which leaves us with Turris.
But at least you tried.
Agreed Petry was horribly handled and his trade was moronical.
Dubnyk looked completely broken at the time of the trade. After the Predators traded Matt Hendricks for Dubnyk they played him for two games and literally gave him away. Do teams ever get anything back in future considerations? The Habs had zero confidence in Dubnyk. They were starting their third string goalie and still wouldn't let Dubnyk touch the ice.
Kudos to Dubnyk for resurrecting his career in Arizona and having an incredible run with the Wild. He absolutely earned the Masterton trophy when he won it and those three all-star games he played in. But there was nothing 'nasty' or bad about the Oilers getting rid of Dubnyk.
Oilhawks
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BudBundy
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Since you only referred to 5on5 scoring depth and didn’t say anything about the bottom six, you are wrong again. Keep shoveling your horse crap. You’ll find the pony eventually.
The Oilers don't need all 9 of those things to break their way just to make the playoffs. It's as if people forget that they were comfortably in a playoff spot at the pause despite all the flaws they had (some of which were addressed this offseason). The tone of the article suggests that they need everything to break their way just to make the playoffs as if they were a bottom feeder last season.
If all 9 of things happen, they should make a run in the playoffs not just make the playoffs. Of course it's doubtful that all 9 of things break their way so there's that.
For this team to take the next step, the most important things will be Yamamoto, Bear, Jones and to a lesser extent Puljujarvi's development, Jones in particular is the big X factor with Klefbom out. If these guys take a step forward, this could be a really dangerous team. If they don't, they will be right smack dab on the bubble if they remain relatively healthy. I think their floor is bubble team, the ceiling is a Conference finalist depending on in season moves. If they add somebody like Keumper, look out.
If all 9 of things happen, they should make a run in the playoffs not just make the playoffs. Of course it's doubtful that all 9 of things break their way so there's that.
For this team to take the next step, the most important things will be Yamamoto, Bear, Jones and to a lesser extent Puljujarvi's development, Jones in particular is the big X factor with Klefbom out. If these guys take a step forward, this could be a really dangerous team. If they don't, they will be right smack dab on the bubble if they remain relatively healthy. I think their floor is bubble team, the ceiling is a Conference finalist depending on in season moves. If they add somebody like Keumper, look out.
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Senor Catface
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BudBundy
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I am unfamiliar with the basic term “scoring depth”? Incorrect. The rest of your post is a word salad. “Projection.” “Sad.” “Desperate.” “Troll.” You had a bad take. Live with it. Leavins’ article specifically mentions numerous players down the depth chart from the big 2 so if Neal scores 20, Yamamoto or Puljujarvi scores like a top 6er, Kahun finds chemistry and Turris plays like a 3rd liner (with production associated with that spot), then “presto!” We will have scoring depth. So you’re still wrong. You take criticism badly. Fine. You lash out with every triggered buzz-word in your book. I do not care as I consider the worth of the source.
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TopShelfGloveSide
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I already rebutted everything in this post, but go ahead and reply a few dozen more times to show how little you care.
BudBundy
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The article mentions forwards that are likely going to run 5 through 10 or 11 on the depth chart, but didn’t address scoring depth? You’ve managed to triple down on a bad take, and now wrap with the equivalent of “I know you are, but what am I?” Fine. I’ll stop clubbing this seal.
I'll spell it out as simply as I can without using crayons:
1. The Oilers biggest need is 5v5 outscoring when Drai and McDavid aren't on the ice.
2. Leavins doesn't even acknowledge that issue and none of the factors he lists for the Oilers success, save Turris as 3C, address it.
3. Instead he talks about Neal continuing his (PP-fuelled) scoring pace and some of the younger players stepping up in the top 6 which, again, doesn't solve #1.
Overall, his analysis of the team's issues is superficial and blindingly obvious (wow, you mean they'll be in trouble if McDavid or Drai get hurt? Goaltending is important? I can't believe this content is free!) and I have no idea why you're all fired up to defend a guy who gets paid to write about the team but whose skills as an analyst are surpassed by your average Twitter user.
jukon
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- Mar 17, 2011
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1- Will Koskinen be able to take another step forward? Looking at his stats, he's not far from being a great goalie. But if he regresses and we have to depend on Smith/Forsberg we are in big trouble.
2- Can we improve team defense? The play in round should be good motivation for everyone to commit to better defensive play. I think McDavid and Drai will take a big step forward this year in their two way game, and hopefully everyone else follows suit. I think Tippett will be hard on all players to commit to their game without the puck after the failure in play ins.
3- The pressure is on Nurse. With Klefbom expected to be out for nearly the whole season, we cannot afford Nurse to have a bad season or injury. I would argue that our depth can step up for any position on D except Nurse's.
4- Can the second (first?) line replicate their success? The DRY line was one of the best lines in the league last year, and Yamamoto was an important part of that puzzle. Hopefully he can avoid a sophomore slump. If the second line struggles to produce near what they did last year, we will be losing a big piece of our success.
5- Can our D score? The Oiler's defense has been the Beavis and Butthead of the league. They're never going to score. With the arrival of Barrie, and the continued development of Bear and Jones I hope that this can be addressed.
Decent points from the article, but quite a few of them are less significant in my opinion. I have rewritten in my opinion five points which will either take us near the top of the league or out of the playoffs.
2- Can we improve team defense? The play in round should be good motivation for everyone to commit to better defensive play. I think McDavid and Drai will take a big step forward this year in their two way game, and hopefully everyone else follows suit. I think Tippett will be hard on all players to commit to their game without the puck after the failure in play ins.
3- The pressure is on Nurse. With Klefbom expected to be out for nearly the whole season, we cannot afford Nurse to have a bad season or injury. I would argue that our depth can step up for any position on D except Nurse's.
4- Can the second (first?) line replicate their success? The DRY line was one of the best lines in the league last year, and Yamamoto was an important part of that puzzle. Hopefully he can avoid a sophomore slump. If the second line struggles to produce near what they did last year, we will be losing a big piece of our success.
5- Can our D score? The Oiler's defense has been the Beavis and Butthead of the league. They're never going to score. With the arrival of Barrie, and the continued development of Bear and Jones I hope that this can be addressed.
Decent points from the article, but quite a few of them are less significant in my opinion. I have rewritten in my opinion five points which will either take us near the top of the league or out of the playoffs.
Aerchon
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It was a bit nasty because Mac T threw Dubnyk under the bus publicly. I always felt Dubnyk let in backbreaking soft goals and didn't have confidence in him either but the GM needs to be supportive or non-committal. I felt that comment made obliterated what little confidence Dubnyk had. And fair being fair Dubnyk was behind a terrible defense/team/coach intentionally tanking most his tenure... Certainly some nasty some bad in the situation.
On an unfortunate related note. Tippett has been banging the drum that goaltending cost the postseason. Specifically Koskinen by the sounds as well, despite what imo was clearly primarily the coaches many mistakes that cost the series. Including using Smith as the starter both regular and post season. Holland was very strategic in his goaltending comments but was/is also rumored heavy into the goalie market.
I hope Koskinen can just tune that out or use it even to be as good or better than last year.
Dubnyk was horrible when he played for the Oilers and MacT was a terrible GM.
That's an interesting interpretation of what Tippett said.
Aerchon
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Agreed about Mac T and Dubnyk.
I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole Tippett is blaming goaltending but... his if we can get a save/goaltending comments, plus his obvious frustration of Koskinen not going to the bench for the extra attacker, team actively shopping for a goalie, his strange decision and defense of playing Smith game 1, his usage of Smith at various times during the season when either Smith was struggling or Koskinen was on a roll...
There is smoke imo, but I don't know if there is fire. I'm hoping smoke or fire Koskinen can ignore it and play as good or better than last year.
Paperbagofglory
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Tippett showed his flaws during the round with Chicago. Hopefully he has common sense enough to leave his successful lines intact and not experiment. It seemed like he got arrogant that they would steam roll Chicago so he could tinker and it won't matter.
bone
5-14-6-1
The whole issue with that series was that he decided to experiment Game 1 but refused to change course from that experiment until it was too late. I'd argue he needed to be a little more experimental within the series.
That said, by most metrics (except the most important one, actual game score) Edmonton wins that series more often than not.
They made less mistakes and controlled more of the play outside of Game 1, but their mistakes were bigger and Chicago capitalized on almost every one of them. So perhaps he was just trying to play the odds and got burned.
Broberg Speed
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That was my initial judgment as well, that Tippet was out coached and made some ill-fated roster choices and lineup decisions. However new information has been disclosed since the season abruptly ended. Circumstances may have further impeded the team. Examine these circumstances to fully put the play-in failure into context.
We now know Klefbom was injured and not particularly pleased with the return to play; both of these points are documented. We know Larsson was injured, maybe he shouldn't have played at all. He played only two games in the play-ins.
If you couldn't foresee the blue liner's misfortune being greater you would be wrong. Both Russell and Benning were recovering from substantial concussions last season. Russel missed 14 games during concussion practicals. Benning, suffered two concussions, missing 24 games. Can we say either of these players were at the top of their game? I don't think so.
Breaking up the RNH, Draisaitl & Yamamoto line still seems like Tippet may have out coached himself but Draisaitl looked disinterested most of the series. A bold claim I will make is that after McDavid and RNH, James Neal was the third best forward in the play-ins for the Oilers. That shouldn't have been the case.
Not to be overly critical of Mike Smith, but unless Koskinen was not ready to go, Koskinen absolutely should have been the starter in game one. If Tippett was betting on Smith to save his bacon, he lost that bet and he should have known better because journalists and pundits alike all predicted Chicago needed to dump the puck and take advantage of Smith's overaggressive play... but my point stands about 4 starting defensemen not being ready to play.
We shouldn't have lost to Chicago but if the cards were stacked against the Oilers from the very start of the play-ins I'm willing to pardon Tippett and give him a fresh start this upcoming season.
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SupremeTeam16
5-14-6-1
I think it was a calculated gamble that didn’t work out, he knew Chicago was going to be able to field two strong lines and we were going to have to match it. If Highmore doesn’t shove a horseshoe up his own butthole before this series, there’s a good chance we win and people are praising the decision instead of lambasting it.
What I will fault him on is going back to Smith when Koskinen was clearly the goalie the team had played better in front of all season long.
If Puljujarvi doesn't produce at the rate of a top 6 forward, our top 9 won't work.
Turris doesn't have the tool box to center a shut down line. If his line doesn't score, he'll be centering the 4th line and goal scoring-wise, we might be in trouble.
Turris doesn't have the tool box to center a shut down line. If his line doesn't score, he'll be centering the 4th line and goal scoring-wise, we might be in trouble.
ujju2
Registered User
Not true. We could easily run the following if JP doesn't work out:
RNH-McDavid-Kassian
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Turris-Neal/Chiasson
Chiasson/Neal-Khaira-Archibald
Neal and Chiasson are both good enough to be on an offensive 3rd line if Puljujarvi can't stick there.
SupremeTeam16
5-14-6-1
Wouldn’t be surprised either if Turris finds himself in the top 6 at some point either
