Pre-Game Talk: North Side Story: Jets @ Oilers

[BoldNewLettuce]

My kid is excited. That's all I care about. Go Oilers.

you selfish f***

 

[doulos]

you selfish f***

I'll own that.

 

[Cloned]

Koekkoek can play extremely well in short spells (like he did last year in the play in) so I don’t mind it at all.

 

[Snipes45]

I agree with what Kypreos said on Tim & Friends. It's going to be extremely difficult for the Oilers to get to the Conference Finals or Finals with McDrai solely carrying the load. We need some of our depth players to step up and chip in (looking at you Yamamoto, RNH, etc)

This is where we see what the guys are made of. We will only go as far as our depth. Doesn't matter what mcdrai do

 

[McDrai]

This is where we see what the guys are made of. We will only go as far as our depth. Doesn't matter what mcdrai do

Yup. Hopefully we have some Pecas and Pisanis who can help out the big boys

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

I agree with what Kypreos said on Tim & Friends. It's going to be extremely difficult for the Oilers to get to the Conference Finals or Finals with McDrai solely carrying the load. We need some of our depth players to step up and chip in (looking at you Yamamoto, RNH, etc)

You definitely need depth scoring in the playoffs but I'm not going to be worried about that until I see it become an issue for the team. The Oilers bottom 6 is physical enough that they should be able to turn some turnovers into goals in the postseason.

 

[Cloned]

Can we keep this thread from getting locked?

 

[bellagiobob]

Can we keep this thread from getting locked?

Sorry, but I got triggered. Doesn’t happen very often.

 

[CupofOil]

25 hours away....

Holy f***, can we fast forward to Wednesday night already?

 

[McDNicks17]

There's a Covid thread for a reason, folks.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

There's a Covid thread for a reason, folks.

Can we get a Chiarelli - Hall thread too then? Serious question.

 

[Anarchism]

Stamkos and Kuch seem to be fully recovered lol.

 

[PaPaDee]

Stamkos and Kuch seem to be fully recovered lol.

what a joke.

 

[fuswald]

Glad to see things don't change much around here. 9 Games into his NHL career with plugs on his line and HF is already selling him up the river.

Dude has the 10th highest CF% and the 4th highest HDCF% on the team, the big factor is the 0.953 PDO.

Give the man a chance, damn.

Selling him up the river, way to make stuff up.

 

[brentashton]

what a joke.

Major loophole in the CBA exposed. Kudos to TBL loopologist for figuring it out. Not sure why it’s a joke.

 

[PaPaDee]

Major loophole in the CBA exposed. Kudos to TBL loopologist for figuring it out. Not sure why it’s a joke.

Because it’s clearly cap circumvention?

 

[brentashton]

Because it’s clearly cap circumvention?

If it is then there will be sanctions for their actions. The CBA is clear on that front. Care to wager a bet that this happens?

I believe it is against the spirit of the salary cap, which I think is what you are pointing to, but all year teams have moved contracts up down and sideways to stay within the cap limits, including the Oilers. In this case it’s just an extreme case with two high profile players involved.

But at the end of the day the CBA was adhered to and Gary has a hole in his contract that him and the 30 other owners perhaps didn’t see or were hoping others couldn’t take advantage of to this extent.

 

[TheNumber4]

Just honked along with the Oiler nation flag parade on Whyte. Let’s f***in GO!

Time for McDrai to take us to the promised land. The City of Champions to be reborn.

 

[PaPaDee]

https://youtu.be/tqeWG-3Mh1I

 

[PaPaDee]

If it is then there will be sanctions for their actions. The CBA is clear on that front. Care to wager a bet that this happens?

I believe it is against the spirit of the salary cap, which I think is what you are pointing to, but all year teams have moved contracts up down and sideways to stay within the cap limits, including the Oilers. In this case it’s just an extreme case with two high profile players involved.

But at the end of the day the CBA was adhered to and Gary has a hole in his contract that him and the 30 other owners perhaps didn’t see or were hoping others couldn’t take advantage of to this extent.

say what you will, and I doubt there will be any repercussions for TB, but it seems obvious that they purposely put those players on IR to skirt the cap. You can’t convince me they were unable to play a few weeks ago.

 

[TheNumber4]

Not liking this snowfall, Oilers play worse when this City becomes a gloomy, slushy mess.

 

[brentashton]

say what you will, and I doubt there will be any repercussions for TB, but it seems obvious that they purposely put those players on IR to skirt the cap. You can’t convince me they were unable to play a few weeks ago.

Absolutely they did, and they did it within the rules of the CBA. I think we both agree with what happened. We both agree it’s bullshit, we just disagree whether it was “legal” or not. Let’s stop and cheer on the Oilers tomorrow. I hope we don’t face that team when we go to the finals.
Cheers.

 

[Samus44]

I have no problem with Kassian over Shore but why mess up the combos?

Neal and Kassian usually don't play well with another, would have rather they just kept Neal/Chiasson with McLeod and slotted Kass with Archibald/Khaira

The problem is Kassian is weak defensively and that line I expect to have a heavy burden defensively. I like Neal Chiasson though and I wouldn't break that up. Hopefully we get good Kassian.

 

[McTrashBoat]

How could anyone not like this guy!??

he could win a game or two, that'd get the jets hating him

 

[The Panther]

I sort of look at this series like this:

POSSIBILITIES:

(a)
- Oilers have the puck-luck & goaltending of last summer's Chicago series
- Oilers have utter lack of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-line production like last summer's Chicago series
RESULT = Jets in 5

(b)
- Oilers have the puck-luck of last summer's Chicago series
- Oilers have good goaltending
- Oilers have utter lack of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-line production like last summer's Chicago series
RESULT = Jets in 6

(c)
- Oilers have normal-to-good puck-luck
- Oilers have good goaltending
- Oilers have utter lack of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-line production like last summer's Chicago series
RESULT = 7-game series / can go either way

(d)
- Oilers have normal-to-good puck-luck
- Oilers have good goaltending
- Oilers have modest but reasonable production from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines
RESULT = Oilers in 6

(e)
- Oilers have normal-to-good puck-luck
- Oilers have good goaltending
- Oilers have strong and consistent production from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines
RESULT = Oilers in 4 or 5


The positive thing about this series (unlike if they were playing, say, Toronto) is that I think the Oilers' destiny is entirely in their own hands. That is, if they play as well as they can -- and as well as they mostly have in the past couple of months -- then they will win convincingly. I also think they just match-up really well against Winnipeg.

On the other hand, if nothing but McDavid/PP scores, if every Jets' shot from the point bounces twice and goes in, and if Smith decides to go wandering and give up freebies, then...