Post-Game Talk: Oilers 4 Sharks 3 - Hitch a ride to McDavid

[Drivesaitl]

I was struck by his confidence level to, I love it. And unlike Eakins who talked big when he first came here Hitch actually has credibility given his experience and track record, the team should buy in.

We needed Hitch years ago. I think it would have worked a lot better with our young talent as well. Of course Hitch has credibility which Eakins never had.

 

[bone]

That Blues team has been deflating, and ready to, at different times. Hitch was able to inflate it. Look where the Blues are now, dead.

The Blues even lost to the KIngs. This being a Kings club that has basically given up on the season.

Blues and Kings fired coach already and Blues actually manage to be in a worse slump.

Yeah, before him they were trending downwards 92 points in 08-09, 90 in 09-10, 87 in 10-11 and started 6-7-0 in 2011-12 before he took them over and they rebounded to 109 points in that season.

After that he led them to put up 60 in the 48 game season, followed by seasons of 111 points, 109 points, 107 points but they had started to stumble in year six starting out 24-21-5. Yeo rebounded them initially going 22-8-2 after taking over, but the drop continued to 94 points last year and you see how this year is going.

I'm pretty confident he can improve this team, just remains to be seen whether it's enough for playoffs or not. Obviously, the Blues team he picked up was much closer than this Oilers team is, but he also brought them from being just outside playoff contention to a perennial top 5 team. Then last year he brought a lottery team within 2 wins of playoffs, so I don't see it unreasonable to think he can get them playing meaningful hockey in March, possibly even April, particularly having McDavid as likely the best player he's ever had in his arsenal.

 

[CornKicker]

Who did Lucic hurt? Hitch said he knocked two guys out of the game....

He said out of the box, which means he was clearing guys in front of the shark net and winning the battle for the rebounds

 

[Paperbagofglory]

That GIF @Del Preston posted last night of Hitch's reaction to the breakaway against Benning caused tells me he won't be in love with Benning any time soon.

The look seemed to say, omg what did i get myself into.

 

[dssource]

Thought we started slow but were def the better team in the final 45 minutes. Koskinen made the big saves when needed which is huge for this mentally weak team. Don't forget that the sharks are a really good team, so i'll take this win every day of the week!

Congrats to McDavid on his 100th goal and to Hitchcock on his first (of many) victory with the Oilers.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah, before him they were trending downwards 92 points in 08-09, 90 in 09-10, 87 in 10-11 and started 6-7-0 in 2011-12 before he took them over and they rebounded to 109 points in that season.

After that he led them to put up 60 in the 48 game season, followed by seasons of 111 points, 109 points, 107 points but they had started to stumble in year six starting out 24-21-5. Yeo rebounded them initially going 22-8-2 after taking over, but the drop continued to 94 points last year and you see how this year is going.

I'm pretty confident he can improve this team, just remains to be seen whether it's enough for playoffs or not. Obviously, the Blues team he picked up was much closer than this Oilers team is, but he also brought them from being just outside playoff contention to a perennial top 5 team. Then last year he brought a lottery team within 2 wins of playoffs, so I don't see it unreasonable to think he can get them playing meaningful hockey in March, possibly even April, particularly having McDavid as likely the best player he's ever had in his arsenal.

The fortunate thing is we are in the Pacific division. This could be the easiest playoff pts requirement we've seen in WC. 90pts probably does it. Vancouver is imploding. Only Sharks and Calgary look to be locking something down. Most of the clubs in the division are just bad. 3rd place in division is probably always going to be open. We might still finish 2nd.

 

[Canovin]

Fun facts: Just like last year, McDavid has more assists than Matthews has in points

 

[ElysiumAB]

This optimism is terrifying. Even keel boys.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

The fortunate thing is we are in the Pacific division. This could be the easiest playoff pts requirement we've seen in WC. 90pts probably does it. Vancouver is imploding. Only Sharks and Calgary look to be locking something down. Most of the clubs in the division are just bad. 3rd place in division is probably always going to be open. We might still finish 2nd.

Calgary is going to be dead in the water by March. Playing so much catch up hockey in the third period will tire out their older defenders. And their back up goalie has to save their hides and will fall back down to earth eventually.

Bill Peters is a lame duck much like Mclellan.

This optimism is terrifying. Even keel boys.

No more trying to fit square pegs into round holes is enough to get anyone excited. A coach that has logical thinking abilities has not been tried here since Krueger, its been a while since they had someone smart behind the bench.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Thought we started slow but were def the better team in the final 45 minutes. Koskinen made the big saves when needed which is huge for this mentally weak team. Don't forget that the sharks are a really good team, so i'll take this win every day of the week!

Congrats to McDavid on his 100th goal and to Hitchcock on his first (of many) victory with the Oilers.

The Sharks have certainly not been "really good" There are no really good teams in this division. On paper one would maybe think they should be but they have 11W's 11L's and are +3. Neither which indicates they are anything but slightly over average. They got the 4 Bettman points which confuses things in standings. In actual results the Flames have even been better than the Sharks.

 

[McGoMcD]

This optimism is terrifying. Even keel boys.

Not even sure what there is to be optimistic about. McDavid won us that game. Him and Drai are great but everything else still looks terrible.

great we won, but, some one else needs to step up for there to be much optimism.

 

[CornKicker]

hitchs confidence is calculated. he told the team you buy into what im selling you will win. then he says in the media i only need 8-9 days. if what we saw last night is the direction he is taking them then you can see they are willing to give his way a chance. its all confidence, your coach has confidence is bleeds down into the players. 50% or more of that roster is playing for a spot next year to. new coach new eyes new expectations. success is attainable if you all tow the line.

lucic has been harped on for not creating offence, hitch doesnt give a dam what he is paid. he wants him to do what he is effective at and the points will come. he reset the expectation that lucic puts on himself or that TM put on him. hitch probably told him, you are a leader, the players respect you, do what made them respect you in the first place. play the right way you get rewarded. dont try to do more than you are capable of. lead by example, do your job, a realistic job.

its great to hear and see on the ice.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Calgary is going to be dead in the water by March. Playing so much catch up hockey in the third period will tire out their older defenders. And their back up goalie has to save their hides and will fall back down to earth eventually.

Bill Peters is a lame duck much like Mclellan.

I want to think so, but I don't think so. Calgary always seems to do better than I want, or think. I think the biggest thing is that the team actually has some kind of identity and belief. Most people outside Calgary think its horseshoes but the team itself, it believes in itself. That's essentially why Flames won on Saturday and the oilers lost. Mental aspect means so much.

Last season it was the Kings being the hot 3rd period club which persisted much of the season on an also tired squad.

The thing is they bombed in first round and Flames will too. I don't think the Flames are equipped for playoff hockey, we are.

 

[Canovin]

Not even sure what there is to be optimistic about. McDavid won us that game. Him and Drai are great but everything else still looks terrible.

great we won, but, some one else needs to step up for there to be much optimism.

The Oilers will ride the McDavid-Drai train until Pulju, Yamamoto, Benson, Bouchard, Maksimov, Jones, etc are ready and that's okay.

 

[CornKicker]

Not even sure what there is to be optimistic about. McDavid won us that game. Him and Drai are great but everything else still looks terrible.

great we won, but, some one else needs to step up for there to be much optimism.

im not sure how you could watch that game and not see a noticable difference in the offensive zone? the defensive lapses will still take time to correct but the oilers dictated the play 65-70% of that game.

 

[bone]

Just noticed another parallel to his Dallas hire last year and this year's Oilers situation.

After seven years middling records with only one playoff appearance Dallas broke out and finished 1st place in a tough Central Division (109 points) in 15-16. Everyone thinks they have finally arrived lead by Jamie Benn who won the Art Ross and finished 3rd in Hart voting, but their goaltending cratered with a historically bad penalty kill and they easily missed the playoffs with only 79 points. Hitch comes in and delivers them to a 37-23-5 record (79 points) at the 65 game mark before the team struggles to deal with an injury to their starting goalie.

Oilers, after years of basement dwelling finally break out in 16-17 earning their first home ice advantage in a playoff round in decades with 103 points. Everyone thinks they have finally arrived lead by Art Ross/Hart/Ted Lindsey Trophy winning Connor McDavid, but their goaltending/special teams cratered and they easily missed the playoffs with only 78 points. If Hitch can deliver at a 79 point over 65 game pace (he's only got 62 to work with), it would put Edmonton at about 94 points which may be enough in the weak Pacific to get in.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not even sure what there is to be optimistic about. McDavid won us that game. Him and Drai are great but everything else still looks terrible.

great we won, but, some one else needs to step up for there to be much optimism.

Chiasson 8 goals Cagg 8 goals. Nuge 20pts. Its not all black.

Hitch will figure out soon enough that Benning is an imposter and Gravel is actually a usable D. Small things like that even almost result in a one goal/game turnaround by themselves. I think Lucic will play heavy bottomsix and actually perform better.

Worried about the second line though with Spooner on it. That's a problem. Hopefully one more trade..

 

[bone]

Ok this post puts things into perspective. Draisaitl and Mcdavid won the team the game single handed last night. If Rich Nash was your centerpiece you were screwed either way. So there is more hope for Edmonton than that Columbus team, lol.

And even still he eventually got that team into the playoffs, just took a couple years.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Just noticed another parallel to his Dallas hire last year and this year's Oilers situation.

After seven years middling records with only one playoff appearance Dallas broke out and finished 1st place in a tough Central Division (109 points) in 15-16. Everyone thinks they have finally arrived lead by Jamie Benn who finished 3rd in Hart voting, but their goaltending cratered and they easily missed the playoffs with only 79 points. Hitch comes in and delivers them to a 37-23-5 record (79 points) at the 65 game mark before the team struggles to deal with an injury to their starting goalie.

Oilers, after years of basement dwelling finally break out in 16-17 earning their first home ice advantage in a playoff round with 103 points. Everyone thinks they have finally arrived lead by Hart Trophy winning Connor McDavid, but their goaltending/special teams cratered and they easily missed the playoffs with only 78 points. If Hitch can deliver at a 79 point over 65 game pace (he's only got 62 to work with), it would put Edmonton at about 94 points which may be enough in the weak Pacific to get in.

This season 94 would certainly get you 3rd in pacific. I would say guaranteed. At a minimum 88pts might get there but probably 90. Pacific is that bad. Would be surprised if anybody hits 100.

 

[McGoMcD]

The Oilers will ride the McDavid-Drai train until Pulju, Yamamoto, Benson, Bouchard, Maksimov, Jones, etc are ready and that's okay.

Way too much confidence is those guys and it is not ok. Mcdavid is the best player in the world. You dont' make him wait a few years for some backup.

 

[CornKicker]

This season 94 would certainly get you 3rd in pacific. I would say guaranteed. At a minimum 88pts might get there but probably 90. Pacific is that bad. Would be surprised if anybody hits 100.

the oilers have 24-25ish games left vs the pacific, if they win 75% of those playoffs are pretty much guaranteed.

 

[Canovin]

Way too much confidence is those guys and it is not ok. Mcdavid is the best player in the world. You dont' make him wait a few years for some backup.

Bouchard, Benson, Pulju, Jones and Yamamoto are a year away.

McDavid is smart enough to understand that his contract will affect teams league wide. Teams will only get weaker simply the cost of extending their star players went up to a premium. Things will balance out

 

[McFlash97]

The dude sounds cocky as hell. Saying it took him 8 or 9 days to fix the St.Louis blues and he could do the same thing here no problem. Gotta admire that confident leadership, even if he falls on his face, its a good way to make your bench feel good when you have that kind of attitude.

The Oilers roster is not that horrible when the bottom guys play with no fear and just murder the other team in the corners. A top loaded line with Mcdavid can get most of your offense and the grinders can keep the other team hemmed into the other zone for long stretches.

The big problem with this team is the defense completely sucks. Benning should be playing beer league hockey, i hope Hitch does not fall in love with the guy like Todd did.

Benning was his usual self, out of position , falling all over the ice , one led to a clear cut breakaway. Hitch is way to smart and has probably figured him out.

 

[Oilhawks]

Apparently he was taking courses on player psychology after he was let go from Dallas or something

Hitchcock is truly one of the greatest (regardless of what happens from here on out). The man is 66 and has the third most wins in the NHL and still knows he has things to learn and ways to grow as a professional and a human being. I got the vibe from McLellan that he felt he had learned everything there was to know about coaching.

 

[CornKicker]

Benning was his usual self, out of position , falling all over the ice , one led to a clear cut breakaway. Hitch is way to smart and has probably figured him out.

hopefully hitch takes the key mistakes he made, identifies them clearly, offers an option to correct and benning becomes a solid 5-6. if he doesnt hitch will not have the patience for long to allow the same mistakes to keep happening.