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

[McFlash97]

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.

Hitch's leeway is probably 1 or 2 games and your out. Can't wait ! filter the garbage asap.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

i mean....they looked exactly the same......but better lines.

 

[North]

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

That look said who the f*** thought this guy is an NHL defenseman.

 

[The Nuge]

I can see the league changing the OT again at some point with the way those two are crushing the league. Teams can’t contain Connor with 5 guys. How are they supposed to do it with 3? It’s basically at the point you’re expecting a goal the moment they take the ice for 3 on 3.

There's a ton of value in having a line that can wear down the opposition like we saw Brodziak's do last night. Lil ground and pound then whammy McDavid kills your tired D.

Ya everyone talks about speed and skill, but you can’t win without those guys who play physical. If they’re fast as well, great, but you need those guys going in hard to rush the defense into making mistakes. Especially in the Pacific

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.

Awesome post. I agree 100%. The coach shouldn’t care what a player is paid. Looch isn’t here to float around and make plays. He’s here to crash and bang, and drive the net. Put him in a position to do that, and hopefully the points follow. Last year, the harder he tried to put up points, the more he struggled. Keep it simple and do what you’re effective at.

 

[CornKicker]

I can see the league changing the OT again at some point with the way those two are crushing the league. Teams can’t contain Connor with 5 guys. How are they supposed to do it with 3? It’s basically at the point you’re expecting a goal the moment they take the ice for 3 on 3.



Ya everyone talks about speed and skill, but you can’t win without those guys who play physical. If they’re fast as well, great, but you need those guys going in hard to rush the defense into making mistakes. Especially in the Pacific



Awesome post. I agree 100%. The coach shouldn’t care what a player is paid. Looch isn’t here to float around and make plays. He’s here to crash and bang, and drive the net. Put him in a position to do that, and hopefully the points follow. Last year, the harder he tried to put up points, the more he struggled. Keep it simple and do what you’re effective at.

its an issue at every level of hockey, when teams get down a good team/coach will harp to keep doing the right things. players feel like they are "trying to win" but it becomes detrimental to the overall success of the team. overworking kills the team effort. hitch said as much last night. he recognizes it and is already addressing it

 

[Louis Cypher]

The mood on this board changes direction as fast as RNH.

 

[yababy]

Cause he runs his lines based on contracts and salaries it seems lol.

Hitchcock don't care.

because McLellan was hired by Chiarelli who signed Lucic.
Hitchcock was hired above Chiarelli and is not accountable to the GM

 

[CycloneSweep]

because McLellan was hired by Chiarelli who signed Lucic.
Hitchcock was hired above Chiarelli and is not accountable to the GM

Hitchcock has never cared

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

Hitchcock probably also wants the day to settle himself in with the assistants, learn more about the players, watch video himself and kind of create a plan now that he has seen the players. He probably has a very full day already

You are probably quite correct there.
I'm sure they will have a full day on Thursday with the players.

 

[rboomercat90]

Like a Spooner-McD-Drai line? I dont think so. The whole point of Caggiula on the first is to do a lot of the grinding/muck work so Drai and McD can do their thing. As Caggiula said in an interview "I know McDavid can do those things but why should he? That's my job"

I dont really see Spooner as that kind of player

Cagguila has proven to be the perfect compliment to that line because he’s always working his ass off and doing something out there. It was stupid for Mclellan to take him off that line when Rattie came back. What had Rattie done to permanently earn that spot? Todd did a lot of dumb things here that were costing the team wins. Had he not done that one he’d probably still be coaching the team. There’s no reason right now to replace Cagguila with Spooner.

 

[rboomercat90]

My question would be do you really think the Oilers compare to that Blues team that he fixed?

I see way more problems with this roster. I guess Mcdavid and Draisaitl could override a lot of weaknesses but that Blues team was very good.

I've made the comparison before that our team is built closer to the Columbus Blue Jackets during Hitchcock's tenure than it does any of his Stars or Blues rosters. Not that it's his fault. It's all dumb dumb upstairs.

Rick Nash at 23 as his "superstar", Zherdev as his complementary scorer at 22, only one defencemen with supposed offence (Klefbom) with Hainsey at around 34ish points, which he played around during his time there.

Even looking at the goaltending situation. Pascal Leclaire at a .919 and Fredrik Norrena at .896. Splitted 54/37 for that tandem. Our goalies? Koskinen at .913 and Talbot at .888.

It was an older, underachieving team that didn't compliment the star players, which is pretty similar to our team, just differing in age. He didn't have a McDavid though. But one player isn't a team as we've seen. So we'll see what he can do with this roster that we've all, at one point, called a pile of horse **** outside of McDavid.

Mclellan made the rest of the roster into a pile of shit because he couldn’t figure out how to use anybody. I’m not saying this is an elite team but in no way do I think they're as bad as Mclellan made them look. Finally having a competent coach who is smart enough to figure out where and how to use players is going to make these guys look a lot better than they have. Way too early to judge exactly what they are.

 

[TheNumber4]

Yes, he’s been inconsistent this year. Spotty D zone coverage at times, lazy penalties at others. Yet he’s also been very good some games. That’s the definition of inconsistent.

I got the impression you meant the dman in general not just this year. But regardless even if it was this year, I don’t agree with your eye test,

 

[Cloned]

I got the impression you meant the dman in general not just this year. But regardless even if it was this year, I don’t agree with your eye test,

I don’t see how anyone could say Larsson has been consistently good this year.

 

[rboomercat90]

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.
.

They scored five goals in the first period against Vegas. They’re figuring things out down there. I think they’re pretty solid. I say that as an Oilers fan who will always despise that team.

 

[rboomercat90]

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.

Last night must have really sucked for guys like you.

 

[Faelko]

Heard Bear got banged up again last night.

And some of the people that follow the team say he hasn’t been all that “good” this year.

 

[Faelko]

Most of the media from what I have seen have backed McLellan. At least the reporters who interview the team.

Spector will go to his grave defending McLellan

 

[LaGu]

I don’t see how anyone could say Larsson has been consistently good this year.

I can.

Just watched the 3rd of this one and have missed the last 5-6 games though... But outside of that he's been solid imo.

Funny reading reviews looking only at 3rd + OT, apart from McD + Drai being awesome I'd say 1st pair D good (no serious misstakes despite being out a lot), 2nd pair decent, 3rd pair meh (couple of give aways in own zone). Also Karlsson easily the most dangerous Shark together with Kane. I'll see if I manage to get around watching the first 2 periods tomorrow (probably won't).


Ah, almost forgot the last bit. I know I've brought it up before and it was dismissed, but regarding Larsson I still would raise a finger of caution. OEL came out this summer about the impact of his mother's passing away had on him and his game a full year after she passed. Saying he went up and down all through 17/18 and found it hard to be consistent due to mind wandering a lot. As I said I haven't really seen that much inconsistency from Lars but it is something to bear in mind.

He is on pace for 30+ pts though

 

[McGoMcD]

Last night must have really sucked for guys like you.

No, I love watching McDavid and Drai light it up. But still this team needs more than that.

 

[McOvechking]

Glad to hear all the positive vibes around here. I watched the Sportsnet highlight package of the game, and it looked like a solid victory.

My biggest takeaway was how many times Benning made a brutal play that costed or nearly costed the team. I wonder how long Hitch keeps him in the lineup for. I'd really like to see Bear get some NHL time again this year.

 

[McGoMcD]

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

I think you are making way too many assumptions there. First of all none of those guys are sure bets. I am sure a couple will be solid next year, but none of them appear to be huge difference makes in a year. Second McDavid might get that, but it means very little. He is not waiting for other teams to get worse, He wants to win now. you think a guy who put up back to back Hart worthy years is willing to wait for contracts to inflate????? I guarantee he will be very pissed if we miss the playoffs.

 

[Canovin]

I think you are making way too many assumptions there. First of all none of those guys are sure bets. I am sure a couple will be solid next year, but none of them appear to be huge difference makes in a year. Second McDavid might get that, but it means very little. He is not waiting for other teams to get worse, He wants to win now. you think a guy who put up back to back Hart worthy years is willing to wait for contracts to inflate????? I guarantee he will be very pissed if we miss the playoffs.

Assumptions or not, we don't have much to work with other than hope for internal growth from those prospects. We are one of those teams that don't need those players to be big difference makers. What we can expect are role/complimentary players. Guys who are on ELCs who can chip in while McDavid, Drai and RNH do all the heavy lifting.

 

[North]

Cagguila has proven to be the perfect compliment to that line because he’s always working his ass off and doing something out there. It was stupid for Mclellan to take him off that line when Rattie came back. What had Rattie done to permanently earn that spot? Todd did a lot of dumb things here that were costing the team wins. Had he not done that one he’d probably still be coaching the team. There’s no reason right now to replace Cagguila with Spooner.

Todd had a habit of doing stupid things after wins. He sat Benning a game or two and the team won and instead of going back to the same line up, he reinserted Benning.

He was the master of fixing what wasn't broken.

 

[North]

And some of the people that follow the team say he hasn’t been all that “good” this year.

Someone mentioned he has a shoulder injury that has impacted his ability to score goals. Just sit him out until he's completely healthy. It doesn't help to play him through injuries.

 

[rboomercat90]

Todd had a habit of doing stupid things after wins. He sat Benning a game or two and the team won and instead of going back to the same line up, he reinserted Benning.

He was the master of fixing what wasn't broken.

That was the most head shaking thing about him. He was unwilling to change the things that weren’t working and too willing to change the things that were. Been said a lot but it’s almost like he was trying to lose.