Oilers' Defence Set Up to Fail Again?

[Larry Fisher]

There is a general sense of optimism about the Edmonton Oilers' defence being improved, but I took a devil's-advocate look at whether it is set up to fail again? It's a long read but hopefully a good one. Feedback welcome. http://thehockeywriters.com/oilers-defence-set-up-to-fail-again/

Click to read more...

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Fail handsomely.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

I repectfully disagree.

The defense last year was beyond awful. The only way to go now is up. I think it's going to take more than one offseason to fix the mess on the backend. Any notable improvement in defense this year would be a success IMO.

 

[Belieber]

All depends on Davidson and Nurse. Desperately need one of them to be a number 4 and I don't think Nurse is anywhere near ready for that and should start in the AHL so to me the only way our defence will be acceptable is if Davidson can be a second pair guy or if Fayne has an amazing summer and comes into camp so improved it blows our minds. And then on top of that Klef has to be healthy all year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It probably is but I'm not sure what else could be done at this point. Fixing the worst defense in the league is likely a task too great for anyone and especially with no Doughty or Keith on the horizon.

 

[Paralyzer]

Larry, normally I would agree with some things you say but I don't think you have it right that you can't trade a player after arbitration. That's if a player accepts an Offer-sheet and either team signs him, THEN he can't be traded for a year. Here is a link I found inside HFBoards:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1924713

There are no restrictions on trading arbitration players before or after the arbitration.

Some semi-related restrictions that do exist:
- Teams matching an offer sheet can't trade that player for a calendar year.
- When a team trades away a player while retaining salary that team cannot reacquire that player for a calendar year.
- A team cannot acquire a player with another team retaining salary if that player was on the acquiring team's Reserve List within the past calendar year.

 

[Oil Gauge]

I think the same thug rings true through tour lineup, if they can stay relatively healthy they will be successful.

 

[Soundwave]

Well I mean what do you want to do? Trade Connor McDavid for Drew Doughty so you can feel better about the defence?

Everyone said we needed to pick defencemen in the 1st round ... well now we've effectively used *four* 1st round picks on d-men (a position that's only 6 deep) -- Adam Larsson (Taylor Hall 1st overall 2010), Darnell Nurse (7th overall), Oscar Klefbom (19th overall in 2011?), and Griffin Reinhart (no.4 overall in 2012, basically traded a mid 1st for him).

Develop the ****ing D, that's how every team does it, from what I've seen very few if no teams have a good defence on the basis of trades/UFA signings.

There are no short cuts here, we have the talent on the back end, now we need to develop it, no whining or crying about it. There's no Aaron Ekblad 1st overall pick coming to bail us out, we've had more than enough good fortune and luck, it's now time to actually do something and develop players properly.

 

[Aerchon]

Too long and too much wrong with that article.

You obviously know nothing and want to nothing about Larsson. Putting him clearly below the names you did is just wrong.

There is no way to know if this group will finally show improvement. Chemistry, injuries, and development being wild cards.

But on paper this is a much improved defensive group.

Sekera is clearly a 2/3 on almost any playoff team. Saying he is a 4/5 is disgusting.

Larsson is at least a #3 on most teams right now and there are indications he will be much better moving forward.

Fayne, while he had an off year is a perfectly acceptable #4 on paper and finished the year playing like that as well.

Klefbom is a wild card being young and oft injured but his small stint before he got injured was extremely impressive. I expect he should be able to handle top 4 quality of competition as well.

Then you break out Davidson, Nurse, Reinhart, and Osterle... that is fantastic depth.

It's not a defense group that will rack up goals or dominate in the west but it is a solid group from top to bottom that should be able to get the puck moving the right direction consistently. Far more than any group the Oilers have iced in a long time.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

I don't agree with what you wrote, but if your goal was to write an article with the intention of drumming up some controversy and getting some attention, I think you succeeded.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

All depends on Davidson and Nurse. Desperately need one of them to be a number 4 and I don't think Nurse is anywhere near ready for that and should start in the AHL so to me the only way our defence will be acceptable is if Davidson can be a second pair guy or if Fayne has an amazing summer and comes into camp so improved it blows our minds. And then on top of that Klef has to be healthy all year.

I think Klefbom is the key to a successful season..if he's 100% and plays like he did last year, it'll do wonders to shore up the defense
healthy Klefbom + Larrson + better Davidson + more mature, stronger Nurse should help the defense

 

[Canovin]

It's July.

For all we know we could very well trade McDavid and bolster up our defense for years too come

 

[McTrashBoat]

Maybe the D struggles this year, but collectively they're set to break out any time now

It's not like this is the last year we have to make a run or something

 

[Larry Fisher]

Appreciate the feedback everybody. I don't personally, necessarily, agree with everything I wrote, I was just playing devil's advocate and noting that as optimistic as most fans are about the Oilers' defence, there is still lots of potential for failure.

Larsson = Too much pressure
Klefbom = Returning from injury/prone to injury
Sekera = Aging, average
Davidson = Unproven, returning from injury
Fayne = Coming off bad year, no guarantee of bounce back, could regress further
Nurse = Still green/growing, potential for sophomore slump
Oesterle = Unproven, might be force-fed a role he's not ready for (Schultz 2.0)
Reinhart = Skating holding him back, confidence likely low

Devil's advocate. Some of those factors could prevent the Oilers from making much/any headway and the missing link remains a puck-moving, power-play quarterback with a blast from the point. That was the main weakness going into the offseason and it looks like it'll be the main weakness going into next season as well. The group, as a whole, "should" be improved from last season and if they stay healthy, the Oilers should be a better team in terms of results. If McDavid can stay healthy and if Talbot can maintain his post-Christmas, world-championship form, that should overshadow any lingering defensive shortcomings and Edmonton should compete for a playoff spot or at least play meaningful hockey games into March for the first time in a long time.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

You can look at any blue line in the league and "play devils advocate" what if this guy gets injured, what if this guy regresses, what if this guy falls off a cliff, it's all a game of what if's.

 

[McTrashBoat]

You can look at any blue line in the league and "play devils advocate" what if this guy gets injured, what if this guy regresses, what if this guy falls off a cliff, it's all a game of what if's.

Imagine if Doughty or Karlsson went down

*whistle*

 

[nabob]

You can look at any blue line in the league and "play devils advocate" what if this guy gets injured, what if this guy regresses, what if this guy falls off a cliff, it's all a game of what if's.

I agree. Always taking the devils advocate positions and running with it is the lazy to write and article or post on a message board. By doing that the poster never had to actually prove anything and can continuously move the goal posts when his narrative gets shot full of holes.

 

[Kestrel]

I agree. Always taking the devils advocate positions and running with it is the lazy to write and article or post on a message board. By doing that the poster never had to actually prove anything and can continuously move the goal posts when his narrative gets shot full of holes.

That's kind of harsh. Unless you think this writer always does that, that comment is kind of uncalled for. Devil's advocate definitely has a place. Disagreeing and giving reasonable criticism is one thing, and I'm sure he welcomes that. But turning to insults, ie suggesting he is a lazy writer, is one of this board's downfalls.

 

[Aerchon]

That's kind of harsh. Unless you think this writer always does that, that comment is kind of uncalled for. Devil's advocate definitely has a place. Disagreeing and giving reasonable criticism is one thing, and I'm sure he welcomes that. But turning to insults, ie suggesting he is a lazy writer, is one of this board's downfalls.

The writer is not playing devils advocate throughout his article. He does some of that and on top goes full ridiculous negative.

Criminaly under rates pretty much everyone across the board.

As others have said. If you applied his thinking to any team they would look terrible. Doughty would be a mid pairing guy with this kind of assessment.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Imagine if Doughty or Karlsson went down

*whistle*

Didn't the Sens make the playoffs despite Karlsson being injured a few years ago?

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell the Oilers D remains healthy. Someone will get hurt for an extended period of time and Klefbom is likely the guy.

 

[NoShowWilly]

if Klefbom Larsson and Sekera are fairly healthy then i think you guys will be fine.

 

[McTrashBoat]

Didn't the Sens make the playoffs despite Karlsson being injured a few years ago?

In the lockout season

with Bishop being their worst Goalie, still sporting a .922sv%, Lehner a .936, and Anderson a .941.

That might have helped

 

[Mr Positive]

Our D took a very reasonable step forward, and a meaningful one. We honestly could not have expected much more than this. The Larsson trade was that huge.

The defense will be improved. The only issue is how much it was changed. I don't think the minimum standard for fans to be happy is the cup. We want to be fighting for a playoff spot, even if we don't make it.

 

[walktheboulavard]

I think Klefbom is the key to a successful season..if he's 100% and plays like he did last year, it'll do wonders to shore up the defense
healthy Klefbom + Larrson + better Davidson + more mature, stronger Nurse should help the defense

I agree with this. fingers crossed Klef stays reasonably healthy through out the year. I think specially the younger guys in Griff and Nurse should improve enough to make our D better. https://www.instagram.com/p/BH0CDUkDvM_/?taken-by=joshwrobelhky Nurse specifically has improved every year since being drafted. All signs point to him continuing that trend.

 

[nabob]

That's kind of harsh. Unless you think this writer always does that, that comment is kind of uncalled for. Devil's advocate definitely has a place. Disagreeing and giving reasonable criticism is one thing, and I'm sure he welcomes that. But turning to insults, ie suggesting he is a lazy writer, is one of this board's downfalls.

I was speaking more in general terms, which might apply to certain posters here more than the writer/OP, which in my opinion is the biggest downfall of this board.

I do think that his piece is over the top negative and questionable.