Salary Cap: Oilers line combos for the 18/19 season your predictions

[La Bamba]

He’s done nothing but exceed expectations every year.

I wouldn't be surprised if he finishes the year as the #4D. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

What I expect for the forwards...

RNH-McDavid-Caggiula
Rieder-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Lucic-Strome-Kassian
Upshall-Brodziak-Khaira

With the RW continuely rotating... Honestly I don't mind Caggiula playing the garbageman role with McDavid and RNH.


Though personally I'm still liking the idea of Strome on RW to cover up the lack of depth there...

RNH-McDavid-Strome
Rieder-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Lucic-Khaira-Kassian
Upshall-Brodziak-Caggiula/Aberg

I know people will think this is robbing Pete to pay Paul and dislike the idea of Khaira in the #3 spot, but keep in mind...

• The rest of the line up can easily shelter the third line's matchups.
• He's got 2 established vets on his wings.
• Having him there let's you create a pure "grind/cycle line", and helps the bottom 6 establish a little identify.

As for the defence...

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russell
Garrison/Jarabek/Bear/Benning/Gravel

I think the top 4 is more or less locked in with Sekera's, and it's going to be an open competition for the 3rd pairing among 5 or 6 guys. Plus Bouchard, Jones or even Lagesson could also force their way into the conversation.

 

[FlameChampion]

If JP and Yamamoto have a good year then the Oilers wingers are actually pretty good.

But if JP and Yamamoto arent ready than the Oilers wingers are awful.

I really hope the lines are something like:

RNH - McDavid - JP/Yama
Rieder - Drai - JP/Yama
Lucic - Strome - Khaira/Cagguila/Upshall
Khaira/Cagguila/Upshall - Brodziak - Kassian
Extra: Rattie, Aberg

Opening night will probably be more like:

RNH - McDavid - Rattie
Lucic - Drai - Rieder/Yama
Rieder - Strome - JP
Cagguila/Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian/Upshall/Cagguila

As for the defense
Klefbom/Nurse - Larrson
Russell - Benning
Klefbom/Nurse - Bouchard
Extra: Jerabek, Gravel

I wouldnt be surprised if Bouchard makes the team. Whether or not he should is another question. Guess we will see what he looks like in preseason. If he shows he can run a PP, I think he will be too hard to pass up.

 

[fireantz]

If JP and Yamamoto have a good year then the Oilers wingers are actually pretty good.

But if JP and Yamamoto arent ready than the Oilers wingers are awful.

I really hope the lines are something like:

RNH - McDavid - JP/Yama
Rieder - Drai - JP/Yama
Lucic - Strome - Khaira/Cagguila/Upshall
Khaira/Cagguila/Upshall - Brodziak - Kassian
Extra: Rattie, Aberg

Opening night will probably be more like:

RNH - McDavid - Rattie
Lucic - Drai - Rieder/Yama
Rieder - Strome - JP
Cagguila/Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian/Upshall/Cagguila

As for the defense
Klefbom/Nurse - Larrson
Russell - Benning
Klefbom/Nurse - Bouchard
Extra: Jerabek, Gravel

I wouldnt be surprised if Bouchard makes the team. Whether or not he should is another question. Guess we will see what he looks like in preseason. If he shows he can run a PP, I think he will be too hard to pass up.

The only winger who exceeded expectations last season was Khaira. Everyone is pigeon holding him at 4LW Am I the only one who sees him with Drai unless Lucic has a complete turnaround

 

[t0nedeff]

If the Oilers are good to start the year I see Lucic being way more invested this year than he was last and maybe he realizes just through the criticism this summer that he needs to be more involved in the game. He doesn't have to be scoring to be a factor in a game he could still play that Tom Wilson role this year but not as dirty he has that physicality but he chose to use in like 10 percent of last year.

 

[AM]

If we get scored on first, likely everybody's line combinations will be tried in the first period of the first game....

Just saying.

 

[FlameChampion]

The only winger who exceeded expectations last season was Khaira. Everyone is pigeon holding him at 4LW Am I the only one who sees him with Drai unless Lucic has a complete turnaround

Probably a miss on my part but I agree. Khaira was great last year, especially in the second half of the season. I think hes more of a 3LW. Unfortunately for him, I think Lucic and Cagguila (who the coaches seem to love) are probably going to push him down.

 

[Da McBomb]

I am very much looking forward to seeing the battle for McDavid's RW spot.

 

[fireantz]

I am very much looking forward to seeing the battle for McDavid's RW spot.

History has shown most wingers can have success with McD. I am much more concerned (interested) in seeing who can rise up and make the Drai line more consistently dangerous

 

[PinSeeker]

@fireantz agreed. Little concern who ends up with Connor, a lot of curiosity about 2-4 RW. Yam/Pul/Rieder will be an important storyline to follow in camp.

 

[Fourier]

Yamamoto did well against preseason competition but did not do well against true nhlers in actual game time. Puliarvi also did well in preseason but was significantly better in real nhl time.

I didn't think he looked all that bad but he seemed to lose a bit of confidence when the bounces did not go his way. In my mind I seem to remember him generating a fair number of chances but with little puck luck. Then I looked at the stats and saw that if you believe in this stuff his rate of iHDCF was the highest on the team. He had 15 iHDCF attempts in 120.5m minutes. That's 7.47 /60 which is ridiculous rate, though of course on a small sample size. In fact he had the highest rate in the league ahead of McDavid who was second. He also led the league in rebounds created /60 which means that his shots were not just nothing burgers.

Again, these are smallish sample sizes but it does show that he was not simply skating around and doing nothing.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Yamamoto is an elite talent. I also agree that I think he was a little unlucky as well in not getting a few more points in his 9 game stint.

Saying that... the fact that he had a tough start offensively to his career and nothing came easy... should be even more incentive for him to work his butt off and come in with something to prove... knowing that it's not an easy step up to the NHL level.

I think he likely does well in camp but probably starts in the AHL, then gets called up when the first sign of struggles occur on the team at RW as he has speed and skill and that's what the team lacks in general.

 

[McIce Whole]

It’s kind of funny to think that if Yamo and Pulju take the next step forward in their development, our offence goes from trash to very good.

Nuge Mcdavid Yamo
Rieder Drai Pulju

Would be a fun top 6 to watch. Bottom 6 would have a good mixture of grit and skill with Lucic, Strome, Khaira, Kassian, Brodziak, Upshall, Caggiula and Aberg.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

The only winger who exceeded expectations last season was Khaira. Everyone is pigeon holding him at 4LW Am I the only one who sees him with Drai unless Lucic has a complete turnaround

I have him as their 3LW, with Rieder on the right side and Lucic as their 2LW.

 

[GMofOilers]

I don’t think Nuge and McDavid end up playing together that much this year.

Just don’t see it working

 

[McNuge]

I don’t think Nuge and McDavid end up playing together that much this year.

Just don’t see it working

What makes you say that? I think their skills match up perfectly.

 

[GMofOilers]

What makes you say that? I think their skills match up perfectly.

Not me at all.

 

[McNuge]

Not me at all.

For what reason? I think Nuge has the second best IQ on the team after McDavid. He is not a play driver, he is a very good complimentary player. Positionally very sound. He has skill and can shoot the puck accurately. Doesn't have blazing speed but McDavid plays best with positionally sound players. I don;t think they will be as good as McDrai but that's because Drai is just a better player.

 

[PinSeeker]

Not me at all.

Yeah I too am curious about why you think that?

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Not me at all.

What makes you say that?

 

[shoop]

Nuge Mcdavid Yamo
Rieder Drai Pulju

Rieder was brought in as a RW.

If Yamamoto and Puljujarvi miraculously win the 1RW and 2RW jobs then Rieder will be 3RW, not any kind of LW.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Rieder was brought in as a RW.

If Yamamoto and Puljujarvi miraculously win the 1RW and 2RW jobs then Rieder will be 3RW, not any kind of LW.

Except he plays left wing quite well as well. If Lucic struggles why force him Rieder down to 3rw?
Nuge - McDavid - Yama
Rieder - Drai - Pulju
Lucic - Strome - Aberg
Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian

Could make shit tons of sense.

It doesn't really matter what Rieder was "brought in as" McLellan and co will use him where the see him as a best fit.

 

[shoop]

Except he plays left wing quite well as well. If Lucic struggles why force him Rieder down to 3rw?
Nuge - McDavid - Yama
Rieder - Drai - Pulju
Lucic - Strome - Aberg
Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian

Could make **** tons of sense.

Rieder doesn't play left wing quite as well as he plays the right side. He is here to rebuild his career. A player trying to build positive momentum in his career is going to be a top 6 player on his off wing for only a bad team.

If Yamamoto and Puljujarvi force their way into the top 6 so be it. Sadly, I don't see that as realistic.

 

[Aerrol]

For what reason? I think Nuge has the second best IQ on the team after McDavid. He is not a play driver, he is a very good complimentary player. Positionally very sound. He has skill and can shoot the puck accurately. Doesn't have blazing speed but McDavid plays best with positionally sound players. I don;t think they will be as good as McDrai but that's because Drai is just a better player.

Also it should be mentioned that although it's a fairly small sample size, Nuge has also in the past shown he plays very well with speedy highly skilled players: on team NA at the world cup his pairing with MacKinnon rivaled McDavid-Matthews in effectiveness. After seeing how good Nuge was at that tournament and then how meh he was for us immediately after, I've been wondering what changed so much. Seems like it might be the lack of that highly skilled speed player to work off of. Hope it's the case, anyways.

 

[McNuge]

Also it should be mentioned that although it's a fairly small sample size, Nuge has also in the past shown he plays very well with speedy highly skilled players: on team NA at the world cup his pairing with MacKinnon rivaled McDavid-Matthews in effectiveness. After seeing how good Nuge was at that tournament and then how meh he was for us immediately after, I've been wondering what changed so much. Seems like it might be the lack of that highly skilled speed player to work off of. Hope it's the case, anyways.

I think the biggest problem with Nuge is that he can't drive the play himself all that well because he isn't all that quick, he is shifty but not very fast. Hockey sense, IQ, defensive awareness, shot, accuracy, vision are all great. Having him with McDavid where he is the more defensive C of the 2 will do wonders for that line IMO. I wouldn't be shocked if he broke 70 this year, and would be pretty disappointed if he didn't hit 60 in a full season.