Post-Game Talk: Oilers lose the game, lose a body, nothing has changed

[blupye*]

I was watching the Detroit St.Louis game the other night. During a stoppage in play, the camera panned to a press-box. Inside the press-box was Chiarelli talking to the Blues GM. Shattenkirk?

 

[Beerfish]

Klefbom
RNH
McDavid
Davidson

tough to win when your top 2 centers are out, your top pairing d-man is out and a good young player like Davidson is out

why can't these injuries come to our scrub players? no luck in that department

goal for the last 33 games: get to .500...it's a daunting task but McDavid is back Feb 2nd, hopefully Klef and Davidson are back then too...and maybe RNH by the beginning of March

A few years back the Sens lost their #1 center (Spezza) their #1 goalie (anderson) and their #1 norris winning dman (Karlsson) for the year and they made the playoffs.

Yes that is an exception but almost every excuse we use for the oilers gets blown out of the water and one time or another. This team was struggling when all the players you mentioned were healthy.

 

[I am the Liquor]

I've posted this before, but we are getting screwed by the economics of the league.

1. The no-trade and no-movement clauses reduce the pool players we can acquire.
This is true.
2. Edmonton isn't a premier destination for players or their families. "Trade me to EMND please!" said no one ever.
Ryan Smyth
3. There seem to be unwritten rules among GM's about sending valuable dmen to non-play-off teams. The good teams trade with each other almost exclusively.
Seth Jones
4. Free agency for dmen is non-existent. They are underpaid as a group, so teams always resign them rather than risking going without. IE, we can't even get decent UFA dmen.
Sheldon Souray
5. We've drafted BPA forever in round 1, foregoing the 1st round defensemen that other teams have slowly accumulated. We are empty on the farm.
David Musil

IMO, the ONLY way out is to convert the high end forwards into dmen. Or to offer sheet an RFA dman. My plan: offer sheet Seth Jones. Then trade Ebs for another good dman.

Offer sheets generally dont work out. At least not for us.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

A few years back the Sens lost their #1 center (Spezza) their #1 goalie (anderson) and their #1 norris winning dman (Karlsson) for the year and they made the playoffs.

Yes that is an exception but almost every excuse we use for the oilers gets blown out of the water and one time or another. This team was struggling when all the players you mentioned were healthy.

Sens are a lot deeper, the Oilers are not...the Oilers can't afford to be missing two top 4 d-men and two top 6 centres

you say they're getting blown out yet they've played 11 straight 1-goal games

 

[Musashi]

Solid effort from the boys but unfortunately the game never felt in reach. Good to see that we have improved in every outing against the Stars this year.

 

[Stoneman89]

I was watching the Detroit St.Louis game the other night. During a stoppage in play, the camera panned to a press-box. Inside the press-box was Chiarelli talking to the Blues GM. Shattenkirk?

I'll bet conversations like this happen between GMs nearly every game or close to it. Not to mention phone calls and faxes. Not saying it would never happen, but I wouldn't read too much into it. It's just Chia and the Blues GM doing their jobs and due diligence.

 

[Stoneman89]

Just checked: last year the Oilers had their first regulation losses by an average of 2.5 goals. This year it's down to 1.9. If we factored in empty net goals, that number would be even lower and the change even more significant. This is with the man-games lost having skyrocketed this year. So the team is definitely heading in the right direction, even if we're tired of saying that.

Not doubting your other comments, but are you saying there were no empty net goals against us last year?

 

[ChaoticOrange]

I was watching the Detroit St.Louis game the other night. During a stoppage in play, the camera panned to a press-box. Inside the press-box was Chiarelli talking to the Blues GM. Shattenkirk?

Who knows. GM's talk to each other for lots of reasons. He was definitely there at that game, and the Blues have a ton of 'Chiarelli' type players.

 

[Young Lions*]

A few years back the Sens lost their #1 center (Spezza) their #1 goalie (anderson) and their #1 norris winning dman (Karlsson) for the year and they made the playoffs.

Yes that is an exception but almost every excuse we use for the oilers gets blown out of the water and one time or another.

So: you cherry pick an example, admit that it's an exception and then proceed to ignore that fact to make some kind of point about...something. It's not really clear.

The Oilers are a team with some flaws, particularly on D. Those flaws have been amplified by overlapping injuries to key contributors. Those aren't excuses: they're reasons.

This team was struggling when all the players you mentioned were healthy.

All of those guys were healthy for, what, 12 games at the start of the year?

 

[McBeastMode]

Guess who..again...

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Guess who..again...

Did you notice after this play that they pulled Jultz off the ice and sent out gryba to pair with Nurse for the draw at center ice. That's a bit of a message although I don't think Jultz has any capability to respond to it. I'm sure Mclellan would like to fire Jultz out of a cannon into the sun at this point...

 

[488fitter]

Guess who..again...

I look forward to the day he is no longer an Oiler.

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

I look forward to the day he is no longer an Oiler.

Remember on Oilers Now when Bob was saying we needed to be patient the way we were with Paul Coffey........pretty ridiculous in hindsight

 

[McCrumb]

I think we need anther three or four years of lottery picks so we can rebuild the defense through the draft since nobody wants to trade Nuge or Eberle.

This. I have always thought that Edmonton knows how to do nothing but sacrifice entire years to fill one piece of their lineup. Rinse and repeat every year. The sad part is that the resulting bounty of the sacrifice has only worked out a couple of times. This is going to be the longest rebuild in the history of professional sports if it does indeed have an ending.

 

[NewBoysClub97*]

Schultz with the little tap of the puck to Drai right there in the slot with the Stars all over.

This idiot has zero hockey IQ. Just an absolute train wreck imbecile on the ice. He is just disgustingly bad and stupid. How he faces his teammates day to day is beyond me. I would feel like sh**

 

[Del Preston]

Guess who..again...

He's a complete idiot.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Remember on Oilers Now when Bob was saying we needed to be patient the way we were with Paul Coffey........pretty ridiculous in hindsight

How long did we wait to trade Paul coffey?

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

How long did we wait to trade Paul coffey?

....We waited till he priced himself out of the market, apparently we couldn't afford him. Come to think of it Jultz has kind of done the same thing in a loser kind of way. He is being paid way more then he is worth so there is no point in qualifying him. I guess they do kind of have one thing in common...

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

what was Jultz thinking with that pass? even if he puts it on Drai's tape, he probably gets hit hard or the puck knocked off his blade

what a dummy...hammer it into the corner

 

[McAsuno]

Guess who..again...

Didn't watch the game but why am I not surprised good ol Schultz was the prime reason that goal happened. To call Justin Schultz a dman is a slap to the face to real NHL D men.

 

[McFlyingV]

what was Jultz thinking with that pass? even if he puts it on Drai's tape, he probably gets hit hard or the puck knocked off his blade

what a dummy...hammer it into the corner

He literally could have just played it up the left boards and out. There was no one there. He has god awful hockey sense, especially in the D zone.

 

[McAsuno]

He literally could have just played it up the left boards and out. There was no one there. He has god awful hockey sense, especially in the D zone.

Made the same damn mistake in the panthers game by passing it right to the middle and he did it again this game. His hockey IQ is just laughable. Can't wait until Schultz is no longer an oiler.

 

[McBeastMode]

Another brilliant play..but I know TMac doesn't have too many options...