Post-Game Talk: Oilers Lose to Preds 2-0, Haven't Scored in Years

[TheNuge]

Reinhart is much more ready than Nurse.

Nurse is physically ready and much more mobile... he's like the Mcdavid of defenseman at skating on the Oil.

 

[Panda Bear]

Nurse is physically ready and much more mobile... he's like the Mcdavid of defenseman at skating on the Oil.

So what? Nurse doesn't play a smart game yet, and his reads all over the ice aren't as good. In other words, he isn't mentally ready.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Nurse is physically ready and much more mobile... he's like the Mcdavid of defenseman at skating on the Oil.

Reinhart is also physically ready and better at defense

 

[Replacement*]

Damn Pittsburgh has scored 1 goal in 2 games with Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Hornqvist and Perron on the roster. So sad those guys have thrown away the season.

Not really a good example. That club is textbook underachieving and perennially. When Crosbys career is said and done he'll have a footnote of one SC and the rest of the time not even close. That team doesn't work hard enough. Its a team reliant on generational stars who are burned out hauling the wagon around. That's a club with TWO generational talents that have squandered them.

If I'm a Pens fan I'm wondering what they've done with some of the best players in hockey and why they squandered it.

 

[Replacement*]

Can someone really explain to me what Rob Klinkhammer brings to this team?

I said it many times before Glencross was a better fit and actually scores the odd goal (14 goals last year vs. 3 for Klink).

But noooo .... we score too many goals as is, right? We don't need to extra offence.

Bleh. Put back Gazdic at least.

Yeah. Klink and Korpse are quintessential fill players that do next to nothing. At least Korpi is good on the pk. There is that. I'm still not sure what Klink does.

Good teams don't have a lot of players like this that are so obviously limited.

 

[Replacement*]

The game was over and Todd wanted to get the young man some experience, I had no issue with that. What I did take issue with was Ference in for Reinhart.

Ference in for Reinhart. Klink in for Gazdik, starting the game with lines that could only be described as curious. The Oilers getting a good chance in the first but for some reason coach put Korpi on a line with McDavid who of course feeds him stuff he can't finish..
Then Mclellan even acknowledges Yak was a better combo with McDavid something I've been calling for since we drafted McDavid. Not too curiously that pair looked dangerous.

Combine that with the 3week fiction project of Hall/McDavid pairing which I called out as soon as it happened saying "What chemistry"

Mclellan is a good teacher, something needed here, and he has sound schemes that can work, and he's a respected veteran coach. But frankly his line configs, matching, and game management is sub Nelson to this point. I'll wait for continued returns but people should be a bit leery about how many mistakes this guy is already making here.
Compound this with the team obviously already missing Gordon and being junk on faceoffs thus far.


On a positive note Talbot has been brilliant. But we're wasting some outstanding goaltending.

 

[Tyrolean]

When the Oilers net is empty, why is McDavid taking faceoffs? He is by far our worse faceoff man, and that is poor coaching to have him taking draws at critical moments. Bring back Todd Nelson, a smarter coach.

Bring back Boyd Gordon (kidding). Only Letestu can win faceoffs consistently. Oilers are much worst this year in that regard.

 

[zar]

Some good posts here and some others jumping the gun on the poor start. We have to give this coaching staff some time to get their systems implemented.

I don't think many of us are surprised with the Oil coming out of the first 2 games with 0 points but I think none of us expected the Oilers to basically be shut out in both of those games.

The Good

• Talbot has played great and has given the Oilers every chance to play in both games played.
• Klefbom looks like he is continuing his development in the right direction.
• Schultz looks much better... much, much better.
• Gryba looks like the perfect 3rd pairing Dman.
• Nuge has looked strong.

The Bad

• Purcell is too slow and has no purpose on this team... I would gladly give Slepyshev his ice-time.
• Ference has expired. I would rather see Davidson or Reinhart get that valuable ice-time. I can accept rookies making the mistakes Andrew makes.

General Observations

• More work required on the PP. Slepyshev has a great shot, yet he doesn't see one second of PP time against the Preds?? He needs to play with RNH or McDavid on the PP.
• The Oilers continue to get manhandled and don't finish with the body on the forecheck.
• McDavid needs to be given the green light to be selfish... he is falling into the Oiler trap of thinking pass before shoot. He also needs to work on his FO skills, 5/22... ouch.

 

[KCC]

Nurse is physically ready and much more mobile... he's like the Mcdavid of defenseman at skating on the Oil.

Rienhart is just as physically ready and while he's not as mobile, he's a stay at home defenseman who can actually play defense. Nurse is scrambly and keeps trying to do too much. Similar to Subban when he first started. Though to be honest, Subban continues to do it and make dumb plays, but I guess when you're paying someone 10 million dollars a year (or whatever ridiculous amount he's getting), you're going to have to keep playing him.

My point is, he needs to tone down his game and learn to pick his spots better. Reinhart is a steady, stay at home defenseman and he's ready.

 

[The Nuge]

Nurse is physically ready and much more mobile... he's like the Mcdavid of defenseman at skating on the Oil.

It doesn't matter how physically ready he is. He needs some time to adjust to the pro game. We don't want him to come into a bad situation

 

[Topkatz]

I am completely flummoxed by the reaction here. Two games in and people are at the edge of the cliff. They played two of the possibly 4 worse match-ups for them in the whole league, LA and Anaheim being the other two, on the road, missing Eberle, with a new system and a bunch of new players. And yet they pretty much held their own or had the better of the play for the majority the games. Goaltending looks a lot better, the team defense looks night and day better than at the same time last year.

I just don't get it.

Seriously, look at what the teams who have played the Oilers have been saying.

They are saying we look better. More solid, better team play and compete level etc. Some Oilers fans seem to think that it's always the pretty plays that win hockey games. It's not. It's the hard work that the entire team brings and I've seen a change in how we do things in the game.

But still this is gonna take time and people are going to have to adapt.

 

[Topkatz]

Mclellan is a good teacher, something needed here, and he has sound schemes that can work, and he's a respected veteran coach. But frankly his line configs, matching, and game management is sub Nelson to this point. I'll wait for continued returns but people should be a bit leery about how many mistakes this guy is already making here.

He's just come in to a brand new team he had no experience coaching or being involved with on an organisational basis. He is trying to work this team out as much as the players are the coaching.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Not really a good example. That club is textbook underachieving and perennially. When Crosbys career is said and done he'll have a footnote of one SC and the rest of the time not even close. That team doesn't work hard enough. Its a team reliant on generational stars who are burned out hauling the wagon around. That's a club with TWO generational talents that have squandered them.

If I'm a Pens fan I'm wondering what they've done with some of the best players in hockey and why they squandered it.

Pretty good examle to me. Only difference is pens were not scoring against much weaker opponents which should be concerning.

 

[LTIR]

We need Lander on top PP unit.. dont need skill need brains.. Swap Schultz with Klefbom as well on PP...

 

[McJeety McJeet]

They need the PP to get going, otherwise they are going to have trouble scoring 2 or more goals a night.

This team is going to struggle to score 5-on-5 I think.

You're probably right on the 5 on 5. They're still too soft on the boards to grind out goals. Their bread and butter should be scoring off the rush but they look slow (besides McDavid and Nuge) coming through the neutral zone. Although that might be because after playing no one in the preseason they started off with two of the best defensive teams in hockey, on the road.

I'm as tired of excuses on this board as anyone but I saw enough to be hopeful for this season. Defense looks better than expected and goalie outperforming expectations.

 

[Replacement*]

He's just come in to a brand new team he had no experience coaching or being involved with on an organisational basis. He is trying to work this team out as much as the players are the coaching.

Not sure how that post is deserving of dismissal considering your reply is vague.

What exactly are you trying to state in the awkwardly worded sentence above. What does that even mean?

 

[Replacement*]

Pretty good examle to me. Only difference is pens were not scoring against much weaker opponents which should be concerning.

I think whats concerning is several WC clubs know how to put an effective wall up. We play in the WC. If anything its indicative that teams like Pittsburgh have difficulty with some of what Oiler fans consider the lesser WC clubs.

The reality is we are that club. Free bingo spot on the calendar that teams expect to take 2 pts from.

This is how teams consider us until we show otherwise.

 

[Tekneek]

[*]McDavid needs to be given the green light to be selfish... he is falling into the Oiler trap of thinking pass before shoot. He also needs to work on his FO skills, 5/22... ouch.
[/LIST]

Does any 18 year old come into the league and find much success on face-offs, especially this early? The veterans out there know who the kids are and expose them often. That, like everything else, is going to take time.

 

[dustrock]

Love everyone double-guessing the coaching staff after 2 games. This place is insufferable sometimes.

 

[Replacement*]

Love everyone double-guessing the coaching staff after 2 games. This place is insufferable sometimes.

Or its just discussion.

One would think comments like "this place is insufferable sometimes" is equally insufferable, depending on ones perspective.

I don't generally make comments like that, just responding in kind as modeling.

The board would be better if there wasn't hundreds of examples in these threads of people castigating and ridiculing others views. jmo

 

[Frank the Tank]

Not really a good example. That club is textbook underachieving and perennially. When Crosbys career is said and done he'll have a footnote of one SC and the rest of the time not even close. That team doesn't work hard enough. Its a team reliant on generational stars who are burned out hauling the wagon around. That's a club with TWO generational talents that have squandered them.

If I'm a Pens fan I'm wondering what they've done with some of the best players in hockey and why they squandered it.

I think the Penguins are a good example because, like the Oilers, the Penguins have a defensive unit (outside of Letang) that struggles to move the puck to their skilled forwards. In the modern NHL if your defense cannot break the team out of their own zone quickly and effectively, then your forwards are always matched-up against a ready defense.

 

[Mr Positive]

I think the Penguins are a good example because, like the Oilers, the Penguins have a defensive unit (outside of Letang) that struggles to move the puck to their skilled forwards. In the modern NHL if your defense cannot break the team out of their own zone quickly and effectively, then your forwards are always matched-up against a ready defense.

imo we are a bit underrated in this regard though. So far we've been bad at this, but for instance a guy like Sekera is known to be very, very good at this and he's been bad in this small sample size so far. Also Klefbom has been better before. So with at least Schultz, Klefbom, and Sekera being Dmen who should be at least average at moving the puck up, but imo are above average, we will see the team get a lot smoother.

 

[Narnia]

Can't understate how little development this team had over the last 2 years. Even the time with Nelson was just spent trying to get players heads back to where they were around the 12/13 season. No one on our team really learned anything the last 2 seasons, all they got was someone telling them to do the opposite of what their instincts were telling them was right.

If this team was properly managed the last 2 years, we would be much further along in the development of guys like Hall/Nuge/Ebs, but it just did not happen that way. Thanks to Nelson we are at least kind of back to where we were when we finished the 12/13 season. We have some extra awesome young players added to the mix, but they don't really have a clue yet either about what it takes to win in the NHL. Gonna have to keep waiting a bit longer until they all figure it out together with the help of an experienced coach staff. At the very least, I think we can be confident now that it will happen in time.

Just goes to show how much idiot Eakins damaged the team.

 

[Narnia]

Can someone really explain to me what Rob Klinkhammer brings to this team?

I said it many times before Glencross was a better fit and actually scores the odd goal (14 goals last year vs. 3 for Klink).

But noooo .... we score too many goals as is, right? We don't need to extra offence.

Bleh. Put back Gazdic at least.

Glencross is overrated on this board. Glencross isn't as good as he used to be and is injury prone and an attitude problem. Glencross whined in Calgary when he didn't get the icetime. Can we please stop with the Glencross crap already.

 

[Narnia]

What does Kink bring? Well, obviously a cool sounding name!

Aside from that, yeah, dime a dozen 4th liner.

Another question should be what does Glencross bring besides having a bad attitude and injury prone?