Oilers Outsider: Opening Week Offers Optimism

[Larry Fisher]

I’m debuting a new column called Oilers Outsider in which I’ll be elaborating on my Twitter thoughts while sharing insight and analysis on all things Oilers. Here’s my look back on the first week of the season: https://thehockeywriters.com/oilers-outsider-opening-week-offers-optimism/

Your feedback is welcomed and appreciated, as always.

Click to read more...

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Nice article Larry

 

[Todd from Leduc]

Great article Larry. Some might criticize you for being too critical but if this team is going to make it to the finals and win the Cup this season like many are saying, they need journalists like you keeping them honest.

Right now with this squad playing 100 hockey and at the top of the standings I think there is a lot of optimism but I think we need at least 5-10 games before we start claiming the western conference.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Great article Larry. Some might criticize you for being too critical but if this team is going to make it to the finals and win the Cup this season like many are saying, they need journalists like you keeping them honest.

Right now with this squad playing 100 hockey and at the top of the standings I think there is a lot of optimism but I think we need at least 5-10 games before we start claiming the western conference.

Very true. I think this road trip will be telling. The Islanders play very structured, so there won’t be as many opportunities off the rush as there were against Vancouver and Los Angeles. They will need some sustained O-zone time and need to manufacture some scoring chances (as Stauffer likes to say). The Rangers, Devils and Blackhawks were all non-playoff teams last season — like the Oilers — and are all believed to be much improved with playoff aspirations this season. Those will be tough tests regardless of what last season’s standings suggest.

I had the Devils and Blackhawks in my playoff picture from the preseason predictions, so those two matchups are especially intriguing to me. For the record, I didn’t have the Oilers as a playoff team — I had them finishing near the bottom again, with another top-10 pick — but I saw enough encouraging signs in those first two games to start being skeptical of my prediction.

I plan on writing another column following the road trip or perhaps in the meantime. Stay tuned and thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[Larry Fisher]

I have since added a section on Neal and the power play that might be of interest.

 

[Bones2079]

Great read! Look forward to more.

 

[thadd]

Not bad.
Doesn't come across as being too positive or negative and does a pretty good job of highlighting what Oil fans are really eyeballing right now.
I think it's a pretty good read for people who don't often watch the Oil games but what to know what the state of their team is right now.
You could have spent more time talking about how the team and fanbase has no clue what they're going to get out of their blueline this year with or without Larsson on the shelf but past that I think you covered all of the bases.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Not bad.
Doesn't come across as being too positive or negative and does a pretty good job of highlighting what Oil fans are really eyeballing right now.
I think it's a pretty good read for people who don't often watch the Oil games but what to know what the state of their team is right now.
You could have spent more time talking about how the team and fanbase has no clue what they're going to get out of their blueline this year with or without Larsson on the shelf but past that I think you covered all of the bases.

Thanks and you are right, a section on the defence situation would have been warranted. I did tweet lots about that but forgot to include those thoughts in this column. I might hold off until after the road trip for my next column or I might come back with another following tomorrow's game. I'll see how that game goes and how many talking points I can pull out of it. Stay tuned!

 

[RegDunlop]

Nice read!

 

[Tobias Kahun]

As per usual with you.

Great read.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Thanks all, I have shied away from covering the Oilers' beat because I don't live in Edmonton or attend many Oilers games anymore — I only missed one in the 2006 playoff run (commuting from Lloydminster) — but I'll do my best to add some insight from afar this season. Nice to hear the debut of Oilers Outsider has been well received here!

 

[thadd]

Thanks and you are right, a section on the defence situation would have been warranted. I did tweet lots about that but forgot to include those thoughts in this column. I might hold off until after the road trip for my next column or I might come back with another following tomorrow's game. I'll see how that game goes and how many talking points I can pull out of it. Stay tuned!

Yeah, that's cool, but TBH if you do it that way you really shouldn't be showing Oil fans what you're writing because you're just writing what we already know.

The things we don't know right now are what kind of growing pains we're going to experience with Persson and and Bear playing on our top 2 pairings given their lack of NHL experience.

Edmonton has had Benning for a few years, but he's proven to be cancer when playing any more than 3rd pairing minutes.

If you PVR'd the two recent Oil games there's a story about the upside and risk to Bear playing top 4 minutes so far and since I don't hear many Oil fans flaming or praising him I'm under the impression that everyone is waiting to see whether or not he can make the adjustments needed to make it on one of our top 2 pairings while Larsson is out.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Yeah, that's cool, but TBH if you do it that way you really shouldn't be showing Oil fans what you're writing because you're just writing what we already know.

The things we don't know right now are what kind of growing pains we're going to experience with Persson and and Bear playing on our top 2 pairings given their lack of NHL experience.

Edmonton has had Benning for a few years, but he's proven to be cancer when playing any more than 3rd pairing minutes.

If you PVR'd the two recent Oil games there's a story about the upside and risk to Bear playing top 4 minutes so far and since I don't hear many Oil fans flaming or praising him I'm under the impression that everyone is waiting to see whether or not he can make the adjustments needed to make it on one of our top 2 pairings while Larsson is out.

Yeah, I think the defence as a whole is a wait and see on the right side. This road trip should shed a little more light on how Bear and Persson will hold up, but it's impossible to answer that growing pains question right now. We are all anticipating those pains and some mistakes, but we'll see how they work through those struggles and whether they continue to make the same mistakes. If not, the Oilers should be fine even with their relative lack of experience on the back end. That's a time will tell topic, not one that I'm comfortable weighing in on without a bigger sample size, but it will obviously be a key to the bigger picture this season.

I do hope to share some unique opinions/insights beyond what everyone is already thinking/talking about. If you go back and read my preseason preview published prior to training camp, I like to think I had a few solid points in there that nobody else was talking about at the time — such as Jurco as a top-six candidate.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Jurco on the second line and the imports paired together for tonight’s game. Tippett must have read my debut Oilers Outsider column yesterday. Beginner’s luck?

Well, I would have lost my little bet on Smith keeping the net ... so that just goes to show I’m not in the know, though I did speculate that Koskinen would be motivated to make his season debut against his former team.