News Article: Oilers ranked 5th for best offseason

[McDoused]

You might want to go and rewatch the Avs and Knights series and see how badly Nurse and Ceci got caved in those series.

If you're happy with just getting to a 2nd/3rd round sure, but clearly these two don't have it when it comes to being in a best of 7 series against an actual high end team where they can't hide.

It's clear those types of teams take that pairing to school. I guess as long as the Oilers never have to play a team with any higher end forwards (MacKinnon, Eichel, even a Marchessault) Nurse-Ceci can be fine, but that's not gonna happen through 4 rounds of playoffs.

So your solution is to to trade both Nurse and Ceci?

Yeah okay.

Nurse is a good defenceman. Our systems were exposed and something they desperately need to figure out but you arent going to go out and replace Nurse with anyone better.

 

[Broberg Speed]

So your solution is to to trade both Nurse and Ceci?

Yeah okay.

Nurse is a good defenceman. Our systems were exposed and something they desperately need to figure out but you arent going to go out and replace Nurse with anyone better.

What system makes Nurse lay down on the ice, imobile for the most part, when the forwards he's supposed to be covering are not lying down on the ice, and completely mobile?

 

[Drivesaitl]

I agree. I also just dont think theres a real upgrade out there from what we have heard. Pesce is obvious but who knows if he wants to be here and Carolina still hasnt traded him. Other than that, I dont know. It would be more lateral moves.

Full year of Ekholm/Bouchard should help. Kulak will be playing 3rd pairing. Just gives the team more time to assess if Ceci rebounds and if Broberg/Desharnais take steps. Team should be fine for the regular season. Can always upgrade at the trade deadline.

Not sure if the regular season is going to be just easy. One can never know that and presume the team will be healthy. One thing for sure the team will be older than average, and we got a bit older.

We're unlikely to get another career year out of Nuge. Or Hyman. We may have seen the best of Kane has left already. I could see Drai being somewhat disaffected at constant failure to advance in playoffs. We still have huge goalie question marks and now a much weaker bottomsix.

While I think the team should be OK in regular season you just never know. The team was all in last season and expended a ton of energy on that. I can't think that just flipping the switch and having the same intensity as last season just goes on forever. Add to that this team has less physicality with Kostin and Bjugstad gone and Kane having suffered an injury that probably impacts his physicality as well. Hopefully Nurse adds some of the pounds he lost and comes in stronger. We'll need every bit of it.

Teams can just decide to push us around this season if they want to.

 

[Soundwave]

So your solution is to to trade both Nurse and Ceci?

Yeah okay.

Nurse is a good defenceman. Our systems were exposed and something they desperately need to figure out but you arent going to go out and replace Nurse with anyone better.

Well we're stuck with Nurse, so that leaves Ceci as the one that has to go.

If I'm Colorado or Vegas or any good team I would literally have the entire team sit down and have a full video session on Nurse + Ceci alone if I was going into a playoff series against the Oilers. That may be harsh, but don't think opponents are going to take it easy on us.

If we are going to make their lives hard with McDavid/Drai killing them on the PP, they in turn are going to zero in on the Cody Cecis of the world and try to extract as much payback as they can on that end.

If we want to win a Cup we have to eliminate these weak links that good teams are zeroing in on and taking advantage of.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

TSN has Edmonton ranked as having the 5th best offseason as well... 5th best offseason of the Canadian teams

Way more credible hockey minds in this review than the digital writer. Now in fairness there is some unknown X factor with Holloway whose history has shown big jumps in second years within new leagues and competition level. Lavoie with size and offensive skills is a second X factor. Both are cheap pedigree entry level contracts.

Though this team needs a bottom six 3/4 centre with hard, greasy game who can complement McLeod still in his own development growth to be a consistent two-way centreman with some offensive support scoring ability. Need a strong, sandpaper two way game from Brown, a $4 million amortized pick-up, gunning for career production and ideally great PK work to attack the team weakness of goal suppression.

Won't be a finished roster to start the season. This season's trade deadline though might be the biggest, most important of the franchise.

 

[FlameChampion]

Not sure if the regular season is going to be just easy. One can never know that and presume the team will be healthy. One thing for sure the team will be older than average, and we got a bit older.

We're unlikely to get another career year out of Nuge. Or Hyman. We may have seen the best of Kane has left already. I could see Drai being somewhat disaffected at constant failure to advance in playoffs. We still have huge goalie question marks and now a much weaker bottomsix.

While I think the team should be OK in regular season you just never know. The team was all in last season and expended a ton of energy on that. I can't think that just flipping the switch and having the same intensity as last season just goes on forever. Add to that this team has less physicality with Kostin and Bjugstad gone and Kane having suffered an injury that probably impacts his physicality as well. Hopefully Nurse adds some of the pounds he lost and comes in stronger. We'll need every bit of it.

Teams can just decide to push us around this season if they want to.

I do agree with majority of points.

I was talking more from defensive side. Even though I would of liked an upgrade on Ceci, I am not sure what the realistic upgrade is. Its just hard in general to get RD.

I honestly hope this team is ready to start the season this year. Last year, they werent committed to playing defensively. They hung Campbell out to dry and didnt even let him settle coming into a new team. And then he wasnt able to ever recover. I am not absolving his season (it wasnt good) but the team infront him didnt help his transition. I hope we see Campbell return to more of his NHL career average but I'm not personally counting on it.

I watched the all Oilers goals summary on youtube yesterday. The amount of times that McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH and Hyman were mentioned was absurd. I do agree that getting RNH and Hyman from last year is unlikely. Will be interesting to see how Kane plays this year. Was a terrible injury and he wasnt the same player in the playoffs (which shouldnt be a surprise considering his injury), but I fear that his best days are behind him after that injury (and a power forward getting older).

I dont love the bottom 6 at the moment. I hope theres another player coming in after Bouchard gets signed. Once again, its not the end of the world, but I would prefer to see a more balanced roster and McDavid and Draisaitl not playing 25minutes a game in the regular season because we are desperate to win a regular season game.

I do hope we see more maturity from the group this year. They need to start on time. They need to not give away so many easy goals. Need to get the entire roster engaged at the beginning of the year, so hopefully we arent overplaying guys trying to get into the playoffs. We also need to see some of the young guys take more of a step (Holloway and Broberg in particular) and a coaching staff that actually gives them some rope and puts them in a position to succeed.

 

[duul]

I do agree with majority of points.

I was talking more from defensive side. Even though I would of liked an upgrade on Ceci, I am not sure what the realistic upgrade is. Its just hard in general to get RD.

I honestly hope this team is ready to start the season this year. Last year, they werent committed to playing defensively. They hung Campbell out to dry and didnt even let him settle coming into a new team. And then he wasnt able to ever recover. I am not absolving his season (it wasnt good) but the team infront him didnt help his transition. I hope we see Campbell return to more of his NHL career average but I'm not personally counting on it.

I watched the all Oilers goals summary on youtube yesterday. The amount of times that McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH and Hyman were mentioned was absurd. I do agree that getting RNH and Hyman from last year is unlikely. Will be interesting to see how Kane plays this year. Was a terrible injury and he wasnt the same player in the playoffs (which shouldnt be a surprise considering his injury), but I fear that his best days are behind him after that injury (and a power forward getting older).

I dont love the bottom 6 at the moment. I hope theres another player coming in after Bouchard gets signed. Once again, its not the end of the world, but I would prefer to see a more balanced roster and McDavid and Draisaitl not playing 25minutes a game in the regular season because we are desperate to win a regular season game.

I do hope we see more maturity from the group this year. They need to start on time. They need to not give away so many easy goals. Need to get the entire roster engaged at the beginning of the year, so hopefully we arent overplaying guys trying to get into the playoffs. We also need to see some of the young guys take more of a step (Holloway and Broberg in particular) and a coaching staff that actually gives them some rope and puts them in a position to succeed.

Hyman is another guy who is hampered by injuries now heading into his thirties. Plays a game where he will only be effective if he can continue to use every ounce of strength in his body to get to the net. Type of player who will fizzle out real quickly if he loses even half a step. Him and Kane both are high risk in this way. Opposite of cerebral.

There are many concerns I'm having with this group. Our secondary players had some real bad injuries or were invisible at evens. How many of these injuries can pile up before Hyman and Kane, who are not fast players as it is, lose a bit more of it and that's the end?

Hyman at 80+ and RNH at 100+ are fantasies in my opinion. I expect we lose a combined 50 points there alone.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Hyman is another guy who is hampered by injuries now heading into his thirties. Plays a game where he will only be effective if he can continue to use every ounce of strength in his body to get to the net. Type of player who will fizzle out real quickly if he loses even half a step. Him and Kane both are high risk in this way. Opposite of cerebral.

There are many concerns I'm having with this group. Our secondary players had some real bad injuries or were invisible at evens. How many of these injuries can pile up before Hyman and Kane, who are not fast players as it is, lose a bit more of it and that's the end?

Hyman at 80+ and RNH at 100+ are fantasies in my opinion. I expect we lose a combined 50 points there alone.

Yep. We have multiple older players going into this season that are coming back from injuries. Hyman, Kane, Brown to name a few. They all have to have big seasons. Drai too has been experiencing years of being somewhat hampered at times. You wonder if it completely goes away.

In anycase Kane won't be fighting now or shouldn't be with what he had. The team lost other physical players. I think the team is much less physical this season.

There is likely to be huge regression in Hyman and nuge production. I think we'll also see less PP's this season and we lost some players that do draw penalties. I think the NHL through scouting may scheme our PP a bit better. its unlikely to find the same success on that unit.

Bottomsix Ryan is really old and has had increasing instances of getting banged up. Holloway showed that he wasn't surviving getting pummeled as well as he would when not playing against NHL level of physicality. He got banged up multiple times. now theres not even a player like Kostin to protect him back there. McLeod is soft, Foegele indifferent. I think its pipe dreams too for people to suggest Lavoie or other prospects are just going to slot in and play regular minutes. That just doesn't happen with this coaching staff.

 

[duul]

Yep. We have multiple older players going into this season that are coming back from injuries. Hyman, Kane, Brown to name a few. They all have to have big seasons. Drai too has been experiencing years of being somewhat hampered at times. You wonder if it completely goes away.

In anycase Kane won't be fighting now or shouldn't be with what he had. The team lost other physical players. I think the team is much less physical this season.

There is likely to be huge regression in Hyman and nuge production. I think we'll also see less PP's this season and we lost some players that do draw penalties. I think the NHL through scouting may scheme our PP a bit better. its unlikely to find the same success on that unit.

Bottomsix Ryan is really old and has had increasing instances of getting banged up. Holloway showed that he wasn't surviving getting pummeled as well as he would when not playing against NHL level of physicality. He got banged up multiple times. now theres not even a player like Kostin to protect him back there. McLeod is soft, Foegele indifferent. I think its pipe dreams too for people to suggest Lavoie or other prospects are just going to slot in and play regular minutes. That just doesn't happen with this coaching staff.

It feels like this is a post-cup group who is about to start grasping at straws trying to claw their way bcak into the dance each year, however we haven't won ours. The exception being Ovi, who funnily enough always had a club built like ours and Vancouvers, lucking into one pretty late into his career. Every other team with stars like ours won in their early 20's with a solid group of young high octane studs.

The fact we don't already have a Cup is troubling. It only gets harder from here, not easier. Guys start to inevitably slow down. The peak has been passed from the way I see it.

I admit I can be drastic at times, but how could you see it any different? Everything went right for us last year and it wasn't really close to enough. Thoroughly outplayed by Vegas and would've been outplayed by a good number of teams. L.A. was difficult enough and just got better too for my money.

The issue is always going to be that our entire bottom 6 are all fourth liners on any contending club, or healthy scratched. Kessel goes out there in the regular season and puts up a great year and is healthy scratched all playoffs because he can't play a physical enough brand of hockey for the Knights, who come at you in waves of overwhelming pressure. People saying we held up our end of the physicality in that series are out to lunch. Bunch of perimeter players in our group while in our zone everything was to the inside.

Team is simply constructed poorly. Way too many glaring holes and players who do not play in a manner that is effective anymore. Seeing guys like Bjugstad and Kostin rifling pucks and crashing the net was a sight for sore eyes. Janmark was injured but I think he does a good job of holding onto the puck and going to the net too. I have time for him.

Aside from him, what's going on in the bottom 6 this year? McLeod, Foegele, Ryan -- none of those guys are ever taking a puck to the net with determination. They're button hooking ad infinitum and generating no real threats. Analytics darlings I suppose but none of those button hooks ever lead to anything of note once the opposition gets into position. We usually see a nice light wrister from the outside hash marks or an off-angle chip shot from Foegele or Ryan. Just a joke really. People continually cite that line DOMINATING 5 on 5, but they got outscored. The chances for / chances against metric is obviously broken for a line that plays in that way. Keep in mind this is supposed to be a line that is playing significant minutes and helping win us games. Ultimately the games are won and lost with these bottom 6 guys, they're far more volatile than the best on best the other half of the game.

I mean, their third line as Bill Karlsson putting up 11 goals by himself. Amadio with 5. Smith with 4.

Our entire third line put up 3 goals combined. We're talking about McLeod like he is an acceptable third liner when he doubtfully touches the ice on the contenders, maybe as a 4th line PK guy like Carrier? We can't begin to compare him to Nicolas Roy that's for sure.

Fact of the matter is depth has and always will be the bane of this club until we make some smart trades and picks. Vegas put on a masterclass in this way. They have a ton of players we've barely heard of coming in and schooling us. They all buy into the right way to play hockey for playoff success, that's for sure. I will continue saying this til the cows come home, this group has way too many soft perimeter players to ever make it work when the going gets tough. Vegas demands intensity and physicality and courage from every player in every position in their team. Their best players lead the way even through physicality and aggression. Not the case here unfortunately. We are more like the Canucks with the Sedins leading with cerebral play. Maybe that's why you see our third liners trying to play fancy like them. Dunno...

 

[Soundwave]

It feels like this is a post-cup group who is about to start grasping at straws trying to claw their way bcak into the dance each year, however we haven't won ours. The exception being Ovi, who funnily enough always had a club built like ours and Vancouvers, lucking into one pretty late into his career. Every other team with stars like ours won in their early 20's with a solid group of young high octane studs.

The fact we don't already have a Cup is troubling. It only gets harder from here, not easier. Guys start to inevitably slow down. The peak has been passed from the way I see it.

I admit I can be drastic at times, but how could you see it any different? Everything went right for us last year and it wasn't really close to enough. Thoroughly outplayed by Vegas and would've been outplayed by a good number of teams. L.A. was difficult enough and just got better too for my money.

The issue is always going to be that our entire bottom 6 are all fourth liners on any contending club, or healthy scratched. Kessel goes out there in the regular season and puts up a great year and is healthy scratched all playoffs because he can't play a physical enough brand of hockey for the Knights, who come at you in waves of overwhelming pressure. People saying we held up our end of the physicality in that series are out to lunch. Bunch of perimeter players in our group while in our zone everything was to the inside.

Team is simply constructed poorly. Way too many glaring holes and players who do not play in a manner that is effective anymore. Seeing guys like Bjugstad and Kostin rifling pucks and crashing the net was a sight for sore eyes. Janmark was injured but I think he does a good job of holding onto the puck and going to the net too. I have time for him.

Aside from him, what's going on in the bottom 6 this year? McLeod, Foegele, Ryan -- none of those guys are ever taking a puck to the net with determination. They're button hooking ad infinitum and generating no real threats. Analytics darlings I suppose but none of those button hooks ever lead to anything of note once the opposition gets into position. We usually see a nice light wrister from the outside hash marks or an off-angle chip shot from Foegele or Ryan. Just a joke really. People continually cite that line DOMINATING 5 on 5, but they got outscored. The chances for / chances against metric is obviously broken for a line that plays in that way. Keep in mind this is supposed to be a line that is playing significant minutes and helping win us games. Ultimately the games are won and lost with these bottom 6 guys, they're far more volatile than the best on best the other half of the game.

I mean, their third line as Bill Karlsson putting up 11 goals by himself. Amadio with 5. Smith with 4.

Our entire third line put up 3 goals combined. We're talking about McLeod like he is an acceptable third liner when he doubtfully touches the ice on the contenders, maybe as a 4th line PK guy like Carrier? We can't begin to compare him to Nicolas Roy that's for sure.

Fact of the matter is depth has and always will be the bane of this club until we make some smart trades and picks. Vegas put on a masterclass in this way. They have a ton of players we've barely heard of coming in and schooling us. They all buy into the right way to play hockey for playoff success, that's for sure. I will continue saying this til the cows come home, this group has way too many soft perimeter players to ever make it work when the going gets tough. Vegas demands intensity and physicality and courage from every player in every position in their team. Their best players lead the way even through physicality and aggression. Not the case here unfortunately. We are more like the Canucks with the Sedins leading with cerebral play. Maybe that's why you see our third liners trying to play fancy like them. Dunno...

Depth is a factor but the fact is if you trade the Oilers back end for the ones Vegas or Colorado had (back end meaning goalie inclusive) the Oilers win a Cup.

Either spend what it takes to get a big impact D or goalie or well you don't really need a Cup because clearly you're not willing to do what needs to be done to get one.

 

[Broberg Speed]

I do agree with majority of points.

I was talking more from defensive side. Even though I would of liked an upgrade on Ceci, I am not sure what the realistic upgrade is. Its just hard in general to get RD.

I honestly hope this team is ready to start the season this year. Last year, they werent committed to playing defensively. They hung Campbell out to dry and didnt even let him settle coming into a new team. And then he wasnt able to ever recover. I am not absolving his season (it wasnt good) but the team infront him didnt help his transition. I hope we see Campbell return to more of his NHL career average but I'm not personally counting on it.

I watched the all Oilers goals summary on youtube yesterday. The amount of times that McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH and Hyman were mentioned was absurd. I do agree that getting RNH and Hyman from last year is unlikely. Will be interesting to see how Kane plays this year. Was a terrible injury and he wasnt the same player in the playoffs (which shouldnt be a surprise considering his injury), but I fear that his best days are behind him after that injury (and a power forward getting older).

I dont love the bottom 6 at the moment. I hope theres another player coming in after Bouchard gets signed. Once again, its not the end of the world, but I would prefer to see a more balanced roster and McDavid and Draisaitl not playing 25minutes a game in the regular season because we are desperate to win a regular season game.

I do hope we see more maturity from the group this year. They need to start on time. They need to not give away so many easy goals. Need to get the entire roster engaged at the beginning of the year, so hopefully we arent overplaying guys trying to get into the playoffs. We also need to see some of the young guys take more of a step (Holloway and Broberg in particular) and a coaching staff that actually gives them some rope and puts them in a position to succeed.

It's frustrating. The Oilers' system is screwed up and the Oilers' players are screwed up. We don't really know what we have unless the system is fixed and the bad habits of the players are rectified. We don't know how good the goaltending can be with better defensive coverage and a better goaltending coach.

The scapegoat is Campbell, and how emotionally insecure he is. Maybe, I don't know. I read that somewhere, probably from some fool that covers the Maple Leafs. That in itself leads me to believe it's at least partially bullshit, and we get fed enough of that from our local bullshit artists in the media.

What I do know is the Oilers play a horrible system of defense and our defenders have formed some really bad habits... and the club still doesn't have a credible third-line center. Sorry McLeod fans, heck no. And Campbell's mechanics were way off last season. His strengths became his weaknesses. Who was in charge of correcting that? The team psychologist or Dustin Schwartz? And I'll tell posters straight up I believe Campbell will be the Oilers starter this upcoming season. Not Skinner. Wow. I don't imagine too many will agree with that one but that's my instinct.

I think the biggest improvement to the club could come in the form of someone on the coaching staff manning up and telling Nurse "you are not performing some of the basic fundamentals correctly, some aspects of your game are completely unsound, maybe you're not as smart as you think you are, get your ass in gear you make over 9M per year".

The interview Nurse did with Luke Gazdic set me off. Nurse is talking about coverage and which leg to load up... why didn't Gazdic ask "what do you like to pretend to be the most, an auxiliary goaltender or a starfish?" "Why don't you spend more time in front of your own net, reducing goals against by staying on your feet?"

How much better could the team be if Nurse stayed on his feet vs how much better could the team be if the Oilers were playing a zone defense and Nurse wan't chasing the wrong man all over the rink... or any of the other defensemen gravitating towards mystery coverage?

Hockey is all about positioning in the defensive zone and the Oilers, and as it seems to me, are doubly f***ed. Atrocious positioning and bewildering habits from the players, and not just from the defesemen.

I'm 100% convinced the Oilers have to bring in an additional coach to teach a zone defence and they need a bunch of trainers to drill the basic fundamentals into every defenseman we have except Ekholm. And do the same for the centers... and the wingers.

And here's a hot take exclusive, the Oilers need to stop drafting from CHL clubs that don't coach compatible systems to the NHL. If the Oilers can't break these players of bad habits just stop drafting from clubs that don't teach strong fundamentals and don't coach systems that are readily translatable to the NHL game.

And there are a lot of these clubs in junior. The good drafting teams stay away from them. Maybe it doesn't matter so much if a player can skate really fast or play 30 minutes a game at a lower level playing on a club with a junk system that won't translate to the NHL.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Kostin has become the most overrated player on this site in some time.

He really has.

Also counting bjugstads 17 goals is laughable. He didn’t have that many as an oiler, not even close

 

[MoneyGuy]

Can't read any of the garbage because its Athletic paywall nonsense but did Dum actually state that?

Yeah, damn those companies trying to make a profit…you know, like corporations do.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah, damn those companies trying to make a profit…you know, like corporations do.

meh. When I walk into a Walmart or Superstore its because I need something. The Athletic provide misinformation, dumb commentary, people like Dom, and really little worth reading. What a business model.

I'm not convinced that the Athletic has been such a great investment either, but its the NY times so I'm kind of laughing that their investment is bleeding money.

New York Times to shutter sports desk, rely on The Athletic for daily coverage

The New York Times said Monday it will close its sports department, which has produced Pulitzer Prize winners and legendary columnists, and turn to The Athletic for daily coverage. The move comes a…

nypost.com

The athletic saying they will somehow turn a profit by 2025. They've been saying that for decades.

 

[Juxta Position]

Using the above.

The current manager is responsible only for the one value contract, the Nuge contract.

The current manager is responsible for the 3 worst overpays Nurse, Campbell, Foegele.

I think to properly evaluate Hollands impact on cap you don't include the two best contract values, McDrai, that he didn't sign.

So that the calculation then looks like a 1M saving on Nuge and spending 5 million too much on the other 3.

Regardless of who's responsible, this is where the current team is sitting. but to add, the current manager is responsible for the Hyman, and Kane contracts which are bargains relative to production as well.

2 out of the 4 80+ point players the Oilers had last season were Holland deals. in the current market, even when those deals were signed, the going rate for 80+ point players was 7-9 million. Holland got them both for just over 10 mil.

Rip him all you want on the Nurse and Campbell deals but that's an over pay by 5 mil for both, the Hyman, Nuge and Kane deals more than balance that out.

If the right amount of money is being spent (which it is) who cares how it is allocated? If Leon was making 3 million and McDavid 18 million, the total cost is the same as it is right now, how it's divided up is of no consequence relative to the salary cap. that only factors in when other players are looking for comparables for their own deals.

 

[duul]

meh. When I walk into a Walmart or Superstore its because I need something. The Athletic provide misinformation, dumb commentary, people like Dom, and really little worth reading. What a business model.

I'm not convinced that the Athletic has been such a great investment either, but its the NY times so I'm kind of laughing that their investment is bleeding money.

New York Times to shutter sports desk, rely on The Athletic for daily coverage

The New York Times said Monday it will close its sports department, which has produced Pulitzer Prize winners and legendary columnists, and turn to The Athletic for daily coverage. The move comes a…

nypost.com

The athletic saying they will somehow turn a profit by 2025. They've been saying that for decades.

Hey old timer, if you're on Chrome go to the little lock to the left of your address bar. Click it, then site settings, then set Javascript to 'block' and you'll be able to read any of the articles you want on there. Not that you'd want to in the first place. Applies to the bigger news sites as well.