GDT: Oilers rookies @ Flames rookies - 7pm

[Aerchon]

I've always heard game time is used to evaluate players not practice.

These two games are many of these players only chance to show what they got. It's also the lowest quality of competition they are ever going to face moving forward.

This group showed little to nothing.

I understand the individual performances today most likely don't mean much but I also don't think we should just ignore such poor results either. Last year was bad as well.

Its concerning how poor our forward prospects are performing at this point in their development. It's concerning how slow they are. Not just slow speed but decision making as well. How few battles they won.

This is the year many should be getting opportunity at the nhl level. This group has a whole lot of not ready.

 

[Drivesaitl]

They won’t be on the same level (I see Benson as a Nuge level player, not the same type of player but a 2nd line player), but I think you’re underestimating Benson. He’s also missed all but two off seasons of training. I see him sticking on the team mid season at the latest.

Benson's injuries put him way behind the 8 ball. That isn't any positive or mulligan, it hurts his chances of ever making it.

Really at this point expecting him to be as much as a Nuge or Gagner is dreaming in technicolor. Both of those guys walked on as 18yr olds and not only made the show, but were exceptional in rookie seasons, in the NHL.

With Benson we're talking about a one dimensional player that is supposed to be an offensive spark plug of the team that never even turned over the ignition in two full games and a bit of OT. As Aerchon correctly mentions this is the weakest opposition Benson etal will face this preseason. They were run over.

 

[Oilhawks]

Benson's injuries put him way behind the 8 ball. That isn't any positive or mulligan, it hurts his chances of ever making it.

Really at this point expecting him to be as much as a Nuge or Gagner is dreaming in technicolor. Both of those guys walked on as 18yr olds and not only made the show, but were exceptional in rookie seasons, in the NHL.

With Benson we're talking about a one dimensional player that is supposed to be an offensive spark plug of the team that never even turned over the ignition in two full games and a bit of OT. As Aerchon correctly mentions this is the weakest opposition Benson etal will face this preseason. They were run over.

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying but it's a bit disingenuous to compare his path to the NHL to a 1OA and 6OA. If they didn't make the team at 18 (given the circumstances at the time), people would have immediately written them off as busts.

Benson is like most non-generational forwards (pardon the hyperbole) and needs skilled players to play with to have a notable effect on the game. Marody has looked off in these games as well. They were killer together in the AHL last year. All Benson needs to do is play his game and he could easily slot in next to Nuge and Neal. Whether or not he is ready to at the start of the season remains to be seen. I think we'll see a much more effective player when more structure and NHL calibre players play next to him further along in the preseason.

 

[onetweasy]

Remember when we swept the rookie tourney for like 3 straight seasons......it didn’t mean shit then and it doesn’t mean shit now.

 

[nexttothemoon]

After these two games I bet Holland is thinking. "Hmmm, maybe I should have drafted Kaliyev".

Fixed that for you.

 

[dem]

We have a whole season of being pissed off ahead of us...

I don’t know why y’all are bothering with this nonsense.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying but it's a bit disingenuous to compare his path to the NHL to a 1OA and 6OA. If they didn't make the team at 18 (given the circumstances at the time), people would have immediately written them off as busts.

Benson is like most non-generational players (pardon the hyperbole) and needs skilled players to play with to have a notable effect on the game. Marody has looked off in these games as well. They were killer together in the AHL last year. All Benson needs to do is play his game and he could easily slot in next to Nuge and Neal. Whether or not he is ready to at the start of the season remains to be seen.

Making topsix in the NHL is a huge assignment. Its certainly not easy to slot in.

Marody impressed me more than Benson so far. At least with Marody he can score.

What is a 10A and 60A? I'm not following you.

 

[Drivesaitl]

We have a whole season of being pissed off ahead of us...

I don’t know why y’all are bothering with this nonsense.

Raining in edmonton for several days. Cold, wet and dark outside.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Organizationally we lack scorers and we lack sandpaper. That was on display the last couple of days.

That - and the fact that our bottom two lines were ECHL quality - sunk us. It’s also worthwhile noting that our entire 2019 draft class save Lavoie was missing.

That said, the two guys I really wanted to see more from were Lavoie and Maksimov. Both had very little going.

 

[Oilhawks]

Making topsix in the NHL is a huge assignment. Its certainly not easy to slot in.

Marody impressed me more than Benson so far. At least with Marody he can score.

What is a 10A and 60A? I'm not following you.

Agreed, it's not easy, but I think Benson will do it this year. Arrows are pointing up (aside from a meaningless rookie game duo).

Marody has impressed me too but I'm still a little worried about his footspeed (Benson isn't a burner but he seems quicker). Hopefully they give Marody a real shot on the wing once the roster gets prepped for the actual preseason games.

Sorry, I meant 1st Overall and 6th Overall. Benson being a 2nd round pick in comparison.

 

[guymez]

We have a whole season of being pissed off ahead of us...

I don’t know why y’all are bothering with this nonsense.

Its not at all unusual for this board to over react....this thread is a classic example.

2 freaking exhibition games where a team was thrown together and some posters are drawing definitive conclusions on players.

 

[Raab]

People should have a bit of perspective here. These are our last 5 first rounders: Draisaitl, Mcdavid, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, Bouchard, Broberg. Exactly one of those guys played in this tournament and looked good.

 

[onetweasy]

Its not at all unusual for this board to over react....this thread is a classic example.

2 freaking exhibition games where a team was thrown together and some posters are drawing definitive conclusions on players.

It’s amazing.

People are tossing away an entire season where Benson was a leader and offensive driver for one of the better AHL teams as a 20 year old for 2 throw away games in early September........

If the Oilers get off to a rough start this board might as well just fold up.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Making topsix in the NHL is a huge assignment. Its certainly not easy to slot in.

Marody impressed me more than Benson so far. At least with Marody he can score.

What is a 10A and 60A? I'm not following you.

Benson needs to work on his shot.

 

[snipes]

It’s amazing.

People are tossing away an entire season where Benson was a leader and offensive driver for one of the better AHL teams as a 20 year old for 2 throw away games in early September........

If the Oilers get off to a rough start this board might as well just fold up.

Benson clearly will be an NHLer, he’s got excellent vision and he’s got a nice bite to his game. He’s responsible at both ends of the ice.

However, whether he’s NHL ready this year I’m not as certain about. I really like the player, but perhaps another year in the AHL is best. He’s still got areas that needs to work on, namely his skating, edgework, and shot.

 

[Senor Catface]

The reality in anycase in birds in hand are better than any of these prospects. If you got a guy like Gagner hanging around theres no reason not to go with him instead. He's an accomplished Vet NHL player. In Vancouver several young players had the enthusiasm to bounce a vet like Gagner from the lineup. I doubt that's happening here. These guys should be moving mountains trying to get to the show and nothing.

Oooooh, it all makes sense now.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Oooooh, it all makes sense now.

That’s Sammy the great to you.

 

[McShogun99]

People actually care about these games?

 

[48g90a138pts]

Or we can give credit to Flames coaching. They had two guys attacking constantly forcing turnover after turnover. Just smothering them.

 

[guymez]

Or we can give credit to Flames coaching. They had two guys attacking constantly forcing turnover after turnover. Just smothering them.

Thats actually the one thing I took away from the rookie games...one team looked better prepared than the other team.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Thats actually the one thing I took away from the rookie games...one team looked better prepared than the other team.

I didn’t watch this game but listening to Woodcroft it sounded like they didn’t really coach it up all that much. They wanted to see what the kids could do sans systems which is fair when evaluating players.

It’s not about the W but seeing which players rise above, handle adversity, can make separation from the others, that sort of thing. In that regard Bouchard stood head and shoulders above everyone else with Benson after that. Nothing unexpected I suppose but it sounds like Marody didn’t play to expectations.

 

[subnet]

I mean, rookie games and pre season is the only time we ever win so without that we got nothing.

perhaps this year, FINALLY, it's the opposite. Play crappy in the rookie tourney/games, lousy in pre-season, and actually do well when it means something, in the regular season!

yes - I hope we have a crappy pre-season (instead of what we've had in ages), and then turn it around for a playoff-making season - I'll call it now LOL - it's playoff's baby!

 

[Ol' Jase]

Lol. Legit training camp hasn’t even started and players are already being written off based on an internet feed of seeing everyone for the first time.

Absolutely classic HFOil embarrassment.

 

[LaGu]

Making topsix in the NHL is a huge assignment. Its certainly not easy to slot in.

Marody impressed me more than Benson so far. At least with Marody he can score.

What is a 10A and 60A? I'm not following you.

Benson scored at the same clip as Marody after New Years. Sample sizes are of course still very small since we're talking about 1/2 seasons, but for me (i.e. from someone pretty high on Benson so take it for what it is) it was clear that Benson went through a transition period during the autumn of his rookie AHL season and just didn't manage to put the puck in the net (this was also mentioned by Woodcroft). After new years he started shooting more and taking better shots and then his scoring pace went up.

I couldn't be bothered watching these rookie games, last time I watched Oilers rookies beat everyone and went on to have a horrible seasons. I didn't want to get my hopes up yet again. Actually thinking about it maybe it would have good for me to watch this time around, at least then expectations would be at rock bottom. Only way is up from here, right?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

De Jong and Desharnais were the worst skating D pair I’ve ever seen in an NHL uniform. It was so bad live.

Rodrigue looked good, Bouchard looked pretty decent but had those mental defensive lapses. His puck moving is great though. Samorukov looked out of place lots had one nice hit. Benson played okay, his skating still needs work.

The truth is it was ugly live, really bad. I don’t honestly believe anyone is NHL ready based on the last couple games.

Let me preface this by saying that I only watched the back half of the 2nd period of tonight's game. IMO Bouchard would be best served to get lots of AHL ice this season to work on his defensive reads and positioning so that he can hopefully be better than a Jultz defensively. Play him 30 minutes a night on the farm so that hopefully when he's ready for the next step he will be capable of handling 20 minutes a night at the NHL level if need be.

Organizationally we lack scorers and we lack sandpaper. That was on display the last couple of days.

That - and the fact that our bottom two lines were ECHL quality - sunk us. It’s also worthwhile noting that our entire 2019 draft class save Lavoie was missing.

That said, the two guys I really wanted to see more from were Lavoie and Maksimov. Both had very little going.

Maksimov has shat the bed the last 2 rookie camps. Hopefully he has a solid rookie pro season to show brass that he can get it done at the pro level.