Pre-Game Talk: Oilers vs Bolts

[Porkleaker]

speedy line is good.

but for the love of all hell please please please fire gulutzan and fix the pp

Well we fired Woodcroft who was supposed to be in charge of the PP, and then Todd who was clearly in charge of it...Now we've got Gulutzan and Hitch, Hitch doesn't seem to care much about the PP and either do the players which is worrying. At this point, who do you blame?

 

[fuswald]

I don't even care if this fails or if they get blown out, this is something Todd would have never tried. Nice to see Puljujarvi get a real opportunity - not just 1 shift then McBlended. Rieder-Drai-Chia can be a deadly line with a lot of speed too especially if Drai gets some rest and plays to his abilities again. Khaira who fills in for him? Zykov needs another look, I've seen enough of Spooner.

Todd blends everyone thinks he is an idiot, Hitchcock blends he's a genius.

More shuffling. Can only hope Puljujarvi pulls it off.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Todd blends everyone thinks he is an idiot, Hitchcock blends he's a genius.

More shuffling. Can only hope Puljujarvi pulls it off.

Todds blends are Lucic-McDavid-Rattie

 

[T-Funk]

Todds blends are Ghost Peppers and personal lube.

 

[oobga]

Drai playing so many 21-22+ minute games, and Chaisson hovering around 20 mins a night make these changes an absolute must. Those guys can't play those minutes with McDavid long term without it wearing them down to nothing. We are also not going to win often without McDavid playing huge minutes.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Drai playing so many 21-22+ minute games, and Chaisson hovering around 20 mins a night make these changes an absolute must. Those guys can't play those minutes with McDavid long term without it wearing them down to nothing. We are also not going to win often without McDavid playing huge minutes.

I'm not even sure they should play McDavid on the pp....

which is an absolutely insane thought.

 

[Joey Moss]

Good maybe Draisaitl will wake the f*** up and mix in a back check for once.

Little wake up call. Glad to see them separated.

 

[foshizzle]

speedy line is good.

but for the love of all hell please please please fire gulutzan and fix the pp

It's the same PP Gulutzan ran in Calgary. Living in Calgary and being forced to listen to Flames sports radio, they had the exact same complaints as we do this year. Gulutzan is also super stubborn and refuses to change.

 

[oobga]

It's the same PP Gulutzan ran in Calgary. Living in Calgary and being forced to listen to Flames sports radio, they had the exact same complaints as we do this year. Gulutzan is also super stubborn and refuses to change.

So we fired McLellan, but before we did we ensured we had his twin to stick around as an assistant coach.

I assume Hitch has no permission to make assistant changes since he is only signed for the year and we gave all these assistants nice new contracts. Such a remarkably well run org we have.

 

[Senor Catface]

Todd blends everyone thinks he is an idiot, Hitchcock blends he's a genius.

More shuffling. Can only hope Puljujarvi pulls it off.

Todd blended after wins. Hitchcock does after losses. I think there's a difference there.

 

[Tyrolean]

Hope for the best expect the worst.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Oilers better not dominate and win this game.

(Whatever I say lately, the opposite seems to happens, so I'm going with it. And to undo the jinx of saying this, I'm officially jinxing it to un-jinx the jinx. Or something.)

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Oilers better not dominate and win this game.

(Whatever I say lately, the opposite seems to happens, so I'm going with it. And to undo the jinx of saying this, I'm officially jinxing it to un-jinx the jinx. Or something.)

 

[Cloned]

Oilers better not dominate and win this game.

(Whatever I say lately, the opposite seems to happens, so I'm going with it. And to undo the jinx of saying this, I'm officially jinxing it to un-jinx the jinx. Or something.)

I guess that would explain your vow of celibacy earlier.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Wow, really like the changes he made, top line went stale for a couple games, maybe change for the interim is necessary

Nuge reunited with Connor, to me it's in the same hemisphere as Drai-McDavid, but with a much different element. And Jesse, with his speed, size, shot, and most of all his new found confidence from the coach, could be a perfect compliment to those two. Looks like he'll get at least 2 games with them, until Khaira returns

It was a good day for us, almost perfect day. The top 3 in our division all lost today, the 2 teams right on our tail, Dallas and Minnesota both lost today, keeping us in the wild card spot. But Vegas won, creating a 3 point spread between 7th and 8th (us), and Vancouver won, putting them 1 point behind us, but we have 3 games on hand against them, so it's not as scary as Dallas/Minny.

Tampa is 10-0-1 in their last 11. They did us good by beating both the Lames and 'Nucks. But hopefully they run into a brick wall on Saturday night, when they discover that Mikko at home is an unsolvable enigma

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Oilers lose their next 3 games. Does not matter about line combinations.

We should use this quote post-game if we win, and put the user's name in bold 40 pt font

 

[Porkleaker]

Todd blends everyone thinks he is an idiot, Hitchcock blends he's a genius.

More shuffling. Can only hope Puljujarvi pulls it off.

lol Todd blended a dozen times per game and wouldn't give poolparty that opportunity, even if he scored he'd bench him the next game. He was an idiot.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Todds blends are Ghost Peppers and personal lube.

Ouch! Touchee

 

[elmeroil]

This would be the win of the year if they can pull it off. I hope to see them full of energy and smart plays after the 3 day break. I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[missinthejets]

Wow, really like the changes he made, top line went stale for a couple games, maybe change for the interim is necessary

To me Draisaitl looks like a guy playing too many minutes. McDavid is a freak but no one else can play as much as him. RNH burned out too early in the year trying to play McDavid minutes.

 

[joestevens29]

To me Draisaitl looks like a guy playing too many minutes. McDavid is a freak but no one else can play as much as him. RNH burned out too early in the year trying to play McDavid minutes.

A burned out LD and RNH is still better than giving others 2-3 more minutes a night.

Perfect world at some point either someone steps up or PC actually grabs a top 6 forward.

 

[Porkleaker]

To me Draisaitl looks like a guy playing too many minutes. McDavid is a freak but no one else can play as much as him. RNH burned out too early in the year trying to play McDavid minutes.

Drai has looked like a drunk zombie on heroin playing the McMinuites, hopefully both lines can put up some numbers. We need a Christmas miracle!

 

[CupofOil]

Wouldn't this be a more balanced look?

Reider-McDavid-Chiasson
RNH-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi

I'm perplexed as to why 2 veteran coaches insist on giving the best player on the planet the best wingers and leaving the scraps for the #2 centers then wind up shuffling around the lines constantly because of lack of secondary scoring.

Wouldn't the best chance at achieving secondary scoring be to load up the 2nd line and let McDavid carry his own line? Not only does this spread out scoring but it gets either McDavid or the stacked 2nd line away from tough matchups. With the current setup, all the attention of the defense can focus on the McDavid line with not much fear of the 2nd line feasting on weaker matchups. It just boggles my mind that Mclellan and now Hitchcock haven't tried this in 2+ seasons (not including the Hall-Drai 2nd line season). Switch McDavid and Draisaitl or switch Reider and RNH, am I the only who sees this as an obvious move?

 

[Porkleaker]

Wouldn't this be a more balanced look?

Reider-McDavid-Chiasson
RNH-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi

I'm perplexed as to why 2 veteran coaches insist on giving the best player on the planet the best wingers and leaving the scraps for the #2 centers then wind up shuffling around the lines constantly because of lack of secondary scoring.

Wouldn't the best chance at achieving secondary scoring be to load up the 2nd line and let McDavid carry his own line? Not only does this spread out scoring but it gets either McDavid or the stacked 2nd line away from tough matchups. With the current setup, all the attention of the defense can focus on the McDavid line with not much fear of the 2nd line feasting on weaker matchups. It just boggles my mind that Mclellan and now Hitchcock haven't tried this in 2+ seasons (not including the Hall-Drai 2nd line season). Switch McDavid and Draisaitl or switch Reider and RNH, am I the only who sees this as an obvious move?

That looks good too, Reider's one of the few who could prob keep up with McDavid speed wise and could create some nice odd man rushes together.
2nd line is sexy too. I'm pretty sure Hitch reads all of our comments so DO IT.

 

[TKB21]

Oilers with lots of days rest.

6-2 Tampa