Post-Game Talk: Oilers win 3-1

[ToeMcDrag83]

Ewanyk and Nurse had their best games of this preseason.

I like the battle between Klefbom and Nurse so far, both showing well.

I am a little surprised Marincin hasn't shown a little more than the aforementioned pair... hopefully more to do with having a poor partner in Gernat at this time.

Bet we see Marincin-Schultz or Marincin-Petry on Wednesday.

Also, real top 4 defencemen. On our team. Nikitin-Fayne. Huzzah.

 

[CupofOil]

Much better than yesterday.

Hopefully lots of cuts happen tonight and Dallas Eakins starts to practice the systems and gets ready for the real games. Develop some chemistry.

Can't afford to have a poor first 20 games this year.

Drop the axe.

Yeah, they really need to have the full or at least near full lineup together for at least 3 preseason games. The Oilers moreso than most teams really need to use the preseason to gain some chemistry so they need to trim the fat and soon.

I'd say to give Yakimov, Tkachev and Nurse one more game then send each down, maybe give Nurse 2 games but he really doesn't have a chance to stick so send him down and let Klefbom and Marincin play the last 2 preseason games to battle it out for the final spot..
It's going to be between Arco and Lander for that final center spot IMO so they will likely play the final preseason games.
All the rest should be sent down or cut ASAP.

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

I'm in favour of giving Nurse a taste before he goes down. Give him some experience to build off of.

 

[oilman9482]

Why keep him up to play 7th defense minutes? Let him go back and dominate.

Tkachev reminds me of Omark, but quicker and shiftier. I think he will be an NHL player. Even if it is at 155 pounds.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

I'm in favour of giving Nurse a taste before he goes down. Give him some experience to build off of.

Agreed. Let him get used to the pace and have him bring it down for a dominate season in the Soo.

 

[Aceboogie]

RNH about to take the NHL by storm. Dude has looked GREAT this preseason. Bigger,stronger, faster, smarter.

Screw 2c issues, RNH is about to be a great #1c

Hall looking good already, expecting a hot start.

Nurse reaffirming he has #1D potential

Fasth played lights out. Good to see he can potentially be a #1G

Fayne- beauty pick up. So steady and still young enough to break out

Rest of the team was meh, got outplayed for long stretches. Yakimov looked ok, great along the boards. Tkachev, while not the best player on the ice, is so impressive as an 18 year old 141 pounder being able to keep up in the NHL, and have a positive impact as well. Hell, I think hes earned a 9 game tryout. Hes opened the scoring with a dandy assist 3 different games, this is very important to getting a hot start. Give him and Yakimov 9 game together to keep it up

 

[randomrob7]

I didn't think the Jets took many either

You are right. There were 3 shots in the third period. 2 from the jets, 1 from us.

Very boring period haha

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

Glad to hear Nuge is looking great. Can't wait to watch him move forward this season.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Really loving RNH's game right now. Looking great in both ends,he looks stronger, playing more aggressive initiating contact (not his game but at least he's showing that he isn't gonna be pushed around) Gonna have a huge year.

Hall was Hall, just having fun out there. Him and Nuge looking like they could be a top scoring tandem in the league.

Yakimov didn't set the world on fire but he was solid and consistent. He never gives up on a play or stops battling and most times his team comes away with the puck because of it. Not overly aggressive but always finds a way to win puck battles and always well positioned. At this point he has been the best of him, Arco, Lander by a large margin.

Tkachev played well I thought. Hopefully we get him signed and in the prospect pool. Smart player with great puck skills, vision and patience. Always very poised and he just finds space out there.

Nurse looked good but he still needs some polish on his game and another year of strength and conditioning. Give him 9 and send him back.


Pitlick and Ewanyk both brought some energy and had solid efforts.

 

[LoudmouthHemskyfan#1]

A few quick thoughts from tonight:

Pitlick - I don't see 'it'. He's not offensively skilled. Doesn't have a presence physically. Isn't in good position most of the time. If he can't deliver in these areas in a preseason game, there's no reason to give him the shot.

Pinizzotto - I think he's a better hockey player than Gazdic based on the end of last year and games like tonight. He does his job, but also can handle a puck and knows where to be on the ice. If you're going to have a guy like that (I wouldn't) then I'd rather have Pinizzotto.

Moroz - If you're going to skate like you have bricks in your skates, you'd better be in the right places. He simply isn't at this level. Going to need a ton of powerskating and game tape if he's ever going to make the bigs. What he did tonight didn't surprise me, but I was hoping he'd look less out of place.

Tkachev - Love this guy. Shrimp that doesn't get beaten up, is always ahead of the play and knows what to do in all zones. Watching him in person was a treat.

Yakimov - Not enormously impressive, but he looks much better to my eye than Lander at a base level. He uses his size in relation to the puck better than a lot of young players, and is offensively opportunistic while remaining responsible. Like him to be a regular by year's end.

Ewanyk - I see nothing in his game that leads me to believe he will see the NHL. Just don't.

Nurse - Didn't blow me away to be honest. He needs to hold the puck longer and make better first passes. Too many times he just sort of let it go to places that might be safe in junior, but not in the NHL. Then again, with a coach that loves that from his captain, you just don't know.

Haven't decided which direction the post-gamers are going to take this year. Life is much different now and writing the same old recaps for such a bad team has left me rather uninspired. Trying to think of something inventive, new, or exciting but nothing springs to mind just yet. The live post-gamers on Spreaker were fun last year but I just don't know if that works. We'll see I guess.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Well, it's just that Acrobello, Draisaitl and Lander need to play some games at C here and I think RNH and Gordon should play Thursday and Saturday with their linemates in their actual roles. Yakimov's getting at least one more game.

In Hunt's case, I don't see him playing an NHL game without catastrophic injuries, and I want to see Klefbom, Nurse and Marincin play on a team that has Schultz, Petry and Fayne.

Too few games to be carrying non-factors for the Oilers.

We actually play quite a few games in a short timespan, there are some clear cuts to be made, but anyone who I'd say is a reasonable expectation for a cup of coffee at some point in the next year and a half should stay with the team till after the first game of the double header with the Canucks, the Canucks gooned it up pretty bad last pre-season I'd like Hall and Nuge out of whatever game they dress most of their enforcers. Getting our C issue ironed out before camp should be a priority, but Ewanyk actually is pretty good on the wing so he can move over, I half suspect he will play most of the year in the AHL on Khaira's wing.

 

[MCDAVIDISH]

Man nurse looks fast. Has such a long glide.

 

[KCC]

RNH looked great tonight. But if he goes down, man oh man is this team in trouble.

Watching some of the player highlights, everyone seems to be in agreement that the team played well. I guess if being outplayed for many stretches in the game is their idea of a "good team game", oh boy.

 

[oilz89*]

RNH looked great tonight. But if he goes down, man oh man is this team in trouble.

Watching some of the player highlights, everyone seems to be in agreement that the team played well. I guess if being outplayed for many stretches in the game is their idea of a "good team game", oh boy.

There's no way that our team will not get outplayed in some stretches... Every gets outplayed in a game during stretches.. Just matters how long the stretch is. Do you expect us to get 30 shots every game and allow like only 10?

 

[gqmixmaster]

sign 64 and drop down 10

 

[Kulleroinen*]

Why people hate that word soo much?

If they don't like it, try "bajs". It sounds much better!

 

[McShiva]

I thought no one improved their position when the latest round of cuts happen, but also they didn't make it worst either. Aulie was the only one that stood out, because he was less horrible.

Yak2 had Westguard with him as well, so a bit of a anchor, but still, was a bit quiet. Still put him above Lander and Arco. Still, when you put together a team from what we have seen so far, you can't help but feel positive. (I know, we do this every year and the team always lets us down)

- Goaltending looks good, really like how solid Fasth played, and should be far better than last year, or at least we may be still in the playoff hunt in November this time.

- Love Fayne, Nikitin had nerves by the looks of it, but still a decent pair. Add Petry, a (hopefully) better Ference, JSchultz plus whoever and it's a far better group than I have seen in a few years. Nurse I think should go down one more year, I put Klefblom ahead of him so far. I don't get the Hunt hate, thought he was decent, even if he is AHL level.

- The top line killed. Personally, for giggles, I would have put Yak2 on the line during the third just to see how much room he could create, suspect he would have done better than Pitlick

- The second line got dragged down by Westguard, but I felt they were just okay. I don't understand why they didn't put someone like Pouliot there instead of a enforcer. Size+speed+skill.

- The third and fourth lines were functional, but that's about it. Nearly all these guys will be sent down. Certainly noticed Pinizzotto, but he also reminded me of our favorite punching bag, huggy bear, for some reason.

 

[ScrillaVilla]

Wow. I thought Hunt was obviously AHL calibre at best tonight and I agree anything to keep Aulie off the team.

I suppose it possible that Eakins is privy to some information that we aren't during the preseason that suggests Hunt played well. The eye test is way to unreliable for me to be useful in evaluating player performance. Having said that I didn't watch the game and in cases where its obvious the data and the perception tend to line up. Although its equally possible that Hunt played like crap and was praised for it, because...Oilers

Further, trying to determine which players will do well in the regular season based on performance in preseason is a complete crap-shoot. Its really more about knocking the rust off and getting into game shape than anything. Didn't Joensuu look all world last year, and then **** the bed hard during the regular season? I am pretty sure there were more than a few posters hailing him as the solution to our 4th line woes. I was probably one of them.

 

[belair]

To be fair, Tkatchev got lined up dangling through the neutral zone early on. It could've been a trainwreck had the defenseman followed through on the hit. He's fun to watch, but by no means perfect. He's got a ways to go before I'd feel safe with him on the ice when the games matter.

And Pitlick, I thought had a solid game. Unofficially, he had a goal and was exactly where he should have been to get it. He's a crash and bang forward who needs to go into the dirty areas to succeed. In the few instances I've seen him, he's succeeded in areas where guys like Joensuu and Lander have failed. I just don't see how he hasn't earned a look on the 4th line in Game #1 at this point.

 

[CorpseFX]

love Hall's on ice reactions to his goals tonight. "all business. we suck. good job, boys. shut your mouth and keep shredding"

 

[LaGu]

I suppose it possible that Eakins is privy to some information that we aren't during the preseason that suggests Hunt played well. The eye test is way to unreliable for me to be useful in evaluating player performance. Having said that I didn't watch the game and in cases where its obvious the data and the perception tend to line up. Although its equally possible that Hunt played like crap and was praised for it, because...Oilers

Further, trying to determine which players will do well in the regular season based on performance in preseason is a complete crap-shoot. Its really more about knocking the rust off and getting into game shape than anything. Didn't Joensuu look all world last year, and then **** the bed hard during the regular season? I am pretty sure there were more than a few posters hailing him as the solution to our 4th line woes. I was probably one of them.

I am pretty sure there were more than a few posters placing him in the top 6 as a big scoring winger...

Pre-season is not anywhere near regular season, you are very right about that. But after a loooong summer we need also need to knock off some rust and get into "posting-shape". It is pre-season for posters as well so you will have to excuse a couple of crap-shots from time to time.

 

[Soundwave]

Tkachev moves the puck faster than Omark did so that's probably going to be a big bonus for him.

Omark was actually pretty freaking strong for a guy his size and preferred to cycle the puck and hold it, but he's just way too small to do that in the NHL. I always said if you could somehow put Omark into Paajarvi's body you'd have a star player, lol.

Tkachev has a style of game though where he's able to pin-point passing receivers right off the rush.

He just flat out makes good, quick plays with the puck even if he is physically no where close to being ready. But that is really an unteachable skill, you either see the ice a certain way or you don't.

 

[KneeOnKnee]

Sounds to me like yak2 is a pretty good grinder, which is something we don't have, a body that is good at board battles, it's not like we were expecting him to challenge for Calder, he could be a key piece to a successful team. Although I would not put him on second line. Unfortunately our only other option are arcobello and lander, but if they can at least ride the coat tails of their star wingers we should have a good chance of survival.

 

[Soundwave]

I think we should probably give Yakimov time to build his offensive confidence in the AHL. Yes he looks like he can grind, but he has pretty sweet hands for a big man. Lets let him develop confidence in his offensive game against lesser competition, then bring him up maybe for the final 15 games.

I think Draisaitl and Arcobello are going to get the center spots. Lander just doesn't do enough of anything, Arco at least hit the post last game and won a lot of his draws.

It's not a good situation to be in, but at least on the bright side a year from now, our center depth should be OK.

 

[blupye*]

the story of the game for me is Nikitin. He was a huge risk of a signing for that cap hit. If he can play like that I think he might actually earn his money, which would be huge for our D as a whole.

I thought he looked very smooth and in control. He has great hannds for a big man