Oilers win 4-3 in OT || TEDDY P

[Replacement*]

Agreed. I made a mention of this a couple of pages back.
Gryba has his warts and has made his share of mistakes but as a bottom pairing Dman who was brought in to be a defender that's tough to play against, he has come as advertised. He's actually smarter than I thought he was, makes some real smart reads from time to time. Some ugly plays as well but he's a limited player, those are bound to happen occasionally.

I saw your post. Agreed entirely. We've needed this kind of D for quite sometime. We used to have a fair amount of rock solid hitting D back in the Ronnie Low era but not much since. It seems while everybody is in love with PMD and silky smooth D its forgotten that guys that stop a rush with a hit or clear crease have a huge role on competive squads. This guy is winning a lot of puck battles. He's got a lot to do as well as he's rearing Reinhart and a good choice to be doing that if I say so.

The thing is when you are a physical D that punishes people there will be some hits and misses. But the benefit eventually being a reticence of forwards coming into his yard.

He's tough to play against, oh yeah. McLellan is high on him as well.

 

[Klimando Kostani]

Hope the Purse Man keeps playing like this the rest of the way. We may actually be able to get something reasonable for him come TD. Who would have thought?

That might be how our staff plucked him out of his funk. Play well here and then we can get you on a contender as a rental and that might just get you another NHL contract.

 

[PaPaDee]

Do we still have 3 years on Nurse's ELC?
that's great if we do.
having to sign Nurse and McDavid in the same offseason.

Yes, I believe he's on his first year of his ELC. His contract kept sliding in previous years when he was sent back to the OHL.

 

[Aerrol]

I saw your post. Agreed entirely. We've needed this kind of D for quite sometime. We used to have a fair amount of rock solid hitting D back in the Ronnie Low era but not much since. It seems while everybody is in love with PMD and silky smooth D its forgotten that guys that stop a rush with a hit or clear crease have a huge role on competive squads. This guy is winning a lot of puck battles. He's got a lot to do as well as he's rearing Reinhart and a good choice to be doing that if I say so.

The thing is when you are a physical D that punishes people there will be some hits and misses. But the benefit eventually being a reticence of forwards coming into his yard.

He's tough to play against, oh yeah. McLellan is high on him as well.

Gryba is perfect for us as a bottom pairing dman. We've been signing and trading for bad dman for forever in the hopes they'd be what Gryba is now. The problems we see with him are mostly a result of him having to play more minutes and situations than his skills really warrant. As is perpetually the case with our dmen.

 

[Replacement*]

Are you changing your tune about Nilsson yet?

Nillson played a good game. particularly liked his play in OT where he faked holding onto the puck and then released it. This perhaps contributing to Ducks taking a line change and subsequently being caught.

Nilsson was effective in stopping and covering pucks.

I do see trouble in his form though. This could be a bias in my assessment of goalies but I don't like to see this much going down and committing first. The book will get out on this. Shoot high, pick corners. Perry owned him. Eberle would own a goalie like this as well. Look out for Domi tonight if Nillson gets the pick.

I think Nillson is too susceptible to being solved up high. He's very big, but nobody covers top net when they're down much of the time.

He did save himself with some glove and blocker stops. He had some luck as well. That and Getzlaf isn't anywhere near 100%, Kesler was a non factor, and Ducks have had trouble finding any scoring confidence.

 

[DipsyMcDoodles]

 

[Replacement*]

Gryba is perfect for us as a bottom pairing dman. We've been signing and trading for bad dman for forever in the hopes they'd be what Gryba is now. The problems we see with him are mostly a result of him having to play more minutes and situations than his skills really warrant. As is perpetually the case with our dmen.

Gryba, Nurse, Reinhart, are such crucial quantities for us to have on our backend. We have been too soft to play against for a long time. I'm surprised theres so little enthusiasm for Gryba's play. He made some big plays last night. I'll take mental notes more and report on them. He's making some solid vet plays. The play on Stewart was embarrassing for Stewart who was stewing on the bench later. You gotta know Gryba earned the respect of the Ducks bench with how adroitly he handled that sequence. That he got up was amazing. That had performed a clean takeaway and got the puck out was D hilite worthy. Not taking a penalty, great role modeling for the bench.

Mclellan has praised Gryba's play repeatedly.

 

[PaPaDee]

Gryba, Nurse, Reinhart, are such crucial quantities for us to have on our backend. We have been too soft to play against for a long time. I'm surprised theres so little enthusiasm for Gryba's play. He made some big plays last night. I'll take mental notes more and report on them. He's making some solid vet plays. The play on Stewart was embarrassing for Stewart who was stewing on the bench later. You gotta know Gryba earned the respect of the Ducks bench with how adroitly he handled that sequence. That he got up was amazing. That had performed a clean takeaway and got the puck out was D hilite worthy. Not taking a penalty, great role modeling for the bench.

Mclellan has praised Gryba's play repeatedly.

Of the games I've watched, I've been impressed with his play as well. When he's playing a simple, physical game is when he's at his best. A very good bottom pairing option, but gets exposed when he's playing too many minutes.

 

[McTrashBoat]

Great news on Eberle, big relief

Also interesting playing Nilsson again but hell he deserves it. Especially like it after hearing on 1260 whoever saying "Never! You never play a goalie back to back!" I'm thinking it was the same guy who wanted Talbot back in after 3 crappy games in a row

 

[CornKicker]

I think Getzlaf would have fought under different circumstances, but in a tight game, he kept a cap on it. Smart on his part. I doubt he's a chicken. Still, loved the way Nurse got his nose in there. We need a lot more of that. From everyone.

its one of the reasons i want a Buff type player. have him or nurse on the ice 85% of the game makes us way harder to play against.

 

[Replacement*]

This is a great post.

I, too, really like what Gryba is bringing and thought he was particularly effective in Chicago on Sunday.

Thanks sir. Chicago is not an easy place to play in either. Gryba offers a vet calmness imo to a young team in such surroundings and doesn't appear to get overwhelmed. His mental focus seems stable. You know what you're getting from Gryba in a game. I love that Nurse and Reinhart are getting a good look at is as well as the modeling is easier to pick up when someone on the team is doing it.

I think it was John Shannon who stated Nurse will be a captain of this Oilers club in a few years. When Nurse settles down and the game slows down for him he's going to be a very good D for us. Brings so much to the table as well. The only worry is this guy will soon enough be too valuable to be dropping gloves.

Been a long time since we've had D like this. Just need some time to grow.

 

[guymez]

Of the games I've watched, I've been impressed with his play as well. When he's playing a simple, physical game is when he's at his best. A very good bottom pairing option, but gets exposed when he's playing too many minutes.

Thats the issue with this entire defence.
The lack of top pairing dmen forces the team to put the other dmen into situations in which they will eventually make a bad decision.
Its going to happen quite regularly until they address this deficit.

Its due to a lack of depth and isnt the fault of any particular dman.

Its surprises me that more posters dont want to acknowledge this reality.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Great news on Eberle, big relief

Also interesting playing Nilsson again but hell he deserves it. Especially like it after hearing on 1260 whoever saying "Never! You never play a goalie back to back!" I'm thinking it was the same guy who wanted Talbot back in after 3 crappy games in a row

I believe that was Fraser. The way he talks, I get the feeling he does not like Nilsson much and thinks Talbot should be given every opportunity to get his mojo back. Trying to find mojo could cost another 3-4 games in the standings.

"Win and you're in"...glad Mclellan is going that direction.

 

[blupye*]

I think it was Chia just cleansing the Oilers' of everyone MacT got. Definitely miss Gordon some games..

Perry.. He is.. Good..

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2003e.html

And just to think, we drafted MAP

 

[Dorian2]

Nillson played a good game. particularly liked his play in OT where he faked holding onto the puck and then released it. This perhaps contributing to Ducks taking a line change and subsequently being caught.

Nilsson was effective in stopping and covering pucks.

I do see trouble in his form though. This could be a bias in my assessment of goalies but I don't like to see this much going down and committing first. The book will get out on this. Shoot high, pick corners. Perry owned him. Eberle would own a goalie like this as well. Look out for Domi tonight if Nillson gets the pick.

I think Nillson is too susceptible to being solved up high. He's very big, but nobody covers top net when they're down much of the time.

He did save himself with some glove and blocker stops. He had some luck as well. That and Getzlaf isn't anywhere near 100%, Kesler was a non factor, and Ducks have had trouble finding any scoring confidence.

This is the thing that I'm a wondering about actually. I've noticed he's been going down quite a bit in NHL games. But in the pre season, I noticed that he was standing up and making good saves. That's why I was pretty high on him pre season. I noticed that particular tendency to stand his ground. He hasn't been doing that lately for some reason.

I wonder if it has something to do with Goalie coaching or something? He just seems a little bit different right now.

 

[TennisBalls]

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2003e.html

And just to think, we drafted MAP

That draft year is just.......

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

This is the thing that I'm a wondering about actually. I've noticed he's been going down quite a bit in NHL games. But in the pre season, I noticed that he was standing up and making good saves. That's why I was pretty high on him pre season. I noticed that particular tendency to stand his ground. He hasn't been doing that lately for some reason.

I wonder if it has something to do with Goalie coaching or something? He just seems a little bit different right now.

That's his only real problem and it is quite fixable, especially at his age

 

[Frank the Tank]

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2003e.html

And just to think, we drafted MAP

Another reason to hate the late-90s, early-00s version of the Dallas Stars. Hatcher, Sydor, Zubov, and friends openly mugged Comrie every time he was on the ice in the first round of the 2003 playoffs, which made the Oilers management scared of drafting a smaller, skilled prospect in Parise. Instead, they decided to go with a larger center in MAP, who persevered through a tough year in Rimouski. In their defense, the Oilers didn't know that the 2005 lockout would change the rules so that players like Parise could play with much less obstruction.