GDT: PRE 8 | "Pre Season Finale" | Oilers vs. Canucks | 10.3.15 | 8:00PM | SNET

[doulos]

They went 6-1-1 in the preseason...

Of note though, is that they lost the only two games that featured close to NHL rosters. Against a team that may not even make the playoffs this year.

Not a reason to panic, but a reason to be concerned.

 

[McXLNC97]

No idea where you come up with this stuff. Clearly the better team? No way, the oilers had the edge in play. It was a close, and frankly boring, game.

I don't even think he bothers watching the guys...must just play out his own version in his mind.....Oilers were clearly the better team in the final 40. Ryan Miller was the difference.

 

[Replacement*]

They went 6-1-1 in the preseason...

Against mostly AHL opposition and effort.

Really this club managed to play poorly in at least 3 games. As recently as the previous game.

Its a little disconcerting.

The record is not at all meaningful. Other teams weren't dressing anywhere close to their starting lineups as we were.

 

[MessierII]

Against mostly AHL opposition and effort.

Really this club managed to play poorly in at least 3 games. As recently as the previous game.

Its a little disconcerting.

The record is not at all meaningful. Other teams weren't dressing anywhere close to their starting lineups as we were.

Neither were we. If you think the team played poorly last night than I question your knowledge of the game.

 

[Replacement*]

I don't even think he bothers watching the guys...must just play out his own version in his mind.....Oilers were clearly the better team in the final 40. Ryan Miller was the difference.

Watched the whole game thanks. Nucks had clear breakaways, 2 on 1's etc.

They had plenty of scoring chances. They also hit the only post in the game. Missed some shots that barely went wide that were goals. Sutter alone had multiple dangerous scoring chances.

In anycase my posts were in response to an assertion that the Oilers should have won that game. As if fate is somehow intervening.

its quite clearly the superior, and more veteran team winning as it is in most nights in pro sports. It has very little to do with what hometown fans feel was the "better" team in the particular game.

People may have felt we were the better team in some divisional matchups last year. But we won very few of them, we hardly ever do.

We're only better than 1 club in this division. That isn't likely to change. Anybody hoping for the Nucks to take a tumble this year, well, it looks like they improved more than us.

 

[McDrai]

Neither were we. If you think the team played poorly last night than I question your knowledge of the game.

The team played poorly in the first period and when they took the lead late in the 3rd. It's a good thing that they weren't playing St. Louis or else the game would have been over after the first period. With that being said, the 2nd period was the best I've seen from the Oilers for a while. The key is to bring that same effort into every period that they play.

 

[Replacement*]

Neither were we. If you think the team played poorly last night than I question your knowledge of the game.

The Oilers played well last night and I said so several times in the thread. In fact I think this is about the best this inexperienced lineup can play, and we still lost.

There will be several stinkers this year, like always with this core, where this level of effort won't be there.

 

[s7ark]

Of note though, is that they lost the only two games that featured close to NHL rosters. Against a team that may not even make the playoffs this year.

Not a reason to panic, but a reason to be concerned.

Flames roster in Calgary was fairly full of their starters. And the Oilers really should have won last night. If Pouliot finished off a couple more of the fantastic chances he had this game doesn't get to OT.

The poster asked when the Oilers would start to find ways to win. They won 6 this preseason was my response.

 

[doulos]

Flames roster in Calgary was fairly full of their starters. And the Oilers really should have won last night. If Pouliot finished off a couple more of the fantastic chances he had this game doesn't get to OT.

The poster asked when the Oilers would start to find ways to win. They won 6 this preseason was my response.

True, I had forgotten about the Flames road game. I'm marginally happy with the preseason in all honesty, but I don't think the record really means anything at all.

Let's just get this season started and start answering the questions!

 

[s7ark]

True, I had forgotten about the Flames road game. I'm marginally happy with the preseason in all honesty, but I don't think the record really means anything at all.

Let's just get this season started and start answering the questions!

Exactly my thoughts. Preseason is done and is relatively meaningless anyways. Lamenting over this loss or the last one, is just as pointless as planning a parade based on the first 6 wins.

On to the real games. I am really looking forward to Thursday!

 

[McVespa99]

They went 6-1-1 in the preseason...

Yes but against mostly scrubs. And they frankly did not look very good in most of those games. Im just saying the first games we played against Nhl talent we did not do very well. They stunk in the first Van game and lost the second even though they played well.

 

[MessierII]

Yes but against mostly scrubs. And they frankly did not look very good in most of those games. Im just saying the first games we played against Nhl talent we did not do very well. They stunk in the first Van game and lost the second even though they played well.

So let me guess this straight

We iced our full NHL team every night while every other team playing us didn't ice anyone.

Just losing all of these games would have reflected better.

 

[McDeepika]

Count me in the group that prefers the McDavid/Draiasitl combo over McDavid/Hall.

Hall holds on to the puck way to long. Draisaitl is great at making those quick little passes.

I like the idea of having RNH, McDavid and Hall on separate lines. All can be the primary puck carrier that way.

 

[dustrock]

It's laughable that we have to say this every year, but we have seemingly half the roster of new players and a brand new GM and coaching staff.

I'm willing to give some of the line pairings time to work things out.

 

[McOvechking]

Count me in the group that prefers the McDavid/Draiasitl combo over McDavid/Hall.

Hall holds on to the puck way to long. Draisaitl is great at making those quick little passes.

I like the idea of having RNH, McDavid and Hall on separate lines. All can be the primary puck carrier that way.

I'm tending to agree with that. When everyone is healthy, our roster should look something like:

Poo-Nuge-Ebs
Yakupov-McDavid-Draisaitl (switch Yak/Drai if needed)
Hall-Lander-Slepyshev
Korp-Letestu-Hendricks

To be completely honest, Hall has not played well enough to earn top 6 minutes. As far as I see it, he should have to earn those minutes in the regular season. I know preseason doesn't mean anything, but there's gotta be no excuses for him once Thursday hits.

Edit:

Its laughable that an org puts itself in this position every year. We're just along for the ride.

This team doesn't have a lot of time to get it together. Look at the schedule. BRutal start to the schedule. Unless this club plays excellent its buried in the first 20 games. Again.

And being without our most productive forward for that span is going to kill us even more. :'(

 

[SK13]

Yes but against mostly scrubs. And they frankly did not look very good in most of those games. Im just saying the first games we played against Nhl talent we did not do very well. They stunk in the first Van game and lost the second even though they played well.

They looked poor in exactly one of those games. Had a lesser line-up in at least 4 games, and won 3 of them.

Preseason records don't matter, don't get me wrong, but people revising history already bugs me.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Of note though, is that they lost the only two games that featured close to NHL rosters. Against a team that may not even make the playoffs this year.

Not a reason to panic, but a reason to be concerned.

I don't know, Calgary had an NHL roster.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Its laughable that an org puts itself in this position every year. We're just along for the ride.

This team doesn't have a lot of time to get it together. Look at the schedule. BRutal start to the schedule. Unless this club plays excellent its buried in the first 20 games. Again.

So what should we of done different? This org had mismanagement and garbage or inexperienced coaching for along time, I rather have one rough year to do it right then another 10+ years of garbage and mediocrity.

 

[Dorian2]

I'm kind of cutting through some of the main feel of this thread right now, so this may seem OT...but it's not.

To my eye, it seemed that there was quite the goal tending battle last night between Miller and Talbot. I thought that was the most enjoyable part of the game.

When was the last time we saw one of our own goal tenders trade licks with a Vancouver goalie?

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

huh? The hometeam Oilers played poor in the opening Calgary game. We had a stacked lineup against an AHL lineup and were trailing until late.

We played brutal against a Winnipeg AHL lineup missing the jets top 16 scorers and were still down 3-0 until late in the game.

Our starting NHL lineup was brutal all game against Vancouvers B squad. We allowed Horvat, Virtanen, Baiertchsi to rack up 10 pts.

What exactly is revisionist in the view that the Oilers played poorly in at least 3 of the games?

I would say the distortion is that the Oilers only played poorly in one of the games.

Lots of teams, good teams included played poorly in the pre season.

Pittsburgh went 3-5 and was tied for most goals against.

Colarado went 1-4-1 and scored 6 goals total.

Nashville, who are labeled as defensive Stewart's allowed 5 more goals then we have in 2 less games.

 

[Soundwave]

I will say this for Vancouver ... I don't think they're as bad as people think they are.

They're no where near as good as they used to be a couple of years ago when they were a legit contender, it's clear that window has closed, but they're not some terrible team either.

They play a relatively solid game with a physical edge. Their D don't make a ton of mistakes but they will need Ryan Miller to play decent at least this year.

People expecting them to be like 2nd or 3rd worst in the conference ... I don't see it.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

I will say this for Vancouver ... I don't think they're as bad as people think they are.

They're no where near as good as they used to be a couple of years ago when they were a legit contender, it's clear that window has closed, but they're not some terrible team either.

They play a relatively solid game with a physical edge. Their D don't make a ton of mistakes but they will need Ryan Miller to play decent at least this year.

For them to recover as an org they need to be bad for a few years. Staying in the bubble to long will damage their future a bit. They need to restock the cubbard and stop trading away quality goalies

 

[Soundwave]

For them to recover as an org they need to be bad for a few years. Staying in the bubble to long will damage their future a bit. They need to restock the cubbard and stop trading away quality goalies

Maybe it's for the best for us that they kinda stay in this "in between" mode, lol.

 

[Soundwave]

The main take aways from the pre-season

- They responded fairly well after playing an Eakins-esque game versus Vancouver the previous game. Followed it up by playing with much more compete, heaviness, and a puck possession game with minimal defensive lapses versus an almost complete Cancuks roster. That's a big positive. If they had bombed that game last night (and would have a year ago) then I would say we're in big, big trouble. We probably still will have a shaky start but at least it feels like we're going in the right direction for once.

- Draisaitl and McDavid work better than any other combination we tried with McDavid. Hall and McDavid still not clicking.

- Nilsson was probably the best goalie for what that's worth.

- Yakupov showed enough positives this pre-season

- Slepyshev brings size/some finish and we need both.

- Reinhart was solid.

- Pouliot + RNH picking up right where they left off last year.


The rest is gravy. I don't care about the record (good or bad). We talkin' 'bout pre-season, not the season, but pre-season/Iverson off.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

I have limitless patience for players applying themselves and putting an honest effort in while learning new systems.

I tend to be less patient when I know that the core players on this team are virtually incapable of playing series of games with due intensity and physicality because they've never been required to.

its great that Mclellan is making this team do drills that really test them. That tax them. But they're just not used to it.

A number of players on this club are used to playng well about once or twice a week and dogging the rest. In recent seasons pretty much every player on this club takes at least every 3rd game off.

Winning is a lot of work. Mclellan is already sensing and questioning the preparedness to do that work. he's on it.

And like I said, I know this year is going to be rough and I'm okay with that. There is a lot of the losing is okay mentality to get out of their systems and that will take time.

And like I said, as long as I see progress thru the year I'm okay with it. Better then just trading everyone away or doing nothing.