Post-Game Talk: Sigh

[bucktown]

Staple lucic to the bench. Stop trotting him out there on the first line. Watching him throw blind passes for turnovers every shift is among the most painful things I've seen as a lifelong Oilers fan. Watching him stand around flat footed admiring the carnage after he does it is worse. Zero hustle.

 

[PulYou]

Well guess had we won would of been a nice surprice with the suffled lines, which seemed odd to begin with... Way to coach TMac...

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Good news, Team USA came back to beat Team Iceland!

 

[McDNicks17]

Tmac isn't doing Looch any favours with his usage. Stick him on the 3rd until he gets his mojo back. All Todd's accomplishing is making us hate on Looch even more than he deserves.

You say that like McLellan has any idea what "usage" means.

 

[Quality Oil]

Talbot was a disaster on the first few goals
My god

 

[SomeDudeOTI]

You say that like McLellan has any idea what "usage" means.

Or cares

 

[Lacaar]

I still maintain Klefbom is putting together the worst season of hockey I've ever seen from an Oiler considering his pedigree, expectation, and past performance.

 

[Del Preston]

I didn't watch, only listened to the final two minutes. Why did the pinhead behind the bench not pull Talbot when they had a PP late?

 

[Lacaar]

I also maintain that if McDavid wasn't on this team we would be making a run for the worst season in NHL history.

 

[McDNicks17]

I didn't watch, only listened to the final two minutes. Why did the pinhead behind the bench not pull Talbot when they had a PP late?

That would involve making a decision and/or adjustment during a game.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I liked the way he looked when he was out there with Nurse at times.

Of course. Put a rookie like Bear, who is known for his offensive game beside Sekera who due to injury is Gryba bad defensively this year...of course he might look suspect.

Put him with a guy like Nurse and you can actually watch his game.

 

[Quality Oil]

I also maintain that if McDavid wasn't on this team we would be making a run for the worst season in NHL history.

This team is such a f***ing joke without McDavid it's beyond reason.

 

[ZJuice]

Positives:
-Lucic didn’t look AS bad. Maybe he scores in the next 5 games
-Bear looked much better tonight. I like his passing and that he can get shots through. Especially that fake shot he did to open up a lane for himself!
-McDavid got a couple points..

Oh and Sekera didn’t suck as much.

 

[Soundwave]

I also maintain that if McDavid wasn't on this team we would be making a run for the worst season in NHL history.

Yeah but just wait. Chia can "fix" this. He's suddenly gonna start winning trades. Only a few "Chia tweaks" are needed.

 

[syz]

Well I had some hope when I checked the box score and RNH scored a goal assisted by McDavid. Don't know what I was expecting from these coaches.

 

[TheNumber4]

That last 2 minutes was an embarrassment. Can't get going on the PP and then get called for too many men on the ice. What a joke team.

- Talbot is weak mentally. You can just see how unfocused he is on the ice, a stupid delay of game penalty right after we score killing all momentum. A bad giveaway behind his net that almost lead to a goal against. Get this guy a f***in sport psychologist already. Hey maybe the doc will give the Oilers a 2 for 1 discount cause cement head Looch needs one too.

- Bear has already proven to have more offensive ability than any of our D-Men. Was making quick tape to tapes last game and this game was showing some quickness walking the blue line and showing Benning what an actual slapper towards the net looks like. Hint for Benning - shots need to be fast. Oh and he faked a shot and it actually worked! Holy hell the amount of times we see Sekera fake a shot and then still hit the dmens shins... maybe this kid will be able to teach our "NHL" dmen a thing or 2.

- Desharnais showing he's more effective than any of our bottom 6ers, just like he showed last year. You think Chia would have signed him but nope went for Jussi Waiver Wire Jokinen at the same price. Nice pro scouting department we have, can't even scout players that went to the 2nd round of the playoffs with us.

- Nice to see Nuge score in his first game back. Although it was a gimme by McDavid.

- Puljujaarvi still showing he has butterfingers with the puck at times. Hopefully it's a matter of confidence and not an indication of his skill.

- Draisaitl still turning it over. We've seen this before from him. Tries too hard or too fancy at times and it takes away from his game.

- Sekera looks ginger out there.

- Lucic is so bad right now he can't even play bad goalie properly out there. He blocked more shots of ours than new yorks d-men. Cement head moron.

-

 

[KarmaPolice]

Didn't see the game, but saw the hi-lites. Nuge looked good on the goal sort of playing as a LWer, out as the extra attacker I'm guessing. I know it's a reach to extrapolate from one event that happened so fast, but he seemed to know where to go and made no mistake. I'd love to see him on the top line as the LWer with McDavid just to see how they might click. Go with McD-Drai-Strome-Khaira down the middle. Probably need a coaching change for that to ever be considered, but this season is done, so why not try it for 10-15 games? What's to lose? More games and (perhaps) a better spot in the draft? Give it a shot. Also helps ease Nuge back in after the cracked ribs injury.

Hell, I've wanted to see Nuge on the LW for a long time now, and have said so more than a few times here, so it's not just the goal. But it did look pretty good. Although that would mean Looch slides down the lineup again, and I guess we can't have that.

 

[KCC]

Lucic getting special treatment. He's been terrible. Sit him or scratch him. At least that's what a good coach would do. Putting him on the top line as he slugs around is embarrassing to watch. And for what? To try and find the back of the net so he feels better about himself? And to think we have him for 5 more years. Blech.

 

[TheNumber4]

Didn't see the game, but saw the hi-lites. Nuge looked good on the goal sort of playing as a LWer, out as the extra attacker I'm guessing. I know it's a reach to extrapolate from one event that happened so fast, but he seemed to know where to go and made no mistake. I'd love to see him on the top line as the LWer with McDavid just to see how they might click. Go with McD-Drai-Strome-Khaira down the middle. Probably need a coaching change for that to ever be considered, but this season is done, so why not try it for 10-15 games? What's to lose? More games and (perhaps) a better spot in the draft? Give it a shot. Also helps ease Nuge back in after the cracked ribs injury.

Hell, I've wanted to see Nuge on the LW for a long time now, and have said so more than a few times here, so it's not just the goal. But it did look pretty good.

It was McDavid who was the extra attacker, it was Nuge who drew the penalty though. Well "drew" as in took a high hit trying to enter the Ozone. The same kind of ozone entry hit that broke his ribs.

 

[KarmaPolice]

At least Bear looked good tonight.

Good to hear. Have high hopes for the kid, and hope he gets better each game and pushes useless Benning and Russell down the depth chart -- the sooner the better.

 

[TheNumber4]

Lucic Training with a former NFL player this summer backfired he kept his same weight and added more muscle , which he needed not too do, he needed to get way slimmer , because now he is just a body builder physique on ice. It's so obvious how he struggles so poorly handling the pucks and his upper body so slow he cannot handle pssses or pokecheck fast enough along the boards.

Too much muscle leads to getting gassed earlier too. See it all the time in MMA. Maybe a reason he doesn't try hard at times. He should look at how Khaira improved his game as an example.

 

[walktheboulavard]

So frustrating this team is never ready for puck drop. Took them until the 3rd to start peppering a rookie back up. Talbot weak again, no doubt our defence is nothing to write home about but Talbot is stinking up the joint this year.

On a positive note, extremely encouraging what we're seeing from Bear. I'll admit, I didn't think he would be able to translate his game to the NHL so seamlessly (didn't think he possessed the mobility required out of offensive dmen to succeed in NHL), boy am I glad I was wrong. Too many people are handcuffed by the +/- (a stat that doesn't truly illustrate an individuals on ice performance; from my viewing he's earned only 1 out the -4 to his name) to see the much needed dimension he adds to our d corp. Our 2nd Unit pp actually looked so much better because of his ability to open/get shots through shooting lanes and distribute pucks around.

I agree with @booyakasha though he looked really good with Nurse when they were on the ice together, I think when Larsson gets back the pairings should be:
Klefbom Larsson
Nurse Bear
Russell/Sekera/Benning/OV2
Jones looked good today with a goal and assist in Bakersfield after coming back from a groin injury so it looks like we have another excellent late round pick on the way soon as well.

 

[walktheboulavard]

Good to hear. Have high hopes for the kid, and hope he gets better each game and pushes useless Benning and Russell down the depth chart -- the sooner the better.

He already pushed Benning down in his second game, he got bumped up to play with Klef like half way through the first.

 

[KarmaPolice]

It was McDavid who was the extra attacker, it was Nuge who drew the penalty though. Well "drew" as in took a high hit trying to enter the Ozone. The same kind of ozone entry hit that broke his ribs.

Ah okay. Put my point was that Nuge was positionally playing LW, practically speaking, on that play and seemed right at home. It's one play, but I've wanted to see that for SOOOO long now. I'd love to see Nuge with McD for 10 games. If it fails spectacularly then at least we know (or more importantly, I know, because I'm so very important ). Season is done anyway. The only goal should be to develop a few kids and get McDavid to 100 points again, just because and stuff.

 

[KarmaPolice]

He already pushed Benning down in his second game, he got bumped up to play with Klef like half way through the first.

Wow, nice. Go, Bear, go!!!

Did he get off any of his huge slappers?