So.. Edmonton has to be the favorites coming out of the west, right?

[Mike Liut]

Hilarious thread. Can’t wait to see Vegas or the Blues beat the wheels off the Oilers. Then watch them miss playoffs for another few years.

Anytime there is no hockey (lockout, offseason, pandemic) Oiler fans spend the entire time convincing everyone how good they are, then they are disappointed every time. Classic

The Blues are the best team in the West, but there’s no way of knowing how teams will come out of the long layoff.

 

[McDavidCrushedLarkin]

If Edmonton gets another #1 pick I'm never watching again.

Here's hoping.

 

[member 305909]

I guess Edmonton has been ever since the big W left a bit like Memphis after Elvis.

 

[HarryLime]

Only thing they're favored to win is a lottery

 

[Crabapple]

The real answer is McDavid and draisaitl are dependant on Kevin Lowe. He knows a thing or two about winning.

Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee Kevin Lowe.

 

[Geardedandbearded]

Vegas and the blues always take a while to get up to speed and play their style so the only team I’m really worried about in the west this year is Colorado.

 

[Soundwave]

Colorado and St. Louis I think are the cream of the West.

That said the Oilers are significantly deeper this year versus last. They went from 5 forwards scoring at a double digit goal rate (10 or more goals) a year ago to this year the team has 11 forwards who cracked that mark or were pro-rated to do so.

Same thing for forwards scoring 30+ points basically.

That doesn't mean anything in a playoffs like this year, it will be a crapshoot for every team, 4+ month lay off, best of 5, no real home ice advantage, anything can happen.

 

[Draiskull]

What do the Oilers have a better chance at? The cup or Lafrennier?
No way they are the favorites to win the cup. There are so many better looking teams. Oilers' chance is about the same as Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver this year.
They would probably the favorites to win the Laf lotto if they lose out to CHI.

 

[HarryLime]

What do the Oilers have a better chance at? The cup or Lafrennier?
No way they are the favorites to win the cup. There are so many better looking teams. Oilers' chance is about the same as Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver this year.
They would probably the favorites to win the Laf lotto if they lose out to CHI.

Hoping they Beat Chicago so the inevitable doesnt happen

 

[Draiskull]

Hoping they Beat Chicago so the inevitable doesnt happen

Assuming EDM vs CHI is 60\40 odds. and then lotto round 2 is 12.5% chance. Oilers should have ~5% chance at 1st overall.
60% chance of making the playoffs (beating CHI) and then even 50% shot rest of the way makes it:
60%> 30%> 15%> 7.5%> 3.75%

Proven that shot at 1st overall > Cup

 

[JaegerDice]

EDM isn't even a prohibitive favorite coming out of the play-in round (though I would personally pick them).

Both STL and VGK make quick work of them IMO.

 

[HarryLime]

Assuming EDM vs CHI is 60\40 odds. and then lotto round 2 is 12.5% chance. Oilers should have ~5% chance at 1st overall.
60% chance of making the playoffs (beating CHI) and then even 50% shot rest of the way makes it:
60%> 30%> 15%> 7.5%> 3.75%

Proven that shot at 1st overall > Cup

They have 100% chance if they lose to CHI

 

[Draiskull]

They have 100% chance if they lose to CHI

shh, we are not allowed to disclose this in a public forum!

 

[McFlash97]

What do the Oilers have a better chance at? The cup or Lafrennier?
No way they are the favorites to win the cup. There are so many better looking teams. Oilers' chance is about the same as Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver this year.
They would probably the favorites to win the Laf lotto if they lose out to CHI.

Oilers would wipe the floor with Calgary and Vancouver. Relax

 

[McFlash97]

RNH and Yamamoto both had their numbers inflated by playing with the Art Ross Winner. RNH is a known quantity. He's a 55-70 point forward. Yamamoto is solid too. There both great top 6 guys, but nothing that isn't totally common around the league.

And no RNH is not as good as Toews.

RNH is much better then you think he is .. an extremely smart player who plays the game on the right side of the puck.

 

[Fig]

RNH is much better then you think he is .. an extremely smart player who plays the game on the right side of the puck.

This sounds factually correct. Left shots stick handle the puck mostly on their left side. As a LHS, RNH would generally be on the right side of the puck.

 

[blankall]

RNH is much better then you think he is .. an extremely smart player who plays the game on the right side of the puck.

I stated he was a 55-70 point forward...I'm not sure how he could possibly be considered much better than that. Apart from this season, where he was getting huge ice time with McDrai, he has been 55-70 points or less, and his career high is 69 points....I'd all ears. What makes RNH "much better" than his own career high in points, after 9 NHL seasons.

 

[ElysiumAB]

How long will HFBoard be down for if Edmonton gets that pick?

2024

 

[notsocommonsense]

Colorado and St. Louis I think are the cream of the West.

That said the Oilers are significantly deeper this year versus last. They went from 5 forwards scoring at a double digit goal rate (10 or more goals) a year ago to this year the team has 11 forwards who cracked that mark or were pro-rated to do so.

Same thing for forwards scoring 30+ points basically.

That doesn't mean anything in a playoffs like this year, it will be a crapshoot for every team, 4+ month lay off, best of 5, no real home ice advantage, anything can happen.

Agree with the first part of your post, really like St Louis and Colorado this year. Colorado specifically had an impressive year when you account for games lost to their top end players. With everyone healthy, my god how good can they be?

Edmonton may be deeper than last year but that’s not saying much. Yamamoto is a pleasant surprise ( understatement ) and Drai and McDavid are an incredible one two punch. But the talent drop off after those guys and Nuge is massive. I just don’t see them being deep enough to get past the Avs or the Blues.

 

[Soundwave]

Agree with the first part of your post, really like St Louis and Colorado this year. Colorado specifically had an impressive year when you account for games lost to their top end players. With everyone healthy, my god how good can they be?

Edmonton may be deeper than last year but that’s not saying much. Yamamoto is a pleasant surprise ( understatement ) and Drai and McDavid are an incredible one two punch. But the talent drop off after those guys and Nuge is massive. I just don’t see them being deep enough to get past the Avs or the Blues.

The Oilers are a bit deeper than what I think people here believe, they were not headed to a playoff spot, maybe even winning their division by accident.

Lets look at the Blues forwards no.5-11 versus the Oilers, I'll include basically Tarasenko as a place holder as one of their top 4 forwards to be fair.

Sanford - 16 goals //// Neal - 19 goals
Bozak - 13 goals //// Kassian - 15 goals
O'Reilly - 12 goals //// Ennis - 16 goals
Sundqvist - 12 goals //// Archibald - 12 goals
Barbashev - 11 goals //// Athansiou - 11 goals
Thomas - 10 goals //// Chiasson - 11 goals
Dunn - 9 goals //// Sheahan - 8 goals

The Oilers "support forwards" scored 92 goals this season in the NHL, the Blues forwards are 83 goals for forward spots 5-11.

Now do I think the Oilers roster is aces, no, Chiarelli did a lot of dumb things but Holland has made the team significantly deeper in a year. I think the Oilers are probably more like what the Avalanche were like 2 years ago ... remember the Avs were great early in MacKinnon's career, and then had like 2-3 horrendous seasons before finding themselves again, I think the Oilers are kinda similar to that.

Definitely not a "favorite" in the West as the thread title implies, but are they better than a year ago? Certainly. McDavid-Draisaitl-RNH-Yamamoto are the highest scoring foursome in the NHL, yes, but actually their forwards 5-11 did some work this year too.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Hilarious thread. Can’t wait to see Vegas or the Blues beat the wheels off the Oilers. Then watch them miss playoffs for another few years.

Anytime there is no hockey (lockout, offseason, pandemic) Oiler fans spend the entire time convincing everyone how good they are, then they are disappointed every time. Classic

You do realize this was started by a leafs fan right?

 

[Tobias Kahun]

RNH and Yamamoto both had their numbers inflated by playing with the Art Ross Winner. RNH is a known quantity. He's a 55-70 point forward. Yamamoto is solid too. There both great top 6 guys, but nothing that isn't totally common around the league.

And no RNH is not as good as Toews.

But I thought Draisaitl was a product of McDavid, and now RNH and Yamamoto are products of Draisaitl, so are they products of McDavid also?

 

[Three On Zero]

Oilers would wipe the floor with Calgary and Vancouver. Relax

Calgary and Vancouver both beat them in the season series. I wouldn’t be so quick to say the oilers would “wipe the floor”

 

[MNRube]

Oilers would wipe the floor with Calgary and Vancouver. Relax

How can you possibly say with any confidence? The arrogance is stunning amongst Oilers fans. A wholly unremarkable roster that somehow has turned into a juggernaut since hockey stopped.

 

[StonebeatsMcdavid]

But I thought Draisaitl was a product of McDavid, and now RNH and Yamamoto are products of Draisaitl, so are they products of McDavid also?

I thought the Oilers had no depth? Judging off the opinions of Oilers fans in this thread, they have the most depth in the league.

Oilers logic: Draisaitl should win the Hart because we have no depth

More Oilers logic: We are gonna win the cup because we are the most stacked team in the league and we have an incredible amount of depth

At this point the franchise is only becoming a bigger parody of themselves