Post-Game Talk: Team is broken, Bouchard is brutal, Nurse is overpaid and handicaps the cap

[CantHaveTkachev]

Short sample size playing a lot of teams like San Jose multiple times with McDavid scoring at a ridiculous rate making everyone else's job about 5x easier.

Much easier to be a goalie when you let in a goal ... hey no big deal, we'll just get it right back on this next PP here, relax.

Their GA went to shit once the playoffs started. Again.

so you saw the regression coming eh?

 

[Soundwave]

so you saw the regression coming eh?

I've said on this board many times when people criticize me that I am a teddy bear compared to reality.

Reality is quite often much, much more brutal.

I am only hard on this management team because I know our opponents are going to be 10x harsher on us, you cannot wear kid gloves when being honest in assessing this franchise. You need to be brutally honest, because reality is even more brutally honest.

And that seems to be the case. When you're not really properly built as a team things don't just "sorta go wrong", they have a tendency to completely fall apart.

It looks to me like this was a bad defensive team with bad goaltending (something I did say repeatedly over the summer), but what's happened on top of that is the belief of the top guys has been broken. There's a limit to how many times a goalie can shit the bed, the D can shit the bed, etc. before people mentally zone out.

 

[Da McBomb]

The media keeps telling me to wait for Connor Brown's production to come and that he will be a key player for us down the road.. Still waiting. What a freaking awful signing. Hell I'd rather even have Yamo or Kostin. F U Holland. Hyman Lite? Yah right...

 

[BlackDogg]

Best to focus on your work/career to take your mind off of the mentally vexatious Oilers.

 

[Soundwave]

The media keeps telling me to wait for Connor Brown's production to come and that he will be a key player for us down the road.. Still waiting. What a freaking awful signing. Hell I'd rather even have Yamo or Kostin. F U Holland.

I'd rather have Ty Rattie, lol.

I said it very clearly at the time of the signing, it was an awful, awful move to make with tons of downside and very little upside. The only upside possible in that contract is if the Oilers make a Cup Finals and he plays a massive role in them doing so coming off an ACL injury.

It was a stupid, stupid risk to take.

 

[ConnorNova0929]

The media keeps telling me to wait for Connor Brown's production to come and that he will be a key player for us down the road.. Still waiting. What a freaking awful signing. Hell I'd rather even have Yamo or Kostin. F U Holland.

And this coach playing Brown on a line with McDavid and Draisatl? Haha, it's a complete joke. At best Brown is a third liner but should probably be doing his spins on the fourth line with about 7 minutes ice time.

 

[mkatcherin00]

The media keeps telling me to wait for Connor Brown's production to come and that he will be a key player for us down the road.. Still waiting. What a freaking awful signing. Hell I'd rather even have Yamo or Kostin. F U Holland.

Were they going to take about league min this year to play? McLoed is just as useless and does is as soft as a babys bottom. Another sh** signing. Him gone lets us keep a Kostin

And this coach playing Brown on a line with McDavid and Draisatl? Haha, it's a complete joke. At best Brown is a third liner but should probably be doing his spins on the fourth line with about 7 minutes ice time.

McDavid and Draisaitl should be able to turn almost anybody into somebody decent, like Crosby was doing during his prime. That is the whole point of paying them large sums of $$

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I'd rather have Ty Rattie, lol.

I said it very clearly at the time of the signing, it was an awful, awful move to make with tons of downside and very little upside. The only upside possible in that contract is if the Oilers make a Cup Finals and he plays a massive role in them doing so coming off an ACL injury.

It was a stupid, stupid risk to take.

Connor Brown is a Jeff Jackson acquisition...in case you wanted a preview of what he wants

 

[bone]

Time to blow this puppy up. With this season pretty much guaranteed to be a write off they need to do everything in their power to have a big summer. Literally every player but McDavid and Draisaitl (and maybe Bouchard) needs to be made available for the right offer.

Next year, will be the most important in franchise history with it being Drai's last year on contract and McDavid's second last year and as such they cannot let Brown's bonus money come out of next years cap. They need to move anyone they can for maximum possible return loading up all the bullets into the chamber to pull at the draft and July 1st. Then show Draisaitl what the new GM can assemble out of the rubble to try and convince him it's worth sticking with the team.

Letting this team ride as it is currently constructed will be a massive fail and will ultimately push Draisaitl out.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

the team was 9th in GA after the Ekholm acquisition

And Vegas still took us apart.

 

[Soundwave]

Connor Brown is a Jeff Jackson acquisition...in case you wanted a preview of what he wants

If he was a GM I doubt he would have agreed to that deal.

Just because I sucker you into giving me Park Place for Connecticut Avenue in Monopoly doesn't mean I'd return the favor. All that means is I'm taking advantage of you.

If anything that probably shows Jackson is smarter than Holland because he took Holland to the cleaners on that. For his sake he better be.

Time to blow this puppy up. With this season pretty much guaranteed to be a write off they need to do everything in their power to have a big summer. Literally every player but McDavid and Draisaitl (and maybe Bouchard) needs to be made available for the right offer.

Next year, will be the most important in franchise history with it being Drai's last year on contract and McDavid's second last year and as such they cannot let Brown's bonus money come out of next years cap. They need to move anyone they can for maximum possible return loading up all the bullets into the chamber to pull at the draft and July 1st. Then show Draisaitl what the new GM can assemble out of the rubble to try and convince him it's worth sticking with the team.

Letting this team ride as it is currently constructed will be a massive fail and will ultimately push Draisaitl out.

Bouchard should be shopped this off-season. His value will be sky high. I'm not saying accept any offer, but if there is a whopper of a deal to be had, sell high and move on.

This team cannot insulate a player that non-chalant about playing defense.

Bouchard and the 2024 1st are probably going to be the largest currency the next GM will have to do something with next summer.

 

[mkatcherin00]

If he was a GM I doubt he would have agreed to that deal.

Just because I sucker you into giving me Park Place for Connecticut Avenue in Monopoly doesn't mean I'd return the favor. All that means is I'm taking advantage of you.

If anything that probably shows Jackson is smarter than Holland because he took Holland to the cleaners on that. For his sake he better be.



Bouchard should be shopped this off-season. His value will be sky high. I'm not saying accept any offer, but if there is a whopper of a deal to be had, sell high and move on.

This team cannot insulate a player that non-chalant about playing defense.

Bouchard and the 2024 1st are probably going to be the largest currency the next GM will have to do something with next summer.

Any team with some good solid dmen that are struggling with offense would give up some nice players. Too lazy to go research that.

 

[bone]

If he was a GM I doubt he would have agreed to that deal.

Just because I sucker you into giving me Park Place for Connecticut Avenue in Monopoly doesn't mean I'd return the favor. All that means is I'm taking advantage of you.

If anything that probably shows Jackson is smarter than Holland because he took Holland to the cleaners on that. For his sake he better be.



Bouchard should be shopped this off-season. His value will be sky high. I'm not saying accept any offer, but if there is a whopper of a deal to be had, sell high and move on.

This team cannot insulate a player that non-chalant about playing defense.

Bouchard and the 2024 1st are probably going to be the largest currency the next GM will have to do something with next summer.

All the more reason to shop as many guys as possible. Stay low in the standings and acquire as much capital as you can. Selling the next two firsts for a goalie that will turn into a pumpkin again, guarantees us losing both Drai and McDavid. The current GM already has auctioned off too many assets that could have been used to make a jump next year, he can't sell off any more to try and save this season.

If McDavid and Draisaitl get pissy about it. Tough, tell them they should have played better, but ensure them the goal is to put us into a much better position to bring in some reinforcements for next season.

 

[K1984]

Bouchard should be on the third pairing and 1st PP. Similar to Barrie before he got traded.

He should also have his ice limited if we're in the lead.

Just before his circus act on the winning goal last night I was thinking "why play Bouchard at all right now, he's the one guy bound to f*** it up" then sure enough he does it a few mins later.

Frankly he needs to be handled like MA Bergeron right now. PP time, O zone draws, and easy matchups only for him. As dumb of a player as he is he can still be a net positive if one coach or another would be willing to actually manage him so he isn't in nearly as many situations that could bury the team. I don't buy the argument of "oh well he only has Ceci and Desharnais behind him on the right side, so can't limit him!" Yes, yes you can. I can't see any situation where Ceci and/or Desharnais could possibly be any riskier than him in defensive situations.

I don't understand how coaching staff after coaching staff can't bring themselves to do anything with Bouchard other than keep throwing him out there in a top pair role so he can get 2 assists and finish -3.

 

[K1984]

Time to blow this puppy up. With this season pretty much guaranteed to be a write off they need to do everything in their power to have a big summer. Literally every player but McDavid and Draisaitl (and maybe Bouchard) needs to be made available for the right offer.

Next year, will be the most important in franchise history with it being Drai's last year on contract and McDavid's second last year and as such they cannot let Brown's bonus money come out of next years cap. They need to move anyone they can for maximum possible return loading up all the bullets into the chamber to pull at the draft and July 1st. Then show Draisaitl what the new GM can assemble out of the rubble to try and convince him it's worth sticking with the team.

Letting this team ride as it is currently constructed will be a massive fail and will ultimately push Draisaitl out.

If we are shaking up this team I am prioritizing moving RNH, Bouchard and McLeod. For far too long this team has been full of players that are high skill, low pace, low compete and soft on pucks and in defensive situations. If we want to establish a culture shift, these types of players have to go. All of them likely movable as well.

If anything, Bouchard is THE guy to move on from in a shakeup for a bunch of reasons.

- Optimizes everything wrong with this team from a compete/defense perspective
- Is likely going to cost an insane amount of money when he re-signs that probably won't be worth it because he isn't reliable enough to support the minutes required from someone making $8M+
- Still has enough value to get us an impactful return

We need to stop nipping around the edges of this and actually make some ballsy trades for once in the lifetime of this team. For far, far, too long management has taken the mindset of "oh well can't trade him!" before that player's trade value craters or we have to sign him to a deal that we regret.

 

[ottawah]

The I look at some of the stats, its obvious Ekholm is really dragging this D corps down. Injury or what not, an improvement from him would really help.

His possession quality (XGF-XGA) is by far the worse, despite getting the second best minutes. Leading the D corp in turnovers. Tied for worst in Goals against. All that for a high comparative salary. If he is hurting, they need to rest him. He is too good a player normally to look this bad in comparison.

Sure, Nurse has to do better. Yeah he gets some tough minutes, but looks like a poor mans Ceci at 3 times the cost. Speaking of, people may dump on Ceci, but he's not turning the puck over, has a team league Possession Quality despite playing the toughest minutes, plus very comparable OIGA. Not perfect, but for what he does at that salary that quite acceptable.

Bouchard ... easy minutes, but turnovers and consistently seeing the puck in his own net when he is on the ice is a concern. Maybe he helps generate counteracting offense, but thats also largely a factor of who he plays with and the type of minutes. I'd consider it acceptable given his salary and alternatives

Kulak/Deshrnais at least have some positive attributes given they get tougher minutes and cost almost nothing. Offense is non-existant but low turnovers, good PQ and low salary make it a workable bottom pairing.

P(non PP) OZs OIGA PQ TO Sal
Bouchard 17(10) 67.6 23 +1.1 16 3.9
Ekholm 6(4) 51.7 23 -2.0 17 6.0
Nurse 5(4) 44.5 23 -0.1 9 9.2
Ceci 4(4) 39.7 20 +1.4 2 3.2
Kulak 2(2) 48.6 18 +1.1 6 2.7
Desharnais 1(1) 39.9 13 +1.2 6 0.9


Would like to find a site with reliable QOC and QOT stats, anyone know one?

 

[TheNumber4]

https://x.com/timcpeel20/status/1726842643638862334?s=46&t=Nl-7sh02eoSi6fWra-9fRg

Lol

Lol so essentially when Spec gets criticized he gets toxic to the point where he’d get banned on HF for talking like that.

Such thin skin, good to know though. Now when I attack him on Twitter i know it cuts deep. Which is good, cause f*** Spec.

 

[KlefDown]

Dude .. are you related to Bouchard or something? This team spent a first round (top 10) draft pick on Evan, coddled him into the lineup with the most gravy minutes available, and this year gave him a $3.9 contract. None of that is out of line with the physical tools this player has.

The problem is his ten cent head. You (presumably) watch the games. Just count his f*** ups on any given night. He doesn't even appear to be trying to play his position correctly. His lack of effort to get back into the play is pretty shocking for an NHL player who is only 24. He goes out game after game and repeats the same errors that he just made in the previous game. All the while he skates around with a stunned look on his face as if he can’t believe what’s going on around him.

He is playing bad. He’s not alone in that regard for sure, but this is a player that got brought along as ‘correctly’ as is humanly possible. Can’t lay the blame for his deplorable game on the GM or the coach. This year he also has one of best guys on the team (a respected NHL vet) as his d-partner and he’s inexplicably playing even worse - and cratering his partners game at the same time.

So no, blame Holland for the Nurse deal or the Campbell deal or the idiotic Brown contract and you won’t hear a peep from me. But Evan Bouchard, who is costing the team an average of one goal a game with his brain dead hockey, is solely to blame for the abysmal state of his effort and execution on the ice. He needs to straighten up and grow a little professionalism.

bro my comment was clearly sarcasm

I agree with everything you said, sorry to get you all riled up at 7:15am

also not here to defend Bouchard but he's literally been our best defenseman...

 

[North]

It started even earlier than that, I’d say the Hall trade

Nah. Once we had Connor and Leon it was just a matter of properly building around them specifically the backend.

They decided Nurse was a core player and a number one d man. He’s not. He can’t read a play to save his life.

 

[brentashton]

bro my comment was clearly sarcasm

I agree with everything you said, sorry to get you all riled up at 7:15am

also not here to defend Bouchard but he's literally been our best defenseman...

I’d argue it’s been Kulak. But your point is taken. The entire group has been shit. It’s really hard to select any of them as being “the best”. It’s like selecting the prettiest Gabor sister. Woof.

 

[TheNumber4]

bro my comment was clearly sarcasm

I agree with everything you said, sorry to get you all riled up at 7:15am

also not here to defend Bouchard but he's literally been our best defenseman...

Bouchard has been complete trash defensively. These TEAM stats that show the Ice being slightly tilted while he’s on the ice with our best forwards doesn’t mean he hasn’t been trash defensively.

If XGF meant as much as Liang thought it did, we wouldn’t be near dead last in this League right now.

 

[Gordy Elbows]

Don’t drink the toilet water Ken!!

Now you warn him….bit late.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Now you warn him….bit late.

Better late than never.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Best to focus on your work/career to take your mind off of the mentally vexatious Oilers.

I'm retired. I need another hobby. In summer so many other things to do. In winter one of my hobbies is snowshoeing. heh. I'd have to go to a ski hill to do that with artificial snow.

My sad hobby lately has been cleaning house and improving organization in the home. Pretty soon I'll be organizing socks with respect to seasons. lordy...

 

[brentashton]

I'm retired. I need another hobby. In summer so many other things to do. In winter one of my hobbies is snowshoeing. heh. I'd have to go to a ski hill to do that with artificial snow.

My sad hobby lately has been cleaning house and improving organization in the home. Pretty soon I'll be organizing socks with respect to seasons. lordy...

I’m sure there is a cupboard full of Tupperware and Rubbermaid and assorted mis-matching lids that needs sorting and cleaning.

Just trying to be helpful, Drive!!