The Oiler's biggest difficiency

[Mcnofool6110]

I am very determined not to say spelling and grammar. So I'll say "coaching".

 

[McDoused]

Am I the only one that's happy with a Hendricks-Gordon-Pitlick as a fourth line?

Sure, we might not have all the pieces to be considered a powerhouse but most teams are lacking somewhere in their lineup. I mean look at the Avs. The Avs defence was mediocre but their outstanding goaltending made up for it. Lots of teams don't have "true top pairing dmen" or "elite second line centers". Another team I would look at is Toronto. They have Bozak and Kadri as their 1-2 punch and Reilly is probably their 2nd best dman already.

 

[cgf]

Am I the only one that's happy with a Hendricks-Gordon-Pitlick as a fourth line?

Sure, we might not have all the pieces to be considered a powerhouse but most teams are lacking somewhere in their lineup. I mean look at the Avs. The Avs defence was mediocre but their outstanding goaltending made up for it. Lots of teams don't have "true top pairing dmen" or "elite second line centers". Another team I would look at is Toronto. They have Bozak and Kadri as their 1-2 punch and Reilly is probably their 2nd best dman already.

The Avs still had a quality #1 with EJ's great year, Barrie breaking into a dangerous second pairing PMD/#3 and Hejda who was a very good top 4 stay at home guy before getting hurt and a forward core focused on protecting the defense. Our forwards were asked to do a ton of work against the puck which is why having the Stastny-Landeskog partnership and ROR on a different line was so important for us. So it wasn't just great goaltending hiding a lot of holes on defense, it was great goaltending , three truly excellent defensive forwards doing a lot of work with the other 9 guys (less Parenteau when he played), and 3 top 4 guys all having great years.

And that may take more work than adding the one more guy you need. I mean something around Eberle and Gudbranson could be fair in value, help both teams and would leave you guys nicely set up moving forward on d if the forwards start to offer more resistance, which with Perron, Klef or Marincin and some of your other moveable pieces could well be accomplished. Whereas replicating what the Avs did to compensate would take a lot more maneuvering.

 

[Up the Irons]

I'm tired of all this #2 centre talk. Is it ideal to have Arcobello or Drasaitl do it? Nope. Can they get the job done? Impossible to say with Leon, but Arcobello likely can.

Our biggest two holes are on the top blueline pair. We have no #1 or #2 defensemen right now. We are ahead of where we were last year, but we still need more help on the blueline than anywhere. And I would say that a legitimate starting goalie is more of a priority than a 2C as well, although I do hope we have one in either Scrivens or Fasth.

What we need is more good centres. Right now, today, RNH is ideally suited for 2C. We need another good top 6 centre and another good bottom 6 centre.

Right now we are hoping Arco can be an adequate top 6 c and for Draisailt to just not sink out there and be a defensive liability.

We are hoping to just be adequate. Think that one over. How does that sound? Is that really acceptable.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

A little touchy, are we? Relax man.

Most of what you said is regurgitated from this entire, and many past off-seasons. It's nothing new or inventive, but if you want feedback, good job?

You've offered solutions without the means of getting there.

General thesis: "We need this."

How is that any worst than the usual "this is why we're bad, but I won't offer any solutions" stuff that is usually posted?