The Year Of Sekera
- Thread starter OHLFan90
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McGoMcD
Registered User
I wouldnt say for sure better then Petry, as long as he's an adaquete replacement then it should be considered a positive.
Thanks for the read!
nexttothemoon
and again...
I definitely think Sekera is a solid top pairing dman... problem is there's ~120 dman minutes to be portioned out every game.. and he only eats up maybe 25 of them at the most... the other 95 minutes is spread amongst a ragtag crew of underachieving vets and young dmen still trying to find their way in the NHL.
Honestly the only other guy where I pretty much know what we're getting is Gryba who's a bottom pairing dman but his physicality is welcomed.
Obviously Nikitin is a huge question mark as is Ference to some degree... who I expect to slide further into #7 territory with his advancing age and declining abilities.
Funny thing with Ference is that he's in great shape... always... so really his underwhelming play is mostly due to his limited skillset... and he won't get better as he ages. He really should be stapled to the PB and only hit the ice when one of the 6 better dmen on the team are injured.
Instead Ference is often forced to play above his head in a 2nd pairing role which he just isn't good enough for... simply because most nights the Oilers simply don't have 6 better dmen to put into the lineup.
Klefbom/Schultz are still young and developing and who knows what they'll end up as. Klefbom could be top pairing or could be much slower to develop. I've seen some Jekyll and Hyde stuff from him... which is understandable with young dmen but again this team has no margin for error with so few legitimate, steady talent on D.
I'm even underwhelmed by Fayne.. I was rejoicing when they acquired him... but he was honestly pretty average... succumbing to Eakins+Swarm+general malaise that the rest of the team suffered through.
I think Fayne is one of those players who looks solid on a decent defensive team but again that IS NOT the Oilers so he takes a hit as well and looks worse than he is. I'd still say he's the 2nd most dependable Oilers dman behind Sekera... but that fact basically highlights the lack of reliable talent on the D.
Seems like this team excels at making the worst out of everything... accentuating the negatives and burying the positives of most of the players skillsets.
Nurse/Reinhart... who knows... more question marks... could crack the team and at least tread water or could take another year of AHL time to develop.
All in all... too many question marks and Sekera certainly can't answer them all but this D should definitely be better with him than without him. If they wouldn't have acquired Sekera I think I'd throw in the towel on the season basically as soon as it began if they couldn't upgrade the D more than just adding Gryba/Reinhart.
Honestly the only other guy where I pretty much know what we're getting is Gryba who's a bottom pairing dman but his physicality is welcomed.
Obviously Nikitin is a huge question mark as is Ference to some degree... who I expect to slide further into #7 territory with his advancing age and declining abilities.
Funny thing with Ference is that he's in great shape... always... so really his underwhelming play is mostly due to his limited skillset... and he won't get better as he ages. He really should be stapled to the PB and only hit the ice when one of the 6 better dmen on the team are injured.
Instead Ference is often forced to play above his head in a 2nd pairing role which he just isn't good enough for... simply because most nights the Oilers simply don't have 6 better dmen to put into the lineup.
Klefbom/Schultz are still young and developing and who knows what they'll end up as. Klefbom could be top pairing or could be much slower to develop. I've seen some Jekyll and Hyde stuff from him... which is understandable with young dmen but again this team has no margin for error with so few legitimate, steady talent on D.
I'm even underwhelmed by Fayne.. I was rejoicing when they acquired him... but he was honestly pretty average... succumbing to Eakins+Swarm+general malaise that the rest of the team suffered through.
I think Fayne is one of those players who looks solid on a decent defensive team but again that IS NOT the Oilers so he takes a hit as well and looks worse than he is. I'd still say he's the 2nd most dependable Oilers dman behind Sekera... but that fact basically highlights the lack of reliable talent on the D.
Seems like this team excels at making the worst out of everything... accentuating the negatives and burying the positives of most of the players skillsets.
Nurse/Reinhart... who knows... more question marks... could crack the team and at least tread water or could take another year of AHL time to develop.
All in all... too many question marks and Sekera certainly can't answer them all but this D should definitely be better with him than without him. If they wouldn't have acquired Sekera I think I'd throw in the towel on the season basically as soon as it began if they couldn't upgrade the D more than just adding Gryba/Reinhart.
