Post-Game Talk: Tipped Off | Oilers lose series 3-1

[Oilers Propagandist]

Just woke up as I had a few more drinks last night than I usually have at the local pub, this still sucks.

 

[belair]

I question the logic behind Tippett's 'hard' line of Neal, Khaira and Chiasson in a set of games that completely lacked any sort of physicality.

The line of thinking may not necessarily be dated, but a lot of the things a live crowd usually feeds were rendered useless. That should have been a game one adjustment.

I'm upset with the outcome, but in the end we lived and died by the special teams this year.

 

[Cloned]

Woke up today and still incredibly angry. Haven’t been this mad at Oilers personnel since MAB and Conklin.

Tippett, Klefbom, Nurse, Sheahan, Kassian can all still GTFO.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Woke up today and still incredibly angry. Haven’t been this mad at Oilers personnel since MAB and Conklin.

Tippett, Klefbom, Nurse, Sheahan, Kassian can all still GTFO.

I’ve made peace with it. Probably better they get kicked like this than delude themselves into thinking that they are a contender.

 

[McJadeddog]

I agree. I felt this team overachieved a bit as well. Going in and knowing how well Chicago was playing prior to the break I figured our chances were 50/50 @ best.

Pure speculation but I can't imagine the double standard where to my eye it looks like McDrai are allowed to cheat and everyone else has to be perfect.

There have been games where we would lose 4 to 3 where McDavid was the primary reason we got every goal for but also almost every goal against as well. That just shouldn't happen with the supposedly best player in the world.

I think this is happening because we literally have no other options other than 97/29/93 for offence. It's why when Yams started putting the puck in the net at the end of the season, it completely changed the team makeup. Those 3 offensive drivers are allowed to cheat for offence because if they don't we'd have to rely on winning 2-1 games, and we don't have the defence or goaltending to win like that.

If this team had improved defence, or a 4th player who could consistently be an offensive threat, it would change the way those 3 players had to play as a totality.

 

[Cloned]

I’ve made peace with it. Probably better they get kicked like this than delude themselves into thinking that they are a contender.

Brain agrees, heart doesn’t.

 

[rboomercat90]

I actually could see them getting swept next round, that's how bad I thought we played. Didn't think they were anything special, we were just downright awful.

I’ve got no idea if the Hawks played well or not. That’s how awful the Oilers were. Outside of the third period of game two the Oilers didn’t force their will on them the entire series. Whenever the Hawks needed a goal in this series and they needed to push for one, they got it. Maybe we saw their best, maybe they have another gear. We weren’t good enough to find out. Our guys couldn’t make a play with the puck in their own end all series. I got the impression that had the Hawks fore checked hard all series instead of only when they needed to they could have scored 8 or 9 every game. We weren’t close to winning.

 

[Connor McConnor]

I'm as disappointed as all of you guys but lets be honest, even if we snuck by the Blackhawks in this series we weren't going ANYWHERE with this goaltending, bottom 6 and suspect defense. The bump in the draft, potential at automatically solving our forward depth issue with a cheap contract (lmao if we actually get Lafren), another offseason of growth for our pretty decent defensive prospects. The team took a step in the right direction this year after a massive step back last year. Holland showed that he actually has a plan, lets give him the benefit of the doubt. For as bad as Tipp was this series, he did a pretty decent job in the regular season.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I wonder how much playing in Edmonton made them feel too comfortable? No excuses but they seem way to chill haha

 

[oilers2020]

I think everyone is overreacting about our defense.

Even Cassie Campbell could see how our forwards were missing assignments in the D zone.

For the players it was a bad series but as a whole. McDavid was repeatedly called out for his poor play during the games on live television... despite scoring almost 3 points a game. That should tell you how bad he was. McDavid typically walks on water no matter how bad his defensive play has grown over the last couple years.

If you want to crap on the D you have to crap on our forwards as well. McDrai included. McDavids 5v5 goals differential is atrocious and it is a result of how HE plays and cheats.

-overreactin about the d
-can see how they blew their coverage.

Yeah, because this d is bad.

 

[oilers2020]

I agree. I felt this team overachieved a bit as well. Going in and knowing how well Chicago was playing prior to the break I figured our chances were 50/50 @ best.

Pure speculation but I can't imagine the double standard where to my eye it looks like McDrai are allowed to cheat and everyone else has to be perfect.

There have been games where we would lose 4 to 3 where McDavid was the primary reason we got every goal for but also almost every goal against as well. That just shouldn't happen with the supposedly best player in the world.

I think one way we cpuld mitigate that is a good mentor on the wings for defence. It might be worth seeing if they can get silvferberg out of anaheim.

 

[rboomercat90]

Yeah, only if they injure every star player on the opposing team each series.

Who’s going to stop them? Sure as hell won’t be the league.

 

[McJadeddog]

I think one way we cpuld mitigate that is a good mentor on the wings for defence. It might be worth seeing if they can get silvferberg out of anaheim.

Yeah, that would be a FANTASTIC pickup for Edmonton, but why would Anaheim trade him? Assistant Captain who they just signed to a 5 year deal, and he's young enough to still help the team during their rebuild. 5.2 million for a VERY defensively responsible player who also pots 20 goals a year is a good deal as well. Zero chance they trade him.

 

[oilers2020]

Yeah, that would be a FANTASTIC pickup for Edmonton, but why would Anaheim trade him? Assistant Captain who they just signed to a 5 year deal, and he's young enough to still help the team during their rebuild. 5.2 million for a VERY defensively responsible player who also pots 20 goals a year is a good deal as well. Zero chance they trade him.

True, although he will be old by the time they contend. They may value young pieces a bit more. There is also the small chance an offer sheet coild be made to tampa on Point, assuming they will still have cap problems.

 

[oobga]

Keep hoping that some coach is gonna come in and teach these guys how to play D as a group in their zone, but it just isn't happening. These guys played like total idiots in their end, forwards and D, almost the entire series. Chicago was finding open ice all the time around our net. Our forwards were constantly in no mans land in the band between the points and our net allowing D to get shots easily through to try for tips. We were obsessed with blocking shots instead of tying players up around our net and letting our goalies see shots. Chicago figured us out and exploited our habits throughout the series. They adjusted well to our powerplay too, the stuff you gotta battle through in a series vs playing different teams every night. We could not adjust in return.

Really hope a lot of lessons were learned from this series. Sadly, if some player changes are needed, it's going to be a challenge for Holland to make any big changes. Part Chia's fault and part his fault now with some expensive deals to 4th line quality guys like Kassian.

 

[MaxR11]

I agree. I felt this team overachieved a bit as well. Going in and knowing how well Chicago was playing prior to the break I figured our chances were 50/50 @ best.

Pure speculation but I can't imagine the double standard where to my eye it looks like McDrai are allowed to cheat and everyone else has to be perfect.

There have been games where we would lose 4 to 3 where McDavid was the primary reason we got every goal for but also almost every goal against as well. That just shouldn't happen with the supposedly best player in the world.

Absolutely. Now we all saw the vid where Connor supposedly said "f*** off kass" for being a bit of a chicken or just not knowing the angles and was way off on a shot block attempt that led to a goal against. How can your captain and leader demand better play from his players when he himself is not playing up to standards as far as consistent effort/urgency level and responsible play?

Now I'm going to speculate as well. This general poor leadership and culture we've had for a decade now speaks partly to the players obviously but also to the higher ups who allow it to fester. The likes of Katz and Lowe etc have been a constant here. I think there's a culture of those guys who run the show and have been here for a long time to protect and pamper and allow too long a leash for their superstars or star players (ie connor, leon etc) and there is certainly a double standard. They keep doing so until it's too late. They basically want to make these stars feel good /comfortable and to want to stay in Edmonton. Understandable but what happens is you actually allow these players to potentially not be complete players who have good habits and are winners. We hear about other orgs who are very hard and demanding on their top players even when they put up great numbers. There's just that extra/higher level of standards that transcends point production. Leadership and effort level and attention to details/defence is equally as important for those organizations and they don't give a cr** who they have to call out.

It really seems like this org is very adverse to calling out drai and connor and you can bet there have been many games where they really really needed to be called out for complete cr** efforts. Even when tippett does do it, it's very meek and vague and will always end with excuses for them. I get it, they're your horses and they carry the offence but at some point in time there needs to be way more from them as far as overall game and showing up with urgency as leaders.

I understand we dont know what happens behind closed doors and maybe they do get called out there... but if they do, they really don't seem to be learning all that quickly. It's always the same spiel after games. We just didn't come out ready, our urgency wasn't there, we weren't engaged or intense enough etc etc.

I spoke to 3 people today who aren't really hockey fans and don't watch much. All of them said almost exactly the same thing about the bits of the play in games they saw. "Oilers don't seem to try very hard. The hawks have so much space while Oilers just gliding around. I thought Connor and Leon were supposed to be really good?"

 

[oilers2020]

Absolutely. Now we all saw the vid where Connor supposedly said "f*** off kass" for being a bit of a chicken or just not knowing the angles and was way off on a shot block attempt that led to a goal against. How can your captain and leader demand better play from his players when he himself is not playing up to standards as far as consistent effort/urgency level and responsible play?

Now I'm going to speculate as well. This general poor leadership and culture we've had for a decade now speaks partly to the players obviously but also to the higher ups who allow it to fester. The likes of Katz and Lowe etc have been a constant here. I think there's a culture of those guys who run the show and have been here for a long time to protect and pamper and allow too long a leash for their superstars or star players (ie connor, leon etc) and there is certainly a double standard. They keep doing so until it's too late. They basically want to make these stars feel good /comfortable and to want to stay in Edmonton. Understandable but what happens is you actually allow these players to potentially not be complete players who have good habits and are winners. We hear about other orgs who are very hard and demanding on their top players even when they put up great numbers. There's just that extra/higher level of standards that transcends point production. Leadership and effort level and attention to details/defence is equally as important for those organizations and they don't give a cr** who they have to call out.

It really seems like this org is very adverse to calling out drai and connor and you can bet there have been many games where they really really needed to be called out for complete cr** efforts. Even when tippett does do it, it's very meek and vague and will always end with excuses for them. I get it, they're your horses and they carry the offence but at some point in time there needs to be way more from them as far as overall game and showing up with urgency as leaders.

I understand we dont know what happens behind closed doors and maybe they do get called out there... but if they do, they really don't seem to be learning all that quickly. It's always the same spiel after games. We just didn't come out ready, our urgency wasn't there, we weren't engaged or intense enough etc etc.

I spoke to 3 people today who aren't really hockey fans and don't watch much. All of them said almost exactly the same thing about the bits of the play in games they saw. "Oilers don't seem to try very hard. The hawks have so much space while Oilers just gliding around. I thought Connor and Leon were supposed to be really good?"

I normally am not a fan of arguments in favor of intangibles such as leadership and such, but the playoff bubble is a unique situation. Lack of fans cheering probably didnt work out too well for some players and we dont have the leadership to light that fire in their place.

 

[Arpeggio]

Lol yeah Connor's the problem, scoring 9 points in 4 games isn't enough, he needs to "will" the rest of the team to give a shit too. McDavid and Draisaitl clearly wanted to win, they were the only guys on the team that scored any goals.

The fact is the Oilers win this series if they don't give up an absurd amount of deflections and own goals. The team was good this year, and had won plenty of big games during the regular season. They also were able to shut teams down in the third consistently all year. Plenty of overreaction happening here, which I understand because it was an unbelievably frustrating series, especially when all I wanted for five months was to watch the Oilers and they go out like that. But it was still a positive season, if covid doesn't happen we're talking about this year completely differently.

 

[Geardedandbearded]

McDavid and draisaitl are part of a group of 4-6 players who managed to get up to about 70-80% of mid season form, and while they weren’t perfect(defence,etc.) they were far better than the rest of the roster who only brought 20% of what they’re capable of. Not the reason we lost imo

 

[McJadeddog]

True, although he will be old by the time they contend. They may value young pieces a bit more. There is also the small chance an offer sheet coild be made to tampa on Point, assuming they will still have cap problems.

But we have just as big of cap problems as Tampa does. Why would Point sign that deal though? Tampa is miles better than us, and Florida has a much more favorable tax scenario.

 

[MaxR11]

I normally am not a fan of arguments in favor of intangibles such as leadership and such, but the playoff bubble is a unique situation. Lack of fans cheering probably didnt work out too well for some players and we dont have the leadership to light that fire in their place.

Sheer talent and ability is obviously a big part of the equation but I do think people really underestimate the power and importance of some intangibles (ie leadership/culture). They play a massive role in motivation, unity, tightness as a group ON the ice and proper mental focus/sharpness and coordinated physical efforts. All those things will have a huge effect on how close to the top potential a team can play to on a consistent basis.

 

[Cloned]

But we have just as big of cap problems as Tampa does. Why would Point sign that deal though? Tampa is miles better than us, and Florida has a much more favorable tax scenario.

COVID and getting paid in American dollars while living in Canada.

 

[Soli]

 

[McJadeddog]

Lol yeah Connor's the problem, scoring 9 points in 4 games isn't enough, he needs to "will" the rest of the team to give a shit too. McDavid and Draisaitl clearly wanted to win, they were the only guys on the team that scored any goals.

The fact is the Oilers win this series if they don't give up an absurd amount of deflections and own goals. The team was good this year, and had won plenty of big games during the regular season. They also were able to shut teams down in the third consistently all year. Plenty of overreaction happening here, which I understand because it was an unbelievably frustrating series, especially when all I wanted for five months was to watch the Oilers and they go out like that. But it was still a positive season, if covid doesn't happen we're talking about this year completely differently.

Yup, 30-35% of hockey is luck, and we didn't have any this series. Chicago fans will say I'm making excuses, but that is the reality of what happened. The two teams play was very even actually. We scored like 3 goals on ourselves, and they didn't. They got about 3 lucky/garbage goals, compared to our 2. Those 2 things are really the series in a nutshell.

 

[oilers2020]

Yup, 30-35% of hockey is luck, and we didn't have any this series. Chicago fans will say I'm making excuses, but that is the reality of what happened. The two teams play was very even actually. We scored like 3 goals on ourselves, and they didn't. They got about 3 lucky/garbage goals, compared to our 2. Those 2 things are really the series in a nutshell.

Exactly. There were people making fun of how much hawks goals were going in from ping ponging off players.