Training Camp Aftermath Thread

[OiledUp]

The Hunt thing is odd. Nurse and Klefbom to my eye had a better pre-season. To me it adds another piece to the idea that they want to keep the battle for spots alive. Nurse and Klefbom has to earn their playing time all the way. In this case it feels slightly artificial but it is what it is. As long as they're not stubborn about I'm fine with it. Hopefully Hunt takes this chance and runs with it but that pairing looks scary defensively.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Hunt was #6 in AHL scoring among dmen and had 170 shots in 66 games down there.

Obviously that's the AHL and NHL is a different story... but the Oilers are grasping at straws to find more offense from the blueline so I can see why they want to give Hunt another cup of coffee here.

Neither Klefbom or Marincin have shown much in the way of offense yet at the NHL level either and of course it's unknown what Nurse can do.

It's possible and even probable that Nurse/Klefbom/Marincin are all better all-around dmen than Hunt... but offensively and specifically at getting shots on the PP... where the Oilers are obviously lacking... Hunt may have a skill that the Oilers are trying to target.

The experiment may fail... but I can at least see why they are giving him a look.

He played all of 38 minutes and 3 minutes on the PP last season and generated just 1 shot. Oilers likely feel that's a pretty small sample and would like to see a bit more of him before they toss him aside for the younger options.

 

[guymez]

Hunt was #6 in AHL scoring among dmen and had 170 shots in 66 games down there.

Obviously that's the AHL and NHL is a different story... but the Oilers are grasping at straws to find more offense from the blueline so I can see why they want to give Hunt another cup of coffee here.

Neither Klefbom or Marincin have shown much in the way of offense yet at the NHL level either and of course it's unknown what Nurse can do.

It's possible and even probable that Nurse/Klefbom/Marincin are all better all-around dmen than Hunt... but offensively and specifically at getting shots on the PP... where the Oilers are obviously lacking... Hunt may have a skill that the Oilers are trying to target.

The experiment may fail... but I can at least see why they are giving him a look.

He played all of 38 minutes and 3 minutes on the PP last season and generated just 1 shot. Oilers likely feel that's a pretty small sample and would like to see a bit more of him before they toss him aside for the younger options.

Excellent post.Very well articulated.

 

[knockoutpanda]

Our shot on the PP can be covered by Nikitin. That is the one thing everyone in Columbus said that is surprising about Nikitin, his shot. There is no reason to play Hunt on the PP other than MacT got it up his @#$ that Hunt can help opffensively. If that is true why play him with Schultz why would you not spread the offense around? This team makes no sense.

 

[guymez]

Our shot on the PP can be covered by Nikitin. That is the one thing everyone in Columbus said that is surprising about Nikitin, his shot. There is no reason to play Hunt on the PP other than MacT got it up his @#$ that Hunt can help opffensively. If that is true why play him with Schultz why would you not spread the offense around? This team makes no sense.

I suspect that the 2 PP pairings will be....

Nikitin Petry
Hunt Schultz.

Petry isnt as much of a shooter but these pairings at least makes the PP harder to defend because of the option to shoot from either side.

With only 1 shooter at the point it really limits a PP's effectiveness.

That would be my guess.

 

[McPuritania]

It's cool that we've finally been able to acquire NHL depth, and yet AHL scrubs keep infiltrating our team. Hooray!

 

[nexttothemoon]

I would hope the Oilers go with 2 dmen on each PP unit.

I know it's tempting to go with 4 forwards because of all the talent up front but it gives a free pass to teams to be aggressive on the PK when they know there is only 1 dman back there... and of course we saw that happen many times last season with all the shorties scored against the team.

 

[Moose Coleman]

Hunt is Grebeshkov, Grebeshkov is Hunt, MacT once again thinks that he's smarter than he really is. Arrogance is a helluva drug!

Grebeshkov played 7 games for the Oilers (a grand total of 96 minutes), had one assist and was even. He was a non-factor. If that's what we get from Hunt, I don't really see what the fuss is about.