Post-Game Talk: Two loser points in a row! Can we make it a streak?

[EnufAlready]

I want to see Draisaitl’s line be the new legion of doom line. 3 big heavy players.

Foegele-Draisaitl-JP

Mcdavids line will be more of a speed/skill line.

RNH-Mcdavid-Hyman

Third line is the kid line.

Benson-McLeod-Yamamoto

The 4th line is the grinding line.

Shore-Scevior/Ryan-Kassian

Legion Of Doom with Leon??? Must be a different player than I watch.

 

[RegDunlop]

The reality is we drafted Benson 6yrs ago. He's had about 5 pro camps, he's been given every opportunity, and he's even been pencilled into the years starting lineup at least twice. He's lost his position every time. He loses it to walk ons like Shore. We've obtained zero goals from somebody that was a 32 pick. Not one goal. He only has one assist as well.

Conversely I have all kinds of trust for McLeod playing on the same bottomsix. Also for Bourgault who showed more in one camp than Benson ever has and I said so. I also have some confidence Foegele will come around. The trouble with how our club is structured is that in our bottom six only McLeod, Kass, Foegele can even play. Sceviour has plenty of try but he's not much either. The others are just really bad players at this point. So that if we're missing any player both of our bottom lines can struggle. Just how weak our roster is.

We lost all of Neal, Chiasson, Ennis, Gagner, Archibald guys that aren't a whole lot, but at least can play and have had results in this league. Maybe if we had any of those guys our bottomsix, aside from a few, wouldn't look so bad. 32 teams didn't want Shore, Sceviour, Perlini. They were in walk on positions. Due to how inactive Holland is completing this roster he's mroe content than any GM just signing up players like this. Not sure if its basic laziness at this point. he just doesn't look for anything better.

... to carry this convo -
Perhaps I've notched my horse to the wrong rail (I've no idea why I just said that - not how I soeak!!!). I agree totally on Benson. I'm just gun shy that management knows what's its doing.

 

[RegDunlop]

Its just flat out crazy how much criticism he gets. He's 1 pt behind McD for leading scoring race and has the most goals, and he played last couple games with Shore and Yama. Meanwhile McD flat out doing nothing with Hyman and Pulju. Gee, give Drai one of those guys.

C McD is by far the most incredible player I've ever witnessed making moves / plays at the speed he does. Ever. Including Gretz, Bure, or anyone else people want to contest.

However L Drai is the foundation of a team. He is everything. Does everything. Leads by example and I'm only assuming but in room as well. The fact that he is a leading scorer in the league is all bonus.

He is deserved of criticism as every player is at times. But the shit he takes the minute he doesn't carry this horseshit on his back the bullets come out. Totally asinine.

 

[EnufAlready]

C McD is by far the most incredible player I've ever witnessed making moves / plays at the speed he does. Ever. Including Gretz, Bure, or anyone else people want to contest.

However L Drai is the foundation of a team. He is everything. Does everything. Leads by example and I'm only assuming but in room as well. The fact that he is a leading scorer in the league is all bonus.

He is deserved of criticism as every player is at times. But the shit he takes the minute he doesn't carry this horseshit on his back the bullets come out. Totally asinine.

He could be all those things. Hes not. The best leaders dont lead the league in giveaways as Leon did last season and is this season(forwards only). They dont continually get caught on the ice bagged. They set good examples 95% of the time,we all have bad days…

A big man like Leon with only 19 hits?

Kills penalties and has 5 block shots?

Joe Pavelski 41 Hits and 23 Blocks
Ovy has 43 Hits and 7 blocks

These guys have been around the block and Ovy aint on the Kill. Lol

Leo and the Legion of Doom should not be used in the same sentence.

We are missing what this guy is capable of. And so is he.

i love watching Leon at times. Not much at all these days

 

[Proko88]

Anyone think Paul Maurice would be available?

 

[RegDunlop]

He could be all those things. Hes not. The best leaders dont lead the league in giveaways as Leon did last season and is this season(forwards only). They dont continually get caught on the ice bagged. They set good examples 95% of the time,we all have bad days…

A big man like Leon with only 19 hits?

Kills penalties and has 5 block shots?

We are missing what this guy is capable of. And so is he.

i love watching Leon at times. Not much at all these days

He is frustrating at times. But I blame system / coaching for a lot.

A coach should recognize when a players on his game or not and adjust ice time accordingly. I admit some is on Leon but every person who ever put on skates wants to be on the ice all the time. Why does this staff allow both him and Conner to continue this?

He hits. He battles. He wins. A lot. He also goes away for a couple weeks every December. But jes also just into his prime. Too smart not to figure out what he needs to adapt to be at his best.
Despite this ridiculous management.

 

[EnufAlready]

He is frustrating at times. But I blame system / coaching for a lot.

A coach should recognize when a players on his game or not and adjust ice time accordingly. I admit some is on Leon but every person who ever put on skates wants to be on the ice all the time. Why does this staff allow both him and Conner to continue this?

He hits. He battles. He wins. A lot. He also goes away for a couple weeks every December. But jes also just into his prime. Too smart not to figure out what he needs to adapt to be at his best.
Despite this ridiculous management.

Quite a few great players ruined by Oilers coaching

Remember, I want Leon to be an Oiler for a long time! But without an honest coach he will continue his ways. Same with Bouch, both need some tough love

 

[Rengorlex]

Quite a few great players ruined by Oilers coaching

Remember, I want Leon to be an Oiler for a long time! But without an honest coach he will continue his ways. Same with Bouch, both need some tough love

McDrai both should've been ripped on by the coach from how they played the OT. It was incredibly selfish and incredibly dissapointing at this stage of their careers.

 

[Duke74]

Legion Of Doom with Leon??? Must be a different player than I watch.

Go join the Leafs or Flames board. Seriously. EnufAlready with you.

 

[foshizzle]

McDrai both should've been ripped on by the coach from how they played the OT. It was incredibly selfish and incredibly dissapointing at this stage of their careers.

Lol, what? The game before they played 28 and 24 mins. People on here, Twitter, Reddit, all called those two being gassed by the third period. Tippett, knowing it’s a back to back in less than 24 hours runs his two stars into the ground. It’s on coaching

 

[EnufAlready]

Go join the Leafs or Flames board. Seriously. EnufAlready with you.

Why? Because I want a new coach to come in and fix systems and players that are broken? If you dont think Leos been broke for a month then just keep watching with your eyes wide shut. Hes not the only one.

 

[Spawn]

Why? Because I want a new coach to come in and fix systems and players that are broken? If you dont think Leos been broke for a month then just keep watching with your eyes wide shut. Hes not the only one.

Because you’re obviously a troll lmao.

 

[space321]

He could be all those things. Hes not. The best leaders dont lead the league in giveaways as Leon did last season and is this season(forwards only). They dont continually get caught on the ice bagged. They set good examples 95% of the time,we all have bad days…

A big man like Leon with only 19 hits?

Kills penalties and has 5 block shots?

Joe Pavelski 41 Hits and 23 Blocks
Ovy has 43 Hits and 7 blocks

These guys have been around the block and Ovy aint on the Kill. Lol

Leo and the Legion of Doom should not be used in the same sentence.

We are missing what this guy is capable of. And so is he.

i love watching Leon at times. Not much at all these days

Who gives a shit about hits and blocks lmao for a player like Leon lmao

 

[EnufAlready]

I guess you dont care if hes a giveaway king and takes two minute shifts either.

One guys says he should be on the Legion of Doom line, another laughs his head off that he should hit or block shots.

 

[Proko88]

Rob Brown is the reason that I stopped listening to the after-show. Yes, he's pretty knowledgeable but he's also a big baby if anyone disagrees with him. He's ripped into callers for that and wouldn't let it go. He's done that to Reid as well. Like he can't handle critique of his viewpoints. I don't know if he's changed since my last listen a few years back but man that type of behavior I don't respect.

Like when they laughed at Adam from Red Deer and him saying Keith is coming to Edmonton

 

[joestevens29]

I saw Koskinen taking a lot of heat for losing the game, but man the team really made him work in the third period. Constant pressure by the Isles that would wear down a lot of guys.

 

[Duke74]

Why? Because I want a new coach to come in and fix systems and players that are broken? If you dont think Leos been broke for a month then just keep watching with your eyes wide shut. Hes not the only one.

We all want a new coach, I think. Although to be honest, the root of the problem lies much deeper than coaching, which is why Tippett looks like he's given up.

As for Draisaitl, he usually takes the month of December off. Comes flying out of the gate, hits a wall, sucks for 4-6 weeks, and (hopefully) regains his form. It's incredibly frustrating as a fan to watch these "spells" so I can empathize with you in that regard. He may have checked out because he's ignoring Tippett or he may simply be overplayed, which, again is, at least partially, on Tippett. However, as a professional, he also needs to take responsibility for his shift length and get off when tired. This will give him more energy and hence better play at both ends of the rink.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Sorry, not a troll, just found out about this site through a friend and want to discuss the sad team I watch

My brothers a leafs fan and so I’ve watched my fair share of leafs games….and I think you might have a skewed view of Babcock

Firstly, his “structure”: 5 v 5 offence will get better, Babcock would run red line stretch passes and that’s what made players who could move the puck like Rielly so effective. His defence was Frederick Andersen. They had a legit 60 game starter who had very respectable numbers, not Mr no glove hand and mr injury’s himself every time he does the butterfly. Babcocks team, whether through personelle or system, couldn’t defend the cycle at all, they were average on the rush but sucked defending the cycle. Frederick Andersen bailed them out for 4 years, and now Jack Campbell is doing it to a much improved team

Secondly his lid: Babcock is notorious for benching guys like Marner and nylander, but never benched Matthews or Tavares. So someone like pul or RNH would be thrown under the bus whilst McDrai would probably get off Scotch free. He loved hyman so he’d stick Mcdavid and Hyman together, then probably force either foegele or McLeod on the other wing as foegele is the type of player he likes, or because he will see potential in McLeod and once he does that, no matter how bad McLeod may be, he ain’t coming off that line.

thirdly his structure, the leafs always started late, they often gave up the first goal too. In 19-20 in their 23 games with him, they gave up the first goal the most in the league. Babcock couldn’t get the leafs to start on time consistently apart from 17-18.

I honestly think this team firstly needs a look at its players at the same time as coaching:

I’d say the players we have are a huge problem. Our bottom 6 has maybe 1 player in foegele that might crack a contenders roster. Our defence has maybe 2. Our goaltending is ahl worthy on other teams. We either need to rework the lines to have two capable players and one boat anchor in the top 9, or we need to acquire talent.

Tippet has shown an unrelenting unwillingness to change anything about himself. Whether it’s the 1-3-1 after leading or his one “trump” card of playing Mcdrai together. Holland hasn’t given him many major pieces to work with either. He’s given him a couple of ponds and asked tippet to checkmate the other side with every piece. Both are morons.

Please post more often. What an excellent first post and breakdown! Slow clap.

 

[Drivesaitl]

That's been Tippett's strategy the whole time. He's married Draisaitl to Yamamoto for his entire tenure and when RNH has been injured or otherwise deployed, we've seen Draisaitl with the likes of Ennis, Archibald, and Kahun. All under 5'10 and 170 lbs. I don't understand the thinking of finding the two smallest players and putting them with Draisaitl. I'm going to assume he's not intentionally trying to undermine or sabotage Draisaitl. Perhaps he's thinking in terms of complements and that Draisaitl's size and strength will help offset two 90lb weaklings that belong in the bottom 6 and at worst a healthy scratch?

Historically, Draisaitl has succeeded most when paired with big players regardless of skill level. Look at what he did with Lucic and Slepy in the 2017 playoffs. That's why I've been so adamant about Tippett putting him with Kassian, whom I think Draisaitl actually has some chemistry with in the past. Or Foegele. I'd even try McLeod with him. But Tippett seems to think in a different way than I do.

Every poster here that understands Drais game realize he's better suited to play with players that have some size and that can absorb checks and work a strong player cycle. I've always said the same. The 2017 playoffs exemplified how Drai can work with strong players. The trouble with Nuge and Yama is they often get erased with the puck and thus the puck not going back in the cycle, but turned over. Drai is excellent at passing into spaces as well, and he does that with Kass, or Pulju, but he can't do that with Nuge or Yama because they most often will not win those pucks. Nuge, if he see's a puck on the boards will often even let a defender get to the puck first. He doesn't like taking a hit to make a play. Frankly he's not that great at taking hits either.

 

[Soundwave]

Every poster here that understands Drais game realize he's better suited to play with players that have some size and that can absorb checks and work a strong player cycle. I've always said the same. The 2017 playoffs exemplified how Drai can work with strong players. The trouble with Nuge and Yama is they often get erased with the puck and thus the puck not going back in the cycle, but turned over. Drai is excellent at passing into spaces as well, and he does that with Kass, or Pulju, but he can't do that with Nuge or Yama because they most often will not win those pucks. Nuge, if he see's a puck on the boards will often even let a defender get to the puck first. He doesn't like taking a hit to make a play. Frankly he's not that great at taking hits either.

If only there was some kind of person who's job it is to realize these things and could some how "coach" it into the roster decisions. If only ...

This shit is all obvious to everyone but the moron actually being paid money to make decisions behind the bench.

Foegele Draisaitl Hyman

Should have been tried multiple times already by any coach that has half a brain. In Edmonton though ... nope.

 

[Drivesaitl]

We all want a new coach, I think. Although to be honest, the root of the problem lies much deeper than coaching, which is why Tippett looks like he's given up.

As for Draisaitl, he usually takes the month of December off. Comes flying out of the gate, hits a wall, sucks for 4-6 weeks, and (hopefully) regains his form. It's incredibly frustrating as a fan to watch these "spells" so I can empathize with you in that regard. He may have checked out because he's ignoring Tippett or he may simply be overplayed, which, again is, at least partially, on Tippett. However, as a professional, he also needs to take responsibility for his shift length and get off when tired. This will give him more energy and hence better play at both ends of the rink.

This December lul hasn't been as much. It just gets distorted because the whole team is struggling, and we've had bad goaltending for around a month. But through the month the 1st line, that is stacked, has had just as much problem, and theres no excuse for that. With Drai, he had Yama who was struggling for months this season to find his gear, and Nuge who has again been nothing EV this season. You can hold up one player, you can't hold up two. Few players could ever do that, maybe a Crosby, but at the worst he had linemates who's compete level was at least very high. Yama flat out disappeared for two months.

 

[frag2]

We all want a new coach, I think. Although to be honest, the root of the problem lies much deeper than coaching, which is why Tippett looks like he's given up.

As for Draisaitl, he usually takes the month of December off. Comes flying out of the gate, hits a wall, sucks for 4-6 weeks, and (hopefully) regains his form. It's incredibly frustrating as a fan to watch these "spells" so I can empathize with you in that regard. He may have checked out because he's ignoring Tippett or he may simply be overplayed, which, again is, at least partially, on Tippett. However, as a professional, he also needs to take responsibility for his shift length and get off when tired. This will give him more energy and hence better play at both ends of the rink.

I just think if Draisaitl lowers the frequency of his no look backhand passes and his gliding, there'd be less criticism. The former is just being stupid with the puck [esp when he tries to force it through a crowd to McD...who is just as guilty but forehand] and the latter...I have no idea why he does that. It's been an issue even during his Tmac days.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Barzal wasn't very impressive outside of the PP by my eye.

objectively the Islanders weren't all that much in general. Just fairly dirty, and targeting our stars. They didn't have much going and other than the winning goal they only had 1EV goal and a PP goal, on one of their gifted PP's on bogus calls.

Conversely the Oilers scored 2EV, hit 3 posts, and McD himself blew 5 scoring chances. The Oilers of course got zero PP's. Despite the Islanders habitually hanging on and holding McDrai.

The NHL allows the islanders to hold. They have free reign to do it. You can hang on for 3 seconds, thats not even the threshold. I don't know they even get called for holding or interference. They do it all the time. They could have had 20 penalties, they get none. Because the NHL needs fans on Long Island.

 

[Soundwave]

I just think if Draisaitl lowers the frequency of his no look backhand passes and his gliding, there'd be less criticism. The former is just being stupid with the puck [esp when he tries to force it through a crowd to McD...who is just as guilty but forehand] and the latter...I have no idea why he does that. It's been an issue even during his Tmac days.

You can't play Draisaitl the same 25 minutes/night you play McDavid. I've said this for years, you do that and eventually he will hit a wall.

No one human can play those kinds of minutes.

McDavid does it because he has superhuman endurance and skating ability, the coaching staff on this team seems to have no clue this is a thing though.

This team is so badly deficient in coaching it's not even funny. They don't even notice basic f***ing things.

 

[Drivesaitl]

If only there was some kind of person who's job it is to realize these things and could some how "coach" it into the roster decisions. If only ...

This shit is all obvious to everyone but the moron actually being paid money to make decisions behind the bench.

Foegele Draisaitl Hyman

Should have been tried multiple times already by any coach that has half a brain. In Edmonton though ... nope.

In isolation I've never been thrilled with Tippetts handling of Drai. One wonders as well if the team dropped off as well after Tippetts very odd criticism of Drai "that its plays like this that CAUSES us to lose in the playoffs"

I called out that out of the blue comment at the time, and said Drai wouldn't be happy with the comment. To wit Drai dryly responded with "I think I know how to play in the playoffs" He was pissed. I put it away because it seemed as if they had patched things up but Tippett had to clarify his comments. The interesting thing is comments like this are never directed at McD, who plays a very myopic game at times and tries to beat people too many times and losing puck instead of establishing Ozone and taking what is there. The McD line with who's on it ought to be a puck possession line. It ought to be a cycle line. But McD in his head is primarily a rush player. Conversely Drai's best use is as a Ozone Cycle player. But he doesn't have the linemates for it..