Post-Game Talk: We're going streaking!!!!

[Mr Positive]

That's got more to do with the coaching then Perron.

true, and I think we'd be better with Perron. It's just a bit funny in light of that quote. He escaped a toxic environment for a contender, but that contender is currently souring. And the previous team is actually playing reasonable well now.

edit: and sorry to create misunderstanding. I am not blaming losing on Perron at all. Pittsburgh already had problems which is why they went after Perron in the first place, and I would say coaching and player changes are why we are doing better now, and I bet we would be doing even better with Perron.

 

[McArthur]

Taylor Hall scored one last year against Calgary.

huge scoring drought for him and still passes to the nuge 2 on 1 when he had nothing but time to find a hole. don't know if that's a selfless play or a problem with confidence. leaning on lack of confidence

 

[phrenssoa]

huge scoring drought for him and still passes to the nuge 2 on 1 when he had nothing but time to find a hole. don't know if that's a selfless play or a problem with confidence. leaning on lack of confidence

Yeah there's something wrong with him right now, but I don't think that was a particularly bad play. Nuge could have scored had he raised the puck a little.

 

[rboomercat90]

and oddly enough since the Perron trade the Oilers have won 4 games and the Pens only won 2

Before we blame everything on Perron perhaps we should also mention that the better play and victories started to come after Roy was added to the team and Arcobello and Draisatl were removed. Considering how many of us thought the season would be lost with an AHLer and an 18 year old kid playing center it shouldn't be much of a surprise that when that glaring mistake was fixed the team got better.

Blaming Perron for Pittsburghs problems is just as ridiculous considering all the injuries and cases of mumps they've had over there too. They'll have their crap sorted out by the time the playoffs arrive and Perron will give them one more useful weapon.

 

[oilers_guy_eddie]

Well, the point I wanted to make was less about the Penguins or David Perron, and more about what he said about how frustrating and draining it is to keep working and never get any positive results.


I don't know if you guys have ever been part of a floundering organization. I have, not in the sports world but in the business world. I've worked for pointy-headed bosses who might as well be Dallas Eakins. I've worked for organizations where the writing was on the wall and it was obvious that no matter how well I did my job, the whole operation was doomed to fail. I don't know if I can express how soul-crushing it is to be in that situation, how hard it is to keep trying to soldier on, especially when you see your co-workers spending half their work-day updating their LinkedIn profiles and sending out resumes.

I've been in the opposite situation too, working with a tight-knit group where everybody cares and wants to succeed and has the ability to contribute and there's hope for success and a plan in place. It's so much better.

I know that sports and business aren't the same thing, but the atmosphere around the Oilers during the Eakins era really reminded me of working at those doomed organizations for clueless bosses. You could just tell that even though they were trying, they knew it was futile. There's an old saying "nothing succeeds like success"-- as exemplified by the Red Wings for most of the past 20 years-- and the Oilers, for most of the past decade, seem intent on proving that "nothing fails like failure" as well.

 

[Up the Irons]

Well, the point I wanted to make was less about the Penguins or David Perron, and more about what he said about how frustrating and draining it is to keep working and never get any positive results.


I don't know if you guys have ever been part of a floundering organization. I have, not in the sports world but in the business world. I've worked for pointy-headed bosses who might as well be Dallas Eakins. I've worked for organizations where the writing was on the wall and it was obvious that no matter how well I did my job, the whole operation was doomed to fail. I don't know if I can express how soul-crushing it is to be in that situation, how hard it is to keep trying to soldier on, especially when you see your co-workers spending half their work-day updating their LinkedIn profiles and sending out resumes.

I've been in the opposite situation too, working with a tight-knit group where everybody cares and wants to succeed and has the ability to contribute and there's hope for success and a plan in place. It's so much better.

I know that sports and business aren't the same thing, but the atmosphere around the Oilers during the Eakins era really reminded me of working at those doomed organizations for clueless bosses. You could just tell that even though they were trying, they knew it was futile. There's an old saying "nothing succeeds like success"-- as exemplified by the Red Wings for most of the past 20 years-- and the Oilers, for most of the past decade, seem intent on proving that "nothing fails like failure" as well.

good post. tx

 

[Approved Variety]

I'm not...after Nuge/Draisaitl, what's there?
the depth at Center is atrocious

you can never have enough centers...cause you can always play them on wing for a bit

Far easier to fill depth forward positions than elite Dmen. Especially here.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Over the last 11 games under Nelson... the team is dead even in goals for/against: 33-33

3 goals for per game... 3 goals against per game.

Definite improvements over what Eakins was delivering with this team.

12 pts in those 11 games as well.

It's a relatively small sample but that all spells out a team that's now average instead of ******* last.

12 pts in 11 games equates to an 89 pt season... that's a team that's within sniffing distance of a wildcard spot.

Nelson is looking like a revelation compared to the "coach" that was here previously.

Excuse me for my optimism... but I think we are watching this team turn a corner... FINALLY.

I think the team will get on a run here in the 2nd half and likely get ~75 pts by season's end.

 

[McArthur]

Over the last 11 games under Nelson... the team is dead even in goals for/against: 33-33

3 goals for per game... 3 goals against per game.

Definite improvements over what Eakins was delivering with this team.

12 pts in those 11 games as well.

It's a relatively small sample but that all spells out a team that's now average instead of ******* last.

12 pts in 11 games equates to an 89 pt season... that's a team that's within sniffing distance of a wildcard spot.

Nelson is looking like a revelation compared to the "coach" that was here previously.

Excuse me for my optimism... but I think we are watching this team turn a corner... FINALLY.

I think the team will get on a run here in the 2nd half and likely get ~75 pts by season's end.

its nice because there is still a great deal of room for improvement. Specialty teams have been huge. still not remotely sold on Nikitin

 

[KCC]

Over the last 11 games under Nelson... the team is dead even in goals for/against: 33-33

3 goals for per game... 3 goals against per game.

Definite improvements over what Eakins was delivering with this team.

12 pts in those 11 games as well.

It's a relatively small sample but that all spells out a team that's now average instead of ******* last.

12 pts in 11 games equates to an 89 pt season... that's a team that's within sniffing distance of a wildcard spot.

Nelson is looking like a revelation compared to the "coach" that was here previously.

Excuse me for my optimism... but I think we are watching this team turn a corner... FINALLY.

I think the team will get on a run here in the 2nd half and likely get ~75 pts by season's end.

Hey that's great. And it only took 6 coaches to boot! Celebration time!

 

[blupye*]

Schultz and Nikitin were quite good this game too. Thought it was worth mentioning

I was very impressed with the game of Nikitin. He was not outta place in the game and that shot he scored, I still have not seen the puck. What a cannon. Maybe he did have a back injury.

 

[Up the Irons]

Over the last 11 games under Nelson... the team is dead even in goals for/against: 33-33

3 goals for per game... 3 goals against per game.

Definite improvements over what Eakins was delivering with this team.

12 pts in those 11 games as well.

It's a relatively small sample but that all spells out a team that's now average instead of ******* last.

12 pts in 11 games equates to an 89 pt season... that's a team that's within sniffing distance of a wildcard spot.

Nelson is looking like a revelation compared to the "coach" that was here previously.

Excuse me for my optimism... but I think we are watching this team turn a corner... FINALLY.

I think the team will get on a run here in the 2nd half and likely get ~75 pts by season's end.

you know, of course, that Mact is just gonna pass that off as a funtion of his trades, the return of Pouliot, his new goalie coach, and sh-t happens. No way he was wrong about Eakins.

 

[blupye*]

Before we blame everything on Perron perhaps we should also mention that the better play and victories started to come after Roy was added to the team and Arcobello and Draisatl were removed. Considering how many of us thought the season would be lost with an AHLer and an 18 year old kid playing center it shouldn't be much of a surprise that when that glaring mistake was fixed the team got better.

Blaming Perron for Pittsburghs problems is just as ridiculous considering all the injuries and cases of mumps they've had over there too. They'll have their crap sorted out by the time the playoffs arrive and Perron will give them one more useful weapon.

I am not anti-Penquins, but I hope they lose 10 in a row and don't make the playoffs. Can you imagine 2 picks in the top 14? Well Hello Sam Gagner and Alex Plante.

 

[blupye*]

Well, the point I wanted to make was less about the Penguins or David Perron, and more about what he said about how frustrating and draining it is to keep working and never get any positive results.


I don't know if you guys have ever been part of a floundering organization. I have, not in the sports world but in the business world. I've worked for pointy-headed bosses who might as well be Dallas Eakins. I've worked for organizations where the writing was on the wall and it was obvious that no matter how well I did my job, the whole operation was doomed to fail. I don't know if I can express how soul-crushing it is to be in that situation, how hard it is to keep trying to soldier on, especially when you see your co-workers spending half their work-day updating their LinkedIn profiles and sending out resumes.

I've been in the opposite situation too, working with a tight-knit group where everybody cares and wants to succeed and has the ability to contribute and there's hope for success and a plan in place. It's so much better.

I know that sports and business aren't the same thing, but the atmosphere around the Oilers during the Eakins era really reminded me of working at those doomed organizations for clueless bosses. You could just tell that even though they were trying, they knew it was futile. There's an old saying "nothing succeeds like success"-- as exemplified by the Red Wings for most of the past 20 years-- and the Oilers, for most of the past decade, seem intent on proving that "nothing fails like failure" as well.

Great points. This team is a different team under Nelson. Have you seen Yak? He is a new player. The goals will come. Eakins was a complete idiot. What a fool. I wonder if he is Chopping wood and carrying water now?

 

[rboomercat90]

I am not anti-Penquins, but I hope they lose 10 in a row and don't make the playoffs. Can you imagine 2 picks in the top 14? Well Hello Sam Gagner and Alex Plante.

I'll be honest. I don't really care what happens with the Penguins. I suspect that if they get their injury situation straightened out that they'll be fine. Whether they do or not is going to be the big question. They've had some weird things happen to their players in the last few years going back to Crosby's misdiagnosis, whatever it was that happened to Letang last year to several of their players coming down with mumps this year. If I was a Pens fan I'd have some serious concerns with their medical staff. That said there's too much talent there to seriously believe they won't put it together and Perron is exactly the type of player that will help them. I'd love to see them fall apart and miss the playoffs to give that pick more value. I really hated the return on that trade. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen though.

 

[McShiva]

I think we are starting to see a better team, because it's a different team.

A new coach who teaches a far simpler system, and is finally drilling in a work effort, as well as understanding his players a bit bettter and what makes them tick, and perform as well. A better defensive system as well, we are far less likely to see all 5 players in a corner of the ice, though we still see wide open players like Ovi.

The addition finally of NHL level players to compliment our core, including a better center in Roy with a far greater work effort, plus Lander who is a far better player than we have seen before. Adding much needed size and blue collar workers in Klinkhammer and Frasier, really helped this team get some of the load of off Gordons line.

The change in the goalie coach. VF looked a lot better, and both goalies are now playing closer to what we expected, and have since the new Goalie coach took over.

The return of Poo, who has been great and a far better 2nd line, who has been playing better than our top line. Yak looks ready to start bursting out, and that is coaching there. The line really seems to compliment each other, a good balance despite the chaos in Yaks game. Having two established NHL level players gives Yak more confidence in himself, and allows him to do things and even make mistakes, because he knows the other two guys will back him up. He was so scared of making a mistake that he ended up making far more in the end run, now he's getting back to the old Yak, but better in his own end.

A regaining of confidence. You can see the team playing a lot better because they feel better about themselves. They lost so many games because they shot themselves in the foot, because they didn't believe in themselves. So many games they lost by one goal, or blew a 3 goal lead. Now, they are battling back.

A change in the organization. I think this is a big one. The old boys are still there, but a new coach(s), Green being bought in, and the management being looked at and judged by Nicholson. There was no doubt in anyones minds that the organization was a joke because of the old boys, and they ran it into the ground. Now there's pressure to change it (at least on the surface) and that could make a huge change in the mindset of the players. If you play for a organization as badly run as the Oilers, and with no indication that it will change for years, and then suddenly, changes that are actually positive start happening, I would be a lot more cheerful about it. These guys do want to win, and it's tough to play for a organization that does nothing but lose and make bad choices for years. Now, slowly but surely, it's changing.

Still have a long way to go, and it really depends on the rest of the season and how this team plays, but at the very least, we have seen improvement, in that for the first time in 2 years, a team that actually is watchable even though they are still extremely flawed.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

queue 12 game Fasth win streak....trade for 2nd.

 

[Gret99zky]

Remember what Journey said,

"Don't Start Believin"

 

[McDeepika]

This isn't late in the season. We're barely passed the 1/2 way mark for goodness sake. There's still months to go in the year. Are we going to see these same type of posts bemoaning a win after every single win?

Who cares who they draft this summer. Whoever they get will be a good prospect, and regardless of who they get they need a tonne of help on the actual roster with real NHLers.

Hell, missing out on McDavid/Eichel might even force this team to get some real hockey players for once.

See that's just the thing. McDavid/Eichel are real hockey players. Better players than we will likely ever have. I know everybody is skeptical about how getting another 1st overall pick will help us considering how the previous 3 haven't. The thing is not all 1st overall picks are created equal. Hall/Seguin had a good amount of hype to them but 2011/2012 were really just pretty ****y draft years. Just because Yak/RNH didn't turn this team around doesn't mean McDavid/Eichel won't

Creating a winning culture sounds great but we have to be realistic here. What would a winning culture do for this team? Is this roster talented enough to use this experience gained the last half of the season and carry it through to next season? I think we would all say no.

This team needs better players. That is the only way we are going to start winning. This draft seems like one of those rare years (like the Crosby/Ovechkin drafts) where picking 1st/2nd gets you a great player right away. We aren't going to have to wait for McDavid and probably not for Eichel either. Both will make the team better next season.

 

[dssource]

Good game, great comeback which we haven't see in years. Bad first 20, good last 40+5. With 5 mins left I thought to myself the players need to change the mentality they had with Eakins. This game under Eakins is lost before the first 20 is up. Last night they said no more. This game is still winnable right up to the end. Very happy to see them not only tie it late, but win it as well.

While people are arguing about whether wins like this are good for the team, I'll post this quote from David Perron about what it was like playing for the Oilers:

Quote:
"It was really hard, for sure, mentally. It’s hard on the guys that are there right now. They’re doing everything they can to get out of it. You’re just so emotionally and physically involved that even though I was extremely excited to join [Pittsburgh], it’s not like you gave up on the other one when you were there. I still was giving 100-percent every single night, every single day trying to get the team out of it. It certainly was draining. At times I felt like I think I could have maybe more of a role somewhere else and that’s what I got so far here and hopefully I take advantage of it."

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...o-penguins--losing-in-edmonton-142014039.html

I don't think people who want the team to go bad to playing .250 hockey really appreciate how demoralizing it is for the players.

Very true! Thanks for sharing.

huge scoring drought for him and still passes to the nuge 2 on 1 when he had nothing but time to find a hole. don't know if that's a selfless play or a problem with confidence. leaning on lack of confidence

Again, make the players watch Hossa's plays on a 2 on 1. Please just shoot the f'in puck! Hard to the lower far post. Almost guaranteed rebound goal. Simple and works well.

Well, the point I wanted to make was less about the Penguins or David Perron, and more about what he said about how frustrating and draining it is to keep working and never get any positive results.


I don't know if you guys have ever been part of a floundering organization. I have, not in the sports world but in the business world. I've worked for pointy-headed bosses who might as well be Dallas Eakins. I've worked for organizations where the writing was on the wall and it was obvious that no matter how well I did my job, the whole operation was doomed to fail. I don't know if I can express how soul-crushing it is to be in that situation, how hard it is to keep trying to soldier on, especially when you see your co-workers spending half their work-day updating their LinkedIn profiles and sending out resumes.

I've been in the opposite situation too, working with a tight-knit group where everybody cares and wants to succeed and has the ability to contribute and there's hope for success and a plan in place. It's so much better.

I know that sports and business aren't the same thing, but the atmosphere around the Oilers during the Eakins era really reminded me of working at those doomed organizations for clueless bosses. You could just tell that even though they were trying, they knew it was futile. There's an old saying "nothing succeeds like success"-- as exemplified by the Red Wings for most of the past 20 years-- and the Oilers, for most of the past decade, seem intent on proving that "nothing fails like failure" as well.

This is so true. I've been in a demoralized situation, a company about to go out of business, and it's really tough to go to work everyday. I hated it there and eventually left and went back to school. That got me into a new industry and working for a company that excels and myself and everyone here push our limits b/c of the environment. Everyone here works harder b/c they like where they work and their job.

This game against the Caps may very well be a turning point for this organization.

For those hoping to lose. Losing is captured well in the above quotes. Losing will make our star players want to leave and lower their value so we'd get hosed in trades and the entire cycle starts again and we'll never break it. Most don't seem to understand that to get McDavid this year you MUST win the lottery. MUST! 30th place only has a 1 in 5 shot at that. 80% chance that Buffalo DOESN'T win it. That's huge.
What winning does is create a positive atmosphere. Players want to stay, play well and excel. Trade value increases dramatically if we need to move someone. How far up the standings can we possibly go? Not very far since Eakins made sure of that before he left. Most predicted this wouldn't be a playoff year anyways. But let's at least make it respectable. I hope they win every game for the rest of the season, which obv won't happen but will do wonders in starting next years campaign.

 

[CornKicker]

huge scoring drought for him and still passes to the nuge 2 on 1 when he had nothing but time to find a hole. don't know if that's a selfless play or a problem with confidence. leaning on lack of confidence

probably has to do with him missing the net 4-5 times last night and knowing his accuracy was off

 

[CornKicker]

i still think our top 6 should be Poo-Nuge-Eberle then Hall-Roy-Yakupov.

Poo is a great possesion player who can dig out pucks and get them to the guys who can both score. Poo also goes hard for rebounds which would be great for that line. I believe nuge can carry that line without Hall.

Hall playing with roy gives him a competent passer and complimentary player and having hall on the ice automatically makes more room for Yak.

 

[Oilfan2]

i still think our top 6 should be Poo-Nuge-Eberle then Hall-Roy-Yakupov.

Poo is a great possesion player who can dig out pucks and get them to the guys who can both score. Poo also goes hard for rebounds which would be great for that line. I believe nuge can carry that line without Hall.

Hall playing with roy gives him a competent passer and complimentary player and having hall on the ice automatically makes more room for Yak.

I agree..

 

[McShogun99]

Hey that's great. And it only took 6 coaches to boot! Celebration time!

If I remember correctly no one wanted Renney or Kruger fired, the team just did it. Can you imagine how far ahead this team would have been if they never hired Eakins.

 

[Gord]

Nelson is 5-4, MacT is a genius now.

Lost in all this joy over these hollow shootout victories is not only missing out on McEichel but it gives MacT and the rest of management another lease on life. Even if there was only a minimal chance of management being removed if the Oilers tanked badly, it was still a minimal chance. This is the window for them to get removed, it's now or never. The more they scrape out victories, the better the chance that management gets looked at in a positive light.

It's less about McEichel and more about removing the poop from the anus of the organization. That's looking less and less likely with every win.

time to start bringing this out after every oiler win.