Post-Game Talk: Where's all that talent Bob?....

Raoul Duke

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Feb 21, 2010
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Man he was good.


A one man maching on the blueline. Wingspan of an albatross, Defensive IQ through the roof.

That one year of Pronger was so satisfying as a fan. Truly one of the greatest defenseman ever.

watching guys like Larsson, Russell, Nurse, Klefbom, Benning etc flub pucks, miss defensive assignments and just plain be out of position so often makes you miss a guy like that


Just putting a prime Pronger with this team we win the cup.

The breakout pass, the shot/pass from the point, perfect defensive positioning, not a stride wasted, not to mention the old school punishment he’d dish out.
Even a freaking penalty shot goal ffs!!
As well known as he was, I still think he was underrated. Damn near the perfect D man.

In relation to the current tone of this thread, I seem to remember people criticizing his skating and talk of him being lazy during the regular season.
 

space321

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May 11, 2011
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Holy shit 25+ pages of people shitting on Drai after a loss lmao.

Similar losses in the past where guys like Larsson/RNH/Nurse make dumb mistakes and cost us the game get like 10-15 pages.

making a scapegoat out of the second best player on this team, yikes... not a good look
 
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Raoul Duke

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Feb 21, 2010
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Holy **** 25+ pages of people ****ting on Drai after a loss lmao.

Similar losses in the past where guys like Larsson/RNH/Nurse make dumb mistakes and cost us the game get like 10-15 pages.

making a scapegoat out of the second best player on this team, yikes... not a good look

It’s very Oilers though.
 
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brentashton

Sofa Counterweight
Jan 21, 2018
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HFOil eating their young and chewing up their soft bones. Drai is a star and should not be shit upon. Does he have some defensive work to improve on, yes like many other younger players. I recall Messier having some pretty brain dead moments too in his early development. The worst thing that could happen here is to ride his ass so hard that he loses all confidence and gets moved to (pick some place) for a 1st pick and loose parts like is the typical outcome here and then he comes back to rise above like a phoenix win a bunch of awards and maybe a Cup.
 

dem

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Mar 17, 2002
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Holy **** 25+ pages of people ****ting on Drai after a loss lmao.

Similar losses in the past where guys like Larsson/RNH/Nurse make dumb mistakes and cost us the game get like 10-15 pages.

making a scapegoat out of the second best player on this team, yikes... not a good look


We all love Draisaitl...

The Draisaitl defense force is very committed to answering every bit of criticism aimed at him...

It just drags on and on...
 
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Raoul Duke

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bs. it was 100% either or a combination of laziness or complete disengagement on drai's part there. wasn't a difficult read to make. the center drive came and very obvious connor wasn't there for it and klef shifted over. not rocket science to cover up the late man as he was by far the best option to cover it.

This reminds me of the hockey moms in the stands at my kid’s midget games who think their kid should play more because he tries soooo much harder than the kids who get more ice time.
Never mind that their kid is terrible and the kids getting played are the only ones who can score. (Because they’ve worked hard on getting good)

The moms think they understand the game because they’ve been in the stands for years and know all the cliches.

They’ll point out when the “favoured” players get scored on. (Ignoring the 3 or 4 goals they’ve scored)
The play is so obvious (from the stands) and the players just need to hustle more.
Their kid would never have been so lazy on a play. (Ignoring the 3 or 4 goals they’ve given up)

The kids just need to be a TEAM!!
Everyone treated equally!!

It’s mostly nonsense, of course.
The good players win hockey games. Sometimes they make mistakes.
Sometimes carrying the team is just too much.

Maybe the Oil just need some orange slices for intermission.
 
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nafrelio

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Aug 26, 2005
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brite feuchure
Wow - why does this issue have to be so polarizing and people jumping out to the extremes? It was a bad play by Draisaitl - he got caught floating again and not engaged in what was around him. It was both a mistake AND a lack of commitment to be defensively aware. The first is excusable. Excusing the second creates losing teams. All players make mistakes, and when they do, those mistakes get talked about in the room. He's our second best player, but why defend a bad play when that's an avoidable offense? He wouldn't excuse that to his teammates, nor should he. Do we lash out at him as fans? That's not likely to help either.

This thread is just the result of the relentless despair that comes from cheering for the Oilers. Take it easy on each other.
 

KeithIsActuallyBad

You thrust your pelvis, huh!
Apr 12, 2010
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Hitch strikes me as the last person who would suck up to the OBC. Why would he care what they think or be concerned about his relationship with them after he leaves this off-season?
He's a Hockey Canada crony and wants to remain in the good books.

He's doing more or less what the org wants him to unlike the last coach.
 

LaGu

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Jan 4, 2011
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To me it's 25 pages because people are very adamant in defending him, not because so many more are jumping on him. I actually bet that more people would jump on Larsson/RNH/Nurse for a misstake like this (heck I've seen 3+ pages of GDT bashing of these players for plays which weren't really misstakes...), difference is fewer would be defending it. Which is alright by the way, but this is not some odd example of 25 pages of Drai bashing vs 10 pages of bashing of another player for a similar play.

Anyhow, let it go and move on. Drai is part of the solution, not the problem when it comes to turning this team around.
 
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Drivesaitl

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We all love Draisaitl...

The Draisaitl defense force is very committed to answering every bit of criticism aimed at him...

It just drags on and on...
Just to point out that the defense came into the thread in response to the absolutely inane, and idiotic suggestions that Draisaitl should be healthy scratched. Which ironically are occurring in a thread called
"wheres all the talent"

I realize its a waste of time but some things are just so inordinately misguided, if not hilarious, its almost impossible not to respond.
 
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joestevens29

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Apr 30, 2009
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Just to point out that the defense came into the thread in response to the absolutely inane, and idiotic suggestions that Draisaitl should be healthy scratched. Which ironically are occurring in a thread called
"wheres all the talent"

I realize its a waste of time but some things are just so inordinately misguided, if not hilarious, its almost impossible not to respond.
Really don't think anyone said healthy scratched. Difference between benching a guy until the next period or taking away his PP time, then healthy scratching him
 

Drivesaitl

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To me it's 25 pages because people are very adamant in defending him, not because so many more are jumping on him. I actually bet that more people would jump on Larsson/RNH/Nurse for a misstake like this (heck I've seen 3+ pages of GDT bashing of these players for plays which weren't really misstakes...), difference is fewer would be defending it. Which is alright by the way, but this is not some odd example of 25 pages of Drai bashing vs 10 pages of bashing of another player for a similar play.

Anyhow, let it go and move on. Drai is part of the solution, not the problem when it comes to turning this team around.

Can't speak for others but my foray into the thread was elicited by the Draisaitl should be healthy scratched posts and some people actually agreeing with that. In this thread, haha, with this thread title. My lord the inanity.
 
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joestevens29

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Overall point is if Hitch wants to come out and call the team out then he needs to call himself out as well. Yes the players need to as a whole play harder, but he sure as hell doesn't give the little guy much reason to play hard
 

KeithIsActuallyBad

You thrust your pelvis, huh!
Apr 12, 2010
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Calgary
Overall point is if Hitch wants to come out and call the team out then he needs to call himself out as well. Yes the players need to as a whole play harder, but he sure as hell doesn't give the little guy much reason to play hard
He said he knew how it fix it in 8 or 9 games and the team looks even worse than they did under McLellan. Was the goal to lose?
 

Frank the Tank

The Godfather
Aug 15, 2005
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Overall point is if Hitch wants to come out and call the team out then he needs to call himself out as well. Yes the players need to as a whole play harder, but he sure as hell doesn't give the little guy much reason to play hard

We've said this about the last 7 coaches. One could argue that the style of play in the NHL may have passed Hitchcock by, but the guy knows what level of compete and attention to detail is required to win championships.
 

Raoul Duke

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Feb 21, 2010
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To me it's 25 pages because people are very adamant in defending him, not because so many more are jumping on him. I actually bet that more people would jump on Larsson/RNH/Nurse for a misstake like this (heck I've seen 3+ pages of GDT bashing of these players for plays which weren't really misstakes...), difference is fewer would be defending it. Which is alright by the way, but this is not some odd example of 25 pages of Drai bashing vs 10 pages of bashing of another player for a similar play.

Anyhow, let it go and move on. Drai is part of the solution, not the problem when it comes to turning this team around.

Personally, the reason for defending Draisaitl so adamantly here is the insinuation that this bad play amounts to his attitude being representative of what’s wrong with the team.

It’s not.

Lack of talent is.

Furthermore, we’ve seen this before.
Recently.
It leads to moving an extremely talented player out in the name of “character”, further eroding the talent available.

People will respond with “Nobody’s saying trade him”.

I would answer with “Yet”.

We’ve seen it too many times.
 

KeithIsActuallyBad

You thrust your pelvis, huh!
Apr 12, 2010
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Calgary
We've said this about the last 7 coaches. One could argue that the style of play in the NHL may have passed Hitchcock by, but the guy knows what level of compete and attention to detail is required to win championships.
What coach DOESN'T know this? Coaches don't just go out there and tell players to dog it. How did this team actually get worse under this coach? That's what I want to know.
 

KeithIsActuallyBad

You thrust your pelvis, huh!
Apr 12, 2010
71,706
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Calgary
Hitchcock hasn't been associated with hockey Canada for 5 years. He wants to retire, not jump behind the bench for Canada any time soon.
There are other positions besides coaching. Hockey Canada is poison to this team. Why do you think he was so easily swayed to come here? The Oilers didn't even look at anyone else.

If he wants to retire, now is as good a time as any.
 

rboomercat90

Registered User
Mar 24, 2013
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No, just to be clear... as I stated in my first post... I came into this thread and witnessed the P!$$1ng match and as a big fan of Drai, sorry... I'm surprised to see people defending him on that play. You can say it's one play, it happens to everyone... that's true and that's fine. But it's also a great example of what's wrong with this team... that it should be ok for each guy to have a play like that per night.

My rule of thumb is that if a team can limit to two mistakes per shift, you are winning most games. Most mistakes on good teams are invisible because a teammate compensates.... Some are tactical errors, errors of processing, physical errors, being beat by an opponents skill. Each of those are unavoidable. It's the mental errors of disengagement that are the killers.

We need some guys, with credential with their teammates, who can say, diplomatically: no, it's not acceptable to make those sorts of mistakes, I will hold myself to that standard and I hold you to it as well.
Great post. I think this is what most of us are trying to say. Draisatl is a great player but he can be better. I don’t see what the issue is for wanting to hold everyone accountable for their game, no matter who they are. This isn’t the same thing as flaming a player. It isn’t only Draisatl, obviously, but those two plays I’ve commented on were so bad they got my attention. I’m sure next game it’ll be someone else.
 

Raoul Duke

Registered User
Feb 21, 2010
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Hitchcock hasn't been associated with hockey Canada for 5 years. He wants to retire, not jump behind the bench for Canada any time soon.

Hmm, so he took this job because he wants to retire?

It couldn’t be he’s interested in one of those red wine lifetime Oilers appointments in his own back yard, could it?
 
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rboomercat90

Registered User
Mar 24, 2013
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It bothers me people call Drai lazy.

I think Drai is "Lazy" because he doesn't have the motor to keep up to McDavid for 25 mins a night.

It's a reason why when he was with Hall he faded in January, just plain spent.

Drai has to conserve himself because of having to play with McDavid which will result in "Lazy" plays. Coaches will have to learn how to manage the ice time of McDavids linemates for the next few years
Fair comment. Hitchcock’s biggest mistake since he came here was riding half a dozens players too hard. I get why he did it but it’s not sustainable for very long.
 

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