Post-Game Talk: Who is worried about 97?

[Oil Dood]

Is it normal to use the flu excuse as much as we do?

Does our owner not have pharmacies? Get these boys some meds already

 

[Canovin]

If the Oilers miss the playoffs again, it will break McDavid

 

[Drivesaitl]

Game Observation: Team puts up double goose eggs in back to back games while looking lethargic
Board Conclusion: **** Nuge

Good lord.

Main problem is the same, no bottom 6 offense. McDrai are being overworked for this reason too.
And we are seeing the effects of some injuries. We miss Nygard and Persson.

Overall, I'll take the 7-2-1 start. We played well in maybe half of those games, with some poor signs in the latter half.
Reset, shuffle out some bottom sixers for all the extra ones we have, and tackle the next 10 games harder.

In the same post you acknowledge the topline being overworked you fail to acknowledge Nuge has got very little going on the 2nd line and is relieving none of that pressure from the first line, at all. . Theres times where he seems checked out, and I can't accept, in anyway Nuge struggling more now with at top talent winger like Neal who has 9G and 10pts. Neal has been physical on his line, doing some dirty work too. Nuges work rate is ordinary when one considers that his game is completely devoid of physicality. He's 26 and his puck battle is bad.

Nuge is not prepared to take punishment to win a puck or make a play. He rarely has been but he showed more Moxy last season. This season so far its back to some conservative play and really him being uncomfortable with the puck for long periods of time.

But the specific thing to look for which gives me huge concern is the amount of times Nuge correctly identifies where the puck will be (he's very good at this) and the amount of time, even with position, that he's 2nd to that puck. He's not slow, he's not lacking in mobility, he just doesn't want to get in on the puck first. For a Center not to be willing to get their nose dirty out there to me leaves a huge void. In a physical game against a team prepared to hit its very evident. In a Tippett scheme to have a top Center being this timid out there is a problem.

 

[MaxR11]

Something is amiss amongst our "support fwrds". It seems like you can bring almost anyone in here and they will produce less or next to nothing. How does Strome go and score almost 20 goals after having none in the first part of the season here? Toby Reider is nowhere near as bad a player as he showed he was here last year.

I honestly think, like i said in another post, it's an expectational and cultural thing where the team sees Con and drai as the only guys that'll take care of the offence (they get ALL the offensive opportunities and time) and the others subconsciously start to take less ownership in contributing on the score sheet and settle for play sound hockey. Basically the only guys we bring in here that produce a bit are guys that have PP tie with Con Drai (Chia's son, Neal, Letestu, Kass). The others cant piss a drop here but some move on to be better elsewhere.

Somethings got to change with the mindset and culture there. Problem is coaches and Gms are too afraid to tell the best player in the world that he's going to get less ice time and opportunities. And afraid to tell him he needs to be better as far as being more sound defensively and not float and cheat. This could very much be like an Yzerman thing where he was lighting the league on fire points wise the first chunk of his career but he even said the team got much better when he took a step back from pts and concentrated more on overall play and led by example to right the culture in Detroit. Guys like Federov etc followed his lead and the org became a perennial favorite.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I'm really curious on what's going on with McDavid. People say he's playing injured or sick, but it's not his skating or speed that's off. Connor's greatest asset is his hockey IQ, he sees the ice like no other player in the league, turns nothing into prime opportunities, successfully uses every inch of the little space defenders give him and makes really high level plays that utilize the teammates in his vicinity.
He rarely gave the puck away, was so tenacious on the backcheck that he was consistently top 3 in the league in takeaways, and he's always moving at 100MPH with and without the puck.

All of those attributes seem to have dropped a bit, especially since he got all that attention about the 17 pts in 7 games, 1st star of the week, 5 pt night. After that game, he's pointless in the last 3 consecutive. It does kind of look like he's not having fun out there lately, which is maybe affecting his creativity a little bit

But he is indeed still Connor McDavid. There are several moments/plays in each of those games that's trademark McDavid hockey, and even pointless in 3 straight, he's still 2nd overall in scoring. So it's not the end of the world at all, especially still being the Pacific Division leader. But it does look like Connor's passion level went down a notch or two, we'll probably never know what's really going on with him right now, if anything at all, could be a very personal matter. Just hopeful he gets over that hump sooner than later and returns to God-Like form at some point in the near future

The Philly game was bad mojo for most of the club. A game like that against a horrible club gives the wrong indications of what it generally takes to win games at this level. The Oilers possession wise and run of play were being owned in that game until the 3-1 miraculous McD goal. While that goal broke the Flyers, something broke with the Oilers too. They had already played bad in Chicago and now they were getting away more from their system and looking for easy goals as the Flyers fell apart. Something hasn't been right since the Chicago game, or the Flyers game, take your pick.

McDrai are absorbing huge punishment out there and in the first half dozen games especially. Any player that is seeing so much action knows that the NHL season is a marathon race. McDrai are tired.

For the last 8 games, since the Islanders, the team has played every 2nd night in what seems like a compressed schedule. While they haven't had back2back games yet the games every 2nd night and including a lot of travel are taking some toll. One of the Oilers classic nemesis is that they travel a hell of a lot due to geography. Having an eastern road swing in the schedule so early was a bit much as well.

 

[frag2]

Something is amiss amongst our "support fwrds". It seems like you can bring almost anyone in here and they will produce less or next to nothing. How does Strome go and score almost 20 goals after having none in the first part of the season here? Toby Reider is nowhere near as bad a player as he showed he was here last year.

I honestly think, like i said in another post, it's an expectational and cultural thing where the team sees Con and drai as the only guys that'll take care of the offence (they get ALL the offensive opportunities and time) and the others subconsciously start to take less ownership in contributing on the score sheet and settle for play sound hockey. Basically the only guys we bring in here that produce a bit are guys that have PP tie with Con Drai (Chia's son, Neal, Letestu, Kass). The others cant piss a drop here but some move on to be better elsewhere.

Somethings got to change with the mindset and culture there. Problem is coaches and Gms are too afraid to tell the best player in the world that he's going to get less ice time and opportunities. And afraid to tell him he needs to be better as far as being more sound defensively and not float and cheat. This could very much be like an Yzerman thing where he was lighting the league on fire points wise the first chunk of his career but he even said the team got much better when he took a step back from pts and concentrated more on overall play and led by example to right the culture in Detroit. Guys like Federov etc followed his lead and the org became a perennial favorite.

Give it up. The TLDR of all your post consists of blame so and so, usually the best players on the team, because culture. Go to the Devils forum and keep ranting about Hall.

 

[MaxR11]

The Philly game was bad mojo for most of the club. A game like that against a horrible club gives the wrong indications of what it generally takes to win games at this level. The Oilers possession wise and run of play were being owned in that game until the 3-1 miraculous McD goal. While that goal broke the Flyers, something broke with the Oilers too. They had already played bad in Chicago and now they were getting away more from their system and looking for easy goals as the Flyers fell apart. Something hasn't been right since the Chicago game, or the Flyers game, take your pick.

McDrai are absorbing huge punishment out there and in the first half dozen games especially. Any player that is seeing so much action knows that the NHL season is a marathon race. McDrai are tired.

For the last 8 games, since the Islanders, the team has played every 2nd night in what seems like a compressed schedule. While they haven't had back2back games yet the games every 2nd night and including a lot of travel are taking some toll. One of the Oilers classic nemesis is that they travel a hell of a lot due to geography. Having an eastern road swing in the schedule so early was a bit much as well.

It seems highly tied to the play of Connor and Drai. When they sag and play tired, disengaged, start to cheat and float a bit it seems to also disengage the rest of the team to some degree. The rest of the team, more often than not, also start to dip in urgency and effort and become mentally disengaged.

I love how Smith is a fighter though and keeps battling. There's a vet that could hopefully yell some sense into the dressing room. I think if we want this season to continue in something like this 7-2-1 start we will need the vets to step up and speak out to everyone (Connor down) and make sure they stick with it and not sag.

It's about patience and grinding through it. This team seems to give up too quickly and resign. Consistent and long term resiliency is a major weakness and it sure as heck has a lot to do with all the losing we've had here. There really needs to be a mindset and cultural shift.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The Oilers didn't give up last night. They never really engaged in the game. Remenda kept saying in first period the Oilers needed a good shift. it rarely came and the Wild were basically having a free path to our goal. The type of goals and chances they were getting around our net were crazy. Guys banging pucks with nobody around the net, getting rebounds.

I seriously thought Smith was going to have a meltdown. he was abandoned.

The Oilers didn't even check in with the gameplan in this one. They were bad from the first shifts. Looked at the wife and immediately said this was going to be ugly. It was a classic case of one team being prepared and wanting to bang and battle and the other team figuring it didn't want that. At no point in the first two periods did we match intensity, battle.

You'll lose this game everytime against a club prepared to get dirty.

I will say though that there is something about the Oilers that some players in the league relish spanking. The Wild genuinely don't like our club. See it pretty much of a mission to humble us. I don't mind it because it provides a challenge. I actually enjoyed this game more than the recent ones because at least one of the teams was playing with intensity. Even chuckled at the Staal goal celebration. He sure had himself a good game and could have potted goals.

 

[TheNumber4]

Does our owner not have pharmacies? Get these boys some meds already

Doesn’t he have like billions in research labs. Create some performance enhancing undetectable cutting edge “supplements” already!

 

[McDNicks17]

Doesn’t he have like billions in research labs. Create some performance enhancing undetectable cutting edge “supplements” already!

I thought he sold all that and makes movies now?

 

[oXo Cube]

I thought he sold all that and makes movies now?

He's a partner in a film production company, but I do believe the vast majority of his portfolio is just in real estate these days.

He 100% sold Rexall Drugs.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

The Oilers didn't give up last night.

You can't give up if you never show up!

 

[trent_vinyl]

I actually thought Manning has been playing ok. I agree 100% with ya on Khaira. He MUST sit a few

Manning has been alright. The hatred for him is ridiculous.

 

[trent_vinyl]

He is not the issue. Im actually starting to like him. He has some fight in his game for sure. I watched him when he played for Philly. He played with an edge I must say

At times in the last two games, I thought he was the only guy who seemed to give a damn.

 

[Mr Tadakichi]

Should we switch Drai and Nuge around? I feel better with Drai driving the second line than Nuge and it will take pressure of both guys to play less.

 

[Oilers in NS]

At times in the last two games, I thought he was the only guy who seemed to give a damn.

Agreed 200%. He is a nice skater, jumps up in the play, and will take the body. I like him.

 

[trent_vinyl]

Something is amiss amongst our "support fwrds". It seems like you can bring almost anyone in here and they will produce less or next to nothing. How does Strome go and score almost 20 goals after having none in the first part of the season here? Toby Reider is nowhere near as bad a player as he showed he was here last year.

I honestly think, like i said in another post, it's an expectational and cultural thing where the team sees Con and drai as the only guys that'll take care of the offence (they get ALL the offensive opportunities and time) and the others subconsciously start to take less ownership in contributing on the score sheet and settle for play sound hockey. Basically the only guys we bring in here that produce a bit are guys that have PP tie with Con Drai (Chia's son, Neal, Letestu, Kass). The others cant piss a drop here but some move on to be better elsewhere.

Somethings got to change with the mindset and culture there. Problem is coaches and Gms are too afraid to tell the best player in the world that he's going to get less ice time and opportunities. And afraid to tell him he needs to be better as far as being more sound defensively and not float and cheat. This could very much be like an Yzerman thing where he was lighting the league on fire points wise the first chunk of his career but he even said the team got much better when he took a step back from pts and concentrated more on overall play and led by example to right the culture in Detroit. Guys like Federov etc followed his lead and the org became a perennial favorite.

I actually tend to agree with this. The two of them are put out in almost every situation. Take incredibly long shifts. Play two minutes straight in 3on3, take a 30 second break and are then back out there. Play almost all of the PP, even if they can't generate a thing (they won't come off). It's gotta be pretty disheartening for the other guys in that they're rarely given a chance. I know it's a double-edged sword in that you've gotta produce to get a chance, but subconsciously I think the others end up relying too much on MdDrai to fix everything because that's how they're treated.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Manning has been alright. The hatred for him is ridiculous.

As you have seen over the years, OILERSNATION must hate someone and this is their man. The thing with McDavid was in the past . Let it die people ffs. I think he can be a great shut down dman

 

[OilersTheNorth9729]

McDavid will be fine I think...

 

[Drivesaitl]

Just an interesting factoid that the Oilers have not scored a goal in the last 153minutes of hockey play. That is OVER 2.5games dry spell including McD failing to cash 3 times in a 3 on 3 OT.

Worse, when this team isn't scoring it just appears to be miserable. This by game 10 in the Tippett era.

Tippett can coach, but I'm worried about adherence at this point. We have a player group with known indifference to coaches, coaching.

The wheels shouldn't have fallen off this quickly. Its resembling some laying down at the moment. Pretty sure something occurred, some bruised egos, some conflict. maybe even between players, or between players coaches. Its about to get ugly anyway and I think probably required. The Wild just had a soul sharing players meeting prior to their last couple games. The Oilers will need that kind of thing too but team nice has to learn to get comfortable with accountability and confrontation. Theres been precious little of that typically on this non vocal team.

I think there will be recovery but the Oilers have a tendency to cheat and fall into bad habits. Will Tippett have the orgs backing to hold feet over fire? Will he get the help he needs in the lineup?

In anycase its uncanny how much different the club looked in the first 5GP vs the last 5GP.

Also a lot of coaches use 7 game segments as illustrations. We've been pure crap in the 2nd 7 game set for sure.

I rarely if ever confront McD but he isn't playing the system. I don't know why. He seems really angry and this frustration just increasing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Just an odd comment but its somewhat surreal that the Hall dissatisfaction and rumors are happening around the same time as the Oilers are currently struggling. Any connection. Are the Oilers really in the potential trade fold?

I made comments about the Oilers going to Eberle's place in NY. Wonder if the same occurred with Hall. I find these to be distractions. We know this org was horrible, and the players know it too, and we know the players know that talented players should still be here in the lineup.

I mean what do we even have For Hall and Eberle? Injured Larson and absolutely nothing.

I think McDrai, Nuge Nurse, Klef were waiting to take a look see at what the new GM brought in and what its doing but that the patience is limited right now due to what this org has done and how theres been such an exodus of player talent.

My own disconcerting moment occurred in the Detroit game, looking at how horrible that lineup is and knowing Holland was the one that put it there and was overpaying several completely washed up players. Generally I've had optimism this season but seeing that Detroit nightmare roster isn't good for the faith. Holland has shown some good signs. Obtaining Smith, Neal, Jurco. But we need more.

Hollands problem is that the stars on this team need the change to be quicker. Another non playoff year could really result in some ugly.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Just an odd comment but its somewhat surreal that the Hall dissatisfaction and rumors are happening around the same time as the Oilers are currently struggling. Any connection. Are the Oilers really in the potential trade fold?

I made comments about the Oilers going to Eberle's place in NY. Wonder if the same occurred with Hall. I find these to be distractions. We know this org was horrible, and the players know it too, and we know the players know that talented players should still be here in the lineup.

I mean what do we even have For Hall and Eberle? Injured Larson and absolutely nothing.

I think McDrai, Nuge Nurse, Klef were waiting to take a look see at what the new GM brought in and what its doing but that the patience is limited right now due to what this org has done and how theres been such an exodus of player talent.

My own disconcerting moment occurred in the Detroit game, looking at how horrible that lineup is and knowing Holland was the one that put it there and was overpaying several completely washed up players. Generally I've had optimism this season but seeing that Detroit nightmare roster isn't good for the faith. Holland has shown some good signs. Obtaining Smith, Neal, Jurco. But we need more.

Hollands problem is that the stars on this team need the change to be quicker. Another non playoff year could really result in some ugly.

This team is close believe it or not. The young guys are actually panning out for a change. All we need now is a upper trajectory for Bouchard and the defense is set for a good amount of years. The top 6 is pretty much set for the next few seasons, they just need to figure out the bottom 2 lines and they will be a very good team.

Their defense is not perfect, but when Larsson gets healthy and Persson comes back their top 6 is actually pretty decent. Nurse is underrated and getting better and Bear has been a huge surprise. Its frustrating that they still suck after so many years, but for me as negative as even i am, i can see a bright light at the end of the tunnel and its pretty close.

Tippett is not an idiot like Mcellan, he won't be using the same combinations for 10 games while the team keeps losing, hes actually decent at adjusting.

 

[edmoil3]

Out of town scoreboard saves us tonight.

It’s October lol

 

[Drivesaitl]

This team is close believe it or not. The young guys are actually panning out for a change. All we need now is a upper trajectory for Bouchard and the defense is set for a good amount of years. The top 6 is pretty much set for the next few seasons, they just need to figure out the bottom 2 lines and they will be a very good team.

Their defense is not perfect, but when Larsson gets healthy and Persson comes back their top 6 is actually pretty decent. Nurse is underrated and getting better and Bear has been a huge surprise. Its frustrating that they still suck after so many years, but for me as negative as even i am, i can see a bright light at the end of the tunnel and its pretty close.

Tippett is not an idiot like Mcellan, he won't be using the same combinations for 10 games while the team keeps losing, hes actually decent at adjusting.

What adjustments can you make with this roster? As much as I wasn't a McLellan fan he did a lot to try to stretch out the lineup and share the wealth of McDrai.

A very concerning sign last night is out bottomsix being outright physically dominated by Minny. That can't happen, and a lot of these guys should be desperate for jobs, and aren't. They aren't tired, they're hardly getting minutes. Did we have one energy player forward in the lineup last night? Just one?

The only player I noted trying to get some jam going in this game was Smith and Manning. Those were the two that knew something was really off and tried to get the team to rally. Chiasson to some degree, but that late in 2nd period.

The players aren't dumb, and the bad signs were showing up before the first Minny goal. They were constantly beating us to pucks and we were not possessing or moving puck well. Even on PP we were getting badly outworked.

One thing I definitely don't like is Tippett having the first unit out there for two minutes and loading up that first unit. We need Nuge to be on 2nd unit. Nuge and Jurco seem to work well together. Chiasson doesn't appear to work with anybody.

 

[Arpeggio]

Go figure, top line scoring dries up and the team starts losing. Who could've seen that coming...

Team needs some bottom six scoring, full stop. There are going to be games where McDrai get shut down, whether it's due to them being slow that night or the other team just having their number. Someone on the bottom two lines needs to pot a goal here and there, and right now it's just not happening, not even close.