Xmas over Schultz still giving gifts Oil lose 5-3

[Del Preston]

Burglars would be there every night and make a killing with the way he never covers his man

The damn building would collapse under his watch.

 

[Soundwave]

Just cause you can shoot the puck really hard doesn't mean you can be on the PP if those shots never hit the net.

Can't be worse than what we have now. At least he's a D-Man, 4 forwards on the PP has lost us several games over the last few years from what I can recall.

 

[Stoneman89]

Why not use Nikitin on the PP then?

He has a decent point shot at least. 4 forwards is just not working for us.

He does have a good shot. But he has no clue how to move the puck around. That's a big deal on a PP.

 

[Tyrolean]

This was a bad bad loss. Oilers lead 3-1 and couldn't close. This is the back breaker for the season. Flames in the playoff Oilers not. 4 of the d-men in that game will be gone if they can replace them with better. You don't lose to the Flames with a lead ever if you intend to make a season out of it. That's twice they did that now.

 

[oobga]

The 2 guys skating off to the corner on the SHG was so sad. If they went to the net to help Schultz that goal would have been avoided. No idea what those 2 were thinking there. One was Hendricks, I forget the other guy.

 

[Soundwave]

This was a bad bad loss. Oilers lead 3-1 and couldn't close. This is the back breaker for the season. Flames in the playoff Oilers not. 4 of the d-men in that game will be gone if they can replace them with better. You don't lose to the Flames with a lead ever if you intend to make a season out of it. That's twice they did that now.

Yup. Pissed away 4 perfectly good points. They should have won both of those two last games versus Calgary, no excuses.

 

[guymez]

This was a bad bad loss. Oilers lead 3-1 and couldn't close. This is the back breaker for the season. Flames in the playoff Oilers not. 4 of the d-men in that game will be gone if they can replace them with better. You don't lose to the Flames with a lead ever if you intend to make a season out of it. That's twice they did that now.

The Flames are a smaller team but they are much tougher to play against than the Oilers. The reason they come back the way they do is because they out work teams in the 3rd period.

In the game last night the Oilers were completely outworked and out hit in at least 45 minutes of the game. Little 178lb Sam Bennett ran their show.
It was embarrassing to watch.

The outcome wasnt a surprise at all. This team still needs lots of work to be able to compete for a playoff spot.

 

[Stoneman89]

The Flames are a smaller team but they are much tougher to play against than the Oilers. The reason they come back the way they do is because they out work teams in the 3rd period.

In the game last night the Oilers were completely outworked and out hit in at least 45 minutes of the game. Little 178lb Sam Bennett ran their show.
It was embarrassing to watch.

The outcome wasnt a surprise at all. This team still needs lots of work to be able to compete for a playoff spot.

They work hard but they also have the talent to come back and score goals, both up front and especially the back end.

 

[guymez]

They work hard but they also have the talent to come back and score goals, both up front and especially the back end.

Good point.

Unfortunately they have a very strong puck moving defence and a very balanced group of forwards in terms of skill and grit.

They are way ahead of the Oilers in that regard.

 

[OilerPensfan97]

Justin Schultz: the worst dman in the league?

Without a question. He could be the worst defenceman of all time. This is completely inexcusable.

 

[Tyrolean]

Good point.

Unfortunately they have a very strong puck moving defence and a very balanced group of forwards in terms of skill and grit.

They are way ahead of the Oilers in that regard.

Oilers have a slow lead footed defence. The ones that can move are bad defensively ala Shultz. They have to replace at least 3 of the e-men for next year with better players.

 

[Replacement*]

The 2 guys skating off to the corner on the SHG was so sad. If they went to the net to help Schultz that goal would have been avoided. No idea what those 2 were thinking there. One was Hendricks, I forget the other guy.

THANK YOU

This is not news to this club that they get caught flat footed and give up oddman rushes at critical times in games. Frankly I was expecting a cluster**** moment like this and sure enough they delivered.

4 forwards on the ice with Schultz on a PP. Think about that. If I'm on the ice I'm thinking things could go wrong in a hurry and not to commit 4 forwards deep in opposition zone. If 3 guys are already there I'm hanging back. That would be a sensible observation from a beer league player.

But on this team the players tend to get lost in the moment like clueless imbeciles chasing puck and "oh, its a 3 on 1 shorthanded break allowed. A long break as well where Flames had all kinds of time and enough time to get a 3rd shot off to score the goal.

An absolutely disgusting play. By everybody on the ice. ironically the much revilled Schultz was the only one that can be absolved on that play and was where he should be.

 

[guymez]

Oilers have a slow lead footed defence. The ones that can move are bad defensively ala Shultz. They have to replace at least 3 of the e-men for next year with better players.

I agree..
The defence is slow but in all fairness thats mostly due to injuries. Klefbom, Nurse and Sekera are all good skaters. Davidson isnt a strong skater but it isnt a liability either. He is a smart player as well.
Fayne is a weak skater. So is Gryba.

Nikitin will be gone next season so he doesnt matter as much.

I think they need to replace Schultz and Gryba. Actually Gryba might be okay as a #7 dman but Schultz is long past his best before date with this team. Fayne struggles too much for my liking as well.

So at worst I think the Oilers need to replace Fayne and Schultz.

Best case scenario they replace all 3 of Gryba, Fayne and Schultz. They need to get a proper PP QB though and they are hard to get.

Thats a ton of work for a GM. Not to mention he needs to fix the balance issue with the forward group as well.

The defence is the hardest part of a team to rebuild.

This is why at the beginning of the year when I looked at the lineups I said the Flames were a better team.
Its not popular around here (understandably so) but the truth is that they are. They have a much better defence and better balance at forward. The big question mark for them is in net.

The Oilers have the same issue there as well.

So when I ask myself if the Oilers are a playoff team you have to look at the team that finished 8th last year and ask if the Oilers are as good as that team.

They arent...because of the defence its not even close.

I think Chiarelli is now learning just how broken this team was...he has a lot of work to do to fix it.

 

[Soundwave]

I agree..
The defence is slow but in all fairness thats mostly due to injuries. Klefbom, Nurse and Sekera are all good skaters. Davidson isnt a strong skater but it isnt a liability either. He is a smart player as well.
Fayne is a weak skater. So is Gryba.

Nikitin will be gone next season so he doesnt matter as much.

I think they need to replace Schultz and Gryba. Actually Gryba might be okay as a #7 dman but Schultz is long past his best before date with this team. Fayne struggles too much for my liking as well.

So at worst I think the Oilers need to replace Fayne and Schultz.

Best case scenario they replace all 3 of Gryba, Fayne and Schultz.

Thats a ton of work for a GM. Not to mention he needs to fix the balance issue with the forward group as well.

The defence is the hardest part of a team to rebuild.

This is why at the beginning of the year when I looked at the lineups I said the Flames were a better team.
Its not popular around here (understandably so) but the truth is that they are. They have a much better defence and better balance at forward. The big question mark for them is in net.

The Oilers have the same issue there as well. Part of me thinks they will get Byfuglien but at a very ugly cost, which worries me.

So when I ask myself if the Oilers are a playoff team you have to look at the team that finished 8th last year and ask if the Oilers are as good as that team.

They arent...because of the defence its not even close.

Sekera XXXXX
Klefbom Nurse
Reinhart Davidson

They need to add a reliable RHD who can play on the top pairing, but Reinhart will need a spot next year IMO he's not far off. And Davidson has had a decent year, dunno if it would be smart to dump him.

The plus side is we have a fair amount of cap room in the summer once you dump Schultz.

 

[guymez]

Sekera XXXXX
Klefbom Nurse
Reinhart Davidson

They need to add a reliable RHD who can play on the top pairing, but Reinhart will need a spot next year IMO he's not far off. And Davidson has had a decent year, dunno if it would be smart to dump him.

The plus side is we have a fair amount of cap room in the summer once you dump Schultz.

That D is not good enough IMO.
Reinhart is too big a question mark and that defence as a whole is too green.
Nurse has really struggled the past 10 games IMO. He was terrible in the Flames game. He just doesnt have enough experience yet. Not his fault...he will be a good player but he needs another 100 games.

If this team is going to be a playoff team next season then they need at least 2 solid vets...similar to what the Islanders did last year.

 

[Soundwave]

That D is not good enough IMO.
Reinhart is too big a question mark and that defence as a whole is too green.
Nurse has really struggled the past 10 games IMO. He was terrible in the Flames game. He just doesnt have enough experience yet. Not his fault...he will be a good player but he needs another 100 games.

If this team is going to be a playoff team next season then they need at least 2 solid vets...similar to what the Islanders did last year.

I think they will overpay out the wazoo for Byfuglien, which might bite us in the rear end in 3-4 years, but eh, what can you do.

Keep in mind though honestly I think we're far more talented than the Islanders up front by next year. Tavares vs. McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hall isn't fair.

I think we can be something similar to Dallas next year, maybe not quite that good but they're not exactly icing an All-Star team on the back end either.

Not having to learn a new system from new head coach next year will help a lot too. Who knows they could very well stumble into the playoffs this year if they can actually get 35 solid games down the stretch with a healthy group.

Some of the growing pains that guys like Nurse and Reinhart are experiencing now will pay off by this time next year.

 

[guymez]

I think they will overpay out the wazoo for Byfuglien, which might bite us in the rear end in 3-4 years, but eh, what can you do.

Keep in mind though honestly I think we're far more talented than the Islanders up front by next year. Tavares vs. McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hall isn't fair.

I think we can be something similar to Dallas next year, maybe not quite that good but they're not exactly icing an All-Star team on the back end either.

The Oilers may be more talented up front but until they have a team that can play grittier they will still be easy to play against.
Soft talented teams simply dont win very much.

As you know I am not a Buff fan but at this point in time I would even welcome him.
Progress has to be made...this rebuild has to end.

 

[Soundwave]

The Oilers may be more talented up front but until they have a team that can play grittier they will still be easy to play against.
Soft talented teams simply dont win very much.

As you know I am not a Buff fan but at this point in time I would even welcome him.
Progress has to be made...this rebuild has to end.

I think we'll continue to get bigger.

It's easy to forget that Leon for example will be even bigger/stronger next year and Connor will too. The Kassian addition, if he doesn't screw up this opportunity adds size.

Nurse and Reinhart are big boys, they will both be bigger/stronger next year too. I didn't think Khaira was bad at all here either, he's big.

I don't think we're going to be a small team forever, you can already see the team getting bigger.

They could have something like $20 million in cap space this summer, provided they don't re-up Schultz (good chance of that I'd say) and buy out Ference.

 

[SoftDumps]

THANK YOU

This is not news to this club that they get caught flat footed and give up oddman rushes at critical times in games. Frankly I was expecting a cluster**** moment like this and sure enough they delivered.

4 forwards on the ice with Schultz on a PP. Think about that. If I'm on the ice I'm thinking things could go wrong in a hurry and not to commit 4 forwards deep in opposition zone. If 3 guys are already there I'm hanging back. That would be a sensible observation from a beer league player.

But on this team the players tend to get lost in the moment like clueless imbeciles chasing puck and "oh, its a 3 on 1 shorthanded break allowed. A long break as well where Flames had all kinds of time and enough time to get a 3rd shot off to score the goal.

An absolutely disgusting play. By everybody on the ice. ironically the much revilled Schultz was the only one that can be absolved on that play and was where he should be.

Yep, the old peel into the corner because we are on the pp and don't expect the pk team to maintain a presence in our end because, well, they are on the pk. Really poor effort by everyone on the ice. Doesn't absolve Schultz per se, but again raises a very noticeable issue as to the state of this team: poor attention to detail in our zone in crucial moments. Has been killing us for years and shows no signs of going away.

 

[SoftDumps]

I think we'll continue to get bigger.

It's easy to forget that Leon for example will be even bigger/stronger next year and Connor will too. The Kassian addition, if he doesn't screw up this opportunity adds size.

Nurse and Reinhart are big boys, they will both be bigger/stronger next year too. I didn't think Khaira was bad at all here either, he's big.

I don't think we're going to be a small team forever, you can already see the team getting bigger.

They could have something like $20 million in cap space this summer, provided they don't re-up Schultz (good chance of that I'd say) and buy out Ference.

I actually don't think the Oilers are a bottom-5 team in terms of measurable size (didn't research but am fairly certain we aren't tiny). Just don't play like we are very big.

Wait it out on the terrible contracts, we are almost clear of some really, really poor deals. Will look like a much different squad by next season with a substantial chunk of our cap (devoted to below replacement level players) coming off the books in the next 2 seasons.

 

[guymez]

I think we'll continue to get bigger.

It's easy to forget that Leon for example will be even bigger/stronger next year and Connor will too. The Kassian addition, if he doesn't screw up this opportunity adds size.

Nurse and Reinhart are big boys, they will both be bigger/stronger next year too. I didn't think Khaira was bad at all here either, he's big.

I don't think we're going to be a small team forever, you can already see the team getting bigger.

They could have something like $20 million in cap space this summer, provided they don't re-up Schultz (good chance of that I'd say) and buy out Ference.

The problem is...this isnt about size at all...its about the compete level.

Case in point...little 178 lb Sam Bennett ran the Oilers show on Sunday.
IIRC (going by memory which can be tricky sometimes ) he knocked the following players on their ass....Hall, RNH (twice), Hendricks (twice), Draisaitl, and Nurse.

Where was the push back? That is the definition of soft...that is what the Oilers are in spades.

That has to change and it wont change internally.

The extra cap space is fine as long as its used effectively.

Improving the defence and the team compete level is going to be a lot of work and cap space wont be enough. IMO there will have to be core pieces that get traded.

 

[THall4]

You know what's more sad? A 19 year old Bennett ran this team with hits. No push back from anybody in the 3rd. Hall laid a nice hit against him at least, but what a pathetic pushback.

This.

I remember seeing one instance where Russell looked at Nuge told him to f off and pushed him...Nuge kept skating as if Russell wasnt even there...that right there was the example of how the entire game went.

 

[Replacement*]

This.

I remember seeing one instance where Russell looked at Nuge told him to f off and pushed him...Nuge kept skating as if Russell wasnt even there...that right there was the example of how the entire game went.

yep. Patented skate right away from any aggression. In a game which we barely registered any hits.

Not sure at what point some of our lads figured that hockey was a non violent pacifist sport.

Seems the guys want to be paid 6m but not dig deep and get dirty for the pay. With apologies to Hall who is actually trying to bring some ugly to his game.