Post-Game Talk: 2017 redux

[Dazed and Confused]

There's all this talk about needing another winger, or some upgrade on the defense.

I call Bull shit. It's the water... there's something in that dressing room... organziation.. something I don't know about that turns wears on the players. Something that brings out the worst of them instead of the best of them.

A personal or coaching change may resuscitate them for awhile. But the sickness will return. Perhaps it's just Canada'itis. Perhaps it's just too f***ing cold to play here. Too much pressure. Who knows but there's a reason Canada don't win cups. I suspect it's just not as much fun to be filthy rich in Canada quite frankly.

I think you're reading a little too much into the Canada element.

Imo the biggest issue for this team right now is no one's really fighting for icetime. Everyone knows their role, and there's minimal chance of going up or down. An invisible game isn't an invitation for someone to steal your spot, and that's a problem. They need to find a way to crank up the bottom 6's seat temperature, so everyone knows that if they aren't bringing their best effort than they're not going to play. This is where the 20/21 man roster is killing them.

It's not just goals (though it'd be nice if they could actually piss a drop...), but it's as simple as going out and making your presence on the game felt. I can't think of one instance where the bottom 6 has done that this season. Just playing everything safe can't be enough. The 3rd/ 4th lines need to help set the tempo and mood of the team plays, but right now they're bringing the energy of a morgue.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Just remember, Milan Lucic had excellent intangibles.

He did. But he was overpaid for his role, doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good player to have around.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

He did. But he was overpaid for his role, doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good player to have around.

When he actually gave a damn yes and then he stopped caring very quickly.

There were no shortage of videos during the DoD of the boys having fun. Didn’t stop them from losing.

Intangibles are meaningless. We need good players.

 

[Soundwave]

It’s one of the intangibles that get missed. They aren’t the best on ice players but they help the other guys feel good, and that leads to better performance.

None of the guys in the team seem to be fun guys. They are all hard assed and serious. Usually those guys just get angry when the going gets tough, get them all together and it just fuels animosity and anger. Need lighter guys to change the mood and energy.

Would it kill Bouchard to study some stand up comedy and bring some jokes to the room?

 

[CycloneSweep]

When he actually gave a damn yes and then he stopped caring very quickly.

There were no shortage of videos during the DoD of the boys having fun. Didn’t stop them from losing.

Intangibles are meaningless. We need good players.

They absolutely aren’t meaningless. You need both. Lucic isn’t why we sucked, the roster sucking is why we sucked.

If hockey was a video game or played by robots absolutely intangibles don’t matter. But it isn’t and they do. You need a good roster and guys with intangibles. Always have.

 

[joestevens29]

Would it kill Bouchard to study some stand up comedy and bring some jokes to the room?

Guys like 38 leave it to the 18 year old Nuge to learn some new tricks

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

They absolutely aren’t meaningless. You need both. Lucic isn’t why we sucked, the roster sucking is why we sucked.

If hockey was a video game or played by robots absolutely intangibles don’t matter. But it isn’t and they do. You need a good roster and guys with intangibles. Always have.

The Oilers chased this stuff for years instead of focusing on building a good hockey team. It’s certainly a good excuse when they lose. Who on Vegas is Mr. Intangibles?

 

[CycloneSweep]

The Oilers chased this stuff for years instead of focusing on building a good hockey team. It’s certainly a good excuse when they lose. Who on Vegas is Mr. Intangibles?

Then tell me Keith, why is a roster with essentially the same skill level suddenly bottom 2 in the league? Where was all the skill exodus.

My point is yes you need a great roster. But a few of those guys need to bring something more than just hockey skill. I don’t know the Vegas guys well enough to know, but I’m sure they have a few guys who like that.

Players personalities, and what they bring absolutely does matter, thinking otherwise just proves you need to get off the video games.

Our issue is we were chasing intangibles while ignoring actual issues. You need both to be a good successful team.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Then tell me Keith, why is a roster with essentially the same skill level suddenly bottom 2 in the league? Where was all the skill exodus.

My point is yes you need a great roster. But a few of those guys need to bring something more than just hockey skill. I don’t know the Vegas guys well enough to know, but I’m sure they have a few guys who like that.

Players personalities, and what they bring absolutely does matter, thinking otherwise just proves you need to get off the video games.

Our issue is we were chasing intangibles while ignoring actual issues. You need both to be a good successful team.

You really don't. You need a good hockey team. Certainly the team is struggling at the moment... Easy to forget they weren't even in a playoff spot at one point last year. The hot stretch probably amplified a few expectations and the team probably read their press clippings.

I don't even know what intangibles is? Being funny in the locker room?

In my eyes there isn't a single thing preventing any player from stepping up and playing like they give a damn. Skinner gave them a reasonable start yesterday and they just floated throughout the game with several players making braindead mistakes from top to bottom. Maybe they didn't want to play for Skinner? Who knows. Was Mike Smith that chock full of intangibles? Didn't seem like it to me.

Vegas plays an extremely cutthroat game. You suck? You're gone. Doesn't matter if you're well-liked or good in the room (See: Fleury). The only thing that matters is winning. Eichel sure didn't strike me as an intangibles guy but he sure made us his bitch didn't he? Maybe Barbashev was the key all along? Or maybe he was just a good hockey player.

The Oilers love chasing trends while ignoring the real issues. If they addressed the issues properly there would be a lot of pink slips this morning.

 

[Duke74]

Draisaitl - Nice little la de da game from him again. Rangers are stuffing 4 players in the neutral zone? Well may as well stand there and try to zip passes cross ice through the middle. Team isn't getting any shots on goal? May as well stop up high in the zone and try more hero passes to nowhere. Casual, cute, bullshit hockey. Someone needs to get a hold of him and tell him that he's got to start moving his feet, driving the puck to the f***ing net, and actually shooting once in a blue moon off a shot that isn't a gift one timer.

This is something I've always wanted to see him do and don't understand why he hasn't started implementing this into his game. He's a 50-goal scorer and has a large frame, two things that should make him just take the puck and drive it to the net himself. Even Connor eventually got the overpassing out of his game. If you play with garbage wingers long enough, you need to learn just to take over the game yourself. I'm not seeing this with Draisaitl and frankly quite disappointed as I expected more out of him in McDavid's absence. Instead, he seems content just to prove everyone right about being a product of McDavid.

 

[KlefDown]

You really don't. You need a good hockey team. Certainly the team is struggling at the moment... Easy to forget they weren't even in a playoff spot at one point last year. The hot stretch probably amplified a few expectations and the team probably read their press clippings.

I don't even know what intangibles is? Being funny in the locker room?

In my eyes there isn't a single thing preventing any player from stepping up and playing like they give a damn. Skinner gave them a reasonable start yesterday and they just floated throughout the game with several players making braindead mistakes from top to bottom. Maybe they didn't want to play for Skinner? Who knows. Was Mike Smith that chock full of intangibles? Didn't seem like it to me.

Vegas plays an extremely cutthroat game. You suck? You're gone. Doesn't matter if you're well-liked or good in the room (See: Fleury). The only thing that matters is winning. Eichel sure didn't strike me as an intangibles guy but he sure made us his bitch didn't he? Maybe Barbashev was the key all along? Or maybe he was just a good hockey player.

The Oilers love chasing trends while ignoring the real issues. If they addressed the issues properly there would be a lot of pink slips this morning.

like I said yesterday, this club attracts failure, breeds failure and signs failure to 8 year extensions

when I say the fans are to blame is because they don't give a shit, they still throw money at ownership because this city has nothing else to offer and fans are still clinging onto the 80's.

there are fanbases of football clubs in Europe so passionate and extremist who would die before seeing their club fail. I'm not saying we need to be extremist but the best we've done as a fanbase to send a message is buy a billboard and throw two jerseys on the ice for over 13 years of failure now. There are franchises who completed whole ass rebuilds while we still have not

 

[TheNumber4]

How the f*** do you spend on a top 10 pick on a D-Man this crap:



I think the Rogers arena staff are still looking for Broberg's jock strap.

This is the guy we drafted cause he could dominate with his skating. What a joke.

 

[bellagiobob]

I think you're reading a little too much into the Canada element.

Imo the biggest issue for this team right now is no one's really fighting for icetime. Everyone knows their role, and there's minimal chance of going up or down. An invisible game isn't an invitation for someone to steal your spot, and that's a problem. They need to find a way to crank up the bottom 6's seat temperature, so everyone knows that if they aren't bringing their best effort than they're not going to play. This is where the 20/21 man roster is killing them.

It's not just goals (though it'd be nice if they could actually piss a drop...), but it's as simple as going out and making your presence on the game felt. I can't think of one instance where the bottom 6 has done that this season. Just playing everything safe can't be enough. The 3rd/ 4th lines need to help set the tempo and mood of the team plays, but right now they're bringing the energy of a morgue.

Struddy was talking about this after the game last night, that with the cap situation, it is difficult if not impossible to actually sit guys to show accountability. His suggestion was you have a guy miss a period, etc to send a message. My issue with that is that pretty much every single player needs to be benched to send that message, which of course is impossible. But if the coach had any balls, he would start with the supposed leaders who are under performing, like Nurse, and send a message that way, and sit him for a period.

 

[K1984]

This is something I've always wanted to see him do and don't understand why he hasn't started implementing this into his game. He's a 50-goal scorer and has a large frame, two things that should make him just take the puck and drive it to the net himself. Even Connor eventually got the overpassing out of his game. If you play with garbage wingers long enough, you need to learn just to take over the game yourself. I'm not seeing this with Draisaitl and frankly quite disappointed as I expected more out of him in McDavid's absence. Instead, he seems content just to prove everyone right about being a product of McDavid.

Draisaitl has two versions of himself.

Good Leon - feet always moving, driving the puck in straight lines, taking the bull by the horns and making himself a problem in scoring areas. Impossible to defend in the slot. Not afraid to fire the puck or get to the dirty areas. This is the version we usually see after about January every year all the way through the playoffs.

Bad Leon - prefers to slow the game down in faint attempts to make hero passing plays. When he has possession he stops moving his feet at both blue lines and forces passes in high risk areas even when they clearly aren't there. Stops on the boards in the o-zone and invites defenders to check him isolating himself in the process. Turnover factory. Flat out refuses to shoot the puck in almost any situation 5v5. This is the version we usually get from October - January.

Good Leon can take a game over on his own whether McDavid is in the lineup or not. We had good Leon the last time McDavid was out and he was dominant. Bad Leon stinks even if McDavid is playing, and on nights where the worst version of Leon is present can honestly be a liability at times. The difference between the two versions is 90% based on moving his feet, which he currently is not doing at all. Like everything with this team the problems with him are entirely based on work ethic and focus. He and the rest of the team are severely lacking in both at the moment.

 

[belair]

The Oilers love chasing trends while ignoring the real issues. If they addressed the issues properly there would be a lot of pink slips this morning.

This is what I find particularly frustrating with the state of things right now. Were the Oilers really a team that struggled defending the cycle last season or even the one prior?

A large number of the particularly backbreaking goals they've given up in the playoffs actually came off of poorly executed breakouts which are still a clear issue today. They're a big reason why the Oilers as a team don't consistently generate quality chances off of the rush today.

In the off-season we weren't the only team retooling our approach. And at this point there's plenty of game film out there for opposing d-men to find effective ways to limit the damage our top guys can do. What are we doing to find ways where our supporting guys can start contributing like the depth guys do on other teams?

 

[frag2]

This is something I've always wanted to see him do and don't understand why he hasn't started implementing this into his game. He's a 50-goal scorer and has a large frame, two things that should make him just take the puck and drive it to the net himself. Even Connor eventually got the overpassing out of his game. If you play with garbage wingers long enough, you need to learn just to take over the game yourself. I'm not seeing this with Draisaitl and frankly quite disappointed as I expected more out of him in McDavid's absence. Instead, he seems content just to prove everyone right about being a product of McDavid.

Well if he re-signs his contract, he sure as hell shouldn't be making close to McD money IMO

 

[Duke74]

Draisaitl has two versions of himself.

Good Leon - feet always moving, driving the puck in straight lines, taking the bull by the horns and making himself a problem in scoring areas. Impossible to defend in the slot. Not afraid to fire the puck or get to the dirty areas. This is the version we usually see after about January every year all the way through the playoffs.

Bad Leon - prefers to slow the game down in faint attempts to make hero passing plays. When he has possession he stops moving his feet at both blue lines and forces passes in high risk areas even when they clearly aren't there. Stops on the boards in the o-zone and invites defenders to check him isolating himself in the process. Turnover factory. Flat out refuses to shoot the puck in almost any situation 5v5. This is the version we usually get from October - January.

Good Leon can take a game over on his own whether McDavid is in the lineup or not. We had good Leon the last time McDavid was out and he was dominant. Bad Leon stinks even if McDavid is playing, and on nights where the worst version of Leon is present can honestly be a liability at times. The difference between the two versions is 90% based on moving his feet, which he currently is not doing at all. Like everything with this team the problems with him are entirely based on work ethic and focus. He and the rest of the team are severely lacking in both at the moment.

This is an excellent analysis. I don't know why we can't get Good Leon at least 80-90% of the time. This is what separates him from truly great superstars and gives incentive to those geniuses on the mains to spew their incessant "product of McDavid" rhetoric like we're seeing right now.

 

[Beerfish]

Oh we are back to ragging on the best players on this team that have been dragging the rest of the schlock around for the last 5 years like piano tied to their asses?

Play better and ignore the anvils tied to your ass end you slackers!

 

[Senor Catface]

like I said yesterday, this club attracts failure, breeds failure and signs failure to 8 year extensions

when I say the fans are to blame is because they don't give a shit, they still throw money at ownership because this city has nothing else to offer and fans are still clinging onto the 80's.

there are fanbases of football clubs in Europe so passionate and extremist who would die before seeing their club fail. I'm not saying we need to be extremist but the best we've done as a fanbase to send a message is buy a billboard and throw two jerseys on the ice for over 13 years of failure now. There are franchises who completed whole ass rebuilds while we still have not

Edmonton has nothing else to offer if the Oilers are the only thing going on in your life or your only hobby.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

They absolutely aren’t meaningless. You need both. Lucic isn’t why we sucked, the roster sucking is why we sucked.

If hockey was a video game or played by robots absolutely intangibles don’t matter. But it isn’t and they do. You need a good roster and guys with intangibles. Always have.

Lucic sucking had a part to do with the roster sucking.

 

[K1984]

Oh we are back to ragging on the best players on this team that have been dragging the rest of the schlock around for the last 5 years like piano tied to their asses?

Play better and ignore the anvils tied to your ass end you slackers!

Is Draisaitl immune from criticism at a time where we desperately need him to step up because he played well before?

Or are we just supposed to pretend that all is A ok with his game because his name is Draisaitl?

Which one is it?

 

[Soundwave]

They absolutely aren’t meaningless. You need both. Lucic isn’t why we sucked, the roster sucking is why we sucked.

If hockey was a video game or played by robots absolutely intangibles don’t matter. But it isn’t and they do. You need a good roster and guys with intangibles. Always have.

I mean it kind of was a problem though. Lucic was supposed to replace at least 70% of Taylor Hall's offence and be the go to winger on the team for McDavid.

When he couldn't be the Lucic of 2013 anymore, the whole roster construction of the forwards fell apart.

 

[mkatcherin00]

You really don't. You need a good hockey team. Certainly the team is struggling at the moment... Easy to forget they weren't even in a playoff spot at one point last year. The hot stretch probably amplified a few expectations and the team probably read their press clippings.

I don't even know what intangibles is? Being funny in the locker room?

In my eyes there isn't a single thing preventing any player from stepping up and playing like they give a damn. Skinner gave them a reasonable start yesterday and they just floated throughout the game with several players making braindead mistakes from top to bottom. Maybe they didn't want to play for Skinner? Who knows. Was Mike Smith that chock full of intangibles? Didn't seem like it to me.

Vegas plays an extremely cutthroat game. You suck? You're gone. Doesn't matter if you're well-liked or good in the room (See: Fleury). The only thing that matters is winning. Eichel sure didn't strike me as an intangibles guy but he sure made us his bitch didn't he? Maybe Barbashev was the key all along? Or maybe he was just a good hockey player.

The Oilers love chasing trends while ignoring the real issues. If they addressed the issues properly there would be a lot of pink slips this morning.

One thing thos a**holes have in Vegas to be that cut throat and non loyal....Lots of guys want to go there.

Look at Peitro. That fu**er wanted to go there

 

[mkatcherin00]

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Is Draisaitl immune from criticism at a time where we desperately need him to step up because he played well before?

Or are we just supposed to pretend that all is A ok with his game because his name is Draisaitl?

Which one is it?

Is he immune to criticism? No.

Does he deserve a huge amount of slack considering him and McDavid completely carried this team on their backs for half a decade plus? Yes.