Post-Game Talk: A successful season?

[Useless plug]

JP goes please. I love Yamo. Kane fits well.

JP might just be a flop. Thanks Chia. Could have had Sergachev.

or M. Tkachuk.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

For being a Canadian sports network they sure love to rag on the Canadian teams not named the leafs. Sickening how much Avs pole they slobbered over all series.

The network is absolute amateur hour. Their on-air talent is horrible, the game presentation often embarrassing (that goofy Kesler crib thing last year), and I think their social media is run by high school kids. Legitimizing sports gambling incorporating it as intermission content is absolutely disgusting. Sticking a finger in the eye of fans of the last Canadian team standing and one of its largest fanbases that helps pay their bills through eyeballs watching is a cheap shot. High school level reaction.

 

[Keggatron]

Just responding to the last part. Its a problem on the team to play favorites. Everybody is a team mate, and it has gone on. This is a club that gets on its own players sometimes. All of Pulju, Smith, Koski, Bouchard have been in that spotlight, have seen the glares, some tongue lashings. Its a troubling aspect that its taken guys from outside the org like Keith, Kane, Hyman to be remedying this and remembering to not be hard on their brothers.

BOTH these players have lacked scoring confidence at times. They're not different in that regard. I find it troubling in present day that we get to such evaluation that one player is smiling a lot and one isn't. People are different and respond to bad luck or play differently. But Pulju this season, on the whole, has been a better player, and harder to play against. but I feel the team under Woody is moving well away from Pulju again. Woody of course would have more allegiance for Yama, he's coached him a lot. he hasn't had Pulju a lot and Pulju has REALLY had minutes severely curtailed since the coaching change. from the coach that is always saying that you have to play players to build their confidence to play. Except that seems to be just words. I dunno. Maybe we find out Pulju is reinjured. Its possible.

Gonna say as well that some shifts Yama is blasted out of a cannon. particularly if he's being sat or dropped a line. But there are lots of shifts where you don't see Yama either.

If I'm the Oilers I get comprehensive evaluation on Pulju bill of health and prospects before deciding what to do. Pulju has good 200ft instincts and attributes. When he's healthy and able to play pain free. Not sure whats going on.

Yeah you're right, and I've been very critical in the past especially about coaches playing favorites and how they should be changing their gameplans to put their players into positions to succeed. Rather than the other way around. Having said that though, it's human nature to have guys that you've been in the trenches with and have developed a relationship with and lean more towards them in key situations. I don't think you'll ever find a coach who doesn't. At least with this one, he doesn't seem to be favoring guys who are on their way out of the league (ahem Chiasson and Lestestu) vs guys who should be big parts of the org going forward (Yammo McLeod).

If we can keep all of Pulju, Yamo, Kane go for it. But if it comes down to any of them leaving I'm picking Pulju 10 out of 10. Yes Yamo's had his share of cold streaks as well. My opinion was probably different earlier on in the season, but things have changed. We have a new coach who seems to get more out of his lesser players than Tippett did and Yamo has gotten better I feel, as the season's gone on. Where I think the opposite can be said about Pulju. It's a bit harsh yes, but some decisions have to be made and you make them based on the info you have at the time. I currently think there's very few Oiler fans or Oiler management that feel you hang onto Pulju over Yamo at this time.

I'd love to keep trying with Jesse as you can just see the potential the dude could have. I wouldn't be opposed to giving him a solid shot on PP1 on the offwing moving Nuge off of there, and just have him clap some ginos as has should have been the case since he was drafted. But that doesn't seem like what the brass really want and are kind of playing out the string with him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave for Europe to be honest. He's gotta be disillusioned with his role on the team and I kind of see his point. But also, he's been given opportunity to prove why he should be higher in the pecking order and that's kind of on the player.

 

[Oilhawks]

The network is absolute amateur hour. Their on-air talent is horrible, the game presentation often embarrassing (that goofy Kesler crib thing last year), and I think their social media is run by high school kids. Legitimizing sports gambling incorporating it as intermission content is absolutely disgusting. Sticking a finger in the eye of fans of the last Canadian team standing and one of its largest fanbases that helps pay their bills through eyeballs watching is a cheap shot. High school level reaction.

Saw a few replies to that tweet saying “unfollow” etc. Hopefully they lose some subs with that disgusting mentality. I haven’t given those clowns money for many years and am glad after seeing this. Rogers wireless drove me away with the worst customer service I ever received. Brutal company.

 

[BudBundy]

If you had told me at the start of the regular season that we’d make the final four despite Nurse and Draisaitl playing injured, and that it included a 2nd round pounding of the Flames in 5 games, I’d have been very happy. No shame in losing to a team as good as the Avs. As many have said, it’s hard to see through the disappointment that this really was a good year for this team. Drai and McDavid completely re-wrote their playoff resumes compared to the Chicago and Winnipeg debacles.

I don’t know where we go from here. Kane will get a massive offer somewhere and it’s honestly probably not smart for the team to shed the depth it would take to re-sign him. That’s going to be sad but probably for the best. Maybe Holloway becomes a perfect McDavid winger for the rest of McDavids career. A guy can hope right?

I hope we aren’t done with JP. He takes way more flack than he deserves and still oozes potential.

Can Nurse earn his contract going forward?? I don’t know.

How does our D improve? Ceci and Bouchard are keepers. Barrie probably goes as a cap casualty. No way Keith retires and he’s blocking Broberg, and/or Niemelainen or Samorukov. Kulak brings a lot for what he’s likely to cost. Hard to just throw that away. Lots of question marks in the blue.

Refusing to play Skinner this season still mystifies me. We could’ve found out what we had with him so that we could made a smart decision this summer. Instead, we are probably locked into a wildcard Skinner/Smith tandem. Who the hell feels good about that?!?!

Woodcroft did wonders for the team and I love Dave Manson. Woody inexplicably refusing to limit Nurses minutes vs Colorado leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. How can the entire fan base and the entire hockey world be pointing out Nurse needed sheltering in the worst way, but Woodie stuck on the first pairing with Nurse and Ceci. Inexplicable really.

To all you fellow posters, thanks for a great season. There really is no other place like this for Oilers fandom, knowledge, insight and passion. Have a great summer!

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Classy stuff here:

Lol what’s with the low blows?

 

[fireantz]

Question! Torn hip flexor requires surgery? If yes, do we start next season with Nurse on IR?

 

[gordonhught]

one of the worst Oilers draft pick next to Yakapov

There is a long list

Plante, paajarvi, yakupov, JP

Just first rounders. Before Plante it’s even worse.

 

[Keggatron]

Refusing to play Skinner this season still mystifies me. We could’ve found out what we had with him so that we could made a smart decision this summer. Instead, we are probably locked into a wildcard Skinner/Smith tandem. Who the hell feels good about that?!?!

While I do see the validity in this, I'm not sure we really had the chance to. We literally needed basically every single win we could muster down the stretch and experimenting with a rookie goalie isn't really in the cards in those types of situations. Unfortunate, but I think the lessons we learned from making the playoffs and getting to the WCF trump the lessons we possibly could have learned in seeing what we have with a rookie tender. Just my two cents here.

 

[Kerberos]

The disgusting amount of shit directed Nurse's way seems even more ridiculous now.

Clear he was hampered by a major injury. An absolute warrior to play through that.

 

[gordonhught]

While I do see the validity in this, I'm not sure we really had the chance to. We literally needed basically every single win we could muster down the stretch and experimenting with a rookie goalie isn't really in the cards in those types of situations. Unfortunate, but I think the lessons we learned from making the playoffs and getting to the WCF trump the lessons we possibly could have learned in seeing what we have with a rookie tender. Just my two cents here.

On to next year!!

 

[CycloneSweep]

The disgusting amount of shit directed Nurse's way seems even more ridiculous now.

Clear he was hampered by a major injury. An absolute warrior to play through that.

Not his fault persay, but with how bad he was due to his injury. Literally replacing him with Russell would have been better for the team.

Warrior to play thru it but he was a massive liability.

 

[foshizzle]

A veteran goalie at $2M is not untradeable, he just wouldn't be a starter for anyone unless they had injuries. Teams like Pittsburgh/Nashville (this year) would trade for someone like Smith as insurance for the playoffs since they had goalie injury issues leading into the post season. They literally started AHL goalies during the post-season.

Let me clarify, no team is going to trade for a 40 year old goalie in the off-season

 

[CycloneSweep]

Let me clarify, no team is going to trade for a 40 year old goalie in the off-season

Arizona might

 

[noice]

Woulda been better if evryone was 100%

 

[foshizzle]

The disgusting amount of shit directed Nurse's way seems even more ridiculous now.

Clear he was hampered by a major injury. An absolute warrior to play through that.

Not a warrior, it was stupid. He was a liability and now risks next season

Arizona might

That would be the dream- but Arizona is going to ask for a lot to take that contract on. Armstrong is no dummy- he k owns what we are looking for and will charge a premium

 

[Kerberos]

Not a warrior, it was stupid. He was a liability and now risks next season

Still doesn't change the fact that, yes, he was a warrior to play through a torn hip flexor.

Nothing you said changes that.

 

[Keggatron]

The disgusting amount of shit directed Nurse's way seems even more ridiculous now.

Clear he was hampered by a major injury. An absolute warrior to play through that.

While I get how an injury can affect your decision making, it seemed way beyond that and moreso like he actually had a brain injure. He made so many plays with time that were completely detrimental and was a huge reason we lost this series. No hyperbole. I have laid off on criticizing Nurse in the past because I know the game he can bring and the role he plays on this team, that while healthy is important. But warrior or not, it was clear he was hurting this team. If you want to talk about warriors it starts and ends with Drai. The guy couldn't even stand on his skates and put up 4 primary assists tonight. And while playing injured willed his team to two series wins. I get wanting to be there for your team, but a bigger part of that would be doing the honorable thing and make it easy on your ROOKIE coach by telling him you're not good to go and either limit your minutes or take you out of the game completely.

He literally deflected a goal into our net last game akin to what an offensive player would do in that situation. When we actually had an extremely rare lead this series. The best case scenario in that situation, on a deflection like that would have been barely missing the net. Let's not even get into that puck over the glass penalty he took either. Sorry to come down so hard on him and your post, but it was clear he couldn't go, and it was a massive reason we lost this series. Just reckless, he had ample game footage to go over and see the mistakes he was making. It's far more selfish to keep himself in that big of a role the entire time.

 

[Shaquille Oatmeal]

Woulda been better if evryone was 100%

Woulda been better if everyone was 101%

 

[foshizzle]

JP is an enigma. He is just a big soft player with bad hands and little hockey sense. If he was 5’ 10”, I am not sure he gets drafted.

He really isn’t. He is a young player in his second full season in the NHL that has strong underlying numbers. He has the fundamentals down, is a strong defensive player. He needs to work on his finishing and not rush. As all young players- this will come with time. Good teams lock these players up long term on value contracts betting they outperform them. Bad teams trade them to sign over the hill players

 

[Stauf4Prez]

Well if there's one thing that this series has taught me.. it's that clearly I have no clue what constitutes an NHL penalty anymore. GG refs, GG Oil. Better luck next year. We aren't that far away..

 

[JeffSkinner53]

I hope the team does something nice for Ben next season. Make him the team ambassador or something cool.

 

[foshizzle]

Still doesn't change the fact that, yes, he was a warrior to play through a torn hip flexor.

Nothing you said changes that.

Please explain how that makes him a warrior? Playing through an injury and risking the bigger picture never, ever makes sense. I guess that’s the same “battler” logic applied to Smith

I think maybe the play is to sign/trade for someone else and go XXX/Smith as your tandem. Then when Smith inevitably gets hurt and misses like 3 months, you bring Skinner up full-time and just leave Smith rotting until the end of the season.

You can’t send Skinner down- he is waiver exempt and will be scooped up in a heartbeat by another team

 

[gordonhught]

Well if there's one thing that this series has taught me.. it's that clearly I have no clue what constitutes an NHL penalty anymore. GG refs, GG Oil. Better luck next year. We aren't that far away..

Penalty is against the team that does not fit the profile of who the NHL wants to win?

American team or small market Canadian team? Hmmm.

After this playoff, I have no doubt the league gives direction on what penalties to call to minimize the effectiveness of players like McDavid.

Edit - I only say that about Hyman because I thought he was a natural left winger. You could put Hyman with Drai in a pinch and find a cheap RW to play third line minutes if you can’t get Kuzmenko.

 

[foshizzle]

Penalty is against the team that does not fit the profile of who the NHL wants to win?

American team or small market Canadian team? Hmmm.

After this playoff, I have no doubt the league gives direction on what penalties to call to minimize the effectiveness of players like McDavid.

This. It so aligns with who Colin Campbell is and his contempt for star players