Are the Oilers a top 5 contender next season with Jack Campbell?

[Sypher04]

Campbell had one good month. November, which was very good. Other than that he was mediocre to downright bad last year. I think he can figure it out, but I wouldn’t be so confident he’s an upgrade on what Mike Smith gave the Oilers last year.

 

[Drake1588]

Not merely because they added Campbell, no.

With 1-2 veteran additions to their defense (and a steep maturation curve from Bouchard and Broberg), maybe. Right now, the defense corps doesn't look good enough for top five contender status, though.

 

[Soundwave]

Hasn't slowed Tampa Bay down...


Also, the Oilers window will not open. They are not a cup contender. That's the entire point of this thread. Nothing to do with Colorado. Edmonton is a two man team. They are not a contender.

Actually you could see that Tampa team last year was gassed completely by the Cup Finals, they're not the same team they were in the years prior.

The Oilers were a two man team maybe when Chiarelli got fired but not anymore they could very reasonably have a forward corps like this

McDavid - 40+ goals
Draisaitl - 50+ goals
Kane - 30+ goals
Hyman - 25-28 goals
RNH - 20-ish goals
Yamamoto - 20-ish goals
Puljujarvi - 16-20 goals

This is not a two man team any more, this garbage that Chiarelli left was a two man team

McDavid - 40 goals
Drai - 50 goals
RNH - 20 ish goals
Lucic (lol) - 10-12 goals maybe?
Spooner - 10 goals maybe (not even in the NHL now)
Ty Rattie - 10 goals off McDavid's jock maybe (AHL player)

Things have changed.

 

[Soundwave]

With regards to Campbell if he can be Cam Talbot good for the Oilers but 5 years younger, that's fine with me.

Dumping Talbot because he had one really awful season in favor of freaking Koskinen was always one of Chiarelli's many dumb mistakes.

 

[Chips]

You might want to look at Huberdeau's playoffs last year and his playoff history in general.

He makes Gaudreau look like a playoff superstar.

There's a reason the Panthers have never gone anywhere in the playoffs, now he's going to lead a franchise without Barkov driving the bus? Yeah we'll see on that.

Kadri has never been the "guy" on a team since the AHL, he's a decent player but he's better off when he's like the 3rd or really 4th best player on a team.

Weegar is a huge add for Calgary, one of the better transition D in the league which will be a huge asset in both relieving the team defensively and aiding the forwards


Kadri long term is eh, but a lot of players made huge gains this year to some extent probably do to recent rule changes and how teams play now. I think he’ll be really good for the Flames at least one more year. At worst he resets as a really good two way C with a great shot which will still be big for the Flames under Sutter.

Huberdeau lit up the Bolts the prior year, and they largely beat the Bolts at 5v5. PK and goalie were their issue the prior matchup against the Bolts. Before that, the Panthers really hadn’t been a great team for a long time, and Huberdeau and Barkov have both grown offensively big time since their earlier playoffs.


Markstrom is a legit great goalie who shit the bed and demoralized his team with back breaker after back breaker.

Playoff storylines are fun but people conveniently forget what sample size means once we shift from regular season to playoffs. A round isn’t long. Bobrovsky the past two matchups against the Bolts is another good example. He was actually pretty good for the Panthers this year. Less the prior.

 

[Chips]

Anyone in here saying the Oilers or Flames is “clearly” better than the other is no more or less laughable whichever you say. Same goes with a few other team comparisons vs the Oilers. We don’t know a lot right now



Woodcrofts record so far is still considered a relatively small sample compared to a full season. I’m not predicting what will happen just saying he was with the team less than half the regular season. New coach/pissed-off-motivated team boost is a thing, and regardless teams performance can and often do vary over significant chunks of a season for a variety of reasons. Maybe the Oilers finish with 118pts, maybe they’re sub 110


They were fairly inconsistent in the playoffs past their top few players. McDavid going god mode really bailed them out latter part of the Kings series when the part inexperienced, part old as shit Kings missing key guys controlled play at times way more than anyone expected going in. Regarding my sample point, I do think the Oilers more and more likely win if a series was like 20 games longer lol, but given playoff format it was close. Usually I hear offensive depth and I think more players than I see on that roster. We’ve seen mcdavid go godmode and we’ve seen them be just “really” good over multiple playoffs.

Then they looked great against the Flames as they shit the bed. Even when the Flames skaters came out great in game one, Markstrom allowed multiple awful goals that game alone. You won’t find many other series with so many back breaker type goals


Then the Avs controlled much of 5v5, especially but not only when McDrai were off. I know the oilers started pushing back the latter half, but what’s half of 4 games? And they still lost that half against the Avs, who’s goalie situation wasn’t drastically better.

 

[Soundwave]

Weegar is a huge add for Calgary, one of the better transition D in the league which will be a huge asset in both relieving the team defensively and aiding the forwards


Kadri long term is eh, but a lot of players made huge gains this year to some extent probably do to recent rule changes and how teams play now. I think he’ll be really good for the Flames at least one more year. At worst he resets as a really good two way C with a great shot which will still be big for the Flames under Sutter.

Huberdeau lit up the Bolts the prior year, and they largely beat the Bolts at 5v5. PK and goalie were their issue the prior matchup against the Bolts. Before that, the Panthers really hadn’t been a great team for a long time, and Huberdeau and Barkov have both grown offensively big time since their earlier playoffs.


Markstrom is a legit great goalie who shit the bed and demoralized his team with back breaker after back breaker.

Playoff storylines are fun but people conveniently forget what sample size means once we shift from regular season to playoffs. A round isn’t long. Bobrovsky the past two matchups against the Bolts is another good example. He was actually pretty good for the Panthers this year. Less the prior.

Huberdeau has been shit in the playoffs career wise, 5 series', 4 of them mediocre, how many passes does this guy get? He is worse in the playoffs than Gaudreau, at least Gaudreau won the Flames one round last year. 5 goals in 5 playoff rounds for his career is also a pathetic level of goal scoring, he had as many goals in last year's playoffs (10 games) as Kailer Yamamoto.

Markstrom has problems with the Oilers, but how many freaking breakaways and the 2 on 1s and complete defensive break downs did the Flames D have in that series? Oilers were getting odd man rushes all series long even in the one game the Flames managed to win, they can't handle speed and skill when it's put to their throat in a 7 game series where they can't just go play another team the next night. Same story as the Colorado series in 2019 where they were also heavily favored.

 

[sting101]

Is Campbell really much better than Koskinen

 

[Soundwave]

Is Campbell really much better than Koskinen

Campbell NHL career: .918 save percentage
Koskinen NHL career: .906 save percentage

I would say probably yes. That's a significant difference in save percentage.

If you want to just limit it to the last two seasons, it's worse for Mikko (his save percentage drops to about .901).

 

[1specter]

No

 

[JurassicTunga]

with that defense and goaltending? lol.
nah.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

jacks a headcase.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Is Campbell really much better than Koskinen

Koskinen high-tailed out of the NHL before the playoffs was even over.

 

[AvroArrow]

I don't really care about how you rank the Oilers, I just think it's hilarious how you think Toronto is top 5 after you criticize the Oilers for having weak D and terrible goaltending which is literally what Toronto has right now lmao. very delusional

also, why would I be salty? it's not like the oilers have been dumped in the 1st round for 6ix straight seasons with the same core and haven't won a playoff around in over 2 decades

Oilers fans haven't seen a real D man in so long they think Barrie and Ceci are good top 4 players. Toronto's D is perfectly fine lmao, goalie sure it's a question mark but there's no way in hell Murray can be worse than our tandem from last year

Also you're clearly salty I have the Oilers ranked outside the top 5, you wouldn't be going off like this if you weren't. Imagine being this upset that I called the Oilers a top 6-10 team lol

 

[J bo Jeans]

Playoffs thrive when shipped out of Toronto.

Just look at Kessel, Kadri, Hyman, Ceci....

I have a feelin Leafs fans are gonna be BIG mad when they see Campbell play better and more consistently outside of Toronto.

 

[McDNicks17]

It's pretty funny seeing the same people rank the Flames above the Oilers, but also say McDrai's points in last year's playoffs are overrated because they came against teams like LA and Calgary.

 

[yogibear]

Oilers fans haven't seen a real D man in so long they think Barrie and Ceci are good top 4 players. Toronto's D is perfectly fine lmao, goalie sure it's a question mark but there's no way in hell Murray can be worse than our tandem from last year

Also you're clearly salty I have the Oilers ranked outside the top 5, you wouldn't be going off like this if you weren't. Imagine being this upset that I called the Oilers a top 6-10 team lol

if only Murray could stay healthy. You’re more likely to win the lottery 6/49.

 

[La Bamba]

Oilers fans haven't seen a real D man in so long they think Barrie and Ceci are good top 4 players. Toronto's D is perfectly fine lmao, goalie sure it's a question mark but there's no way in hell Murray can be worse than our tandem from last year

Also you're clearly salty I have the Oilers ranked outside the top 5, you wouldn't be going off like this if you weren't. Imagine being this upset that I called the Oilers a top 6-10 team lol

Having a discussion doesn't mean you're salty, i think you're just projecting your own emotions. again, why would I be salty? my team didn't get dumped in the 1st round for 6 straight playoffs. You can 'rank' the Oilers 31 for all I care, I'm just laughing at the fact you have Toronto as a top 5 contender and criticize the Oilers for having weak D and goaltending. the delusion and irony is strong

i think Toronto fans have had too long of a summer (again) that they forgot how fragile their team is

 

[MoneyManny]

Hey... he was definitely in the running. At the end of November he had a .946 Sv%
Its not Leafs fans fault that his game dropped off a cliff.

Lots of players have periods of statistical anomalies like that. Pacing stats don't mean anything because being consistent is the difference between good or bad.

 

[Double Dion]

No, not even a top 10 contender. No team with a blueline like that has ever won a cup. They are built around 1 dimensional forwards. They have 2 top 6 forwards that play both ways. The rest are cherrypickers. Colorado is the rabbit in the West. Flames and Blues are the hound. Kings will be good soon, maybe even this year. Oilers are irrelevant.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Having a discussion doesn't mean you're salty, i think you're just projecting your own emotions. again, why would I be salty? my team didn't get dumped in the 1st round for 6 straight playoffs. You can 'rank' the Oilers 31 for all I care, I'm just laughing at the fact you have Toronto as a top 5 contender and criticize the Oilers for having weak D and goaltending. the delusion and irony is strong

i think Toronto fans have had too long of a summer (again) that they forgot how fragile their team is

If last years Oilers had faced the Lightning in the playoffs, how many games would they have won?

 

[AvroArrow]

Having a discussion doesn't mean you're salty, i think you're just projecting your own emotions. again, why would I be salty? my team didn't get dumped in the 1st round for 6 straight playoffs. You can 'rank' the Oilers 31 for all I care, I'm just laughing at the fact you have Toronto as a top 5 contender and criticize the Oilers for having weak D and goaltending. the delusion and irony is strong

i think Toronto fans have had too long of a summer (again) that they forgot how fragile their team is

Tell me you didn't watch a single leafs game last year without telling me you didn't watch a single leafs game last year

Leafs D was one of their biggest strengths last year, they were top 5-10 all year in pretty much every defensive metric and by the eye-test. Guess what their weakness was ? The guy you just signed 5x5.

Sorry that you're offended that Toronto is a top 5 team and Edmonton is not, definitely salty about it not sure why you're pretending that you're not. It's written all over every one of your posts. I wasn't even taking a shot at them lol, dude just started raging because I said Toronto is a top 5, and Edmonton is 6-10. If you think Edmontons blue line = Torontos, all I can do is just laugh tbh.

If Edmonton can add a legit top pairing guy, I'd move them into the top 5, but as of now they are not.

Playoffs thrive when shipped out of Toronto.

Just look at Kessel, Kadri, Hyman, Ceci....

I have a feelin Leafs fans are gonna be BIG mad when they see Campbell play better and more consistently outside of Toronto.

Not really, Kessel was great for us. We just had no surrounding team to help him, was phenomenal in the 2013 series vs Boston. Kadri was great as well, sadly he got suspended twice for returning the favor to Boston, loved him while he was here and still love him now. Same for Hyman, was always a workhorse. He was slowed down by the knee injury last year but always the hardest worker and it showed. Ceci....that's a different story lol.

 

[The Panther]

Campbell had one good month. November, which was very good. Other than that he was mediocre to downright bad last year. I think he can figure it out, but I wouldn’t be so confident he’s an upgrade on what Mike Smith gave the Oilers last year.

In October, he had a .918.

In December, he had a .909.

In January, he went 5-1-1.

In April, he went 7-0-2 with a .915.

 

[PaulD]

Top five contenders

Avs
Tampa
Carolina
Toronto
Florida
Calgary
Rangers

Nope. Oilers are not top 5.

Add Pens

 

[HockeyVirus]

In October, he had a .918.

In December, he had a .909.

In January, he went 5-1-1.

In April, he went 7-0-2 with a .915.

That speaks to just how good of a team the Leafs were last year. You switch to wins because his stats are bad but they keep winning. This is why Leaf fans feel ok with their goalies, we already won lots of games with AHL goaltending. Where the funny part is is the Oilers gave him 5x5 and now people are trying to pretend he is something he is not.