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

[ManofSteel55]

If they are anything next season it will be entirely due to McDavid and Draisaitl. Campbell is as average as it gets.

Average is all we needed after last year. It went between spectacular to atrocious with very little middle ground. It would have been nice to get "average" at a better cap hit, but average should still be a nice change. I'm still thinking we see close to a 50/50 split between Campbell and Skinner anyway.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

And like I said after the last decade, and after failing multiple times with 2 or the best 5 players in the world, you guys deserves to make it to the third round!

Also my post was replying to someone who said the flames haven't made it to the third round in 15 years, well the Oilers haven't won a game in the third round in 15 years

Flames have told us about their "amazing defense" since Jay Bouwmeester and Kipper back in the day...then Giordano and Hamilton like 5 years ago

and still have like 2 series wins during that time...utterly pathetic

 

[Rubi]

The Leafs are a toxic environment, so Campbell should thrive with a much better team, with much better character, and a much better fanbase.

Career year incoming as is tradition when any player escapes Toronto.

You make a lot of good posts. Then you go and make one like this.

 

[CupofOil]

Lol you're right! Making it one round further then getting you're asses kicked after the last decade, despite multiple first overall picks and being gifted the best player in the NHL is definitely much much better! Congrats on the third round exit though, after the last decade of abuse you guys definitely earned it

Also the flames and oilers have won the same amount of games in the playoffs in the last 15 years in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the playoffs.

You figured some (don't want to group you all together) Flames fans would have been humbled after the Oilers extinguished them in the playoffs but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[Zur En Arrh]

Jack Campbell didnt make leafs a top 5 contending team so I dont know why it would make Oilers a top 5 contending team. And Leafs have much better D and had lots of forward depth to boot. No Jack Campbell has not proven anything. Maybe if Oilers had gotten Vasilevsky, then you could say somethimg like this but Campbell???

Jack Campbell most certainly did not make us a top five team. Our offense did. Jack Campbell is hot garbage. If there is one team I was hoping would pay way too much for way too long it was edm. Is Edmonton a top five team? Hahahahaha. No..easy road to semis last year (which they nearly blew) and got pumped by the first top team they faced....bad... Until Edmonton can run two lines (and not sneak Connor onto drais line constantly, while pretending he centers his own line) they might not even make the playoffs. It certainly would be very Edmonton like to implode and not make it. Times ticking on mcd to Toronto....tick tock. Tick tock

 

[AvroArrow]

Still more playoff series wins than the Leafs. You can throw all those stones you want but the Leafs are a joke until they can actually win a series

Not stones, just facts. 1 and 11 in the last 5 years in the playoffs against non-Pacific teams. Level of competition, Oilers fan base has been steadily ignoring this so they can pump their chests "Made the WCF!" when in reality everyone knows the only reason they made it there is divisional playoffs.

I can't imagine anyone would consider a team that has a 8% win rate in the playoffs against non-divisional teams in a 5 year span, as a contender.

You can talk about the Leafs all you want even though this isn't a Leafs thread, but they've gone the distance in every single series and were actually able to put up respectable series against teams like Tampa/Boston. Edmonton's 1 win was against Chicago as well.

Funny enough if you go back 6-7 years they had wins against a good San Jose team, since that point the entire Pacific has become a shell of its former self.

 

[voyageur]

I just wonder how much their defense will be affected by the loss of Duncan Keith. I thought he was a solid top 4 d-man last year, who helped Evan Bouchard have a breakout year. Who replaces him? Broberg, Kulak, Ryan Murray? And what's the effect of losing a veteran defensive leader on the team?

 

[CycloneSweep]

I just wonder how much their defense will be affected by the loss of Duncan Keith. I thought he was a solid top 4 d-man last year, who helped Evan Bouchard have a breakout year. Who replaces him? Broberg, Kulak, Ryan Murray? And what's the effect of losing a veteran defensive leader on the team?

It really depends on how much of a step forward the youth can have. Can Bouchard take a step forward? Can Kulak continue his play? Can Murray be healthy or can Broberg be the player some people think he can be?
Oilers have a ton of questions marks on defense but could easily improve as well.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

He sucked in losing series to Caps and islanders.
stunk while getting eliminated by the Habs

I have my doubts about Murray because his decline lines up exactly with the reduction in pad sizes the league put out in 17-18. Even if he gets over his injury and confidence issues I find it unlikely he ever regains his 2016 form.

 

[North Cole]

Lol what? All teams have good players. You were gifted McDavid, we picked Johnny in the 4th round, meaning every team had multiple chances to take him. Hamilton and hanifin were traded for, other teams could have traded for them. Markstrom we signed, other teams could have signed him(and is our first real starter since kiprusoff), Tkachuk was 6th overall, meaning others could have had him. Calgary highest draft pick in franchise history is 4th overall because we try to compete every year, we didn't get good by being the joke of the NHL for multiple years. Then you add 2 of the best 5 players in the world and you still have won as many games in the 3 and 4th rounds as calgary in the last 15 years lol alot to be proud of forsure!

Then what's with all these tears in your post? Good players = good players, no need to cry about draft position. Good players need to put up or shut up, unfortunately yours didn't. Better luck next year.

 

[North Cole]

I talked about assists… I never said primary points… goals are irrelevant to the conversation at hand

But the premise doesn't make sense anyways because you don't even define what is feasting and why it even matters. Makar had 10 primary and 11 secondary, at least Drai had more primary than secondary. Are you going to tell us Makar was feasting on secondary assists and why this bad? Didn't seem to matter too much at the parade...

 

[Three On Zero]

But the premise doesn't make sense anyways because you don't even define what is feasting and why it even matters. Makar had 10 primary and 11 secondary, at least Drai had more primary than secondary. Are you going to tell us Makar was feasting on secondary assists and why this bad? Didn't seem to matter too much at the parade...

Makar is a defenceman… comparing apples to oranges

 

[K1984]

You figured some (don't want to group you all together) Flames fans would have been humbled after the Oilers extinguished them in the playoffs but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Only group of people I've ever seen that feel justified chirping from what is very clearly not a favorable position. The mental math they deploy to attempt to chirp the Oilers is hilarious.

"The Flames haven't been successful at all, BUT LOOK AT HOW UNSUCCESSFUL THE OILERS HAVE BEEN GETTING TO A PLACE THE FLAMES HAVE NEVER EVEN SNIFFED WHILE RUNNING OVER THE FLAMES TO GET THERE!!!"

What a burn.

 

[Rubi]

I just wonder how much their defense will be affected by the loss of Duncan Keith. I thought he was a solid top 4 d-man last year, who helped Evan Bouchard have a breakout year. Who replaces him? Broberg, Kulak, Ryan Murray? And what's the effect of losing a veteran defensive leader on the team?

To say that the Oiler's defense could be negatively affected by the loss of old man Duncan Keith is somewhat sad and a strong reflection of the state of their current defense.
Broberg could be fascinating to watch. Last time he was on the Oilers roster he was as useless as tits on a bull.
Kulak really shouldn't be any team's 2nd line defenseman. He's a good 3rd liner but he's not a legit 2nd pairing guy and putting him on the 2nd line as a regular is making him play over his head.
The best place for Murray is in the press box eating popcorn as the 7th D.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Not stones, just facts. 1 and 11 in the last 5 years in the playoffs against non-Pacific teams. Level of competition, Oilers fan base has been steadily ignoring this so they can pump their chests "Made the WCF!" when in reality everyone knows the only reason they made it there is divisional playoffs.

I can't imagine anyone would consider a team that has a 8% win rate in the playoffs against non-divisional teams in a 5 year span, as a contender.

You can talk about the Leafs all you want even though this isn't a Leafs thread, but they've gone the distance in every single series and were actually able to put up respectable series against teams like Tampa/Boston. Edmonton's 1 win was against Chicago as well.

Funny enough if you go back 6-7 years they had wins against a good San Jose team, since that point the entire Pacific has become a shell of its former self.

A lot of experts had Calgary as a darkhorse for the final. Most ranked the West as 1) Colorado, 2) St. Louis/Calgary, 3) Minnesota 4) Everyone else. I think Oiler fans are right in beating our chests about beating a team that many considered a dark horse for the cup, especially when they did it the way they did it.

You'd think more Calgary fans would be mad at the entirety of HF calling them a loser team last year, but not if it means the Oilers look better for it I guess. Ha ha.

 

[Soundwave]

To say that the Oiler's defense could be negatively affected by the loss of old man Duncan Keith is somewhat sad and a strong reflection of the state of their current defense.
Broberg could be fascinating to watch. Last time he was on the Oilers roster he was as useless as tits on a bull.
Kulak really shouldn't be any team's 2nd line defenseman. He's a good 3rd liner but he's not a legit 2nd pairing guy and putting him on the 2nd line as a regular is making him play over his head.
The best place for Murray is in the press box eating popcorn as the 7th D.

Kulak was as good as Hanifin or Andersson (or Keith for that matter) in the playoffs when it mattered. Probably honestly better than some of those guys, a lot of guys coasting on regular season or past accomplishments there. Hanifin was a putrid -11 in 12 playoff games, that's nightmare fuel.

 

[TheOrangeDesk]

So did Bylsma. He implemented a more aggressive forechecking system and I believe activated the defense more than Therien did. And the players praised him for it too.

But until he had full seasons under his belt to see how he handles all situations, you couldn't analyze how good (or bad) of a coach Bylsma actually was.

His record looks pretty good here. what am I missing?

PIT	2008–09	25	18	3	4	(99)[1]	2nd in Atlantic	24	16	8	Won Stanley Cup (DET)
PIT	2009–10	82	47	28	7	101	2nd in Atlantic	13	7	6	Lost in Conference Semifinals (MTL)
PIT	2010–11	82	49	25	8	106	2nd in Atlantic	7	3	4	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (TBL)
PIT	2011–12	82	51	25	6	108	2nd in Atlantic	6	2	4	Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (PHI)
PIT	2012–13	48[2]	36	12	0	72	1st in Atlantic	15	8	7	Lost in Conference Finals (BOS)
PIT	2013–14	82	51	24	7	109	1st in Metropolitan	13	7	6	Lost in Second Round (NYR)

 

[Soundwave]

Jack Campbell most certainly did not make us a top five team. Our offense did. Jack Campbell is hot garbage. If there is one team I was hoping would pay way too much for way too long it was edm. Is Edmonton a top five team? Hahahahaha. No..easy road to semis last year (which they nearly blew) and got pumped by the first top team they faced....bad... Until Edmonton can run two lines (and not sneak Connor onto drais line constantly, while pretending he centers his own line) they might not even make the playoffs. It certainly would be very Edmonton like to implode and not make it. Times ticking on mcd to Toronto....tick tock. Tick tock

lol if the Leafs don't go somewhere soon, it's far more likely Matthews bolts to the bright lights of LA. Leafs are up against a much tighter clock.

 

[TheOrangeDesk]

Not stones, just facts. 1 and 11 in the last 5 years in the playoffs against non-Pacific teams. Level of competition, Oilers fan base has been steadily ignoring this so they can pump their chests "Made the WCF!" when in reality everyone knows the only reason they made it there is divisional playoffs.

I can't imagine anyone would consider a team that has a 8% win rate in the playoffs against non-divisional teams in a 5 year span, as a contender.

You can talk about the Leafs all you want even though this isn't a Leafs thread, but they've gone the distance in every single series and were actually able to put up respectable series against teams like Tampa/Boston. Edmonton's 1 win was against Chicago as well.

Funny enough if you go back 6-7 years they had wins against a good San Jose team, since that point the entire Pacific has become a shell of its former self.

I think you are rating Atlantic and the East much higher than they actually are. Half of the Atlantic were legit the worst teams in the league. hell half of the east were lottery teams. Dont tell me the East is more difficult when its a cake walk to get to playoffs there. there is a reason there are only 3 east teams that ever make finals in east (Tampa, Pitts, Boston), because when playoffs start the rest of the east are revealed as paper tigers.

 

[North Cole]

Makar is a defenceman… comparing apples to oranges

Huh? He's their best play driver and routinely joins or leads the rush himself. I'm comparing assists to assists.

Mackinnon - 11, 6 primary. 54%.
Rantanen - 20, 13 primary. 65%.
Gaudreau - 11, 7 primary. 64%.
Marner - 4, 2 primary. 50%.
Kucherov - 21, 14 primary. 67%.
McDavid - 23, 17 primary. 74%.
Matthews - 5, 2 primary. 40%.
Fox - 18, 10 primary. 56%
Hedman - 16, 7 primary. 44%.

So you have other defenseman in the same range as Makar which is not that far off from these other elite forwards. Only McDavid has >70% of his assists as primary, which is to be expected because there is an obvious gap between him and the next best players in the league. Scorers like Matthews and Mack, which Drai is one also, around the 40-50%. Then everyone else is between 60-65%, with Kucherov pushing a bit higher. I struggle to see how Drai at 56% is feasting when he's ina simialr boat with Mack/Marner/Fox and only slightly behind guys like Rantanen/Kuch/Gaudreau.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Not stones, just facts. 1 and 11 in the last 5 years in the playoffs against non-Pacific teams. Level of competition, Oilers fan base has been steadily ignoring this so they can pump their chests "Made the WCF!" when in reality everyone knows the only reason they made it there is divisional playoffs.

I can't imagine anyone would consider a team that has a 8% win rate in the playoffs against non-divisional teams in a 5 year span, as a contender.

You can talk about the Leafs all you want even though this isn't a Leafs thread, but they've gone the distance in every single series and were actually able to put up respectable series against teams like Tampa/Boston. Edmonton's 1 win was against Chicago as well.

Funny enough if you go back 6-7 years they had wins against a good San Jose team, since that point the entire Pacific has become a shell of its former self.

Yes the Leafs lost to a better team in Tampa last year. But the two prior years they lost to Montreal and Colombus.
I don’t think you’ll get any sympathy for tough matchups on here when you’ve had extremely favourable ones two of the last three years.

 

[Soundwave]

Yes the Leafs lost to a better team in Tampa last year. But the two prior years they lost to Montreal and Colombus.
I don’t think you’ll get any sympathy for tough matchups on here when you’ve had extremely favourable ones two of the last three years.

Also Matthews and Marner have had talented supporting casts basically every year of their tenure in Toronto. Tavares, Nylander, Hyman, Reilly, Brodie, Muzzin, some years with Kadri, etc. etc.

Last season was really the first year the McDavid and Draisaitl had what one could term a "fair" amount of talent having grabbed Hyman and then added Kane around them and even then the blue line was trashed due to Nurse getting badly hurt the week before the playoffs.

Matthews and Marner have had plenty of run support in every one of their playoff stretches and done nothing with it, the first year McDavid and Draisaitl have someone better than Lucic or Maroon or a washed up Neal on their wings they go to a conference final even with their no.1 D badly hurt and Draisaitl playing on one leg.

 

[BlueBaron]

We just accomplished something the Leafs haven’t accomplished since Matts Sundin was on the team.

And yet you are still talking about the Leafs rather than the topic on hand...

 

[Joe n]

And yet you are still talking about the Leafs rather than the topic on hand...

This has gone completely off the rails. Anyway the addition of Campbell doesn't really change much for Edmonton.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Not stones, just facts. 1 and 11 in the last 5 years in the playoffs against non-Pacific teams. Level of competition, Oilers fan base has been steadily ignoring this so they can pump their chests "Made the WCF!" when in reality everyone knows the only reason they made it there is divisional playoffs.

I can't imagine anyone would consider a team that has a 8% win rate in the playoffs against non-divisional teams in a 5 year span, as a contender.

You can talk about the Leafs all you want even though this isn't a Leafs thread, but they've gone the distance in every single series and were actually able to put up respectable series against teams like Tampa/Boston. Edmonton's 1 win was against Chicago as well.

Funny enough if you go back 6-7 years they had wins against a good San Jose team, since that point the entire Pacific has become a shell of its former self.

Didn’t go the distance with Washington.

And when your up 3 games to 1 or 2 , half the time, it’s going to go the distance if you don’t close out the series.