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

[iCanada]

Barrie's defensive play did improve somewhat under Woodcroft but honestly if he couldn't score the amount of points that he normally does he'd have a tough time making the roster on most NHL teams. He's really not that good of a defenseman.

If he lost his best asset as a player, he'd be a much worse player. Great insight.

 

[iCanada]

Remind us again what the Oiler scoring numbers were in the playoffs.

It was McDavid, Draisaitl, then a gulf, then Hyman??, and Kane.

Connor and Leon had double the points of anyone else.
Kane scored a goal a game, that's not happening again.

Draisaitl was a total disaster for 2 games against LA, and had to be moved with McDavid.

Hyman is a fantastic player, there is no question there.

Kane.....well, if you guys are going to pin your hopes on this guy, I guess. I wouldn't.
He has worn out his welcome everywhere he's been.

It's still very much a 2 horse team.


As for Barrie.
The whole league knows he can attack, but since he plays defense, the question is whether he can, you know, defend.

He can't.

Nurse, Barrie, Ceci, Keith. Those 4 played what, 80% of the minutes in the playoffs?

Did the Oilers defense look anything like a stable part of the game?
No, they needed McDavid to utterly dominate, and Draisaitl to produce far above his physical ability (he was hurt and played like he was hurt, and produced like he was gulfing down Senso Beans *or whatever they're called).

Didn't hurt that they played a team missing their best defender and going through their rebuild in LA, and then a team that just completely imploded in Calgary.

Ask Hurricane fans how much they liked Freddie this year. After a stellar season, much like his seasons in Toronto, he decided he wasn't playing in the playoffs, much like his seasons in Toronto.

Yeah, I'm pretty worried about playoffs scoring for the oilers. We only had 5 PPG players in the playoffs, we need more scoring depth... like the Avs and their 4 PPG players for example.

 

[iCanada]

He also played quite a few more games

Matthew's career playoffs:
39 games, 17 goals, 16 assists, 33 points, -2

Draisaitl's playoffs last season:
16 games, 7 goals, 25 assists, 32 points, +4

I know who I'd pick.

 

[Three On Zero]

Matthew's career playoffs:
39 games, 17 goals, 16 assists, 33 points, -2

Draisaitl's playoffs last season:
16 games, 7 goals, 25 assists, 32 points, +4

I know who I'd pick.

Points aside, if I had to add a player for the playoffs. I would take Draisaitl over Matthews

 

[lionsDen]

Matthew's career playoffs:
39 games, 17 goals, 16 assists, 33 points, -2

Draisaitl's playoffs last season:
16 games, 7 goals, 25 assists, 32 points, +4

I know who I'd pick.

In all fairness though, I like drai but the difference between the confrences fee is huge. One team played Tampa the other LA

 

[MessierII]

Points aside, if I had to add a player for the playoffs. I would take Draisaitl over Matthews

Me too

In all fairness though, I like drai but the difference between the confrences fee is huge. One team played Tampa the other LA

So finish higher in the standings. Matthews also got to play Montreal, Columbus and Boston a bunch in his career. He’s had chances to light it up and hasn’t.

 

[Three On Zero]

In all fairness though, I like drai but the difference between the confrences fee is huge. One team played Tampa the other LA

Matthews is the better player, but Draisaitl has a more desirable skill set for playoff hockey

 

[im gangster]

Top five in the pacific for sure and maybe top five in the west.

 

[bringbacktheskate604]

literally every team in the NHL has to prove what they can do at the start of the season lol

the difference is the Oilers have made it the past 3 seasons while the Canucks haven't

Without going off topic there isn't much to say except nothing in Campbell's resume points to this going as well as oiler fans are making it.
Dubas with his potential job on the line, a guy who's had no problem finding cap for his "core" refused to and then went after the two that he did. The only thing he's done is struggled horribly once taking the workload of a starter.
He's an older career backup who's better served in a platoon type scenario.

The Oilers are a lesson in why you need to draft as many goalies and hope to find your Demko or Vasi, Or the two NY.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The thing is you and others use sample size to discredit the nucks in 60 games under Bruce yet with the Oilers it's somehow in 20 less games proof that the oil were held back because of Tippet and Smith performed better due to a system overhaul.

I watched almost every oiler game before and after and let's be real, the team still relied on Mcdrai and Smith doing his patented go on a heater like he has done his entire career.
The new coach still used the same 1 and only hail-mary of load

the Oilers were 2nd in the Conference in Oct-Nov though

 

[McShogun99]

Matthews is the better player, but Draisaitl has a more desirable skill set for playoff hockey

Draisaitl is made for the playoffs. You could even argue that Draisaitl is greater then Mcdavid for playoff hockey.

 

[Three On Zero]

The thing is you and others use sample size to discredit the nucks in 60 games under Bruce yet with the Oilers it's somehow in 20 less games proof that the oil were held back because of Tippet and Smith performed better due to a system overhaul.

I watched almost every oiler game before and after and let's be real, the team still relied on Mcdrai and Smith doing his patented go on a heater like he has done his entire career.
The new coach still used the same 1 and only hail-mary of load

New coach bump coupled with perfect storm for needing to be good while other teams were ramping down and preserving for the post season.

This is the true season to see if Edmonton is a contender or not

 

[GOilers88]

I just find it really odd that they’re saying they’re glad Koskinen and Smith are gone because of injuries, soft goals and inconsistent play. Meanwhile that’s exactly how leaf fans would describe Campbell.

When he’s on, he’s great. He’s at the top of his crease, big, square and challenging shooters. When he’s off, he’s small in the back of his crease letting floaters from the top of the circles in. The Gallagher goal in game 7 comes to mind.

I understand why Edmonton signed him. He’s younger, on a long term deal and has shown stretches of great play, but for the purpose of this poll, he does not make Edmonton a top 5 team. It’s in all likelihood more of the same. Stretches of good, stretches of bad. Rinse/ repeat.

Some leafs fans are also very quick to describe Ceci and Barrie as poor signings as well, despite both being contributors to Edmonton’s gradual improvement.

Point being a large chunk of posters on this site are incapable of unbiased or even correct assessments of players they don’t like or who sign with teams they don’t like. So take the opinions with a mountain of salt.

 

[GOilers88]

Not quite, One team played in a division with 2 other contenders, one team played in a division that featured the worst teams in the playoffs. Seeing that they were swept in back to back years against non pacific teams is pretty telling.

In the last 5 years (missed the playoffs twice) Edmonton has won exactly 1 playoff game against a non-Pacific team. It's quite obvious to everyone outside of Edmonton what's happening lol, even without looking at the stats. Not all divisions are made the same, Edmonton is the best team in the Pacific but they don't even compare to the playoff teams outside the Pacific.

1W vs 11L against teams not in the Pacific in the playoffs in the last 5 years, do what you will with that.

So the Oilers can’t be a contender because they haven’t beat a contender in the playoffs, but the Leafs can be considered a contender because they play in a division with contenders but haven’t beat a contender in the playoffs.

Ten four rubber ducky.

 

[RipsADrive]

So the Oilers can’t be a contender because they haven’t beat a contender in the playoffs, but the Leafs can be considered a contender because they play in a division with contenders but haven’t beat a contender in the playoffs.

Ten four rubber ducky.

Don't forget that the contender we beat in the playoffs retroactively became not a contender because we beat them.

Tough game to win.

 

[strattonius]

I think the Oilers will be right around 5th overall in the league.

Campbell will be more stable than Smith/Koskinen. Full year of Woodcroft and Kane. There's questions on defense but that goes for every team in the Pacific.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Don't forget that the contender we beat in the playoffs retroactively became not a contender because we beat them.

Tough game to win.

and are subsequently back into "contender" status because they changed their core for lesser players

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Last season:

McDavid played 80 games
Drai played 80 games

Unlikely to happen this season...

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Last season:

McDavid played 80 games
Drai played 80 games

Unlikely to happen this season...

based on what?

 

[Coffey]

Bah gawd that's Jack Campbell's music!

Yeah Campbell never did that. Problem solved!

All these oiler fans talking about Smith having horrible games with lots of bad goals. Just look at this gem of a game from Jack Campbell.



6-1 lead almost evaporated from terrible goals.

 

[Three On Zero]

Last season:

McDavid played 80 games
Drai played 80 games

Unlikely to happen this season...

Why’s that? We can’t predict injury/sickness

Campbell isn’t a sure thing but I think he will be somewhere in between what Toronto says about him and what Edmonton expects. much like most of the Edmonton roster, this is the year they have to prove they can hang with the big boys and get sustained playoff success.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

based on what?

Based on age and mean historical data on players.

Why’s that? We can’t predict injury/sickness

Campbell isn’t a sure thing but I think he will be somewhere in between what Toronto says about him and what Edmonton expects. much like most of the Edmonton roster, this is the year they have to prove they can hang with the big boys and get sustained playoff success.

It's obviously not impossible but historical data says otherwise...just like we are unlikely to see the Avs win another 3 cups and make it 4 in a row like the Isles in the 80's.

Also another interesting note is that both McDavid and Drai are likely past their peak scoring.

 

[Three On Zero]

Based on age and mean historical data on players.



It's obviously not impossible but historical data says otherwise...just like we are unlikely to see the Avs win another 3 cups and make it 4 in a row like the Isles in the 80's.

Also another interesting note is that both McDavid and Drai are likely past their peak scoring.

Based on historical data, they are past peak. But I think we still have a couple more high seasons with how the league has transitioned lately. This is why they have gone all in this off season

Chris Tanev was a guy who constantly missed time historically but he had a near perfect season in Calgary

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Based on historical data, they are past peak. But I think we still have a couple more high seasons with how the league has transitioned lately. This is why they have gone all in this off season

Chris Tanev was a guy who constantly missed time historically but he had a near perfect season in Calgary

Of course it's possible but everything has to lineup perfectly (scoring abnormaility, injury, etc) and that's when probability drops even further...

 

[Coffey]

EdmFlyersFan and 3 on 0.

The Sgt Slaughter and Iron Sheik to the Oilers Hulk Hogan.