GDT: Around The League 24/25. Parity, blessed parity.

[TheNumber4]

Edmonton Oilers emerge as top Canadian team in Power Ranking | TSN

The Oilers, fresh off a 2-1-0 week, are up three spots, from 10th to seventh. Edmonton, an elite defensive team for much of the season, ranking second in expected goals against, is finally getting some consistent goaltending.

www.tsn.ca

Oilers ranked 1st Canadian Team by TSN. Looks like Button will have to flip flop on the Oilers again. These analysts jobs are so easy, just keep changing your opinion until its correct.

 

[oobga]

Missed that DeBrusk joined the 20% shooting club with the Canucks this year. Double his % of last year.

Fortunately, only 2 or 3 Canucks have that magic this season, instead of basically all of them.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Decided to check out CP for fun now that the Oilers are doing well again.. just to see what they could be making fun of edmonton now..... apparently they're now ripping the Oilers for Leonard the dog.

Yup.... Clowns.

No one has ever accused those fans of being intelligent.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Did..did we kill the New York Rangers?

 

[Oilhawks]

Did..did we kill the New York Rangers?

Yes.

 

[North]

Did..did we kill the New York Rangers?

I think Shesterkin has hidden a lot of the flaws with that roster.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I think Shesterkin has hidden a lot of the flaws with that roster.

I was really hoping they would've beaten the Panthers last year. Shesterkin was the only thing keeping that series close. I think we would've beaten them.

 

[K1984]

Did..did we kill the New York Rangers?

They were never that good.

They're basically what everybody accuses the Oilers of being - a special teams unit and that's it. Except they also have a goalie.

 

[K1984]

When I look at the state of the Red Wings, Sabres, and Senators I feel even more thankful that we landed on McDavid and Draisaitl. Feel for the fans of the Sabres in particular, I don't know what you even do there at this point.

Those teams are pretty much what the Oilers would have been had we not struck gold. Teams in C markets that aren't attractive to UFAs or players with NMCs that picked high, but did't land the superstar. Entrenched themselves contractually in a mediocre core that has a lot of talent, but not elite talent, and now they're just stuck. They need to make change, but it isn't clear where.

I have almost no doubt that we would be looking at nearly 20 years outside the playoffs at this point if it weren't for 97 and 29.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

When I look at the state of the Red Wings, Sabres, and Senators I feel even more thankful that we landed on McDavid and Draisaitl. Feel for the fans of the Sabres in particular, I don't know what you even do there at this point.

Those teams are pretty much what the Oilers would have been had we not struck gold. Teams in C markets that aren't attractive to UFAs or players with NMCs that picked high, but did't land the superstar. Entrenched themselves contractually in a mediocre core that has a lot of talent, but not elite talent, and now they're just stuck. They need to make change, but it isn't clear where.

I have almost no doubt that we would be looking at nearly 20 years outside the playoffs at this point if it weren't for 97 and 29.

I guarantee that if the Sabres had won the McDavid lottery that team is at bare minimum a perennial playoff contender.

 

[oXo Cube]

When I look at the state of the Red Wings, Sabres, and Senators I feel even more thankful that we landed on McDavid and Draisaitl. Feel for the fans of the Sabres in particular, I don't know what you even do there at this point.

Those teams are pretty much what the Oilers would have been had we not struck gold. Teams in C markets that aren't attractive to UFAs or players with NMCs that picked high, but did't land the superstar. Entrenched themselves contractually in a mediocre core that has a lot of talent, but not elite talent, and now they're just stuck. They need to make change, but it isn't clear where.

I have almost no doubt that we would be looking at nearly 20 years outside the playoffs at this point if it weren't for 97 and 29.

What they should do in Buffalo is nothing. Patience is difficult and I think most of us on this board of all boards understand that but the Sabres are only in this mess because they ran out of it early.

It's actually an underlying problem with the league on a macro level IMO that it takes way, way too long for teams in the basement to climb back into relevance but I have no idea what can or should be done about it.

 

[K1984]

What they should do in Buffalo is nothing. Patience is difficult and I think most of us on this board of all boards understand that but the Sabres are only in this mess because they ran out of it early.

It's actually an underlying problem with the league on a macro level IMO that it takes way, way too long for teams in the basement to climb back into relevance but I have no idea what can or should be done about it.

It depends 100% on the market.

Hot, attractive, low tax market? Be bad for a year or two, get a few solid young players, supplement with your pick of UFA signings and players that will waive NMCs to go to you. Returning to a base level playoff team in 3-5 years is not that hard here. The cherry on top is the player that will only waive their NMC for specific teams. Then the Panthers and the Knights of the world get the player AND get them at a discount.

Cold, high tax, unsexy market? You better pray that you land a big, big fish when you tank in the draft, and you better hope some other picks land. When these teams stink nobody is signing there, and nobody is waiving trade protection to go. These teams have to be good before that is a possibility. These teams basically have to draft nearly the entirety of their roster and hope it works.

There isn't really a way around the UFAs, but one way to even out the competitive balance is to take away the ability for players to waive their NMCs for only specific teams. Either has to be a waive for all or a waive for none. This would have limited about half of the Knights and Panthers acquisitions over the past few years.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

What they should do in Buffalo is nothing. Patience is difficult and I think most of us on this board of all boards understand that but the Sabres are only in this mess because they ran out of it early.

 

[oXo Cube]

It depends 100% on the market.

Hot, attractive, low tax market? Be bad for a year or two, get a few solid young players, supplement with your pick of UFA signings and players that will waive NMCs to go to you. Returning to a base level playoff team in 3-5 years is not that hard here. The cherry on top is the player that will only waive their NMC for specific teams. Then the Panthers and the Knights of the world get the player AND get them at a discount.

Cold, high tax, unsexy market? You better pray that you land a big, big fish when you tank in the draft, and you better hope some other picks land. When these teams stink nobody is signing there, and nobody is waiving trade protection to go. These teams have to be good before that is a possibility. These teams basically have to draft nearly the entirety of their roster and hope it works.

There isn't really a way around the UFAs, but one way to even out the competitive balance is to take away the ability for players to waive their NMCs for only specific teams. Either has to be a waive for all or a waive for none. This would have limited about half of the Knights and Panthers acquisitions over the past few years.

Eh, While there is some truth to this for sure(hello NYR) I don't think it's really that black and white even.

Anaheim and San Jose are both considered highly attractive markets and they've sucked for half a decade now. Florida was one of the leagues running jokes for like 2 decades. Detroit hasn't really had any issues bringing in or retaining anyone they want and they're coming up on year 9 of missing the playoffs. Tampa Bay had the best management group in the NHL between Stamkos and Yzerman moving on yet even they had a stretch where they made the playoffs only once in 7 seasons.

It's just really hard to climb out of the basement when the 'prize' for bottoming out is a player 3-5 years away from his physical prime and only plays ~one third of the game even if he does turn out to be as good you think he might be on draft day. Then once your upward trajectory stalls out teams try to accelerate the process by selling their dollar for three quarters.

 

[K1984]

Eh, While there is some truth to this for sure(hello NYR) I don't think it's really that black and white even.

Anaheim and San Jose are both considered highly attractive markets and they've sucked for half a decade now. Florida was one of the leagues running jokes for like 2 decades. Detroit hasn't really had any issues bringing in or retaining anyone they want and they're coming up on year 9 of missing the playoffs. Tampa Bay had the best management group in the NHL between Stamkos and Yzerman moving on yet even they had a stretch where they made the playoffs only once in 7 seasons.

It's just really hard to climb out of the basement when the 'prize' for bottoming out is a player 3-5 years away from his physical prime and only plays ~one third of the game even if he does turn out to be as good you think he might be on draft day. Then once your upward trajectory stalls out teams try to accelerate the process by selling their dollar for three quarters.

I think it's a newer phenomenon, last 5-7 years or so. Players are more selective than they ever have been before about market and the tax position of the market. California also doesn't have the tax box checked. Panthers were the Siberia of the NHL until players realized that paying no tax, no pressure, and being able to drive a golf cart to the rink every day is something they prefer.

Tampa built organically the first time, but they haven't had a hard time keeping the train rolling the moment certain parts of their team age out. Stamkos gone? Guentzel come on down. Or in Nashville - need scoring? Just sign the two sexiest scorers on the UFA market (this didn't work out, but on paper it made sense). That type of easy snap of your fingers acquisition(s) just wound't happen in Edmonton or Buffalo.

 

[oobga]

I think Shesterkin has hidden a lot of the flaws with that roster.

I feel this every time I watch them. It's like their game plan is designed to leave him out to dry.

At least he is being compensated nicely for that going forward

 

[McShogun99]

I was really hoping they would've beaten the Panthers last year. Shesterkin was the only thing keeping that series close. I think we would've beaten them.

The Panthers were the last team I wanted to face. The Panthers Cup loss was to fresh for them and they had that extra motivation and experience that the other Eastern teams didn’t have.

 

[K1984]

The Panthers were the last team I wanted to face. The Panthers Cup loss was to fresh for them and they had that extra motivation and experience that the other Eastern teams didn’t have.

The Panthers were and still are hands down the best team in the East IMO. I don't think any other teams in that Conference are close in the context of beating them in a 7 game series. They can beat you in multiple ways and I don't think that is the case for any other team in the East.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The Panthers were and still are hands down the best team in the East IMO. I don't think any other teams in that Conference are close in the context of beating them in a 7 game series. They can beat you in multiple ways and I don't think that is the case for any other team in the East.

Agreed. We were really the only team that gave them a significant challenge and even then...

 

[McShogun99]

The Panthers were and still are hands down the best team in the East IMO. I don't think any other teams in that Conference are close in the context of beating them in a 7 game series. They can beat you in multiple ways and I don't think that is the case for any other team in the East.

The 2 day break instead of the traditional 1 day break during the finals was a huge advantage for Bobrovsky. He might have been drained by game 7 with all the travel and short rest.

 

[K1984]

The 2 day break instead of the traditional 1 day break during the finals was a huge advantage for Bobrovsky. He might have been drained by game 7 with all the travel and short rest.

The 2 day break in the Finals needs to end, but I'm sure it just won't.

Attrition is part of winning the Stanley Cup. I don't care if their flights are a little longer than normal compared to the Conference series.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

I don't know what state that is but it's my new favorite state

 

[BlackDogg]

Vladar is wolfing down goals too.

 

[TheNumber4]

Vladar is wolfing down goals too.

1 more goal by Nashville and that would put it out of reach for the Flames talent level.

 

[Arctic Fox]

Vladar is wolfing down goals too.

Flames without outstanding goalies are just a team of turds.