Around the League Thread | Conference Final Edition | We Are All Kevin Bieksa

[Canucks LB]

I don’t know what to think about Dallas.

Every time I give them credit, they let me down, I should’ve just trusted my original instinct

 

[Flik]

Guys I'm starting to worry. I have a bet... And if the Oilers win it all I'm in line to be getting an Oilers tat. Not good folks.

Did you specify the size of the tattoo? A 1mm orange dot, with a few blue dots could function as an Oilers tat for ants or something

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Pete DeBoer has to scratch Pavelski and Dadonov next game. These guys are liabilities every time they are on the ice. Jesus...

 

[mossey3535]

Same old story with DeBoer. He's had some great teams with good goaltending go very far in the playoffs. But eventually he runs up against another sound defensive team and then his team's offence dries up.

It's amazing to me that outside the PP and set plays off offensive zone faceoffs that there is very little offensive coaching in the NHL. It's kind of annoying because the Oilers are not this good of a defensive team normally. They are also not running a particularly sophisticated system. Extra pressure high in the zone means there are holes low in the zone.

I remember AV also falling into this trap. Either your team needs to be so ridiculously stacked that it doesn't matter if you don't adjust (I'm beginning to think that Bednar benefitted from this considering Colorado's recent results) or your coach has to direct his team to do things that will break the defensive system. Tocchet did encourage our guys to start changing the angle more and that improved our offence marginally but then he had no answer for a strong forecheck.

Quenneville and Cooper figured this out over time.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Gross. 2006 vibes the way the seas have parted for them.

 

[mossey3535]

Also running your whole empty net offence through Seguin is truly baffling to me.

 

[just22]

Gross. 2006 vibes the way the seas have parted for them.

and just like 2006 it’s going to be another team from a small market southeastern US team that will break their hearts

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

and just like 2006 it’s going to be another team from a small market southeastern US team that will break their hearts

Gotta be the Panthers. A Rangers/Oilers finals is the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Slapshot_11]

Series aint over

 

[crazychimp]

Gotta give Nurse credit some huge blocks in the last couple of minutes.

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Dallas came back against Vegas and that is more impressive in my opinion. They can still beat Edmonton.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Dallas came back against Vegas and that is more impressive in my opinion. They can still beat Edmonton.

No sir. They are cooked.

We just need some major event to pause the playoffs from continuing. Hoping for a major ice malfunction at Rogers Place! Game 6 delayed for 2 weeks which gives the Stars players time to rest and regroup.

 

[Canucks LB]

I’m trying to prepare my brain that the Oilers might actually win a Stanley Cup this year.

What a f***ing train wreck that would be, I would not be able to hear the end of it

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

I’m trying to prepare my brain that the Oilers might actually win a Stanley Cup this year.

What a f***ing train wreck that would be, I would not be able to hear the end of it

It's impressive when you look at the disaster start to the season. Winning 16 straight games wasn't an easy feat either. That team is fully working their asses off.

The reality is they were always going to win a cup with McDrai. Peter Chiarelli and Ken Holland f***ed them up enough to prevent them from being a dynasty...but yeah, this was bound to happen.

Just imagine being a Sabres fan. Being denied McDavid while also watching your franchise pass over Leon Draisaitl.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

It's impressive when you look at the disaster start to the season. Winning 16 straight games wasn't an easy feat either. That team is fully working their asses off.

The reality is they were always going to win a cup with McDrai. Peter Chiarelli and Ken Holland f***ed them up enough to prevent them from being a dynasty...but yeah, this was bound to happen.

McDavid was not leaving without at least one Cup.

 

[David71]

I’m trying to prepare my brain that the Oilers might actually win a Stanley Cup this year.

What a f***ing train wreck that would be, I would not be able to hear the end of it

at least they can break the canadian long drought since the last team montreal did it in 93. but the downside would be hearing it from oilers fans. mcdavid and draistial need a cup to really cement their legacy in oil country.

 

[garbageteam]

Gods, f*** the Oilers, and I was dead wrong when I thought they were a 2 man band (clearly have watched zero of their games) but there is almost no way McDavid ends his career cup-less and odds remain him and Draisaitl will stick with the Oilers so long as they remain competitive. These guys have another 10 years of being pains in the ass.

If it isn't going to be this year, it'll very likely be some other year over the next decade. They caught lightning in a bottle with drafting by having horseshoes up their ass for years, and hopefully that's us someday if Hughes and EP can elevate their post season game to another level.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

I’m trying to prepare my brain that the Oilers might actually win a Stanley Cup this year.

What a f***ing train wreck that would be, I would not be able to hear the end of it

They have to beat Florida. The heartbreak in Oil country would be that much more devastating and painful if they lose in the cup final vs the conference final.

 

[I am toxic]

 

[bbud]

F..k the coilers)
I was busy earning free tix to stones with a couple ladies come on Dallas)

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Calm down guys. Edmonton ain't won shit yet!

 

[Flik]

I’m trying to prepare my brain that the Oilers might actually win a Stanley Cup this year.

What a f***ing train wreck that would be, I would not be able to hear the end of it

But also, if they did end up winning it all, we ground out a pretty good series against them with some pretty significant injuries, that kind of says a lot about the Canucks being a damn good team too.

No shame in losing to the eventual cup winners imo.

But still, go Panthers~

 

[thecupismine]

This Oilers series is making me appreciate Tocchet even more, and I didn't think that was possible after this season.

The Canucks put up 17 goals through 5 games against the Oilers - the Stars have put up 13 with a far more talented forward group, and the Kings also put up just 13.

People will lament the lack of shots, but the type of chances they were generating clearly played to our forwards strengths/Skinner's weaknesses better than what anyone else in the playoffs has tried so far.

If management can do what it needs to during the off-season to increase the team's transition game + forward talent so we can retain the puck more, good things are going to happen. Games 1 and 5 were the blueprint for what the team should look like, just need more horses to make that more consistent.

Also Dallas has just been insanely dissapointing. Someone else replied to me earlier that their old guys have run out of juice, but even with that you'd think with their insane depth that someone else would be able to get it going. Playing like less than the sum of their parts, which has to fall on the coaches hands too.

Still think Florida takes it all - their forecheck is what the Canucks did in games 1 and 5, but with a stronger forward group to back it up. If the Rangers somehow win the East the Oilers probably win the cup unless Dallas somehow gets their shit together before their next game.

 

[VanJack]

Watching that Stars-Oilers series makes you realize just how the Canucks let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. No wonder Allvin was borderline upset at the end-of-season press conference. You just never know how many opportunities you're going to get.

If the Canucks had the services of Demko and Boeser in game seven, I'm convinced they'd have won that series with Edmonton. And initially I thought they'd have been outclassed by the Stars anyway. But the way this Western Conference final is unfolding, I was clearly dead-wrong.

But on a positive note, it all proves the Canucks aren't that are far away. If they can add the right pieces this off-season, there's no reason they can't take a serious run at it again next season.

 

[Nucker101]

Knoblauch is looking like a great hire by the Oilers. This is the best team defense they’ve played in the McDavid era.