Around the League Thread | Pre-Season Approaches

[wetcoast]

Yes bringing in another defence man that doesn't play defence on a team full of them is a step in the right direction.

Bryam is actually a pretty good all around Dman, maybe you never caught him during the 22 playoffs?

 

[bandwagonesque]

If one takes off the homer glasses and realizes how close the Oilers got to winning last year with a mangled Draisatil and no Kane then they would see why the Oilers are favoured by many to come out of the West,

Yeah, I freely admit I gained a lot of respect for the Oilers as a hockey team last season. They are awkwardly constructed but they have the skill and athletic ability to crank up their pace and decision-making for the 2nd round and beyond.

However, I also don't think their additions are going to make them much better, with the possible exception of Arvidsson. This team will still depend largely on the play of 6-8 players.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

I’m calling Yzwrman as Jim Benning 2.0

Was part of an incredible organization because of other ppl’s work and now is getting exposed ‬

 

[arttk]

I’m calling Yzwrman as Jim Benning 2.0

Was part of an incredible organization because of other ppl’s work and now is getting exposed ‬

Nobody is that bad

If one takes off the homer glasses and realizes how close the Oilers got to winning last year with a mangled Draisatil and no Kane then they would see why the Oilers are favoured by many to come out of the West,

Repeated this a thousand times, they caught lightning in a bottle and had a historic PK that is joy repeatable. Nevermind they lost a bunch of speed that made their PK effective. Not saying they will have a bottom 10PK but it won’t be 95% good.

 

[Brookbank]

If one takes off the homer glasses and realizes how close the Oilers got to winning last year with a mangled Draisatil and no Kane then they would see why the Oilers are favoured by many to come out of the West,

I think the tone of this post is an example of the wish casting people do about the best player in the league. They think the McDavid should win a cup. Because it would just look bad on the game if he didn't.

I live in Edmonton and don't actually hate the team as much as everyone else. You're accusing me of partisanship but it is really the opposite. I was trying to be as objective as I can.

The Oilers last year spent a portion of the season out of the playoffs. And they lost that infamous game against the Sharks. Then they had to go on a miracle run just to make it. Then they almost lost in the first round against the Canucks. If they lost that round, the consensus would have been that goaltending was the reason they were a 1st round exit. But they squeaked it out. And this is what you are calling a commanding run to a Stanley cup final. It was anything but.

 

[StreetHawk]

Pretty much the same with all elite players at any sport. Rinaldo won the Euro late in his career. Messi a World Cup late in his.
Nfl too hard but for QBs that’s a measuring stick. NBA they talk about it. Giannis, Jokic, etc. MLB is happy to see Ohtani in the PO.
And certainly hope La goes on a run. Trouts time has likely passed.

NHL, Sid, Ovy, Mack got theirs. Now eyes on McDavid and Matthews. Eventually it turns to Bedard by the time we hit 2030.

 

[wetcoast]

I think the tone of this post is an example of the wish casting people do about the best player in the league. They think the McDavid should win a cup. Because it would just look bad on the game if he didn't.

Tone........ seriously I'm a fan of hockey (probably more so than a diehard canucks fan, perhaps I'm too old and jaded to be a homer) and no one is gifted the SC or deserves it teams earn it.

I live in Edmonton and don't actually hate the team as much as everyone else. You're accusing me of partisanship but it is really the opposite. I was trying to be as objective as I can.

Your OP that I was referring to comes off as homerish but my apologies if you live in Edmonton, no one deserves that.

Maybe the media is wishcasting but that's the nature of the media but that being said your post certainly doesn't come off as objective.

The Oilers last year spent a portion of the season out of the playoffs. And they lost that infamous game against the Sharks. Then they had to go on a miracle run just to make it. Then they almost lost in the first round against the Canucks. If they lost that round, the consensus would have been that goaltending was the reason they were a 1st round exit. But they squeaked it out. And this is what you are calling a commanding run to a Stanley cup final. It was anything but.

Great we all saw what happened last season but I'm a season on season guy and the year before they actually outplayed the eventual SC champs in the Vegas series but hit a wall with crappy goaltending, which is still a problem but not as bad as it was against Vegas.

Also just to clarify the Oilers beat the canucks in the second round and the canucks were lucky to make it a 7 game series and like I said above goaltending was the issue for the Oilers not their overall play.

then the Oilers beat Dallas even with an injured draisaitl a lot easier than I thought they would.

Are the Oilers an automatic for the SC, no of course not a lot can happen and a team ahs to catch some good luck in the playoffs to win 16 games but it's pretty hard to look at it objectively and say that the Oilers aren't the team to beat in the West as of now.

Keeping Broberg and Holloway like your OP suggested isn't the end of the world for them as they were minor pieces.

 

[lawrence]

wow it seems like our drafting is ASS after all.

Gaudette waived.
Brisebois waived
William Lockwood waived
Kole Lind waived
Dipietro waived
Rathbone waived.

 

[mriswith]

wow it seems like our drafting is ASS after all.

Gaudette waived.
Brisebois waived
William Lockwood waived
Kole Lind waived
Dipietro waived
Rathbone waived.

As much as I would like to shit on Benning's drafting, most of that group had their development mangled in painfully obvious ways. I wonder if any nhl team had a worse record of developing talent in the AHL compared to us during those years.

We were certainly pioneers in the "put all our best developing prospects on a taxi squad and don't let them play any games in any league for the rest of the year" covid development plan.