Post-Game Talk: Ba Bada Bum Bada Bum Bada Bum

[Oilslick941611]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846611172495356407

Still can't figure out why KK didn't play Stecher more down the stretch last year or to start the season this year. One of his few misses.

He had a cyst on his ankle last year, that’s why he didnt play. He got surgery mid playoffs.

Gordie Howe too. You bring up a good point and its that todays superstars not only don't get enforcers, they are not even being allowed to push back or take any infractions further to defending themselves. Its increasingly a no win position for stars.

Gretz never had to contend with the stuff McDrai are made to absorb daily. No protection anymore from league or enforcers.

The NHL absouletly does nothing to protect its star players and actively undermines them to let scrubs even the playing field. It’s disgusting and it needs to stop.

I truly thought that with McDavid getting to the finals last year he would start to get the benefit of the doubt on calls like other “savvy” vets get. Apparently not. It’s just more of the same. Hack, slash, obstruct and nothing.

 

[Stoneman89]

Troy Stetcher's face was a worthy sacrifice to start the season

Should have been Nurse's face instead.

 

[bellagiobob]

He had a cyst on his ankle last year, that’s why he didnt play. He got surgery mid playoffs.


The NHL absouletly does nothing to protect its star players and actively undermines them to let scrubs even the playing field. It’s disgusting and it needs to stop.

I truly thought that with McDavid getting to the finals last year he would start to get the benefit of the doubt on calls like other “savvy” vets get. Apparently not. It’s just more of the same. Hack, slash, obstruct and nothing.

Didn't play him much right after they acquired him last year, before he was unable to play, which I found strange.

 

[FlameChampion]

Indeed, Knob may be "soft-spoken" but it doesn't mean he doesn't have cajones

It’s kinda funny though. I was at a preseason game and they showed various clips of Knoblauch in the dressing room talking to the team. Every fifth word was a f bomb out of his mouth.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

If thats the case why on earth did they start him (a player with approx 30 games of NHL experience) as a 2nd pairing D with a player (Nurse) who doesnt have the ability to mentor?
The fact that he was their go to option to start the season says a lot. The reality is that this team is grasping at straws trying to find a #4 RHD 4 games into the season.
Such an important role and they have no realistic solutions available to them at all.
How many years does this have team have to contend with a deficit at #4 RHD before it actually gets addressed?
This is inexcusable for a contending team.

An issue was Nurse recovering from injury all through training camp and limiting his/their playing time together in game situations. This team has a big hole at right defense and the players knowness to the head coach gave them so belief to trial Emberson at 2RD hoping to fill this big void. Clearly not confident in the platoon options available signing PTO Dermot who they immediate put into the starting line-up as well on his off-shooting style.

Nurse was very good in last night's game. The 2RD has been a forever weakness and this early season seeing it moreso with a sub 50% PK and rotating platoon of three #6 - #8 journeymen trying to plug the issue. Nurse rightly needs to focus on getting his game up to speed after a lingering injury. Personally I felt they should have signed a proven veteran guy with deep middle pair experience specifically citing Shattenkirk to get them adequately until trade deadline.

There was dumb belief last season by some organizational decision makers that Broberg could similarly airlift into an off-shooting side middle pairing responsibility. So when this management group went into contingency planning after August 12 they delusionally thought a 30 game NHL sample size with raw attributes and age could just walk into middle pairing responsibilities. It's a damn hard gig especially with the blow out of the RD PK responsibilities of several players.

There's no internal option for 2RD to stabilize their aspirations for a deep playoff run. Going to have to thread the needle to upgrade a chronic roster weakness.

 

[Stoneman89]

Turns out Draisaitl was benched for 10 minutes after that penalty. So at least we know our Knob has a spine.

Long overdue. Drai has a history of getting frustrated and taking dumb penalties which hurt the team. Some of the apologists on here will say that's fine, he's just being "passionate"and "tough". Bullshit. You don't need to crosscheck unsuspecting timid players in the back to prove you're passionate or tough when things aren't going your way. Love Drai to death, but this part of his game needs to be controlled or at least throttled back. The last coach was too gutless to do that, but good on Knob to do the right thing finally and send a solid message not only to Drai but throughout the roster. And for this game at least, it worked, with Drai coming back and having a solid rest of the period and OT after that. Hell, even the the greatest player to ever lace them up was once benched in a game, and if I recall, he came back and scored 3 goals in the 3rd period.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Didn't play him much right after they acquired him last year, before he was unable to play, which I found strange.

because he had a cyst on his ankle. He couldn't play.

 

[Cloned]

Hahaha, I mean I did propose to her like 2 months ago . I'm gonna buy her a Bouchard jersey for Christmas. She's gonna buy me a Janmark jersey tomorrow.


Food was fine, no real issues. Just glad I didn't have to fork more money for it. 5 pops, a popcorn, steak, etc would've prob cost me over $200 in normal concession. Wallet and stomach = happy. Was a good experience there. Would definitely go back to it for a future game in a heart beat.

My condolences.

 

[Stoneman89]

Not sure what the status of Travis Dermott is, but if I had the choice, he'd never play another game for this team.

 

[guymez]

An issue was Nurse recovering from injury all through training camp and limiting his/their playing time together in game situations. This team has a big hole at right defense and the players knowness to the head coach gave them so belief to trial Emberson at 2RD hoping to fill this big void. Clearly not confident in the platoon options available signing PTO Dermot who they immediate put into the starting line-up as well on his off-shooting style.

Nurse was very good in last night's game. The 2RD has been a forever weakness and this early season seeing it moreso with a sub 50% PK and rotating platoon of three #6 - #8 journeymen trying to plug the issue. Nurse rightly needs to focus on getting his game up to speed after a lingering injury. Personally I felt they should have signed a proven veteran guy with deep middle pair experience specifically citing Shattenkirk to get them adequately until trade deadline.

There was dumb belief last season by some organizational decision makers that Broberg could similarly airlift into an off-shooting side middle pairing responsibility. So when this management group went into contingency planning after August 12 they delusionally thought a 30 game NHL sample size with raw attributes and age could just walk into middle pairing responsibilities. It's a damn hard gig especially with the blow out of the RD PK responsibilities of several players.

There's no internal option for 2RD to stabilize their aspirations for a deep playoff run. Going to have to thread the needle to upgrade a chronic roster weakness.

We completely agree about the failings of Management around the #2 RHD issue.
The excuses have run dry at this point in time.

I suspect that we see Nurse differently though...
Lingering injury aside Nurse has had years of underwhelming play especially in terms of what a team can expect from a $9.25M dman.
At 30 years old he is what he is and expecting a consistent level of high level play from Nurse (at this point in time) is not a good gamble.

Unfortunately (based on the preponderance of the evidence) Nurse isnt part of any meaningful solution which makes the #2 RHD issue even bigger than it should be.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

We completely agree about the failings of Management around the #2 RHD issue.
The excuses have run dry at this point in time.

I suspect that we see Nurse differently though...
Lingering injury asside Nurse has had years of underwhelming play especially in terms of what a team can expect from a $9.25M dman.
At 30 years old he is what he is and expecting a consistent level of high level play from Nurse (at this point in time) is not a good gamble.

Unfortunately (based on the preponderance of the evidence) Nurse isnt part of any meaningful solution which makes the #2 RHD issue even bigger than it needs to be.

No need to continue to belabour Nurse discussions. The Oilers right side D isn't good enough and projections for Emberson to walk into 2RD responsibilities were greatly inflated. There's 4 end of roster journeymen guys treading water at 2RD through to #8. Emberson at least has some growth potential with age, size and skating. Reset him at 3RD and see how/if he stabilizes as this team's drivers all get their games in order.

 

[FlameChampion]

Not sure what the status of Travis Dermott is, but if I had the choice, he'd never play another game for this team.

If we really need to accrue cap, I would of preferred 13F. But guess it doesn’t really matter now.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Draisaitl still being benched for half a period played 23 minutes

 

[Oilhawks]

Listening to Friedman on a podcast driving down to Calgary this morning and he was saying that the league had told teams that if you go into the crease on your own volition a goal won’t count. So it seems we’re back to the toe in the crease rule.

Hopefully the league can see how stupid and needless this is and drops it sooner than later. Mind you the standard changes on a nightly basis so who knows with this league anymore.

All I know is the NHL is incapable of getting out of its own way.

This is going to lead to some truly horrible and boring hockey....assuming they call it consistently.

 

[TheNumber4]

Messier thinks losing game 7 last year took a piece of the team’s soul away.

Probably true. Team needs a serious mental reset from last years loss.

Need some direction and wisdom from Management. If they got any.

Listening to Friedman on a podcast driving down to Calgary this morning and he was saying that the league had told teams that if you go into the crease on your own volition a goal won’t count. So it seems we’re back to the toe in the crease rule.

Hopefully the league can see how stupid and needless this is and drops it sooner than later. Mind you the standard changes on a nightly basis so who knows with this league anymore.

All I know is the NHL is incapable of getting out of its own way.

And yet Skinner was dumped in his crease this season by someone skating right through his crease. No call.

 

[Oilhawks]

It’s kinda funny though. I was at a preseason game and they showed various clips of Knoblauch in the dressing room talking to the team. Every fifth word was a f bomb out of his mouth.

Oh yeah, didn't they show that sometime last season too? He can be 'mean' when he needs to be, it would seem.

Still would like to see him let go on the refs, but he seems too 'professional' for that. Maybe when he's a bit more comfortable in the league

 

[JeffSkinner53]

Messier thinks losing game 7 last year took a piece of the team’s soul away.

Probably true. Team needs a serious mental reset from last years loss.

Need some direction and wisdom from Management. If they got any.


And yet Skinner was dumped in his crease this season by someone skating right through his crease. No call.

Rule no 99- "Pursuant to the NHL Rulebook, all aforementioned regulations are applicable to all National Hockey League teams, with no exceptions granted to any team, except the Edmonton Oilers, who are not to be granted the benefit of the doubt."

 

[Oilslick941611]

Draisaitl still being benched for half a period played 23 minutes

he was benched for 2 shifts.

 

[FlameChampion]

Messier thinks losing game 7 last year took a piece of the team’s soul away.

Probably true. Team needs a serious mental reset from last years loss.

Need some direction and wisdom from Management. If they got any.


And yet Skinner was dumped in his crease this season by someone skating right through his crease. No call.

It’s hard to know with this team. We have had multiple seasons were we come out flat. I think its too soon to say its a cup hangover, too old, too slow, not physical enough etc.

This team just wades into starts of season and games like a baby’s first bath.

The offense and PP is probably in hangover mode though. But people are already suspecting our stars are hurt so who knows.

 

[TheNumber4]

he was benched for 2 shifts.

He also played immediately following the PK on the stacked McDrai line I think. Then he was benched. No idea why he cross checked that dude, he didn’t even have the puck.

 

[TheNumber4]

It’s hard to know with this team. We have had multiple seasons were we come out flat. I think its too soon to say its a cup hangover, too old, too slow, not physical enough etc.

This team just wades into starts of season and games like a baby’s first bath.

The offense and PP is probably in hangover mode though. But people are already suspecting our stars are hurt so who knows.

That’s true. I think a cup contending team in general will find it hard to get up for games that don’t matter that much. There will be an adjustment period. Add the slow starts we have in general in this city and that could explain it.

We also really should have won that Calgary game. Without goals being called back we were up 3-0. So let’s call it a theoretical 2-2 record we have now. Which really isn’t that bad.

That said, the eye test looks horrific for some players right now. Glad to see Brown, Henrique looking good lately. Jeff Skinner has been great. But our core 5 McD, Drai, Hyms, Nuge, Nurse haven’t been good enough. And our Right side D is just shit right now.

 

[Missing smitty]

Your criticism apparently. No player is perfect, never seen one that is.

I agree that Drai lets things get the best of him at times. I understand why.

Earlier you were citing the media as an indication that Drai "brings this on himself" One of my favorite former players was Glenn Anderson who singularly despised the media and obviously I'm the same way. I wouldn't be as pleasant as Drai,

They're doing their job and he is an overpaid grown man playing a game, answering stupid questions comes with the territory.

Messier was a real leader and dragged his teams into games. You and I know none of these guys compare to dudes in the 80s for true grit and try.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Milestones on the horizon.

 

[KCC]

Hilarious that the Flyers were pissed they didn't get a call at the end after being gifted an overtime point in the first place.

There was no hooking, no holding, no nothing and the player fell down on his own heading to the corner.

for sure. But watching live you can see why they might have thought that. In reality when they go and watch the replay they will have realized there was nothing.

Turns out Draisaitl was benched for 10 minutes after that penalty. So at least we know our Knob has a spine.

I noticed that this morning. Good. He's prone to being lazy, slacking off, not moving his legs, making blind passes and gets frustrated to where he takes boneheaded penalties. But when he does give a damn and works hard he's one of the best and an absolute beast come the post season.

 

[guymez]

I noticed that this morning. Good. He's prone to being lazy, slacking off, not moving his legs, making blind passes and gets frustrated to where he takes boneheaded penalties. But when he does give a damn and works hard he's one of the best and an absolute beast come the post season.

This is all true and its really refreshing to see a coach hold Draisaitl accountable for when he is the lazy/selfish version of himself.
Hopefully that will help to motivate him to remove that element from his game.