Post-Game Talk: Below average goaltending + below average finishing + below average defense = ugly losses

[brentashton]

One consolation is that I never have to see that stupid childish high-five between Stu and Vinny again.

There’s always the AHL or ECHL.

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

I spent the night watching Star Wars episode II. Jack shit happens in that movie.

It was still a better use of my time than this game. BowJack should find themselves new jobs tomorrow.

You’re on drugs. Yoda fights Dooku. What do you mean nothing happens???

When Yoda absorbed the force lightning, 15 year old me ed in his pants.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

If they change the goalies I'm think Schwartz goes then. Skinner is already a headcase. Swapping his coach out mid season would probably break him even more.

This HAS to be the last year of Schwartz, right?

Right!?!

Whatever happened to that psychologist / sports guru dude that was working with Skinner and the team last year?

 

[North]

This team has far more pressing issues than skinner.

The “elite” offense has totally dried up. The defense is leaving players WIDE open in the slot multiple times.

The team is built around an elite offense that has been missing most of the year. Skinner needs to be better, but at the end of the day we know what he is and we can’t “wish” him into a 6 mil goalie, however we should be asking our high paid forwards to contribute a lot more.

Yes the forwards need to be better but forget this re Skinner.

It’s pretty damning that he only has two games over .900 in the last ten.

The “he is what he is” doesn’t cut it.

This HAS to be the last year of Schwartz, right?

Right!?!

Whatever happened to that psychologist / sports guru dude that was working with Skinner and the team last year?

Probably threw up his hands and said “I can’t fix this shit.”

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You’re on drugs. Yoda fights Dooku. What do you mean nothing happens???

When Yoda absorbed the force lightning, 15 year old me ed in his pants.

The human on human lightsaber battles in the prequels are actually pretty decent.

Yoda flipping around like a dying fish was decidedly less impressive. I get what they were going for, but...

Also for how much that was hyped up pre-release, that lasted like 3 minutes.

 

[Oilslick941611]

]The “he is what he is” doesn’t cut it


Probably threw up his hands and said “I can’t fix this shit.”

Screaming, bitching, whining, and getting angry isn’t going to change him into something he’s not.

We aren’t the GM of the club. Be upset no upgrade came, but really, its not productive to say the same shit every game. The team has shown it can win with the level goaltending skinner can provide playing at his best, but everyone is slumping and we should be expecting more from our stars and wingers.

 

[guymez]

Guy is sad that he lost his three BFFs in the summer, and is playing like someone that just doesnt give a shit anymore. When was the last time he set up someone in the o zone? He just hits shinpads now. Can't walk a blueline.

He's our Pettersson. Except we have a chance to not sign him to an albatross conty. I would flip him for Dobson in a heartbeat, although I'm not sure NYI would even entertain it.

I suspect that you are right about NYI not entertaining that trade but like you I would do it in a second.

 

[brentashton]

I was dead set against the idea of trading Bouchard even in spite of his atrocious play this year, but I'm starting to change my mind if it means a different type of quality defender and maybe something else of value somewhere else on the roster is coming back.

We have way too many of the Bouchard personality and always have. It's why we do this every year. We need to change how we build the team from a personality perspective. Bouchard and Nuge are the poster boys of it, but there are more. Our best players slip into this mode too. Need to start working to tip the scales and get players that play with a bit of spine instead of the dumb p***yes that get pushed out of any game they don't feel like working too hard in.

Dobson + Sorokin or something like that for Bouchard and other stuff. Start fresh and kill two birds with one stone.

If they were thinking that way, Oilers possibly should have moved him for picks/bodies at the deadline. Because he ain’t an internal “rental” to think of it that way, the way he’s playing currently. He’s been atrocious. It’s like he’s severely allergic to 10M AAV because that’s what hes lost this season.

If you can do Dobson and Sorokin after the plays offs are over, before FA, take it and run.

 

[K1984]

Also, please change up the Powerplay.

Take RNH off the PP. Put Walman in Bouchard's spot and Bouchard in RNH's spot

A little part of me dies every time RNH gets it moved to him on entry, only for him to either rip it low for a turnover, send it blind to the middle for a turnover, or simply gets pushed easily off the puck for a turnover.

 

[brentashton]

This HAS to be the last year of Schwartz, right?

Right!?!

Whatever happened to that psychologist / sports guru dude that was working with Skinner and the team last year?

Even he couldn’t find the “positive” in the situation, so he quit. (Actually he’s still on the org chart, along with that other fraud).

 

[K1984]

Screaming, bitching, whining, and getting angry isn’t going to change him into something he’s not.

We aren’t the GM of the club. Be upset no upgrade came, but really, its not productive to say the same shit every game. The team has shown it can win with the level goaltending skinner can provide playing at his best, but everyone is slumping and we should be expecting more from our stars and wingers.

This team is destined to never win anything no matter what if the mentality truly is "why should I work hard because another part of the roster isn't what I want it to be" from the star players. Patently insane that people here are giving them that excuse and somehow think it's also justified.

The goalies suck, no doubt about that. That's not going to change, but there are plenty of things can be changed for the better that will improve our performance regardless of the goaltending. There appears to be little to no focus or commitment on getting better in these areas on an individual or team level.

Someone that hasn't been watching this team lately might look at a lot of the commentary here and conclude that the Oilers must be cooking, but are losing only because of the goalie. Couldn't possibly be any further from the truth.

 

[North]

Screaming, bitching, whining, and getting angry isn’t going to change him into something he’s not.

We aren’t the GM of the club. Be upset no upgrade came, but really, its not productive to say the same shit every game. The team has shown it can win with the level goaltending skinner can provide playing at his best, but everyone is slumping and we should be expecting more from our stars and wingers.

No sorry.

I think this is a cop out.

Normally I would agree with you if the complaints were unwarranted but watching him yesterday, it’s clear he’s checked out.

That is a problem.

Even when the team was playing well he was sewering them.

I don’t mind calling out the forwards but it’s got to be taxing playing from behind all the time and having to score four or five to win.

 

[MoontoScott]

Agreed. Not blaming him at all. This line up has too many weak links for 2 people to carry every game.

Yes, I knew you weren't blaming him--no problem.

I guess the point I'm making is that looking ahead to the off-season (no matter what happens in the next few months) the only forwards I would bring back are Mc-D, Drai, Hyman and Savoie. Podz (bottom six only) and Perry are o.k. for short term deals near league minimum.....but beyond that everybody else is one of--overpaid, too old, unmotivated or couldn't put the puck in the ocean. You couldn't trade some of them if your life depended on it.

 

[Oilslick941611]

This team is destined to never win anything no matter what if the mentality truly is "why should I work hard because another part of the roster isn't what I want it to be" from the star players. Patently insane that people here are giving them that excuse and somehow think it's also justified.

The goalies suck, no doubt about that. That's not going to change, but there are plenty of things can be changed for the better that will improve our performance regardless of the goaltending. There appears to be little to no focus or commitment on getting better in these areas on an individual or team level.

Someone that hasn't been watching this team lately might look at a lot of the commentary here and conclude that the Oilers must be cooking, but are losing only because of the goalie. Couldn't possibly be any further from the truth.

Exactly, we are losing because the team forgot how to play offense and defence, the power play tries the same play over and over and teams just need to sit in a box and we are totally neutered, but you can’t mention that or you’ll get called a skinner bootlicker or management apologist.

The goals we have scored lately have mainly been off the rush of one and drones and not from sustained Ozone pressure. Even if we had good goaltending, the way the team is playing isn’t contender level.

No sorry.

I think this is a cop out.

Normally I would agree with you if the complaints were unwarranted but watching him yesterday, it’s clear he’s checked out.

That is a problem.

Even when the team was playing well he was sewering them.

I don’t mind calling out the forwards but it’s got to be taxing playing from behind all the time and having to score four or five to win.

This is just loser talk and if any player has this attitude they need a one way ticket out of town.

 

[Mr Positive]

It’s likely tied to poor goaltending. 10 coaches and no goalies for any of them.
The old saying is show me a good coach and I’ll show you a good goalie. Still rings true.

Pretty much. The good teams have bad defense too at times, and turnovers. It's just that most breakdowns result in the goalie stopping a puck. People who want to put Skinner off the hook point to the great saves he made that keep us in the game. He did so last night. Except, who is the worst goalie in the league? Whoever that is, he also has a great highlight reel of saves and keeps scores close

The only way to judge are the statistics. A goalie is more of a pure stat machine than any other player. The base stats say a lot, especially because a goalies stats don't always align with the team's success. There are bad teams who have a goalie with good stats. The reverse is true too, and it shows who are the good and bad goalies.

 

[Soundwave]

This team is destined to never win anything no matter what if the mentality truly is "why should I work hard because another part of the roster isn't what I want it to be" from the star players. Patently insane that people here are giving them that excuse and somehow think it's also justified.

The goalies suck, no doubt about that. That's not going to change, but there are plenty of things can be changed for the better that will improve our performance regardless of the goaltending. There appears to be little to no focus or commitment on getting better in these areas on an individual or team level.

Someone that hasn't been watching this team lately might look at a lot of the commentary here and conclude that the Oilers must be cooking, but are losing only because of the goalie. Couldn't possibly be any further from the truth.

How many contenders look great with night in/night out sub .900 goaltending for an entire season?

Like what do you think should be the expected result here? No.1 in the division?

 

[McHelpus]

Stuart Skinner will have to go 14-0 to match his record last year.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

It’s likely tied to poor goaltending. 10 coaches and no goalies for any of them.
The old saying is show me a good coach and I’ll show you a good goalie. Still rings true.

You can tell the Oilers don't value good goaltending because every time they are pushed they claim the price is too high to acquire one.

If they valued it more, the price wouldn't be too high.

 

[K1984]

How many contenders look great with night in/night out sub .900 goaltending for an entire season?

Like what do you think should be the expected result here? No.1 in the division?

Do you think the team is playing really good hockey right now?

Simple question. Nothing to do with goaltending.

 

[Soundwave]

Do you think the team is playing really good hockey right now?

Simple question. Nothing to do with goaltending.

No but no one plays great for 82 games straight there are going to be highs and lows. Your goaltending is supposed to help weather those down stretches and insulate the team.

If you're going to sit there and complain the team isn't no.1 in the division ... what's that based on?

You can't spend $100 on a hotel room and then complain you're not getting all the amenities of a 5 star hotel.

We're getting what we deserve, which is about 5th best in the Western Conference buoyed by the fact that we have two of the better forwards in the conference, all the four teams ahead of us have had better goaltending this year and 3/4 cases significantly better.

 

[North]

Exactly, we aren’t losing because the team forgot how to play offense and defence, the power play tries the same play over and over and teams just need to be sit in a box and we are totally neutered, but you can’t mention that or you’ll get called a skinner bootlicker or management apologist.

The goals we have scored lately have mainly been off the rush of one and drones and not from sustained Ozone pressure. Even if we had good goaltending, the way the team is playing isn’t contender level.


This is just loser talk and if any player has this attitude they need a one way ticket out of town.

It’s not loser talk. It’s a sad reality that you can’t keep putting your team down early and expect that’s not going to start wearing on them.

It’s pretty sad to think otherwise.

 

[Oilslick941611]

It’s not loser talk. It’s a sad reality that you can’t keep putting your team down early and expect that’s not going to start wearing on them.

It’s pretty sad to think otherwise.

Champions dont do that. They fight through adversity.

Maybe our guys aren’t what we thought they were?

I expect more from everybody who puts on that jersey. Drai has been the only one to show up this season.

 

[North]

Do you think the team is playing really good hockey right now?

Simple question. Nothing to do with goaltending.

They are not but on the flip side one could argue when they were playing good hockey the goalies were still costing them games.

Don’t you think at some point it becomes a drag on the team when they always have to dig themselves out of a hole?

Champions dont do that. They fight through adversity.

Maybe our guys aren’t what we thought they were?

I expect more from everybody who puts on that jersey. Drai has been the only one to show up this season.

Oh please no other contender has to deal with this type of goaltending.

At some point it starts wearing on a team.

 

[K1984]

No but no one plays great for 82 games straight there are going to be highs and lows. Your goaltending is supposed to help weather those down stretches and insulate the team.

If you're going to sit there and complain the team isn't no.1 in the division ... what's that based on?

You can't spend $100 on a hotel room and then complain you're not getting all the amenities of a 5 star hotel.

We're getting what we deserve, which is about 5th best in the Western Conference, all the four teams ahead of us have had better goaltending this year and 3/4 cases significantly better.

Haven't said anything about #1 in the division so you can stop projecting that now.

No team plays well for 82 straight games. Good teams don't play like complete f***ing ass for the better part of about the last 20 games. If you want to blame the team for being an abject joke in front of him for more or less the entirety that stretch, then you do you.

We've seen this team play well and get clipped by goaltending. That's pretty clearly not what this is at this point.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

It’s not loser talk. It’s a sad reality that you can’t keep putting your team down early and expect that’s not going to start wearing on them.

It’s pretty sad to think otherwise.

Totally agree with you. If we have to score 5 per game that means McDavid and Drai needs multi point games every f***ing game. Take some pressure off these guys.