Biggest Disappointment This Season

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Walman had one great game, has looked fairly good in the rest. I'm taking the much younger Broberg over him every day of the week.

We should have moved the magic Kulak at the beginning of the year and put Kane on LTIR. That's all it would have took and I said as much.

I take Broberg over him too factoring in age but the thing is it should've never been between Broberg/Walman, we should've gotten rid of Kulak, like you said.

 

[Canovin]

I take Broberg over him too factoring in age but the thing is it should've never been between Broberg/Walman, we should've gotten rid of Kulak, like you said.

No one in their right mind would trade Kulak especially with the season he's having and at the price point of 2.7M.

"Let's trade Kulak so we can fit in Broberg at 4.6M and also lose another player on top of that while handicapping the team to 20 man roster"

 

[AM]

Try again. Holloway running stellar numbers and per minute best on team numbers in any category is +16 on an average club. As a 23yr old. He's already a FAR better player than anybody that the Cat (Jackson) dragged in. Imagining several reasons why the Oil were OK losing this stud is basic copium and of the variety that allows this org to be as generally very poor at roster building as it is.

"Oh we traded Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle" Fans lining up to "oh thats OK" we got Lucic...lol

Its a given that Holloway would have some initial hiccups playing in the NHL in first 60-80 games or so. Almost any player does. But his pedigree and draft info was he was an all round player that took no shortcuts and was just solid in every facet as well as being strong. When this guy rounds into his man peak he's going to be a force. PPG range player already.

Well anything is possible.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Said this summer my first call post Cup would be to Broberg to pitch a vision of 3LD role with succession planning over time to eventually swap with Ekholm. And a plan to move veteran Kulak to trial and test at 2RD with a more expensive Ceci sacrificed out the door. Roll with that group using the time until trade deadline to assess if Kulak could play RD and plug 2RD responsibilities. If not that top 4 d upgrade to be the priority deadline move.

They need to get a handle on the Broberg situation with the lingering trade request. If you can't secure the player's buy-in, then a trade scenario would have to be considered. Clearly they had even less insight about Holloway.

Interestingly, one of the biggest successes of this season has actually been Kulak stepping up with 3+ minutes toi and filling the 2RD hole when they moved Ceci.

The decision to do nothing and try to smoke out the two RFA proved disastrous. And the genie was out of the bottle when the Blues poison pilled the Broberg contract because it was both unaffordable and would be a disaster likely for the player as we've seen with Nurse when salary outdrives its perceived player value ... especially on a cap strapped team haunted by ghosts of past buy-outs and bad deals. But the decision to double down to let both young emergent NHL bluechip guys go for peanuts is a colossal bungle.

 

[Spawn]

No one in their right mind would trade Kulak especially with the season he's having and at the price point of 2.7M.

"Let's trade Kulak so we can fit in Broberg at 4.6M and also lose another player on top of that while handicapping the team to 20 man roster"

We should have traded Kulak away the summer before the 2023-2024 season and given Broberg that spot. He was ready for a full-time sheltered NHL role at the time and it would have prevented you from alienating the player. The mistake with Broberg wasn't this past summer. It was the summer before.

 

[McDNicks17]

We should have traded Kulak away the summer before the 2023-2024 season and given Broberg that spot. He was ready for a full-time sheltered NHL role at the time and it would have prevented you from alienating the player. The mistake with Broberg wasn't this past summer. It was the summer before.

To be fair, the main mistake with Broberg was drafting him.

 

[Canovin]

To be fair, the main mistake with Broberg was drafting him.

Same with Holloway. You play with fire when you draft a flame fan.

 

[MessierII]

We should have traded Kulak away the summer before the 2023-2024 season and given Broberg that spot. He was ready for a full-time sheltered NHL role at the time and it would have prevented you from alienating the player. The mistake with Broberg wasn't this past summer. It was the summer before.

There’s no scenerio where we should have traded Kulak

 

[aggressive forecheck]

There’s no scenerio where we should have traded Kulak

There’s no scenario where we shouldn't have traded Kulak.

 

[MessierII]

There’s no scenario where we shouldn't have traded Kulak.

So one goal erases the fact he’s been our most consistent D man in every playoff since we’ve had him? How about score more than 1 goal?

 

[aggressive forecheck]

It's either blame everyone but Kulak or blame only Skinner.

 

[Senor Catface]

It's either blame everyone but Kulak or blame only Skinner.

Did you change your name from Broberg Speed because no one would respond to you anymore?

 

[TB12]

Did you change your name from Broberg Speed because no one would respond to you anymore?

ahhhhhh that explains it. Back to ignore list he goes lol

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

We should've had multiple cups before Jackson was even in the picture. We blew our best shot prior to him taking over, and it was only because mcdrai went completely supernova. It's not like the makeup of the team was that good.

This singular offseason is not the defining moment if we do fail to get a cup. It's the 10 years prior. The 10 years of refusing to address particular needs, 10 years later still needing a top 4 dman and bonafide starting tendy, 10 years of failed drafting impact 1st round fwds and top 6 talent (yams, JP, bourgault...etc), 10 years of deliberately cucking our young star players (Holloway, Broberg, letting Bouchard rot for 2 years and resiging barrie for no reason), 10 years of barely any impact players drafted outside of the 1st round. 10 years of almost no homegrown players to solidify roster spots. 10 years of failing to get competent top 6 wingers outside of Hyman.

I could keep going on. Yes, this offseason was an unmitigated disaster, but we've likely already blew our best shot to win a cup. I refuse to believe Dylan Holloway is the singular reason we aren't winning a cup. McLeod was a non-factor in the playoffs. Broberg has been replaced by Walman. It's all of the brain dead decisions our incompetent front office (empowered by incompetent ownership) has done since we drafted McD, and now we are stuck with this group for the foreseeable future.

Oilers management, drafting and development has been an unmitigated disaster. But it’s been that way for 35 years now.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

For me it's JSkinner and Arvidsson. I genuinely thought they'd pop 50 goals between them.

In JSkinner's defence he's been very good since ~december. Knob has just been an absolute knob with his icetime and deployment.

 

[Cloned]

Biggest disappointment has been The Great Crash of 2025 and losing all our likes from the past year.

 

[timekeep]

Does anyone see us actually beating the Kings, Vegas, Winnipeg, and Florida in a series with Sewer Stinker in our net? Like how is that even possible?

Not the way they are currently playing, but if Bouchard finally takes a step forward in his own end and stops giving away grade A chances, if Nuge produces (never really has in the playoffs) and the goalie can limit the goals against to 0-2 every game. Then for sure. And if all the other teams have injuries and our injured players are all recovered by then.

 

[Canovin]

Did you change your name from Broberg Speed because no one would respond to you anymore?

I thought it was @Drivesaitl burner account lol

 

[AM]

For me it's JSkinner and Arvidsson. I genuinely thought they'd pop 50 goals between them.

In JSkinner's defence he's been very good since ~december. Knob has just been an absolute knob with his icetime and deployment.

So the players 200 foot game has improved, but the coach isn’t deploying him correctly?

 

[ChaoticOrange]

So the players 200 foot game has improved, but the coach isn’t deploying him correctly?

Since Jan 1 Skinner has 8 even strength goals and has the highest 5v5 GF% on the team. McDavid has 7. Skinner averages 12 minutes a night and has been healthy scratched 9 times. That's poor coaching and poor player utilization.