Post-Game Talk: Build The Wal

[OfCorsiDid]

Man Walman is going to come to f***ing regret that video game segment on After Hours if he struggles at all here.

I can already see that ginger f*** Spector writing something like "maybe Jake should spend more time watching game film instead of gaming."

 

[Cloned]

I was told Walman wasn’t very good defensively and wasn’t physical enough.

Game 1 with the Oilers he’s immediately the best defensive presence on the ice and throws the biggest hit by an Oiler defenseman all season.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

no I didn't... criticize away, but the defense is the main reason for allowing those breakaways
no different for the Stars, the difference is Oetinger let in both breakaway goals...Skinner didn't

I’m just further pointing out how silly your point was against Anahiem.

 

[iCanada]

Walman seems like he's got a huge amount energy to add to a team.

 

[Cloned]

Man Walman is going to come to f***ing regret that video game segment on After Hours if he struggles at all here.

I can already see that ginger f*** Spector writing something like "maybe Jake should spend more time watching game film instead of gaming."

Meh Walman is what you or I would be like if we had top 0.01% hockey talent.

 

[McFlyingV]

Yep absolutely. I mean my concern with Stetcher is that he's undersized. Which could be problematic over a playoff series.

But then you find out that Emberson has been hit the most of any player this year and not by a small margin. So clearly that's probably taken a toll.

So yeah platoon them. Makes sense, baseball season is coming up lol.

I like Stetcher's battle. Plays a lot bigger than he is. Can move the puck as well which I'll always take over an oaf who can't.

 

[McFlyingV]

As often as people want to say it, it's just not true. Ceci was a #5 d-man who got miscast here as a #4 guy and was relied upon to play 20 minutes a game. He still was putting up much better results than Emberson is here.

Show me numbers to support that.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Emberson can't hold Ceci's jock.

Right, sorry Mrs. Ceci. I'll be on my way.

 

[MessierThanThou]

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Meh Walman is what you or I would be like if we had top 0.01% hockey talent.

Fair enough lol.

But it always bears repeating: f*** Mark Spector.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Said it before, but I'll say it again. This defence is way better than last year's team. Walman already looking like a stud and Ceci is addition by subtraction. Excited to see what it looks like with Ekholm back.

Not sure on this. GA/G pretty identical, slightly better last season but Oilers were topten in GA/G last season and 13th now. fwiw.

Also, factoring in the transition to KK/Coffey and just looking at that alone that D had way better stats. The seasons start skews it adversely last season. The Oilers cut it around 2.50GA/G with Coffey and Knob. shining D stats last season after coaching change.

These guys despite being athletes are human though. From situation I'm gauging Ekholm has been very sick, and he has been for a longwhile. That they shut it down for him probably meaning respiratory infection that wasn't going away. That can really take a lot out of you even when you get back and his game is very physical. he might not be the Ekholm we know for awhile.

Plus bad habits trickle in the longer we have any incumbent coaches here. Hopefully this time its different.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Couldn't watch this one as I was on the road. Can a few people give me a good recap of:

How did Walman look?

How did Mcdavid look?

How did S. Skinner look?

And just a general recap of how we did?

 

[Dirk Dangler]

Felt like Jones and Wall-Man hit more people today than our entire team has all season.

The magnitude of the hits are also very noticeable. I love Podz effort and that he grinds hard. But Jones hits are on a whole different level. And that open ice hit from Walman was a beaut.

 

[McFlyingV]

Not sure on this. GA/G pretty identical, slightly better last season but Oilers were topten in GA/G last season and 13th now. fwiw.

Also, factoring in the transition to KK/Coffey and just looking at that alone that D had way better stats. The seasons start skews it adversely last season. The Oilers cut it around 2.50GA/G with Coffey and Knob. shining D stats last season.

These guys despite being athletes are human though. From situation I'm gauging Ekholm has been very sick, and he has been for a longwhile. That they shut it down for him probably meaning respiratory infection that wasn't going away. That can really take a lot out of you even when you get back and his game is very physical. he might not be the Ekholm we know for awhile.

GA/GP is a much bigger stat than just the dmen, and I'm not sure how that's really relevant when Walman wasn't on the team for those games.

The truth is Walman looks to be a massive upgrade on last year's Ceci/Broberg and that alone makes this group better on paper. They still have to go out and perform, but they have a more talented blueline today than last year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Couldn't watch this one as I was on the road. Can a few people give me a good recap of:

How did Walman look?

How did Mcdavid look?

How did S. Skinner look?

And just a general recap of how we did?

The first two were good. Skinner was… okay but better than the goalie at the other end of the ice. Team played well but took their foot off in the third.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Couldn't watch this one as I was on the road. Can a few people give me a good recap of:

How did Walman look?

How did Mcdavid look?

How did S. Skinner look?

And just a general recap of how we did?

Walman looked great and the fancies backed it up. Made an unreal pass to Hyman for a goal. Blasted Rantanen with probably the best Oilers hit all season. I also like his willingness to block the puck. He was out in the last minute so clearly the coach likes him already.

McDavid looked like himself tonight. Burned around a D and put it top shelf. Classic McDavid.

Skinner was alright. Some back luck but he had some iffy rebound control. Got a bit frazzled imo when the game started going South.

Hard to complain when you beat one of the top teams in the league. They won’t like their first half and we won’t like our 2nd. Difference is we got the points.

PK is an issue though. That needs to get fixed before the playoffs.

 

[Drivesaitl]

GA/GP is a much bigger stat than just the dmen, and I'm not sure how that's really relevant when Walman wasn't on the team for those games.

The truth is Walman looks to be a massive upgrade on last year's Ceci/Broberg and that alone makes this group better on paper. They still have to go out and perform, but they have a more talented blueline today than last year.

I'm looking at it though as team D. I think you're speaking more specifically about JUST the D. So perhaps were talking about different things.

There was a prolonged segment last season, months really, where the Oilers team defending was the best I'd ever seen it. We were dominant suppression scoring chances EV, pk and playing probably best defensively in league. For several months.

So that when you said the team is "way better defensively" this season I'm not agreeing with that.

 

[McFlyingV]

Couldn't watch this one as I was on the road. Can a few people give me a good recap of:

How did Walman look?

How did Mcdavid look?

How did S. Skinner look?

And just a general recap of how we did?

Walman looked like a stud - amazing underlying numbers tonight, excellent skater and puck retriever, great puck mover. His defensive game looked very good as well. Blew up Rantanen with a big hit.

McDavid was flying tonight. Scored a beauty walking a dman for a breakaway, and set up one of Hyman's on a beauty solo effort. He looks like he's got his mojo back.

Skinner was fine. Bad bounce on one of the goals. Had little to no chance on first goal or second goal. Third goal was a bit of a broken play that I wouldn't really blame him for (and I'm really hard on him).

We dominated 5v5 play. Some lame game management officiating and not a single powerplay for us made this much closer than it should have been. Team blew up Rantanen a few times and kind of bullied Dallas physically. They're going to be a big physical team when they get Ekholm, Frederic and Kane back.

 

[Spawn]

Show me numbers to support that.

Right, sorry Mrs. Ceci. I'll be on my way.

Cody Ceci at 5v5 2023-2024 season:
16:47 per game at 5v5, 2.67 GF/60 | 2.49 GA/60 | 51.75 GF% | 52.84 xGF%
4G, 20P in 79 GP, +12

Ty Emberson at 5v5 2024-2025 season:
13:00 per game at 5v5, 2.38 GF/60 | 2.85 GA/60 | 45.59 GF% | 51.12 xGF%
0G 10P in 61 GP, -2

The team scored more with Ceci. Were scored against less with Ceci. This while he was playing an extra 4 minutes a night in our top 4. Ceci also contributed significantly more offense (both totals and per/60).

I'm far from a Ceci fan. He was miscast here as a top 4 d-man. But he was still a substantially better player than Emberson has been here.

Hell, forget Ceci. Emberson is a very significant step down from what Desharnais provided last season. Hopefully Emberson's better skating will let him not be as exposed as badly as Vinny has been in the playoffs.

Emberson wouldn't even be in my top 6 now though tbh.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Klingberg

This would be my starting playoff lineup assuming everyone is healthy.

 

[bellagiobob]

Felt like Jones and Wall-Man hit more people today than our entire team has all season.

I’ve said this ad nauseum, but a team like the Oilers, in general not a natural hitting lineup, will follow the leader if there is a physical player showing them the way. That is way Kane has been missed so much more than people realize this year. It becomes infectious. Even Brown popped one of the Stars with a great hit tonight. Can’t wait till Frederic and Kane come back into the lineup.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The magnitude of the hits are also very noticeable. I love Podz effort and that he grinds hard. But Jones hits are on a whole different level. And that open ice hit from Walman was a beaut.

Jones seems to have an ounce of offense as well, and Frederic has much more. I'd really wonder how Pods role changes before playoffs. Fred or Jones could play with Drai AND be able to make some plays. Pods is really an offensive black hole. Looking like he might never score again. Imagine not being able to score playing constantly with Draisaitl. Oh well. We got some improvements coming.

 

[McFlyingV]

I'm looking at it though as team D. I think you're speaking more specifically about JUST the D. So perhaps were talking about different things.

There was a prolonged segment last season, months really, where the Oilers team defending was the best I'd ever seen it. We were dominant suppression scoring chances EV, pk and playing probably best defensively in league. For several months.

So that when you said the team is "way better defensively" this season I'm not agreeing with that.

I said this "defence" as in the players who play that position. The Dmen on this team are better than last year by quite a bit with the addition of Walman. It's early, but his debut looked a lot like when Ekholm first got here. He looks like a major difference maker at both ends of the ice.

On an aside note which you're discussing we haven't seen the best team D this year, but I think this group is capable of it when they tighten up. They had a long stretch of great defensive play earlier this year and then loosened up recently. They can get back to it.

 

[snipes]

Walman was excellent.

 

[bellagiobob]

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Guy sure has some talent but I think he'll be like Booch making some other plays too.

Yes he will, I totally agree, but he was good without the puck, physical and PKed! If he can poor man Bouchard, we have massive leverage on Bouchard (18 mins tonight).


Bowman deserves credit. We didn't even see Walman get silky or shoot and he had a big impact on the game. Definitely not an offensive defenseman. HFMains compared him to barrie lol


But.. he's a big, fast, puckmover, who lays hits, Pk's and blocks shots and has a good slapshot..... so something is up. Perhaps they feel McDavid can reign him in because there is an existing relationship.