Post-Game Talk: Can we leave Stu in a California Closet?

[FlameChampion]

For such a veteran group we sure play a immature game.

 

[BlackDogg]

For such a veteran group we sure play a immature game.

Its almost as if they have no coach.

 

[foshizzle]

delete

 

[Stoneman89]

Seeing Bouchard implode makes you realize how good and valuable Ekholm is.

 

[foshizzle]

Bouchard is useless without Ekholm baby sitting him. A 10 million dollar D shouldn’t need that.

He has the same excellent metrics with or without Ekholm. Ekholm's number drop without Bouchard. Right now- Bouchard is babysitting Nurse. Nurse is always, always out of position- and it gets pinned on Bouchard

 

[Canovin]

He has the same excellent metrics with or without Ekholm. Ekholm's number drop without Bouchard. Right now- Bouchard is babysitting Nurse. Nurse is always, always out of position- and it gets pinned on Bouchard

Bouchard isn't babysitting anyone. He fails the eye test every night despite having some of the best metrics out there.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Nurse was awful - just stupid, stupid reads all game long. Henrique doesn't even look like an NHLer, he is horrendous. Once again we had about 9 forwards who didn't do sweet f all. I thought Klingberg showed well but holy hell do we ever miss Ekholm.

Welp, we are in must-win territory a few days into playoffs BUT: I still believe!

EDIT: Stu Skinner doing the windmill on that muffin shot and then laughing as the Kings fans jeered him was infuriating. You've been ventilated for 11 goals in 5.5 periods, how tone-deaf are you. I thought we might've had a goalie there as recently as early this season but I've done a complete 180 on this player, what a clown. Wonder what his teammates thought of that sequence? Somebody better have chewed his ass out in the room after the game.

LOL. You're the same person who told me just a few weeks ago that I was being too negative about Stu. Now that the mood of the fanbase has made your homer-NPC take unpopular, you've changed your tune.

No surprise you thought we "had a goalie there." Maybe you wouldn't have thought so if you saw the last two playoffs.

 

[Seth92]

This is who Nurse has always been. We keep expecting him to be some Norris calibre defenseman (lol at anyone who said he would win one during his contract), but he's just an average d-man that you can find on any team. Next to no offense, brain cramps at bad times, and just too passive when it comes to a mean streak.

He got paid, and Holland was a fool for paying him so much.

He is an ego type of player. He needed to get paid more than Draisaitl on a 8 year "trust me bro Ill be earning that money by year 2" type of bluff and Holland was so stupid to not let him go

 

[bucks_oil]

My sense is that there is an organizational philosophy toward goaltending that essentially doesn't take it very seriously. The justification that media mouthpieces give regarding Skinner is that his level of play is commensurate with his cap hit, and that's sufficient. (Whether the organization has spent those "savings" efficiently is another question.)

You hear it from people here too. I mean, there was some genius on here saying Skinner at his cap hit is better than Vasilevsky. I'm sure that mentality actually reflects the organization's position (though it's probably not as dramatic as thinking Skinner is better than the best goalie in the world). It's the only thing that makes sense.

There is no question that our team has historically, like really, really historically... undervalued investing in goaltending.

It goes all the way back to Andy Moog and Curtis Joseph. We appreciated good goaltending when we had it (Fuhr, Ranford), but we were never, ever willing to pay up for it. It was always considered disposable.

In that context, I have argued this season that we have to check our expectations against how we are prioritizing our cap dollars and constructing our team. You make assessments of value, investment decisions therefrom and for better or worse we have clearly prioritized offense over defense (even in our defense), experience over youth and goaltending comes last.

You could quite easily say "well we'd be willing to pay a good goalie if we had one"... but would we? I'm not as sure that we would. And anyway, if we aren't investing in the position (scouting, coaching, third party consultants) how would we ever stumble upon one, and even if we did, would we know it in time?

So when everybody is up in arms after EVERY GAME about the goaltending... my reaction becomes "what on earth did you expect".

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He has the same excellent metrics with or without Ekholm. Ekholm's number drop without Bouchard. Right now- Bouchard is babysitting Nurse. Nurse is always, always out of position- and it gets pinned on Bouchard

Nurse is 0-1 away from Bouchard and Bouchard is 1-3 away from Nurse

Bouchard isn't babysitting anyone

 

[bucks_oil]

That's really the only trade we decisively won in the last....

...Jeez I don't even know. Ceci for Emberson seemed to be a slam dunk but now I'm not so sure. Same with McLeod for Savioe.

It's still early on both of those, especially Savoie. He's doing quite well in his first pro-AHL season. Plenty of solid NHLers need a season or two in the A... especially guys on the smaller side. It could go either way from here of course, but way too early to say.

 

[JFedol]

Brb, bout to go watch 80s Oilers cup run games, holy f***.

 

[Mr Positive]

Why is Nurse with Bouchard even? That's been proven not to work. Just go with Nurse-Kulak. Something we know works. Walman feels like a good partner for Bouchard. Klingberg was good at least. I guess him and Emberson.

Staples was mentioning how the team has too many lines and pairings that don't know each other and haven't built chemistry. I agree there. Except, Nurse has been with Bouchard and we know that doesn't work. Nurse needs to play with a great skater, for whatever reason. At least he has done well with Kulak. Heck I'd even try Klingberg with Nurse before putting him with Bouchard.

 

[Duke74]

Live shot of Nurse and Bouchard pairing:

 

[GhostfaceWu]

WE DOWNGRADED
trade for Frederic is worse then 2 2nds for AA

Watch them sign him to some stupid contract to justify the acquisition cost only for them to ha e buy him out two years later cause he's a propped up fourth liner.

 

[1981 Oilers]

Watch them sign him to some stupid contract to justify the acquisition cost only for them to ha e buy him out two years later cause he's a propped up fourth liner.

5 yr, 40 mil

 

[foshizzle]

Bouchard isn't babysitting anyone. He fails the eye test every night despite having some of the best metrics out there.

Eye test is another word for bias. Metrics are just a count of what has happened on the ice. The classic old "I can tell he is a criminal just by looking at him" vs evidence based judgement. I'm not going to try to convince you because you have your mind made up and you are entitled to your opinion

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

Oilers have only come back from being down 2-0 in a series twice.

Ah another wasted season of McDrai

 

[foshizzle]

Bouchard isn't babysitting anyone. He fails the eye test every night despite having some of the best metrics out there.

You mean your bias test.

 

[1981 Oilers]

That's really the only trade we decisively won in the last....

...Jeez I don't even know. Ceci for Emberson seemed to be a slam dunk but now I'm not so sure. Same with McLeod for Savioe.

maybe we can trade for the other McLeod. He is a FA now.

 

[foshizzle]

Oilers have only come back from being down 2-0 in a series twice.

Ah another wasted season of McDrai

This is season 3 of their cup window and they have hitched it to Skinner and Bowman. Previously to Holland- a GM considered too poor to run Detroit

 

[Oilslick941611]

lol our starter has an 889 playoff sv% and people wonder what the biggest issue is. Don’t worry he was good in 1 series though.

This team has more problems than just goaltending.

 

[1981 Oilers]

I think of the old saying "Walk into a room and if you can't find the mark, you're it."

We're the mark. Always have been, always will be.

worse thing is I live in NS and there are lots of Leaf fans around. They will be crowing

 

[Zguy370]

Never mind, We're doomed! Again

 

[MessierThanThou]

Why is Nurse with Bouchard even? That's been proven not to work. Just go with Nurse-Kulak. Something we know works. Walman feels like a good partner for Bouchard. Klingberg was good at least. I guess him and Emberson.

Staples was mentioning how the team has too many lines and pairings that don't know each other and haven't built chemistry. I agree there. Except, Nurse has been with Bouchard and we know that doesn't work. Nurse needs to play with a great skater, for whatever reason. At least he has done well with Kulak. Heck I'd even try Klingberg with Nurse before putting him with Bouchard.

When even Mr. Positive isn't positive, you know things look grim.

This article on Oilersnation basically explains that one of the reasons Nurse looked better this season is because he was given easier defensive assignments, so yeah, he's definitely not the guy to balance Bouchard. There was someone on here recently who actually suggested we should apologize to Holland, as if he didn't totally f*** this team with the Nurse and Campbell contracts. Also, I heard the Ekholm trade wasn't even his idea. Nashville pitched it to him.

But back to your point, nobody thought Nurse-Bouchard was a good idea, just like nobody thought playing a tired McDavid instead of locking down Game 1 when he tied it up was a good idea, just like nobody thought dressing Josh Brown was a good idea...literally nobody but Knob.

Knob is making moves that appear stupid to everybody because they are stupid. This is what happens when a coach keeps the bench past his expiration date, and that was after the five-game losing streak in March (longest since 2021). The idiotic decisions he made during that stretch were only validated in his mind by keeping him employed. Now he's making panicky, self-destructive choices that are losing us critical games. Also, didn't he try that McDrai-Perry line against the Leafs and watch that strategy fail once already?

But much like Skinner got plenty of rope with this fanbase for limping into Game 7 (and losing it for us by letting in a weak shot), so too has Knob. I remember not long ago that there was some laughter on here at how only nine people (including me) voted to fire Knob and over 50 people voted to keep him. I wonder what the poll would look like after these last two games?