Post-Game Talk: Drai speedruns Duck Hunt

K1984

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Feb 7, 2008
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i think think it’s a problem to see McDavid with 0 shots on goal. The guy needs to shoot more regardless of the situation.

I was at the game and it was interesting watching him after certain shifts.

He’s badly, badly addicted to the blind back pass off the rush and the blind toss up backwards to the middle off the cycle at the moment. I have no idea why he just won’t go to the net anymore, there were multiple instances where he had a step on a defender, but simply deferred and threw it away backwards instead.

The weird thing is he knows he’s playing like shit because you’d see him slam his stick and shake his head going to the bench after one of these screw ups. Maybe this is harder than I think, but maybe a place to start is to just stop with the blind passes for a bit?
 
Apr 12, 2010
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The way we dick around with the puck and the incredibly risky plays we are addicted to making at the offensive blue line need to stop. I really hope that Brown’s idiotic pass there is something Knoblauch can leverage to get them to stop. In a game you’re in control of late in the second there is no reason whatsoever to send even moderately risky passes east/west there, but it seemed the more we controlled that period the more we thought it was smart to start all-star gaming it.

In the playoffs last year a common theme was having a game completely under control only to do something monumentally stupid to hand one to the opposition then have to squeeze the game out in the end. They still need to figure out when and how to de-risk as a group.

Thought the team generally played pretty well in the face of laughable officiating and some good opposition goaltending. Needed way more to the net, however. I’ll give the Ducks some credit, they seem to have found some semblance of an identity as a hard working defensively competent team the last few weeks.
Yeah the “oopsie” goals are far too common with this team. The overpassing especially in key scoring areas was really annoying. McDavid in particular didn’t even have a shot on net. He had a terrible game offensively.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Much easier just to keep shitting on Skinner though...much easier.
Makes these PGT's almost unreadable.
They're not "almost unreadable". They're literally unreadable.

At least 50% of the posts on this 15-page game thread are shitting on the goaltender. Let's examine the situation:
-- the team won the game
-- the goaltender posted a .931
-- the goaltender is 10-3-1 in his past 14 games
-- the goaltender has a .923 or higher in 11 of those past 14 games

As I discussed in the previous game-day thread, Stu Skinner, over the course of his 3.5 seasons as (mostly) the main guy for Edmonton, is probably around the 20th-best goalie in the NHL. As starters go, he is neither great nor terrible -- he is average. He also won the Western Conference in the playoffs last year, and head to head had better numbers than Oettinger and Bobrovsky.

But it'll never be enough for the genius Oiler "fans" on here. They'll continually ignore his small cap hit, and the fact that he has performed way over expectations.

The level of dumb cringe by Oilers' fans on these post-game threads has reached a literally unreadable level. I will no longer be reading or contributing.
 

K1984

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Feb 7, 2008
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Yeah the “oopsie” goals are far too common with this team. The overpassing especially in key scoring areas was really annoying. McDavid in particular didn’t even have a shot on net. He had a terrible game offensively.

He had zero against the Kings as well.

I wonder if a way to shake this out of him is to play him with shittier wingers a la Draisaitl. Force him to shoot more by virtue of having nobody of value for him to pass to. He’s probably had around 6-8 games this year with zero shots and that can’t happen anymore.
 
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Apr 12, 2010
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Calgary
He had zero against the Kings as well.

I wonder if a way to shake this out of him is to play him with shittier wingers a la Draisaitl. Force him to shoot more by virtue of having nobody of value for him to pass to. He’s probably had around 6-8 games this year with zero shots and that can’t happen anymore.
This is especially frustrating when he scored 60 a couple years ago and now he actively refuses to shoot. I nearly flipped my lid when he had a partial break to the net and drop passed it to nobody and it was out of the zone seconds later. Sorry man you’re a world class talent but that’s just idiotic on your part.

Also every single time they had a 2 on 1 they passed it. Always to the lower scoring threat. Just maddening stuff.
 

Missing smitty

Registered User
Oct 1, 2018
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Or it’s just adding context to why that PORTION of his season was bad.

If we want to take the most objective look, we should take the largest sample size shouldnt we?

That sample size would be 2 years and a bit now. And in those 2 years he’s shown to be above average in save percentage and GSAx. And he’s trending to be that again this year as the year plays out.

So the objective take is that he’s an average to above average goaltender. And with average you will portions of his season that are bad, and portions of his season that are good. Ups and downs like lots of goalies in this League.

The non-objective take would be saying stuff like he’s the worst goaltender to ever lace them up. And he’s the worst at everything. And don’t tell me statements like haven’t been made about him.

Another non-objective take, and I’ve asked this now of a couple Stu detractors, is the statement: “we have NO chance to Win a Cup with Stu in net.” If that’s the case, then why do all Vegas oddsmakers and all analytical models have us as the odds on favorite to win the Cup? Can you answer that question for me?
Skinner has one of the easiest jobs in the league playing on one of the best defensive teams in the league. Near the top in shot and high danger chance suppression. His stats do not reflect the way the oilers play defensively.

That being said, is it his fault? Absolutely not. He's in over his head. He's not a starter in the NHL and that is the organizations fault. They've not prioritized goaltending and if he's their way of fixing it, they're failing him and fans.

Skinner is an above average backup, nothing more. I think the complaining stems from annoyance that the Oilers don't seem to care about who is in net and people blindly defending the kid. He's not as bad as some people think, but he is not even close to as good as some think.
 
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McBeastMode

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Dec 29, 2012
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Beside my neighbor..
Crazy. How many EN points does Mackinnon have?
He's only got 3 this season..

Capture.JPG
 

K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
16,023
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That drai goal? I doubt it that was ridiculous.

Doesn’t matter.

“Allowed another shot over his shoulder with a minute left, goes down too quick again blah blah blah”

The quality of goal that goes in on Skinner doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The derangement syndrome is such that the fact he let in a breakaway goal is dominating discussion in a 3-2 win where he had a .930+ SV%. It’s insane.
 

GMofOilers

Registered User
Oct 15, 2007
16,143
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Doesn’t matter.

“Allowed another shot over his shoulder with a minute left, goes down too quick again blah blah blah”

The quality of goal that goes in on Skinner doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The derangement syndrome is such that the fact he let in a breakaway goal is dominating discussion in a 3-2 win where he had a .930+ SV%. It’s insane.
Skinner wishes he had Dostal's skills. Actually Oilers and oiler fans wish he had his skills. We would be current Stanley Cup champs!
 

Biltmore

Next Year...
Oct 22, 2015
1,472
1,567
Missed this one. Just watched the hi lights.

Few things that stuck out
1) This team can’t hold a lead. They have to make everything as difficult as possible.
2) Leon is clutch
3) Skinner looks so awkward in net. Guess its his lack of mobility and/or athleticism. Hes just big and sometimes the puck hits him and sometimes it doesn’t.
4) Don’t think I saw one hi light from McDavid
Connor McWho was mainly invisible tonite.
 
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Nostradumbass

Divinity
Jan 1, 2007
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This is especially frustrating when he scored 60 a couple years ago and now he actively refuses to shoot. I nearly flipped my lid when he had a partial break to the net and drop passed it to nobody and it was out of the zone seconds later. Sorry man you’re a world class talent but that’s just idiotic on your part.

Also every single time they had a 2 on 1 they passed it. Always to the lower scoring threat. Just maddening stuff.
It almost seems like McD is going after back-to-back 100A seasons or something.
 
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TB12

Registered User
Apr 5, 2015
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I feel his stats are pretty bad compared to how good the team he's on is. I am curious as to who a worse starter in this league is. If you look at any stats site and scroll down, there's a lot of "well of course he's better than Skinner" until it gets interesting. The ones where I might say are worse than Skinner are on the worst teams in the league, so do we really know they are worse? On a team as good as ours, playing a defensive system like ours, how is anything less than a consistent .915, 2.5 GAA acceptable?

I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt but we should be trying to bring in another guy just to see if there is something about our team that does this to goalies
LIKE.
 

Frank the Tank

The Godfather
Aug 15, 2005
16,420
14,534
Chicago, IL
Started watching "Welcome to Wrexham" on a few flights I've taken recently and now I'm binge watching the show in my few scraps of free time. The chorus of the title sequence song in season 2 appears appropriate for this group of Oilers fans cheering for a (at times) hard luck team...

"Don't forget to sing when you win"
 
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Behind Enemy Lines

Registered User
Feb 19, 2003
17,297
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The way we dick around with the puck and the incredibly risky plays we are addicted to making at the offensive blue line need to stop. I really hope that Brown’s idiotic pass there is something Knoblauch can leverage to get them to stop. In a game you’re in control of late in the second there is no reason whatsoever to send even moderately risky passes east/west there, but it seemed the more we controlled that period the more we thought it was smart to start all-star gaming it.

In the playoffs last year a common theme was having a game completely under control only to do something monumentally stupid to hand one to the opposition then have to squeeze the game out in the end. They still need to figure out when and how to de-risk as a group.

Thought the team generally played pretty well in the face of laughable officiating and some good opposition goaltending. Needed way more to the net, however. I’ll give the Ducks some credit, they seem to have found some semblance of an identity as a hard working defensively competent team the last few weeks.
Ekholm needed to take the puck deep on his puck carry. Instead to gave Brown a poor pass that he wasn’t prepared for and flushed another poor pass to Bouchard.

First pair is elite but have been some big turover wobbles. This game with 3 breakaways could have & should have been locked in at 2-0.
 
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