Player Discussion Dylan Holloway Part 2 | Coming Off of an Injury and Turning Pro in '21-22

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I wonder if he doesn’t rapidly elevate his game and more minutes if they send him down to Bakersfield after 9 games, bring up Hamblin etc.. If it’s an improvement with Hamelin, keep Holloway down to further develop and then possibly use him as a late season call up. Save one year on his ELC if he stays in Bakersfield?

It won't save ELC, but it will help him become the player you fully want, rather than a depth guy where he's slotted now.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Holloway is getting back up to speed after his 'upper body' injury. Personally, I'm not worried about small minutes in a white hot rivalry game. It's what he did with those minutes. Played heavy, fast and solid two way game all with confidence. Nice to see him get a McPoint against his hometown team.

Holloway is here for good, imo, unless for some reason everything in his game craters. His size, speed and puck hunting ability will carve out more ice time for him and earn the coach's trust. Some just need to pump the breaks on Calder Trophy expectations and let this kid ease his way onto a deep team.

 

[dss97]

I personally think he should be moved up in the lineup and Yamo should be moved down. Holloway is showing a lot more hustle right now and Yamo isn’t forechecking and finishing his checks like he used to.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I think it might be time to swap him for Hamblin or someone else down in Bako for a little bit.

He needs some time to get back up to speed and to gain some momentum again. Playing 5 minutes on the fourth line isn't going to do that.

That is more so on the coach than the player right now. Ryan had 9:25ES TOI and Shore had 8:10ES TOI compared to Holloway's 5:29ES TOI. Even if the argument is that he shouldn't be in the top 6 right now, why wasn't he given a regular shift on the 4th line? I have not been a big fan at all of Woodcroft's handling of Holloway going back to his turnover against Calgary in the first game against them. The kid needs some time and a regular shift to get going.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I personally think he should be moved up in the lineup and Yamo should be moved down. Holloway is showing a lot more hustle right now and Yamo isn’t forechecking and finishing his checks like he used to.

Or going to the front of the net. If he's badly dinged up then he should be out right now because he is handicapping our 2nd line.

 

[LTIR]

I personally think he should be moved up in the lineup and Yamo should be moved down. Holloway is showing a lot more hustle right now and Yamo isn’t forechecking and finishing his checks like he used to.

Getting moved up isn't necessarily a good thing. Guys like Pulju, McLeod and Holloway are making productive roles for themselves away from McDrai.

Kane-Drai-Yama line seems to be the only disorganized one left

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Getting moved up isn't necessarily a good thing. Guys like Pulju, McLeod and Holloway are making productive roles for themselves away from McDrai.

Kane-Drai-Yama line seems to be the only disorganized one left

Yamamoto is not getting it done. He has been so used to being gifted top 6 minutes that maybe he needs a reminder of what got him here in the first place?

 

[LTIR]

Yamamoto is not getting it done. He has been so used to being gifted top 6 minutes that maybe he needs a reminder of what got him here in the first place?

Yama's hustle made the GWG against CHI happen.
Also, I don't think he, Pulju or Holloway consider being on that line a gift . It's a 'go fetch' only role

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Yama's hustle made the GWG against CHI happen.
Also, I don't think he, Pulju or Holloway consider being on that line a gift . It's a 'go fetch' only role

For guys like Yamamoto and Pulju? Sure. If it's Holloway or Bourgault? Hell no. Kane isn't the best of passer and that line could use another guy that can both pass and score as well as retrieve pucks. Yamamoto right now isn't it.

 

[LTIR]

For guys like Yamamoto and Pulju? Sure. If it's Holloway or Bourgault? Hell no. Kane isn't the best of passer and that line could use another guy that can both pass and score as well as retrieve pucks. Yamamoto right now isn't it.

Doesn't seem like for Woodcroft Holloway is 'it' either ..
Holloway looked pretty good last night despite low TOI so hopefully gets another look alongside Drai shortly. Drai I think would prefer him over Yama as his wingers too

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yamamoto is not getting it done. He has been so used to being gifted top 6 minutes that maybe he needs a reminder of what got him here in the first place?

Seemed strange to me that the club decided to give this player as much money and term as they did. He drives negligible offense and barely ever has the puck in opponent end. While he's used on pk he's not any ideal there either and doesn't cover a ton of space with his wingspan. I tend to think we're weaker on passing lanes with Yams on the pk. He's a non starter on even 2nd unit PP. Doesn't even make a difference.

I would have given Yams one year at lowest possible cost and looked to Holloway to be his sure fill in. Being that Holloway is so plug and play ready it just didn't make sense to go 2 for Yams. Nor do I think he's ideal at bottomsix and the team has even stopped playing him there. Where does he fit?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Seemed strange to me that the club decided to give this player as much money and term as they did. He drives negligible offense and barely ever has the puck in opponent end. While he's used on pk he's not any ideal there either and doesn't cover a ton of space with his wingspan. I tend to think we're weaker on passing lanes with Yams on the pk. He's a non starter on even 2nd unit PP. Doesn't even make a difference.

I would have given Yams one year at lowest possible cost and looked to Holloway to be his sure fill in. Being that Holloway is so plug and play ready it just didn't make sense to go 2 for Yams. Nor do I think he's ideal at bottomsix and the team has even stopped playing him there. Where does he fit?

I'm hoping that while Holloway was stapled to the bench and Woody had Yamamoto with Shore and Ryan that maybe he wanted to see what they'd look like together if he puts Holloway back with Kane and Drai. Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[dss97]

Getting moved up isn't necessarily a good thing. Guys like Pulju, McLeod and Holloway are making productive roles for themselves away from McDrai.

Kane-Drai-Yama line seems to be the only disorganized one left

I too like JP on the third line, but something has got to give here. Maybe even try Holloway on the right side and see how it goes, I’m not sure if Yamo is playing seriously hurt but he’s just a detriment to any line he’s on right now.

 

[walktheboulavard]

Yama's hustle made the GWG against CHI happen.
Also, I don't think he, Pulju or Holloway consider being on that line a gift . It's a 'go fetch' only role

I don't know if I'd reduce it to "go fetch" only role. Yamo's been struggling but there's a lot of synergy between the 3 of them on that line. There's countless times Drai/Yamo combined for quick give and go to enter the zone and setting up ozone time. Same with Kane finding Yamo with passes that should result in grade A opportunities. Unfortunately Yamo's seems to be suffering from the case of the yips as he's fumbling a lot of these opportunities.

Holloway may thrive with similar opportunities.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

I was considering betting on him to win the Calder. If he played in the top 6 all year it’d be an interesting bet. But I think all these ads are influencing me, I never gamble so not doing it.

But man, I just love this kid. He really does remind me of Hall. Kids probably feeling like a million bucks lately, Alberta kid, probably has all his friends watching every game and seeing him play with McDavid and Draisaitl must be awesome. As a player and as a person everything’s just pointing up, as a guy pushing 40 I just love to see young people living life and carving out their spot in the world.

Keep it up kid, you may have dreamed of being a Flame as a kid but now you’re an apostle of McJesus in the holy land of hockey

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Seems like he's still getting punished for the first goal against of the season. last game he was the best player in the bottom 6 and literally every shift he was out for was spent in Calgary's zone.

 

[TheNumber4]

Still looks like an NHLer to me every time he touches the puck. Just not a lot of minutes for him right now.

 

[Canovin]

Oilers probably don't want Holloway breaking out too soon. $$ is really tight. Still gotta pay Bouchard and McLeod next season

 

[bobbythebrain]

Oilers probably don't want Holloway breaking out too soon. $$ is really tight. Still gotta pay Bouchard and McLeod next season

I've never seen this practice tbh. This is definitely a fan narrative that i see used over and over.

Most teams want to win. I can't recall a single time a player was held back for scoring

 

[Canovin]

I've never seen this practice tbh. This is definitely a fan narrative that i see used over and over.

Most teams want to win. I can't recall a single time a player was held back for scoring

You've never seen players score and then benched the next shift or given lesser minutes the following game?

 

[CupofOil]

I think it might be time to swap him for Hamblin or someone else down in Bako for a little bit.

He needs some time to get back up to speed and to gain some momentum again. Playing 5 minutes on the fourth line isn't going to do that.

It's a waste. You could see very clearly that he does things at a top 9 level in spurts but it's almost impossible to gain much momentum with sporadic shifts alongside 4th liners. This can't be great for his confidence so it's time to either give him a longer look in the top 9 or send him down to Bako. He's a thoroughbred so he needs to be given more free reign and needs to play meaningful minutes.....somewhere.

 

[Fourier]

Still looks like an NHLer to me every time he touches the puck. Just not a lot of minutes for him right now.

I feel the same way.

 

[Arpeggio]

I think they played him limited minutes because it was his first two games back from an injury. He'll get more minutes moving forward I bet. He was on the 2nd PP unit to start the year if I'm not wrong? I don't think it's an issue of Woodcroft not trusting him, I think they're just giving him a chance to adjust to the speed. The game looked way to fast the first few games of the year.

 

[bobbythebrain]

You've never seen players score and then benched the next shift or given lesser minutes the following game?

Not of they are playing well. No i havent

 

[Juxta Position]

You've never seen players score and then benched the next shift or given lesser minutes the following game?

If a coach actually did that he should be fired on the spot.

The coaches job is to win games, if a young player breaks out and the team wins games because of it, then it's the GM's job in the off season to deal with the contract ramifications.