Post-Game Talk: From the jaws of defeat…

[TheNumber4]

What makes you think he isn't trying his best?

I'm just saying that the Oilers haven't invested much into their starting goalie and sometimes you have to expect to get what you pay for. They spent 7 mil on JSkinner and Arvidsson in the summer that they could've put toward a goalie upgrade if they wanted (minus the salaries of their hypothetical replacements and + Pickard's or Skinner's salary I guess).

Makes more sense to be mad at management than Skinner since I see no reason to believe he isn't doing all he can.

I was hoping for a goalie upgrade, but it seems the Oilers management decided to gamble on Skinner improving and playing above his salary.

He’s gotten 2 additional goalie consultants/coaches in addition to Schwartz. Yeh pretty sure a lack of effort isn’t the problem.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He looked just like Gagner looked like last year. He got crushed pretty much every time he touched the puck. IMO, he’s done and at risk of injury every time he steps on the ice.

Victim Arviddson.

This is the same as last season. I told people it was like "they killed Kenny again" The version we have can't even avoid a hit. On the one play he got hurt last game (again) its because he's fallng down anytime he's touched or breathed on and then crashing into the boards. Its painful. Just seeing it. In prime he was a good player. But not the version we got.

Imagine paying 8M to a guy that looks worse here than Old Gagner on his third iteration here.

 

[TheNumber4]

Some stats related to Mattias Ekholm's period with Edmonton.... Since he became an Oiler:

NHL teams:
1. Dallas .681
2. Edmonton .670
3. Boston .665

NHL defencemen ES scoring:
1. Quinn Hughes 87
2. Cale Makar 81
3. Josh Morrissey 80
4. Evan Bouchard 76
5. Erik Karlsson 69
...
10. Mattias Ekholm 63

NHL players plus/minus:
1. Mattias Ekholm +82
2. Gustav Forsling +80
3. Dylan DeMelo +64
4. Connor McDavid +57
5. Leon Draisaitl +54
6. Quinn Hughes +53
7. Evan Bouchard +51

Remember when some nutty fans thought the Oilers should be acquiring Erik Karlsson? Since Ekholm was acquired, he has scored 91% of Karlsson's ES points while going +82 to Karlsson's -25.

Mattias has had a rough few weeks, but overall, I'd say since his acquisition he's been the Oilers' best Dman since Pronger.

Lol Yes. That was me last week. But also a lot of others a few years ago when he was actually on the market. And we still should. What does Ekholm being a complete beast have to do with adding another to the roster?

Now let’s look at Ekholms EV scoring prior to Oilers days. And imagine what that could do for EK65.

The Oilers are also currently looking at Matheson. Who’s like dollar store EK65. We’d be lucky if EK65 hit the market at 50% but alas he probably won’t.

Didn't make any sense to me. The Oilers, at the time, were the highest scoring team in the NHL and were filling the net on a nightly basis. Their challenge was defence and goaltending, and those weren't issues that Karlsson was going to help with.

Yes. Back then that was completely right. And Ekholm wasn’t really rumored to be on the market, to compare to those guys that were. Ultimately, EK back then was a pipe dream that fizzled out even back then, from myself included. And the debate then shifted to Chych vs. Whoever, then Ek came out of nowhere to put the debate to bed once and for all.