Value of: Functional Toughness to the Oilers

Bryanbryoil

Pray For Ukraine
Sep 13, 2004
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Smith Talbot scrap was epic. Skinner doesn't seem like a scrapper at all (which is fine).

I liked Binnington before he popped. He would have been a good option for the Oilers for the last few seasons IMO.
It was. Especially since both switched teams recently. Yeah we could use a hothead like that to drag us into the fight TBH and he's a damn good goalie when he's on his game.
 

Czechboy

Češi do toho!
Apr 15, 2018
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Here me out.. Brown cannot play defense in the NHL. We have him for 3 years. Can he play 4th line wing?lol Give him 8 minutes a night and instruct him to bring, um, 'functional toughness'.
 
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Bryanbryoil

Pray For Ukraine
Sep 13, 2004
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Here me out.. Brown cannot play defense in the NHL. We have him for 3 years. Can he play 4th line wing?lol Give him 8 minutes a night and instruct him to bring, um, 'functional toughness'.
I mentioned trying this after he was clearly struggling in camp. Just tell him to go out there and hit anything that moves and rough up guys that are getting stupid with our top players.
 
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DingDongCharlie

Registered User
Sep 12, 2010
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Here me out.. Brown cannot play defense in the NHL. We have him for 3 years. Can he play 4th line wing?lol Give him 8 minutes a night and instruct him to bring, um, 'functional toughness'.

Who sit's from the forwards to accommodated this? We don't really have anyone to play 4C outside Ryan. So if not him, Pod or Perry? I mean Perry will fight and still agitate, so not either him. Pods shown glimpse of physical play. Something might be there talent wise. I don't see a forward open spot for him.

Unless you mean 13th forward press box sub in for a specific game? Maybe.
 
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Bryanbryoil

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Sep 13, 2004
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Who sit's from the forwards to accommodated this? We don't really have anyone to play 4C outside Ryan. So if not him, Pod or Perry? I mean Perry will fight and still agitate, so not either him. Pods shown glimpse of physical play. Something might be there talent wise. I don't see a forward open spot for him.
Podkolzin IMO. I just haven't seen enough of him to say that he is 100% an everyday contributing NHLer yet.
 
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Figgy44

A toast of purple gato for the memories
Dec 15, 2014
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I mentioned trying this after he was clearly struggling in camp. Just tell him to go out there and hit anything that moves and rough up guys that are getting stupid with our top players.

Convert him to Connor Brawn? Lol.
 

HabsAddict

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Feb 27, 2002
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For a deterrent to be effective, he has to be ready to hurt players...and everyone must know it.

I go way back to the Furgeson era and now X, these are the very few that genuinely scare players. And they can play the game. You're not going to get them in trades so you either draft them or get barely functional goons like Reaves. Every time you play them, they are a hole in your lineup. Can you afford that?

Or you get middleweight like Pezzetta. Middle of the road fighter that won't hurt you, but he's no deterrent.

Or if you are desperate, get the goon and the middle weight.
 
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Bryanbryoil

Pray For Ukraine
Sep 13, 2004
87,395
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For a deterrent to be effective, he has to be ready to hurt players...and everyone must know it.

I go way back to the Furgeson era and now X, these are the very few that genuinely scare players. And they can play the game. You're not going to get them in trades so you either draft them or get barely functional goons like Reaves. Every time you play them, they are a hole in your lineup. Can you afford that?

Or you get middleweight like Pezzetta. Middle of the road fighter that won't hurt you, but he's no deterrent.

Or if you are desperate, get the goon and the middle weight.
I would kill to have a Hathaway and a Kostin to have both of those roles covered.

Hathaway-Henrique-Brown
Kostin-Janmark/Philp-Perry

That's a bottom 6 that I could get behind.
 

Leafshater67

Registered User
Nov 2, 2019
1,666
2,551
Halifax
If only they had an Evander Kane type player…

Still, toughness isn’t going to fix their awful goaltending and paper thin depth / blueline. That Nurse contract really set them up for failure. Nurse is a 3-4m D at best but they can’t afford any renforcements. They lack depth and have an AHL blueline beyond Ekholm and Bouchard . They have AHL calibre goaltending and a bunch of soft, old, slow players beyond their top 6.

They shouldn’t have drug their feet signing Broberg and Holloway. They desperately need youth. Stuart Skinner is worse than Georgiev IMO
 

KingsHockey24

Registered User
Aug 1, 2013
14,514
13,282
I can be your new 4th line center @Bryanbryoil

stare-and-wink.gif
 
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Bishop7979

Registered User
Sep 9, 2005
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Acari? You may have to drug Sullivan to get acari off the team during the cover of darkness, but, when Lizotte comes back is rather have his speed/skill over acari's physicality.
 
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Bryanbryoil

Pray For Ukraine
Sep 13, 2004
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Personally I'd have kept Ceci over signing Skinner... Then you wouldn't need a thread like this as much.
Ceci and Nurse have been a disaster. Ceci needed to go because Nurse can't. The problem is that management filled our #4-#9D spots with Kulak (solid 3rd pairing guy), a youngish Emberson, Stetcher, Dermott and Josh Brown. Right now these guys are at best #6D's (#5D in Kulak's case).
 

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