GDT: Game #55: Avalanche @ Oilers - 7 PM - SNW

[McHelpus]

Whoever made that schedule after the 4 Nations deserves to be fired. A b2b at 11am against Philly & Washington.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Wow actually having McDavid, Draisatl, and RNH on their own lines? Wild concept.

Anyway, early returns seem to be good for Necas. Maybe they knew what they were doing after all.

 

[russ99]

Hope the guys take this seriously, last game before the break has seemed to been a throwaway in the past, better to finish strong.

 

[Duke74]

Don't make Wedgewood look like Hasek please

Oh, but they will. It's inevitable.

Hope the guys take this seriously, last game before the break has seemed to been a throwaway in the past, better to finish strong.

I'll take any finishing this team can muster.

 

[russ99]

Wow actually having McDavid, Draisatl, and RNH on their own lines? Wild concept.

Anyway, early returns seem to be good for Necas. Maybe they knew what they were doing after all.

Really like this, but I think RNH sticks as a 3rd line two way center with a little better talent on the wings. This looks more like an old school posession and checking line.

Not sure Henrique is the guy to handle the 4th line own zone start faceoff and PK role, (nor Philp so far) looks like the Oilers are testing in house options before the deadline.

 

[LeonDraisaitl29]

Need a winger for McDavid. How about Tuch from Buffalo? Expiring contract at 4.5 mil good top 6 winger. Then keep RNH, Drai, and McDavo on seperate lines.

 

[Mez]

Can we get a goal from the 3rd or 4th line please. It doesn't count if McDrai are filling in on that line.

Wedgewood has a better SV% that Skinner. Yikes. I got a bad feeling about the goaltending tonight.

Fun fact, Oilers are actually one of the deepest teams for scoring goals. we have 14 players with 5 goals or more, 6 with 10+

 

[K1984]

Fun fact, Oilers are actually one of the deepest teams for scoring goals. we have 14 players with 5 goals or more, 6 with 10+

The fixation with depth scoring has always been perplexing to me because a lot of the time it doesn't matter. It only really comes up the odd time the big dogs hit a bit of a rut. And as you say, it isn't that bad anyways.

If we are up 2-0 after 1 on the back of two top 6 goals, do we need the bottom 6 to push for more? No, we need them to play safe and not f*** their shifts up by taking unnecessary risks. For this team we could win 10 in a row and the bottom 6 could have scored zero goals, but have still played well and done their job over that time.

 

[McBeastMode]

That's a lot of jerseys and beer...

 

[K1984]

That's a lot of jerseys and beer...

The Oilers have done a really good job extending their brand the last few seasons as well. My wife is not a hockey fan at all, but even she keeps an eye on the Ice District Authentics releases and has bought some stuff from there. They are creating products that are attractive to people that don't really even care about the Oilers, but still carry the Oiler logo.

The team's success has played a role in that as well obviously, but I think they've done a really good job monetizing that hype in new ways they didn't capitalize on before.

 

[LeonDraisaitl29]

That's a lot of jerseys and beer...

Watching Sportsnet you'd think the Oilers were the least popular team in the league lol

 

[K1984]

Wedgewood has been junk lately, so hopefully we find a way to get actual dangerous shots away before we are desperate this time to exploit it.

 

[Messrules11]

Wedgewood has been junk lately, so hopefully we find a way to get actual dangerous shots away before we are desperate this time to exploit it.

The op says he’s out with an upper body injury, I guess we’ll see. The pk needs to show up tonight.

 

[K1984]

For those prepared to declare national holidays in celebration of the brilliance of Avalanche management - if these identical players were in the bottom 9 and bottom 4 for a bottom feeder, would anyone be surprised? As we rail on about our depth and how dumb our management is for not addressing what are in the grand scheme of things minor roster issues, the Avalanche throw out this:

Similar to the 2017-2021 Oilers - their whole team is housed on their top line, their top pair, and nowhere else. Avalanche are also in a similar standings position as those teams coincidentally. Don't allow Mackinnon to cook you off the rush and you win.

 

[bellagiobob]

 

[yukoner88]

Hard to say how this one will go.

Colorado played the day before.

Edmonton hasn’t been playing well. They might take the game off before a break. But they are generally motivated to play Colorado.

Just need to find a way to have the guys visualize a laming c or a limp orca on the Avs sweaters

 

[bellagiobob]

 

[K1984]

I didn't know Wedgewood was out, but this doesn't bother me either.