How would the Oilers look going into the roster if they had matched Holloway and not signed Skinner?

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Let's assume this is the Oiler's roster going into the playoffs:

Frederic-McDavid-Hyman
Holloway-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Podkolzin-RNH-Kane
Janmark-Henrique-Brown

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Emberson

Would they be cup favourites or what?

 

[Coffee]

I think they would be yeah

 

[Paul4587]

Quite a good bit better. Holloway wouldn’t be putting up quite the same numbers as with the Blues as he wouldn’t be getting the same minutes but he would still be a miles better option than Skinner.

 

[TheLegend27]

Adding one role player makes the Oilers cup favorites now?. The larger issue is the inconsistent goaltending and injuries to core players. They’d be marginally better had they matched.

 

[BB88]

Adding one role player makes the Oilers cup favorites now?. The larger issue is the inconsistent goaltending and injuries to core players. They’d be marginally better had they matched.

The big issue for Cup is that they are back to being more dependent on Drai& McD again

The quality depth is gone and I don’t know hiw you beat Vegas or Colorado with that

 

[ijuka]

Why single out Skinner? Skinner has been good and easily worth his contract.

 

[TheLegend27]

The big issue for Cup is that they are back to being more dependent on Drai& McD again

The quality depth is gone and I don’t know hiw you beat Vegas or Colorado with that

Holloway had 7 points last postseason and they still go through to the SCF. Oilers do lack depth but Holloway isn’t the only answer to that. I’d swap Skinner with him in an instant but cup favorites is a stretch.

 

[BB88]

Holloway had 7 points last postseason and they still go through to the SCF. Oilers do lack depth but Holloway isn’t the only answer to that. I’d swap Skinner with him in an instant but cup favorites is a stretch.

I didn’t mean just him, but looking at him this season+ how their offseason additions are doing they are way too much of a 2 man team with flawed defende and goaltending to go through to the finals

Both Vegas and Colorado are better this season and Vegas is weaker. Almost feels like Edmonton already missed out on their best chance.

Doesn’t mean they can’t win it now but their best chance. RNH, Hyman, Ekholm aren’t getting any better, rather the opposite

 

[Voight]

You mean how would they look going into the playoffs ?

 

[57special]

Adding one role player makes the Oilers cup favorites now?. The larger issue is the inconsistent goaltending and injuries to core players. They’d be marginally better had they matched.

Holloway is 10th in the league in scoring for LW's, and does it with speed and physicality. In what world is he a role player?

 

[shello]

I don’t think Holloway breaks out if he was still in Edmonton

 

[qcal1427]

Who is their starter? Pickard?

 

[nbwingsfan]

Adding one role player makes the Oilers cup favorites now?. The larger issue is the inconsistent goaltending and injuries to core players. They’d be marginally better had they matched.

Not wrong that their G will likely be a huge problem. But a 60+ guy isn’t just a “role player”… he’d be their third best forward

 

[Anemia]

Good thought, you just used the wrong Skinner. Jeff has actually been fine. Arvidsson was the bigger mistake / person we should have Holloway instead of.

 

[Connor McConnor]

I think if you told me Skinner would have 20 goals this season, most Oiler fans would be happy with that. Arvy looks like the bigger issue right now but I'm still holding out hope that his play at the 4 Nations and overall playoff-suited style will translate well. He wouldn't be the first veteran FA addition that wasn't noticeable until the playoffs.

This team is probably challenging for top 3 in the West if it wasn't for the play of the "other" Skinner though. And who knows where they'd be if they had just gotten average goaltending this year with a healthier McDrai. Not sure Holloway makes up much of a difference.

 

[Frank Drebin]

They still have the other skinner in net

 

[FlameChampion]

Holloway wouldn’t of had the same year as he did in St. Louis imo but I think Holloway was still a big loss. I don’t think the others like Broberg, Foegele and McLeod are as big losses as some think. I also don’t think those 3 would of had the same year in Edmonton either. The question is why? Well that’s upto Bowman and Jackson to figure out.

All in all I don’t think offseason changes have impacted the Oilers as much personally. They are an incredibly weird team and hard to really figure out. Trying to analyze them is futile.

The only certainty is that their goaltending and goaltending coach are not good enough.

 

[FissionFire]

You could toss the dynasty Oilers or Islanders in the ice and they’d be a coin flip in every series behind that goaltending. Until they get a consistent reliable starter who is league average or slightly above they will never be a Cup favorite.

 

[Canovin]

Not sure how the Oilers will do with Holloway being injured for the playoffs

 

[HockeyVirus]

That depends who is in net? Picard? Hell no. It's harder than you think to find a quality goalie. They might have signed Samsonov or something like that and the answer is no. Maybe they signed a Stolarz or the like and then it is a maybe.

 

[Dradavich]

Oilers probably don't trade for Frederic if they keep Holloway

 

[Pip]

If team didn’t lose good player would they be better? I am going to say yes.

 

[King In The North]

Im curious why people keep saying Holloway wouldn't have developed if he stayed in Edmonton.

The wingers in the top 6, aside from Hyman who himself struggled this year, has been a rotation of mid players that they needed to get going.

 

[jonlin]

Let's assume this is the Oiler's roster going into the playoffs:

Frederic-McDavid-Hyman
Holloway-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Podkolzin-RNH-Kane
Janmark-Henrique-Brown

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Emberson

Would they be cup favourites or what?

Will this team beat:

Verhaeghe - Barkov - Reinhart
Rodrigues - Bennett - Tkachuk
Luostarinen - Lundell - Marchand
Samoskevich - Nosek - Gadjovich

Ekblad - Jones
Mikkola - Forsling
Schmidt - Kulikov

 

[Highmarker]

they really could use Holloway this year.

Like others said he wouldn't have the same point totals due to reduced ice time but it was clear that he was coming into his own at the end of his time here and would provide extremely good depth scoring which the oilers sorely lack.

Really poor management by Edmonton letting him go and moves like that will significantly cut their cup window.

You had a talented young player who you could keep cost controlled at reduced minutes and let him go in favour of a slower and older Jeff Skinner and Victor Arvidsson.

Oilers fans can try and defend it all they want but replacing Foegle Holloway and Mcleod despite their faults really slowed this team down and in my opinion they haven't looked nearly as dangerous as previous years.

As long as they have McDavid and Draisaitl they will be a threat but they need to try getting faster next year and finally solidify their goaltending, they need to look at what went wrong this season and re tool accordingly.