Pre-Game Talk: I’ll Wait: Sens in YEG @ 8pm Jan 6 2024 on HNIC
- Thread starter Morpheus
- Start date
I agree. Some organizations just know how to run and honestly I don't think the Oilers are on that list. Matter of fact I'd say we're in the basement with Ottawa, Buffalo, etc.
I count my lucky stars each day for that lottery win. I honestly believe McDavid is the only reason we're relevant. Without that lotto win we'd be a bubble playoff team at best in a good year.
There's often talk about something in the water and I believe it. There's something the Oilers and franchises like Ottawa do that just doesn't compete on a level with the others.
And for the record I believe that without McDavid we don't have Hyman or Kane. Some of the challenges the organization deals with are really tough that we have to admit. Nobody wants to really play here. Our access to the UFA's and trades(due to ntc/nmc) makes things a lot more challenging then the media lets on. Let alone the Canada/Edmonton tax we have to add to UFA signings. McDavid has not only provided us with his amazing play. He has for the time being negated those challenges to most extent.
McDavid has also given us time to get up to speed as a first class organization (I'm talking with respect to facility, treatment of players, etc, not hockey ops).
In 2015 we had:
- Arguably the worst arena in the NHL
- An organization that players left hating and slagging
- A team that turned players with promise into junk; where careers went to die
Now we have:
- Arguably one of the best arenas in the NHL
- An organization that players seem happy with and supported while playing here
- A team that gives players the opportunity to thrive and build on their careers
- Players on the team that are happy enough and willing to try and lure other players here
In 2015 we were a D class organization in all respects. I feel like that has all turned around completely since then, again not from a hockey ops perspective.
bone
5-14-6-1
Looking at their Eastern team I think this team would win by 4 or 5 goals easily. The only spot the East is stronger is in net, but only one of them play at any time.
bone
5-14-6-1
I remember at Game 42, everyone was close to full on panic mode as the team dipped briefly out of the playoff spot, but we went and looked at the Oilers over the McDavid era, and they were basically right in the neighbourhood points-wise with every Oiler playoff team in the McDavid era except the bubble year as their second half tended to be significantly better each time, and sure enough they exploded last year. .
We're seven games from game 42 right now with the next 7 games not being overly frightening in terms of opposition and spacing of the games and it's actually possible that they end up with their best record at Game 42 in McDavid's career the bubble season is probably too much to ask as they'd need to go 6-0-1 over the next 7.
An interesting part of all this is that Connor Bedard is the first number 1 drafted into the West since Connor McDavid. 7 years in a row number 1 has stayed in the East.
bone
5-14-6-1
I just caught that myself this morning. Arizona and Seattle don't play today or tomorrow so a win pushes us into at least a tie for the last wild card while owning the tiebreaker in terms of games played. They could also have the 2nd tiebreaker as well for Regulation Wins provided they win in regulation and St. Louis doesn't win in Regulation (Edmonton and St. Louis both have 16 right now, but St. Louis has 18 ROW vs. Edmonton's 17 for the third tiebreaker).
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The only difference between our points pace this year compared to other years is we didn't completely crater as hard early on. Typically we would start hot in October (sometimes in spite of ourselves) before imploding in December/January necessitating a second half heater to pull back into a good position.
This season it took a major heater just to get us back to the point of past seasons where we would be pissed off due to the "toilet seat" nature of our October - January play. It's obviously not easy to basically go on a heater for the entirety of the back 75% of the season, but that's probably what we would have to do to end up in a similar points position at the end of the year to '21 and '22.
This season it took a major heater just to get us back to the point of past seasons where we would be pissed off due to the "toilet seat" nature of our October - January play. It's obviously not easy to basically go on a heater for the entirety of the back 75% of the season, but that's probably what we would have to do to end up in a similar points position at the end of the year to '21 and '22.
oil Leaks
The Ultimate Decoy
- Jul 5, 2011
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Gagner looks to be ready to go
Same lineup for tomorrow's game
bone
5-14-6-1
This is why these next 7-10 games are crucial. Every game is winnable in this stretch. If they can win 7 or 8 of them and push to overtime in the losses, they could reasonably be 26-17-2 at the All-Star Break. If that's the case, a record of 22-13-2 (a 102 point pace) post All-Star break gets them to 100 points and comfortably in the playoffs. Possibly even beyond a wild card spot.
bone
5-14-6-1
For fun, let's look at the Standing from a year ago today.
Look at Colorado. Basically the same position we are in right now two points out of the wild card with games in hand vs. all the teams they were chasing and as many as 5 games in hand vs. some teams.
They won their division being 11 points out of first at that point with 3 games in hand, Edmonton is currently 12 points out of first with 3 games in hand.
The bad part was that they lost the first round as injuries started to mount. This could become a really major concern for the Oilers playoff push if they play right to the end needing to win every game.
Look at Colorado. Basically the same position we are in right now two points out of the wild card with games in hand vs. all the teams they were chasing and as many as 5 games in hand vs. some teams.
They won their division being 11 points out of first at that point with 3 games in hand, Edmonton is currently 12 points out of first with 3 games in hand.
The bad part was that they lost the first round as injuries started to mount. This could become a really major concern for the Oilers playoff push if they play right to the end needing to win every game.
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Yup there's definitely some improvement.
- The Arena for sure
- The team is strong and that helps
Things that remain the same in my eyes.
- Drafting and development. They got rid of a lot of this department if I recall correctly. Hopefully the replacements are more adept. We have been and until I see otherwise remain bottom 3rd of the league in this aspect. They've gone through so many head scouts etc over the years and still have never really gained traction outside their top 10 picks. And they even botched one of them up. I acknowledge you can't hit a home run every year and after the first round expect a lot of strike outs. But WOOF this org swings and misses too often. This is what really scares me because I know McDavid can't play forever.
The good news is this is the most entertaining team to watch in the NHL so lets enjoy while we can. Hopefully they stay healthy.. I'll never understand wtf went on in October/November this year. I kind of think they don't either to be honest. I just can't accept the "well we didn't feel good about ourselves and lacked confidence." Bull shit imo.
bellagiobob
Registered User
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Wretched Oil
Right out of 'er
- Feb 19, 2008
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My dad is Ukrainian so I got us tickets because it's Ukrainian night.
Anyone know what that entails?
Anyone know what that entails?
Free bloody Russian dog tags.
Anthem sung by Ukrainian choir and various throws to in house announcer paying homage to Ukraine. I was going to be proudly wearing my FU PUTIN Team Ukraine national hockey jersey however I slipped on the ice and damaged my MCL a while back so I’m leg up for a few days before we fly to South America for 5 weeks on Monday.
Enjoy the game, should be a good one!
Beers same price but better selection I think, your in the middle section between the ledge and upper tables. Table service is great. I like to order Kraken and Coke! Enjoy no bathroom lines.
People were panicing because the Oilers were one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL, and inconsistent enough that missing the playoffs despite Mcdavid playing at a 150 point pace was a very real possibility if they didn't turn things around system wise. That's not even getting into the major roster issues like Campbell turning into a disaster, Kulak drowning in a second pairing role(after Murray predictably bombed), and they had several forwards getting force fed minutes while contributing nothing(hence the comment around the time from Woody that they would no longer prioritize "getting people going"). The season might have been comparable to previous seasons points wise, but there was a lot to be anxious about going forward at the 42 game mark before they got on track last year.
Not really too worried about the team this year though, the combination of Woody getting exposed and fired early along with the coaching bump brought by the more competent KK at the helm makes things feel a lot less uncertain despite the hole they are still in the process of digging themselves out of.
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bone
5-14-6-1
For sure. I guess most of what your saying is what I was getting at. We're set right now to possibly be in the best position in the McDavid era going into the all-star break if they don't blow a releatively soft 10 game schedule going into it.
JeffSkinner53
Registered User
Fourier
Registered User
I agree that these next 10 games are going to say a lot about where the team ends up. But I don't think that there schedule beyond that is all that tough. They have a fair number of softer games for pretty much the rest of the year.
Mennonite background which gets quite complex but my grandparents on my dad’s side emmigrated to Canada from a colony in eastern Ukraine in the early 20’s with the rise of Russian communists who hated us. They shot the eldest child of each family and said everyone had to leave the village or they’d all be shot the next day. They came to Canada as refugees after running 20 miles a night and sleeping in forests during the day. Got to hand it to the Russians. They know how to depopulate an area…
The village quickly fell into ruin since and the area has no doubt been pounded into dust as it’s essentially along the front lines today. My dad and I were going to visit there in 2020 but Covid followed by his sudden passing meant we didn’t and Putin means I probably never will.
My grandfather on my moms side came from Ukraine a bit earlier I think in the 1880’s and my grandmother came to Canada from a colony in Mexico.
So I love pyroghy and tacos!
haha Awesome combo.
Damn your family goes way way back! Sorry for the loss of your pops.
I was born in Poland, so that's all you need to know on how I feel about Russkis.
