Is McDavid the only difference between Buffalo and Edmonton's trajectory?

[LTIR]

Buffalo had

Eichel
Reinhart
Ristolainen
ROR
Montour

--trades---

Tuch, krebs, Greenway, Ostlund
Levi, Kulich
Rosen, Wahlberg
Thompson, Ryan Jonhson
Sardarian

Yes, BUF is OTT 2.0

 

[Hockeyholic]

Pretty much.

Sans McDavid, Edmonton would be on year 18 with no playoffs.

 

[34]

Game 7 of the SCF, not the first round like some teams

The other teams you speak of play in the Atlantic…the best division in the NHL. Not the house league Pacific. We don’t have the option of playing against Talbot and 3rd string goalies in the playoffs. We play Stanley Cup teams. FACTS

 

[Old Boys Club]

The other teams you speak of play in the Atlantic…the best division in the NHL. Not the house league Pacific. We don’t have the option of playing against Talbot and 3rd string goalies in the playoffs. We play Stanley Cup teams. FACTS

Honestly the Leafs would win the cup every year if they were not in the Atlantic. BUF, MTL, DET, OTT are better than LA and VAN, honestly probably better than the Oilers too. Basically every team in the Atlantic is top 8 in the league, then all the rest are below. Matthews would put up 200 goals playing against teams like Dallas, Colorado, LA, VAN on the regular. Joeseph Woll would have a .970 SV% and morgan reilly would win the Norris and the rest of the Leafs D would be the best too. And they'd definitely not go 1/22 on the pp in a playoff series and surely not score only 12 goals in a 7 game series. Mitch Marner wouldn't be a mental midget wimp if he were out of the Atlantic.

 

[34]

Honestly the Leafs would win the cup every year if they were not in the Atlantic. BUF, MTL, DET, OTT are better than LA and VAN, honestly probably better than the Oilers too. Basically every team in the Atlantic is top 8 in the league, then all the rest are below. Matthews would put up 200 goals playing against teams like Dallas, Colorado, LA, VAN on the regular. Joeseph Woll would have a .970 SV% and morgan reilly would win the Norris and the rest of the Leafs D would be the best too. And they'd definitely not go 1/22 on the pp in a playoff series and surely not score only 12 goals in a 7 game series.

You still mad ?

 

[Old Boys Club]

You still mad ?

Wish they could've taken game 7, but even making it that far after getting down 0-3 was a long shot. I'd say I'm slightly disappointed, as a 1 goal loss in game 7 is the slimmest of margins. I got to enjoy 3 excellent series and the SCF was a good watch even though they didn't win. Very entertaining for the bits I was able to tune into (had to pull big hours at work for most of the 3rd and 4th rounds).

 

[EichHart]

Saw a tweet yesterday that was so starkly accurate it hurt my soul.

Buffalo losing the lottery is why McDavid doesn’t have a cup.

Because they would have traded him to a great team by now like Eichel, RoR, Reinhart…

So true it actually hurts

 

[CowbellConray]

BUF traded their McDavid and Draisaitl for Tuch, Krebs, picks, Devon Levi and Jiri Kulich.
Both Reinhart and EIchel are now cup winners.

Eichel is a solid #1 center, but no superstar like McDavid

Reinhart is a piece that I think would have thrived playing with McDavid

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Buffalo is the better team. McDavid is the only reason the Oilers had any success whatsoever in the playoffs. Very middle of the pack average team at best.

Right....

That dude who wears #29 with 100 something points in 72 career games was never good in the playoffs...
That jewish guy who scored 69 total goals that your team let go is just a bum.
That defenseman who belongs in the ECHL according to this website and broke the all time assist by a dman in a playoff, another bum.

 

[Old Boys Club]

Right....

That dude who wears #29 with 100 something points in 72 career games was never good in the playoffs...
That jewish guy who scored 69 total goals that your team let go is just a bum.
That defenseman who belongs in the ECHL according to this website and broke the all time assist by a dman in a playoff, another bum.

This guy and Divine (RIP) live in an alternate universe when it comes to their takes on the Leafs (and Oilers).

 

[Turin]

Right....

That dude who wears #29 with 100 something points in 72 career games was never good in the playoffs...
That jewish guy who scored 69 total goals that your team let go is just a bum.
That defenseman who belongs in the ECHL according to this website and broke the all time assist by a dman in a playoff, another bum.

Also had the best PK in NHL history. If they didn't, they would have gotten swept - actually they probably would have lost to Dallas or Van without the PK being historically great.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Here's something to ponder. The Oilers interviewed Bill Zito around the time they fired/were firing/were considering firing Chiarelli, and instead shredded his resume and hired a ready-to-retire Ken Holland. After inheriting McDrai, which was more than Zito started with in Florida, Holland's Oilers only made the Finals once since 2018-19. Zito was hired by Florida a season later and his Florida team made the Finals a season earlier and not only made it back the next season but won the Stanley Cup.

Imagine if the Oilers hired Bill Zito instead of a washed-up Holland... and say what you will about how great signing Hyman was and the Ekholm trade, but the Nurse-Campbell contracts handcuffed the team. Warren Foegele and Dylan Holloway should not be two thirds of your second-line if you're planning to win a Stanley Cup. Darnell Nurse is not a top-four D-Man. He had one good, shortened year when the Oilers only played five other teams during the regular season because of COVID.

Skinner is a contentious topic, because while he did play great for the three games in which the Oilers came back, he was also a big reason why the team was in that rut to begin with (.868 for the first three games). He finished with a .901 after 23 games. That's not good, but at least it's not among the worst all-time like he was on pace for during much of the playoffs, and he did have some great games when it mattered. Still, was Skinner ready to be this team's starting netminder last postseason when we probably had a deeper team? Definitely not. But Holland hired an idiot like Woodcroft who wasn't much different than Tippet and he made the stupid decision to stubbornly keep Skinner in net and Nurse-Ceci as a tandem and that ruined last season for us.

Nevertheless, Holland is gone and the Oilers finally have good coaching. If this team buys out Campbell and finds an idiot to take the Nurse contract off their hands, they might actually be able to keep Bouch and Draisaitl, and get/keep the pieces they need for more trips to the finals.

 

[Old Boys Club]

Also had the best PK in NHL history. If they didn't, they would have gotten swept - actually they probably would have lost to Dallas or Van without the PK being historically great.

And I'm sure this is a negative somehow in your mind. Just like this site has twisted itself into thinking having a good PP and scoring lots of goals on it is somehow bad.

 

[Turin]

And I'm sure this is a negative somehow in your mind. Just like this site has twisted itself into thinking having a good PP and scoring lots of goals on it is somehow bad.

What?

 

[Old Boys Club]

What?

Oilers are PK merchants

 

[awegrzyn]

Don't let people make you believe the Oilers are only MCD and DRA. I went to game 7 and watched them very close, that team was better (despite what you read online) than Panthers last night. Tiny difference was maybe luck or goal tending, and insane team structure by Panthers after they went 2:1

The puck movement, the skating and overall hockey IQ is Stanley Cup worthy. I was blown away in person. If what people say would be true about McDavid, Toronto would have 8 cups now. Oilers should run this back until they get it. They have 4 more years.

 

[Turin]

Oilers are PK merchants

I’m saying the Oilers had more going on than just one or two guys this year

 

[Old Boys Club]

I’m saying the Oilers had more going on than just one or two guys this year

Ah fair. I genuinely can't tell on this site anymore, some commonly held opinions on the mainboard of this site are nonsensical and most posters are disingenuous.

 

[GOilers88]

McDavid and/or Dria >>>>>> any Forward(s) on the Sabres
That's the biggest difference.

The Oilers team itself isn't that impressive they put together an impressive season following the coaching change. You remove the 2 names from the Oilers and they're a non PO team.

To be fair, what does Colorado look like without MacK and Makar?

Florida without Barkov and Bob?

Tampa without Kucherov and Hedman?

Toronto without Matthews and Marner?

What did Pittsburgh look like if you removed Crosby and Malkin?

This is such a silly argument.

 

[StreetHawk]

McDavid and/or Dria >>>>>> any Forward(s) on the Sabres
That's the biggest difference.

The Oilers team itself isn't that impressive they put together an impressive season following the coaching change. You remove the 2 names from the Oilers and they're a non PO team.

I doubt if you swapped Reinhart and eichel for Leon and Connor that would have resulted in a cup run for Edm.

 

[eviohh26]

The other teams you speak of play in the Atlantic…the best division in the NHL. Not the house league Pacific. We don’t have the option of playing against Talbot and 3rd string goalies in the playoffs. We play Stanley Cup teams. FACTS

So what your saying is if you added the Leafs to the Pacific it would be even more a joke? Everyone and their grandma wants to play the Leafs in the 1st round. You could rest a few stars for the 2nd round.

 

[MessierThanThou]

So what your saying is if you added the Leafs to the Pacific it would be even more a joke? Everyone and their grandma wants to play the Leafs in the 1st round. You could rest a few stars for the 2nd round.

Say what you will about the Leafs in the playoffs, but there isn't a single team in the NHL that wants to play the Leafs at golf.

 

[Dr Salt]

Bit of a sidetrack but I think the effect of Jack Eichel being a Coyote is lost in this. The team was starting to trend up under Tocchet around the same time as Eichel's rise but lacked a superstar forward as Strome was a non-factor there and Eichel obviously was a major upgrade on Nick Schmaltz effectively. Would the Yotes become a contender in the league's weakest division and be saved from their doom?

 

[thewookie1]

While I disagree with the full premise of the OP; there is definitely something to the idea of Buffalo being far better with McDavid.

Tim Murray built the Sabres for McDavid, not Eichel. Evander Kane being the easiest proof of that since watching games from Eichel's time with Kane shows two players with very similar positioning approaches which tended to put them into weird situations where both were in the same part of the zone. Additionally Kane would tend to just shoot from distance for no discernable reason . The biggest part however was off the ice where Kane had influence with Eichel and Reinhart through Eichel for that manner. Kane's personality meshed well with Eichel's Boston boy upbringing whereas McDavid's good ole Canadian boy persona would of gravitated to ROR or even Gionta.

Bit of a sidetrack but I think the effect of Jack Eichel being a Coyote is lost in this. The team was starting to trend up under Tocchet around the same time as Eichel's rise but lacked a superstar forward as Strome was a non-factor there and Eichel obviously was a major upgrade on Nick Schmaltz effectively. Would the Yotes become a contender in the league's weakest division and be saved from their doom?

If I remember correctly, Eichel was rumored to stay in college if drafted by the Coyotes. Whether he would of carried through on his threat is another story altogether.

 

[TageGod]

I will admit those two would have gotten them into the playoffs, but this team, especially the depth, was managed awfully. Safe to say they would be all around worse still. Eichel and Rhino DID actually perform well here. No one else did.