Post-Game Talk: Kostko is back en vogue

[Gordy Elbows]

So 15:31 is that like a career low for McDavid in a game?

I mean overall I'm rather shocked to see the difference between least played and most played up front was 3minutes. With the exclusion of McLeod who played like 4 minutes more than the next guy.

Seems that Woodcroft is testing the waters….reduced McD’s time but also paired him with Drai in the late stages of the game ( when scoring pressure wasn’t necessary). What’s up Woody?

 

[Arpeggio]

Seems that Woodcroft is testing the waters….reduced McD’s time but also paired him with Drai in the late stages of the game ( when scoring pressure wasn’t necessary). What’s up Woody?

I think the idea there was that both guys were basically sitting the whole third period, but you can't sit two full lines for an entire period. So put them together, and roll 9 forwards while they sit.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Seems that Woodcroft is testing the waters….reduced McD’s time but also paired him with Drai in the late stages of the game ( when scoring pressure wasn’t necessary). What’s up Woody?

You aren't serious with this are you?

The answers are self evident.

1. The win was Well in hand and the team they were playing sucks.

2. He needs those to as healthy and rested as possible, because they drive everything.

3. Together they can still have an impact in limited minutes, like doing everything but getting Kostin his Hattrick goal (still shocked he didn't get it)

4. Lets him use other players more in different situations to see other combos.


All that said, he was resting his 2 most valuable and used forwards because the Ducks were not winning that game after goal 2 from the Oilers.

 

[nally]

Yeah if anything I think this shows they're being used appropriately at 5v5. Same argument could be applied to the Ceci-Nurse pairing in most ghost but in reverse. If Nurse had a solid partner to slot into the line up that pushed everyone down I think you'd see big improvements on our D.

Agreed, but ideally you want someone better than Nurse. He as our number 1 isn't winning any championships

 

[joestevens29]

Agreed, but ideally you want someone better than Nurse. He as our number 1 isn't winning any championships

I think you can win with him as your #1 if you have the next 5 guys behind him actually playing better than where they are slotted.

I don't think we are going to find someone better than Nurse, so realistically like the past bunch of years that is what Holland has to do. Build up an above average group behind him.

 

[Drivesaitl]

As if scoring isn't a major part of winning especially on a team that traded away all their established scorers. He is going to be their Hemsky.

You mean a guy that overplays the puck, constantly turns it over and wasn't that much of a goal scorer? Hemsky didn't often have a whole lot to do with winning either. Aside from the odd game and the Detroit series. The only year he was here the team was any good was the Pronger year, and due to Pronger and others. When Hemsky left here, still young, he'd had multiple years of only producing around .5PPG here. Even with some PP time. Hemsky only ever had 4 higher production years. His high point after 2008-09 was 42 pts. He played another decade not getting good production yrs due to injury and severe decline in his play.

lol that people had this guy pegged as some kind of superstar at the time. Any team that has a Hemsky as the key player is going exactly nowhere.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Lol all those players are in a different stratosphere compared to Zegras.....

We have a half dozen players that are better producers than Zegras and we just shot holes in the ducks yet again and zegras when last seen wasn't even moving and people are pining for not having this player?

Man people get weird fixations with certain players. Also point out that the notion expressed by some that Zegras would get more pts here is unsubstantiated. In Duck farm every puck is thrown to Zegras because they have nobody else. So that Zegras gets the steady diet of pucks that he wouldn't on a good team. he gets all the quality minutes too that he wouldn't be getting in a lot of other places. A Zegras here would be on 2nd unit PP and not even in topsix here a lot of the time. He might get 40-50pts here and bring nothing else. Frankly I'd rather have a Kostin than a Zegras.

 

[russ99]

Really hoping the Oilers flip the script after that nice team game yesterday and not decide things are coming easy against the Sharks and stop working.

 

[russ99]

We have a half dozen players that are better producers than Zegras and we just shot holes in the ducks yet again and zegras when last seen wasn't even moving and people are pining for not having this player?

Man people get weird fixations with certain players. Also point out that the notion expressed by some that Zegras would get more pts here is unsubstantiated. In Duck farm every puck is thrown to Zegras because they have nobody else. So that Zegras gets the steady diet of pucks that he wouldn't on a good team. he gets all the quality minutes too that he wouldn't be getting in a lot of other places. A Zegras here would be on 2nd unit PP and not even in topsix here a lot of the time. He might get 40-50pts here and bring nothing else. Frankly I'd rather have a Kostin than a Zegras.

I maintain that you can look at every draft pick for every team save the obvious generational players and say “we shoulda picked that other guy”.

 

[Tw0Shoes]

We have a half dozen players that are better producers than Zegras and we just shot holes in the ducks yet again and zegras when last seen wasn't even moving and people are pining for not having this player?

Man people get weird fixations with certain players. Also point out that the notion expressed by some that Zegras would get more pts here is unsubstantiated. In Duck farm every puck is thrown to Zegras because they have nobody else. So that Zegras gets the steady diet of pucks that he wouldn't on a good team. he gets all the quality minutes too that he wouldn't be getting in a lot of other places. A Zegras here would be on 2nd unit PP and not even in topsix here a lot of the time. He might get 40-50pts here and bring nothing else. Frankly I'd rather have a Kostin than a Zegras.

Honestly, Zegras is American Linus Omark, but actually given playing time.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Nice win by the Oilers.

Kostin, Nuge and Janmark line was good.

McDavid was magic.

Nice debut by Descharnais.

Good game by Campbell.

Yamamoto was good.

Nice one timer by Holloway.

Bouchard made some plays.

Few gripes.

1) Holloway has a nice start and scores a goal. Games like 5-1. Woodcroft decides to go with McDrai? I just don’t understand honestly.

2) NHL reffing is a f*cking joke. Its so bad.

I think that was more about getting the other guys more ice time regarding the McDrai thing in the 3rd. By stacking McDrai but only playing them a total of 3 or 4 shifts in the 3rd it allowed everyone else more time on the ice.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Gibson is a good cautionary tale of why you can’t leave your goalie out to dry for too long. The Ducks have totally destroyed his career.

You spelt Eakins incorrectly here

He has a unique skill set. He can make good players average and average players poor, while at the same time driving away thousands of fans to find a new sport to watch. One of the best at it.

Yep still just a cheesy con man posing as a coach all these years later. Laughed so hard when Jack and Louis were discussing his pre game statements about continuing to push even when there is no hope

 

[WaitingForUser]

You mean a guy that overplays the puck, constantly turns it over and wasn't that much of a goal scorer? Hemsky didn't often have a whole lot to do with winning either. Aside from the odd game and the Detroit series. The only year he was here the team was any good was the Pronger year, and due to Pronger and others. When Hemsky left here, still young, he'd had multiple years of only producing around .5PPG here. Even with some PP time. Hemsky only ever had 4 higher production years. His high point after 2008-09 was 42 pts. He played another decade not getting good production yrs due to injury and severe decline in his play.

lol that people had this guy pegged as some kind of superstar at the time. Any team that has a Hemsky as the key player is going exactly nowhere.

Hemsky could have been a star or even a super star if he didn’t get destroyed by Regher and Boogard. Also he had no supporting cast at all. The one year he did and stayed off IR he had 76 points and the oilers went to the finals. Hemsky could have been much better but dirty hits derailed him on a constant basis. Still he was a fan favourite for many years and had success after leaving in both Ottawa and Dallas. Give the guy a bit of credit he always went hard into the corners and was never soft nor lazy just injury prone.

 

[joestevens29]

Hemsky could have been a star or even a super star if he didn’t get destroyed by Regher and Boogard. Also he had no supporting cast at all. The one year he did and stayed off IR he had 76 points and the oilers went to the finals. Hemsky could have been much better but dirty hits derailed him on a constant basis. Still he was a fan favourite for many years and had success after leaving in both Ottawa and Dallas. Give the guy a bit of credit he always went hard into the corners and was never soft nor lazy just injury prone.

I mean a lot of that was due to Pronger and a very good PP. Guy had 42 points on the PP, but at even strength he wasn't exactly putting up much if any more than Horcoff, Smyth and even Stoll.

Was a career year or close to it for many that year.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Hemsky could have been a star or even a super star if he didn’t get destroyed by Regher and Boogard. Also he had no supporting cast at all. The one year he did and stayed off IR he had 76 points and the oilers went to the finals. Hemsky could have been much better but dirty hits derailed him on a constant basis. Still he was a fan favourite for many years and had success after leaving in both Ottawa and Dallas. Give the guy a bit of credit he always went hard into the corners and was never soft nor lazy just injury prone.

Smyth and Horcoff were better all round players. That Regher wrecked him into the boards so often was due to Hemsky stubbornness to get to the puck first even though he wasn't coming out with it. Hemskys frame wasn't going to survive the manner in which he decided to play the game, and frankly Hemmer wasn't so good at evading hits anywhere on ice.

No way in hell Hemmer would have been a superstar anywhere in this league. Anybody that saw the Glory years Oilers wouldn't be suggesting Hemmer was a superstar. Really he wasn't even Esa Tikkanen level player.

 

[TB12]

I have a great Hemsky story (well I think it's great). So he's out with injury and having to rehab at the Glen Sather at U of A and they have him coming in at 6 am before the clinics open to the public. Well he misses one or 2 and the team starts to get on him for missing these sessions.

So his next one he leaves the bar, hops in a cab, tells the guy to drive to the Sather (it's like 3 am or so) and to just let him sleep in the backseat with the heat on and meter running and to wake him up for 6 am. Never missed another rehab session haha. Genius.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I mean a lot of that was due to Pronger and a very good PP. Guy had 42 points on the PP, but at even strength he wasn't exactly putting up much if any more than Horcoff, Smyth and even Stoll.

Was a career year or close to it for many that year.

The pronger bump was so evident. I mean Stoll was a 60pt player that one season. Torres got so many goals that season in reg season and playoffs.

 

[WaitingForUser]

I mean a lot of that was due to Pronger and a very good PP. Guy had 42 points on the PP, but at even strength he wasn't exactly putting up much if any more than Horcoff, Smyth and even Stoll.

Was a career year or close to it for many that year.

Stoll is another guy who’s career was completely destroyed by a dirty hit. The year after we made the finals the oilers sat 1st in NW at Christmas and he had 60 points playing between Hemsky and Torres/Sykora. He scored a goal against the ducks and in retaliation Sammy Phaullson drove him head first into the boards from behind. He suffered a major concussion and missed the rest of the season and half of the following year. This lead to major depression and his eventual coke addiction. He was tracking to be a number one center before that. Alas this mixed with Smyths knee injury and eventual trade caused the oilers to slip outa the race and lose 18 of the remaining 20 games after the deadline. Add in Pisani and his colitis issues and we never recovered.

 

[Drivesaitl]

If only, if only. Smyth took more punishment than Hemsky, Stoll etc combined and lived through it and scored way more goals and put up more production than any of those guys. Smyth for years being our top scorer always had the target on his back. Smyth spend about a dozen years in the league eating punishment and being a focal point of opponents. Hemsky was often enough getting open ice because teams were more interested in covering Smyth who was potting the lions share of goals.

 

[Stoneman89]

f***ing love this guy.
All hail the Klim Reaper!

Pretty funny when Louie said Kostin "appeared to have a pretty good grasp of English" based on lip reading what he said from the bench.

He's like Puljujarvi....with hockey ability. Love him on and off the ice. Somebody find him a nice Edmonton girl so he stays in town for...forever.

 

[joestevens29]

Pretty funny when Louie said Kostin "appeared to have a pretty good grasp of English" based on lip reading what he said from the bench.

Didn't he joke about knowing more bad stuff than good stuff in one of his interviews? Or something about learning the bad stuff first?

 

[WaitingForUser]

If only, if only. Smyth took more punishment than Hemsky, Stoll etc combined and lived through it and scored way more goals and put up more production than any of those guys. Smyth for years being our top scorer always had the target on his back. Smyth spend about a dozen years in the league eating punishment and being a focal point of opponents. Hemsky was often enough getting open ice because teams were more interested in covering Smyth who was potting the lions share of goals.

Smyth was an absolute warrior no doubt but I always defended Hemmer when people would call him soft and lazy. He really was neither or he would have had a much longer career like a Kovalev did for example by always playing on the perimeter. Hemsky bled copper and blue and went to the wall for this team for quite a few years.

 

[Stoneman89]

Smyth was an absolute warrior no doubt but I always defended Hemmer when people would call him soft and lazy. He really was neither or he would have had a much longer career like a Kovalev did for example by always playing on the perimeter. Hemsky bled copper and blue and went to the wall for this team for quite a few years.

Hemmer was never soft or lazy. He had excellent skating and talent, but never had that elite vision that all the best players have. My lasting impressions of him are skating round and round in the offensive zone, unable to find an opening or a teammate available, unwilling to shoot, until he either lost the puck or got drilled by an opponent waiting for him after a round or 2. He pretty much maxed out on what talent he had when he was here.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Hemmer was never soft or lazy. He had excellent skating and talent, but never had that elite vision that all the best players have. My lasting impressions of him are skating round and round in the offensive zone, unable to find an opening or a teammate available, unwilling to shoot, until he either lost the puck or got drilled by an opponent waiting for him after a round or 2. He pretty much maxed out on what talent he had when he was here.

See and I maintain if he had a better supporting cast he could have had a much better career. Like you said elite skating great puck handling and passing. His vision was upper class but no one was ever good enough to be where he needed them. Imagine a prime Hemsky on Drais right side

 

[DaGap]

Hemmer was never soft or lazy. He had excellent skating and talent, but never had that elite vision that all the best players have. My lasting impressions of him are skating round and round in the offensive zone, unable to find an opening or a teammate available, unwilling to shoot, until he either lost the puck or got drilled by an opponent waiting for him after a round or 2. He pretty much maxed out on what talent he had when he was here.

He did great with Guerin and Nedved (First time)