Player Discussion McDavid

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Well guys let's stay Positive and see what happens tonight. The only question here is will McDavid will his team to victory or will he grip his stick and be neutralized like last year in game 7?

Great opportunity for McDavid to show what he is made of. Let's get it!

McDavid wasn't good enough. Go ahead and shit on me, but I'm not wrong.

He simply was not good enough. Sad day friends.

 

[bellagiobob]

McDavid wasn't good enough. Go ahead and shit on me, but I'm not wrong.

He simply was not good enough. Sad day friends.

Anton Lundell was better than him this series. And he plays on their third line. Two straight below par finals, especially in FLA. Love the guy, but he simply wasn’t even close to good enough, at either end of the ice.

 

[McJadeddog]

People over react to losing.

Let’s blowup a team that’s been in back to back cup finals. Makes sense.

Job 1 - find a starting goalie.

The rest is pretty easy to sort out to be honest.

It starts with tending for certain. But it can’t end there. Nurse needs to go if we can find somebody dumb enough to take him. And almost our entire forward unit outside McDrai need to be redone

 

[Satoru Gojo]

I always felt that he looked off all season

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I always felt that he looked off all season

I hope he gets the rest and recovery he needs this off season

 

[Shizuka]

I always felt that he looked off all season

I think it's just a general decline overall in the player. Crazy to say that but he has not looked the same for a couple of seasons now, I don't know what it is. Concerning. Also, I wonder what the toll of losing two cup finals in a row will be, how his outlook will change on re-signing. He took a bit of a discount to re-up last time... no way he does that again I think. Or even to pontificate about him possibly considering riding it out and signing elsewhere.. that would literally kill the franchise. Hard to see with his best buddy re-signing but you just never know.

 

[onetweasy]

It starts with tending for certain. But it can’t end there. Nurse needs to go if we can find somebody dumb enough to take him. And almost our entire forward unit outside McDrai need to be redone

Get rid of Nurse….i can only dream.

Forward group has some players. Just need to cut the dead weight and find a pro scout that can actually find useful vets.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Legacy defining series and he was outdone by a number of players on Florida.

 

[McShogun99]

Just completely shutdown after game 2 but it’s more on horrible defensive play by the team and goaltending that lost us the series. Skinner doesn’t let in a few stinkers in game 2 and it’s a different series.

 

[fuswald]

His style doesn't fit with bump and grind.
He makes space and goes like the wind but not with defenders continually interfering. Finals have an insane amount of interfering right on the limit of penalty.

Needs to change his style a bit I think. Prepare for declining years. His skills are far above everyone else so will continue to be the best.

My favorite player ever.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

McDavid wasn't good enough. Go ahead and shit on me, but I'm not wrong.

He simply was not good enough. Sad day friends.

He is too counted on. As great as he is he is one player. I would not blame him for this.

 

[russ99]

IMO Connor never looked the same after Four Nations, other than a few flashes of brilliance, and add in two years of playing mostly a full slate of regular season games and to the limit of playoff competition, he’s gotta be really physically run down.

He’s going to be 30 soon, the days of playing him crazy minutes every night and that McDrai monstrosity that sacrifices out stars’ endurance and limits other players’ ice time to try and find a cheap goal need to go away. He averaged 22 minutes a night in the regular season and 24 in the playoffs, that’s an unacceptable burden. To compare, Sam Bennett played 17 minutes a night both regular season and playoffs.

Would be smart to put him on a minutes limit early next season, but unfortunately our coach who’s made tons of mistakes this year will probably be coaching for his job.

 

[mjd1001]

I think it's just a general decline overall in the player. Crazy to say that but he has not looked the same for a couple of seasons now, I don't know what it is. Concerning. Also, I wonder what the toll of losing two cup finals in a row will be, how his outlook will change on re-signing. He took a bit of a discount to re-up last time... no way he does that again I think. Or even to pontificate about him possibly considering riding it out and signing elsewhere.. that would literally kill the franchise. Hard to see with his best buddy re-signing but you just never know.

He's 28. He's going to be 29 at the end of next season. Statistically I think there is a chart out there that shows high end forwards have their peak seasons 'on average' at age 24-26.

That doesn't mean he isn't still great. That doesn't mean he can't have another MVP season or scoring title, but in many (MOST) cases you get the very best, at least offensively out of fowards BEFORE the age of 28. He's past that now.

 

[Canovin]

Take the off-season and do some soul searching. Either ask for a trade and get the bag on another team or take a considerable discount to win the cup with the Oilers. I don't see the Oilers winning the cup with him making 16M+ and no urgency Bouchard making 10M+

 

[redgrant]

Take the off-season and do some soul searching. Either ask for a trade and get the bag on another team or take a considerable discount to win the cup with the Oilers. I don't see the Oilers winning the cup with him making 16M+ and no urgency Bouchard making 10M+

He's not asking for a trade. It would be a massive betrayal of Leon who resigned here.

This is a guy too polite to tell Chiarelli to f*** off when he asks if it's okay to sign Brandon Manning.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

He's 28. He's going to be 29 at the end of next season. Statistically I think there is a chart out there that shows high end forwards have their peak seasons 'on average' at age 24-26.

That doesn't mean he isn't still great. That doesn't mean he can't have another MVP season or scoring title, but in many (MOST) cases you get the very best, at least offensively out of fowards BEFORE the age of 28. He's past that now.

Everyone declines or peaks at a different age. I think he's declined a significant amount. 2 rougher seasons. It's only going down from here

 

[jitterbug]

Everyone declines or peaks at a different age. I think he's declined a significant amount. 2 rougher seasons. It's only going down from here

he literally broke a record last playoffs, how's that a "significant amount"?

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Take the off-season and do some soul searching. Either ask for a trade and get the bag on another team or take a considerable discount to win the cup with the Oilers. I don't see the Oilers winning the cup with him making 16M+ and no urgency Bouchard making 10M+

You mean "top 10 easily" Bouchard? I agree Davo won't win. This was last chance unless Nurse was bought out or something crazy happens

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

he literally broke a record last playoffs, how's that a "significant amount"?

I'm over the "stats" he was a PP merchant/assist king last playoffs. His overall play has declined.
Still a great player, but just not what he once was.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

If he didn't have a significant injury I would be pretty concerned about his play.

 

[MessierThanThou]

He's 28. He's going to be 29 at the end of next season. Statistically I think there is a chart out there that shows high end forwards have their peak seasons 'on average' at age 24-26.

That doesn't mean he isn't still great. That doesn't mean he can't have another MVP season or scoring title, but in many (MOST) cases you get the very best, at least offensively out of fowards BEFORE the age of 28. He's past that now.

We just saw MacKinnon and Kucherov hit their peaks past that age range.

That said, he does look like he's lost a step. He needs to heal whatever is ailing him, even if it means he misses the start of the season.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

We just saw MacKinnon and Kucherov hit their peaks past that age range.

That said, he does look like he's lost a step. He needs to heal whatever is ailing him, even if it means he misses the start of the season.

This is critical. No wedding to deal with this summer either so hopefully he can return healthy and better than ever.

 

[TB12]

This is critical. No wedding to deal with this summer either so hopefully he can return healthy and better than ever.

Unfortunately it's Drai's turn to have to deal with a wedding. Hopefully Celeste plans it all and he can just rest and train.

 

[Richard]

Realistically, the Oilers are OLD and getting older. They have to make major moves - trade Kane, Nurse, Arvidsson, Skinner.

This has to be a major overhaul offseason because TIME is RUNNING out for this core. Honestly, trade Nugent-Hopkins as well. Shake it up. Time to make moves, even if you are behind this year a bit.

As an outsider, this team looked considerably weaker than last year and you only have McDavid, Bouch and Drai to thank for how close to a cup they finished. A quality 3rd line and a keeper probably wins you two cups in a row.

​

 

[McJadeddog]

You mean "top 10 easily" Bouchard? I agree Davo won't win. This was last chance unless Nurse was bought out or something crazy happens

Yeah this was very likely our last appearance in the finals in the McDrai era. There is a slight chance again next year, but it gets worse every year on from now on, due to age of the team. Time is an unrelenting bastard and remains undefeated after all.

The only way we get back to the finals in McDavid's next contract so 2027+ is if he takes an exceptionally friendly contract (like $2-4 M or something like that) for a few years, allowing the team to buy another high end player or two with the $12 M in savings compared to what the market would dictate his contract to be ($16-ish I would think). He won't do this of course, but the second he signs his next big contract is the second he only has 1 more shot at the cup, which will be next year.

I've said this lots on here, and people just don't seem to understand it, but if McDavid really, and I mean REALLY, only cares about winning a cup. He can't sign anything approaching a "fair market" deal with any team, Oilers or otherwise. It is a cap league, and teams with cap-friendly deals win cups (tax advantaged states say hi!). McDavid has already made ~$160 M USD in his career, when you include endorsements (or roughly $220 M CAD). He makes about $5 M USD/year in endorsements, so even if he never makes another dollar in contract money, and he plays for another 10 years, he'll have made about ~$210 M USD by the time his career is over. He will also continue to make some endorsement money after he retires, or can pick the hockey job he wants after to a degree. He already has generational wealth. Even if he signed a ridiculous 8 year team friendly deal for $2 M USD/year, his earnings jump to ~$226 M USD, $4 M/year would be $242 M, etc. You can do the math.

He doesn't need the money, not even a little bit. If he REALLY cares about winning a cup, he would sign with a team for 2, maybe 3, years at a very low cap hit to take a few more runs at a cup in his prime years. That would take him to 32-33 years old, and he can still sign a retirement deal for big money after that. He would "only" be giving up $30-40 M in this circumstance, which is a crazy sentence to type out, lol, but at the end of the day, if he wants to win, this is what it will take. In this scenario, he would end up making roughly ~$240-260 M USD in his career, depending on that retirement deal amount. If I was his father, and after talking to him he told me he really only cared about winning, this is what I would tell him to do. I'm old, and I'm a lot more well off than I used to be, and the older I get and the more money I have, the more I realize that money doesn't matter after a certain level.