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OEL being benched?

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That honestly sounds crazy but they've gotten this far I guess. I've seen OEL develop over the years and he's the only player I give a damn about in Phoenix, the guy is the hidden jewel of the NHL and one of the very best in the world, can match up with the best of them. Seems absolutely insane he's not playing more, but I guess, like I said it's working for them. Must be coincidence he's just having a poor tournament. I'm sure part of it is his relationship with the coach too though, probably goes in to the games feeling extra tentative.
 
top 4 swedish D-men right now:
Karlsson, OEL, Hedman, Brodin

# of them likely to see regular icetime against Canada: 1

Chances of Canada winning gold? Pretty good.
 
alphahelix said:
top 4 swedish D-men right now:
Karlsson, OEL, Hedman, Brodin

# of them likely to see regular icetime against Canada: 1

Chances of Canada winning gold? Pretty good.
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Hjalmarsson? He's very good defensively and that's the only thing that Brodin is good at.

And it's hard to hate on Sweden when Babcock isn't using Subban over Hamhuis or J-Bo ...
 
Pavels Dog said:
Didn't anyone watch OEL his first 2 games? Lots of blatant mistakes and bad turnovers. Looked like a rookie to be honest. Maybe he would have cleaned that up, maybe he would have been better next to someone other than Karlsson, but he had his chance and didn't grab it. Instead Edler got the opportunity and he has played well. Breaking up either of the two other working pairings in the hope that OEL will make something good into something great is just something you can't afford to risk when it's single elimination games.

OEL is not Lidstrom. He's a good young d-man who has very little experience playing in high-pressure situations. Benching him is not outrageous at all.
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I haven't watched a second of Sweden's games but this surprises me, the guy is normally a stud d. I guess you can't question the coach too much, he is undefeated and in the GMG.
 
Philly85 said:
That honestly sounds crazy but they've gotten this far I guess. I've seen OEL develop over the years and he's the only player I give a damn about in Phoenix, the guy is the hidden jewel of the NHL and one of the very best in the world, can match up with the best of them. Seems absolutely insane he's not playing more, but I guess, like I said it's working for them. Must be coincidence he's just having a poor tournament. I'm sure part of it is his relationship with the coach too though, probably goes in to the games feeling extra tentative.
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What relationship is that?
 
Hammer Time said:
Hjalmarsson? He's very good defensively and that's the only thing that Brodin is good at.

And it's hard to hate on Sweden when Babcock isn't using Subban over Hamhuis or J-Bo ...
Click to expand...

Those guys are all dog scraps compared to our top guys. No one can touch Doughty, Weber, Keith - from any country. Who cares who gets the couple extra minutes. While Sweden has 'good' defence, there are players who are not on the team who could be playing in their top pair.
 
deckercky said:
OEL benched for Oduya. It sounds crazy, but it's working, so can't really fault it.

Lots of teams try to use pre-existing chemistry but it often doesn't work (Kunitz this Olympics, and the Sharks line from 2010 stick out for me). In general, I say to go with the best players, and chemistry is just a bonus when the players are already the best. Seems to be working for Sweden though.
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There's plenty of examples of teams and lines with best individual players that fail completely. Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line was terrible because there was no chemistry. It's not about who are the best players, but what combination of lines and pairs are best. Most coaches understand this, hfboards posters don't.
 
Pavels Dog said:
Didn't anyone watch OEL his first 2 games? Lots of blatant mistakes and bad turnovers. Looked like a rookie to be honest.
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Who cares about those! Look how many points he has in the NHL and how young he is! And the potential, hfboards loves that.
 
Fergus said:
There's plenty of examples of teams and lines with best individual players that fail completely. Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line was terrible because there was no chemistry. It's not about who are the best players, but what combination of lines and pairs are best. Most coaches understand this, hfboards posters don't.
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I'm pretty sure that line actually had played together before and had great chemistry (or at least every combination of two players on the line has). That was a line that should have worked looking at past chemistry. That's just an example of things not working out in a short tournament.
 
alphahelix said:
top 4 swedish D-men right now:
Karlsson, OEL, Hedman, Brodin

# of them likely to see regular icetime against Canada: 1

Chances of Canada winning gold? Pretty good.
Click to expand...

Extrapolating is great.
What if Sweden wins with EK - Edler playing top minutes? Zomg Edler is great?
 
Brewsky said:
So I don't see OEL play much but see him hyped up so much on these boards.

Is OEL really just not that good?
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In this tournament he's basically been Erik Karlsson defensively except he hasn't put up half the points to warrant it.
 
In a short tournament when the guy starts off playing poorly is it really a surprise he gets benched? I like OEL, he's significantly better than Oduya, but that doesn't mean he's playing better in this tournament.
 
OEL for Tyler Kennedey while his value is still high:sarcasm:


Considering tommorow is going to be a likely defensive battle, I see why they'd go with Oduya for the shutout pair. But if it's against Russia, you better start OEL damnit
 
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