Post-Game Talk: Oilers didn't get shut out vs. the BJs

[FlameChampion]

Neither is. Skinner is zero boxcars the last 6GP. I guess thats consistent in a way.

Team could view it as Arvid being better at give and go and cycle, unfortunately not the goal scoring..

Really I would try just about everything. Skinner should be getting better looks, but its reasonable to say that should be able to get anything done with Henrique as Center. Both being up to nothing doesn't speak well to any topnine plan.

Have to say I am surprised how ineffective Henrique has been. I was really happy he came back. But he’s been hit with the curse as well.

 

[Duke74]

I like Drai a lot and I know you know that. But McDavid is the straw that stirs this drink most nights, and Drai is the primary beneficiary of it. I dare say that without McDavid he's more of a point per game guy, around 80-85 points and the salary tops out at around 7 or 8. Saying that, McDavid certainly plays well with Drai, but you can put him with almost anyone and they'll produce. Pat Maroon and Alex Chiasson are 2 guys that would verify that.

I tend to agree with some of what you have said. I think that there were a few years, probably around 2019-2022, where Draisaitl was very productive without McDavid, when he could still put up points with Chiasson, Rieder, Kahun, Yamamoto and other scrubs at 5x5. Since that time, I think he's regressed into a guy that's become more dependent on McDavid and less able to produce with garbage, which is what a $14 mil/year player should be able to do. I don't know if it's age, some chronic injury, lack of confidence, complacency, or just a mental block, but I haven't seen the Hart-trophy winning Draisaitl for 2-3 years now. I'd love if he could return to that form, especially if McDavid misses any length of time.

 

[Gnome17]

Anyone else frustrated watching knoblach interviews. So monotone. No real emotion. Painful to watch. One of these days we are gonna get us a passionate coach with emotion

I wouldnt be shocked if atleast the thought of his old buddy Quenneville has crossed Bowmans mind.
If they keep sucking, watch out.

 

[Oilhawks]

Have to say I am surprised how ineffective Henrique has been. I was really happy he came back. But he’s been hit with the curse as well.

I wonder if they move him up to the 2C for now. I think it would be the right call. Give him some more talent and minutes to work with and I think we see his production increase. Could be wrong, but don't think he's ever been playing bottom 6 minutes until they traded for him

 

[K1984]

I wonder if they move him up to the 2C for now. I think it would be the right call. Give him some more talent and minutes to work with and I think we see his production increase. Could be wrong, but don't think he's even been playing bottom 6 minutes until they traded for him

Not to absolve Henrique's play because it hasn't been good enough, but I think a lot of the problems have stemmed from his two wingers play.

Brown is a few steps behind where he finished last year, kind of in concert with the rest of the forward group. Janmark on the other hand is miles behind where he finished last year, and he was the big pace driver on that line during the playoffs.

 

[Arpeggio]

I wonder if they move him up to the 2C for now. I think it would be the right call. Give him some more talent and minutes to work with and I think we see his production increase. Could be wrong, but don't think he's even been playing bottom 6 minutes until they traded for him

A line of Skinner - Henrique - Brown should be able to generate something. It's so frustrating. Henrique has been bad all year.

I think they should just run Henrique in McDavid's spot, see if he can produce with your best wingers.

 

[Oilhawks]

A line of Skinner - Henrique - Brown should be able to generate something. It's so frustrating. Henrique has been bad all year.

I think they should just run Henrique in McDavid's spot, see if he can produce with your best wingers.

I agree with @K1984, it's more the wingers than Henrique at the moment, IMO. To be fair, aside from the 2nd line unit, there weren't really any lines generating anything

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not to absolve Henrique's play because it hasn't been good enough, but I think a lot of the problems have stemmed from his two wingers play.

Brown is a few steps behind where he finished last year, kind of in concert with the rest of the forward group. Janmark on the other hand is miles behind where he finished last year, and he was the big pace driver on that line during the playoffs.

He's had Skinner for multiple games now. there is zero excuse for two vet players that are offensive players to not get a single thing done dropped into a third line against weaker opposition. Really this year it doesn't seem to matter who Henrique is playing with

 

[Zerotonine]

I wouldnt be shocked if atleast the thought of his old buddy Quenneville has crossed Bowmans mind.
If they keep sucking, watch out.

Qeuinville not happening let alone coaching change, this year anyways

 

[McDNicks17]

I think the biggest issue with Henrique is his usage. He's seeing some tough minutes because the top two lines are always given the offensive push. Like he's got a 15% ozone start vs. elite comp this year.

That and he has decent middle comp metrics, but then he's got a .700 onSV% when he's out there for that. Tough to get anything going when your goalie can't even make four saves without letting in a goal.

 

[ottawah]

I still don't see this. Ceci, Broberg and Desharnais were really that good? Ceci was rightfully a whipping boy his last two seasons here, Desharnais was press-boxed in the playoffs (and healthy scratched early with the Nucks) and Broberg didn't even play 90% of the games. Or are you referring to the team defense? If so, Foegele, Holloway and McLeod (the best defensively of the three but humiliated in the playoffs) made such a big difference in the defensive play of the team? Doubtful

This is on the forwards not giving a shit about the system and goaltending, full stop. You could put all three of those D back on this team and they'd have a similar record. The D being "bad" because they lost the 3 least impactful D from the team last year is a distraction, all due respect. It's flabbergasting to see so much digital ink spilled on it being the primary issue with the team.

It is a big issue. Complain on Ceci all you want, there is a reason he has been a #2/#3 D man most of his career, and very good GA/60 numbers to back that up. Dehairnais was not exactly great against the real high end competition (we saw that as the playoffs progressed), but he was a good defender and PKer in the regular season and only petered out at the end. If Broberg had not been so rested, Dehairnais would have been back in.

But its the little things. When you lose players that make small contributions in critical areas (team speed, defending, physicality) other players have to compensate for those new weaknesses, taking them out of the game they were playing last year. Nurse, as bad as he was last year now has to play with a guy on the waiver wire one year ago and a PTO player instead of a guy with a proven defensive track record? That puts more pressure on the third pairing when the shutdown pair falters badly, which is also downgraded, then causing the first pairing to try and do to much as the other pairs falter. That is not a recipe for success. For all the complaints on Foegle and McLoed (and even Holloway), that extra speed on the fore or back check can cause other teams to have to make decisions quicker, resulting is less than optimal plays.

The team is out of whack trying to figure out how to deal with those losses. They may seem unimportant, but the sheer number of them adds up. Yes, they are losing by larger numbers than those players mean, but a lot of that has seemed to be "giving up" after a bit of adversity. They won last year not by blowing people away with scoring, but by their defensive play and thats taken a major hit and the result is players are trying to compensate in areas they are just not good at.

for years the lament was on the weakness of D and the 3rd and 4th lines. no surprise when they take a hit, we are back to where we were 5 years ago ....

 

[Arpeggio]

I agree with @K1984, it's more the wingers than Henrique at the moment, IMO. To be fair, aside from the 2nd line unit, there weren't really any lines generating anything

All of Janmark, Henrique, Brown, Skinner, and Arvidsson have to get their collective heads out of their collective asses. I can't argue there.

 

[Spawn]

Have to say I am surprised how ineffective Henrique has been. I was really happy he came back. But he’s been hit with the curse as well.

Henrique to me looks exactly the same he did his entire time last season outside of the little stretch in the final round.

He’s ill equipped to be a 3rd liner with two waste of space players like Janmark and Brown. He doesn’t play with any pace and is sort of mediocre defensively.

I think he can have value here but I think he should be playing on the wing in the top 6 with one of Draisaitl (or McDavid once he’s healthy).

 

[K1984]

All of Janmark, Henrique, Brown, Skinner, and Arvidsson have to get their collective heads out of their collective asses. I can't argue there.

Add RNH, Hyman, Ryan, and Podkolzin to that list. Hell, add the whole forward roster.

Leon's been playing better lately, so I'll give him at least a temporary reprieve from this list. Perry is limited, but he's been doing whatever little things he can to contribute, so I won't list him here either.

Two. We currently have two forwards that can possibly be described as not an embarrassment, and even then that's a bit of a stretch.

 

[Arpeggio]

Add RNH, Hyman, Ryan, and Podkolzin to that list. Hell, add the whole forward roster.

Leon's been playing better lately, so I'll give him at least a temporary reprieve from this list. Perry is limited, but he's been doing whatever little things he can to contribute, so I won't list him here either.

Two. We currently have two forwards that can possibly be described as not an embarrassment, and even then that's a bit of a stretch.

No argument there. Skinner and Arvidsson both need to be contributing at a 40-50 point pace, and obviously Nuge and Hyman need to bring more, in order for the team to have any success this year. At least Skinner, Arvidsson, and Hyman make a few plays in the offensive zone. Would love to see an individual effort from Nuge at some point here.

 

[Stoneman89]

Arvidsson skates hard and competes hard, but contributes next to nothing offensively. Which isn't necessarily terrible if you're a 4th liner. But he gets top 6 minutes, and is on the 2nd PP unit for the limited time that they get. And there's also the little thing of taking up 4 million in cap room, but what's worse, if this crap continues, we have him for next year as well at the same terms. Good times.

 

[McDNicks17]

Henrique to me looks exactly the same he did his entire time last season outside of the little stretch in the final round.

He’s ill equipped to be a 3rd liner with two waste of space players like Janmark and Brown. He doesn’t play with any pace and is sort of mediocre defensively.

I think he can have value here but I think he should be playing on the wing in the top 6 with one of Draisaitl (or McDavid once he’s healthy).

I'd like to see Henrique on Drai's wing with Arvidsson or something and actually give them some D zone starts.

I'm so tired of seeing McDrai getting the diva treatment. You see a guy like Kucherov go out there against tough comp with tough D zone starts and he still dominates and makes things so much easier for the rest of the team. McDrai have the ability to do that too.

We'll probably never see any mojo from a bottom six that's just sent out there to kill some time in a defensive situation and let the top6 catch their breath for the next offensive one.

 

[booyakasha]

@McTonyBrar @booyakasha how was your buddy Nurse last nite?

That first goal he sets up behind the net, looks off 2x open passes. Calls everyone back then just rifles it, as per usual, for a needless stretch pass that turns out to be the giveaway to the first goal.

That's at least 10x this year he has messed up that pass for a turnover. He can't even execute a pressure free zone exit.

How on earth anyone defends him at this point is unbelievable.

pretty bad, ....not quite bouchard bad, he took the cake last night.
but the whole team were pretty putrid.

 

[McBeastMode]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851077419739885811

 

[McFlash97]

Arvidsson literally shoots aiming at the goalies chest or pads. There is no aim to his shot. You can't play a guy who can't pick corners with Draisaitl man.

That's just dumb.

 

[Heavy Dee]

He's had Skinner for multiple games now. there is zero excuse for two vet players that are offensive players to not get a single thing done dropped into a third line against weaker opposition. Really this year it doesn't seem to matter who Henrique is playing with

He is the worst xGF forward on the team. Stuns me that this guy gets the benefit of the doubt that he does.

 

[guymez]

Add RNH, Hyman, Ryan, and Podkolzin to that list. Hell, add the whole forward roster.

Leon's been playing better lately, so I'll give him at least a temporary reprieve from this list. Perry is limited, but he's been doing whatever little things he can to contribute, so I won't list him here either.

Two. We currently have two forwards that can possibly be described as not an embarrassment, and even then that's a bit of a stretch.

Hyman hasnt scored but if there is a forward that puts as much effort into back checking as Hyman does then I havent seen it.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Arvidsson literally shoots aiming at the goalies chest or pads. There is no aim to his shot. You can't play a guy who can't pick corners with Draisaitl man.

That's just dumb.

Sometimes looks like shooting not to score. Not sure what it is but Arvid has had this habit before. The other thing is at this point in career goals aren't coming from his shot. If unscreened goalies are getting it. He's shooting from range where he's extremely unlikely to score, and he's not strong enough anymore to get some close in stuff, he's just getting ragdolled. Arvid right now is the posterboy corsishots player. His shots are doing nothing, not even getting rebounds.
At least we're good at faceoffs as we usually get the freezed puck back.

This is a creative player that can make plays and passes in tight but theres aspects of his game that are diminished, this was known. He's not worth the money we're paying.

That said he played two competent games with Draisaitl and at least theres that.

 

[Jumptheshark]

when do we get an update on McDavid?

 

[nexttothemoon]

Have to say I am surprised how ineffective Henrique has been. I was really happy he came back. But he’s been hit with the curse as well.

Bottom 6 has stone hands syndrome.. an aging Perry/Ryan... Podz who hasn't scored a goal in YEARS... Janmark and Brown are famous for having one amazing goal every 15 games and then going AWOL on offence for huge stretches.

Everyone could see Henrique would have his production reduced by spending time in the bottom 6 and sure enough it's happening.

You'd have to count on Skinner & Arvidsson getting 80+ goals between them because that's how many goals were removed from the lineup when you count all the outgoing players plus Kane out and the inevitable regression from Hyman down to human levels again from the superhuman 54 he scored.

I'm not surprised at all by the low chemistry this team has had with the high roster turnover and the offence sputtering is something I certainly expected especially initially... but even I didn't think they'd be DFL in the league in offense.

When you can't outscore the San Jose Sharks who are an ECHL level team... there's definitely something deeply wrong with the chemistry/gelling/vigor of this lineup.

Not enough give-a-shit for each other in the lineup... not enough actual effort expended on creating offense. Too much complacency... thinking teams are going to roll over and let the Oilers score at will based on their reputation rather than realizing they need even more effort and drive this year to accomplish anything near to what they did last year because every team plays up to near 100% when they play the Oilers.

It's a badge of honor beating the team that is "supposed" to be the #1 contender for the cup this year... and so far most teams are finding it rather easy to stay competitive with this team of complacent, underprepared, overconfident players who haven't yet realized they'll have to do MORE than they did last year to make the playoffs... not less.