Post-Game Talk: Oilers lose 2-1

[Bryanbryoil]

All you can do is hope this is just preseason mode, and he will flick the switch. Every interview I've seen from Hall lately he talks about how this season he's really going to focus on being a good 2-way player blah blah. He sure knows what to say, but so far it seems to be the opposite when he's out there. Again, I hope he can flick the switch.

Do you honestly think that Hall is giving it his all right now?

 

[Insta]

Do you honestly think that Hall is giving it his all right now?

What I've seen from Hall this preseason is what's been typical of his career so far. Tries hard and can be a beast when attacking in the offensive zone, but is often lazy, lost or cheating defensively.

 

[Arpeggio]

He's why they lost this one. Which should be happening very rarely in the case of a franchise player.

heres the deal. Hall *****ed out yak again last night in the first period. Not sure what it was about. Eakins promptly pulls Yak from the topline, benches him for awhile and Hall goes on to have one of the worst games of the entire exhibition season.

the optics of that are just terrible.

Leadership isn't telling others off, its leading by example so that you have on ice credibility. Which Hall doesn't have much of in own zone and never has.

I can tell you why he may have yelled at Yak. Because Yak had no idea where the hell he was supposed to be on the ice. On a PP breakout, after Nugent-Hopkins and Hall had swung around to the left side, Yak also swung around to the left side, leaving every forward on the ice on the same side of the ice. Later, when Hall tried to break into the zone and throw it across the ice to the open wing, Yak came charging into the zone in front of Hall and knocked the puck back into the neutral zone. Not to mention that Yak stopped moving his feet on entries several times, stopping at the opposition blue line and making himself completely unavailable for a pass.

As far as I can tell, Hall has only been getting on Yak for not doing what he's supposed to do in the offensive zone.

And the optics are not terrible. You don't bench a guy who scores as much as Hall does for making a mistake defensively. BTW, you referenced Ovechkin earlier in this thread as a guy who breaks down defensively all the time. Guess what? He's a franchise player too.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

What I've seen from Hall this preseason is what's been typical of his career so far. Tries hard and can be a beast when attacking in the offensive zone, but is often lazy, lost or cheating defensively.

Meanwhile in my eyes it looks like he has another gear or two that he's saving for when the games matter. I guess we'll see soon enough which observation looks to be the case.

 

[Canovin]

I can tell you why he may have yelled at Yak. Because Yak had no idea where the hell he was supposed to be on the ice. On a PP breakout, after Nugent-Hopkins and Hall had swung around to the left side, Yak also swung around to the left side, leaving every forward on the ice on the same side of the ice. Later, when Hall tried to break into the zone and throw it across the ice to the open wing, Yak came charging into the zone in front of Hall and knocked the puck back into the neutral zone. Not to mention that Yak stopped moving his feet on entries several times, stopping at the opposition blue line and making himself completely unavailable for a pass.

As far as I can tell, Hall has only been getting on Yak for not doing what he's supposed to do in the offensive zone.

And the optics are not terrible. You don't bench a guy who scores as much as Hall does for making a mistake defensively. BTW, you referenced Ovechkin earlier in this thread as a guy who breaks down defensively all the time. Guess what? He's a franchise player too.

I get the frustration, but why yell at your own teammates? I know Yak had a bad game last night but Hall had an even worse game. Trying to go through 3 NHLers every time. So for Hall to act that way is unwarranted.

 

[CanadianSuperPromise]

Hall has always needed around 5-10 games in the beginning of the regular season to get back into his groove. Who cares how he does in the preseason, it's only worthwhile to judged his play around five games into the season, then only can you determine if there's reason for alarm.

 

[488fitter]

2 plays where Hall looks hopeless. The second was him coming back into ownzone in Ovechkin non functioning controller mode...somebody explain that one.

At least it wasn't playoffs. Not like we're likely to see any.

Funny thing is these are exactly the type of plays Hall would blow his gasket on if Yak was doing it..

We gotta problem here folks.

You're picking apart a couple gaffs in the preseason that are far outweighed by his much improved defensive play. He was a beast in the previous games, any mention from you on those plays? Probably not. He has work to do, no doubt, but you're getting hung up on a simple breakdown. It's just magnified and easy to latch on to because multiple personnel ****ed up. Love the no playoffs comment by the way.

 

[Replacement*]

Meanwhile in my eyes it looks like he has another gear or two that he's saving for when the games matter. I guess we'll see soon enough which observation looks to be the case.

Eberle and Hall have consistently awful EVGA/60mins records. This is nothing new. Apparently we don't expect any better of them because they produce. Even though they're still minus players and bleed GA.

We have 3 of the best players on our hockey club usually on one line and they don't even hold their own..

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

I'm gonna have to avoid this cesspool when the season starts.

Imagine when we lose a game in regular season. That's scary. This place will be even more insufferable. Which I didn't think was possible.

 

[TheRebuild]

You think it's doom and gloom now... wait until we lose a game in the playoffs.

 

[Replacement*]

I'm gonna have to avoid this cesspool when the season starts.

Imagine when we lose a game in regular season. That's scary. This place will be even more insufferable. Which I didn't think was possible.

But we're glad for your ray of sunshine Tad. Without which I don't know what we'd all do. Hows your weekend going Tad?

 

[Soundwave]

What I've seen from Hall this preseason is what's been typical of his career so far. Tries hard and can be a beast when attacking in the offensive zone, but is often lazy, lost or cheating defensively.

lol, Hall is the last problem this team has.

He's basically a vet now, vets don't give a **** about pre-season other than getting back into shape. And they shouldn't really. Though Hall has never traditionally had a great pre-season, I remember his first pre-season where people were raving about how much better Paajarvi looked that maybe we could move Hall for help elsewhere

 

[Replacement*]

You're picking apart a couple gaffs in the preseason that are far outweighed by his much improved defensive play. He was a beast in the previous games, any mention from you on those plays? Probably not. He has work to do, no doubt, but you're getting hung up on a simple breakdown. It's just magnified and easy to latch on to because multiple personnel ****ed up. Love the no playoffs comment by the way.

I'm usually supportive of Hall. That said he's not beyond the criticism. Especially in a game where he chose again to go after a team mate. I think that as much as anything kind of rubs the wrong way. If you're going to get on a team mate don't proceed to have the worst game of any player on the team while being its franchise player.

We should expect better, we really should.

 

[Crobby]

I feel like we just got into a horrific car crash and are on life support at the hospital but we're complaining about the papercut on our pinky finger.

 

[488fitter]

I'm usually supportive of Hall. That said he's not beyond the criticism. Especially in a game where he chose again to go after a team mate. I think that as much as anything kind of rubs the wrong way. If you're going to get on a team mate don't proceed to have the worst game of any player on the team while being its franchise player.

We should expect better, we really should.

I see where you're coming from. Walk the walk. I just simply don't see at as a big issue at this point. There's tons of growth to be learned on a young team, and that goes with friendships too sometimes with strong personalities. When the winning starts, so will the loss of negative emotions.

 

[Soundwave]

Were like Hall and Eberle the only ones that showed up for Ryan Smyth's retirement press conference or whatever at the end of the year?

That told me a lot about these guys as Oilers. Hall's matured a lot in the last couple of years noticed it with his interviews lately.

Taylor Hall is the only great thing to happen to the Oilers since the first half of 2006, I mean that pretty much literally.

 

[Nunymare]

As many have probably said previously, Hall is probably playing now just to not get injured. I'm not too worried.

 

[GMofOilers]

We should trade Eberle and Hall for Gagner to make Replacement happy

 

[Pablo Aimar]

I'm gonna have to avoid this cesspool when the season starts.

Why not start avoiding it now? What sort of person willingly ventures into a "cesspool" when they don't have to?

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Were like Hall and Eberle the only ones that showed up for Ryan Smyth's retirement press conference or whatever at the end of the year?

That told me a lot about these guys as Oilers. Hall's matured a lot in the last couple of years noticed it with his interviews lately.

Taylor Hall is the only great thing to happen to the Oilers since the first half of 2006, I mean that pretty much literally.

The quality of Captain Ferrence is.. Is pretty great at least in the community. He isn't the best player but he does a lot for the team and organization, he was just misused as a player last year.

Perron was another great thing for the Oilers, we got him on a steal of a deal and he went on to give us a career year. Also seems like a character guy in the locker room.

Pouliot also seems like someone who can end up doing great for us if he pulls a Perron

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It's kinda funny (and predictable) that a pre-season loss gets the most discussion.

 

[guymez]

Because he's proven down low and on the halfwall to a lesser degree?

Based on what?

 

[Mcnofool6110]

You think it's doom and gloom now... wait until we lose a game in the playoffs.

What's playoffs?

Do you mean the draft?

 

[harpoon]

Context matters.

And by context you mean excuses, right?
Eakins is "new". Ramsay is "new". Hall, despite playing hockey all his life, doesn't know how to cover a man in his own zone. These guys are supposed to be pros. That's the context that matters. Guys don't get that wide open even in beer leagues.

I'm not at all bent out of shape that the Oilers lost a meaningless pre-season game. And I'm not down on Hall at all, but there's nothing wrong with people pointing out these comical errors that just keep on happening. Its gets a little tiresome that we can't discuss mistakes and failings (and god knows there have been plenty to discuss over the last seven seasons) without someone slamming every post they don't like.

Just the lemmings jumping of the bridge over and over and over.

Context means nothing to those people.

Like this one. No attempt whatsoever to discuss the game. Just more insults to board members. Ridiculous.

 

[harpoon]

They had Hall on the point? Is our coaching staff really THAT ****ing clueless? (Rhetorical question). That is beyond brutal.

Hey man, remember when they used to repeatedly use Gagner on the point?
As you know I'm a big fan of the player but even I could take off my homer glasses and see that that was a terrible way to utilize the player.

This team seems to have no clue how to deploy the assets they have. No point stockpiling draft picks if you have no clue as to when and where to play them.