Oilers now 13-12-1: THE THREAD THAT'S FUN FOR EVERYONE

[Windy River]

That’s what he said initially and then pivoted when I mentioned players produced more with him. “Neutral zone assists” is one hell of an exaggeration and not even worth a rebuttal, all that says is you don’t watch oilers games.

There’s no ‘pivot’ there (and even so, alternate angles to support arguments exist). Of course guys put up more pts when on ice with McD. But they don’t improve as players. I am referring in particular to their play when not on ice with McD.

 

[Aphid]

No, according to Oilers fans Draisaitl would have has many points has he had with the Oilers on any other NHL team. McDavid has not contributed to a single Draisatl point and even if he did, Draisaitl would have scored anyway.

This is due to the hockey media (maybe just Canadian media?) pumping him up and their fans buying in to what they're selling. All of this because some mediocre retired goalie on some sports channel said on the TV he's the second best in the league.

I don't believe most fans on the end of this ridiculous praise are dumb. It's just hard not to fall for it if it's beaten in to people like it is. When/if Draisaitl leaves, they'll learn. Then there'll be threads started here labelled, "What's wrong with Draisaitl?".

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Because one guy is carrying majority of the load and makes his linemates have career years, regardless of who he's playing with.

Of course McDavid gets a bit of a bump too, but McDavid is easily the driving factor in Edmonton and he is responsible for most of their plays. There's not a single player in the NHL who has as much of an influence as him.

The biggest reason is the absurd powerplay opportunities and percentage of the Oilers. I've outlined it several times in different threads, but they get an insane amount of PP chances, largely because of McDavid. And the PP is highly efficient, largely because of McDavid. Now we remove McDavid from the team, what happens to the PP ? It takes a massive hit, thus dropping Draisaitls points.

Look at Draisaitls even strength scoring, over the last 4 years Marner has a better even strength goal per game statistic than him. He's an elite player that is a beneficiary of an insane PP being carried by McDavid. Not saying he isn't elite, but he gets his numbers inflated pretty significantly because of McDavid.

There is only 1 McDavid in the league, there are several guys who can be compared to Draisaitl and even better than Draisaitl IMO.

But you're still downplaying what Draisaitl's presence does for McDavid. On the PP, Draisaitl is absolutely lethal from that off wing spot at the right dot. He's money from that spot, so any time someone makes a pass to him in that spot it's almost guaranteed to go in. Remove Draisaitl from that spot and replace him with a random Joe and suddenly you're losing those extra goals.

McDavid creates a lot of opportunities, but the player he's passing to actually has to have an ability to bury the puck. McDavid making a pinpoint pass to the slot to Warren Foegele's not going to have the same success rate as that pass going to Draisaitl.

Not to mention Draisaitl's passing ability and ability to find McDavid in open space helps McDavid's speed game because he can dart into open ice and know Draisaitl's going to put the puck right on his stick, at the exact right time. You ever notice McDavid can get frustrated with Hyman sometimes when Hyman's holding onto the puck and can't get it to him? In those spots, Draisaitl can pinpoint the pass right to him.

Again, to be clear, this isn't saying McDavid is a product of Draisaitl or that McDavid wouldn't be the best player in hockey without him. It's pointing out that these "Draisaitl would drop 30 points without McDavid" also applies to McDavid without Draisaitl. McDavid's not scoring 150+ points last year if Draisaitl wasn't on the team and instead had to rely on Hyman/Kane for all his offensive support.

 

[OilersFanatics505]

2016 was glorious and we were in a cup final against the Canes on a glorious run in 2005. Last few years were very good and we probably have more playoff and series wins then most franchises. Eg. Avs won a cup and didn't make playoffs last year. Vegas won a cup and didn't make the playoffs the year before.

I get you want to dunk on us... but recently we've been good. 3 series wins in the last 2 playoffs. Playoffs 3 years in a row (4 if you want to count the covid playin thing or whatever that was.lol). That's better than most.


View attachment 766197

Last 3 seasons we are 8th in wins.

6th in playoff wins in the same frame

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Wins and playoff wins are just fluff when you don’t actually win anything.

 

[Czechboy]

Wins and playoff wins are just fluff when you don’t actually win anything.

So, last season, the Ducks (dead last in regular season) and Panther's (cup finalist) are all trash.

Got it. 31 way tie for loser.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

McDavid is playing at probably 10% health I'd say, he does not look good out there

 

[PainForShane]

That’s what he said initially and then pivoted when I mentioned players produced more with him. “Neutral zone assists” is one hell of an exaggeration and not even worth a rebuttal, all that says is you don’t watch oilers games.

Bro, you took a full quote of his, literally bolded the part that said "When (McD's linemates) aren’t on the ice with him picking up neutral zone assists they immediately regress to their norm" and then tried to summarize it by saying, "So in other words, they play better when they're on the ice with him."

That is clearly not what he said. He was making the argument that picking up cheap points playing w McD isn't a measure of actually becoming a better player, and this idea was expressed clearly. It's not a pivot if you never bothered or were unable to understand what he said in the first place.

This isn't a discussion worth having, and I am amazed you doubled down on this.

***

And for what it's worth, no I don't watch many Oilers games, I'm a Yotes fan, this is no secret. Also, there are dozens of us. Meanwhile part of me wonders how it's possible for someone to think your own inability to summarize an objectively clear POV has anything to do with whether anyone else watches or doesn't watch oilers games. smh

 

[blankall]

No, according to Oilers fans Draisaitl would have has many points has he had with the Oilers on any other NHL team. McDavid has not contributed to a single Draisatl point and even if he did, Draisaitl would have scored anyway.

That's strange as Draisaitl plays with McDavid on the most effective PP in history. Even when they aren't playing together, McDavid is occupying, or at least splitting, the attention of the opponent's top defenders.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Did you drive out to his house and take a pic just to defend McDavid's choice in real estate?
Its ok but certainly not spectacular and definitely not the view that one would expect a multi millionaire to have from his front door. To be honest, its rather meh.... as far as millionaire residences go. It also doesn't look that green for most of the time he's living there... which is the winter hockey season. The picture the other person posted is much more reflective of what McDavid sees every day that he's in Edmonton... and that my friend is rather depressing.

It looks like the house of someone who's barely at home, which I suspect is the case for an NHL player during the season.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

25% rate is shitty

It doesn’t take most teams four cracks at it.

Gimme that Celebrimbor kid and we’ll be fine.

 

[Coffey]

It doesn’t take most teams four cracks at it.

Trust me, I wish we didn't lol

 

[Johnny HFBOARDS]

 

[viper0220]

The Oilers need to do something, a coaching, a big trade.

The Oilers and the Flames are natural trading partners right now.

 

[strattonius]

Had a friend live there for a year or so for work.
It was so bad he moved to Utah.

Imagine East Hastings... But like, everywhere.

Yeah sure it is man.

These whose city is nicer debates are so cringe and dorky. My dad could beat-up your dad arguments.

 

[blundluntman]

Bro, you took a full quote of his, literally bolded the part that said "When (McD's linemates) aren’t on the ice with him picking up neutral zone assists they immediately regress to their norm" and then tried to summarize it by saying, "So in other words, they play better when they're on the ice with him."

That is clearly not what he said. He was making the argument that picking up cheap points playing w McD isn't a measure of actually becoming a better player, and this idea was expressed clearly. It's not a pivot if you never bothered or were unable to understand what he said in the first place.

This isn't a discussion worth having, and I am amazed you doubled down on this.

***

And for what it's worth, no I don't watch many Oilers games, I'm a Yotes fan, this is no secret. Also, there are dozens of us. Meanwhile part of me wonders how it's possible for someone to think your own inability to summarize an objectively clear POV has anything to do with whether anyone else watches or doesn't watch oilers games. smh

And you literally ignored the first post I replied to where he verbatim said he does nothing to improve the players around him. I replied saying a plethora of his linemates have career years as his teammate. He replied by trying to minimize his contributions by writing them off as measly neutral zone assists. I decided it wasn't worthwhile to go back and forth over that hyperbolic statement and didn't respond to that argument. I then reaffirmed the hole in his logic due to him admitting their numbers regress when they don't play with him (because if players perform better with you than they do without you, you are likely the reason their production has improved).

You can argue that his teammates only score more thanks to "cheap neutral zone assists" if you want (you'd be wrong btw; especially considering you just admitted you don't even watch many Oilers games) but I'm not gonna bother taking that seriously because I've actually watched him do it on a night to night basis.

Going from, "he does nothing to improve his teammates" to "yeah they produce more, but that doesn't count because of *insert hyperbolic statement here*" is moving the goalposts. What does "helping a teammate improve" even mean if helping them put up career years doesn't count? If creating space and giving your teammates more access to opportunities to score isn't helping them improve (because that's what he does), what is? Is he supposed to give them workout plans? Is he supposed to magically transfer his skills over to them? Should he pick up coaching during the offseason?

 

[blundluntman]

There’s no ‘pivot’ there (and even so, alternate angles to support arguments exist). Of course guys put up more pts when on ice with McD. But they don’t improve as players. I am referring in particular to their play when not on ice with McD.

What do you even mean by improve if putting the puck in the net more often doesn't count? Should he become their personal trainer or coach or something?

 

[Galactico]

That's strange as Draisaitl plays with McDavid on the most effective PP in history. Even when they aren't playing together, McDavid is occupying, or at least splitting, the attention of the opponent's top defenders.

Sorry, Oilers fans are telling me that McDavid benefits as much (if not more) from Draisaitl than Draisaitl benefits from McDavid. Drai would win the Art Ross every year if McDavid didn't exist, according to them.

 

[Leafshater67]

Yea he shouldn’t be playing, but Edmonton is desperate and we’ve all seen how pathetic they are without him.

Are we really going to say someone isn’t actually amazing 12 games after putting up the greates non Gretzky/Lemieux season ever seen? Lol.

Yes. He’s a draft bust and they should send him to the AHL for seasoning..

 

[StevenF1919]

Did you drive out to his house and take a pic just to defend McDavid's choice in real estate?
Its ok but certainly not spectacular and definitely not the view that one would expect a multi millionaire to have from his front door. To be honest, its rather meh.... as far as millionaire residences go. It also doesn't look that green for most of the time he's living there... which is the winter hockey season. The picture the other person posted is much more reflective of what McDavid sees every day that he's in Edmonton... and that my friend is rather depressing.

It's literally pulled from Google Streetview. The view from his deck would directly look at the river valley, which is the largest urban park in the country. Not enough to justify playing for that absolute joke of a hockey team but it's pretty damn nice, even in the winter.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I see quite a few people claim McDavid is playing injured. Is there any evidence of that? Also, why on earth would anyone play injured in early November? Surely, the thing to do now is to get treatment and rest now, so you'll be back at 100% sooner.

 

[CNeufeld]

The Oilers need to do something, a coaching, a big trade.

The Oilers and the Flames are natural trading partners right now.

And what would that "big trade" look like? Gonna give the Oilers Vlader, with his .844 and 4.00 stats? For who?

And neither team has much salary left to play with, so it's got to be $in, $out. $710k for the Flames, $21k for the Oilers

Seriously, curious what you think the "natural trade" would be.

 

[God]

I see quite a few people claim McDavid is playing injured. Is there any evidence of that? Also, why on earth would anyone play injured in early November? Surely, the thing to do now is to get treatment and rest now, so you'll be back at 100% sooner.

i think they rushed him back for the heritage classic, and now they probably need him to break the slump (he's probably also stubborn and wants to help the team).

just comparing the first two games against vancouver to the third, he looks like he's lost quite a bit of agility. he is still fast but can't do quick pivots/turns like he used to.

 

[333359]

I see quite a few people claim McDavid is playing injured. Is there any evidence of that? Also, why on earth would anyone play injured in early November? Surely, the thing to do now is to get treatment and rest now, so you'll be back at 100% sooner.

He looked the same to me the first few games as he did last night after he came back from the injury last week. He looks more like he does before he fires his coach than he looks injured to me.

 

[BLONG7]

McDavid is playing at probably 10% health I'd say, he does not look good out there

There is zero chance, he would be allowed to play at 10%...........................70% maybe, but not 10 no way would a team do that to a star player....

If he is that injured, anyhow he should not be playing....period.
They remind me of a few years back, of the Habs, when Price was in the zone he covered up ALL the problems, which were many.................he gets hurt, they plummit to a bottom feeder.

The Habs built a very flawed team, and so has Edmonton....and Kenny Holland is an all in GM not a builder.
This could get ugly if Mcdavid and Drai don't get them out of it quickly.

 

[Strangle]

Oilers are gonna get Celebrini aren’t they FFS

It would be incredibly hilarious if they drafted him.

Even if they got 1oa, they really need to trade it, pass on the forward and try to pickup a couple defensemen and a goalie