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

[AvsGuy]

Bouchard looks ROUGH out there. On the ice tonight for FIVE Minnesota goals. Ouch.

Yep. And yet the Oiler fans absolutely lose it when it's pointed out that he's simply not good enough in his own zone to belong in the NHL. He put up points and still absolutely cost his team with his inability to play defence.

This wouldn't be the same guy that got manhandled for the WCF Game 3 GWG against by... (checks notes)... JT Compher, would it?

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Interesting that some of you continue with this narrative when a team from their division won the Cup and they had four 100+ point teams last season then the 4th place team in the "weakest division" beat the division winner from the Central and the division winner from the "weakest division" crushed the central winner then crushed the team that crushed the Leafs.

Ppl who thought Pacific was the toughest division were the ppl who:

1. Bought in with the Oilers “cup or bust” hypr

2. Actually believed that Calgary would bounce back instead of just continue to decline

 

[Artemi Panarin]

A lot of times in these situations it's the fans that you really feel sorry for.
This isn't one of those times.

 

[Walkingthroughforest]

Come on Leon Draisaitl I know you can lead the team like Malkin when Sid was hurt. Come on man!!

Come on Leon you can do it.
Pave the way put your back in to it.
Tell us why
Show us how
Look at where you came from
lLook at you now.

Matthews and Hughes and Larkin
Amateurs can f***ing suck it
f*** their wives, drink their blood
Come on, Leon, get 'em

 

[EpochLink]

The only thing they did was sign Connor Brown in the offseason, called it a day and left everything as it was. Getting brown made no sense when they had needs elsewhere and for real, a nepotism signing cause he played with McDavid in junior.

Goaltending, again is a hot mess.
Bottom six and lack of depth scoring continues to be an issue, defense hasn’t been fixed for 12 years.

 

[34]

team needs to start committing to team defence instead looking to cherry pick and stat pad.

Starts from the top.


the most insufferable fanbase AINEC imo

AINEC is right. Nails on a chalkboard

 

[X66]

I just can't see the Oilers missing the playoffs.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Come on Leon you can do it.
Pave the way put your back in to it.
Tell us why
Show us how
Look at where you came from
lLook at you now.

Matthews and Hughes and Larkin
Amateurs can f***ing suck it
f*** their wives, drink their blood
Come on, Leon, get 'em

Center, hockey player
Born in 1995
Leonardo, Leon Draisaitl
Center, hockey player
Born in 1995
Leonardo, Leon Draisaitl

Come on Leon...

 

[Dion TheFluff]

That's hilarious coming from Leafs fans.

Marner was 3rd in selke voting last year. Matthews has been solid - good defensively for a while.

Oilers play like it's pond hockey.

 

[Beerfish]

Ken Holland is a dreadful GM, but most of my fellow oilers are only now realizing this.

 

[bossram]

Wasn't it like two years ago they had a horrible stretch, dropped out of the playoffs, and ended up coming back fine?

They'll be in the playoffs. Not a concern there. I didn't rate them as a contender to begin with, so my opinion hasn't really changed overall.

 

[Dust]

AINEC is right. Nails on a chalkboard

The definition of irony.

 

[Artemi Panarin]

Where have all the braggy Oilers fans gone off to?

 

[MadLuke]

Oilers just had .643, .634 and .665 season loosing to the Avs and Vegas the 2 last cup winners.

I am not sure what people mean by not the cup contender has the media said, not as much ?

Team	Odds
Colorado Avalanche	+750
Vegas Golden Knights	+750
Boston Bruins	+1000
Dallas Stars	+1000
New Jersey Devils	+1000
Toronto Maple Leafs	+1000
Carolina Hurricanes	+1100
Edmonton Oilers	+1200

That group-order seem reasonable.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Where have all the braggy Oilers fans gone off to?

Please, don't call attention to them.
The boards have been so much more enjoyable these past two weeks without them.

 

[Video Nasty]

Seen too much sports over the years to count anyone out this early into a season. Countless examples of teams having horrific, sustained starts, only to make the playoffs to balance out the vultures circling right now.

1-4-1 with McDavid out now is far from ideal, but I don’t think anyone should worry until it’s December at least.

That being said, it’s ugly right now, it’s a message board with filled with hungry demons, and no one should be surprised by the reactions.

The Oilers have been atrocious and there’s just no way to be enthusiastic about their ongoing goalie dilemma that the organization is content to just try and ride out.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that if the Oilers regressing and/or having a serious cold streak is a shock to you, you're not really very hockey-smart.

 

[Artemi Panarin]

Seen too much sports over the years to count anyone out this early into a season. Countless examples of teams having horrific, sustained starts, only to make the playoffs to balance out the vultures circling right now.

1-4-1 with McDavid out now is far from ideal, but I don’t think anyone should worry until it’s December at least.

That being said, it’s ugly right now, it’s a message board with filled with hungry demons, and no one should be surprised by the reactions.

The Oilers have been atrocious and there’s just no way to be enthusiastic about their ongoing goalie dilemma that the organization is content to just try and ride out.

It’s true tbh. They could still make the playoffs and win it all this year just like @Oilhawks predicted

 

[jackjohnson]

You seem to think that it's a talent problem, then it's a system problem. I think it's a system problem. Nurse and the like will look terrible defensively in a system that cheats defense in order to score offense. The only reason that Ekholm looks decent(sometimes) is because he cut his teeth in a defensively oriented team in NSH. I predict that soon he will start to be the new whipping boy, just like Larsson was, as he is left alone on an island time after time.

BTW, you completely misrepresented what I typed in my post above. I don't know how you can get "Nurse is defensively responsible", from mentioning Nurse as a player who MIGHT benefit from a better team defensive approach. I even stated that he was lost right now.

If the team leaders refuse to buy into a defensive approach, especially team leaders that have far more support from the fans and upper management that the coach does, then nothing will change.

Is the proper approach to have McDavid score more? RNH "only" had 104 points last year... not good enough? Same with Draisaitl's 128 points? Bouchard... not enough points? It's madness.

I think it's both a talent problem and a system problem. But first change the system as that is the easiest thing to change then remove players that don't fit into that system. The team has offensive talent no question but their defense is terrible and I don't think many teams would have players like Ceci in their top 4 but Oilers have too many of these type of defenders in their group. Do you really think players like Nurse, Ceci, Kulak, Desharnais are talented when it comes to defensive plays?

 

[jackjohnson]

It’s true tbh. They could still make the playoffs and win it all this year just like @Oilhawks predicted

Making the playoffs is one thing but win it all this year is as likely as Canucks winning it all. If Oilers with that defense and goaltending can win it all this year, what makes the Canucks a non playoff team this year? McDavid and Drai are best in the world but they aren't enough to just say they can win it all this year when they haven't even made the finals ever with this group. Heck it's even less likely with the way Vegas, Colorado and Boston is rolling and they have more talent than Oilers imo and are a more complete team. I just don't get HFboards hype over Oilers eventhough they have the best player in the league. He is surrounded by a bunch of weak sauce and you can't win a cup with just one guy. Ask the Caps how long it took Washington to win a cup with Ovi. Caps needed to change their whole team and Ovi needing to play defensively to win a cup. It's not easy to win it all and I don't see it with the Oilers having this putrid defense. Heck I see Canucks having a higher chance to win the cup compared to the Oilers since they have better goalie and their defensive system is better.

 

[93gilmour93]

That's hilarious coming from Leafs fans.

 

[jackjohnson]

Not with the way he plays in his own zone. Ekholm was great last year and even he couldn't make Bouchard look like he belonged in the NHL. The only role Bouchard can play in the NHL is serving nachos in the press box. You can't succeed with a defenceman who can't play defence.

Bouchard was the most overhyped dman on this board ever since last year. Heck I even heard Oilers fans say he would win the Norris.

 

[jackjohnson]

Bouchard is a 4th forward.

Except most forwards in this league still have better defensive acumen compared to Boobchard

Ppl who thought Pacific was the toughest division were the ppl who:

1. Bought in with the Oilers “cup or bust” hypr

2. Actually believed that Calgary would bounce back instead of just continue to decline

It was those same people that said Canucks will suck and won't make the playoffs because Pacific is very very tough lol

It's early in the season but their predictions are completely opposite of what's happening now

 

[Artemi Panarin]

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Wasn't it like two years ago they had a horrible stretch, dropped out of the playoffs, and ended up coming back fine?

They'll be in the playoffs. Not a concern there. I didn't rate them as a contender to begin with, so my opinion hasn't really changed overall.

Actually the last 2 years. March 11 last year they were at a 97 point pace.