Oilers off season review?
- Thread starter Czechboy
- Start date
SeanMoneyHands
Registered User
- Apr 18, 2019
- 15,311
- 14,706
There is a possibility of Barrie going back to Edmonton. Im sure Oilers fans would take it. He is a right hand shot and is a big upgrade over Stecher and Emberson.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
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The thought has now come to many observers of the team that maybe Jackson didn’t do so well as most of us (including me) thought in July.
This notion was summed up well by Oilers fan Trent Wilhauk, who said on social media after Edmonton’s disquieting loss to Montreal: “Ok I’ll say it… IMO…. Jeff Jackson made way too many mistakes July 1 to be a General Manager in the NHL. Those mistakes cost the Oilers youth, speed & most importantly defensive depth. Bowman has a mess to clean up and it might cost the Oilers this season to do it. Always fun times in Oil Country.”
That's from the Edmonton Journal today...
edmontonjournal.com
I feel a bit validated after being told my takes were stupid by my fellow Oiler fans on HF.lol
This notion was summed up well by Oilers fan Trent Wilhauk, who said on social media after Edmonton’s disquieting loss to Montreal: “Ok I’ll say it… IMO…. Jeff Jackson made way too many mistakes July 1 to be a General Manager in the NHL. Those mistakes cost the Oilers youth, speed & most importantly defensive depth. Bowman has a mess to clean up and it might cost the Oilers this season to do it. Always fun times in Oil Country.”
That's from the Edmonton Journal today...
Did Jeff Jackson screw up Edmonton Oilers this summer? But did Stan Bowman fix it?
Did Jeff Jackson screw up Edmonton Oilers this summer? But did Stan Bowman fix it?
edmontonjournal.com
I feel a bit validated after being told my takes were stupid by my fellow Oiler fans on HF.lol
McFlyingV
Registered User
They're not trying to accumulate 4M cap space to bring back Barrie. They are aiming a lot higher than that. Emberson has been great on the 3rd pairing. Zero issue with his game.
Divine
Registered User
- Dec 18, 2010
- 19,296
- 13,522
The Oilers offseason made no sense at all. The team goes to the SCF so naturally Jackson treats it like a failed core and starts shipping out the youth and completely changing the team chemistry.
Even the signings made no sense from a hockey perspective. Why is Jackson replacing all the fast players with slower ones? The Oilers entire identify was team speed. He removed all the youth and fast players and replaced them with aging, cycle players. The Oilers don't play that game, so it was very unlikely to go well. Like the Perry re-signing makes sense in like Pittsburgh, but why is he on the Oilers? They're not going to cycle the puck to him often and he's too slow for the team, even with the decrease in team speed. The Oilers effectively went from a fast team to a team with a few fast players.
From Jackson's perspective, he's an agent and he treated the offseason as an agent instead of a GM. He was more concerned with the value of a contract rather than team chemistry and strength. Player is bought out from a 9M contract and we can get him for 3M? Player had injury trouble and we can get him on a discount? Sold. He essentially was looking for bargain contracts whether or not it made sense and was hoping McDavid could carry the whole roster. Also, the Oilers pull Skinner every single playoffs how on earth do you buy out Campbell and then not use the money on a goalie? Buying out Campbell only to run Pickard/Skinner again did not address the problem whatsoever.
He also actively closed their window to this year alone basically - he traded all the youth for older players narrowing the window (again). It's now the oldest team in the league and almost all the young players in the system lack talent. I think he also let his ego get in the way of matching the offersheets. Broberg might be too expensive? Okay, I guess. But why walk away from Holloway at that price? Even the McLeod trade made no sense - McLeod was on a favourable contract and there's no guarantee Savoie even becomes an NHL player and Savoie was coming off a down season. It seemed he prioritizes what he felt was getting a deal rather than if it made sense.
Even the signings made no sense from a hockey perspective. Why is Jackson replacing all the fast players with slower ones? The Oilers entire identify was team speed. He removed all the youth and fast players and replaced them with aging, cycle players. The Oilers don't play that game, so it was very unlikely to go well. Like the Perry re-signing makes sense in like Pittsburgh, but why is he on the Oilers? They're not going to cycle the puck to him often and he's too slow for the team, even with the decrease in team speed. The Oilers effectively went from a fast team to a team with a few fast players.
From Jackson's perspective, he's an agent and he treated the offseason as an agent instead of a GM. He was more concerned with the value of a contract rather than team chemistry and strength. Player is bought out from a 9M contract and we can get him for 3M? Player had injury trouble and we can get him on a discount? Sold. He essentially was looking for bargain contracts whether or not it made sense and was hoping McDavid could carry the whole roster. Also, the Oilers pull Skinner every single playoffs how on earth do you buy out Campbell and then not use the money on a goalie? Buying out Campbell only to run Pickard/Skinner again did not address the problem whatsoever.
He also actively closed their window to this year alone basically - he traded all the youth for older players narrowing the window (again). It's now the oldest team in the league and almost all the young players in the system lack talent. I think he also let his ego get in the way of matching the offersheets. Broberg might be too expensive? Okay, I guess. But why walk away from Holloway at that price? Even the McLeod trade made no sense - McLeod was on a favourable contract and there's no guarantee Savoie even becomes an NHL player and Savoie was coming off a down season. It seemed he prioritizes what he felt was getting a deal rather than if it made sense.
Last edited:
gretzkyoilers
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2012
- 463
- 419
I do remember Oilers fans being very excited with all of the trades JJ made. The Bowman hire was the eyesore. Not signing Holloway and Broberg was s mixed bag. Broberg is decent BUT he is injured so. Mcleod is fast but has a 10 cent brain....caused a turnover in the SCF that cost a goal...The thought has now come to many observers of the team that maybe Jackson didn’t do so well as most of us (including me) thought in July.
This notion was summed up well by Oilers fan Trent Wilhauk, who said on social media after Edmonton’s disquieting loss to Montreal: “Ok I’ll say it… IMO…. Jeff Jackson made way too many mistakes July 1 to be a General Manager in the NHL. Those mistakes cost the Oilers youth, speed & most importantly defensive depth. Bowman has a mess to clean up and it might cost the Oilers this season to do it. Always fun times in Oil Country.”
That's from the Edmonton Journal today...
Did Jeff Jackson screw up Edmonton Oilers this summer? But did Stan Bowman fix it?
Did Jeff Jackson screw up Edmonton Oilers this summer? But did Stan Bowman fix it?
I feel a bit validated after being told my takes were stupid by my fellow Oiler fans on HF.lol
I'd wait a little bit...remember how it went last year....terrible in the beginning to the SCF....always drama with the Oilers.....
MOGlLNY
Registered User
- Jan 5, 2008
- 12,386
- 12,744
Looks pretty good in both ends to me.
I don't blame the Oilers taking the Savoie deal on McLeod at all considering the cap space situation and the value that Savoie might have if he hits. But the deal very clearly wasn't as lopsided as everyone made it out to be.
McDavid 24 points
Draisaitl 27 points
Next highest forward is RNH with 9 points
I'll be honest I've only seen a couple Oiler games this year, but the issue is the same as it's always been. The surrounding team just isn't good enough, we know Hyman had that great season last year but his production fell off a cliff and as we all knew he's way too reliant on McDavid to produce.
It's just not a properly built team, 2 elite pieces, some other solid pieces but overall just not a real team. They live and die with McDavid and the goaltending isn't good enough.
Good teams find ways to win without their stars, guys step up or the coach has implemented a system that works properly. So when you have to plug guys in different situations, the system still works. I've just never seen that from this team period, going back to the first rebuild.
Losing Broberg and Holloway was a big blow, but the complementary guys not being able to produce anything is the bigger issue.
RNH has 9 and Hyman has 8, those are 2 guys that are supposed to be major contributors. McDavid was banged up so maybe getting healthy will give the other guys a boost ? But they need to be able to produce even without him.
Draisaitl 27 points
Next highest forward is RNH with 9 points
I'll be honest I've only seen a couple Oiler games this year, but the issue is the same as it's always been. The surrounding team just isn't good enough, we know Hyman had that great season last year but his production fell off a cliff and as we all knew he's way too reliant on McDavid to produce.
It's just not a properly built team, 2 elite pieces, some other solid pieces but overall just not a real team. They live and die with McDavid and the goaltending isn't good enough.
Good teams find ways to win without their stars, guys step up or the coach has implemented a system that works properly. So when you have to plug guys in different situations, the system still works. I've just never seen that from this team period, going back to the first rebuild.
Losing Broberg and Holloway was a big blow, but the complementary guys not being able to produce anything is the bigger issue.
RNH has 9 and Hyman has 8, those are 2 guys that are supposed to be major contributors. McDavid was banged up so maybe getting healthy will give the other guys a boost ? But they need to be able to produce even without him.
Pickard has been better than their actual starter. Their actual issue is the goalie coach, who is a nepotism hire, so he cannot be gotten rid of. Hence, it doesn't really matter which goalie they will get; he's going to always perform poorly. And for his price? I'm not sure how this can be considered bad.
As for Podkolzin, he's one of the best advanced stats players in the entire league, and by some metrics, leads the league advanced stats-wise. And he's also extremely cheap. The issue is that his oish% is only 3.92. This should be considered to be unsustainably low, considering his advanced metrics. 153 shots for, 10.95 expected goals for, but only 6 goals for. That's rough.
Today, he plays with McDavid and Draisaitl, and could well surprise. Or alternatively, it'll become clear that he's just a bottom 6 player. Either way, if he keeps this up, the rewards will come eventually, and for the 1 mil AAV, calling him bad at this point is premature(And this comes from a Podkolzin criticizer but he genuinely has improved his overall play in recent years).
These are all bad, but they didn't have the cap for them. And then you consider many of the moves that cost the cap that could have been used on these players to be good moves.
Frankly, this is some confused analysis.
Honour Over Glory
#firesully
- Jan 30, 2012
- 81,637
- 45,989
Wasn't their underlying numbers showing that things would eventually turn around? Because same time last year, yeah their record wasn't great, but their powerplay and penalty kill were definitely better and they were scoring more, just not that great defensively which was also to do with Skinner being pretty crap to start last season (same for Campbell).
Expecting the same hot streak from Knobber to carry over this year maybe is ruining expectations, but they aren't that vastly different from last year under Woodcroft around the same time (he was fired after 13 games).
13 games with Woodcroft.
