Toggle sidebar

Post-Game Talk: Oilers score 5 goals and an ENG without McDrai

  • We sincerely apologize for the extended downtime. Our hosting provider, XenForo Cloud, encountered a major issue with their backup system, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of some critical data from the past year.

    What This Means for You:

    • If you created an account after March 2024, it no longer exists. You will need to sign up again to access the forum.
    • If you registered before March 2024 but changed your email, username, or password in the past year, those changes were lost. You’ll need to update your account details manually once you're logged in.
    • Threads and posts created within the last year have been restored.

    Our team is working with Xenforo Cloud to recover data using backups, sitemaps, and other available resources. We know this is frustrating, and we deeply regret the impact on our community. We are taking steps with Xenforo Cloud to ensure this never happens again. This is work in progress. Thank you for your patience and support as we work through this.

    In the meantime, feel free to join our Discord Server
Fourier said:
Unfortunately, anyone thinking 20 goals for $3M is a failure is delusional. Over the last 3 years there have been on average about 135 forwards per year score 20 or more goals. That is about 4 per team. This year the 135th highest paid forward makes $5M.
Click to expand...
This is fair enough. I've made it clear I haven't welcomed the offseason additions to this team and this due to how the offseason unfolded and chief needs (goaltending) and resignings of players here not being addressed.

I should have a different view on Skinner and did say he could get around 24. Still, we had Foegele scoring 20 at similar sticker price and he was a known ingredient here.

Again my issue isn't with Skinner, Arvid, alone, its the decades of this org disserving its incumbent players and prospects in pursuit of short term fixes that they think are better.
 
Last edited:
BlackDogg said:
The playoffs are set up to be a big dissapointment regardless. This team has never really cared about goaltending in the whole period of McDrai.
Click to expand...
They did actually try with Campbell but struckout Big time, but completely agree that they never took the goaltending as a serious position, considering what we've seen from our starter especially the last 2 seasons and counting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BlackDogg and TB12
Louis Cypher said:
I fully expecting when McDrai returns Knob tells everyone else: thanks for stepping it up while we were down McDrai but now I need you to go back to not getting scored on and leave the offense to the big boys.

It's demoralizing for sure and I think that has been the issue here for a long time. Other players just don't feel involved or that important and just have to take a back seat.
Click to expand...
Precisely, Knob is pulling the same shit that Tippett did except with more talent to work with now. Let McDrai carry the offense and everybody else play a checking role, also while refusing to give young guys any real opportunity. Even if Holloway was here, I'm convinced that he'd get a 3rd line checking role with Henrique and Brown.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Louis Cypher, Duke74 and Jarvi
GMofOilers said:
Can not wait to have Kane back, he’s so good for this group, keeps the swagger at a high level
Click to expand...
Buddy's a baller in the community (in all the good ways), has put his head down and worked and he's looking good. We have a handful of games left, and we're "adding" McDavid, Draisaitl back soon and Kane with that swagger going into the play-offs.

Also, if Frederic plays a game here in the regular season, think about the much needed physicality this group gets with those two players alone.

Cranky, old ohheyhemsky is happy with the horizon here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: capazzo, Behind Enemy Lines, Lay Z Boy GM and 1 other person
OilerTyler said:
In previous years Kane has been our only player with a heavy enough wrist shot to beat goalies clean off the rush.

He’s like a way, way, way better version of Podkolzin who has been in our top six for most of the year.
Click to expand...
Kane has always played better with McDavid to my memory, but I've been hoping that we see Pod - Drai - Kane at least once. The speed, possession and fore-checking power that line would have in the offensive zone - dang, man.
 
ohheyhemsky said:
Kane has always played better with McDavid to my memory, but I've been hoping that we see Pod - Drai - Kane at least once. The speed, possession and fore-checking power that line would have in the offensive zone - dang, man.
Click to expand...
That does sound nice. He (Drai) seems like he’d thrive on a line that gets down low and cycles. He’s such a good passer himself and strong on the puck, but if they can generate a decent cycle he can obviously hammer the puck too.

Kane isn’t a great passer, Podz ain’t great either. Maybe it would work though
 
  • Like
Reactions: bleedthenorth and ohheyhemsky
Lay Z Boy GM said:
That does sound nice. He (Drai) seems like he’d thrive on a line that gets down low and cycles. He’s such a good passer himself and strong on the puck, but if they can generate a decent cycle he can obviously hammer the puck too.

Kane isn’t a great passer, Podz ain’t great either. Maybe it would work though
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're right - Kane needs a facilitator. Does well on the rush or on the cycle sliding into the slot, so McD is the best player to match him with.

Looking at our forward group going into the play-offs:

Kane - McD - Hyman
Pod - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Skinner - RNH - Kapanen
Perry - Henrique - Frederic
Jones/Ryan

Just jumbled all of them in, Frederic likely up the chart and Kapanen down. Try the Pod/Arvidsson match up with Drai again?
 
Louis Cypher said:
I fully expecting when McDrai returns Knob tells everyone else: thanks for stepping it up while we were down McDrai but now I need you to go back to not getting scored on and leave the offense to the big boys.

It's demoralizing for sure and I think that has been the issue here for a long time. Other players just don't feel involved or that important and just have to take a back seat.
Click to expand...
All we have is short term returns. A large portion of the club hasn't pissed a drop much of the season and they don't need permission to score goals or make contributions.

I don't buy that players play in front of over 18K passionate fans here and can't be moved to feel important. I blame that on the players that have been hardly anything again this season. Easy enough to spot.
 
I think these will be the lines come playoff time (if we indeed make the playoffs):

Frederic-McDavid-Hyman

Skinner-Draisaitl-Kane

Podkolzin-RNH-Arvidsson

Perry-Henrique-Brown

A bit of physicality on each line. Hopefully this period of top players being out opens Knobs eyes to potentially rolling multiple lines with similar minutes. No more playing McDrai 25 minutes per night.
 
McDrai said:
I think these will be the lines come playoff time (if we indeed make the playoffs):

Frederic-McDavid-Hyman

Skinner-Draisaitl-Kane

Podkolzin-RNH-Arvidsson

Perry-Henrique-Brown

A bit of physicality on each line. Hopefully this period of top players being out opens Knobs eyes to potentially rolling multiple lines with similar minutes. No more playing McDrai 25 minutes per night.
Click to expand...
It’s all but a formality now, I think. I know the “on pace for” is a terrible thing to base something on but I’m going to use it anyways-lol. Calgary is on pace for 92 points (rounded up) and Vancouver 89. Edmonton would have to drop 6 straight in regulation and Calgary win 6 straight to leap frog them and that would still keep Edmonton in WC2. 5-6 more wins should be enough to cement their position.
 
McDrai said:
I think these will be the lines come playoff time (if we indeed make the playoffs):

Frederic-McDavid-Hyman

Skinner-Draisaitl-Kane

Podkolzin-RNH-Arvidsson

Perry-Henrique-Brown

A bit of physicality on each line. Hopefully this period of top players being out opens Knobs eyes to potentially rolling multiple lines with similar minutes. No more playing McDrai 25 minutes per night.
Click to expand...
I’d keep Janmark over Perry for the PK.
 
  • Like
Reactions: K1984
OilyAlbertan said:
Idk why, but I feel like we win on wednesday even though its irrational
Click to expand...

The bottom 6 players and players without a significant role have a reason to be motivated.

A lot gets made about how bad the bottom 6 is, how the players suck, how management is dumb because they can never get the right guys, how the coach relies on McDavid and Drai too much, etc, etc. IMO a lot of this is just what it is, 97 and 29 take up a lot of air. I don't think its a coincidence that a guy like Arvidsson looked sub-NHL the whole year only to have new life when he's on a line where he has a role in dictating how the offence works again. Ditto for Henrique last game.

Both of 97/29 demand the puck, and drive their lines basically on their own. They play almost the entirety of power plays, and dominate the puck there too. The bottom 6 guys? They pretty much PK and then try and get something done with ~7-10 minutes of 5v5 ice. I don't care who you are, it is hard to produce in those conditions. Many of the bottom 6 have scoring talent, just no opportunity to do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TB12
CupofOil said:
Precisely, Knob is pulling the same shit that Tippett did except with more talent to work with now. Let McDrai carry the offense and everybody else play a checking role, also while refusing to give young guys any real opportunity. Even if Holloway was here, I'm convinced that he'd get a 3rd line checking role with Henrique and Brown.
Click to expand...
If Holloway were here he’d have to earn his spot.

That is a good thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Duke74
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom