Pre-Game Talk: Party like it’s 1997 - Edmonton vs Dallas

[bobbythebrain]

They have 3 lines. We have 2.
We have the better 1st d pair. They have a better 2nd. We have a better 3rd marginally.
We have higher end forwards.
They have us in goaltending.

Should be a close one if we get decent goaltending

 

[BurnabyJoe7]

We aren’t a better team at all.
We have far worse goaltending, our depth is arguably worse too.
Our 2022 team would have crushed Vancouver.

Please elaborate. I see the argument that our team last year was better, but it's an odd case to argue we were better 2 years ago. We didn't even have ekholm.

The only area we might have been better in is goal and thats only based on Stu's performance this month. If we're talking about the entire season we are a much better team than in 2022.

Recency bias in here is crazy. Vancouver was a great team this year and a lot of guys were banged up and sick last round. I think we're going to look more like our regular season selves once this series starts which is going to surprise some people (even oilers fans apparently).

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Interesting pre series interview with Deboer:

- Sees us as a Knights Avs hybrid team. Will try to take the best things they did against them and apply to playing us
- Notes the Avs PP as elite, but notes ours as elite+
- Says we defend similar to Colorado, keeping our Dmen close to the net
- Thinks we are very similar to Avs
- I liked his Mack/McD comparison. MacK does it with more power. McD has an extra layer of finesse to his game.
- Said both Avs and Knights stumbled throughout the year at times, whereas edmonton has been confident and rolling for 6 months straight

Some good stuff there, though it's odd to hear he views us similar to the Avs' style of defence.

The Avs' defence is super mobile and is designed to transition the puck quickly and join the rush with Maker, Walker, and Girard. Even their defensive guys with Toews, Manson, and JMFJ are all +skaters and solid passers.

Meanwhile the OIl only have Nurse and Kulak as +skaters in their top 6. But everyone's a redwood when it comes to size, and they do an outstanding job of boxing teams out (when they're on their game).

Imo the blueline far closer to Vegas' set-up than the Avs.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Standard admission to the stars game, tickets available for $125 USD. Not even in the same ballpark as Oilers tickets.



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Sure they have cheap seats. I referenced Lower bowl $575 US and the upper bowl I saw were 375. If you want nosebleeds or higher up seats I guess there are cheaper but either way tickets are expensive for the better seats on Ticketmaster. Rangers prices are even higher.

But the average seat is far more than 120 in Dallas.

 

[McHelpus]

Watching NHL now. Absolutely clueless on anything Oilers.

 

[ZJuice]

It’s a high ankle sprain these can take up to 6-8 weeks to heal and sometimes longer depending on the severity

When I was 16 I played for a full season with tape on my ankle after a bad high ankle sprain. It didn’t affect me during the games, but it hindered me in the gym for months.

 

[guymez]

Please elaborate. I see the argument that our team last year was better, but it's an odd case to argue we were better 2 years ago. We didn't even have ekholm.

The only area we might have been better in is goal and thats only based on Stu's performance this month. If we're talking about the entire season we are a much better team than in 2022.

Recency bias in here is crazy. Vancouver was a great team this year and a lot of guys were banged up and sick last round. I think we're going to look more like our regular season selves once this series starts which is going to surprise some people (even oilers fans apparently).

I dont even think its a debatable point.
This current team is much deeper on D and at forward compared to the 2022 team.

I mean we just need to look at the top 4 in 2022...
The top pairing on D (IIRC) was Nurse/Barrie.
The next pairing was Keith/Bouchard.

The Ekholm/(mature) Bouchard pairing is light yearts better than the Nurse/Barrie pairing.
The Nurse/Deharnais pairing is better than the (over the hill) Keith/(very green) Bouchard pairing as well.

 

[ZJuice]

100%.
In the mid 80's I used to go to games on a whim. I would stand outside of Northlands Coleseum and pick up a scalped ticket in the mid to low Blues for about $30 to watch the best hockey team on the planet.
Now even if we factor in inflation these current ticket prices are nothing short of gouging.
They can get away with it though....the demand is there....for now.

Best I’ve seen these playoffs were $225 (all in) for row 4 upper bowl. It was 10 minutes past puck drop though..
I miss going to the game with my dad and getting cheap scalped tickets

 

[TheNumber4]

Some good stuff there, though it's odd to hear he views us similar to the Avs' style of defence.

The Avs' defence is super mobile and is designed to transition the puck quickly and join the rush with Maker, Walker, and Girard. Even their defensive guys with Toews, Manson, and JMFJ are all +skaters and solid passers.

Meanwhile the OIl only have Nurse and Kulak as +skaters in their top 6. But everyone's a redwood when it comes to size, and they do an outstanding job of boxing teams out (when they're on their game).

Imo the blueline far closer to Vegas' set-up than the Avs.

Good points. Actually when I first watched the video I had to rewind and see if he wasn’t actually talking about the knights defence not the Avs.

 

[Little Fury]

We aren’t a better team at all.
We have far worse goaltending, our depth is arguably worse too.
Our 2022 team would have crushed Vancouver

This is bananas.

 

[guymez]

Best I’ve seen these playoffs were $225 (all in) for row 4 upper bowl. It was 10 minutes past puck drop though..
I miss going to the game with my dad and getting cheap scalped tickets

That $225 price really isnt that bad.
I hear you on the nostalga though. I took those glory days for granted although I used to marvel at being able to walk up and watch the best players in the world for such a cheap price.

 

[McBigYak]

Sure they have cheap seats. I referenced Lower bowl $575 US and the upper bowl I saw were 375. If you want nosebleeds or higher up seats I guess there are cheaper but either way tickets are expensive for the better seats on Ticketmaster. Rangers prices are even higher.

But the average seat is far more than 120 in Dallas.

It's not. Edm is f***ing highway robbery, to put it lightly. Closest equivalent seats I could find. $808 Edm, $510 CAD in Dallas.

We are getting hosed.

 

[WaitingForUser]

When I was 16 I played for a full season with tape on my ankle after a bad high ankle sprain. It didn’t affect me during the games, but it hindered me in the gym for months.

An injury at 16 is a lot different than an injury at 34. Ask anyone who was injured in their 30s if it was a long recovery and was ever the same again. 9/10 will tell you it never healed properly and the still feel the effects years later.

 

[McDreamy]

An injury at 16 is a lot different than an injury at 34. Ask anyone who was injured in their 30s if it was a long recovery and was ever the same again. 9/10 will tell you it never healed properly and the still feel the effects years later.

I had a high ankle sprain a few years ago at 30 and my ankle has never been the same since. I have exercised the shit out of it and I just don't have stability in it anymore.

 

[guymez]

It's not. Edm is f***ing highway robbery, to put it lightly. Closest equivalent seats I could find. $808 Edm, $510 CAD in Dallas.

We are getting hosed.

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View attachment 874449

Yup.
Katz is absolutely trying to squeeze Oilers fans. No doubt about it.
It works for now....the demand is there.
We shall see what happens moving forward.

 

[Little Fury]

I had a high ankle sprain a few years ago at 30 and my ankle has never been the same since. I have exercised the shit out of it and I just don't have stability in it anymore.

You're almost better off breaking it and getting hardware

 

[WaitingForUser]

I had a high ankle sprain a few years ago at 30 and my ankle has never been the same since. I have exercised the shit out of it and I just don't have stability in it anymore.

Yep I tore my shoulder at 36 and still have issues today after 6 years. The body does not heal properly after 30

 

[ZJuice]

An injury at 16 is a lot different than an injury at 34. Ask anyone who was injured in their 30s if it was a long recovery and was ever the same again. 9/10 will tell you it never healed properly and the still feel the effects years later.

Definitely. High ankle sprains are crap at a young age, when the skin heals like wolverine, I can’t imagine they are easier in the mid 30s.

I’m glad the oilers aren’t rushing Henrique too hard, I think other teams might encourage him to tape up the ankle and get a cortisone injection. He would be preferable over McLeod imo, but if we can get a good series lead over the stars I say give as much healing time as possible.

Edit: to add to the injury stories we have going in the thread. My ankle was fine from 17-30. Now every so often it acts up and creaks, sometimes it keeps me up at night!

 

[brentashton]

Definitely. High ankle sprains are crap at a young age, when the skin heals like wolverine, I can’t imagine they are easier in the mid 30s.

I’m glad the oilers aren’t rushing Henrique too hard, I think other teams might encourage him to tape up the ankle and get a cortisone injection. He would be preferable over McLeod imo, but if we can get a good series lead over the stars I say give as much healing time as possible.

Edit: to add to the injury stories we have going in the thread. My ankle was fine from 17-30. Now every so often it acts up and creaks, sometimes it keeps me up at night!

I want to see pics of you as a young Wolverine!!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

We aren’t a better team at all.
We have far worse goaltending, our depth is arguably worse too.
Our 2022 team would have crushed Vancouver

In what world do they have worse depth? Or rather, what contributor are they missing from that run?

Drai-McDavid-Kane
Hyman-RNH-Yams
Foegele-McLeod-Pulju
Archibald-Ryan-Kassian

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Kulak-Barrie

Yams, Pulju, Archi, and Kassian are gone upfront, replaced by Henrique, Holloway, Janmark, Carrick and Brown.

On defence, Keith and Barrie are out, while Ekholm(!!!) and Vinny are in.

Smith is better than Skinner, but it wasn't like he was a beacon of stability that playoffs.

 

[Kerberos]

Sports are fickle and sometimes you just get beaten by a better team but if the Oilers don't beat themselves, and Skinner can play like an average starting NHL goaltender and McDavid remembers he's McDavid and the Oilers embrace a scrappy, underdog role by chanelling the work ethic and spirit of those late 90s teams...

I have a good feeling about this series. That's a lot of 'if's' but we haven't had many of them work out in our favor recently so now's as good a time as any for the scales to tip the right way.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

It's not. Edm is f***ing highway robbery, to put it lightly. Closest equivalent seats I could find. $808 Edm, $510 CAD in Dallas.

We are getting hosed.

View attachment 874447
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Lower bowl prices Edmonton and Dallas, Edmonton is cheaper once you factor in exchange. Upper nosebleeds might be a lot cheaper in Dallas. Edmonton are expensive I agree. Well its expensive either way when its 750 a pop for tickets in lower bowl as well.

Either way it's expensive to watch playoff hockey live because of the prices people can get on the secondary market. Dont blame the Oilers. It's supply and demand and the Ticketmaster algorithm that maximizes profit for venues, sports teams and artists alike.

 

[K1984]

Sports are fickle and sometimes you just get beaten by a better team but if the Oilers don't beat themselves, and Skinner can play like an average starting NHL goaltender and McDavid remembers he's McDavid and the Oilers embrace a scrappy, underdog role by chanelling the work ethic and spirit of those late 90s teams...

I have a good feeling about this series. That's a lot of 'if's' but we haven't had many of them work out in our favor recently so now's as good a time as any for the scales to tip the right way.

I really feel like this is a 50/50 series assuming we get at least somewhat adequate goaltending.

Lots of what if's for them too that nobody seems to want to talk about:

- What if the Stars PK continues to stink and they get lit up?
- What if Oettinger continues to be a bit uneven
- What if Hintz and Hakanpaa continue to be unavailable?
- What if there are further injuries to an already hobbled defense?
- Can the Stars survive playing with basically 5 d-men, one of which is playing injured?

These aren't insignificant things.

 

[K1900L]

This Dallas team is deep. 4 lines of players who can score in all different ways.
I also have a bad feeling about Pavelski just standing in front of Skinner, deflecting puck after puck.

Everything needs to be perfect for the Oilers to prevail. Skinner needs to have his best games when the top 2 lines with McDavid and Draisaitl are having their way. At best, they play as good defensively as in the last 110/120 minutes against the Canucks. They probably need to limit Dallas at a max of 20 shots per night to give themselves chances to win anyway, though.

Solely hoping for the power play to win us this series is the idle way to go. Dallas had one week to prepare themselves exactly for this and will certainly adjust just like the Canucks did. They will need to find more paths to win.

 

[Arpeggio]

I think something that could cause Dallas some problems is that right now their two top goalscorers by a fairly significant margin are a rookie and a defenceman, neither of whom have scored at that rate throughout their careers. If Johnston and Heiskanen regress at all, someone else will have to step up to provide offence.

Might be a bit of a hole in the armour there. Between the two teams, you can count on the Oilers top players to continue to produce in the playoffs the way they have throughout the first two rounds. Not sure you can say the same about the Stars.