Salary Cap: POLE; Grade the TDL

[Mr Positive]

F - This team won't beat Vegas, Colorado or Dallas as it is.

Skinner needs to stand on his head, but first he needs to get it out off his ass....

This is coloring our opinion now. The team is coming off of a losing streak where goaltending was a big factor. Classic Skinner with his boom or bust. Hopefully he is hot for the playoffs. When Skinner is good things are less tense around here

 

[FlameChampion]

I like the players they brought in.

But as others have said, its the moves they didn’t make. Not doing anything about the goaltending is insane to me. What probably annoys me more, is that it feels like they didn’t even look at it. Feels like they targeted Frederic and Walman at the beginning of the year and ignored 60 games of holes.

 

[Connor McConnor]

I'm not as doom as most of the posters here. The team has earned my benefit of the doubt that they will return to form, and before the 4 Nations break this team looked every bit the SCF they were last year.

I like every move they made. Goaltending upgrade is the obvious one but looks like we will have to wait another year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This is coloring our opinion now. The team is coming off of a losing streak where goaltending was a big factor. Classic Skinner with his boom or bust. Hopefully he is hot for the playoffs. When Skinner is good things are less tense around here

The entire team was playing like garbage, even the fancies were skewed against us. And they've been playing this way since January. We have 1 win in regulation in the last 12 games. Woof.

 

[elmeroil]

Who voted A, seriously?

 

[Mr Positive]

The entire team was playing like garbage, even the fancies were skewed against us. And they've been playing this way since January. We have 1 win in regulation in the last 12 games. Woof.

Maybe that just means that our goaltending can achieve when the team is playing well, but they can't be part of the solution when it comes to needing players to get your team out of a funk. So all we have to do is tighten the defense up and don't get outplayed.

 

[snipes]

F.

Failed to address biggest needs and totally blundered the LTIR cap space that went unused.

I was told we didn’t sign Broberg and Holloway because cap space then it doesn’t even get ****ing used in the end.

 

[Soundwave]

This reads like a post a child would write good lord grow up dude

Nothing wrong with that at all. The team has a bottom 5 goaltending tandem and serious chemistry issues with the forwards all year long, lately the D play has fallen apart too.

They're going to need a very favorable playoff bracket to go far and that means staying away from guys like MacKinnon or Eichel who will take Skinner and Pickard to the woodshed.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Maybe that just means that our goaltending can achieve when the team is playing well, but they can't be part of the solution when it comes to needing players to get your team out of a funk. So all we have to do is tighten the defense up and don't get outplayed.

There's playing poorly and then there's the Eakins level of garbage we were witnessing on the road trip. If they keep that up they won't have to worry about LA in the first round, because they'll get squashed by Winnipeg instead.

 

[Soundwave]

F.

Failed to address biggest needs and totally blundered the LTIR cap space that went unused.

I was told we didn’t sign Broberg and Holloway because cap space then it doesn’t even get ****ing used in the end.

It's so incompetent you basically have to laugh at it now. So they basically could have kept both of those players but chose to put their indignation of being offer sheeted (because of their own shitty management) in front of the team's best interests.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

I just got in and haven't caught up on the TDL frenzy. What goalie did we end up getting?

 

[Mr Positive]

There's playing poorly and then there's the Eakins level of garbage we were witnessing on the road trip. If they keep that up they won't have to worry about LA in the first round, because they'll get squashed by Winnipeg instead.

I still feel this was a bad streak. Lots of teams have them. We are a veteran team who will tighten up when the games matter.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Imo he comes here and he gets stuck in the same mud as others.

The Oil have a ton of mid tier scorers, but no one to open up ice for them. Imo this is where Fred and Jones likely help them down the stretch.

Suddenly Podz and Perry aren't required to be their top physical forwards and are into more appropriate roles. While Henrique, RV, and Skinner get linemates that can legitimately tie up a defender or two and open up ice for them, getting them out of the said mud.

I guess we can only hope? Like they did nothing, he's definitely better than nothing is my frustration.

 

[snipes]

It's so incompetent you basically have to laugh at it now. So they basically could have kept both of those players but chose to put their indignation of being offer sheeted (because of their own shitty management) in front of the team's best interests.

Utter incompetence

 

[Spawn]

This is coloring our opinion now. The team is coming off of a losing streak where goaltending was a big factor. Classic Skinner with his boom or bust. Hopefully he is hot for the playoffs. When Skinner is good things are less tense around here

Stuart Skinner is not boom or bust. He's average or bust. When he's on his game he's merely passable.

 

[Connor McConnor]

I still feel this was a bad streak. Lots of teams have them. We are a veteran team who will tighten up when the games matter.

You aren't allowed to speak positively here, even if your optimism is carried by fact. Supposedly this team is worse than the one that just took Florida to 7. It's going to be funny when guys like Skinner and Arvy are contributing in the playoffs, just like Connor Brown did last year.

 

[FlameChampion]

F.

Failed to address biggest needs and totally blundered the LTIR cap space that went unused.

I was told we didn’t sign Broberg and Holloway because cap space then it doesn’t even get ****ing used in the end.

I honestly feel like Bowman was lying about the whole cap space angle.

Pretty sure the offer sheets werent matched because they were mad that both of them teamed up to put them in a bad spot.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You aren't allowed to speak positively here, even if your optimism is carried by fact. Supposedly this team is worse than the one that just took Florida to 7. It's going to be funny when guys like Skinner and Arvy are contributing in the playoffs, just like Connor Brown did last year.

It is worse. Basically the entire roster outside of three players has regressed and the goaltending isn't good enough.

This team will not win a Stanley Cup this season and anything less than that is a failure of a sesaon.

 

[bone]

Stuart Skinner is not boom or bust. He's average or bust. When he's on his game he's merely passable.

I'd say his hot streaks are better than merely passable. I think these metrics in the tweet overstate how good he is during those streaks as those streaks often coincide with hot streaks defensively by Edmonton, but I think it's fair to say his good streaks are at least above average.

 

[FlameChampion]

It is worse. Basically the entire roster outside of three players has regressed and the goaltending isn't good enough.

This team will not win a Stanley Cup this season and anything less than that is a failure of a sesaon.

Draisaitl and Perry are the only two forwards who have met expectations or exceeded them.

Considering what people thought about the forward group prior to the season, that is pretty damning. I think Jackson and Knoblauch both deserve criticism.

 

[McDNicks17]

I went with a B. Probably like a B-.

Frederic and Walman are solid adds. Especially for basically just a 1st and 2nd.

Sure, a goalie and top6 winger would have been nice, but I don't think was overly realistic with the cap and assets they had.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

I think a 3rd+ would do it. They are about to lose Lyon for nothing in a few months. But sure, maybe they'd like him for a playoff run. But they have 4 NHL goalies and with retention we could have had any of them. I'd even take Mzarek. But, the ideal would be an impending UFA ( hence, to test drive someone). The principle is to find a goalie with decent stats on a bad team. They exist. It's how we got Roloson

Also as much as I'm disappointed with our goalies, I don't get into the whole anti-Schwartz thing. I'm not pro-Schwartz either. I just don't know if that factor matters. It's not like this organization ever really stacked the goalie talent here. Skinner might just not have the talent, and it's not like Pickard was some ringer we poached from somewhere.

Dissatisfaction with Schwartz goes much deeper than the current duo. You have to look back at his body of work with the Oilers. The best goalie performances we've had on his watch were the year that Talbot decided to work with Allaire again after suffering Schwartz, and Smith, who had enough cachet built up to simply ignore him.

 

[Crabapple]

B. No big mistakes and a good non-rental acquisition.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

Draisaitl and Perry are the only two forwards who have met expectations or exceeded them.

Considering what people thought about the forward group prior to the season, that is pretty damning. I think Jackson and Knoblauch both deserve criticism.

The decline in the forward group is wild, and not let anyone off the hook...I'll put everyone on the hook. Bowman and JJ miscalculated, for sure, and KK hasn't been able to find anything that works (and his baffling treatment of J. Skinner). The players themselves are simply underperforming and I think there is a plethora of reasons for that:
- injuries
- illness
- SCF hangover
- fitting into a new system (for the new guys)
- meshing with new players (for the holdovers)
- possibly some of the older players misguidedly "saving it for the playoffs"
- outright laziness and entitlement

But each player should be looking at a guy like Perry, who has paid all of the dues, and is still playing harder than any one of them on any given night. The guy is 73 years old and is still going to war for his team. It's pretty sad that the rest won't follow him into battle.

 

[McBeastMode]

I just got in and haven't caught up on the TDL frenzy. What goalie did we end up getting?