GDT: Preseason Game 8, Oilers at Canucks in the final (thank God) beer leager. Sportsnet 8 PM

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Will update as lines confirmed, these are my guess. Ryan looked like he hurt his foot blocking a shot last game so he might be out for Philp and it’s my guess that they give old man Perry a break to give Lavoie one last test drive. Emberson and Stetcher missed the last game so here is their final beer leaguer.

RNH - McDavid - Hyman
Skinner - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Janmark - Henrique - Brown
Pokolzin - Philp - Lavoie

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Emberson
Kulak - Stetcher

Skinner
Pickard

Goes live @ 7:30

Also to those Canuck fans with nothing better to do in their lives coming here to troll, this is for you;

Click to read more...

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Another one?

 

[Jumptheshark]

can someone post the stream if there is one...legal of course.

 

[Mr Kot]

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Skinner - McDavid - Hyman
Lavoie - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
RNH - Henrique - Podkolzin
Janmark - Philp - Brown

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Emberson
Kulak - Stetcher

That’s the line up I’d like to see them give a shot.

 

[The Panther]

I haven't watched any pre-season because I could not care less, but my general take on the Oilers' roster right now is:
Forwards = GREAT
Defence = POOR
Goal = OKAY for now

Cody Ceci was a valuable player (despite what most of you seemingly think) and there is hole there now. Desjarnais was good in a limited role, but should theoretically be replaceable. Broberg didn't give much in the RS but he showed his potential in the playoffs last spring, and his loss is big.

The defence really concerns me. If the Oilers blow a tire in the first few games again, I could see them losing confidence and trying desperation shake-ups to the D-core, resulting in another disastrous first 15 games or so.
Luckily, their schedule seems favorable, with the first 4 games at home against (theoretically) 'beatable' clubs. If they can somehow win about 3 of those first 4, I think they'll be okay to survive until February or whenever Bowman Jr. decides to acquire another Dman.

But their schedule in early/mid-January is absolutely brutal...
2025-01-04 @ Seattle Kraken
2025-01-07 @ Boston Bruins
2025-01-09 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
2025-01-11 @ Chicago Blackhawks
2025-01-13 Los Angeles Kings
2025-01-15 @ Minnesota Wild
2025-01-16 @ Colorado Avalanche
2025-01-18 @ Vancouver Canucks

...so they're going to need to make hay before then, and they'll probably have to do so before any defensive help arrives.

By the way, if I'm the coaching staff or Connor, I'd be encouraging the players to look at this season as a series of "best of 7's". That is, they have to win 4 games out of 7 all year... and when you reach 4 wins, you stop and start over. If they fail to make it to 4 wins in any 7 game stretch, Connor gets to flog any three teammates of his choice.

 

[Senor Catface]

 

[subnet]

I haven't watched any pre-season because I could not care less, but my general take on the Oilers' roster right now is:
Forwards = GREAT
Defence = POOR
Goal = OKAY for now

Cody Ceci was a valuable player (despite what most of you seemingly think) and there is hole there now. Desjarnais was good in a limited role, but should theoretically be replaceable. Broberg didn't give much in the RS but he showed his potential in the playoffs last spring, and his loss is big.

The defence really concerns me. If the Oilers blow a tire in the first few games again, I could see them losing confidence and trying desperation shake-ups to the D-core, resulting in another disastrous first 15 games or so.
Luckily, their schedule seems favorable, with the first 4 games at home against (theoretically) 'beatable' clubs. If they can somehow win about 3 of those first 4, I think they'll be okay to survive until February or whenever Bowman Jr. decides to acquire another Dman.

But their schedule in early/mid-January is absolutely brutal...
2025-01-04 @ Seattle Kraken
2025-01-07 @ Boston Bruins
2025-01-09 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
2025-01-11 @ Chicago Blackhawks
2025-01-13 Los Angeles Kings
2025-01-15 @ Minnesota Wild
2025-01-16 @ Colorado Avalanche
2025-01-18 @ Vancouver Canucks

...so they're going to need to make hay before then, and they'll probably have to do so before any defensive help arrives.

By the way, if I'm the coaching staff or Connor, I'd be encouraging the players to look at this season as a series of "best of 7's". That is, they have to win 4 games out of 7 all year... and when you reach 4 wins, you stop and start over. If they fail to make it to 4 wins in any 7 game stretch, Connor gets to flog any three teammates of his choice.

Well… I think in years past this could have been ‘brutal’ but I really don’t think so anymore.

WIN 2025-01-04 @ Seattle Kraken
OTL 2025-01-07 @ Boston Bruins
WIN 2025-01-09 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
WIN 2025-01-11 @ Chicago Blackhawks
OTW 2025-01-13 Los Angeles Kings
L 2025-01-15 @ Minnesota Wild
OTL 2025-01-16 @ Colorado Avalanche
WIN 2025-01-18 @ Vancouver Canucks

Easy peasy! 13 out of 16 points!

 

[Oilhawks]

I haven't watched any pre-season because I could not care less, but my general take on the Oilers' roster right now is:
Forwards = GREAT
Defence = POOR
Goal = OKAY for now

Cody Ceci was a valuable player (despite what most of you seemingly think) and there is hole there now. Desjarnais was good in a limited role, but should theoretically be replaceable. Broberg didn't give much in the RS but he showed his potential in the playoffs last spring, and his loss is big.

The defence really concerns me. If the Oilers blow a tire in the first few games again, I could see them losing confidence and trying desperation shake-ups to the D-core, resulting in another disastrous first 15 games or so.
Luckily, their schedule seems favorable, with the first 4 games at home against (theoretically) 'beatable' clubs. If they can somehow win about 3 of those first 4, I think they'll be okay to survive until February or whenever Bowman Jr. decides to acquire another Dman.

But their schedule in early/mid-January is absolutely brutal...
2025-01-04 @ Seattle Kraken
2025-01-07 @ Boston Bruins
2025-01-09 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
2025-01-11 @ Chicago Blackhawks
2025-01-13 Los Angeles Kings
2025-01-15 @ Minnesota Wild
2025-01-16 @ Colorado Avalanche
2025-01-18 @ Vancouver Canucks

...so they're going to need to make hay before then, and they'll probably have to do so before any defensive help arrives.

By the way, if I'm the coaching staff or Connor, I'd be encouraging the players to look at this season as a series of "best of 7's". That is, they have to win 4 games out of 7 all year... and when you reach 4 wins, you stop and start over. If they fail to make it to 4 wins in any 7 game stretch, Connor gets to flog any three teammates of his choice.

Ceci is a known mediocre quantity, time to move on. Desharnais is a big bottom pairing D that isn't really good at anything aside from being big and was healthy scratched for the finals. Broberg is apparently looking like a big question mark in the Blues camp (what a shock). So they lost a #5 that was playing on the 2nd pair and a couple of bottom pairing guys. They have 2-3 bottom pairing options in Dermott, Stecher and (ugh) Brown.

The problem is they don't have the cap for a legitimate 2nd pairing RD. So they have to make due for now.

Not sure what the worry is about a tough stretch in the schedule (also lol with at least 3 of those teams likely to be mediocre to bad), every team has at least one tough stretch.

They'll be fine.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Keep the goals against under 6 tomorrow fellas

 

[JordanGalhanth]

I agree that there's been big losses and big question marks throughout this preseason.

But in all seriousness, how many times have we seen the Oilers dominate in preseason / beginning of regular season only to come up empty when the games began to count? How many preseason hat tricks have gotten our hopes up way too much?

The fact that we haven't had a hat trick this preseason obviously means that we're going to win the Cup...

Until there's an e- next to our name in the standings come April, I won't panic. One game at a time.

 

[joestevens29]

I haven't watched any pre-season because I could not care less, but my general take on the Oilers' roster right now is:
Forwards = GREAT
Defence = POOR
Goal = OKAY for now

Cody Ceci was a valuable player (despite what most of you seemingly think) and there is hole there now. Desjarnais was good in a limited role, but should theoretically be replaceable. Broberg didn't give much in the RS but he showed his potential in the playoffs last spring, and his loss is big.

The defence really concerns me. If the Oilers blow a tire in the first few games again, I could see them losing confidence and trying desperation shake-ups to the D-core, resulting in another disastrous first 15 games or so.
Luckily, their schedule seems favorable, with the first 4 games at home against (theoretically) 'beatable' clubs. If they can somehow win about 3 of those first 4, I think they'll be okay to survive until February or whenever Bowman Jr. decides to acquire another Dman.

But their schedule in early/mid-January is absolutely brutal...
2025-01-04 @ Seattle Kraken
2025-01-07 @ Boston Bruins
2025-01-09 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
2025-01-11 @ Chicago Blackhawks
2025-01-13 Los Angeles Kings
2025-01-15 @ Minnesota Wild
2025-01-16 @ Colorado Avalanche
2025-01-18 @ Vancouver Canucks

...so they're going to need to make hay before then, and they'll probably have to do so before any defensive help arrives.

By the way, if I'm the coaching staff or Connor, I'd be encouraging the players to look at this season as a series of "best of 7's". That is, they have to win 4 games out of 7 all year... and when you reach 4 wins, you stop and start over. If they fail to make it to 4 wins in any 7 game stretch, Connor gets to flog any three teammates of his choice.

I agree the forwards are great, but I am worried how they are going to look with this defense. The forwards really are going to have to back check to help with retrievals. I know guys like Henrique and RNH do this a lot and it goes unnoticed, but given the uncertainty of the new guys and a banged up Nurse it could be an issue.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

I agree the forwards are great, but I am worried how they are going to look with this defense. The forwards really are going to have to back check to help with retrievals. I know guys like Henrique and RNH do this a lot and it goes unnoticed, but given the uncertainty of the new guys and a banged up Nurse it could be an issue.

This defense should be better at retrievals than last year.

Losing Ceci all of sudden means the defense can’t do anything?

Do people forget how bad ceci was at retrievals.

 

[FlameChampion]

This defense should be better at retrievals than last year.

Losing Ceci all of sudden means the defense can’t do anything?

Do people forget how bad ceci was at retrievals.

Stetcher is much better at puck retrievals and moving the puck than Ceci is. 5 on 5 we should be improved.

I do think Ceci was pretty good on the PK though. But I think the coaching staff should still be able to make the PK work.

 

[joestevens29]

This defense should be better at retrievals than last year.

Losing Ceci all of sudden means the defense can’t do anything?

Do people forget how bad ceci was at retrievals.

And once these guys that never played that kind of minutes before start getting worn out hows that gonna work for their decision making?