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Pre-Game Talk: Return of the Rat - Stanley Cup Finals '24: Edmonton vs. Florida

Predict the Final

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Shizuka

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Mar 16, 2002
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TheNumber4 said:
I’m thinking In terms of rats and physicality they would have Tkachuk, Bennet, Cousins of course.
But also Kulikov can lay some pretty big hits. Ekblad plays a hard game I think, lays the lumber. Lomberg hits to hurt and can do it dirty.
Then there’s a lot of functional toughness through the line up with Barkov and their 3rd line.
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I don't know, man.. none of those guys are Trouba like assholes who aim to injure. Cousins and Tkachuk are rats for sure, but.. Kulikov? Ekblad? Lomberg? Bennett hits, but... I guess I don't really see it. They're a well coached team that comes prepared to play and they have an aggressive forecheck. Kulikov was very briefly an Oiler and didn't show any of that.

We'll see but I don't really get the hype engine going all in on FLA being this intimidating physical team. I'm sure it will be nastier than Dallas but I have my doubts. Let's hope the Oilers remained disciplined and focused where they need to be i.e. defending, details, active sticks and lots of forechecking pressure + puck support.
 
TheNumber4

TheNumber4

Registered User
Nov 11, 2011
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Shizuka said:
I don't know, man.. none of those guys are Trouba like assholes who aim to injure. Cousins and Tkachuk are rats for sure, but.. Kulikov? Ekblad? Lomberg? Bennett hits, but... I guess I don't really see it. They're a well coached team that comes prepared to play and they have an aggressive forecheck. Kulikov was very briefly an Oiler and didn't show any of that.

We'll see but I don't really get the hype engine going all in on FLA being this intimidating physical team. I'm sure it will be nastier than Dallas but I have my doubts. Let's hope the Oilers remained disciplined and focused where they need to be i.e. defending, details, active sticks and lots of forechecking pressure + puck support.
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No one is a Trouba like asshole besides Trouba.
I’m saying those other guys hit to hurt. No necessarily dirty, but can be. Like Kulikov throws clean hits to hurt. Lomberg only sometimes, gets his hands up alot. Ronald not dirty, but can cross check alot when defending.

iCanada said:
The Leafs segment is worth watching on its own. 😂
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Okay fine, now I’m sold.
 
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foshizzle

Registered User
Feb 1, 2007
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Oilhawks said:
Holland's team has some holes...but what he inherited was absolute junk
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McDavid
Draisaitl
RNH
Bouchard
Nurse
VD
Skinner
McLeod
Gulutzan
Woodcroft (by extension Stuart)

I wouldn’t call that junk

BlackDogg said:
Puju being a complete dud really hurt as well.
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Puju was good under Tippett- actually really good. He turned into a dud under Woodcroft, who seemed to carry Mclelland’s biases with him.
 
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foshizzle

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Feb 1, 2007
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TopShelfGloveSide said:
People rag on Holland and he’s far from perfect but he turned that dumpster fire into a team that made the Conference finals, 2nd round and now the Cup finals.
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Well, he didn’t turn the team around. McDavid and Draisaitl matured and scored more. Bouchard, Skinner, McLeod also just matured. RNH and Skinner were here as well as the coaching staff. Tippett was Holland’s hire who was let go. Holland in that press conference said he wanted to re-sign Tippett and let Woodcroft go at the end of the year- but Tippett sucked and I’m guessing it came from above (based on Holland’s history) to fire him. Woodcroft was hired by Chiarelli. Woody brought in Stuart and he was an assistant coach with Woody’s brother. So the core was here, the coaching staff was here. Knob was Jackson’s hire.

Hyman was someone Brad pushed for based on analytics. Credit to Holland for listening. Holland’s bottom 6 has only outperformed that left by Chiarelli in 2 of the 5 years. Ekholm was a good add. We have no prospects and he hasn’t drafted anyone to make the big club in 5 years. Holloway is showing signs now- we will see what Broberg turns out to be. He also should have bought out Koskinen, not Neal, and brought up Skinner to see what he had in him. I remember Gazzola saying this. He had 30M in cap space in 2021 and spent it poorly. Keith retired last year and he didn’t fight for cap recapture and wasted that money on Campbell.
 
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Oilhawks

Oilhawks

Over Old Hills
Nov 24, 2011
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foshizzle said:
McDavid
Draisaitl
RNH
Bouchard
Nurse
VD
Skinner
McLeod
Gulutzan
Woodcroft (by extension Stuart)

I wouldn’t call that junk


Puju was good under Tippett- actually really good. He turned into a dud under Woodcroft, who seemed to carry Mclelland’s biases with him.
Click to expand...

Bouchard, VD, Skinner and McLeod were not NHL players at the time he took over the team. Meant more the starting lineup. Holland promoted Woodcroft and kept on Gulutzan as well, he could have selected other coaches in their spots
 
TopShelfGloveSide

TopShelfGloveSide

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Dec 10, 2018
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foshizzle said:
Well, he didn’t turn the team around. McDavid and Draisaitl matured and scored more. Bouchard, Skinner, McLeod also just matured. RNH and Skinner were here as well as the coaching staff. Tippett was Holland’s hire who was let go. Holland in that press conference said he wanted to re-sign Tippett and let Woodcroft go at the end of the year- but Tippett sucked and I’m guessing it came from above (based on Holland’s history) to fire him. Woodcroft was hired by Chiarelli. Woody brought in Stuart and he was an assistant coach with Woody’s brother. So the core was here, the coaching staff was here. Knob was Jackson’s hire.

Hyman was someone Brad pushed for based on analytics. Credit to Holland for listening. Holland’s bottom 6 has only outperformed that left by Chiarelli in 2 of the 5 years. Ekholm was a good add. We have no prospects and he hasn’t drafted anyone to make the big club in 5 years. Holloway is showing signs now- we will see what Broberg turns out to be. He also should have bought out Koskinen, not Neal, and brought up Skinner to see what he had in him. I remember Gazzola saying this. He had 30M in cap space in 2021 and spent it poorly. Keith retired last year and he didn’t fight for cap recapture and wasted that money on Campbell.
Click to expand...
Yes I know how it goes here. Everything bad was Holland and everything good wasn’t.
 
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