Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread: Help Wanted

[Arpeggio]

You are naive if you think it was only a 5 game stretch.
For the month of Feb the Oilers were…
Had the 31st lowest points%
Scored the 23rd most goals, allowed the 4th most goals, and had the 24th best xGF.
Hell if you move that back to mid Jan the team was a bubble team quality in that span.
Biggest issue was goaltending. But it’s been like 6 weeks of mediocre to AWFUL play.

Dude they only played 8 games in February. You're talking about a stretch of maybe 10-12 games. They were playing very well when they played the Capitals on January 21st. I thought their game start declining during that stretch against Buffalo, Seattle, and Detroit. But the 4 games coming out of the break were significantly worse than that stretch. Even the last game before the break against Colorado, they played a loose game, but were clearly playing up to a much higher standard than what followed.

I don't think you can point to old age when the team started playing significantly worse after an extended break.

 

[McAsuno]

I think Colorado has a big move left, they tried to get JT Miller but he killed the trade.

They have 3.2 m cap space and have been lurking around Brock Nelson apparently.
Wait, a team that already has a lethal top 6 wants to add another quality player in Brock Nelson?

Us? Carrick/Bjugstad 2.0 is the best I can offer.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I think Colorado has a big move left, they tried to get JT Miller but he killed the trade.

They're also proactive, unlike the sloths we have. They probably locked their keys inside the car this morning.

 

[CycloneSweep]

The problem is that our third line never produces so it’s hard to know how much of its roster related.

I mean Foegele, McLeod never did anything on the third line last year either.

Organization and Coaching staff aren’t able to get much out of their players.

Knoblauch and Woody both got stuff out of their third lines….until the moment they needed something to happen they just load up McDrai and everyone else sits back. This is a team that refuses to let the rest of the roster take important moments and work with them. Our PP only ever runs one unit, we never even attempt to get good o minutes from the rest etc. this is a team that after a bit always reverts to begging 2 guys to save them and coaches keep on enabling it.
For once I would want a coach to be like, we need a goal here. Third line, you guys are good and have all scored big goals in the past, go out there.
Hell maybe even have that third line start in the o zone, hem them in a bit and the moment they get tired swap in McD for a final blow.

Like anything. Instead they rely only on the 2 big guys and everyone else starts playing like they are just there to waste time.

This team could play with depth but they end up never being coached that way.

 

[McDoused]

Posting that McDavid is the “secret player” to request a trade should get a ban for trolling. JMO

I wonder if its Bouchard after all the hate he's been getting.

Wouldn't surprise me if its Stuart Skinner either after fans start dumping on him.

Realistically though its gotta be Jeff Skinner the way he keeps getting benched.

 

[Soundwave]

And Blackwood isn't necessarily that starting goalie. When you're making that trade there's little guarantee that the goalie you're getting is going to perform better in the same circumstances as the goalie you're purging.

None of these guys are the handful of elite tenders in the league. They're all in the mushy middle. So we really need to stop speaking in absolutes about them.

Odds are that Skinner ends up with a stretch of solid starts prior to years end and finishes in the low 0.900s in terms of SV%. I don't think Gibson would do you much better. But I do know that the team in front of him wouldn't be as competitive without the necessary cap flexibility that keeping Skinner gives you.

If the Oilers are making a goalie move, I think you're looking at a 3.

Then they better damn well be in the Finals, because if they pass on getting Gibson now, I don't think McDavid is extending here in the summer. He may eventually come around and chose to stay, but I think he will pass on locking himself in to the org a year before he has to and give them no certainty. It's fair to him to keep his options open after already giving this team like 10 years of his career.

Look at the roster, aside from Draisaitl what is the reason to want to stay? Ekholm will be 35, Hyman turning 33/34 ... you have no starting goalie.

.900 goaltending isn't good enough. Gibson makes a bigger difference than Trent f***ing Frederic tier adds.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

You just had another poster break down Yaks decisions.
I just brought up JP admitting he was to blame. He's on video saying he refused to work on English also. The org is on video saying he has communication issues and is stubborn.
I also pointed how other players who have succeeded put in effort in the offseason.

It's like when Marancin admitted he didn't want to put on weight despite the orgs plea for 2 years, and here we are, another young player out of the NHL early cuz they refused advice. You can't put 2 and 2 together?

What part of this is so hard for you to understand? It's literally lamens terms at this point.

Draisaitl didn't fix his skating in the AHL. He fixed it in the summer.

You really have a tough time with respect don't you. Maybe you if ever left the basement your parents could teach it to you.

The players having these problems is further proof that the team rushed them into the league and not pushing development on them. You're kind of just proving my point.

 

[belair]

Future risk is less important than current risk.
This isn’t a club with a bright future, this is a club that will probably be rebuilding or doing a massive retool in 3-5 years. Our best chances to win the cup were last year and this season. After that our players ages and salaries are no longer good.
You can’t sit there and go “well it’s risky to grab another goalie” when it’s far more risky to keep the current one who is not an NHL starter quality goalie. You just can’t. It’s wasting the season.

Big disagree. I think that this team's got a pretty substantial window leading into the later years of McDavid and Draisaitl's next contracts. And as an Oilers' fan, I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to see this team salt the Earth during their tenure here.

If your team is good enough to win in this league, Calvin Pickard can be their starter if he's giving them good starts. You don't always need a name.

 

[Shanahanigans]

I think the poster's point is a lot of of Foegele/McLeod's production was only with Draisaitl, so not in a bottom 6 role. Their scoring pace in the playoffs was poor.

McLeod was brilliant in the 2023 playoffs against Vegas, our only centre to match up positively against Eichel. He had his struggles last year in not scoring but defensive play, transition, forecheck and speed are all important for a team like the Oilers- it was hard to stop us cause you had wave after wave of speed coming at you. Now, these guys aren’t scoring plus they provide none of the other parts of the game, are slow, bad on the forecheck, bad on the PK, bad defensively. Getting rid of McLeod and Holloway for not scoring in the playoffs is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We got worse.

 

[North]

Chia did some good things like signing Draisaitl long term but then (like you said) he made some terrible moves which hurt the team.
Holland did make some good moves and then he undid a lot of those good moves by signing Campbell to a 5 year deal. A major gaff.
Jackson hurt the team with his moves this past year. For example...letting Holloway walk and signing Skinner was not a net positive for this team.

It seems that every GM in the McDavid era cant figure out how to maintain forward progress.

Holland also overpaid Nurse.

 

[McDoused]

Then they better damn well be in the Finals, because if they pass on getting Gibson now, I don't think McDavid is extending here in the summer. He may eventually come around and chose to stay, but I think he will pass on locking himself in to the org a year before he has to and give them no certainty.

Look at the roster, aside from Draisaitl what is the reason to want to stay? Ekholm will be 35, Hyman turning 33/34 ... you have no starting goalie.

.900 goaltending isn't good enough.

I've doing a complete reversal after begging the oilers to go out and get a goalie. The problem is that we have no cap space now and the market sucks.

The asking price for Gibson is apparently really high.

Binnington and the blues are 1 point out of a playoff spot.

Vejmelka is Utah's starter and 2 points out of a playoff spot.

 

[Cloned]

Since I’m stupid can somebody explain what happened to our cap space accrual?

I thought we were doing that in combination with Kane on LTIR, so that this precise scenario wouldn’t happen.

 

[Soundwave]

McLeod was brilliant in the 2023 playoffs against Vegas, our only centre to match up positively against Eichel. He had his struggles last year in not scoring but defensive play, transition, forecheck and speed are all important for a team like the Oilers- it was hard to stop us cause you had wave after wave of speed coming at you. Now, these guys aren’t scoring plus they provide none of the other parts of the game, are slow, bad on the forecheck, bad on the PK, bad defensively. Getting rid of McLeod and Holloway for not scoring in the playoffs is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We got worse.

He was bad in the 2024 playoffs and almost threw the Vancouver game 7 away by gifting them a freebie when the team was busting its ass to do everything they could to shut them down.

Holloway was a loss, but I'd probably do McLeod for Savoie again today. One has a shot of being a top 6 forward and we badly need that, McLeod doesn't.

 

[FlameChampion]

McLeod and Foegele did a ton on the 3rd line. Foegele got 20 even strength goals, they were great PKers, great forecheckers, provided speed, good defensive play, everything you want from a 3rd line except for physicality with McLeod. Objectively much, much better than what we have now.

No they put up points with Draisaitl. They didn’t produce much on the third line.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Big disagree. I think that this team's got a pretty substantial window leading into the later years of McDavid and Draisaitl's next contracts. And as an Oilers' fan, I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to see this team salt the Earth during their tenure here.

If your team is good enough to win in this league, Calvin Pickard can be their starter if he's giving them good starts. You don't always need a name.

Why would you think that. Our prospect pool is tiny, the majority of our players are 30 or almost. Our best defender is already starting to decline, McDavid and Draisaitl are nearing the end of their prime and this org doesn’t have anything close to a starting goalie anywhere near this org unless one plays against us.

I’m sorry Pickard isn’t good enough of a goalie to go far with, I like him but he is NOT a starter, neither is Skinner. It’s the biggest hole in this org and has been McDavids entire career.

 

[Heavy Dee]

According to Elliott F, Kane and the Oilers are certainly at odds over his return. This won't end well.

 

[North]

Since I’m stupid can somebody explain what happened to our cap space accrual?

I thought we were doing that in combination with Kane on LTIR, so that this precise scenario wouldn’t happen.

Kapanen and Klingberg happened.

 

[OILFAN FOREVER]

I hope we get a speedy forward in the bottom 6 and another top 6 forward. On defenseman we need someone like Brandon Carlo. I want an upgrade in net but I don't think Bowman will go after that.

 

[Soundwave]

I've doing a complete reversal after begging the oilers to go out and get a goalie. The problem is that we have no cap space now and the market sucks.

The asking price for Gibson is apparently really high.

Binnington and the blues are 1 point out of a playoff spot.

Vejmelka is Utah's starter and 2 points out of a playoff spot.

Then enjoy watching what MacKinnon/Makar and Eichel are going to do to back up goalies in a 7 game series.

We were fortunate to have ducked that tier of forward last playoffs, JT Miller and Robertson were the best forwards we had to face en route to a Cup Final, that's not near the same tier. You can insulate Skinner against those types of forwards, but against a higher tier, you're likely screwed.

 

[CornKicker]

McLeod was brilliant in the 2023 playoffs against Vegas, our only centre to match up positively against Eichel. He had his struggles last year in not scoring but defensive play, transition, forecheck and speed are all important for a team like the Oilers- it was hard to stop us cause you had wave after wave of speed coming at you. Now, these guys aren’t scoring plus they provide none of the other parts of the game, are slow, bad on the forecheck, bad on the PK, bad defensively. Getting rid of McLeod and Holloway for not scoring in the playoffs is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We got worse.

having mcleod and holloway gave you 2 young players that have offensive upside but at WORST they are 3rd line guys that can also PK. with the age of the team i think it would have been better to keep both and let them develop. although im not a huge ditractor from the mcleod for savoie move, at least they got a player back.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Holland also overpaid Nurse.

He overpaid Nurse because Bowman overpaid Jones and set the market.
We than reward that by…hiring Bowman.

 

[North]

So our management is confident enough to go into the playoffs with Skinner as our starter? If someone did request a trade, I hope it was McDavid. What a dumb organization

What a dumb thing to say.

 

[Cloned]

Kapanen and Klingberg happened.

Can’t we just waive them and send them down?

 

[Shanahanigans]

He was bad in the 2024 playoffs and almost threw the Vancouver game 7 away by gifting them a freebie when the team was busting its ass to do everything they could to shut them down.

Holloway was a loss, but I'd probably do McLeod for Savoie again today. One has a shot of being a top 6 forward and we badly need that, McLeod doesn't.

I’d still make that trade too, but there were people last year who were claiming McLeod was trash and Henrique was better, which was clearly not the case. It was evident losing him would leave a gaping hole in our bottom 6. A good management team makes that trade and finds a real 3C as replacement (not a 35 year old who spent the last decade on a bottom feeder)

 

[Arpeggio]

According to Elliott F, Kane and the Oilers are certainly at odds over his return. This won't end well.

Is this from 32 thoughts or something new this afternoon? Wouldn't mind hearing.