Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | If Babcock is Our New Coach Will Players Want to Come Here?

[Digger12]

I’ve often wondered if McDavid would have more respect for a coach if they didn’t coddle him.

It can be a real eye opener when someone finally tells you what you need to hear, rather than what you want to hear.

 

[Soundwave]

Ha. First thing I said before the playoffs even started is that Connor is being too much of a puck hog this year and it's going to bite them. Low and behold, McD was atrocious in the playoffs and his best moments actually came when he passed the puck.

Hopefully Babs told him the same thing

Yeah McDavid not passing the puck enough is the reason the Oilers haven't won a Cup, lol.

 

[ConnorNova0929]

I had heard from someone I trust (before this quote came out) that Babs was ripping on McDavid, and Connor absolute loved it

The proof will be in how they play. If they have lazy back checks and fly the zone then it's all moot

I assume that's what Babcock would be ripping him about lol. Cause what else is there. Maybe he was ripping them for staying out for the full two minutes for every PP.

 

[Soundwave]

everyone...including the players

The players shouldn't be involved in hiring a damn coach. It's like saying a 8 year old should be criticized for their driving skills if their drunk parent asks them to drive to school. First of all, they should never be put in that position to begin with.

 

[Frank the Tank]

The proof will be in how they play. If they have lazy back checks and fly the zone then it's all moot

I assume that's what Babcock would be ripping him about lol. Cause what else is there. Maybe he was ripping them for staying out for the full two minutes for every PP.

The ironic part is the whole American players fleeing Canada trend started because McDrai scored the OT series winner when both Gaudreau and Tkachuk flew the zone, opening up McDavid in the slot.

 

[Soundwave]

The proof will be in how they play. If they have lazy back checks and fly the zone then it's all moot

I assume that's what Babcock would be ripping him about lol. Cause what else is there. Maybe he was ripping them for staying out for the full two minutes for every PP.

It's not like Babcock is some defensive guru. His Leafs teams and Red Wings teams without Lidstrom were mediocre defensively, middle of the pack generally at best.

If the Oilers can be middle of the pack defensively next year that would be a significant improvement over the gong show of last season. Not good enough to compete for anything important, but at least good enough probably to be a 100+ point team again.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The players shouldn't be involved in hiring a damn coach. It's like saying a 8 year old should be criticized for their driving skills if their drunk parent asks them to drive to school. First of all, they should never be put in that position to begin with.

but they were...they interviewed him, they wanted him

 

[Frank the Tank]

The players shouldn't be involved in hiring a damn coach. It's like saying a 8 year old should be criticized for their driving skills if their drunk parent asks them to drive to school. First of all, they should never be put in that position to begin with.

Why not? The league is obviously shifting to an NBA-like situation where superstars gain more leverage and call their shots. One can either fight the trend or embrace it.

 

[foshizzle]

I'm all in on Babcock now. I have always liked his systems play- especially when he has the pieces he likes. I like the fact he ripped the core. Hopefully he has the balls to go with 2 PP units.

I'm also thinking the Oilers need to build depth vs the big whale (Tuch). Get less expensive players that combined can score close to what Tuch would at half the cost. I'd love Marchment, but he doesnt want to play in Canada. Maverick Bourque OS, Mikeyev, Marchment, etc. These are the players I am thinking. Dach wont get qualified in Montreal, and there won't be a flood of offers for a guys who cant stay healthy. May be able to lure him on a show me deal

 

[foshizzle]

I don't think betting odds take into account who our GM is.

Betting odds take into account everything. Gambling houses dont like to lose money. They have much better analytics models than even NHL teams.

 

[Soundwave]

but they were...they interviewed him, they wanted him

They shouldn't be put in that position in the first place, it's ridiculous for a front office to abdicate responsibility for a key hire like that and point to players (ie: a parent trying to blame his child for not driving correctly).

 

[ConnorNova0929]

Why not? The league is obviously shifting to an NBA-like situation where superstars gain more leverage and call their shots. One can either fight the trend or embrace it.

And McDavid took a discount specifically so the Oil can acquire players. I assume he will have some say in who the team acquires since it's "his money" they are using.

To go full NBA though he needs to be the one calling and recruiting these guys to come here.

 

[BobbytheBrain]

Yeah McDavid not passing the puck enough is the reason the Oilers haven't won a Cup, lol.

Everyone forgets they were a goal away from hoisting Lord Stanley by the doom and gloom on here. Maybe a pass in that game coulda made the difference seeing as he went pointless that game

Anyway, I'm not ripping McD for not getting us a cup. But his game this year was predictable and like I said, I called it and that's exactly what happened. Dude had 20 plus giveways every game

not a good look when he bitched about doing the same things over and over then was culprit #1 in trying to skate thru 2-3 players all the time and horrible backchecks. Just sayin, and hopefully Babs did to

 

[Soundwave]

I'm all in on Babcock now. I have always liked his systems play- especially when he has the pieces he likes. I like the fact he ripped the core. Hopefully he has the balls to go with 2 PP units.

I'm also thinking the Oilers need to build depth vs the big whale (Tuch). Get less expensive players that combined can score close to what Tuch would at half the cost. I'd love Marchment, but he doesnt want to play in Canada. Maverick Bourque OS, Mikeyev, Marchment, etc. These are the players I am thinking. Dach wont get qualified in Montreal, and there won't be a flood of offers for a guys who cant stay healthy. May be able to lure him on a show me deal

I think he will help the offensive group with depth and get a bit more out of young players than the terrified Knoblauch did.

Defensively? Good luck. And no the Oilers issues aren't all just "blame McDavid and Draisaitl for missing a back check this time!". Bouchard can be a profoundly stupid player defensively for stretches. Ekholm is declining. Walman can also prone to making mistakes, Murphy is not young and injury prone, etc. etc. There's no goalie to insulate any of this either.

If Babcock can get them back to being more middle of the pack for GA instead of bottom 6, that's probably a good job given what we have to work with. But that's not a legit Cup contender either.

I think the team will be more akin to the Woodcroft era Oilers, which makes sense given Woodcroft is a Babcock disciple.

 

[Soundwave]

And McDavid took a discount specifically so the Oil can acquire players. I assume he will have some say in who the team acquires since it's "his money" they are using.

To go full NBA though he needs to be the one calling and recruiting these guys to come here.

The Oilers don't have the cap space to do that super-teaming type stuff even if players wanted to go out of their way to come here. The Miami Heat cleared salary for several years leading into the off-season where they were able to sign LeBron and Bosh, the Oilers front office has done no such thing, spending like druken sailor's on regrettable contracts like Frederic and Jarry and Mangiapane that they had to pay out the ass to get out of.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The problem is that Oilers fan's have an unrealistic expectations.

Marchand isn't asking to play Edmonton.

Tkachuck isn't asking to play in Edmonton.

Marner isn't asking to play in Edmonton.

Pietrangelo isn't asking to play in Edmonton.

Heck even Panarin forced a trade to LA.

Teams like Vegas and Florida have good management group's but let's not pretend that these GM's had freebies. This doesn't even factor in the no state tax debacle.

My "unrealistic expectation" is basic competency. Part of the reason we can't attract guys like those is because we can't afford them since we keep overpaying for middling players.

There's a vicious cycle that repeats itself with the mismanaged orgs:

Can't draft for beans so have to pay to fix holes in the lineup.
Can't judge value so we make poor trades (Jarry)
Can't identify talent worth acquiring or retaining
Continuously overpaying for players that "want to stay".

Sure, weather and tax are valid concerns for not wanting to play in Edmonton, but players can identify which teams are better run than others. We all certainly hate Florida and Vegas but there's no question they're way better managed than we are since their main focus is on winning.

An even slight uptick in management and we'd probably have at least a Cup or two by now but we keep making the same awful mistakes. Nothing Bowman has done to this point has convinced me he's better than his predecessors and the Frederic contract/Jarry trade have me believing he's even worse.

 

[McTonyBrar]

 

[Arpeggio]

I don't think Florida acquiring Brady Tkachuk makes them a "superteam". Even if they get Helybuck (spelling who cares) I don't think that makes them unbeatable. Hockey doesn't work like that. Yes, the no-tax teams have a massive advantage in acquiring players. However, despite that, Florida was awful this year, and Vegas wasn't a great team either (easiest path to a finals that I can remember before being handled fairly easily by Carolina).

Florida will certainly be a playoff team, and Vegas will always be around, but the Oilers have the two best players in just about every game they play (not to mention a Norris-level defenceman). There is no excuse for the Oilers not being able to compete with teams like that. We don't have to acquire the top-end talent, they already have it. Build a god damn bottom-nine, get an AVERAGE goalie and the Oilers will be fine.

It's why the Bowman era is so frustrating to me. The Oilers didn't need to acquire Rantanen or Marner (though it would've been nice!). They just needed to not spend 13 million bucks on Trent Frederic, Mangiapane, and Jarry. There is a way to do this right.

 

[Louis Cypher]

They have about 10.5 million in cap

Assume Murphy is 4.5 million of that
Then A Back Up Goalie for 1.5 million
Resign Dach for like 1.3 mill
Then a 7 D-Man for 1 mill

That's down to 2.2 million of cap space left, but add say $5 million from dumping Nurse potentially for a cheaper 3LD, that's about 7.7 mill remaining for a forward add, say 5.5 ish spent on a player like DeBrusk, and 2 mill left remaining for the trade deadline.

Babcock is your coaching hire, he will improve the offence and team consistency from last year, but don't expect defensive miracles, his Toronto teams and Detroit teams without Lidstrom were generally middle of the pack at best defensively most of the time, some times worse.

Roslovic and Kapanen walk, then factor in some aging decline for guys like Hyman, RNH, and Ekholm but some improvement for young players like Savoie and Podkolzin.

Kap and Rosco are just testing the waters. They may circle back. Kap would be nice. Rosco would have to be cheap.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Betting odds take into account everything. Gambling houses dont like to lose money. They have much better analytics models than even NHL teams.

There's no analytics for "Let's make a horrific trade for a goalie even worse than the one the fanbase wanted to nail to the cross".

 

[McBooya42]

I wouldn't mind interviewing him at least. No one else is hiring Babcock anyway, it's not like we are on some clock. Babcock will still be there a month from now, two months from now.

What don't you get about them 100% hiring Babcock. That's who they are hiring 100%. Zero doubt. That's who they all want, 100%. That's their man. No one else. Do you understand who they are hiring?

 

[Paralyzer]

GREAT DEAL!

 

[canhi80]

 

[Soundwave]

Betting odds take into account everything. Gambling houses dont like to lose money. They have much better analytics models than even NHL teams.

Betting odds always are drawn to shiny superstars, we have the best player in the league, we'll always have decent bet odds, we did going into last year too.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

5 years for a 33 year old....

Can't wait to hear about the awesome trade protection he has.