Rumors Proposals Thread Post Deadline Apocalypse 3rd Times A Charm Stu Stu Stupider Management May the Schwartz be with You

[aggressive forecheck]

I had an interesting discussion with some work colleagues. Would the Oilers have the balls to do what St Louis did when Bennington was called up and given a chance to run with it? I said absolutely not because Oilers value over the hill aging veterans over young players. Having said that- I’d love to see Oilers start Rodrigue next game- but they won’t. Have to play Pickard- who won’t likely be here next year

People complain about Skinner's lack of mobility, people need to rewatch the game from yesterday. Campbell crashed and burnt but at least he could move faster than a glacier.

 

[PitkanensGitch]

People complain about Skinner's lack of mobility, people need to rewatch the game from yesterday. Campbell crashed and burnt but at least he could move faster than a glacier.

Pickard is atrocious, yet beating Skinner in every statistic. Skinner is atrocious as well. It's not like we're running a bottom of the barrel d corps anymore -- yet we're getting league worst goaltending.

Have to put Rodrigue in. His numbers aren't even good but what other hope do we have? Try bringing up Delia before playoffs too. Might get some kind of Silovs show.

 

[Oilhawks]

I’m not sold the D is difference making better. Ekholm playing sick and hurt he has been a lot worse the entire 2nd half and Bouchard has been nowhere near as good. Nurse and Kulak have been much better. The rest? So so.

JMO.

Best d corps in the McDrai era, after the addition of Walman. They need a healthy Ekholm and less brain dead Bouchard though

Not crazy about the rotation for bottom pair RD but it is what it is. (Emberson f***ed up, he should have taken whatever deal he was offered, I wouldn’t pay him much now)

 

[aggressive forecheck]

Best d corps in the McDrai era, after the addition of Walman. They need a healthy Ekholm and less brain dead Bouchard though

Not crazy about the rotation for bottom pair RD but it is what it is. (Emberson f***ed up, he should have taken whatever deal he was offered, I wouldn’t pay him much now)

You've been drinking the kool-aid. This defense needs a rebuild.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Best d corps in the McDrai era, after the addition of Walman. They need a healthy Ekholm and less brain dead Bouchard though

Because of your second statement this is not the best d-corps of the McDrai era. Until Ekholm is back to how he was earlier this season and the last two, we aren't quite there yet... Walman is good, but I'm not sure he's what we needed.

Then again, maybe Walman is what we needed and our goaltending is just so god-awful with every defensive mistake being an auto-goal that the D looks so much worse than they actually are.

I mean in just one period, Olivier Rodrigue, an average AHL starter, looked better than both Skinner and Pickard have looked for most of the season. I really do believe that Skinner and Pickard would've been on waivers on any other team this season. Skinner 100% would've been AHL-bound playing the way he did in October on just about any of the 31 other teams. He outright lost us a few games between October and November. And even a couple when the team was playing well...

 

[McFlash97]

If I was owner. Bowman would have been fired the day after he decided not to match Holloway.

Inexplicable stupitidy

 

[MessierThanThou]

Pickard is atrocious, yet beating Skinner in every statistic. Skinner is atrocious as well. It's not like we're running a bottom of the barrel d corps anymore -- yet we're getting league worst goaltending.

Have to put Rodrigue in. His numbers aren't even good but what other hope do we have? Try bringing up Delia before playoffs too. Might get some kind of Silovs show.

Not technically league-worst, just third worst in the league. Of course our defense is objectively superior by every measure, in every possible way, to the defense and defensive systems of the teams below us, so a really strong argument can be made that our goaltending is not only the worst in the league, but the worst by leaps and bounds, and both Skinner and Pickard would be in the AHL anywhere else.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Man if we don’t get some big guns back real fast I honestly think we miss the playoffs, and to make it worse the Flames might take our spot.

If it happens it’s 100% deserved.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Man if we don’t get some big guns back real fast I honestly think we miss the playoffs, and to make it worse the Flames might take our spot.

If it happens it’s 100% deserved.

Also, you know that 2nd rounder we got for Broberg?

We traded it for Frederic...who may never play for us.

So it's very possible we literally just gave away Broberg.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Best d corps in the McDrai era, after the addition of Walman. They need a healthy Ekholm and less brain dead Bouchard though

Not crazy about the rotation for bottom pair RD but it is what it is. (Emberson f***ed up, he should have taken whatever deal he was offered, I wouldn’t pay him much now)

It’s a pretty low bar though, you must admit.

 

[McFlash97]

Missing the playoffs almost feels like a blessing in disguise. I want every member of the Oilers management fired in the most emphatic way possible.

Like Katz or someone coming out and apologizing for the ineptitude of all of the clowns he's hired and then proceeding to shxx on thier performance. Maybe throw a few slurs in there too.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Ekholm this year is concerning me. He really doesn’t look like the player he was last year.

 

[aggressive forecheck]

Also, you know that 2nd rounder we got for Broberg?

We traded it for Frederic...who may never play for us.

So it's very possible we literally just gave away Broberg.

The Flames have a shitload of cap space. I guarantee they offer more for Frederic than the Oil possibly can. That's the narrative the league runs with. Someone from calgary puck will pass on the message. Good. Maybe it will wake someone up.

 

[aggressive forecheck]

Ekholm this year is concerning me. He really doesn’t look like the player he was last year.

He's old. He's broken down covering for Bouchard.

The Oilers will not give Ekholm the adequate time to rest any more than they'll give him a suitable defense partner.

And by the way, you were right about Skinner the whole time.

I wish Beerfish was still here. He taught me a lesson or two.

 

[BIeucheeseWithWings]

Not even sure why you'd post this. The odds of them being let go are pretty close to zero.

Okay, Eklund.

 

[BIeucheeseWithWings]

Thanks for sharing. This is really interesting stuff, wish we (I) had access to Valiquette's full information. It certainly reinforces the massive weakness in Skinner's game and the poor fit with the Oilers who don't give up volume rush chances against but when they do it's often a jailbreak situation. Though the in zone, more stable defending situation where he is very good suggests on a different team and structure he can be good.

A tell for me about Skinner was watching him in shootouts, the ultimate rush situation, where I always felt he looked both uncomfortable but very vulnerable. Given the small sample size, and statistically insignificance, I didn't pay much attention but it stayed in my gut that there seemed a prospective issue. His results reinforce that with .556 (5 SV on 9 Chances) in 2023-24; .400 (2 SV on 5 Chances) in 2022-23. Now he was perfect in 2021-22 with 2 saves on 2 shots. This season he is .000 (0 SV on 2 Chances).

Now I can't find more comprehensive data about goaltender shootout statistics but this link suggests goalies have an all-time shootout SV% average of .678 SV% Average Shootout Save Percentage For Goalies | StatMuse .

It is yet another management fail to not supplement this vital position they've entrusted their window years in the hands of a flawed, development phase goaltender.

If I recall correctly, he has his own company which supplies information to clubs. The guy knows his craft.

 

[aggressive forecheck]

It’s a pretty low bar though, you must admit.

Who sets that?

 

[North]

Best d corps in the McDrai era, after the addition of Walman. They need a healthy Ekholm and less brain dead Bouchard though

Not crazy about the rotation for bottom pair RD but it is what it is. (Emberson f***ed up, he should have taken whatever deal he was offered, I wouldn’t pay him much now)

Yup. He started reading his clippings and decided to be difficult.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

If I recall correctly, he has his own company which supplies information to clubs. The guy knows his craft.

Yes, he owns Clear Sight Analytics. I think most of their information is proprietary versus public domain. Our-team | United States | Clear Sight Analytics and What-we-do | United States | Clear Sight Analytics

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Interesting thoughts from Valiquette here on Skinner at the 56 min mark. He says that off the rush, Skinner has the second worst save % in the NHL (PTSD from the winning Stanley cup goal) because he is terrible at managing speed, gap, and backing up. His in zone goaltending has been good with a top 5 save %. This was earlier in the year. I think that his in-zone goaltending has taken a massive dive. Valiquette goes on to say that off the rush, whether odd man or full, Skinner isn’t an NHL goalie. In zone he is. I wonder if these are the numbers Boman was speaking about having. Regardless- it’s the NHL- rush chances are a thing. To me- these seem like the traits of a back up goalie- not a starter.

This is why the prospect of facing the Avs terrifies me

 

[McFlash97]

Ekholm this year is concerning me. He really doesn’t look like the player he was last year.

Sweden trying to bench him did him in. Guys lost his swag

 

[foshizzle]

You've been drinking the kool-aid. This defense needs a rebuild.

Huh? It’s a statistical fact.

 

[Heavy Dee]

If I was owner. Bowman would have been fired the day after he decided not to match Holloway.

Inexplicable stupitidy

Katz must be losing this mind behind the scenes. Between Bowman and Jackson, I bet he is paying them 10 million usd a year for this lol. They couldn't even figure out they needed goaltending at the deadline . Unbelievable.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Ekholm this year is concerning me. He really doesn’t look like the player he was last year.

He’s been deathly sick and playing injured since well before the 4N.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

The team misses Vinny Desharnais. Vinny kind of sucks and probably ain’t an every day playoff guy but the skill set he brings is such a badly needed niche here and that’s why he worked. He complimented Kulak perfectly and shut things down around our net. Emberson, Stecher, Klingberg, not one of these guys has been nearly as effective.

He had his uses for PK/physicality but you just cannot bring him back at 2 million and there's a reason why he's been moved around so much this year. You can't blame him for taking that deal too. He had to. He's a 7th round pick overager who was likely taking his only chance at a paycheck above league minimum.