Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | The Oilers Biggest Roster Need Is?

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I remember the prospects camp the Oilers held at Downtown Community Arena the year they drafted Broberg. They even paired Broberg and Bouchard for drills.

At the time Broberg was light years a better skater than Bouchard. Bouchard has become much better.

Jiricek would be nice but I don't see how he helps us win a cup this year.

True, just like how Broberg was not going to have any impact on the team last year.

Getting better is getting better.

 

[McBooya42]

You move Savoie in a deal if it means you get Jiricek. What Savoie does in his ELC isn't irreplaceable. He's a secondary winger that's going to get some level of production boost from playing with elites. We've seen how the payscale works in the past.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

I'm not saying Skinner would be a better goalie if you paid him more.

I'm saying when you rely on a single, non-established (therefore low pay) young goaltender and a career AHL / replacement level goaltender to back him up... both coached by a goalie-coach that has a documented history of mediocrity (at best), and both of whom have been selected by an organization that has a twenty year history of not finding a solid goalie... and refused to pay the last HoF goalie they had.

Well then maybe just maybe there is a systematic problem, and you get what you've paid for. And therefore maybe your ire should be directed elsewhere. Your goaltending isn't letting you down. It's doing exactly what a rational person would expect of it... which is to say not much.

If you want to expect good goaltending, you've got to give a $#!+ about it.


Also just to highlight once again:
OILERS SHOOTING PERCENTAGE = 6th worst in the league
OILERS SAVE PERCENTAGE = 10th worst in the league

Our goaltending is BAD, but it is actually outperforming our putrid offense. And where are we spending our money?

It’s not though. A rational person expects NHL numbers from your goalie. I don’t understand why you think it’s acceptable regardless of pay, coaching or anything for a player to be the worst in the league at his position.

Your Oilers shooting % stat means nothing. Not sure where you are going with that. We are still 15th in the league for goals despite that.

 

[belair]

I remember the prospects camp the Oilers held at Downtown Community Arena the year they drafted Broberg. They even paired Broberg and Bouchard for drills.

At the time Broberg was light years a better skater than Bouchard. Bouchard has become much better.

Jiricek would be nice but I don't see how he helps us win a cup this year.

Broberg almost helped us win one last year. At the same point we were making the same comment about him.

Jiricek is a high pedigree RD with two years of ELC left. He'd fill an immediate need of an effective puck transporting RD at a fraction of what it would cost in terms of cap dollars.

If the cost of acquiring him is similar to what it would cost for a rental to address the same need, you can argue that it's the better option if you plan to spend your cap dollars elsewhere.

 

[iCanada]

Look... you were the one that CHOSE to present the two as equivalent because "math said so".

You lost all credibility with that one and just served to highlight that the models are highly imperfect and often quoted by people who don't understand math, or hockey, or both. Notes of emphasis: a) 0.003 DOES NOT round up to 0.01 and b) nobody in their right mind would present those goals as objectively equal.

Next time, just say you are a fan and emotionally upset about our goaltending and leave it at that. You are of course allowed to wish for better goaltending (though I still question why people would expect it, or feel entitled to it, based on where we invest our cap dollars).

No - it's a floor minimum. All goals will round up to a minimum shown 0.01 xGF on the graphic.

This is an error I admitted to like 5 posts ago and corrected several times.

I'll admit it again - I made an error. The Reinhart goal wasn't as bad as letting in the Draisaitl goal on a single attempt, but if after three dump ins he lets it in. They aren't equal. But objectively - the Reinhart goal is pretty damn bad.

The reality is - even if you absolutely Steelman your argument and we say that we disagree with the xGF assessment of the goal from multiple models by a factor of 10 - it's still a goal that Skinner should save more than 90% of the time.

Frankly - I will make errors again, and if I realize I have made them I will correct them. I'm sure you'll make errors as well, we all do, that's part of the human experience. You refuse to acknowledge that I admitted I made an error, and that after the correction it's still damning, and instead just hammer on the fact that I made an error. It's kind of exhausting and not really conducive to discussion, frankly.

 

[Slats432]

True, just like how Broberg was not going to have any impact on the team last year.

Getting better is getting better.

I agree, I don't disagree totally with how the Oilers handled him. He had opportunity here, didn't take advantage and/or got banged up at all the wrong times.

Jiricek is going to be a top 4 in the NHL, I believe, but it won't be this year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It’s not though. A rational person expects NHL numbers from your goalie. I don’t understand why you think it’s acceptable regardless of pay, coaching or anything for a player to be the worst in the league at his position.

Your Oilers shooting % stat means nothing. Not sure where you are going with that. We are still 15th in the league for goals despite that.

It's simple, when you invest in offense your team should be better than 18th in the league in Gf/G. When you don't invest in goaltending, and haven't since the days of Grant Fuhr, this is what you get. It's not a secret that the Oilers haven't prioritized goaltending in an extremely long time, especially since their Plan A (with no plan B) in Campbell failed on a Nikolai Khabibulin-sized level.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I agree, I don't disagree totally with how the Oilers handled him. He had opportunity here, didn't take advantage and/or got banged up at all the wrong times.

Jiricek is going to be a top 4 in the NHL, I believe, but it won't be this year.

That's fair, but if he can push up on the roster, that's better and it's not JUST about this year, young cheap guys are going to be huge for this team, and Jiricek is much closer to the NHL then anyone else in the systme.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

It's simple, when you invest in offense your team should be better than 18th in the league in Gf/G. When you don't invest in goaltending, and haven't since the days of Grant Fuhr, this is what you get. It's not a secret that the Oilers haven't prioritized goaltending in an extremely long time, especially since their Plan A (with no plan B) in Campbell failed on a Nikolai Khabibulin-sized level.

So because they decided to go top heavy it’s acceptable for a 2.6 million dollar goalie to be the worst goalie in the entire league. Agree to disagree.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

So because they decided to go top heavy it’s acceptable for a 2.6 million dollar goalie to be the worst goalie in the entire league. Agree to disagree.

I'm saying that the team that's designed to score isn't scoring, and that there's a reason goaltending has been an issue for this team for well over a decade and hasn't developed a goalie properly in 40 years.

Whoever scouted Jack Campbell (very likely Dustin Schwartz) should be out of a job as he set the team back years.

 

[McJadeddog]

So there is lots of conversation around tending, and rightfully so. I've been monitoring Rodrigue for quite some time now though, and I'm wondering why we are so adverse to giving this guy a shot? Honestly, it would be hard for him to be worse than Skinner at this point, and it isn't like the guy is 19 years old. He was drafted in 2018 and is 24 years old. He has 99 AHL starts and 15 ECHL starts. He is not some raw rookie.

He has consistently increased his counting stats in the AHL on year over year basis.

He is currently 8th in save% in the league, and was 10th in both 2023-24 and 2022-23. He has consistently been in the top end of the AHL for 3 straight seasons now.

He never seems to get talked about as an option at all. I get that he is small-ish for a tender nowadays, at only 6'1", but his stats are for real. It's weird to me that they haven't given him at least a game or 2 to see what we have here.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

I'm saying that the team that's designed to score isn't scoring, and that there's a reason goaltending has been an issue for this team for well over a decade and hasn't developed a goalie properly in 40 years.

Whoever scouted Jack Campbell (very likely Dustin Schwartz) should be out of a job as he set the team back years.

Be better than the worst in the league and I’ll stop complaining. Pretty low bar.

 

[FunkyChicken]

Don't think the Oilers have any available roster players that would interest the Blue Jackets.
Maybe Emberson and Podkolzin but we can't afford to lose their grit.
Probably looking at straight prospect trade for Jiricek.
Savoie + 3rd rounder?
Beau, O'Reilly + 3rd rounder?

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Be better than the worst in the league and I’ll stop complaining. Pretty low bar.

Then you know who to direct your anger towards: The guy responsible for this whole mess.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Don't think the Oilers have any available roster players that would interest the Blue Jackets.
Maybe Emberson and Podkolzin but we can't afford to lose their grit.
Probably looking at straight prospect trade for Jiricek.
Savoie + 3rd rounder?
Beau, O'Reilly + 3rd rounder?

Why are we adding picks to those?

Then you know who to direct your anger towards: The guy responsible for this whole mess.

I do. The guy not stopping any pucks.

 

[Canovin]

Then you know who to direct your anger towards: The guy responsible for this whole mess.

If the goalie isn't good. Just say he's not good enough. Why keep on bringing up Schwartz like he's the one playing in net? That's like saying Knob is responsible for RNH playing so vanilla

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Why are we adding picks to those?


I do. The guy not stopping any pucks.

And who's been teaching the goalies not to stop pucks for the past 10 years? Who's the one who scouted Jack Campbell? It wasn't Skinner, I can tell you that.

If the goalie isn't good. Just say he's not good enough. Why keep on bringing up Schwartz like he's the one playing in net? That's like saying Knob is responsible for RNH playing so vanilla

When the goaltending has been an issue for as long as he's been around (and quite frankly much longer), then perhaps we need to ask ourselves why the same problems keep persisting with every goalie we acquire.

If someone sucks at their job for 10 years do you keep them around?

 

[Canovin]

And who's been teaching the goalies not to stop pucks for the past 10 years? Who's the one who scouted Jack Campbell? It wasn't Skinner, I can tell you that.

When the goaltending has been an issue for as long as he's been around (and quite frankly much longer), then perhaps we need to ask ourselves why the same problems keep persisting with every goalie we acquire.

If someone sucks at their job for 10 years do you keep them around?

Schwartz is the reason Skinner is still in the NHL. If Skinner was on another team, he would have been in the AHL right now. The guy is so bad at his job that he doesn't even know the better goalie for the Oilers is sitting in the AHL

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Schwartz is the reason Skinner is still in the NHL. If Skinner was on another team, he would have been in the AHL right now.

If Schwartz was on another team he would've been fired years ago. Then again I don't think anyone would've hired him to begin with. Look no further than his protege Tristan Jarry.

 

[Canovin]

If Schwartz was on another team he would've been fired years ago. Then again I don't think anyone would've hired him to begin with. Look no further than his protege Tristan Jarry.

I agree Skinner and Schwartz should both be gone. Both terrible at what they do.

 

[FunkyChicken]

Why are we adding picks to those?

Because Jiricek is better.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I agree Skinner and Schwartz should both be gone. Both terrible at what they do.

One costs nothing to replace. Get a better goalie coach and see if Skinner can improve. That's the most cost effective move for the team. We lack the cap space and assets to acquire a surefire upgrade in net and I wouldn't trust Schwartz to scout if the sun comes up every day, never mind an upgrade.

 

[dem]

Why is Columbus trading Jiricek?

I know nothing about the guy except he was a high first rounder.

 

[iCanada]

So there is lots of conversation around tending, and rightfully so. I've been monitoring Rodrigue for quite some time now though, and I'm wondering why we are so adverse to giving this guy a shot? Honestly, it would be hard for him to be worse than Skinner at this point, and it isn't like the guy is 19 years old. He was drafted in 2018 and is 24 years old. He has 99 AHL starts and 15 ECHL starts. He is not some raw rookie.

He has consistently increased his counting stats in the AHL on year over year basis.

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He is currently 8th in save% in the league, and was 10th in both 2023-24 and 2022-23. He has consistently been in the top end of the AHL for 3 straight seasons now.

He never seems to get talked about as an option at all. I get that he is small-ish for a tender nowadays, at only 6'1", but his stats are for real. It's weird to me that they haven't given him at least a game or 2 to see what we have here.

Perhaps an interesting comparison would be Dustin Wolf, whose about the same size at 6'0 166 lbs and also 24.

Obviously Rodriguez starts are not quite as good, but you know what, maybe there actually is a player there.

The other interesting comparison I think would be Skinner himself, honestly, who had sightly worse stats at the same age with a better condors team when he graduated.

Olivier didn't exactly inspire confidence in the preseason though, tbh.

 

[Scrapin Ice]

Those wanting to trade for Jiricek have stars in their eyes and for obvious reasons.
However unless your a high end skating coach that has been observing Jiricek for some time its probably better to step back and analyze our situation.
Limited quality assets. We need to use some of those as we are in a win now and i mean now not the year end situation. And we need some for the TD.
Optimally we need a fast skating somewhat two way but more defensive type D with at least somewhat of a quality record. We need at least one goalie capable of playing 40 ish games +.900 and hopefully capable of .910 and steady (occasionally to steal one would be a plus). Further it would be nice to have a 4th line cycle guy with grit and skating and puck battle.

Don't get me wrong would love to have Jiricek's passing. But there are at least a handful of teams in better situations than ourselves to chase him.
If Bowman actually spends the assets it would take its probably a mistake that could/should cost him his job.