Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Where's the Beef?

[TheNumber4]

Some of you are coming off like you really don’t want Emberson to succeed. Yikes.

If he's the next Devon Toews I'll be ecstatic. But that doesn't shield him from any and all criticism. Let's be real, he hasn't looked good in the Regular season. Had some positive flashes in the preseason this year and even last year. But if he's going to be realistic option on the right side, he's going to have to take some major steps forward.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Suddenly $2m doesn't seem like too much to me for Desharnais after watching our PK this year :S

He’s been healthy scratched in Vancouver.

 

[TheNumber4]

Liljegren has two years left at $3m. There's very little likelihood he's an option.

Might as well have kept Ceci if we going with Liljegren

 

[North]

I don't get what Vancouver did there. That contract was fine for a non playoff team looking to burn some cap, and with spots to fill

Desharnais simply was not good enough when the hockey got it's most intense deep in the playoffs. We didn't want him back. I don't see why Vamcouver did what they did

They were losing Zadorov and wanted someone who could fill in at a fraction of the cost not realizing that just because Desharnais is big doesn’t mean he plays like Zadorov.

 

[TheNumber4]

That makes zero sense. Low experience means exactly that, low experience. the more reps he gets the more he learns the league.....you know, gains experience.

He has the tools to be a good defender and is still young enough to learn how to play in the NHL. It's almost like people don't realize that it can be tough to play against the best players in the world, and that some players don't figure it out in their first game in the league.

To state he already "is what he is" after 33 NHL games is incredibly narrowminded thinking.

Every single player outside the NHL is "low experience" does that mean they all get better with "more experience"? No. Sometimes players just SUCK and experience has nothing to do with it.

He has SOME tools, that's why he's earned a cup of coffee. But will it be enough? We shall see, but he hasn't look near good enough and his top end potential is limited.

I'm not saying "he is what he is", but that remains more likely than not.

 

[29292929]

The best thing for Oil to find that 2RD is for Buffalo to keep tanking so they out early.

One team Oilers have swindled

 

[TheNumber4]

They’d rather be right about all their offseason whining than hope that he ends up as a productive player.

Well not me. I've liked Emberson through 2 pre-seasons already. But he hasn't looked close to good enough thus far in the Regular season.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

The best thing for Oil to find that 2RD is for Buffalo to keep tanking so they out early.

One team Oilers have swindled

Which of their two RHD are you referring to? Clifton or Jokiharju? And you think they'd run one RHD for the rest of the year?

 

[foshizzle]

Don’t know how much patience can be left for Emberson at this point. His turnover last night killed our momentum late in the 2nd period, turned into 4 straight minutes of us looking like clowns (not all Embersons fault, but it snowballed from his play).

There’s only some ability there… but probably not enough reward for the risk of trotting him out there.

His partner has been ass (Kulak)

A guy to keep an eye on is Mackenzie Blackwood.

I have time for him around the deadline...

He’d be great

 

[foshizzle]

I did buy the koolaid that broberg priced himself out of Edmonton with his offer sheet signing.....but that 3 game statline is extra spicy right now.

Currently, Holland killed the team with the Nurse signing. Broberg is better than we thought.

But no reason to come to that conclusion after 3 games unless you like wallowing--- like I do.

Broberg is getting killed right now. Dont just look at the stat line. He is leaking high danger chances against (like he did here during the playoffs) and eventually it’ll catch up

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Don’t know how much patience can be left for Emberson at this point. His turnover last night killed our momentum late in the 2nd period, turned into 4 straight minutes of us looking like clowns (not all Embersons fault, but it snowballed from his play).

There’s only some ability there… but probably not enough reward for the risk of trotting him out there.

4 games, none of them b2b in the same situation, is far too early to decide.

Game one: Next to Nurse
Game two: Next to Kulak
Game three: Press boxed
Game four: Next to Kulak

That follows a preseason where he bounced between partners too.

They need to give the guy 2 weeks in the same role during games and practices to get his feet under him before they can make that call.


Hopefully Stecher is able to keep the 2nd pairing at just a smouldering embers level, vs. the all-out forest fire we saw during the first 3 games.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Modern day Kassian, just don't play him on McDavid or Drai's wing and then overpay the hell out of him.

I'd put B. Lemieux's play closer to Ben Eager and that still feels a touch generous. Hard pass from me.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

They were losing Zadorov and wanted someone who could fill in at a fraction of the cost not realizing that just because Desharnais is big doesn’t mean he plays like Zadorov.

Desharnais grit is just randomly cross checking people infront of the net.

Zadorov was miles better at hitting and everything else

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Desharnais grit is just randomly cross checking people infront of the net.

Zadorov was miles better at hitting and everything else

It's probably why he's paid more. I would Desharnais and his elite PKing back right now.

 

[CupofOil]

Emberson? He should be able to play on special teams, ie the PK, so that's not the good news some want to think it might be. He just might not be an NHL defenseman, early returns to me look that way.

He was an NHL Dman last season.

I think it's absurd that some are ready to flush a 24 year old Dman who has shown, in albeit a small sample size, that he can play well in this league because he had 3 rough games on a new team.
Sure, lets flush him and bring in some 30+ year old cast off.

The reality is that a lot of players on the team have been off and in the NHL in general there's a lot of chaos in the early portion of the season because the offseason is long and it takes time for some players to get into the swing of things for regular season hockey. They need to give it time with Emberson, they should be developing young players not flushing them.

 

[Juxta Position]

Every single player outside the NHL is "low experience" does that mean they all get better with "more experience"? No. Sometimes players just SUCK and experience has nothing to do with it.

He has SOME tools, that's why he's earned a cup of coffee. But will it be enough? We shall see, but he hasn't look near good enough and his top end potential is limited.

I'm not saying "he is what he is", but that remains more likely than not.

You're right not every player gets better with more experience, but he has already proven over a short sample size that he has the ability to be an effective NHL player, and should improve with more time to adjust to the new team and get more comfortable in the NHL

. He played very well for 30 games on a horrifically bad San Jose team, and has now played mediocre to bad on the Oilers for 3 games. Why are you so willing to discount the good 30 games and take the 3 bad ones as who he is as a player?

Seems your mind is made up on him, no matter what he does.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

It's probably why he's paid more. I would Desharnais and his elite PKing back right now.

Is he gonna play goalie on the PK this year?

 

[oilers4life5]

One year at league minimum. I think the issue is who goes down. They are clearly reluctant to demote either Ryan or Perry. I don't see any other option. And I am about 100% sure that they want the cap space for the future.

Send down Dermot

 

[GOilers88]

I am sure he is happy in Russia

In mother Russia, puck shoots you

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Is he gonna play goalie on the PK this year?

No, but limiting shots is important too, and Vinny was great at that.

 

[stewy04]

Oilers have removed these goals from the lineup (either by choice, trade, offer sheet or injury):

Kane 24
Foegele 20
McLeod 12
Holloway 6
Gagner 5
Ceci 5
Carrick 2
Erne 1
Desharnais 1

Now sure most of those will be very easy to replace... ie Gagner/Ceci/Carrick/Erne/Desharnais will all be replaced in goal scoring by the depth on this team.

Point though is that's 76 goals gone from the lineup by players that at least had some chemistry on the team.

I would also suggest that I highly doubt Hyman can repeat his totals from last season... he could certainly drop back to being a 30-35 goal scorer again which would still be a great asset... but I doubt his 54 goal season is repeatable.

So if you add another 20 goals to the sum up above... that's ~95 goals that has to be replaced by a combination of the players new to the club and the old guard.

Oilers have new players

Podkolzin 0 goals last year
Emberson 1 goal last year
Dermott 2 goals last year
Arvidsson 6 goals last year
Skinner 24 goals last year

That's ~95 goals out and ~33 goals in.

Yes Henrique will score more BUT Henrique will have a hell of a time potting 20+ in the bottom 6 playing with the likes of Janmark and Brown who give their all but have hands of stone.

I know everyone was saying this teams strength is their offense... and it may well be because defense and goaltending are average... BUT even the offense isn't going to be able to instantly replace those ~95 goals as if it were nothing. This team has a target on their heads every game they play and I could easily see this being a regression year in terms of offense... especially when you couple that with the issues of D and in net which is never optimal for a team that is essentially forced to try and "outscore" their weaknesses and issues every single night.

I'm not exactly optimistic that the team can take their C defense and C goaltending and mix it with what might be B- offense this season... and come up with a recipe for success out of all that.

Arvidson played like 15 games and emberson 30. This is a bad take. Our offense is A plus.

 

[McShogun99]

Broberg is getting killed right now. Dont just look at the stat line. He is leaking high danger chances against (like he did here during the playoffs) and eventually it’ll catch up

Broberg looks like Nurse in the Dzone when I watch STL play. Constantly getting caved and making poor defensive decisions. He does look good when he's rushing the puck up the ice and in the Ozone.

 

[McHelpus]

Poor Desharnais, the dude is being blamed for all the defensive problems in Vancouver and he isn't even playing.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Poor Desharnais, the dude is being blamed for all the defensive problems in Vancouver and he isn't even playing.

Shows me exactly what I expected, they weren't prepared for the reality of not massively overachieving

 

[Fourier]

Send down Dermot

I suspect that they are more likely to want to have an extra defenseman than more forwards. The issue is that it can take tome to get a guy back up if there is an injury. This is one reason why team like their AHL affiliate to be close.