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

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I feel he came back too early last year. He should sat out the heritage classic. He was hurt all last season. If he wasn’t he lost his hockey iq

You mean the guy who was the first player in multiple decades to put up 40+ points in one playoffs?

I get wanting to be cautious, and it's fine for use to speculate related to the coaches or the managers, but we do not know more about how Connor McDavid feels about his health than Connor McDavid, for f*** sakes.

 

[K1984]

You mean the guy who was the first player in multiple decades to put up 40+ points in one playoffs?

I get wanting to be cautious, and it's fine for use to speculate related to the coaches or the managers, but we do not know more about how Connor McDavid feels about his health than Connor McDavid, for f*** sakes.

There are a lot, and I mean a lot of things that drive me crazy on this board, but defaulting to "he's back too early!" based on absolutely zero knowledge whatsoever might be #1.

As if McDavid and the Oilers medical team are going to take a massive risk with him to get him back a game early.

 

[Oilslick941611]

You mean the guy who was the first player in multiple decades to put up 40+ points in one playoffs?

I get wanting to be cautious, and it's fine for use to speculate related to the coaches or the managers, but we do not know more about how Connor McDavid feels about his health than Connor McDavid, for f*** sakes.

Were the playoffs last November? When he came back too early from an injury and played like ass and not like Connor and turned into a frustrating pass first play and never shot the puck?

Or were the playoffs in April?

There are a lot, and I mean a lot of things that drive me crazy on this board, but defaulting to "he's back too early!" based on absolutely zero knowledge whatsoever might be #1.

As if McDavid and the Oilers medical team are going to take a massive risk with him to get him back a game early.

I’m not saying he’s back too early, I’m saying he better be 100%

 

[K1984]

Were the playoffs last November? When he came back too early from an injury and played like ass and not like Connor and turned into a frustrating pass first play and never shot the puck?

Or were the playoffs in April?


I’m not saying he’s back too early, I’m saying he better be 100%

That's the same thing.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Were the playoffs last November? When he came back too early from an injury and played like ass and not like Connor and turned into a frustrating pass first play and never shot the puck?

Or were the playoffs in April?


I’m not saying he’s back too early, I’m saying he better be 100%

Again, you complain about GM and Coaching moves all day, but you DO NOT know more about Connor McDavid's health and effectiveness, how Connor McDavid feels on the ice, than Connor f***ing McDavid.

You never have and you never will, you're just throwing things at the wall.


Also I don't know what you think "100%" but you play this violent sports as long and as much as McDavid does, there, truly, is no 100%.

 

[Soundwave]

Ya considering the extensive recoveries he’s been through, I think it’s safe to assume he knows he’s ready

You can see in the video he's putting full body weight on the left leg/ankle and gliding with zero problem.

Sometimes an ankle sprain is just an ankle sprain, not the end of the world. I've sprained my ankle about 100 times and played sports through it.

If it was a high ankle sprain that would be a different story, but there's no way possible he'd be able to move like that if he had a high ankle sprain.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

For what it's worth I saw McDavid and Lauren out walking over the weekend - passed right by them on the sidewalk - and he was walking without a hint of a limp. Looked pretty good and I didn't figure he'd be out as long as expected.

 

[Oilslick941611]

That's the same thing.

It’s not. But you do you.


We know he doesn’t like missing games and he just wants to get back out but when you had an estimated 2-3 week injury and your back in less than week you can ask questions. It’s our best interest have Connor back at 100% especially with how unmcdavid the guy has looked.

Again, you complain about GM and Coaching moves all day, but you DO NOT know more about Connor McDavid's health and effectiveness, how Connor McDavid feels on the ice, than Connor f***ing McDavid.

You never have and you never will, you're just throwing things at the wall.


Also I don't know what you think "100%" but you play this violent sports as long and as much as McDavid does, there, truly, is no 100%.

What? I never complain about the GM or coaching moves like ever. I preach patience and give time to gel.

I want the healthiest McDavid possible. That’s it.

But you are right. We don’t know anything about anything even you.

 

[FlameChampion]

Stauffer kind of calling out management

He said the roster knows the defence is worse than last year and he’s getting the feeling the core is waiting for the other shoe to drop on defence from Stan Bowman.

He also is finally calling out the goaltending and says at some point management has to take responsibility for the choices they made in the offseason.

Wishfully thinking he’s throwing out hints?

Feels weird that he is calling out JJ/Bowman so early into their tenure. Usually Stauffer is calling them out when they are leaving.

It shouldn’t be that surprising though. This team doesn’t look right and almost every off season decision hasn’t worked.

Literally every player who left is doing better on another team and every player brought in looks washed.

I would personally wait because history shows that this team doesn’t get going until January. But winning division is probably not going to happen. And probably the biggest question is why the same thing keeps happening?

I feel like management and players are too arrogant and keep just expecting things to work out rather than doing anything.

I was fine with not matching the offer sheets because I didn’t think either guy was worth it either personally. But I think the whole, lets not do anything and accrue cap space is such a bad play. If they wanted to accrue cap space than they need to figure out a way to actually make cap space. Difficult conversations and difficult decisions.

It doesn’t feel like organization is proactive or progressive. Everything is reactionary. Everyone feels too comfortable.

 

[FunkyChicken]

Giddy Up. McDavid knows his body and even has his own medical people, if he's back, it's because he knows he can.

Plus they only lost one game. lol

Wolverine

 

[VeteranPresence]

I imagine Connor had a lot of immediate swelling and discomfort- how could you not?- which worried him/the doctors, but that was the worst of it and the imaging for structural damage was probably negative. That doesn't explain his unwillingness to shoot pucks for going on two years now, but his foot healing from a hard blow against a harder surface in about a week's time is not totally unexpected IMO.

 

[K1984]

It’s not. But you do you.


We know he doesn’t like missing games and he just wants to get back out but when you had an estimated 2-3 week injury and your back in less than week you can ask questions. It’s our best interest have Connor back at 100% especially with how unmcdavid the guy has looked.


What? I never complain about the GM or coaching moves like ever. I preach patience and give time to gel.

I want the healthiest McDavid possible. That’s it.

But you are right. We don’t know anything about anything even you.

You claim that "he better be 100%!" is different than "he's back too early!" then you go on to say that he's coming back too early.

 

[Oilslick941611]

You claim that "he better be 100%!" is different than "he's back too early!" then you go on to say that he's coming back too early.

No. I said you can ask questions. You are coming to conclusions i didn’t make.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

My question is, will McDavid actually shoot the puck now?

 

[FlameChampion]

I imagine Connor had a lot of immediate swelling and discomfort- how could you not?- which worried him/the doctors, but that was the worst of it and the imaging for structural damage was probably negative. That doesn't explain his unwillingness to shoot pucks for going on two years now, but his foot healing from a hard blow against a harder surface in about a week's time is not totally unexpected IMO.

I don’t personally know what to make of season so far. Some people think he’s still nursing an injury from last year.

If his medical team and healing is so good, you wouldn’t think that is the case. But who actually knows.

Part of me wonders if he has actually peaked. I think its inevitable hes going to lose his speed and explosiveness to some degree. But I would still think he should have a decent shot and be able to handle the puck. But he’s struggling bad with that.

Maybe he has some kind of bad hand/wrist injury that he hasn’t disclosed.

Hopefully he looks more like himself. We need him to be close to the player he can be if we want to have meaningful success.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

My question is, will McDavid actually shoot the puck now?

He is shooting the puck this year.

 

[Soundwave]

When we were 0-3 I was listening to Oilers now and Stuaffer said something to the effect of "Oilers need to figure out why it is then can never get a save every single October."

Truer words have never been said, and this pre-dates Skinner. Talbot, Smith, Campbell and Koskinen had these issues every October as well. There's only one common thread there.

In Talbot's case unfortunately we were a much more immature group at that time. McDavid and Draisaitl were not the caliber of players they are now (Leon especially). He also had a major life change with the birth of his twins.

Also Klefbom's shoulder was basically screwed and Sekera was out, that was 2/3 top D-Man, and here you have people crying about Ceci out. That was far, far worse.

 

[Canovin]

For what it's worth I saw McDavid and Lauren out walking over the weekend - passed right by them on the sidewalk - and he was walking without a hint of a limp. Looked pretty good and I didn't figure he'd be out as long as expected.

Casually walking in front of McDavid's house I see.

 

[Soundwave]

I knew McDavid would be back for this game. You could see it in his skating video from two days ago, he was moving better than 99% of the players in the league. The only way he was going to continue to sit would have been if he had pain or swelling after the practice.

 

[McShogun99]

Casually walking in front of McDavid's house I see.

He should have never put his house on youtube. Probably gets people everyday going on a casual stroll/drive on his street.

 

[Oilslick941611]

I don’t personally know what to make of season so far. Some people think he’s still nursing an injury from last year.

If his medical team and healing is so good, you wouldn’t think that is the case. But who actually knows.

Part of me wonders if he has actually peaked. I think its inevitable hes going to lose his speed and explosiveness to some degree. But I would still think he should have a decent shot and be able to handle the puck. But he’s struggling bad with that.

Maybe he has some kind of bad hand/wrist injury that he hasn’t disclosed.

Hopefully he looks more like himself. We need him to be close to the player he can be if we want to have meaningful success.

I hate to admit it. But this has been in the back of head since the start of last year but I don’t want to admit it. He’s only turning 28 this year and it’s absurd to think about it. He’s still putting up points but his game changed.

Surely we are just being paranoid. Or maybe just expecting too much. Either way I don’t want to give it much thought.

 

[Fourier]

Were the playoffs last November? When he came back too early from an injury and played like ass and not like Connor and turned into a frustrating pass first play and never shot the puck?

Or were the playoffs in April?


I’m not saying he’s back too early, I’m saying he better be 100%

I am going to guess that 99% of the league plays games where they are not really close to100% over the course of a season. The real questions are: 1) Is he at risk of aggravating the injury due to playing to early, and 2) Is he fit enough that he can play at a level that he helps the team.

As to 1) the team will know what the status of the injury is. If there is no current structural issue then its really about how he feels.

 

[Oilslick941611]

I am going to guess that 99% of the league plays games where they are not really close to100% over the course of a season. The real questions are: 1) Is he at risk of aggravating the injury due to playing to early, and 2) Is he fit enough that he can play at a level that he helps the team.

As to 1) the team will know what the status of the injury is. If there is no current structural issue then its really about how he feels.

For me it’s more the passing and giving up grade A scoring chances and passing the puck when he’s in great position to score. It’s like the killer instinct disappeared. Maybe he just made a conscious decision to score less goals and spread the wealth around. But the team lacks a killer instinct. He scored 60 goals then stopped shooting. There has be a physical reason for that right ?

I’m really just spitballing and stream of conscious thinking here because of course im happy mcdavid is back but I want 2022-23 mcdavid back. That might be unfair. I don’t know.

 

[McJadeddog]

Feels weird that he is calling out JJ/Bowman so early into their tenure. Usually Stauffer is calling them out when they are leaving.

It shouldn’t be that surprising though. This team doesn’t look right and almost every off season decision hasn’t worked.

Literally every player who left is doing better on another team and every player brought in looks washed.

I would personally wait because history shows that this team doesn’t get going until January. But winning division is probably not going to happen. And probably the biggest question is why the same thing keeps happening?

I feel like management and players are too arrogant and keep just expecting things to work out rather than doing anything.

I was fine with not matching the offer sheets because I didn’t think either guy was worth it either personally. But I think the whole, lets not do anything and accrue cap space is such a bad play. If they wanted to accrue cap space than they need to figure out a way to actually make cap space. Difficult conversations and difficult decisions.

It doesn’t feel like organization is proactive or progressive. Everything is reactionary. Everyone feels too comfortable.

Agree with pretty much everything in this post.

I didn't want to match either, but I'm an IT guy, not a GM of an NHL franchise. I'm an idiot in this space, and the people that are paid millions to make decisions very clearly dramatically failed in their assessment. They have dramatically failed in pretty much every off-season move they made truthfully. None of the signings have really worked out, and the Ceci trade hasn't worked out either, on top of the non-match of the offer sheets. Just an absolute DISASTER of an off-season for the Oilers management group as a totality.

If I failed for an entire year in every IT decision I made, I wouldn't be employed anymore.

I hate to admit it. But this has been in the back of head since the start of last year but I don’t want to admit it. He’s only turning 28 this year and it’s absurd to think about it. He’s still putting up points but his game changed.

Surely we are just being paranoid. Or maybe just expecting too much. Either way I don’t want to give it much thought.

Most offensive players peak at around 25-27. Maybe McDavid is different, due to being generational and all that, but maybe not either. If I had to bet, I would certainly bet that the best offensive seasons are behind him for certain. Now, if you want to start talking "peak 200 foot game", I think that is a different age, and a different conversation.

 

[Soundwave]

Stauffer kind of calling out management

He said the roster knows the defence is worse than last year and he’s getting the feeling the core is waiting for the other shoe to drop on defence from Stan Bowman.

He also is finally calling out the goaltending and says at some point management has to take responsibility for the choices they made in the offseason.

Wishfully thinking he’s throwing out hints?

The defence hasn't been bad this year apart from the PK where the goalies can't make a save.

5-on-5 it's been above average, last year the D was a total tire fire at this point, the D being better is the main reason we have 6 wins instead of 3 that they had this time last year.

Because it sure as heck isn't due to the offence, PP, PK, goalies, shooting percentage, hot start by McDavid or anything else.