The Oilers have no doubt the best forward group in the league

[Skolman]

Best 2 forwards yea. Best forward group? No.

Name a better forward group then.

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Holloway-Henrique-Brown
Janmark-Mcleod-Perry

Kane(injured)

You can't.

 

[ZDH]

Name a better forward group then.

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Holloway-Henrique-Brown
Janmark-Mcleod-Perry

Kane(injured)

You can't.

It's not some slam dunk. I like what Toronto, Dallas, Tampa, NYR have up front almost as much/as much in some cases.

Toronto and Dallas outscored Edmonton last year. Colorado did too.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

If you look at playoff history, there usually is one weaker conference and one stronger conference. There is usually one team that wins and is built the right way and another that just made it there. The one difference between the Oilers and those other teams that lost in the Final is Connor "Conn Smythe but no Cup" McDavid.

The rest of the team is not built to contend for a Cup year after year. Florida is but probably isn't on par with the Kings, Pens, Hawks, Lightning, etc. but still made the FInal last year and won this year. Back to back Final appearances really makes it look like they have a Cup contending team. They don't have a prototypical 1D so they got blown out by the Oilers a few times in that series.

The Oilers have 6 series wins the past 3 years..more than any team in the Western Conference… but don’t have a team to contend for the Cup year after year LMAO

Hilarious

Someone is sore about his team getting slapped around by the Oilers for the past few years

 

[Skolman]

It's not some skam dunk. I like what Toronto, Dallas, Tampa, NYR have up front almost as much/as much in some cases.

Toronto and Dallas outscored Edmonton last year.

Damn, if only Skinner or Arvidsson played better for Edmonton this past season.

The Oilers lost no key players this off-season. They added Skinner, Arvidsson, and they will get a full year with Henrique.

The Stars lost Pavelski, who put up 67 points in the regular season. The Leafs lost Bertuzzi.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

The guys a cancer, the only out for him is a buyout. Unless they have any arbitration cases they won’t get a second buyout window.

I mean, buyout or not I don't know which NHL team he'd end up on. I'd guess either Columbus, New Jersey, Boston or Ottawa. I'd think Boston considering they owe him one for knocking Cookie out.

 

[ZDH]

Damn, if only Skinner or Arvidsson played better for Edmonton this past season.

The Oilers lost no key players this off-season. They added Skinner, Arvidsson, and they will get a full year with Henrique.

The Stars lost Pavelski, who put up 67 points in the regular season. The Leafs lost Bertuzzi.

I think we have wildly different opinions on Arvidsson and Skinner. Don't get me wrong Edmonton has a good forward group but it's not easily the best like OP insinuates.

I still prefer Dallas and Toronto.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

I think we have wildly different opinions on Arvidsson and Skinner. Don't get me wrong Edmonton has a good forward group but it's not easily the best like OP insinuates.

I still prefer Dallas and Toronto.

There is literally no argument for Toronto’s forwards over Edmonton’s

Edit: you’re gonna say Toronto outscored Edmonton in the regular season but that’s the only argument and it’s a really bad one

 

[ZDH]

There is literally no argument for Toronto’s forwards over Edmonton’s

Edit: you’re gonna say Toronto outscored Edmonton in the regular season but that’s the only argument and it’s a really bad one

Fine. Dallas then.

My whole point is this whole AINEC Oilers best offense when that's not true. It's very close.

 

[Kerberos]

It's not some slam dunk. I like what Toronto, Dallas, Tampa, NYR have up front almost as much/as much in some cases.

Toronto and Dallas outscored Edmonton last year. Colorado did too.

Toronto? Surely has to be a joke because this is a hilarious take.

People can be doubting the Oilers all they want. They made 99% of this board look like fools in the playoffs.

 

[Oleksiak]

Still need to fix their blueline and goaltending

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Fine. Dallas then.

My whole point is this whole AINEC Oilers best offense when that's not true. It's very close.

I agree

 

[olli]

This team will always have problems if they can't stop the other team from scoring, and shockingly, that's not just on the defense and goalie.

As long as Edmonton has mediocre team defense and no shut down forwards, they're not going to see the success they had this season. The fact they signed Skinner and Arvidsson shows they aren't even aware to fix the issue. They'll continue to spin on their tires for wins, especially since they don't even have a goalie to compensate. Leafs in the same situation. Bruins are an example of a team that keeps winning because of this.

They had solid team defence in the playoffs

 

[onetweasy]

I can see your issue. You think 2nd pair at-best defensemen are first pair defensemen because your team has a history of bad defensemen since the time Pronger left town. Bouchard is not an all situations defenseman.

Please enlighten us more Scotty Bowman.

Can’t believe we are getting all this advice for free.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

The important parts are McDrai. Their linemates can be swapped in and out often

 

[TheNumber4]

It's not some slam dunk. I like what Toronto, Dallas, Tampa, NYR have up front almost as much/as much in some cases.

Toronto and Dallas outscored Edmonton last year. Colorado did too.

Opinion invalidated.

Still need to fix their blueline and goaltending

Guess we had the best forward group of all time LAST year then, cause we got to the SCFs with broken defence and goaltending.

 

[Soundwave]

Still need to fix their blueline and goaltending

They held Florida to lower goals per game than the Rangers did with Sheshertkin, but ok.

If the goalie/D gets better I don't think you're going to like the result because it was already good this year. Vancouver, Dallas, and even Florida all had problems scoring against the Oilers past game 3 of every series.

In game 4/5/6 Dallas scored 4 goals total with all their so-called depth en route to being eliminated.

Vancouver after going up 3-2, got shut down only scoring 3 goals total in game 6 and 7, two of those goals coming extremely late in game 7 where Vancouver hadn't been able to score for most of the game.

Florida was held to under 2 goal per game (1.75 gpg) for the final 4 games of that series, barely eeking that one out.

If they "fix" this lol, how much lower than that are we expecting? Straight up just shutting teams out for 2 games per round or something?

A team that gets better the longer every series goes on to me indicates a coaching staff that is good at making adjustments/changes, Knoblaugh/Coffey was a slam dunk hire for the Oilers. 95% PK rate or whatever it was is insane too, unheard of.

 

[McFlyingV]

They appear to be 2.5 million over the cap, and they still need to resign Broberg and Holloway....Drai trade incoming?

You do know that signing Broberg and Holloway doesn't increase their cap right? Their cap hit will be a wash with the players that are sent down to Bakersfield and the cap won't change.

They will have no issue getting under the cap.

 

[JarvisFunk]

I think we have wildly different opinions on Arvidsson and Skinner. Don't get me wrong Edmonton has a good forward group but it's not easily the best like OP insinuates.

I still prefer Dallas and Toronto.

Toronto's bottom six is terrible, even Leafs fans think its terrible.

 

[notbias]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808244005152669730

Did any of them improve since their last contract?

You do know that signing Broberg and Holloway doesn't increase their cap right? Their cap hit will be a wash with the players that are sent down to Bakersfield and the cap won't change.

They will have no issue getting under the cap.

They are both at or under $1.35 million?

I figured Holloway would be more.

Want to post a cap-compliant roster? I think they need to ship out one player... I figured McCleod when I looked, but I'm not sure if there is someone better to ship out.

 

[Mighty Makar]

how many 100 point players and 50 goal scorers do the Leafs have?

we go band for band

f*** that, we can go M for M.

 

[notbias]

Toronto's bottom six is terrible, even Leafs fans think its terrible.

To be fair, Edmonton's doesn't look great either.

 

[thaman8765678]

I’m shocked people are still excited about
Ryan Nothing Happens and Evander Kane being on the roster. Adding some old forwards when they needed defence and goaltending isn’t exactly a “win”

Oilers fans are acting like this team is the clear cup favorite, because they signed.... washed up Jeff Skinner and an injury prone Arvidsson.

Like sure they aren't liabilities, but they aren't exactly big difference makers.

I'd still take the Avs, Stars, and Knights rosters over the Oilers in the west.

 

[GOilers88]

Cup winning goal was because of poor defense and goaltending.

I guess every team other than the Oilers and Panthers have bad defense and goaltending then, considering they weren't even in the Finals.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

If the preds have such good defense and goaltending, and the oilers don't have that, how do the Oilers give up less GA than the predators? Spoiler: it's because the Oilers spent less time defending.

I love Trotz, and respect the preds immensely, but the hot takes in this thread are wild.

The oilers were just as good defensively as anyone this year, so anyone expecting the opposite results, out of the same group, is insane and stuck in the past

 

[McFlyingV]

Did any of them improve since their last contract?



They are both at or under $1.35 million?

I figured Holloway would be more.

Want to post a cap-compliant roster? I think they need to ship out one player... I figured McCleod when I looked, but I'm not sure if there is someone better to ship out.

Both of their qualifying offers are 874.125k and neither have arbitration rights. They could have both signed for just over 1.7M and send down Josh Brown (1M) and Derek Ryan (900k). This would turn their 2.454M over the cap into 2.254 over the cap with 22 players on the active roster. They could further drop this by sending down Stetcher (787.5k) to put them 1.466M over the cap. Keeping Stetcher up and trading Ceci with no retention would give them 1M in cap space. LTIR for Kane would mean they have to do nothing. Trading Kane and Ceci would give them 6.1M cap space to add one D and one forward.

They have plenty of options. If Kane is injured to start the year for a while they likely don't move anyone. If he's healthy they likely dump Ceci and could have the cap space to add a contract at roughly 4M at the deadline or rather 8-16M worth of contracts with 50/75% retention.