Post-Game Talk: The summer of our discontent

[Ibanez]

Bowman is a legitimate NHL GM, with something to prove (unlike Holland who is one foot in retirement)

His biggest misstep was not getting any goalie as insurance. That alone didn’t cost them a Cup but it sure was a bit part of why they didn’t win.

He’ll have a big offseason

He f***ing better

Starting with sending Stu to siberia

 

[Bryanbryoil]

At the time we waltzed through the west. You don’t need to overhaul the team. Need to change some things for sure though.

I said that the PP was ass then and I'll say it again now. At the deadline I said that goaltending wasn't good enough either. This team was good when their weaknesses were overshadowed by their 5 on 5 strength. Against a better team everything was exposed.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

San Jose will be contendng sooner than that with the way things are trending for them.

Will see, they’ve said that about a lot of young cores over the years

Talented group though for sure, I’d keep an eye on Anaheim as well

 

[iCanada]

True, but can’t rely on having a fully healthy squad, especially coming out of the West

They have never had a healthy lineup in the playoffs

You should be able to rely on your goaltender being better than .860 though.

 

[The Panther]

The Campbell signing and the Nurse signing killed this franchise.

This is correct, thank you.

Holland made his share of good moves, but his really bad ones were humdingers that absolutely crippled the franchise for years to follow, and are the core reasons (there is one other I'll get to in a minute) that the Oilers did not win Stanley Cups in 2024 and in 2025:

Around 2022, when it was clear that Mike Smith was 78 years old and ready to be put out to pasture, Holland did not address the need for a goaltender. (Some were available; he didn't get them.) Holland waited and waited... until the last possible moment in the 2022 offseason when he signed Jack Campbell to a ridiculously long-term contract that was in no way justified. This costly move (Campbell later being bought out, after being paid $5 million to play in the minors) forced the Oilers to push Stu Skinner into being the regular starter. While Skinner responded fairly well in 2022-23 (minus playoffs) and in 2023-24, it has been pretty obvious for forever that he is not on par with any of the one- or two-dozen best starters in the NHL and he is not good enough to backstop any team to a Cup, unless that team is far and away the best defensive team in the League, which the Oilers cannot be, thanks to....

The Nurse contract. Holland was bent over the table by Nurse's agent, and with Klefbom out for good and Keith a short-termer, Holland let Nurse put pen to paper for what has been probably the single most damaging contract in Oilers' history. Nurse is currently being paid 9 million or whatever and is playing on the bottom-pairing, which is actually suitable for his abilities. His incredibly low defensive-hockey IQ, and the Oilers' orgs' giving him every possible bit of rope to hang himself (and the team) with, made it impossible for the org to assemble a truly solid defensive core.

So, yes, those 2 disastrous contracts have had long-term damage that cannot be overstated.

The final bizarre oversight (and this involves Holland, too) was the org having no General Manager last summer (how the hell did they allow that to happen?), just as Draisaitl's contract was up. Jeff Jackson, in my view, stepped in and tried to appease Connor and Leon by signing one-dimensional scorers, as if to say, "Hey Connor and Leon! Don't worry about that lack of offensive support! Now, we've got guys who can help lighten your burdens, so re-sign with us!" Not only was this the wrong move in terms of team-building for the playoffs (they should have been going after playoff-tested gritty guys, not one-dimensional scorers like Kapinen, Arvidsson, J. Skinner), but the subsequent Drai signing seemed to allow Jackson and/or Bowman to sit back, drink cocktails while mutually back-sleeping one another, and forget that Broberg and Holloway were not signed.

Sure, maybe Broberg wanted out anyway, but I'd still have rather had him playing instead of Nurse. The absolutely massive loss, though, was Dylan Holloway, as it was clear to everyone (except Jackson, apparently) that he was ready to break out and fully deserved a chance in the top six.

So, we now have no top young prospects that I'm aware of, basically no top draft picks for years to come, no Cups... and the oldest team in the League. (And many more years of post-prime Nurse.)

It is a massive achievement in the Cap-era to have back-to-back Western Conference championships, and those are 2 banners that deserve to go up and be respected by the League and the Oilers' fanbase. It's just that some basic competency at the management level could have had this club winning at least one, if not both, of the '24 and '25 Stanley Cups.

 

[redgrant]

GMs don't reveal their hand in interviews. While he was saying they were set in net, they were inquiring on Swayman, Saros, and Gibson.

Sometimes you can't get things done during the season, especially when your boss spends most of the cap on small, soft wingers right before he hires you.

All of this is irrelevant if you got the same cancer in Schwartz.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I get it, but he’s not catering to us, he’s got other concerns at that point. Hard to say what he really tried to do. If they didn’t look at all that is heinous.

We also didn’t lose because of that, but it was for sure a factor. The oilers didn’t have anywhere near the quality of chances the panthers had in period one. Shots from the slot were 8-2 Florida in the first for crying out loud. Doubtful you and I can come to an agreement on that point though, which is fine.

Oh, but entertainment HAS to cater to the ticket buyer, the fans, the viewers. It is the business that they're in. We are the business, we're the consumers of an entertainment based business.

The Oilers had great scoring chances in first period. Bobo was stoning again.

 

[Ibanez]

He should have the balls to realize that his cap is screwing those same guys.

Nurse has never struck me as intelligent or introspective. Sadness

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

True, but can’t rely on having a fully healthy squad, especially coming out of the West

They have never had a healthy lineup in the playoffs

no, but none of the Panthers players missed games due to injury

our most important winger and best d-man did...that hurts

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

we only get to the Stanley Cup final because of depth
a healthy Ekholm will do wonders next year

yes, goaltending needs to be addressed

Injuries happen to literally every team. People said we were cooked when Ekholm was hurt early on. Didn't matter. People said we were cooked when Pickard went down. Didn't matter.

Then why are you still here if the Oilers were done in game 5?

Well someone had to show up because the boys sure didn't.

 

[MessierII]

I'm not saying Skinner wasnt the problem, because he was. He needs to be jettisoned, im just saying we would have put up a much closer fight and perhaps overcome this shit goaltender with those 4. The insane speed, youth and experience from playing Florida before would have pushed us over the top. Bowman and Jackson absolutely set us back.

Foegele and McLeod were healthy scratches on the run last year. We got where we did last year because of unprecedented special teams. That wasn’t repeatable. This year they got here on legit 5 on 5 play from all 4 lines. Everything went cold in the finals top down but we were a way better team with a more repeatable formula this year. That’s all while wasting 7 million on Arvidsson and Skinner.

 

[Dradavich]

Can everybody here stop blaming the goaltending? They goalies weren't great but so was the entire team past game 4. They don't even win these games with 2012 Jonathan Quick in net. There is something deeply wrong with the leadership core of this team, the way they folded in the last 2 games of this series in unacceptable.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Then why are you still here if the Oilers were done in game 5?

Because he's having a great Keith time.

 

[Ibanez]

Will see, they’ve said that about a lot of young cores over the years

Talented group though for sure, I’d keep an eye on Anaheim as well

Buffalo says hiiiiii

 

[Mr Kot]

You can’t keep Perry. Is curse is too powerful.

Holy shit, I just completely forgot this is his 5th final loss in a row (or 6th cant remember)

 

[Balakay14]

Hope we see more of the youth movement next year, especially with Hyman being out for awhile. Need Savoie and O'Reilly to develop into legitimate players up front, but that won't happen unless they get a chance to actually play ~15 minutes a night

 

[iCanada]

Nurse has never struck me as intelligent or introspective. Sadness

Nurse won Scholastic player of the year in the CHL 3 years in a row.

He's probably smarter than all of us here at HF. Not sure any of us are valedictorian material.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

we only get to the Stanley Cup final because of depth
a healthy Ekholm will do wonders next year

yes, goaltending needs to be addressed

A healthy Hyman and Ekhom would be huge, but we need more players that can make game breaking plays and to battle as hard as the Panthers depth players do. If we re-sign Frederic he better be a shit ton better than what we saw.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Oh, but entertainment HAS to cater to the ticket buyer, the fans, the viewers. It is the business that they're in. We are the business, we're the consumers of an entertainment based business.

The Oilers had great scoring chances in first period. Bobo was stoning again.

8-1 the shots in the slot for the Panthers in period 1. The HDSC were like 11-3 for the Panthers halfway through the game.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Nurse won Scholastic player of the year in the CHL 3 years in a row.

He's probably smarter than all of us here at HF. Not sure any of us are valedictorian material.

Book smart, hockey IQ not so much.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Injuries happen to literally every team. People said we were cooked when Ekholm was hurt early on. Didn't matter. People said we were cooked when Pickard went down. Didn't matter.

the Panthers didn't have a single injury that kept their best players out...we did
not only that, they were even better than last year with the Jones and Marchand acquisitions

 

[oobga]

Stuart lost in elimination game. Dude you're so off base

It's a shame we have to argue about which of our backup goalies was better in a cup finals. And we didn't even have a legit starter injured that forced us to play backup quality guys.

Pickard actually stole a win for us though, so I give him the edge. The Oilers played their best hockey of the series to close out game 1 and keep the shots to a minimum on Stu for the other win. Pickard had to make some insane saved to bail these bums out for his win.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Nurse and Skinner maybe?

Hey, if that happens…regardless of whatever other pieces are involved, you have to let @Cloned take your daughter out. No dating application required.

Coined…I’m really going to bat for you here.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Bowman is a legitimate NHL GM, with something to prove (unlike Holland who is one foot in retirement)

His biggest misstep was not getting any goalie as insurance. That alone didn’t cost them a Cup but it sure was a bit part of why they didn’t win.

He’ll have a big offseason

Will he. its gotta be an enoumous offseason with all the aging players and frankly 8 forwards that shouldn't even be on a team trying to contend either through age or ineptitude.

This was the shot these last two years. Now we gotta pay McD and Booch.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Hey, if that happens…regardless of whatever other pieces are involved, you have to let @Cloned take your daughter out. No dating application required.

Coined…I’m really going to bat for you here.

Honestly if that happens @Cloned can take her out and propose on the same evening.