Post-Game Talk: The summer of our discontent

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yeah the last two games we were outplayed.

We outplayed Florida just as hard in games 1 and 2, but stinkers against made those the equivalent of 3 games, and they were able to steal one.

Games 3, 5, and 6 Florida was the better team. They ran the f*** away with it.

Games 1, 2, and 4 we were the better team by the exact same margin they were better then us in games 3/4/5. We literally lost one, and barely squeaked out two ot wins in the other two.

The expected goals in this series were 23-22 over 6 games.

Imagine we save McDavid and Draisaitl 2 gp worth of TOI from having to come back from multiple goal leads and playing 4 OT periods through 5 games. Imagine we're up 3-1 going to game 5, up 3-2 tonight. Don't you think that would make a difference in the series? Don't you think that makes a difference even just tonight; Having a fresher Mcdrai who both played less, and got more rest and recovery time?

The only reason we weren't up 3-1 is goaltending. Our guys were .858 and their guy was .918.

Imagine if the team didn't fall asleep for most of game 2. Imagine if they capitalized on the two man advantage they had late in the first period of game 2. Imagine if they showed up at all for games 3, 5, and 6. Imagine if they scored even one goal in the first period in the last 4 games. Imagine they didn't shit the bed in the biggest game of their lives AT HOME.

The team led for all of 33 minutes in this series and never had a multi goal lead. Their special teams at both ends were crap and their 5 on 5 play wasn't much better.

The problem with looking at the series stats is that not all situations were created the same, nor all shots. Score effects are a big thing.

You wanna know why the Oilers lost this series? They had a miracle rally in game 4 that should've shifted momentum and they were going home for a crucial game 5. The team played like they assumed they'd win. They didn't even have the convenient Skinner excuse. And they completely Leafs'd it.

 

[Oilhawks]

You're the f***in man, the writers this year have left me jaded and I believe I'll stop watching this 'sports drama' from now on. I haven't seen the writers pull this hard for a win yet, but damned if I didn't see it in the last 6 episodes of this drama series. While it may have made for good tv, this series has completely jumped the shark for me. I don't know if there's any drama sports drama series' left with good writers. Maybe MLB not sure, one of the writers for these series' came out and said everything was going to plan like twenty years ago, but I still put attention into it like it wasn't actually a plan. I should have watched 'Secrets to Wrestling' back in the 80s. I guess I should have learned that I know now after watching 35 blatant penalties against the other team go uncalled. I should have learned when they brought betting into place. Oh well, now I know.

It’s weird that people shit on wrestling so much, at least they know everyone knows it’s fake

Other sports pepper in enough reality to make it look like it isn’t rigged someway, somehow (I’m not saying entirely scripted but there are definite “favourites” that get certain “advantages”)

 

[Keggatron]

Bettman tonight: "2 SC wins just shows how much hockey can work in the sunbelt". Only around 5K fans if that, even bother to stick around to see the SC cup parading around ice and by team picture other than friends and family staying the building was empty.

Heres me watching, I think because this is a tradition and I'll watch, and my team lost, and I'm still watching and *fans* in Florida don't even stick around to see their players skate around with the cup. To anybody that went to these, and I had the fortune twice to see a cup win, the Arena staff eventually had to kick you out, you didn't want to leave at all.

AS a fan you then went DT to celebrate, you then a day later went to the SC parade, went to the Commonwealth stadium parade and celebration etc.

These Florida people don't even know what the cup looks like. 10 people will be on the beach high fiving the club. 10 others asking if you got any meth.

So weird to see the Florida building empty for a cup celebration. My lord.

Dude it's a joke, the only way they actually will start to take notice is if we stop caring. Look at Winnipeg the last two years. Were they even in the playoffs before then?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

New thread is up, I'll lock this one later.

 

[M Ace]

Oilers should have had 20 PP with too many men on the ice with 20 seconds lefts.

That’s was my thought also

 

[Keggatron]

It’s weird that people shit on wrestling so much, at least they know everyone knows it’s fake

Other sports pepper in enough reality to make it look like it isn’t rigged someway, somehow (I’m not saying entirely scripted but there are definite “favourites” that get certain “advantages”)

Completely. They're all called "entertainment leagues" for a reason. Sorry it's not actual sports, but really why would the people calling the shots want that to be. I mean look at the trade this year in the NBA, then the subsequent first overall? To who, the team that did the league a favor. It's f***ing atrocious.

 

[midnightcopper]

They were close.

Expected goals were 22-21 over 6 games.

This should be going 7.

What I actually meant in my post was that I felt they were close last year, and that adding a few players to a strong group was going to pay off for the future. What happened in the off season was not what I was thinking.

 

[redgrant]

Saros is probably the only goalie realistically available maybe swayman.

Swayman contract could easily make the nurse one look like a steal.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

I mean no one is happy with this, but this an idiotic thought. No one gifts you the cup nor the chance to win it.

You seem like you might be a flames fan, so stick with thab

Why do you keep telling everyone they are Flames fans, Nucks fans etc.

It's kinda weird

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

And after we sign Bouchard no cap space to do any of the above.

Get rid of Bouch then

 

[M Ace]

I would personally want to see more of our younger players get a real good look during the regular season + some the UFA signings;

Sam O’Reilly
Noah Philp
James Hamblin
Matthew Savoie
David Tomasek
Josh Samanski
Quinn Hutson
Cam Wright

Cam Dineen
Beau Akey

They can not be worse than the AHL scrappers we dressed in the finals!

As long as we have McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard & Walman leading!

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Not for nothing, and don't take this the wrong way but I recall you talking about not renewing before. For your sake I hope this time is it, I don't this org deserves your money, or the money of all its fans that spent deep this spring trying to see a cup.

Even if was an STH I would not pay playoffs the moment they announced they were standing pat in net. At some point that was going to again cost us dearly.

Many other things to enjoy your hard earned on. Thanks for your support of the team.

“I hope you do it this time”…..sometimes Drive you just piss me off lol.

I have a 6 year contract. I own seats of the kind that you can’t just walk away from. I talked about not renewing as stated re:Bettmans management of the league last season and this year made up my mind. Not that I owe an explanation to anyone.

I have 2 years left in my 6 year contract. I have sold over half of the tickets for these last two years. Also my contract states I must buy playoff tickets.

So when my contract expires, for the first time in 40 years I won’t have seasons seats. It’s been fun but the league has changed for the worst and can move on without me.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Get rid of Bouch then

Okay then we are then looking for 2 top 4 RHD. Congrats?

 

[Oilhawks]

I would personally want to see more of our younger players get a real good look during the regular season + some the UFA signings;

Sam O’Reilly
Noah Philp
James Hamblin
Matthew Savoie
David Tomasek
Josh Samanski
Quinn Hutson
Cam Wright

Cam Dineen
Beau Akey

They can not be worse than the AHL scrappers we dressed in the finals!

As long as we have McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard & Walman leading!

This coach might play Philp, Savoie and give some paltry minutes to Tomasek and Hutson to throw Bowman a bone for those signings before they get waived early in the season

 

[sepHF]

They are sure coming out of the woodwork tonight. Fans of teams that couldn't beat the Oilers or didn't even make the playoffs are strutting that their team could have handled Florida.

just remember no one hates you when you suck and are irrelevant. Just part of having a good team, embrace it

 

[Keggatron]

Anyways lads, love you all, might be back to check on you here and there. But I hate swearing at my TV screen because of the fifth blatant penalty not called for us. This 'TV series' has a little too much power over me and I think I can do a lot better with my time spent elsewhere. Only regret is not having watched a cup with the old man, who is the reason I've been an Oil fan for as long as I have. The writers of the league this year really want to f*** around, so I'm just saying no, I've played into this charade for long enough. I mean the Panthers are a surprisingly good team they might have been able to beat us this year without the writers help. But if they feel they need to, in order to drum up some sort of fandom in south florida, well they lost a life long Oilers fan. Good on them for making their priorities right. I can't wait for people to get tired and they have to come crawling back. Sick of having the two best players in the league being 200th in penalties drawn, just sick of it all. This series was a cherry on top. After watching game two I said win or lose, don't give a f***, this league is a complete farce. All I wish for you all is to start not buying any merch, don't ever go to games, even if tickets are offered, and don't pay for cable to watch. Pirate it. I'll be around if you want to ask for links.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The thing is it's unsustainable. Expansion has limits. The player pool has limits. Canadian revenue has limits. Once the expansion pyramid scheme dries up that cash cow ends. We are starting to see poorer and poorer TV ratings which will inevitably impact ad revenue.

With the rising cap there may be declining Canadian revenue as teams north of the border may slip into becoming revenue sharing teams themselves - not Toronto however - as salaries continue to rise, the Canadian dollar continues to falter, and Canadian teams outside of the Big Smoke hit the wall on what they can (over)charge fans and corporate stakeholders causing the inevitable decline in talent due to the inability to spend to the ever increasing cap ceiling.

Ottawa and Winnipeg are already feeling the pinch. Calgary mired in mediocrity is next and it remains to be seen if their fan base will accept the Oilers like ticket prices and insane luxury box pricing. Once the McDavid era ends in Edmonton the fans will not accept the prices being charged and a rollback in ticket pricing will have to take place. Ad revenue here will also fall. Vancouver is a fair weather market. Montreal is hindered by having the highest taxes in the entire NHL and how that province is governed will only get worse.

So franchise values cannot continue the meteoric rise. Example, Fenway is selling the Penguins after only 4 years, and is reported to more than double their original purchase price. With insane valuations how long before the Jets, Flames and Oilers owners cash out for huge paydays? That growth is unsustainable.

Its a giant pyramid scheme and Bettman is cashing in for the owners while the getting is good all at the expense of the fans and the integrity of the game itself.

It's all about the bubble. Sell and keep selling until the last chair is taken. The Golden Fleece is to diversify revenue beyond bums in seats to where the big league players NFL et all derive majority of revenue from other sources. As you state, there are a lot of major questions that NHL can follow the path of other deeply established American sports like NFL, NBA, MLB. But owning a professional team is also a great tax dodge as well. So the motivation for owning can be complex. Wish I could find it, I remember an article about the Florida Panthers about a decade ago that talked about the ownership group wanting the arena for its revenue potential through bookings and ancillary sources and that the Panthers were just a loss leader in their world.

Some interesting details about the tax benefit of owning pro teams here: https://www.propublica.org/article/...rs-use-their-teams-to-avoid-millions-in-taxes

There are very real issues which I posted about as trends I am keeping an eye on. The NHL have a real issue to watch with the increasingly Americanization of its business and a pro league with seven critical cartel members in Canada with growing financial (biggest cost is paid in U.S. bucks and revenue taken in Canadian pesos) and market disadvantages that are beginning to widen. The monorail salesman will say no bueno, life is amazing! But there are problems.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Okay then we are then looking for 2 top 4 RHD. Congrats?

Obv they won't get rid of him, but now we have no top 6 wingers so congrats.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Going to need a big offseason. I’m guessing there will be significant changes, the likes of:

Nurse
Kane
Arvidson
JSkinner
Brown
Kling

Will probably all be gone or should be gone. Will need to bring in a real starting goalie as well…

We don't have a ton of assets to trade and improve the team

 

[M Ace]

Not a single penalty called in that game. By the same duo who killed the Oilers in game three. What a f***ing joke.

A Canadian team will never win the Cup with Bettman in charge. Hopefully the old f*** strokes out or something soon.

Stop blaming the refs please. We could have had 100 PP to what point, when we can’t score on them?

Florida is to good and I think any other team would have had the same faith as us if meeting them in this final!

 

[Keggatron]

Stop blaming the refs please. We could have had 100 PP to what point, when we can’t score on them?

Florida is to good and I think any other team would have had the same faith as us if meeting them in this final!

Well christ, we play our normal percentage that's another like 21 goals this series. Total hyperbole, but you're an idiot if you don't think that swings things. There was literally about 35 extra PPs we have this series, and you know what? That takes away goals in games 2, 3, and 5. You're a dummy if you don't see them.

 

[OG Eberle]

Blaming refs is lame.

Blaming taxes is lame.

Blaming goaltending in isolation is lame.

We lost to a better team. They played harder, better, and more consistently than we did when it mattered most. Our entire MO this playoffs was "the comeback kids", playing like ass early in the game OR series and then coming back to win. Can't expect to consistently win when you're always behind. And that's from questionable goaltending, but also just burning the first 20mins of every single game we played with no pressure, quality shots, or discernable game plan other than "survive".

Honestly, outside of maybe upgrading our goaltending, I really like our team. We've made it to the SF 2 years in a row. Only one team can win the whole ship each year. The fact that we're now there pretty consistently from where we were the past 15yrs is wild to me.

Seems some coaching tweaks and self-reflection is what we need more than blowing up our roster. Sucks to lose twice when you get this close, but its a hell of a lot more fun being the fan of a team consistently in the finals that never wins, vs the non-playoff or 1st round burnouts.

But that's my non-emotional take.

 

[guymez]

Florida was clearly the better team in this series. They exposed the Oilers in a way that no other Western Conference opponent could.

The Oilers need to get better this off season.

 

[Drivesaitl]

“I hope you do it this time”…..sometimes Drive you just piss me off lol.

I have a 6 year contract. I own seats of the kind that you can’t just walk away from. I talked about not renewing as stated re:Bettmans management of the league last season and this year made up my mind. Not that I owe an explanation to anyone.

I have 2 years left in my 6 year contract. I have sold over half of the tickets for these last two years. Also my contract states I must buy playoff tickets.

So when my contract expires, for the first time in 40 years I won’t have seasons seats. It’s been fun but the league has changed for the worst and can move on without me.

Sounds like a real shitty one way contract. Dictates all benefit and entitlement rendered for the org, dubious benefits for the fan.

Give us your guaranteed money for 6yrs, we'll raise the cost of regular season and playoffs seemingly every year and you can't opt out in term?

holy crap. Didn't know it was that bad. Pro sports can get f***ed.

 

[Oilking83]

Blaming refs is lame.

Blaming taxes is lame.

Blaming goaltending in isolation is lame.

We lost to a better team. They played harder, better, and more consistently than we did when it mattered most. Our entire MO this playoffs was "the comeback kids", playing like ass early in the game OR series and then coming back to win. Can't expect to consistently win when you're always behind. And that's from questionable goaltending, but also just burning the first 20mins of every single game we played with no pressure, quality shots, or discernable game plan other than "survive".

Honestly, outside of maybe upgrading our goaltending, I really like our team. We've made it to the SF 2 years in a row. Only one team can win the whole ship each year. The fact that we're now there pretty consistently from where we were the past 15yrs is wild to me.

Seems some coaching tweaks and self-reflection is what we need more than blowing up our roster. Sucks to lose twice when you get this close, but its a hell of a lot more fun being the fan of a team consistently in the finals that never wins, vs the non-playoff or 1st round burnouts.

But that's my non-emotional take.

I generally agree with your take but there needs to be significant changes. Specifically with goaltending. We will not win with this duo. We need a goalie that can make a big save when needed doesn’t need to be a Vézina caliber goalie but one that can turn the tide for us. Also we need more depth up front that can generate offense. Kane and Nuge and others have shown they are not capable of creating without McDrai. Goals for offseason needs to be a bonfire no.1 goalie and a puck carrying, offense driving forward (Marner, Ehlers, whoever via trade) we need offense drivers outside of Connor and Leon.

Edit: this is easier said than done with our shitty contracts and cap situation but that’s what Bowman was brought in for supposedly…