Post-Game Talk: The summer of our discontent

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Back to back trade deadlines of misidentifying this team’s biggest needs has cost us two cups. Henrique, Carrick, Frederic and Jones and not one of them made an impact of any kind.

Walman was a good get. But a goalie was the biggest need.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

We're being groomed by media to see a Skinner extension:

The STu Skinner presser post game is must watch. Its maddening really. This guy multiple times in the interview states the team was inconsistent, but that Skinner was OK with his own game, felt he was consistent, in his bubble, and the inference that he was on his game. Says multiple times that the team didn't learn and lost two years because of it.

McD and Drai etc NEVER throw this guy under the bus and he just did that (again) to the team. His presser was the typical love affair with the media where they were messaging leading edge questions that Skinner is only removed from Bobroski on experience. Several soft questions on that allowing Skinner to expand how he's going to try to pick Bobos brain and so that he can become him. It was actually bizarre.

The media are setting the table, again, for Skinner to come back and now the story is years hence "the oilers will be sorry" this actually stated in telecast if they move on from Skinner. ( I think it was Friedman who hates this club,, saying this) The trumped story is that Skinner is going to be the next one. That only experience separates that.

No mention at all that Bobo and other goalies in NHL are elite because they have outstanding skillsets, skating, movement, flexibility none of which Skinner has.

We're being sent up for a Skinner extension. Abhorrent.

If they do re-sign the guy then this team is sunk.

 

[Drivesaitl]

NHL Rumors: Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman Linked To Oilers In Huge Off-season Move

"Oilers acquiring Jeremy Swayman in exchange for Stuart Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, a prospect, and both their 2027 first-round pick and 2027 second-round pick." or "Stuart Skinner & Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Jeremy Swayman, including exchange of draft picks"

This would be too good to be true. It can't be real. Maybe we could throw them Connor Do nothing Brown too.

I guess the Bruins are on the serious tank mission now if this happens. Skinner would be fantastic in a tanking role as would Arvid.

 

[Oilslick941611]

This one somehow doesn't hurt as much as last year. Last year, Florida and Edmonton seemed much more closely matched. This year it was clear which team was better. In the end it wasn't even close.

Imagine a world where Zito became the Oilers GM. Yeesh.

Can the Oilers pull a Florida and make it to a 3rd consecutive Final? History says it's unlikely, but let's see. Lots of work to do in the off-season.

This is a cop out. Full marks to the panthers for winning and all, but florida got EXTREMELY lucky this season with Jones and Marchand basically saying " Florida only" and even then those trades were only a thing because of the Ekblad suspension and Tkachuk LTIR. Its not as black and white as you think.

Those 2 guys were all the difference.

if we had hired Zito, that those trades don't happen.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This would be too good to be true. It can't be real. Maybe we could throw them Connor Do nothing Brown too.

I guess the Bruins are on the serious tank mission now if this happens. Skinner would be fantastic in a tanking role as would Arvid.

Do yourself a favour and don't check Swayman's stats this season.

 

[Little Fury]

Back to back finals appearances and 1 game/2 games from a cup and people on here are calling for the firing of most coaches and the dumping of many players. I get the emotions running high but let’s face it, they are not going to be doing a massive overhaul of the coaches or the roster. The old farts will likely end up being replaced by new old farts. As far as the goalies, how much realistically can they afford on a new goalie? Upgrading at that position to an established guy would take loads of cap space and a team not wanting that goalie, those opportunities don’t grow on trees. To build the roster with better new players they need youth, guys from our system. Its a dilemma I can’t see getting solved easily. Thing is we likely beat any other team but Florida, a lot can happen and who knows, they might crumble due to injuries, some team knocking them off, etc. We certainly don’t own the west and could lose the anyone but I can’t see this massive overhaul coming. Options are limited. I would be fine with letting Bouchard walk, he will end up on an overpay and it would be a tough decision but you are talking about a Bowman special with him. Likely 8 years, full NMC, and upwards of 9 mil AAV. Can’t see both him and McDavid signing long term and if it comes to a choice there is no choice between them 2 really.

The Oilers have around $65 million in cap space projected for 2026-27. The could sign Bouchard for $11m and McDavid for $18M and still have $30M to fill out the roster.

 

[StreetHawk]

This is a cop out. Full marks to the panthers for winning and all, but florida got EXTREMELY lucky this season with Jones and Marchand basically saying " Florida only" and even then those trades were only a thing because of the Ekblad suspension and Tkachuk LTIR. Its not as black and white as you think.

Those 2 guys were all the difference.

if we had hired Zito, that those trades don't happen.

Every team has to deal with the realities of their market. They pretty much dictate how you can operate. Win, Ott, Buf, CBJ are really draft and develop type locations. Windows may be shorter if key guys opt to move on when they approach UFA age. So, you kind of need to push when you get a chance, unless you can do what Ott did and max term every deemed important player coming off elc.

Reality is that only certain markets, when players hold NTC or NMC, are provided on a trade list. Ana/SJ/LA were destinations in the mid 201X, despite high taxes. Cause they were among the tops in the NHL. Add in Chicago and Pitt as well.

TB, Dal, LV, Fla right now rank as the top destinations for players with full trade protection.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Do yourself a favour and don't check Swayman's stats this season.

I did. I don't evaluate goalies on short term sample. I evaluate goalies on the skillsets, movement, athleticism, acumen they possess. Swayman has a best game in him. I'll take that, and especially given we'd be moving more cap the other way. With two of the players, Skinner, and Arvid being completely and utterly useless.

The only explanation for this from a Boston POV is going serious into tank mode. They spelled their leader Marchand, now their premium goalie?

 

[StreetHawk]

The Oilers have around $65 million in cap space projected for 2026-27. The could sign Bouchard for $11m and McDavid for $18M and still have $30M to fill out the roster.

True, but there would be a bunch of open roster spots when Kane, Arvidsson, Henrique, Ekholm, Kulak, Walman, Stecher, both goalies contracts come off the books. How many of those spots will be filled from within? Like Savoie, O'Reilly, maybe Akey if everything pans out. Still a lot of spots to fill either via free agency (always a challenge for Edm) or trade (with what assets?).

 

[Little Fury]

Do yourself a favour and don't check Swayman's stats this season.

He put up better numbers on a bad Bruins team than Skinner did on a cup contender.

 

[McHelpus]

This would be too good to be true. It can't be real. Maybe we could throw them Connor Do nothing Brown too.

I guess the Bruins are on the serious tank mission now if this happens. Skinner would be fantastic in a tanking role as would Arvid.

Can they throw in zadorov? That is someone the Oilers could desperately use.

 

[Little Fury]

True, but there would be a bunch of open roster spots when Kane, Arvidsson, Henrique, Ekholm, Kulak, Walman, Stecher, both goalies contracts come off the books. How many of those spots will be filled from within? Like Savoie, O'Reilly, maybe Akey if everything pans out. Still a lot of spots to fill either via free agency (always a challenge for Edm) or trade (with what assets?).

Point is less about how they fill those holes than the absurdity of saying the can't keep both Bouchard and McDavid.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Oilers vs. Panthers – Game 6: A Tactical Review

Prior to this series, I wrote about three thousand words <a href="http...

oilersnation.com

Just a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that can't happen. Bad passes, bad reads, etc etc etc.

 

[frag2]

This would be too good to be true. It can't be real. Maybe we could throw them Connor Do nothing Brown too.

I guess the Bruins are on the serious tank mission now if this happens. Skinner would be fantastic in a tanking role as would Arvid.

And Nurse. Give them Nurse. For free. Or something we can buy out easily

 

[Seth92]

NHL Rumors: Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman Linked To Oilers In Huge Off-season Move

"Oilers acquiring Jeremy Swayman in exchange for Stuart Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, a prospect, and both their 2027 first-round pick and 2027 second-round pick." or "Stuart Skinner & Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Jeremy Swayman, including exchange of draft picks"

We need to get a third team involved (like smart gms do) and get some retention on Swayman, or cap dump Nurse and throw picks at Boston to retain just a little bit and I can see it being great! Hell run with Skinner and Sway but play Skinner only 25 games a season and never in the playoffs.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He put up better numbers on a bad Bruins team than Skinner did on a cup contender.

This point either eludes Keith or refuses to see it. yes, goaltending stats can very much be influenced by team they play for this just in.

Ironically Skinner had garbage stats regular season and playoffs on a relative Wagon club. An actual goalie here would have no trouble getting to over .900 and keeping GAA much lower.

 

[frag2]

This is a cop out. Full marks to the panthers for winning and all, but florida got EXTREMELY lucky this season with Jones and Marchand basically saying " Florida only" and even then those trades were only a thing because of the Ekblad suspension and Tkachuk LTIR. Its not as black and white as you think.

Those 2 guys were all the difference.

if we had hired Zito, that those trades don't happen.

Plus, didnt Tkachuk want to go to FLA when he was on his outs from Calgary? Pretty sure he only gave the Flames a few options

 

[Seth92]

Do yourself a favour and don't check Swayman's stats this season.

Team was gutted and Marchand left. Boston needs some high picks again so they are doing a retool.

 

[Drivesaitl]

And Nurse. Give them Nurse. For free. Or something we can buy out easily

I love that we still have sense of humor even after yesterday. I lol

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This point either eludes Keith or refuses to see it. yes, goaltending stats can very much be influenced by team they play for this just in.

Ironically Skinner had garbage stats regular season and playoffs on a relative Wagon club. An actual goalie here would have no trouble getting to over .900 and keeping GAA much lower.

Mackenzie Blackwood put up great stats on an even worse team and then folded like a cheap tent to a battered Dallas team.

It's not always so cut and dry.

I can't stress this enough, the team went to the goalie everyone wanted to play in game 5 and the team played some of their worst hockey in years.

 

[LTIR]

Watch Bowman go out and get one of those guys and Knob plays him 70+ games so he has nothing left in the playoffs Helle style.

That while playing Connor on the PK all season. Worked out great in the playoffs after all.

It's just not true.
No way a new goalie will get 70 starts when Oilers can just cruise to another 100pt+ season.
Pickard has proven he can start plenty of games.

Also, McDavid didn't PK during regular season and would not have PKed in playoffs if we weren't historically pathetic on PK.

 

[frag2]

I love that we still have sense of humor even after yesterday. I lol

I'm actually serious. Nurse has to go this offseason somehow.

Maybe even to NYI so Schaefer can learn from his idol directly

 

[FlameChampion]

Florida was better team, no doubt. But still grinds my gears that the refs/league wanted to Florida to win. Florida is a good enough team even without the reffing advantage.

Getting harder and harder to watch the NHL.

 

[WaitingForUser]

WE weren't scoring on the PP's anyway. We even gave up a shorty in the series. More calls, weren't changing anything much. The difference in the series was forward depth and goaltending disparity. Was too much to overcome. The players knew this as early as game 3. But not only do the Panthers have such filthy skill assembled they have a roster made for playoff hockey and for hammering opponents into submission while bringing the most airtight purist hockey I've seen in decades. This is Al Arbour NYI stuff. Panthers go down already with the Hawks and Kings as best clubs in this millennium.

Regardless if we were scoring on PPs or not the point is when a team as “good” as the Panthers still get the benefit of a tilted series by the officials it’s a joke. Florida over all had 20 more PPs than the oilers this playoffs. They tried to injure a goalie a series and at least one of their players was caught using PEDs just this season. Something is not right there and you won’t convince me otherwise. It’s not the first time that a Canadian making the finals has had this same uphill battle. Gregory Campbell should not be allowed to be a GM or AGM in this league. His father was already caught telling officials to cater to his son’s team once and NOTHING was done about it. This league is ***king joke and will continue to be so until the playing field is leveled for EVERYONE.

 

[LTIR]

I did. I don't evaluate goalies on short term sample. I evaluate goalies on the skillsets, movement, athleticism, acumen they possess. Swayman has a best game in him. I'll take that, and especially given we'd be moving more cap the other way. With two of the players, Skinner, and Arvid being completely and utterly useless.

The only explanation for this from a Boston POV is going serious into tank mode. They spelled their leader Marchand, now their premium goalie?

Swayman is close to Cambpell like Suckage. A bad start next season and he might be a buy out candidate.
Not even sure if he is an upgrade over Skinner