Post-Game Talk: Ugly way to go into a break

[Mr Positive]

I'm not worried about the team. It's a bit wild how we can have such an awful goalie performance and still come close to tieing the game, and only gave them the lead with 4 minutes left. We are clearly a top contender

Plus the rumor is that the team is largely ill. I bet that's what's up with McDavid.

Bouchard was bad, but he's notorious for this, and yet he was freaking great in the playoffs, so he has shown he can summon consistent great play when the pressure ramps up. And heck, maybe him and Skinner were ill too.

Most of all, it was nice to see the PK put up some great kills against a team like the Avs. The long 5 on 3 was downright heroic

 

[foshizzle]

To think we almost lost to the nucks last year in round 2 because skinner decided to go full out sieve mode. We can’t afford that again this playoffs. You go all in while McDrai are in their bargain contracts before the big $$$$ contracts come flying. Get a f***ing goalie. Idc who it is. Run Skinner/Pickard again and it’s asking for another wasted playoffs. I’d rather spend valuable cap space on a goalie than use it another f***ing useless Bjugstad/Carrick because moar size moar grit moar angry

Exactly this.

What an ugly f***ing game.
Lot of issues with this team and by luck we’ve been winning lately.

Nice to see the SCF last year cause I don’t think we’ll be seeing it in 2025.

I don’t either. When they bow out early- the media will finally realize the goaltending is shit.

 

[McDrai]

I'm not worried about the team. It's a bit wild how we can have such an awful goalie performance and still come close to tieing the game, and only gave them the lead with 4 minutes left. We are clearly a top contender

Plus the rumor is that the team is largely ill. I bet that's what's up with McDavid.

Bouchard was bad, but he's notorious for this, and yet he was freaking great in the playoffs, so he has shown he can summon consistent great play when the pressure ramps up. And heck, maybe him and Skinner were ill too.

Most of all, it was nice to see the PK put up some great kills against a team like the Avs. The long 5 on 3 was downright heroic

No doubt McDavid is fighting through something. I was hoping that he would sit out the meaningless 4 Nations Cup tourney but I’m sure Bettman threatened to destroy us with officiating in the playoffs if McDavid didn’t agree to participate.

 

[TB12]

You mean the guy who won the conn smythe with one of the most dominant playoff performances since Gretzky?

No one has ever accused you of having an intelligent take though, so there is that.

Like

The McDavid slander is out of control on here. f*** me, maybe we shouldn't have won that lottery. Sometimes think Oilers fans don't deserve Connor.

 

[TB12]

Ah yes, the classic season long flu.

Would Crosby have let his team go down 0-3 in the finals? You can't act like the failed comeback was a good thing. Not being ready to start games/series has been a hallmark of this team in McDavids tenure, and as the Captain through multiple rosters and coaches, lots of that falls on him. How did he do in games 6/7 btw?

Honestly, no offense, but your takes are embarrassing.

Ignored.

 

[BudBundy]

Oddly enough I think this four nations thing is a distraction for him. Why. No idea

I don’t think that’s it. He’s injured. Since we got our first look at him as a fuzzy-cheeked 18 year old, McDavid has always played hard. If Connor isn’t doing Connor things, it’s because he’s banged up. It’s not because he doesn’t want to. I honestly wish he could spend some time on the beach and on a trainers table instead of this made-up tournament. We’ve waited so long to watch him play with a Maple Leaf on his chest that it’s tough to feel that way, but I do.

 

[belair]

And yet this is probably the best record the team has had at this point of a season since like 1987 or something.

Broberg and Holloway gone are Jackson's fault.

We've also played a shit ton more hockey this year due to this 4 Nations Tournament needing extra time.

This season we've played 55 games through Feb 7th, last year we hadn't played our 55th game until Feb. 24th ... that's like a 2 week difference of missing rest, on top of the fact that we're coming off a Cup Finals that went well into June last year on top of that.

The regular season and the playoffs are two very different situations. And we've been there enough to see that the teams who have an advantage in depth are the ones that generally prevail in the postseason.

The Boston Bruins literally had the best regular season record a couple years ago and a tandem of two 'elite' starting goalies. What happened that year?

 

[Soundwave]

The regular season and the playoffs are two very different situations. And we've been there enough to see that the teams who have an advantage in depth are the ones that generally prevail in the postseason.

The Boston Bruins literally had the best regular season record a couple years ago and a tandem of two 'elite' starting goalies. What happened that year?

Our forward depth wasn't that great last year to begin with. McLeod and Foegele low-key had poor playoffs, Holloway was just OK. Kane wasn't very good either (for injury reasons, but bottom line is the bottom line).

Klim Kostin and Bjugstad in the 2023 playoffs had a higher goals per game than McLeod, Foegele, and Holloway did in the 2024 playoffs.

We weren't a depth juggernaut last playoffs either, that's just false.

The management had a chance to improve the forwards and they shot themselves in the foot about three times in the foot and ended up some how where they are now. I'm sorry but at some point you need to put some emphasis somewhere else. I don't think we're ever going to be a great depth team because you need better management than what is here to get to that.

Deep teams are rare to begin with, deep teams with mediocre management are non-existent.

 

[frag2]

No doubt McDavid is fighting through something. I was hoping that he would sit out the meaningless 4 Nations Cup tourney but I’m sure Bettman threatened to destroy us with officiating in the playoffs if McDavid didn’t agree to participate.

Pretty sure that was going to happen regardless of whether this phony tournament was being held or not

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The Oilers have found an effective 4th line

 

[foshizzle]

Just like we all thought McDavid was injured during the playoffs; leading us to believe he is likely undergoing surgery over the summer. Nothing happened.

I think his personal life got in the way of his training and medical procedures. His puck handling is way off

The Oilers have found an effective 4th line

Don’t worry- knob will change them next game

 

[McShogun99]

This game also showed/emphasized a couple things.

Makar showed (as Hughes has shown) that Bouchard is nowhere near their stratosphere as top ranked dmen. He's good but are a good level above him.

Skinner, Bouch, and yes, Hyman (the guy everyone said they would regret not taking) have all shown why they were overlooked this year for making team Canada.

Makar is near Mcdavid levels for Dmen and the best player on the Avs even though Mackinnon gets all the attention. Makar would probably be scoring around 120 points a season on the Oilers and Mcdavid and Draisaitl would be getting over 160 points.

 

[belair]

Our forward depth wasn't that great last year to begin with. McLeod and Foegele low-key had poor playoffs, Holloway was just OK. Kane wasn't very good either (for injury reasons, but bottom line is the bottom line).

Klim Kostin and Bjugstad in the 2023 playoffs had a higher goals per game than McLeod, Foegele, and Holloway did in the 2024 playoffs.

We weren't a depth juggernaut last playoffs either, that's just false.

The management had a chance to improve the forwards and they shot themselves in the foot about three times in the foot and ended up some how where they are now. I'm sorry but at some point you need to put some emphasis somewhere else. I don't think we're ever going to be a great depth team because you need better management than what is here to get to that.

Deep teams are rare to begin with, deep teams with mediocre management are non-existent.

I think that you're missing the importance of those players and the timing of the impact they had on specific series. The Oilers do have depth. But I'm not convinced that they've improved over the past season, specifically when it comes to losing the impact of a Foegele/Holloway, who played a fairly significant even strength role in the playoffs.

The management likely will use the deadline as an opportunity to improve on that area as it's clear the team is lacking the secondary punch that's required to make those deep playoff runs.

The Oilers need to find a way to unlock some of the untapped offense on players who are currently on the roster.

And doing that is likely much easier and much more realistic than finding a tangible solution to your goalie problem when you take into account the current market and salary cap realities.

 

[Zerotonine]

And the big issue is that even though he can be solid after that, the damage is done and the team is always expending extra energy trying to come back. Just not a recipe for success.

Exactly this. Game is out of reach , players given up. Yet stu settles down and pads his save percentage the rest of said game . And then here we have all these stu supporters yapping about how great his save percentage has been over the last so and so games blah blah

 

[Soundwave]

I think that you're missing the importance of those players and the timing of the impact they had on specific series. The Oilers do have depth. But I'm not convinced that they've improved over past season, specifically when it comes to losing the impact of a Foegele/Holloway, who played a fairly significant even strength role.

The management likely will use the deadline as an opportunity to improve on that area as it's clear the team is lacking the secondary punch that's required to make those deep playoff runs.

The Oilers need to find a way to unlock some of the untapped offense on players who are currently on the roster.

And doing that is likely much easier and much more realistic than finding a tangible solution to your goalie problem when you take into account the current market and salary cap realities.

I don't think there is that much "untapped offense". Henrique is dropping off due to age, Arvidsson is aging, small, and coming off major injuries. Kane is old and coming off massive injuries. Skinner is coming around but he's a small winger too.

The management made poor decisions in the off-season.

There aren't available forwards anyway unless we are talking pie in the sky scenarios like a Marchand or Crosby (which would require Savoie++ to be going out for a 36+ year old) that improve the Oilers more than a John Gibson would IMO.

Trent Frederics and Drew O Connor's of the world aren't moving the needle that much.

Also, bring back Klim Kostin. He scored at a higher rate than Foegele, McLeod, Holloway in the playoffs for us, if he can be had for basically nothing, why not.

 

[VeteranPresence]

And doing that is likely much easier and much more realistic than finding a tangible solution to your goalie problem when you take into account the current market and salary cap realities.

We wouldn’t know because we have never tried.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I think his personal life got in the way of his training and medical procedures. His puck handling is way off


Don’t worry- knob will change them next game

I think that there is something to this. He was clearly nursing something last season but maybe surgery was put off because of the lead-up to and the wedding? He opted out of surgery for his knee after it was banged up badly that one year, maybe he opted out of it again to try and heal a different way? He does not look as explosive on average, his stickhandling isn't what it used to be, his shot isn't what it used to be and he isn't able to take the puck away from opponents like he used to. Whatever the case if he doesn't have surgery in the offseason and returns next season at his current level then this is just likely what he is as a player and it is a far cry from the player that he was before.

Oilers are always asleep when a big name is on the block. We could have used Future Considerations to round out our roster.

He'd look good on a line with accrued cap space.

Is McDavid injured?

Clearly. Hasn't been himself all season and was just sick recently as well. When our PP is deferring to RNH over Connor you know that something is seriously wrong. He should miss the 4 nations but probably won't.

 

[oobga]

IMO, Bob wouldn’t finally say this if it hasn’t reached management’s awareness. Upgrade the f***ing net.

Maybe the org is hoping we can win a cup by playing 4 bottom 10 teams through the playoffs.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I don't think there is that much "untapped offense". Henrique is dropping off due to age, Arvidsson is aging, small, and coming off major injuries. Kane is old and coming off massive injuries. Skinner is coming around but he's a small winger too.

The management made poor decisions in the off-season.

There aren't available forwards anyway unless we are talking pie in the sky scenarios like a Marchand or Crosby (which would require Savoie++ to be going out for a 36+ year old) that improve the Oilers more than a John Gibson would IMO.

Trent Frederics and Drew O Connor's of the world aren't moving the needle that much.

Also, bring back Klim Kostin. He scored at a higher rate than Foegele, McLeod, Holloway in the playoffs for us, if he can be had for basically nothing, why not.

Adding Kostin and Frederic would go a long way to making us a tougher team.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Maybe the org is hoping we can win a cup by playing 4 bottom 10 teams through the playoffs.

Sounds like a foolproof plan!

 

[RegDunlop]

Waiting for his defenders to come in the thread. Another loss mainly due to this sieve. Skinner can f*** off

Haven't been posting much lately but... as a SSkins supporter, or maybe former, I can't take goals like the first 2 last night. I still believe in this guy but not right now.
It's also been evident to me that they're in a pickle. It's tempting to think the tandem will take care of biz this year since they were so close. But I see no development or at least not much this year.
Done right, I don't understand why a certain Nashville goalie isn't targeted hard. It's not the worst thing for Skinner to tandem with a bona fide starter and perhaps become the tender I think he could be.
Anyway I've left the dark side. Pride says I can't tell you FKRs you were right but I can say I was maybe a bit wrong!!
Like many, I now trust CP more to start. After 10mins into a game if SS is on I can relax but not until. It shouldn't be that way.
Rant done. How's Rodrigue doing anyway?

McDavid man. Shown up by Makar Mackinnon and his own buddy Leon. No points and fumbling pucks all game. Unacceptable. -3. Guy is losing his shine right before our eyes

This guy isnt leading us to no cups. Its Draisaitls team now.

I've just joined the Skinner bus ride group. This shit on McDavid though is a bit much

I think he's earned a game or 15 in a funk

 

[Soundwave]

Adding Kostin and Frederic would go a long way to making us a tougher team.

I'd rather spend almost nothing to get Kostin than spend more substantial assets to get Frederic honestly.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I'd rather spend almost nothing to get Kostin than spend more substantial assets to get Frederic honestly.

I guess it depends on what the cost for Frederic would be. He's a bit more of a disturber than Kostin is and is a better hockey player.

 

[belair]

We wouldn’t know because we have never tried.

The Jack Campbell signing was them trying on a grand scale. It was an offseason where it was either him or it was Darcy Kuemper.

Fact of the matter is that the gems in goalie market are frequently the ones that teams seem to stumble upon.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

If his name was Stuarti Skinninnen hes in the AHL playing for bakersfield.

Too bad it wasn’t Stuartoli Skinnerkov cause he’d be in the K.