Post-Game Talk: We have a major Oil leak now

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Knoblauch needs to start naming the passengers. If he’s not going to bench the slackers, he could at least give the worst habitual offenders (Henrique, RNH, Brown) a mention.
 
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Here's the real problems...

John Klingberg and Jeff Skinner over the past 6 games (in which they even have been benched for 1 game each in that stretch) have a combined 7 Even strength points between them. JSkinner is +1 Klingberg is +3

In that stretch...

RHN has 2 and is -1
Hyman has 2 and is -7
McDavid has 1 and is -12
Bouchard has 0 and is -6


When JSkinner and Klingberg are outscoring those 4 players at evens... you are in serious Shitcreek territory without a paddle.

Team is funking it up bigtime and needs to break out of whatever collective injury/sickness/lethargy they are going through.

They aren't shooting enough... not hitting enough... not giving a f*** enough.

Team D is cratering... team offense is cratering... goaltending is cratering.

Outshot by an average of 7.2 shots per game over that 6 game stretch. That's obviously NOT GOOD for a team with mediocre goaltending and subpar finishing ability.

All that was propping up the team all season (up until recently) was their ability to out-defend other teams and tilt the shot clock consistently so that they could win games based on that shot discrepancy. Now that that advantage has dried up... that lack of finish and lack of close to average goaltending is biting them in the ass.

I sure hope this is an "internal Oilers personnel problem" and they can rebound once injuries/sickness issues resolve themselves and that it's not a "league has figured out this team" problem... because if it's indeed the latter... team is truly hooped and there's no coming out of this funk.
 
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Core badly needs a shakeup trade and Bowman with no attachment to the group is just the one to do it. If coaching can’t get this group going that’s the next step.

I heard in the GYB podcast when they had Jamie McLennan on that ‘Rodrigue is not an NHL goalie’. They were quite clear on that.
Yeah, “scouts” have been saying that from day one because he’s not 6’5”. But he just makes saves. I’d be willing to bet he has a good NHL career, either here or somewhere else.
 
Here's my thoughts on goaltending. They need an athletic goalie who can come up with some big stops in close games. Doesn't matter if the guy is prone to the odd bad goal. We already get that with Skinner, but without any of the athletic "how did he save that" kind of saves.

I was honestly kind of against Binnington when I heard that chatter, but after his performance in clutch time for Canada, previous stretches of elite play, him being an athletic goalie who can make miraculous saves, and some of his underlying metrics on high danger chances/saves off the rush. I'd definitely be on board over what we have.
I’d like an upgrade, but not a get out of jail free card where the skaters can still play this crappy individual focused game and not give a crap at the back and have the goalie bail them out.

Team needs to play like a team in all three zones or any goalie is gonna have problems, even if they have a higher skillset.
 
Can't tell if Draisaitl was giving it to Stu at the end of the game by the bench or if it was general frustration. The way Stu hesitated to get off the ice has me thinking something was said to him though. 13 Seconds left, Oilers get possession off the draw and race up the ice 2 on 2 and Stu just sits in his crease... like the extra attacker on the ice for 6 seconds likely wouldn't have made a difference but the absolute lack of urgency by Stu there is so frustrating, especially after giving up goals #3 and #4. The least you can do is get your a$$ to the bench.

According to Natural Stat Trick, expected goals at even strength tonight were 2.35-2.02 in favor of Florida. High danger chances were 10-8 in favor of Edmonton. Once again, the Oilers lose because they have the second best goaltender on the ice. Whatever trade deadline plans the front office had before the 4 Nations better be adjusted accordingly after this abysmal road trip.

Kris Knoblauch talked about "passengers" last night, with Janmark-Henrique-Brown going a combined -8. Seriously that line has been so bad all season I do not understand going back to it time and time again. Even in the playoffs it was a PDO heater for that trio and we knew they couldn't sustain that success.

Rough times in Oil Country right now. I try to find positives more often than not, but there's not a whole lot to feel good about right now with the team. If they were outplaying and out-chancing their opponents every night I'd be less concerned long-term... but right now every metric on the planet shows the Oilers as the 2nd best team on the ice the last 10 or so games.
 
I'll take a pile of garbage at this point
Can it move laterally, left to right?

If so,
Pile ‘o garbage>> Skinner

Not sure if you listened to Skinner in the past game media avail, but I don’t know how the guy can find a helmet to fit his head. Absolutely zero recognition of where he can be better.
 

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