Speculation: We have issues - POLE

[Spawn]

Need a goalie that doesn't choke. Need a top 4 d-man.

Nothing has changed from the off-season. The team is still one of the best in the league, recent struggles notwithstanding. But they need those pieces if they want to win a cup.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Overspent on small skill forwards yet still need a top 6 finisher (with size please) and roster is clogged with an oversupply of bottom six players. Defense isn't deep enough with PK taking on water and 2RD still a work in progress. Ideally they would still upgrade the middle pair right side. Kulak's been a godsend plugging the middle pair hole but his game's taking on a bit of water. Goaltending is not good enough and needs a 1A/B tandem who can push for top job, increase floor of this team's goaltending and elevate its ceiling to be able to at minimum occasionally steal games.

Oil don't have the assets to get everything done. Imagine a scenario might be a two-fer situation like last year's Anaheim deal. Lots of work to be done at all position areas.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

He literally was the first skater in like 5 decades to win the Conn Smythe trophy last season while playing injured. He just scored one of the biggest goals in Canadian history the other night (up there with Henderson 72, Mario in 87, and Sid in 2010) . He's doing fine.

People here don't really understand having a superstar player because most of the people here frankly weren't around when the Oilers actually had one of those types of players in the 80s.

Every year isn't a career year. Ovechkin, the year who put up 3 goals tonight and is having a great season at age 39 has had up and down seasons too.

Draisaitl had a down year by his standards last year, this year is way up because he wants to show he's worth that monster contract.

McDavid has little to nothing to play for in the regular season, and frankly he's probably tired of the same ol shit in the regular season of little help outside of no.29 and shaky goaltending all the time which prevents the team from ever having a truly dominant regular season.

No point in killing yourself in the regular season over that. Better to pace oneself.

Even though he won the Smythe he still wasn't the Mcdavid of the past.IMO He definitely dropped off a bit. Didn't shoot at all.

You are probably right that he is saving himself for playoffs and I'm sure we will get a great performance this year.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

There are issues on the ice, but to my eye the bigger issue with weekend was systems. The forwards gave up on back-checking / applying back pressure, and the Oil got torn to shreds on transition.


They need size upfront, right now the forwards are too easy to play against and can't consistently win battles down low. This is letting teams stay higher in their zone and jump the gun on any turnovers. Mix in a number of dumb turnovers in every zone and you get the disaster that was this weekend.