Speculation: We have issues - POLE

[Soundwave]

What about being north of 45th in scoring over a two month stretch as the team is playing like ass?

He has 23 points in his last 21 games (from Dec. 28th to today). That is about the same level of production as Barkov and Tkachuk have for Florida for the entire year and that is McDavid at his worst.

Boo f***ing hoo. How terrible for the Oilers to have to play a month and a half of real hockey with only "All-Star level center" instead of "generational level center".

 

[TB12]

He has 23 points in his last 21 games (from Dec. 28th to today). That is about the same level of production as Barkov and Tkachuk have for Florida for the entire year and that is McDavid at his worst.

Boo f***ing hoo. How terrible for the Oilers to have to play a month and a half of real hockey with only "All-Star level center" instead of "generational level center".

There's no point debating those people. The standard for McDavid is sky f***ing high, in that he has to be the goat every single game, night in night out, year in year out or else he gets blamed.

Meanwhile, Moustache is judged whether or not he puts his jock on the right way and if his skates are tied and on the right feet.

 

[K1984]

He has 23 points in his last 21 games (from Dec. 28th to today). That is about the same level of production as Barkov and Tkachuk have for Florida for the entire year and that is McDavid at his worst.

Boo f***ing hoo. How terrible for the Oilers to have to play a month and a half of real hockey with only "All-Star level center" instead of "generational level center".

45th in scoring as a #1C probably doesn't get you into all star games.

Now we're holding him to the same offensive standard as Barkov and Tkachuk. Quite the slide in expectations.

 

[Messrules11]

There's no point debating those people. The standard for McDavid is sky f***ing high, in that he has to be the goat every single game, night in night out, year in year out or else he gets blamed.

Meanwhile, Moustache is judged whether or not he puts his jock on the right way and if his skates are tied and on the right feet.

I’ll add that his linemates last game were Podz and Kap. That’s a joke in itself.

 

[Soundwave]

45th in scoring as a #1C probably doesn't get you into all star games.

Now we're holding him to the same offensive standard as Barkov and Tkachuk. Quite the slide in expectations.

Can you cite what source you're even using there. The season has only been 4 months of play until now. So for half the time he's 45th in scoring, but he's currently 4th overall in scoring for the season? While being suspended and missing multiple games? That doesn't sound like it checks out because it means in the other games he must be scoring at some insane rate to be 4th overall.

His PPG the last 21 games (from Dec 28th to today) is 23 points in 21 games, that is about the same as Barkov and Tkachuk for their entire season, so yes it does get you into an All-Star game unless you're going to argue Barkov and Tkachuk wouldn't have made the All-Star team.

If your "playing the worst you can play" is Barkov or Tkachuk production, lol that basically says you are the best player in the world.

 

[K1984]

There's no point debating those people. The standard for McDavid is sky f***ing high, in that he has to be the goat every single game, night in night out, year in year out or else he gets blamed.

Meanwhile, Moustache is judged whether or not he puts his jock on the right way and if his skates are tied and on the right feet.

Is McDavid playing anywhere near his normal level so far in 2025?

Simple black and white question. Have yet to see any coherent retort from anyone, just blame on teammates, laughing emojis, and somehow Auston Matthews has entered the conversation. Also, somehow "he doesn't really care" is a justification as well.

He hasn't been playing well. It's ok to admit that. It's the truth, we don't need to twist ourselves into a pretzel denying reality.

 

[K1984]

Can you cite what source you're even using there. The season has only been 4 months of play until now. So for half the time he's 45th in scoring, but he's currently 4th overall? While being suspended and missing multiple games? That doesn't sound like it checks out because it means in the other games he must be scoring at some insane rate to be 4th overall.

Here's his season:

October - 10 points in 10 games - below his standard

November - 21 points in 11 games - awesome

December - 23 points in 13 games - awesome

January - 13 points in 11 games - drop off

February - 5 points in 6 games - poor

2 fantastic months, and 3 poor months.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Is McDavid playing anywhere near his normal level so far in 2025?

Simple black and white question. Have yet to see any coherent retort from anyone, just blame on teammates, laughing emojis, and somehow Auston Matthews has entered the conversation.

He hasn't been playing well. It's ok to admit that. It's the truth, we don't need to twist ourselves into a pretzel denying reality.

How dare you "shit" on McDavid by saying that!

leave Connor alone!!

 

[bucks_oil]

we need at least a middle pairing D/starting goalie/top 6 forward
isn't that why they chose not to match Holloway and Broberg and not put Kane on LTIR? to accrue cap space during the year to get a bigger fish at the TDL?

they better not back out now

1) The math worked out that you could get 2 of the 3 if Kane stays out, and Kane himself would be the third. Getting all three (plus Kane) was never a real possibility.
2) Unfortunately I think Lindholm was the middle pairing D bet. We spent accrued cap on him relatively early.
3) So now the choice is only double-down on D, or get a goalie. At least insofar as major additions... and this still assumes Kane is out until playoffs.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

There's no point debating those people. The standard for McDavid is sky f***ing high, in that he has to be the goat every single game, night in night out, year in year out or else he gets blamed.

Meanwhile, Moustache is judged whether or not he puts his jock on the right way and if his skates are tied and on the right feet.

He’d be happy to show people.

 

[Soundwave]

Here's his season:

October - 10 points in 10 games - below his standard

November - 21 points in 11 games - awesome

December - 23 points in 13 games - awesome

January - 13 points in 11 games - drop off

February - 5 points in 6 games - poor

2 fantastic months, and 3 poor months.

So basically meaningless, Feburary he's dragged off a 4 Nations tournament where none of the stars players in that tourney have scored f*** all in the games since either.

1.411 ppg this year ... is nothing to scoff at. That's a dream season for a lot of players, even Kucherov and MacKinnon have only exceeded that rate twice in their careers in a full season.

A lot of the PPG difference between him and other guys is largely in meaningless empty net points too.

 

[Messrules11]

Is McDavid playing anywhere near his normal level so far in 2025?

Simple black and white question. Have yet to see any coherent retort from anyone, just blame on teammates, laughing emojis, and somehow Auston Matthews has entered the conversation. Also, somehow "he doesn't really care" is a justification as well.

He hasn't been playing well. It's ok to admit that. It's the truth, we don't need to twist ourselves into a pretzel denying reality.

Gretzky’s last 200 point season came at age 25. His ‘normal’ level also took a hit, considering McDavid is 28 it’s inevitable McDavid’s will too

 

[K1984]

So basically meaningless, Feburary he's dragged off a 4 Nations tournament where none of the stars players in that tourney have scored f*** all in the games since either.

1.411 ppg this year ... is nothing to scoff at. That's a dream season for a lot of players, even Kucherov and MacKinnon have only exceeded that rate twice in their careers in a full season.

A lot of the PPG difference between him and other guys is largely in meaningless empty net points too.

Yep, he had a fantastic November and December. Currently playing poorly.

Gretzky’s last 200 point season came at age 25. His ‘normal’ level also took a hit, considering McDavid is 28 it’s inevitable McDavid’s will too

For sure, production drops.

I don't think it's unfair to say that he's playing poor defensively and is far off the level of play he's capable of even if he isn't at top form in his career anymore. We've seen it from him this season.

 

[Soundwave]

Yep, he had a fantastic November and December. Currently playing poorly.



For sure, production drops.

I don't think it's unfair to say that he's playing poor defensively and is far off the level of play he's capable of even if he isn't at top form in his career anymore. We've seen it from him this season.

Even 18 points in 17 games ... again boo f***ing hoo Oilers.

I'll give him some grace around this 4 Nations Tournament, everyone knows that McDavid has been watching Crosby's golden goal thing and built up in his mind that he had to match it since he's been touted as the next Crosby since age 14 or 15. No one else in the sport has that burden on them.

The last three games of his I don't give that much of a rats ass about.

As for pacing himself this year, Connor should. Clearly the team can't do f*** all without him, so he should be conserving himself more, playing into late June is exhausting at the level he plays it (high or low). Team can't even show up against non-playoff teams like the Flyers without getting their show run unless he puts on his cape.

 

[Messrules11]

Yep, he had a fantastic November and December. Currently playing poorly.



For sure, production drops.

I don't think it's unfair to say that he's playing poor defensively and is far off the level of play he's capable of even if he isn't at top form in his career anymore. We've seen it from him this season.

He 100% has been ass defensively, claiming otherwise is simply bias.

 

[K1984]

Even 18 points in 17 games ... again boo f***ing hoo Oilers.

I'll give him some grace around this 4 Nations Tournament, everyone knows that McDavid has been watching Crosby's golden goal thing and built up in his mind that he had to match it since he's been touted as the next Crosby since age 14 or 15.

The last three games of his I don't give that much of a rats ass about.

As for pacing himself this year, Connor should. Clearly the team can't do f*** all without him, so he should be conserving himself more, playing into late June is exhausting at the level he plays it (high or low). Team can't even show up against non-playoff teams like the Flyers without getting their show run unless he puts on his cape.

Ok, so he's playing poorly, you just don't care. Got it.

 

[Soundwave]

Ok, so he's playing poorly, you just don't care. Got it.

By superhuman standards ok, he's "only" playing at an All-Star level. That does not excuse the team who had 2 weeks to do nothing while McDavid was out there winning the highest pressure hockey game of the last 20 years for Canada in the most hostile environment.

And all that shit about plus minus is bullshit when you look at the goals against it's all of McDavid's teammates and shitty goaltenders at fault for virtually all of the 13 goals against since the break. Maybe they should learn how to f***ing play their position after a break so they don't get embarrassed by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Maybe the coach can learn how to manage his bench too and f***ing have some consequences for Bouchard one of these months.

 

[K1984]

By superhuman standards ok, he's "only" playing at an All-Star level. That does not excuse the team who had 2 weeks to do nothing while McDavid was out there winning the highest pressure hockey game of the last 20 years for Canada in the most hostile environment.

And all that shit about plus minus is bullshit when you look at the goals against it's all of McDavid's teammates and shitty goaltenders at fault for virtually all of the 13 goals against since the break. Maybe they should learn how to f***ing play their position after a break so they don't get embarrassed by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Maybe the coach can learn how to manage his bench too and f***ing have some consequences for Bouchard one of these months.

Strange that the minuses aren't following around his teammates that are actually playing well like flies on shit.

Could it be he isn't driving the puck in the O zone nearly as much as Leon is, resulting in more GA's on the bad goalies?

 

[Soundwave]

Strange that the minuses aren't following around his teammates that are actually playing well like flies on shit.

Could it be he isn't driving the puck in the O zone nearly as much as Leon is, resulting in more GA's on the bad goalies?

You show me which of the 13 goals they allowed this weekend were his fault. You ain't got shit.

This guy just won the biggest game in the last 20 years of hockey arguably. What exactly is the excuse for the rest of this team minus Draisaitl?

Two players have to carry the water and do everything or they get blown out by the Flyers. Gimme a break. Maybe guys like RNH and Hyman and Bouchard and Henrique and Nurse and Stuart "So Called NHL Starter" Skinner could have focused on bringing some effort instead of a giant pile of a f*** all after their 2 week holiday.

 

[K1984]

You show me which of the 13 goals they allowed this weekend were his fault. You ain't got shit.

This guy just won the biggest game in the last 20 years of hockey arguably. What exactly is the excuse for the rest of this team minus Draisaitl?

Two players have to carry the water and do everything or they get blown out by the Flyers. Gimme a break. Maybe guys like RNH and Hyman and Bouchard and Henrique and Nurse and Stuart "So Called NHL Starter" Skinner could have focused on bringing some effort instead of a giant pile of a f*** all after their 2 week holiday.

Yep I agree.

It must be a total coincidence that McDavid is -11 over his last 4 games while his next closest teammate is -7 (Ekholm, who has also been terrible). The only other guy that's even in the same ballpark is Hyman at -5. All three are playing like shit, all three need to wake up. This isn't exclusively a McDavid problem.

Nobody else is even in the same ballpark as those three. So all the depth players that your'e blaming for McDavid playing poorly are mostly cutting even or close to it, while three of our top players are getting absolutely rag dolled.

Weird that the goalies are only choosing to give up bad goals when these three players are on the ice specifically.

 

[Soundwave]

Yep I agree.

It must be a total coincidence that McDavid is -11 over his last 4 games while his next closest teammate is -7 (Ekholm, who has also been terrible). The only other guy that's even in the same ballpark is Hyman at -5. All three are playing like shit, all three need to wake up. This isn't exclusively a McDavid problem.

Nobody else is even in the same ballpark as those three. So all the depth players that your'e blaming for McDavid playing poorly are mostly cutting even or close to it, while three of our top players are getting absolutely rag dolled.

Weird that the goalies are only choosing to give up bad goals when these three players are on the ice specifically.

It's not very weird at all, McDavid plays a lot of minutes and has the misfortune of playing in front of two back up/AHL goalies.

In stretches where he's not scoring at a super high clip, his plus minus will generally take a blow.

Lets go to the actual tape again in the Colorado game:



GA1: Bad goal on Skinner, MacK given too much time/space
GA2: Makar given time and space, a better goalie likely saves this also.
GA3: MacKinnon feed Lekohnen, RNH and Nurse at fault
GA4: Bouchard Turnover Leads To Goal Against
GA5: Hyman's Fault, tries a dumb cross ice pass late in the game for no reason that is picked off

Again this also probably shows that +/- can be misleading. That's 18 goals against in the last three Oilers games and I don't think McDavid was at fault really for any of them, maybe 1 (the 5th goal against Washington when the game was over in the 3rd period).

D are getting caught high and getting burned repeatedly in transition and Bouchard is being a moron seems to be the main culprits of the last three losses on top of the goalies letting several soft goals which you can't do in this league.

 

[K1984]

It's not very weird at all, McDavid plays a lot of minutes and has the misfortune of playing in front of two back up/AHL goalies.

In stretches where he's not scoring at a super high clip, his plus minus will generally take a blow.

Lets go to the actual tape again in the Colorado game:



GA1: Bad goal on Skinner, MacK given too much time/space
GA2: Makar given time and space, a better goalie likely saves this also.
GA3: MacKinnon feed Lekohnen, RNH and Nurse at fault
GA4: Bouchard Turnover Leads To Goal Against
GA5: Hyman's Fault, tries a dumb cross ice pass late in the game for no reason that is picked off

Again this also probably shows that +/- can be misleading. That's 18 goals against in the last three Oilers games and I don't think McDavid was at fault really for any of them, maybe 1 (the 5th goal against Washington when the game was over in the 3rd period).

Draisaitl also plays a lot of minutes. So does RNH. So does Bouchard.

Goalies not selectively allowing bad goals when they're on the ice I guess.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

You show me which of the 13 goals they allowed this weekend were his fault. You ain't got shit.

This guy just won the biggest game in the last 20 years of hockey arguably. What exactly is the excuse for the rest of this team minus Draisaitl?

Two players have to carry the water and do everything or they get blown out by the Flyers. Gimme a break. Maybe guys like RNH and Hyman and Bouchard and Henrique and Nurse and Stuart "So Called NHL Starter" Skinner could have focused on bringing some effort instead of a giant pile of a f*** all after their 2 week holiday.

McDavid had 0 shots yesterday, one way to erase a -3 is too score an ES goal...something he's failed to do in 3 straight games
in fact, he hasn't had a 5-on-5 point in February...his last 5-on 5 point was against Seattle on January 27th, 7 games ago

that's not normal, or "ok" for a player of his caliber

 

[Soundwave]

Draisaitl also plays a lot of minutes. So does RNH. So does Bouchard.

Goalies not selectively allowing bad goals when they're on the ice I guess.

Again if you're going to fixate on the last three games especially I see no goals that are the fault of McDavid and there's a whopping 18 f***ing goals to pick from.

I see D getting constantly caught high, lost coverage from guys like RNH and Nurse and Henrique, and Bouchard being a moron on top of several momentum sucking, soul crushing goals that goalies have to stop.

 

[K1984]

Again if you're going to fixate on the last three games especially I see no goals that are the fault of McDavid and there's a whopping 18 f***ing goals to pick from.

I see D getting constantly caught high, soft play from guys like RNH and Nurse, and Bouchard being a moron on top of several momentum sucking, soul crushing goals that goalies have to stop.

Strange that Nurse, RNH and Bouchard don't have anywhere near the (-) as McDavid despite purportedly being the culprits for all of our problems.

+/- is a flawed stat, but when one or two guys stick out that much relative to teammates it tells a story whether you like it or not.

McDavid had 0 shots yesterday, one way to erase a -3 is too score an ES goal...something he's failed to do in 3 straight games
in fact, he hasn't had a 5-on-5 point in February...his last 5-on 5 point was against Seattle on January 27th, 7 games ago

that's not normal, or "ok" for a player of his caliber

All everyone else's fault.