Proposal: What is the Oilers' emergency response plan?

[McQuixote]

Let's say 20 games into the season and the team looks flat. The offense isn't producing, McDavid is playing like he's still in the OHL, Talbot is worse than Fasth, and our defense is slow and soft as butter.

It's not something any of us want to think about, but for argument's sake, what would the Oilers and PC/Nicholson do in this situation?

Step 1: Suck
Step 2: Draft Auston Matthews
Step 2a: Log onto HF Boards. #TrollFace
Step 3: Sell Hope.


There are a few things this team could have done (I'm thinking primarily in net) to ward against another disaster, but frankly there remains the possibility that this is still a slow process. Maybe even one that started this off-season.

Right now, we have:
1) A GM with a proven track-record of success. He has some question marks, but he's an experienced professional, well-regarded around the league. He's brand new here.
2) A Coach with a proven track-record of success. He's had a bit less success than the GM, but he also has fewer question marks. He's brand new here.
3) An administrative structure that's still undergoing an overhaul, but headed by a President who is an experienced professional with a track-record of success. He's fairly new here still.
4) A ridiculous surplus of young talent, most of which is still developing and signed to great contracts
5) The most heralded player to join the league in a generation, but one who has - we must remind ourselves - yet to play an NHL game
6) Limited cap and contract room, but substantial projected cap space.

What do we do if we come out the gate and suck?

As fans: We sigh, we swear, and we wait.

The team: Hopefully doesn't panic. It looks for good trades, it moves out players who clearly are part of the problem, and it uses the cap space wisely in the off-season to bring in solid vets.

The team probably is going to suck next season. It was all-world bad the previous couple and the primary reason to hope things have changed hasn't played a single game yet.

Sidney Crosby came into the league and joined a team full of veterans, including some Hall of Famers and All-Stars who were still, if not in their prime, very very good contributors.

And he scored 102 points as a rookie.

And the Penguins finished 1 point out of dead effin' last.

The Oilers might very well suck this year. It may take a while to turn this thing around.

The important thing is that they're *better* this year. But they can climb a long way up the ladder of *better* and still be in "suck" territory.

It's okay.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Let's say 20 games into the season and the team looks flat. The offense isn't producing, McDavid is playing like he's still in the OHL, Talbot is worse than Fasth, and our defense is slow and soft as butter.

It's not something any of us want to think about, but for argument's sake, what would the Oilers and PC/Nicholson do in this situation?

Who is the first to get dealt? Which guys do we start to target? Do we hold out for another season and not worry too much about this one?

What is an emergency trade that we can pull the trigger on that might save this team if they are awful at the beginning of the season without compromising our future?

eberle, Hall, Nuge, McDavid, Leon D, and Nurse all traded for a single fourth rounder

 

[McTrashBoat]

Fire Eakins... again.

He can take care of that himself

 

[LTIR]

Yakupov and Schultz would be the obvious sacrifices but wont net a great return..

Draisaitl and Klefbom however if traded should net enough to right the ship.

 

[CupofOil]

Chia has largely fiddled his fingers the whole offseason. What makes you think regular season, where options are limited, will be much different?

btw your plan sounds like a disaster. Hopefully it isn't Chia's plan. Blow it up real good seldom works and results in us losing multiple talents that make this club even watchable.

How do you figure that?

Hired one of the top coaches available
Replaced just about the entire scouting staff
Signed the top free agent Dman
Traded just about every draft pick for Reinhart and Talbot
Traded Gordon, signed Letestu
Made several other minor deals.

It remains to be seen if these moves work out but I'd be hard pressed to find a GM who was busier this offseason.
I don't think we see a bigger move until he has a full season to evaulate the roster. I also suspect that we see MacT move on once Chia becomes more familiar with the franchise.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

How do you figure that?

Hired one of the top coaches available
Replaced just about the entire scouting staff
Signed the top free agent Dman
Traded just about every draft pick for Reinhart and Talbot
Traded Gordon, signed Letestu
Made several other minor deals.

It remains to be seen if these moves work out but I'd be hard pressed to find a GM who was busier this offseason.
I don't think we see a bigger move until he has a full season to evaulate the roster. I also suspect that we see MacT move on once Chia becomes more familiar with the franchise.

Add in 3 new qualified assistant coaches and really lots was done. Not tons roster wise which i can get might look meh but we have at least

1 large improvement in positions of need. McDavid, Sekera and Talbot are all much better then what we had.

And yes Talbot will be a great starter, anyone who watched him keep play in New York would agree. He is basically everything Scrivens hopes to be and more.

 

[PaPaDee]

Add in 3 new qualified assistant coaches and really lots was done. Not tons roster wise which i can get might look meh but we have at least

1 large improvement in positions of need. McDavid, Sekera and Talbot are all much better then what we had.

And yes Talbot will be a great starter, anyone who watched him keep play in New York would agree. He is basically everything Scrivens hopes to be and more.

Agreed. I think our forward depth looks really good with adding McDavid, Korpikoski & Letestu. I'd like to have another crasher/banger type that can skate and has some offense, but I think it's decent right now.

Defensively, I think we're obviously better than we were at the end of the season with adding Sekera & Gryba.

In net, Talbot is >>> Fasth.

The biggest wildcard is coaching. Time to see how much negative influence Eakins really had over this roster.

 

[Jumptheshark]

LTIR so hall and boys still get a free pass? If the oilers struggle we need to take a long look at Eberle, Hall and Nuge. The guys playing the most minutes. If yak goes back to 10 minutes a game. How can he be part of the problem? And the guys playing 18minutes a night are not?

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

LTIR so hall and boys still get a free pass? If the oilers struggle we need to take a long look at Eberle, Hall and Nuge. The guys playing the most minutes. If yak goes back to 10 minutes a game. How can he be part of the problem? And the guys playing 18minutes a night are not?

Because secondary scoring is important? Can't only have 1 line performing, but yes let's blame the only guys doing their job for the teams faults.

Its like blaming your best salesmen and firing them because the company isn't selling enough when the best guys are selling most of the stuff while the other bunch of shutters are selling nothing. Makes 0 sense.

 

[CupofOil]

Add in 3 new qualified assistant coaches and really lots was done. Not tons roster wise which i can get might look meh but we have at least

1 large improvement in positions of need. McDavid, Sekera and Talbot are all much better then what we had.

And yes Talbot will be a great starter, anyone who watched him keep play in New York would agree. He is basically everything Scrivens hopes to be and more.

The roster only looks meh because it was so barren towards the end of last season that it was almost impossible to completely turn it overnight. The Petry and Perron deals created 2 more holes for a team that already had tons of holes. Not that I minded the Perron deal, just that I rid of the team of yet another proven NHLer for magic beans.

I like Talbot a lot too, saw two of his games live, but it's a totally different ballgame when you're counted on to be the #1 starter with no Lundqvist cushion to fall back on so I'm in wait and see mode on him.

Regardless, Chia did as much as humanly possible outside of dealing the core. MacT left him with quite a mess.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

The roster only looks meh because it was so barren towards the end of last season that it was almost impossible to completely turn it overnight. The Petry and Perron deals created 2 more holes for a team that already had tons of holes. Not that I minded the Perron deal, just that I rid of the team of yet another proven NHLer for magic beans.

I like Talbot a lot too, saw two of his games live, but it's a totally different ballgame when you're counted on to be the #1 starter with no Lundqvist cushion to fall back on so I'm in wait and see mode on him.

Regardless, Chia did as much as humanly possible outside of dealing the core. MacT left him with quite a mess.

Talbots run in New York last year had no cushion. Henrik was injured so Talbot was the guy. And he did extremely well.

Could you imagine the roster if we had the money and didn't get rid of Perron and Petry...

Pouliot - RNH - Eberle
Hall - McDavid - Perron
Purcell - Lander - McDavid
Hendricks - Letetsu - Korpikoski

Sekera - Petry
Klefbom - Fayne
Ference - Gryba

Talbot
Scrivens

 

[Replacement*]

Talbots run in New York last year had no cushion. Henrik was injured so Talbot was the guy. And he did extremely well.

I would say the cushion is the NY Rangers, the same club that normally makes Lundqvist look great. But he had some Luongo moments in the playoffs as well when the Rangers were not up to snuff.

A goalie is often as good or bad as a team makes them. This is what makes me wonder what we really have in Talbot.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

I would say the cushion is the NY Rangers, the same club that normally makes Lundqvist look great. But he had some Luongo moments in the playoffs as well when the Rangers were not up to snuff.

A goalie is often as good or bad as a team makes them. This is what makes me wonder what we really have in Talbot.

I do wonder as well but he at worst is good positionally and doesn't let in weak shots, something our goalies struggled with in the past.

He is also an extremely hard working goalie and sounds like he definitely has the mental strength to not fall apart, he definitely has the tools to be a starter.

 

[doulos]

Chiarelli did a solid job this offseason, and does not shy away from in-season moves if I recall correctly. If the teams stumbles then there will be changes, and that's a good thing.

 

[CupofOil]

Talbots run in New York last year had no cushion. Henrik was injured so Talbot was the guy. And he did extremely well.

Could you imagine the roster if we had the money and didn't get rid of Perron and Petry...

Pouliot - RNH - Eberle
Hall - McDavid - Perron
Purcell - Lander - McDavid
Hendricks - Letetsu - Korpikoski

Sekera - Petry
Klefbom - Fayne
Ference - Gryba

Talbot
Scrivens

Yeah but he always had the cushion of knowing that Lundqvist was coming back to take over similar to Scrivens with Quick. It's a different kind of pressure when you're only placeholding.
Also, as Replacement mentioned, he played behind a solid defense which has a tendency to inflate goalie stats although the Rangers D was a bit overrated last season, weren't as good as the previous season.
I like Talbot's demeanor more than Scrivens, he's more even kheel emotionally and is more sound positionally plus he's a MUCH better stickhandler so I'm more confident in him than I was in Scrivens.

In any event, I like Talbot and am happy with the pickup, but I won't be comfortable with him as the #1 until I can see what he can do in a situation where he's depended on as "the guy" and behind that Oiler defense.

 

[doulos]

I thought the Rangers were the type of team that actually allowed a lot of high event shots on goal. Maybe I am misremembering though.

We won't feel 100% confident in Talbot's abilities until he actually plays but his arrows are all pointing in the right direction.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

I thought the Rangers were the type of team that actually allowed a lot of high event shots on goal. Maybe I am misremembering though.

We won't feel 100% confident in Talbot's abilities until he actually plays but his arrows are all pointing in the right direction.

They limit low quality shots but we're pretty average to below average at allowing high chance shots. Which is why a lot of fans were high on Talbot.

 

[doulos]

They limit low quality shots but we're pretty average to below average at allowing high chance shots. Which is why a lot of fans were high on Talbot.

Okay, that's what I thought as well. It doesn't mean much more than 'that's a good sign' but the Rangers were not the bastion of high end defensive play that seems to be the storyline trotted out. Lundqvist is simply unreal and Talbot stepped right in and was able to do much of what Henrik could over a significant sample size. That's something to be really excited about.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Okay, that's what I thought as well. It doesn't mean much more than 'that's a good sign' but the Rangers were not the bastion of high end defensive play that seems to be the storyline trotted out. Lundqvist is simply unreal and Talbot stepped right in and was able to do much of what Henrik could over a significant sample size. That's something to be really excited about.

I think Talbot had better stats last season then Henrik did too and had a few votes for Vezina.

Nilsson is intriguing as well. I could see him pushing Scrivens out

 

[Evilsports]

The one thing about Nissan is that he played in a league and specifically on a team where it would have been more unusual for him NOT to have posted .920 or better SV%. Not trying to take anything away from the kid, more less tempering expectations a little bit.

 

[Replacement*]

They limit low quality shots but we're pretty average to below average at allowing high chance shots. Which is why a lot of fans were high on Talbot.

I'm sure this narrative comes from either advanced stats or observance of scatterplots but sounds strange and not much like the Rangers team I've seen the past few years who have been one of the best D teams in the East.

Hey its all in attribution. Does a team limit goals due to quality system play or great goaltending. The rangers have been a good to very good system team that is excellent on the counter. This suggests a club that is well schooled in every aspect of its game and is playing in sync.

To suggest that this Rangers club was below average in allowing high chance shots needs a bit more substantiation to sound credible.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

the 3-game roadie to start the year could make thing real difficult out of the gate...gonna need exceptional goaltending to have a chance

St.Louis
Nashville
Dallas

then home to St.Loo and then off to Calgary

yikes!

being .500 after 5-games would be a massive win

could be a rough October with McDavid just getting his feet wet in the Show

 

[PaPaDee]

I would say the cushion is the NY Rangers, the same club that normally makes Lundqvist look great. But he had some Luongo moments in the playoffs as well when the Rangers were not up to snuff.

A goalie is often as good or bad as a team makes them. This is what makes me wonder what we really have in Talbot.

It's definitely up in the air - I do remember seeing some advanced stats that pointed Talbot being able to have success in Edmonton.

However, at minimum, I think most would agree he's an upgrade over Fasth.

With Scrivens' workload scaling back, and him coming off one of his worst seasons, I think a bounce back to some extent would be reasonable for him.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

http://becauseoilers.blogspot.ca/2015/07/were-rangers-d-corps-been-as-good-as.html?m=1

Basically they are only elite in 4v4 and 4v5 play and average everywhere else, very close to the Oilers 5v5 actually statistically wise.

 

[I am the Liquor]

Fire Chia and his coach and bring bact Mact and Eakins.