Where are McDavid and Draisaitl when it matters?

[Muffin]

im not even sure you are watching the games.

You can't honestly think the Oilers are playing well. They've been trash the first two games and generating nothing offensively,

 

[LivingRentFree]

You can't honestly think the Oilers are playing well. They've been trash the first two games and generating nothing offensively,

Honestly, that’s putting it nicely

 

[authentic]

Usually they're on the score sheet cause both of them are over a PPG in the playoffs. They have been quiet in the recent TWO games though and great players being quiet for two games is something totally unheard of. Or at least that's what i read from my main source of analytic and reasonable hockey information, the hfboards.

McDavid actually has only 18 points in 19 playoff games so far, but I would guess by the end of this series he is above a point per game.

 

[Oilslick941611]

You can't honestly think the Oilers are playing well. They've been trash the first two games and generating nothing offensively,

To say the oilers are playing trash is a disservice to Winnipeg.

 

[bennylundholm]

It's always going to be true that the Oilers are screwed by refs as long as the "let them play" philosophy is employed. It's no different that when the Sedins complained about it way back. It's not about getting PPs. It's about being allowed to skate and use the puck without constant interference.

But honestly I dont see things changing from the refs. This is playoff hockey. It's up to the Oilers to adapt.

Lol.
News flash - BOTH the Jets AND the Oilers have been screwed on a number of calls and non-calls each game.
Smith played the puck outside the no play zone and got away with it.
Nurse highsticked Lowry in the face late in the game - no call.
Perreault and Yamimato both whacked at each other - only Perreault penalized.
Likewise, there were penalties not called on the Jets that should have.
The narrative from some Oilers fans AND media that reffing is against the Oilers but no mention of the non calls they got away with comes across as whining and complaining.

 

[Mr Positive]

Lol.
News flash - BOTH the Jets AND the Oilers have been screwed on a number of calls and non-calls each game.
Smith played the puck outside the no play zone and got away with it.
Nurse highsticked Lowry in the face late in the game - no call.
Perreault and Yamimato both whacked at each other - only Perreault penalized.
Likewise, there were penalties not called on the Jets that should have.
The narrative from some Oilers fans AND media that reffing is against the Oilers but no mention of the non calls they got away with comes across as whining and complaining.

Missed calls like the ones you mention happen all the time. The issue is what is the new "normal" when it comes to what is allowed to defend

 

[AD1066]

In a way, I'm almost more surprised to see Draisaitl struggle. He's built like a tank and should be less hindered by the interference every player deals with in the playoffs.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

It's always going to be true that the Oilers are screwed by refs as long as the "let them play" philosophy is employed. It's no different that when the Sedins complained about it way back. It's not about getting PPs. It's about being allowed to skate and use the puck without constant interference.

But honestly I dont see things changing from the refs. This is playoff hockey. It's up to the Oilers to adapt.

It happens to every team. Oilers fans complain more because their pp is lethal and team success relies heavily upon it. There is a direct correlation between complaints about refs vs pp success. As an example: Leafs suck at pp so the fans don’t complain about not getting calls much anymore. Back when the pp was good you used to hear about pp discrepancy all the time, it’s basically vanished since the pp fell apart.
Rest assured, you guys only complain so much because your team (and McDavid) rely so heavily on the pp.

 

[Mr Positive]

It happens to every team. Oilers fans complain more because their pp is lethal and team success relies heavily upon it. There is a direct correlation between complaints about refs vs pp success. As an example: Leafs suck at pp so the fans don’t complain about not getting calls much anymore. Back when the pp was good you used to hear about pp discrepancy all the time, it’s basically vanished since the pp fell apart.
Rest assured, you guys only complain so much because your team (and McDavid) rely so heavily on the pp.

It is the PP but what we would love is for the effect on 5 on 5. Teams would adjust and the PPs would be limited, and the result would be a faster more skilled 5 on 5 like we had from 2008-11-ish when they called obstruction.

But it's not worth crying about, I agree, and the Jets have players who would benefit from a faster skilled game too

It's just frustrating when Oilers success hinges on how well the rules are followed. It's a weakness on the Oilers for sure too

 

[Jojalu]

It's crazy that McDavid scores two points or more in every regular season game against Winnipeg but can't score against them in the playoffs.

He still has 18 points in 18 games in the playoffs.

2 games in one series is not who has been.

Poor timing that it was Game 1 and 2 and they are in a hole, but he torched the Hawks last year and was pretty good his first playoffs where they at least won a round

 

[Muffin]

He still has 18 points in 18 games in the playoffs.

2 games in one series is not who has been.

Poor timing that it was Game 1 and 2 and they are in a hole, but he torched the Hawks last year and was pretty good his first playoffs where they at least won a round

I still don’t consider the play in rounds playoff games. There’s no way that Chicago team can be considered a playoffs team.

 

[Jojalu]

I still don’t consider the play in rounds playoff games. There’s no way that Chicago team can be considered a playoffs team.

While I tend to agree with you, they still are etched into the record book as playoff points.

And he still had 9 points in 13 games as a teen.

 

[sr edler]

Do some people really think a player like McDavid cracks under pressure?

Doesn't have to be pressure. Could be his playing style/type of game just fits better in the regular season than in the playoffs. Who knows at this point, guy's still young and can turn it around. Some players aren't as great in the playoffs as others though, and some players aren't as great as others in the regular season. Trevor Linden (80 points in 79 games in his prime) was a better player than Steven Stamkos in the playoffs, but Stamkos blows Linden away as a regular season player.

 

[Larry Hanson]

Both Crosby and Malkin took hometown discounts when they signed with the Pens. They knew that they had to make some sacrifices if they wanted to have legit talent around them.

McDrai did not take any discount and knew that they would have to settle playing with pylons.

I hate defend McDavid in any way but this really isn't true.

Crosby signed a 5yr deal at the end of his ELC for $8.7M/year.
That included only 1 year of UFA and was 15.34% of the 08-09 salary cap.

McDavid signed a 8yr deal (max allowed) at the end of his ELC for $12.5M/year.
That included 4 years of UFA and was 15.72% of the 18-19 salary cap.

They both took about the same % of discount coming off of their ELC's. Crosby had more playoff success at that point by far but McDavid signed right through his prime years. You can argue that Crosby took a big discount on his current contract but you can't judge McDavid against that until he his next signing.

I will agree that Draisaitl didn't take any discount though. At the time he was overpaid by quite a bit compared to his peers.

 

[HugginThePost]

This is just the thread for McDavid trolls

We all said he has to be superman and Drai to win this series,

Smith has held his part of the bargain

It is very frustrating to see BOTH pointless in two games

I don't care if you call me a whiner, but the referee standard is hilarious when you watch every other series as well.

But if people blame him and drai for losing this series overall (unless they do nothing the whole way) you are delusional

This is Past GM incompetence all coming to fruition

McDavid - 104sh points
Draisaitl - 84sh
RNH (who is a ghost) - 35 points

Need I say more ? lol

I have this thread bookmarked and snapshotted for this next week.

Choose any star and throw them on this team. They would never perform as well as 97 and 29 have. Not even in the same breathe

Whiner......

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It is very frustrating to see BOTH pointless in two games

I don't care if you call me a whiner, but the referee standard is hilarious when you watch every other series as well.

But if people blame him and drai for losing this series overall (unless they do nothing the whole way) you are delusional

Trust me, I know the pain. In the Pens/Isles series, the Islanders have been given 12 PPs and the Pens only 8, despite the fact the Isles are the team that's constantly throwing shots after the whistle or throwing the extra late hit. Refs ignore it, then only call stuff when the Pens retaliate.

McDavid and Draisaitl are going to have to fight through this type of officiating because that's exactly what the refs do, especially in the playoffs. Rarely call the original, only call the retaliation when players finally get fed up being roughed or punched after every whistle without a call.

 

[Jester9881]

Trust me, I know the pain. In the Pens/Isles series, the Islanders have been given 12 PPs and the Pens only 8, despite the fact the Isles are the team that's constantly throwing shots after the whistle or throwing the extra late hit. Refs ignore it, then only call stuff when the Pens retaliate.

McDavid and Draisaitl are going to have to fight through this type of officiating because that's exactly what the refs do, especially in the playoffs. Rarely call the original, only call the retaliation when players finally get fed up being roughed or punched after every whistle without a call.

I thought you would be above this. How do you think Boston or Washington is going to play if the Penguins win this series? I didn't see any complaints when the Islanders weren't getting calls in games 1 and 2.

Maybe if Crosby, Guentzel and Rust hadn't been held to one point each in those 4 games, we wouldn't be seeing these complaints? Alas, it's always easier to blame the officials

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I thought you would be above this. How do you think Boston or Washington is going to play if the Penguins win this series? I didn't see any complaints when the Islanders weren't getting calls in games 1 and 2.

Maybe if Crosby, Guentzel and Rust hadn't been held to one point each in those 4 games, we wouldn't be seeing these complaints? Alas, it's always easier to blame the officials

I'm not blaming the refs for the result? Literally every post of mine about yesterday's game is about how piss poor the Pens' effort was. The terrible officiating is just a sidebar to that that I've never said caused the result.

One can not like how the officials are calling things without it automatically meaning I'm placing the blame on losses on officiating. I didn't like the officiating in the games the Pens won, either, because I'm not a fan of the refs letting stuff go until someone retaliates first before anything is called.

And no offense, but I think it's strange that some Islanders fans have been hyper sensitive about me mentioning poor officiating considering the fact you guys literally complain non-stop in your GDTs whenever you play the Pens and the Pens get a PP. "I hate the Pens. The NHL keeps favoring them with these BS calls!". So it's okay for you guys to blame every loss on how the Pens got favorable calls, yet I should be "above it" when I'm pointing out that the refs seem to let initial stuff go and only call retaliation?

 

[Jester9881]

I'm not blaming the refs for the result? Literally every post of mine about yesterday's game is about how piss poor the Pens' effort was. The terrible officiating is just a sidebar to that that I've never said caused the result.

One can not like how the officials are calling things without it automatically meaning I'm placing the blame on losses on officiating. I didn't like the officiating in the games the Pens won, either, because I'm not a fan of the refs letting stuff go until someone retaliates first before anything is called.

And no offense, but I think it's strange that some Islanders fans have been hyper sensitive about me mentioning poor officiating considering the fact you guys literally complain non-stop in your GDTs whenever you play the Pens and the Pens get a PP. "I hate the Pens. The NHL keeps favoring them with these BS calls!". So it's okay for you guys to blame every loss on how the Pens got favorable calls, yet I should be "above it" when I'm pointing out that the refs seem to let initial stuff go and only call retaliation?

The officials in the NHL have been awful for awhile, this isn't new. Every fanbase has a legitimate beef with the officiating this season. The post I quoted didn't call out the officiating 'as a whole for the series', so forgive me if my response wasn't in kind.

As for fans in the GDT, I wasn't referring to them either.... I know how they are, that's why you will rarely see me there anymore. I was referring to you, who in my experience here has been mostly level headed.

Here's the deal from my perspective; these teams have seen each other more times and in a shortened and condensed season. Many of those games were back to back and sometimes back/back/back. That fosters a lot of animosity, in a division that was already razor tight and highly competitive. You are bound to see a lot of emotion out there until the 3rd round. Thankfully, we haven't seen anything egregious yet between these two teams warranting league discipline.

The officials are going to miss things, they are also going to call the game differently (tight or loose) depending on who the officials are on any given night. It's one more thing every champion has had to overcome since at least I started watching Hockey.

 

[AMDZen]

I love how every response in this thread that defends McDavid does so with the pretense that people with an argument against his performance are using this year alone as their argument, as if we would be saying such things about a player of his caliber from two games.

Last season might not have technically been the playoffs, for the oilers, it was the same as the playoffs. Playing in to the playoffs is just as important for the measurement of your performance. McDavid barely showed up and allowed his team to be swept, or as near as to, within the few games they played. In a season we saw him dominate games, he couldn't take control of a single game and get a win?

The season before that was the same story. Playoffs were a quick trip for his team with a sweep in the first round. He actually had points in those 4 games at least.

The simple truth is that, for some of us this is now the third year in a row we've watched the "best player in the world" get swept in the first round of games. Playoffs or playin. Getting ahead of myself a bit sure, but if I'm correct and the oilers lose in 4 or even 5 games, will that change anything for you defenders out there?

 

[Adrianopolous]

These jokers better show up tonight

 

[tapi]

The style of play in the play-offs is very, very different from the regular season. It is one thing to farm points in an easy division and in meaningless games, and another to play against a fully wired-up, motivated and sharp opponent. To this day, we await to see whether or not McDavid can reach even near the level of the great players he has been recently compared to. I believe he will one day succeed in it; when it comes to Drai, I would not hold my breath.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Draisaitl scores with a McDavid Apple.

Is this the perfect jinx thread?

 

[Aashir]

They are on the board

 

[c9777666]

IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!