Mark spector is really one of the worst writers in hockey. He seems to think the world should really revolve around him and that whenever he says something it should happen now. He feels like someone who feels like he's in entitled to get what he wants when he wants it.
Draisaitl (1st), Nurse (4th) and McDavid (9th) are all in the Top 10 of most giveaways in the entire league. They have way more giveaways than takeaways. That might contribute to why Edmonton are just barely above .500 hockey.
We're seeing this all over the league, a lot of players are paid more than they deliver. It was predicted when the league went to a hard cap that the top players will get paid and other salaries will be forced down leaving few in the middle. And it's only worse under the flat cap. Teams have no flexibility. Nobody wants Puljujarvi at $3M so they retain salary or ride out the term of his contract. It's clear what Holland's choice was.
Jack Campbell is the only chance that the Oilers have. 3 goals on 19 shots last night was tight. Considering that every fifth shot is a goal against Skinner. By far and away the worst goalie still standing of the eight teams remaining.
No doubt they miss him. But If 1 guy in you're top 6 is missing and it has this much of an impact then there's probably a much larger issue to begin with. Kane is a great player but him missing is not the reason for Edmonton's defensive issues.
The Oilers' biggest problem is their defensemen screening their own goalie. They're really missing Smith screaming at them to get out of the way. If Skinner or Campbell would speak up, I bet their GAA would cut in half.
Yeah, actually I feel that, when my goalie would yell move it would actually work, bc sometimes you're just trying to play positionally but don't realize how little the goalie can see
Defence have no clue how to box out opposing screeners,Instead they let them get inside position whilst continuing to stand on the outside of them(just compounding the amount of traffic that’s in front of the goaltender)
In the 90s, Ken Holland was known as the GM who kept a great team together by making elite players stay for less. Obviously, the Red Wings still had deep pockets, but they paid a lot less than what they could have. It’s weird that that hasn’t quite translated into the Cap Era.
I'm guessing that was more because Scotty Bowman was the coach and people wanted to play for him and win. I don't think that's because Holland was a great GM.
Jim Devellano was the GM, with Scotty dictating a lot of the moves, during the lead up to the 97 cup. Holland gets credit for a winning franchise he didn't build.
We really need an upgrade on the defensive side and until that happens I'm not ready to write off Campbell yet. I can say without a doubt for me Ken Holland easily is the best GM we have had that I can remember in many years.
Klefbom and Larsson were supposed to be our major D core. We lost both, one to injury and one to expansion. Nurse being left as the only remaining D core after two bridge deals is what allowed him to sign for 9.25, even though he shouldn't have. In my opinion selfish on his part, when he knows McD, Drai, Nuge, and Kane all took discounts. We sign Green for veteran defense, retires immediately. We sign Keith for veteran defense, retires 1 year later. We have had absolute zero luck in the defensive area. Sometimes you need some fuckin' luck. I would also take Koskinen 10/10 over Campbell and I never thought I would say that last year.
Oilers are missing Keith and Russell. Say what you want, replaced by Broberg, Nemeilienan and Ryan Murray. The shot blocks and Keith mentoring Bouchard seems like a gap.
Both Russel and Larson are large loss's. Keith was done anyway. But ya, Oil are right back to being way to short of Solid D to go much of anywhere in playoff time.
The Kane loss was more impactful than anticipated. I would like to see the RNH, Draisaitl and Yamamoto back together, but, who else can play with McDavid?
Nurse is absolute ride or die buddies with McD and Drai. I really think this was a factor with Nurse contract, with an eye on re-signing of McD and Drai, knowing Darnell is gonna be there long term. Sounds ridiculous, but I do think this was a consideration.
Yeah leave no cap space for mcdavid and especially draisaitl's new contracts. Mcdavids next contract probably wont be too much higher than it is now but we're not getting drai for that amount 2nd time around
@Scottie Paterson I see you know what the cap will look like in 3 years. I also see you know how the team will perform through 2026 and what transactions might occur during that span. You also seem to have access to McD and Drai frame of mind and future priorities. Fascinating!
@@cclark4366 i know that nurse isnt worth 9 mil no matter what that cap does. I know that drai is seriously underpaid. The rest is just connect the dots
i dont think the oilers offencive numbers matter. they are fifth in the league in goals for. its the goals against that needs to drop. I don't really care if we have players dropping off in scoring because when you have mcdavid, draisaitl, nugent hopkins, hyman, and barrier, you get a top 5 offence in the league.
Sometimes player greed plays a role in a team being caught in cap hell, especially with how many young players tend to overvalue themselves. The Oilers are also paying dead cap for Lucuc, Neal, and Sekera for the remainder of this season (Lucic and Sekera are on the final year of their dead cap, which will leave at least $3M in cap space for Holland or whoever is GM next year to utilize or save for a Trade deadline acquisition). And looking at the Oilers roster, trading guys on 1 or 2 year contracts with a cap hit of under $3.5M per year seems logical, but what will the team get in return? Who would be willing to take on those contracts if Holland decided to trade them?
Very tiresome listening to GM's complaining about cap space almost 17 years after it was implemented. I guess they expect the owners to bail them out again like when they had to save them from handing out those 15 year front-loaded contracts. Maybe another strike is necessary to limit the % of the cap by even more then it is now and limit the number of players that can earn that amount on the team. But even then. if the % was limited to, say 10%, GM's would just start handing out 9.99% of cap salaries like they were candy.
Another in the on-going series of underachievement lol. Another top 4 D-man would be a nice addition. Also, if they can get another goaltender, that would also be welcome.
Campbell's numbers are exactly why I'm glad the Leafs didn't resign him. Great guy but last year from Jan 1-end of round one had an .888 That's terrible. The Oilers just need average goal tending with the occassional big save every game or so. Campbell is just too emotional. Highs too high, lows too low.
@@TheBillaro no, they didn't lose because of him. But they could've won had he played a little better. He was sub .900 in that series against Tampa. If Campbell put up a league average save% then the Leafs win that series. You cant win in the playoffs with sub .900 goaltending no matter how good the rest of your team is.
@@chrisg1556 dont think you can blame the series on him. the leafs didn't show up for games 6-7. he did let in 2 bad goals in the series. i do agree he wasn't spectacular but nor was the team.
$19 million on Campbell, Barrie and Nurse, all contracts signed by Ken Holland, and the result is that when your power play ends the other team’s coach gets to throw out his best forwards against Shore and Ryan…..
I very respectfully and not angrily disagree with the take on Nurse and him being a solid defenceman. As an Oilers fan who does not miss a game and I cover them in the media as well, he does not seem to understand very basic defensive zone structure responsibilities that are taught at a very young age like, what to do when you are the weak side defenceman in my opinion is his biggest weakness. He constantly looks at the puck instead of picking up his man which I also theorize is a lot more to do with the bad play of Campbell who was hung out to dry often due to this lack of execution, and not only by Nurse as your fairly pointed out, the entire defensive unit can and should be held accountable, but Nurse is without question the biggest culprit.
Watching the defense play the way they are game in and game out is so frustrating. Watching 2 of the best players in the world score at the pace they are and having a .500 record is a nightmare. Something needs to be done, a coaching change isn't happening, but woodcroft better start making them skate lines until they pass out. Their offense is amazing and top tier, depth could be better but I'm not complaining. Defense is an absolute gongshow with them turning over the puck in the slot or at the blueline resulting in a goal against, Campbell has not been good. Other than the squeaky dribbling pucks he has been average at best, he better pick it up aswell as our defense, mike smith should attempt to pass his physical and run it back with us, put the d-men in their place by yelling at them again. Love the videos, keep it up. But this team is so aggravating.
@@spartan2693 well said all around...you want upsetting for a lifelong fan? I'm from Buffalo...😜 In lieu of flowers make a donation to The Don Cherry Home For the Wardrobe Challenged....😐 Wide Right ....No Goal...then we draft the legendary Samson Reinhart #2 overall while local pundits and fans were 😱 screaming about this big forward , a guy named Leon something or other...😕
@@brianjones7660 I honestly feel bad for buffalo fans such as yourself. At least you have a bright future with the likes of dylan cozens and jack quinn, and even Tage Thompson. It just sucks being a Oilers fan and having this once in a generation talent being wasted by awful defense.
Always erudite always interesting. Thank you. I would say that as much as analytics play into team performance, it's team chemistry that always and I mean always propels the team forward. I look at the Bruins right now and they can setup a master class on team chemistry. Edmonton has the talent for sure but they need a spark of inspiration. Some way to catalyze their cohesive playing so they operate as a seamless machine. The lines should dovetail into each other and make the team work as one organism. The coach is definitely in a position to do this but it's interactions and dialogue off the ice that plays into it too. McDavid certainly plays a inspired game on ice but what is the guy doing off the ice to congeal the team. Not saying he is not doing anything, I honestly don't know, but having worked as a scientist for 40 years, I can tell you I never accomplished any big project with out those off line interactions .
Well said. Stats are interesting but a team needs a cohesive identity. it is a truth in other team sports too. I reference FSG with Boston Red Sox and Liverpool. FSG manage to create team identity , what was Boston, 'the idiots' or something? With the team singing from the same hymn sheet value role players tend to produce more than their average expected. fascinating subject.
Not really all that worried, Edmonton seems to slump in the winter every year and then finish red hot. Edmonton just needs Campbell to find his form to reclimb the standings. Outside of complaining about the Nurse deal (which was obviously bad, but was a tactic to keep McDavid long term), people complaining about other players like they are the sole problem is just so toxic, and does nothing but damage your team's players' confidence. With Evander Kane back the team should be able to take some load off of Connor and Leon and spread out the scoring, and when McLeod comes back he should have a similar effect on the bottom 6. Holland signed RNH, Hyman, Kulak, Kane, and Skinner to great team friendly deals and only badly flopped on the Nurse deal (who also seems to be having lingering issues with his hip, the same way he did in the playoffs). But people have been ragging him for signing Puljujarvi to his QO to retain his rights, Campbell who's still only 15 games in, and Ceci who's actually been pretty average (I assume people think he's been playing like he did in Toronto, he's been fine). Edmonton will be fine.
Oilers fan here, and Edmontonian. The one thing a lot of Oilers fans refuse to account for or believe in is that most players would prefer to live in almost any other NHL city than in Edmonton. It's just a fact. Edmonton is amazing in the spring/summer/fall, but in the winter!?!? It sucks!! It's cold as hell and there is no sun!! So we HAVE to over pay (or draft/recruit players who grew up around here. That's not a coincidence folks!!). It makes building a roster so much harder. I personally think Holland is....not a good GM anymore. The game has passed him by. But it's not ALL entirely his fault.
No coincidence in the correlation between when Edmonton's winter starts and the team drops off it's hot streak. Every year lol, same time. Like clockwork.
4:13 Well, they went on to fire their coach after the start you are addressing here. XD Tippett was fired in February, and Woodcroft came in and worked some magic voodoo for the remainder of the season. That likely won't be happening again this season.
The Oilers definitely need an upgrade on defense, and Holland's poor cap management has put them in the position where they can't make those changes. That said, some of his contracts are actually pretty good. RNH's extension and signing Kane were good moves.
Yup the only moves he can make now will cost a lot of draft capital unfortunately. Basically, they need to acquire some really good value contracts which are not cheap to acquire.
The Oiler's biggest problem right now is Nurse. He's overpaid, he is playing too many minutes, he's making too many mistakes in positioning and turnover. I sure hope that he gets it together and turns things around because that contract is an albatross on the team. Woodcroft needs to lower his minutes and tell him to trust his partner and goalie. He seems to be chasing the puck a lot (leaving his man open), and also trying to play goalie but very poorly.
to comment on the Oilers they have 9 top 10 picks from 2010-2019 and have Draisaitl, Mcdavid, RNG being the big 3 with Nurse bouchard and as supplements. 2012 missed Reilly (yakpuov was picked), 2013 missed Horvat and Morrisey (nurse aint bad but not worth the cap it seems). 2016 missed took Puljujarvi over Matty Tkachuk, Keller, Sergachev, McAvoy. 2018 took Bouchard over really just Dobson and 2019 took Proberg (hes still young) over yougn stars like Zegras, Boldy, Spencer Knight, Caufield. Their drafting has been ok but theyve 100% missed on solid picks for this many top 10 picks over a decade. But you are trying to guess an 18 year old potential but imagine a team with rielly dobson, McaAvoy as your top 3 D. Mcdavid Drai Caufield and RNH
Started with one of the tougher schedules in the NHL - Missing Foegele, Mcleod, Kane for extended time seemed to hurt with lacking on back end - Campbell should be playing much better - Bouchard hasnt taken a step forward
Goalies are so freaking weird. This year especially. Jack Campbell was seen as the goaltender that could help Edmonton make another deep push. And there was reason behind it. He was absolutely brilliant at times as a Leaf. And everyone was scratching their heads on why Toronto was going with a tandem of Samsonov and Murray. Yet so far, Campbell's numbers have been borderline unplayable. An .876 save percentage is a non-option as a backup, let alone a starter. Is it all his fault? Not necessarily, as his defense isn't exactly stellar. But still. Meanwhile, Murray and Samsonov have been one of the best tandems in the league. Each with a save percentage above .920, Samsonov almost a .930! Their GAA numbers have also been great! It's just so weird how goalies make little to no sense sometimes.
Edmonton is seduced like a mistress by their own offense...(the most PP reliant team in the NHL ~IMO) ..but.... The defense is a total afterthought. When your standard for regular season defense is as low as the Oilers is~ the playoffs are even more of a challenge. The Oilers demeanor as a team is submissive, docile and they are largely a soft, finesse group.....they get scored on first routinely roughly 70-75% of the time.... they have begun a game up 2-0 just 3-4 times this season... the most acute motivation they find is feeling the heat from playing deficit hockey..(however, any lead they get is quickly surrendered). They are not frontrunners and they are not a physical team. Their best version of defense is when their offense is on fire....The defense from night to night is so loaded with basic, glaring fundamental errors that a non-fan would notice~ it is evident they are lacking from any kind of a strong backbone emphasis in defensive hockey..Just look at the stats......It's an unbuttoned offense first operation with a great deal of waste on the backend. I would characterize the Oilers as a fat, happy offense wholly reliant on their Power Play that takes way too much for granted b/c of their wealth of Connor and Leon....If they get some of the youth to fill in the gaps like Jessie and some others they could improve greatly.... but that has yet to materialize...and that is perhaps the most glaring aspect stopping this team from taking the next step.....getting greater contributions from those who SHOULD BE GROWING by now...that's a Jay Woodcroft issue now. .I enjoyed the vid!!! Thank you!
The Oilers just seem to be more of a second half team and so I'm not really worried about them. The depth scoring seems to be turning a corner especially with guys coming back from injury. And the D will be fine, but they need to find someone to fill the hole that Duncan Keith left. Nurse is struggling because he's playing too many minutes. Should a 9.25 million dollar player be able to play close to 30 every night? Maybe, but he doesn't thrive playing that much and that's the reality. So I'm still optimistic about this team.
I feel Holland was brought in with a mandate to win now. He has rolled the dice on a few players. Inevitably, some of those decisions work, and some don't. Edmonton is in a situation not unlike Toronto in that the team needs to win before its superstars leave town. I don't feel confident either franchise can do that; although I think Toronto might actually be able to go deep if they can get past the first round.
Thank you Shannon! I value your explanations and opinions and have decreased my worries about them and just have to see what they do. If they end up going on a extended losing streak like they did last year around this time I will become concerned. But, if they lose the majority of the upcoming games over xmas break I will slide more into panic state lol.
There's a reason Wings fans were happy when Ken Holland left as GM. He signs terrible deals, signs past their best veterans and overpays on average players. He handicapped the Wings for years chasing a pointless Play-off streak. His drafting towards the end was utterly brutal.
The GMs who complain on the cap space, they should have their next winter meeting in Winnipeg. There are no distractions there. I hear the Fairmont is a good place stay to get things done. Thin walls so there is no secret deals. You get zapped every once in a while linens, keep you alert. There are no restaurants nearby to get anything to eat. 😁
The thing with the Oilers defense this year is that every single defenseman is playing at least slightly worse than last year, including Kulak and Ceci, which were really good bright spots to me last season. The lack of defensive quality has, also, a lot to do with how the forwards are playing defensively though, can't put it all on dman.
I'm a Jets fan. I like to compare to my Jets. Last year the Jets were awful defensively, 21st in the league in goals against. This year, with effectively no change of defenseman, a different coach, and an almost completely different bottom 6 forward group, they are one of the best defensive teams in the league, tied for 3rd in goals against per game.
When the armchair GM's is more smarter than the real GM this guy sucks as a GM sucks he overplays players, I have probably more money in my bank account than the oilers has money in cap space.
People crap over advanced stats because JP isn’t doing well this year, but even advanced stats say that he’s having a bad year. And another thing I want to see is better deployment. Janmark keeps getting 2nd line minutes. He’s third in TOI in the past while and other players like Kostin or Holloway are playing better or deserve those opportunities
Janmark has had frustratingly bad finishing forever. Takes the puck deep and then doesn't score. I wonder how much Puljujarvi is like Denis Gurianov in Dallas, in terms of performing under expectations (but Denis seems happy enough in Dallas, just not with his performance). Guri is skilled, fast, and just hasn't broken through in Dallas. Maybe he needs a change of scenery.
Ken Holland doesn't understand how to effectively manage the Salary Cap. And his asset management has also been poor. I would say that the Klim Kostin trade might be the only trade he has won. The Andreas Athanasiou trade set the team's shallow prospect depth even further. The Kieth trade is one when asked about the price He rhetorically asked "if he should have got him for free" and only to have the MAF trade to Chicago happen shortly after. A trade that probably couldn't have happened with Kieth's SPC still on the books. One of the things that really sticks out about the Oilers is their love of players who have physical abilities and skills that are NHL level with Major Junior Hockey IQ. Nurse and Puljujarvi are prime examples of this. I love both of them, but they are not worth what they signed for, and Ken Holland should have known this. Their SPCs really have hampered the team's ability to round out their roster. Playing with a 21-man roster to start the season created an atmosphere where there was no threat of being scratched for a poor game. There is no ability to change up the lineup look if things aren't working. One of the worst things about the Nurse contract is how it is tied to the Kieth trade. When Seth Jones signed his new SPC he wasn't even eligible to sign it. So on top of paying more than they probably needed to considering the limited teams Chicago could deal with the Jones SPC drove up the market for top-pairing defenceman. If Nurse was signed to 8.5, which would have been more than fair, IMO, that gives the Oilers at least space for one more League Minimum SPC. Ken Holland should have known after JP's run in the latter half of the 2021-22 season that things weren't trending in the right direction. Part of this is on JP as only he can really tackle his confidence issues. That said the Oilers seem to be a team that doesn't prioritise developing the mental skills a professional NHL player needs to succeed and perform at their peak, more often than not. If the Oilers do win the Stanley Cup it certainly could be because Leon and Connor overcome the work that Ken Holland has done.
They lost Klefbom, Larsson and Keith and no one seems to bay an eyelash, when the guys they have playing behind Nurse are all bottom pair guys. It's not the goaltending. So many games where they lose by one goal or one misread in their zone. They could be 20-11 right now.
Generally I'm going to put more faith in your opinion because it's more based on logic and less on emotion than that of fans. The Oilers need several pieces (i.e. a real #1 defenseman and a quality starting goaltender... Skinner may or may not be that guy, scoring depth, etc.) before they can be considered a true contender.
Oilers are poorly put together as their D and goaltending are a constant weakness. Holland is an idiot passing up on drafting that Swedish goalie that could be a future #1. Oilers badly need a #1 two-way d-man as well. Why Holland doesn't want to make a good effort to do this, means he's stuck in the past. I might add, I'm not even an Oilers fan. Caps/Kings for me, but I'm a big NHL fan as well and like to see what other teams do or not to improve their roster.
Another superb job, THG! However, defensemen should also be measured on +/- . E.g., I think you were a bit rough on Cody Ceci, who has a +/- of +8, when the Oilers team is only +4. So, it seems to me he is doing his job, holding the lead for the big guys. Keep on keepin on, THG!
They aren't +4 at even strength though, they are +4 overall. Obviously they have scored many PP goals where +/- isn't used. Ceci also benefits from not being on the ice with the net empty, so he never gets a minus added on at the end of games where they give up an ENG. Erik Karlsson, having an outstanding season, is currently -8 but he's actually even, with 2 ENG for and 10 against.
Kulac wasn't really signed in haste due to familiarity bias it seems. The Oilers signed pretty much every other player and still waited on him, telling him to test other teams' offers, I believe. Holland didn't get the usual situation in the first two years because they had no money to spend thanks to Chiarelli's competence which probably outdid Benning's. The Oilers' top lines are stellar. Add Kane back in and you couldn't ask for more. This year, Holland's biggest mistake in my opinion (biggest mistake over his whole tenure in Edmonton) was not pushing harder for more skill and speed on the bottom lines. Available guys like Rodrigues would have really outdone Shore-like guys. The Avalanche beat them with speed and skill on more lines than the Oilers had speed and skill last year (plus Draisaitl's double maiming by Anderson and McKinnon).
As for Puljujaarvi, he's had every chance on every kind of line. And the new coach is the most open to data coach I can think of. He puts players wherever they'll succeed regardless of cache or seniority, etc..P's just a guy that doesn't think the game on an elite level. So when he gets the puck, he suffers under mental load or just doesn't always know what to do. But playing defensively is a bit of a different thing. He hustles and cares about defence, so that's where his value is. He may slowly improve, but I don't see an explosion. Unless his attitude really really is tripping him up - that's something we can't rate unless we're in his head.
Ceci's getting payed more to play defence than score I think. I'm not quite sure why you're just pointing out boxcars vis a vis their contracts when they're on defence. Nurse - yeah, overpaid by 3Mil. Would you have to pay him to keep him? Maybe. 9Mil? god I don't think so.
Re disconnect with fans. I imagine it is the biggest. Other teams having disconnect doesn't address degree. The Oilers are the least successful franchise over the last 10-15 years. There you go. Most of it due to endless incompetent management. There seems to be a weird old boys culture where they always think they have contrary twist on how to proceed and it always turns out the consensus was far more correct. No matter how upset fans got, the management showed the same blinkered idiocy for 10+ years. It's gone on longer than Toronto. Vancouver has had more success during that time. Montreal has predominantly been a good or decent team... I think the Oil were even the worst team in pro sport altogether over a certain span. It's been bleak, man.
A big thing with Edmonton is a lot of players don’t want to play here so that is a big factor in being able to get certain players and why we would have to pay more to get certain players to play here.
Exactly! You can't make Assumption that because The Team Was Doing A Certain Way The Year Before, They're The Same Team This Year, And, it's Especially So, When They Make A Change/Changes
Is there any team in the league that is hurt more than the removal of two players? I know for every team you remove a select few players and the team will struggle, but for Edmonton you take out McDavid and you take out Drai and what do they have?
I just started a be a gm mode as oilers today and they're fucked. I looked at contracts on Vegas and its embarrassing how much worse the oilers contracts are across the board. Theodore and peitrangelo both make less (shea makes like 5.5) than Nurse's 9.25. Eichel is only 9. Then they have alot of 1 to 2 millions good players throughout. Marchessault and Smith make less than nuge Hyman and Kane. And a goalie on an ELC.... Oilers need to re sign McLeod kostin skinner and Bouchard this summer, and will have to replace half our bottom 6, and we have like 4 mil free next year.
It's simple. This team is 2-3 solid D men short. Same as last year but worse. Nurse is a 5-6 mill D man whos solid as a 2nd pairing guy when paired with the right partner. Treating Koskinen like garbage was really stupid. Letting Russell go without an offer was really stupid. All they can do now is tred water and hope Kane is back soon, and that Holland can wheel a super deal and get the D straightened out. Holland has made a few gaff's, but he's been the best Oiler GM since the 80's. What he's done for this team in 3 years is excellent overall, and the fans demanding he get fired every 2 weeks are something he's wise to ignore)
(full disclosure, lifelong die hard wings fan) Its obv not all Ken Holland's fault, the position they are in. I watched him bury the red wings in overpriced contracts.. Ntm how many peoplehe signed to lengthy deals here. Franzen leaps to mind. The Nurse contract and Campbell contract smack of that same carelessness, and a couple more years of his heavy head can leave you in dire straights. I have mixed feelings. I like to cheer for the Oilers and want them to win and they are so good, so fun to watch. And I don't want Ken Holland to go get another cup ring by way of someone else's body of work/just being lucky. Wish he would have retired, called it good, and spared us all this experience.
And here are the Sabres with nearly 30 million….read it aggaaiiin…30 million in cap space. Trade for Erik Karlsson is being tossed around on the boards, or Boone Jenner. Still leaving us with cap space, if they’d go for it. Oilers are in cap hell…
Do a Blackhawks video. They are awful; does everybody get a free pass because we may or may not be rebuilding? They may not win again this year. They will break records for futility and yet nobody gets fired? They have rookies in the GM position, the Head Coach, trade all our young talent for total crap in return. Someone has to go!
To me the oilers are wayyyyy to reliant on the powerplay, they would have 10 fewer wins easily if their pp was simply average. McDavid is the most skilled player in the league but his 5v5 pts are only like 30th and it's even worse when you look at his 5v5 pts per 60 min because he plays soooo much more than most forwards. If the league tightens up in playoffs like most years they will be in trouble
sigh. "If McDavid and Draisaitl dont win a cup right now they will move on.." Is this narrative the same all around the league? or is it just something everyone dumps on the Oilers all the time? The oilers have had more success the last few than the leafs...I assume Mathews and Marner are packing up the old suitcase and ready to go if the leafs can win a cup? . Arent the leafs "wasting" the prime years of Mathews and Marner?
This is why I like Dubas. Pretty much all the players let go were not worth the cap hits they were asking for, and in many cases he dodged a bullet. No GM is perfect, but he's made some really smart moves. Even Hyman, the best among the departing players over the years, was replaced with someone almost as good (and draws a lot of penalties and gives the team a bit of an edge) for a 1/5 the cap hit. Letting Lyubuskin, Campbell and Mikheyev go were all smart deals. Mrasek was a fairly poor signing, but considering he got two All-star caliber goalies for free (Ottawa even paid the Leafs 2 picks and some cap retention to take Murray), I consider that an overall win. It's easy to see the contract mistakes with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, etc. being a bit too high, but I still submit that if the cap had continued to go up, the Leafs would have profited immensely from these deals. They are already a top team with the cap problems, just imagine how good the team would be with an extra 6 million in cap. If Dubas had known a pandemic was coming the very next year after these deals were signed, he wouldn't have done it. None of the GMs signing contracts just before the pandemic would have. Bad luck for the pandemic to hit right after the first RFA period. And as a consequence to the pandemic, any GM signing contracts this year are going to have that effect but in the reverse. Guys signing for 7-9 million that could be paid 15 million in a few years will make those teams much more competitive - similar to how Tampa, Colorado, etc. had many players signed to lower contracts than market value at the time. Buffalo will be a very good team now that Tage has signed long-term for 7 - that is such an advantage.
@THA KANG Tell me something actually unique to him rather than a statement that can apply to 30 gms in the league. A gm cannot promise a cup - at best, you can only create a team that has a 20% chance to win and seeds 2-8 only have a 10% to win each year. A GM can only build a team that could conceivably win a cup, and he has. 2016-2019 are years they weren't supposed to win - they over achieved - so putting any these failures onto the team and the GM is the wrong way to even look at it. Kucherov and MacKinnon didn't win a cup in the first several years either. And considering the division they are in where the 1st round features an opponent that is equivalent to a Stanley Cup final in terms of the opponent's strength, blaming him on a coin flip series where they lost to the 2-time champs by only 1 goal in game 7 doesn't really make a strong case that Dubas did anything wrong. It's not like Florida and New York did any better - in fact, they did worse. Florida was a joke. Nobody took 3 games of Tampa but Colorado. I think that speaks volumes to the team Dubas has built. If they got swept, you'd have a stronger case but they didn't. There is zero controversy as to where Dubas has built a contending team or not. He has.
wanna see something depressing? compare the leafs life time stats to newer teams like boston etc, played less and score more lol. sad to see how trash canadian teams have been pretty much sense abolishing the nordiques. even if a canadian team makes the playoff 1/2 the time they play anoher canadian team and canibalize them selves, leafs couldnt do shit with darcy tucker's era eiher which was probably the best recent team the leafs have had and that was over 20 years ago. senators- dont even know what to say lol(hopefully ryan reynolds buys them)? lol them and vancouver locking down last place.
I´m not into it that deep, like you, but when I read lines like "Nurse only still plays here, because he´s McD´s buddy" I get concerned. I dunno if it´s true in the end, but if it is we have some serious issues...
The Oil are not as sound defensively. They really miss Keith. There are a few more reasons like Nurse playing like a rookie not a vet, Campbell having a horrendous season, being one of the worst goalies in the league and injuries. No need to panic but Holland is sure going to earn his pay cheque this year to improve the D in season.
Oilers are an embarrassment, they are still this trash with all the first overall picks… There worse than the canucks, Take away 97 29 theyd be drafting 1st overall again repeatedly
newgent hopkins also turned out to be real good. mc david is at 1.5 points per game, no one is close, he's kicking ass. last game before christmas was hard to watch tho. edmonton's consistency is all over. if mcdavid and drisitel don carry the team its over
I honestly don't get it with the oilers. Do mcdavid and draisaitl suck defensively or something? ... Or does the rest of the roster just suck year after year?
Honestly, as an Oilers fan, I have zero panic... and this is just what I expect from our team. I feel like we're at a huge disadvantage through mid-November til mid-January every season. It's effin' cold here and there's no sunlight. I lift through the winter months, but you definitely don't have the same energy this time of year as you do when you're getting more sunlight. We're the furthest north team in the league, we have a very unique disadvantage. We'll probably still slump for another month, fall outside a wildcard spot, then go on a heater after January and safely make playoffs and do some damage in the post season. Still hope we add another dman like Chych, but c'est la vie.
That nurse contract is just a weight on the entire team, he's an alright defensemen even a 1st pairing, but he's over priced... and the team is suffering for it.
It’s also not great to say “well, we made it to the final 4 last year” when you got completely destroyed and made to look like an AHL team in that final 4.
