Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield. The Winnipeg Jets are a helluva team, rolling into town with pistons firing, a nice paint job, mags, slicks and a shaker hood. The Jets played well, but Connor McDavid was invincible last night, as he is on many occasions during the hockey season. Bug met windshield, only twice, but that’s all it took.
THE ATHLETIC!
I’m proud to be writing for The Athletic, and pleased to be part of a great team with Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis. Here is our recent work.
- New Lowetide: Where does Zack Kassian fit on the Oilers, now and in the future?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ midseason depth chart informs their needs for trade deadline and beyond
- Jonathan Willis: A position-by-position look at the Oilers after 30 games
- Lowetide: How will Oilers GM Ken Holland make room in the lineup for Evan Bouchard?
- Lowetide: Are the Oilers and Elvis Merzlikins a trade match?
- Lowetide: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Dominik Kahun, Dylan Holloway and a perfect storm on the Oilers’ left side
- Lowetide: Why Oilers GM Ken Holland shouldn’t wait for the deadline to make a trade
- Lowetide: Three Oilers prospects form hottest line in the AHL
- Lowetide: Oilers’ top 20 prospects, trade deadline edition
- Lowetide: Why are some Oilers fans hesitant to give Darnell Nurse his due?
- Jonathan Willis: Can Oilers improve enough to beat TML it in May?
- Lowetide: Top trade targets for the Oilers at the 2021 deadline
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers 2021 trade value rankings
- Lowetide: February report cards for the Oilers
- Jonathan Willis: The Oilers’ 2020 trade deadline splash: What we learned, a year later
- Lowetide: Revisiting our preseason predictions for the Oilers after 20 games
- Lowetide: Is this peak Connor McDavid?
OILERS AFTER 33 GAMES
- Oilers in 2015-16: 14-17-2, 30 points; goal differential -13
- Oilers in 2016-17: 16-12-5, 37 points; goal differential +4
- Oilers in 2017-18: 14-17-2, 30 points; goal differential -9
- Oilers in 2018-19: 18-12-3, 39 points; goal differential +4
- Oilers in 2019-20: 18-11-4, 40 points; goal differential +2
- Oilers in 2020-21: 20-13-0, 40 points; goal differential +16
First time a McDavid team reached 20 wins in 33 games, and the team is on pace to finish the 56-game schedule with 68 points. That’s a playoff team. Some fans remain unhappy about roster choice, but allow me to point to the standings.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MARCH
- At home to: Toronto, Toronto, Calgary (Expected: 1-1-1) (Actual 1-2-0)
- At home to: Ottawa, Ottawa, Ottawa (Expected: 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
- On the road to: Vancouver, Calgary, Calgary (Expected: 2-1-0) (Actual 1-2-0)
- At home to Winnipeg, Winnipeg (Expected: 1-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: Montreal, Montreal, Montreal (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: Toronto, Toronto (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 9-6-1, 19 points in 16 games
- Current results: 6-4-0, 12 points in 10 games
It’s been weird but the Oilers are hanging in there. The Vancouver game was a missed opportunity (why on earth does this team have difficulty getting a Bettman?) and the first Calgary game felt like Sutter doing the voodoo he do. Last two games? Repeatable performances, coach has everyone pulling on the rope and support players are sifting in and out of the lineup like the turnstiles at Disneyland. This looks….organized.
LINES, LAST NIGHT
- Nuge-McDavid-Puljujarvi played 16:31, going 8-7 shots, 1-0 goals, 2-1 HDSC and 16-14 Corsi five on five. Nuge scored a goal that didn’t count and played a strong two-way game. Took a penalty after being hooked for about 20 seconds, that was interesting. McDavid scored twice, two of the prettiest goals you’ll see and honestly he’s incredible. Puljujarvi had the first 10-bell chance of the night, added another later, skated miles and is really coming on as a responsible winger. Oh, and he’s also very strong and big and appears to be discovering this more and more as each shift goes by. Stories are going to be told about this guy for decades.
- Kahun-Draisaitl-Archibald played 13:09, going 3-7 shots, no goals, 0-1 HDSC, 8-10 Corsi five on five. Kahun had one shot, battled but didn’t win battles and overall didn’t move the needle much. Draisaitl was golden on the backcheck, the big man routinely pursues puck carriers with abandon and dissolves danger with a flick of his mighty hammer. I’m loving his game. Archibald was quiet offensively (although he did have a couple of looks) and was part of a keystone cops opening shift for this line that reminded me of Monty Python’s race for people with no sense of direction. Yamamoto is a big part of this line, noticeable when he’s absent.
- Ennis-Haas-Kassian played 9:09, 1-2 shots, 0-1 HDSC and 3-7 Corsi five on five. Two shots for Ennis, he’s such a good puck handler and passer I would have been tempted to run him with 29 on the right side. Haas had a takeaway and won five of nine on the dot, he falls down less now. I miss it a little. Kassian had a solid game, I wrote about him for The Athletic this morning, a fascinating player. Picked up an assist, got in the way a lot (in a good way) and was irritating without taking a penalty.
- Nygard-Shore-Chiasson. Nygard changed at the perfect time, giving 97 a chance to score the first goal of the game. I like Nygard, and want to have stories to tell about him when I’m 90 (one assumes the neighbour children will come to the old folks home and ask me about the part-time players. McCurdy will be in the same old folks home, kids will ask him about the stars) but I don’t have many so far. Shore is playing with more confidence now, better passes and he’ll hold on to it for several heartbeats. Chiasson had two takeaways and one shot, plenty of try but nothing rhymed.
PAIRS AND GOALIE
- Nurse-Barrie played 21:33, going 8-10 shots, 1-1 goals, 1-3 HDSC and 17-15 Corsi five on five. Nurse had an assist, skated miles, 2-2 GV-TK and was around the puck all night. His recovery ability was on display and spectacular, the man can skate like the wind. He had a couple of uneasy coverage moments, but Koskinen was strong. Barrie had two assists, has real chem with McDavid and now has 30 points in 33 games. Everything about his TML season has been turned upside down. Fans really want him signed.
- Russell-Bear played 15:09, going 6-4 shots, 1-1 HDSC and 8-12 Corsi five on five. Russell had four blocked shots, defended well and recovered expertly when things went sideways. Bear had a takeaway, blocked shot, calm feet, passed well, he is back. Drilled Pionk’s thigh with a hard shot and ventured into the offensive end with authority. The man can play the game.
- Jones-Larsson played 8:52, 2-5 shots, no goals, 0-2 HDSC, 7-8 Corsi five on five. Jones was the least successful Oilers defenseman on the ice, responsible for the breakaway pass to Trevor Lewis (thank God it was Trevor Lewis) and ineffective in reading several plays. His last shift ended well before the halfway point in the third. That’s a tell. Larsson was fantastic, he’s just a destroyer on skates now. His late shot block was the key defensive play of the game. He’s a fine player.
- Mikko Koskinen stopped 24 of 25, .960 and now owns a SP for the year (.903) above the Mendoza line.
CURRENT STANDINGS
By winning percentage, Edmonton is in third place but this is a solid run. The gap between the Oilers and Vancouver/Calgary/Ottawa is the big takeaway. Even if the Flames win all three games in hand, the Oilers would hold a lead.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning we get rolling with the Lowdown (TSN1260), including a long look at the Oilers game last night and the week to come. Steve Lansky from Inside the Truck podcast will join us to talk about the upset this week about some of the television commentating during the BOA game. At 11, Matthew Iwanyk will talk Oilers game last night, NFL free agency and March madness (the futility of filling out a bracket). 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Hopefully, LT is okay. This happened a short while ago too and he was fine. Hope it is the same today.
Harpers Hair
Reply to Dac189
March 19, 2021 4:59 pm
It’s for the player who has the most impact on his team’s success.
The highest points and goal getters have their own awards.
========================
The problem is, McDavid’s season thus far absolutely overwhelms Kane’s.
Like I said earlier, did you watch him shut his naysayers up last night? Defensively he’s leaps and bounds over past seasons. And now nearly 53% on the dot.
He’s on course for a new top 10 record for scoring, while competing against seasons that were set with far lower save percentages and far higher average goals per game.
There’s no other résumé like it out there this season. And just last night, in a masterful lockdown match against the always difficult Jets, he drew praise like this:
.
.
.
.
So you’re right, it’s not just about getting points. Did I mention he’s also the captain and a more mature team leader than Kane?
When the pretenders fall, like McKinnon and Mathews, a new contender is anointed. The Hawks will soon be out of the playoff hunt, making Kane another pretender. Who then becomes the new anointed contender? That’s the question.
Oilers pull closer to 1st place in the division tonight.
Out of town scoreboard was kind this eve.
Rather see the Flames lose and here comes the Travis Green ride the Demko train hard right into a 4 spot.
Pull closer to 3rd.
I think you have a math, logic or reading problem! Not surprising.
None of the above.
Getting closer to 1st while also getting closer to 3rd is exactly what happened.
How did they get closer to 3rd?
Montreal got a point and still has THREE games in hand.
Montreal’s not in 3rd place. Looks like you got all 3 wrong.
Who is in third place in your world?
You mean the real world? Clearly you can’t or didn’t read my other post, but by points, Winnipeg is in 3rd. If you claim Winnipeg is in 2nd because they have the higher points percentage, fine, then Edmonton is in 3rd and they can’t get closer to themselves. And their position relative to Winnipeg is unchanged after tonight.
Oh and if you want to move the goalposts, which I know you never do, you’d say the Oilers are closer to 4th. However, since Montreal only got a point tonight, their probability to catch the Oilers has gone down slightly since they now need to win 100% of their games in hand to pass the OIlers (under no scenario will the Montreal be able to get the tie-breaker over the OIlers), whereas before tonight they had to get 7 of 8 points in their 4 games in hand. Toronto’s loss on the other hand increases the probability ever so slightly that the Oilers could overtake them.
Let me help you out, since you are taking some time to read the standings and discover the error of your ways in which case we won’t hear from you at all since you generally go silent on a topic when someone points out your mistakes (or obvious lies intended to troll). Read this slowly so you understand.
Before tonight Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal were 1,2,3 and 4 in the standings by points with tie breakers, and were 1, 3, 2 and 4 based on points %. After the games tonight, nothing changed in points order, though Montreal increased its points by 1 and nothing changed in points % order though Toronto and Montreal saw their points % drop. Edmonton moved closer to Toronto in points % but stayed the same relative to Winnipeg in both points and points % so they are either still in 2nd the same distance above Winnipeg in points, or behind them and in 3rd in points % so no change at all. Ie. no rational scenario in which the Oilers are somehow closer to 3rd.
Sorry that the mists and vapours of time are beginning to play havoc on your mathematic cognitive reason.
According to ESPN – Oilers are currently tied with your Leafs for 1st place in the so-called crap Canadian North division.
Your Canucks are currently enjoying anticipating the draft lottery in 5th place. And of course Sutter’s Flames are currently in 6th place. Out of the playoffs, and solidly in palookaland – where it’s pure joy for this fan to behold.
This is the proof I give. Where exactly you go to get what passes off to yourself as yours is less clear lol
I hated Smith on other teams but now I love him. I wish we had the 31 year-old Smith but so be it . He’s our goalie wether you like him our not he’s hungry for a cup he’s 10-3. The lack of respect on this blog is borderline shameful. Have some faith in your catcher it’s all about Confidence. Think about it.
I credit you LT for this blog and your keeping an eye on our boy dylan. Putting forth stats n such. I think our inside knowledge has us voting more than others. Thnx again for your excellent work.
Dylan will sign and be on Mcdavid’s line or on the 3rd line for the playoffs if not my illiterate ass will never post here again and the Shane’s of the world can have a rap crap identity party on my behalf. On second thought if Dylan makes the team out of camp all bets are off.
Lol
Dont Forget, go vote for our next star. Holloway 45.8%, Caufield 21.1 %
Hobeybakerawards.com go vote now!!!
Perhaps the fan voting will get Dylan in to the final three but I can’t imagine him winning over Caufield, notwithstanding the fan vote.
Ya never know with individual voting. The set up a lot of caufields goals
I just don’t think the fan vote will get much weight.
if Caufield somehow fell to 4th…
The BlackHawks rode Lankinens ridiculous hot streak but he’s fallen back to earth now.
they are in a division of only 3 real playoff teams although the 3 playoff teams are top notch. So they have a decent shot at the last spot
Remember the good old days when Mathews was going to score 50 this year. Haven’t heard that flotsam in a little while. Now McDavid has one less goal and will probably end up with more at the end of the season. McKinnon is out. Matthews is out. Who’s up next for being better than McDavid?
Kucherov hasn’t played this year – if he did, he’s better.
Two words:
Brogan.
Rafferty.
Buds tied up, dys 2 1 in 2nd
Just turned Flames/ Leafs on. Didn’t see 1 st period but Flames scored 3 on 7 shots. Leafs tending shaky?????
I’m super conflicted about who to cheer for in that game. Flames are most hated, but the Leafs are in 1st. Do I want the Flames to continue to fall further behind in the playoff race or do I want to see the Leafs lose their division lead (to us!)? Hmmmmm.
Just saw Johnny G get plastered along the boards. Apparently no one told the Leafs he is untouchable, as a weak hearted scuffle broke out.
No Bettman points please.
Fuk the Flames Fuk Hrudey, Cassie, Button, Burke they been cheap shooting us for years . I want to see the Flames Suffer the leafs can be had all you have to do is get physical and they’ll fold up like a cheap suit.
Lordy Reja,
If you grind that axe any harder, there won’t be enough blade left to chop wood
He could still carry water though!
When the oilers won the first cup against the evil Islanders it was pure unfiltered joy. The entire city was one big love fest even if you had a head so big that part it needed to be served food separately you were still getting unconditional jiggly jiggly luv.
Can’t ever “feel good” hoping the flames don’t lose but its tough to be to worried about them passing the Oilers in the standings.
They are 9 points back but effectively 10 points back given they have 12 regulation wins.
Yes, they have 3 less games played so they could make up some ground – points percentage (just over .500) shows they are “likely” to get 3, ok, fine, 4 points in those 3 games.
1) 10 points backs (realistically 6 given games in hand)
2) 12 regulation wins vs. 19 regulation wins
3) -9 goal differential vs. +17
4) been blown out 7-1 and 7-3 by the Oilers
We are in to the 2nd half of the season and well past “US Thanksgiving”. Its tough to reasonably think that team will, all of a sudden, get more points than the Oilers through the end of the season let alone enough to make up ground and pass the Oilers.
Its fairly clear one team is superior to the other.
Sutters sludge up leafs 2 zip early in first. Makes me smile. Buds for the next tho.
How many points would Petry have if he was in Barrie spot. 35 plus Eakins is a dweeb
The Blackhawks are fading fast. Last 10 games they are 3-6-1 and they are at the bottom of the league for almost every possession metric. There is a very good chance Columbus or Dallas catches them and they miss the playoffs
And you shouldnt win a Hart of your team misses the playoffs.
I’d say its almost a lock that Dallas passes them. They have like 6 games in hand on Chicago.
It is so weird watching this team. Having depth down the middle makes me uncomfortable. What do I do with my hands?
We are missing Klef and there is still a logjam on D.
Turris, Haas, and Khaira have all been injured and we have yet to see RNH at centre.
I still do not trust Smith/Koski in the net but I am pretty happy to be wrong about the goalies so far.
I cannot imagine the McDavid line with Holloway on one wing and JP on the other. Look out!
Whatever you are doing with your hands make sure you strengthen your wrists. It’s critical to winning trophies…?
When all else fails follow what your eye test tells you. As good as the analytics have become, it is still the real and most proven test of all.
Everyone’s extending contracts today the parade is planned but if you take away Sens games were a 500 team.
Shhhhh….it’s an inconvenient truth.
It’s not really inconvenient though. It just means the Oilers have been able to dominate another team in their division. Matching the feat of the hottest team in the league for March, the Vancouver Canucks. Except without the Canucks 5-0 record vs the Sens they are sporting a fantastic 10-16-2 record.
Not to mention, the nucks required their goaltender to steal them (1) an OT win against the Sens 3rd stringer and (2) a SO win against the Sens fourth stringer.
11 regulation wins in 33 games…..
Inconvenient truth: you believed the Sens team the Oilers faced much earlier in the season “was not the same team” and that the Oilers would have a tough time against them and would lose in their most recent series.
Another desperate prediction from HH.
Take away the Oiler games and the Sens are only 3 games under 500. Oilers have a winning record against everyone but the Leafs and Habs, and I think the Oilers are likely better than the Habs right now.
Not suggesting it’s parade worthy, but I think they could go on a decent playoff run if they can keep the goalies healthy, which is not a given.
Why would you take out the Sens games? Ask TO how easy it is to beat them.
So we know that the Senators are a bad team. We have not lost to the Senators. What does that say of all those teams that have lost to the Senators. Using our wins against a team that the other teams have lost games to is a knife that cuts both ways. Assholes like HH use this to be a contrarian and cause discourse. We have no Bettman or loser points which could be used to indicate that we are actually a better team than some that are close to us in total points. The reality is ALL points are of equal value when it comes to playoff positioning. The rest is just noise.
If you take away all of the losses, the Oilers are undefeated. See how that works?
Haha. That’s a helluva team!
You know who’s not 7-0 against the sens? Everyone else!
NHL (@NHL) Tweeted:
Will Patrick Kane (@88PKane) need to make room in his trophy case at the end of the season?
@NHLdotcom debates https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/svg/27a1.svg https://t.co/PYhaaB0Ok3 https://t.co/bUjNpSYm6p
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1372927115037974532?s=20
No, he won’t. Didn’t need to read the article. Which is saying something, because he’s having an incredible season in his own right.
Did you catch the Oilers game last night?
McDavid making 17 journalists look like utter fools. It sure was sweet, eh?
There is already an award for the highest scorer.
Ask yourself where the Oilers would be without McDavid and where the Hawks would be without Kane.
My take is Chicago would be Detroit.
How about the Oilers?
Or how would Tampa be without Kucherov? I wonder what that would look like? Wait a minute!!!
I’d be surprised if you weren’t fully in support of Kucherov as the hands down winner two seasons ago when he won the Hart largely because he was the runaway Art Ross winner.
Did you just complement the oilers?
The Hawks will not make the playoffs. Book it.
This article just highlights everything wrong with hockey culture. McDavid is literally 16 points up on Kane.
Kane must have a bucket of incriminating photos from the last NHL.com writers retreat.
I do not care about NHL awards but one would have to be a total and complete moron to suggest anyone not named McDavid for Hart.
Hart is always on odd one to me.
It means most valuable to the team they play for, which to me means, if they were to leave or get injured then the team is much weaker as the player is the most valued in comparison to the rest of their teammates.
Who would be worse off if McDavid or Kane were unable to play, Edmonton or Chicago?
I haven’t watched a single Chicago game this season but the Oilers this season seem to be doing pretty well with their McDavid off the ice numbers.
Maybe that’s why Kane is being voted for more? Is Chicago not as good without Kane on the ice compared to Edmonton? Maybe I am high?
I think if this was truly the case for how voters should/will vote, then Lankinen would be more of a candidate than Kane.
I thought this argument came up before in the year when Hall was given the Hart trophy. He truly went supernova that year, especially compared to his teammates.
McDavid is #1 in points. Draisaitl is #2.
Kane is #3. The next Chicago player is Debrincat at #15. 2 above Barrie who is #17 in points.
Barrie wouldn’t have any points without McDavid though….. not only is McDavid key to the team but he is making Barrie $35M in his 30s.
Brett Connolly fuked up he was a good fit.
A true point and cap parasite.
Just look at GWG. It gives a decent idea about how important a player is….although take it with a grain of salt due to variables…
Edit: how important a player is to HIS team.
Long time reader, first time poster. By definition the Hart trophy goes to the most valuable player to his team, in the league. Well 31 teams have an MVP, so how do you determine which MVP is above all the rest? For me I look at which player could you put on any team in the league and they would be the MVP on that team. Kane is the MVP on 30 different NHL teams. Draisaitl could debatably be the MVP on 30 different NHL teams. McDavid would be MVP on all 31 NHL teams. I know the voters never look at it that way but in my opinion it’s the only way to get rid of the good player on a bad team variables.
Nah, it’s the same reason Michael Jordan didn’t win the NBA MVP every year. Everyone knows it’s Connor, but it’s boring to keep voting for him, so the writers try to make a case for someone else.
What a hilariously sweet clickbait. Good on the NHL social media for chumming the waters for idiots. ..there’s real value in activity generating.
So the argument is not to give it to the best player but to the best player on a middling team.
Meh, just make it a best player in the league award.
I guess that’s what the Ted Lindsay is for.
Why do we care more about the Hart?
It’s for the player who has the most impact on his team’s success.
The highest points and goal getters have their own awards.
In a tight checking, pivotal game between 2 rivals fighting for position at the top of the division, Connor McDavid scored the only 2 goals for his team to eke out a 2-1 win. Do you see someone who could have MORE impact on his teams success than that?
I guess what I don’t like is that the Hart, which
feels likeis the most prestigious award in hockey, is related to how bad your team is.It would be ridiculous not to give Messi the ballon d’or because he played on a good Barcelona team.
It’s funny because Button’s arguement for Matthew’s being his top candidate was that he was the best player on a very good team. Did that definition flip as we caught Toronto?
Winning another award does not preclude a player from winning the Hart so once again more B.S. it’s not kindergarten where we make sure as many players as possible get a prize.
Interesting that last year Draisaitl was given a stronger supporting cast of wingers than McDavid, which was a big factor in him earning the Hart/Art Ross. This year it seems that McDavid is getting the push. Is this coaching instinct, evening things out, or other? In theory, even though both men can drive a line, McDavid is more capable of doing it solo, and would be the one I would staple to less skilled forwards.
Maybe the coach is doing this to drive home hockey is a team game. Even if you are McDavid or Draisaitl having all world skills and make everyone around you better, you can’t do it all alone and you’d still need your teammates to be successful.
For a long time this team had the No1 overall draft pick entitlement / hierarchy team culture.
Often, it seems the players who were not among the chosen ones are expected to take the defensive zone time, try not get scored on, and get out of the ice for the big guns when the puck heads to the offenseive zone.
Thia year both McDavid and Draisaitl seem to play more of a complete game.
The Barrie vs. Larsson dilemma (a good one) has parallels with what Ottawa went through with Redden vs. Chara.
Both were very good but different dmen, and Ottawa fatally chose Redden over Chara.
That mistake narrowed Ottawa’s window and made Chia a Stanley Cup Champion. One could reasonably argue that if Ottawa had held on to Chara, Chiarelli may have never ended up in Edmonton.
Barrie is a wonderful player and a joy to watch. I am as big a fan of watching the 5 man attack as anyone, and it has been eons since we’ve had it in Edmonton.
That being said, when the chips are down and games are tight, Tippett wants Bear out there over Barrie, and he definitely likes having Larsson out there. That says something.
I love watching Barrie in the offensive zone. I don’t however feel he is a 6-7 M player especially in the flat cap world. We don’t know what he’ll take but it would have to be significantly less for me to be happy to see him resigned.
I agree that Barrie will likely not cover a bet with a long term deal in that 6-7 range. That seems to be where the market was recently set for his skill set with Krug getting $6.5 million for 7 years from St. Louis. They seem like very similar players, but Krug got to play on more defensively minded teams overall so far in his career. I think Holland is a bit more cautious than that, but we’ll see.
Because the team has Bear and Bouchard, he can take a wait and see approach to see how Barrie performs down the stretch and into the playoffs. If he truly is not helpful in a playoff setting, let him walk since the team could have Bouchard and Bear next year. If Barrie is successful in the playoffs, Holland still doesn’t have to go crazy with his UFA offer again since he has a decent fall back position if Barrie wants really big money. All of this assumes that Larsson is a keeper. As the team now stands, Larsson with any two of the other three seems more balanced on the right than a Triple-B combo on the right, but things can change.
I agree. As I said I like Barrie but I see Larson as critical to the balance and grit of the team.
Chara never gave Muckler a number. Seriously. Muckler offered Chara a contract as large as Boston did. Never got an answer, so signed Redden before free agency.
Chara’s agent also leveraged Edmonton if I recall correctly.
The Oilers were willing – but Chara never seriously considered it. Just used it to get his deal with Boston.
Didn’t realize that. Sounds as though Chara was gone no matter what in that case.
Redden signed a two year deal with the Sens, instead of them signing Chara. In those two years, Redden took them to the Cup Final and then spent the next year being inundated by trade requests from new GM Bryan Murray, followed by the coach being fired. Redden then entered free agency and was not re-signed by OTT, so they effectively lost both Chara and Redden for the long term.
Depends who is in the lead when the cards are flipped. If the Oilers are chasing a flush you aren’t going to see #6 manning the point.
Precisely. It’s not about the game being tight, it is about whether or not we have the lead.
Well…this is something.
Tonight’s Habs-Canucks game will be available in TSN 5G.
Viewers will have access to 80 cameras installed in the Bell Centre in a new interactive broadcast.
https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1372985204365795328?s=20
I hate that Sportsnet deal with the fire of 1000 suns.
If I’m Holland, which I’m not, I tell Barrie, “look, if you want to stick with this group, you’re not gonna get a $6-7M long term contract.”
If I’m Barrie, which I’m not, I tell Holland, “look, I’ve made $29,345,000 USD minus taxes in my career, not including the $3,750,000 USD minus taxes from this season. I would rather play with my buddy McDavid and win some Stanley Cups and Norris trophies than make another $30,000,000 USD minus taxes. Sign me up!”
It’s not like 3.75M is nothing….it’s more than any of us will make in our 30 year careers…unless your LT…Hee hee jk
Hee Hee?
I thought it would be Haw Haw ? ?
Evander Kane is more than flat broke and he hasn’t even been cleaned out by a ex-wife yet.
What a jerk that guy is. (Fantastic player though) Did you ever hear about the Bruhaha he caused in the Jets dressing room?
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/a-timeline-of-kanes-indiscretions-with-jets/
I won’t say too much more about this because I don’t have direct quotes, but I know that at one point Dustin Byufuglien and Mark scheiffle had to escort him out of the dressing room by force. But he flaunted his wealth constantly and eventually the Jets and the players could not take it anymore… Karma I guess…that Winnipeg franchise consistently churns out an incredible amount talent.
The pictures of Kane doing push-ups with bags of money on his back was over the top but apparently the judge removed them from Twitter. Something to do with the bankruptcy.
But you can still find them on the net. Wont post them here.
I actually found it….
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/evander-kane-missed-game-after-incident-with-byfuglien-reports-1.2946727
He wants his contract terminated so he can claim bankruptcy then he’ll be able to sign a new one and keep the money. He’s got it all figured out unless its Russian bookies he’s in hawk too then this might not end so well.
The biggest reason he signed in Edmonton on the cheap was to pad his stats and get a huge with term contract. He rolled the dice on PP1 as well as overtime with him feeding Mcdavid and Leon never mind 5 on 5. Its coming up all 7’s for the Barrie clan.
All 7’s, hey? So a 7-year, $777,777.77 contract?
I have a question, Lowetide. What does this team need to add in order to earn the coveted, mythic balance photo?
For me, they are probably short a healthy Oscar Klefbom and one more legitimate top six winger to score thirty a year one-timing McDavid passes at the net. I don’t think Nugent-Hopkin’s game is showing the kind of results you would look for from a McDavid winger at even strength.
Does trading Bear for Debrusk, as loathe as I would be personally be to give up on Bear, do it? Or do they also need to bring back Nuge and Barrie and have Klefbom make a comeback?
Or is balance the new “three scoring lines”, and some kind of unicorn that will never come to pass, even if the team should become a legitimate contender?
I would say this team is very close. There are candidates for LHD, so Klefbom not returning wouldn’t derail things as they stand. I expect a scoring LW is the last item along with slight improvement in goaltending (Edmonton is No.23 in 5-on-5 SP with .9176) but even the goaltending has been better than I thought it would be.
If next offseason is like the last one, where free agents are signing for pennies on the dollar, and teams are giving away good players to save cap space, would it make sense to let Nuge walk? Don’t get me wrong, I think the Nuge is a great player and it kind of pains me even to write this…. but if his contract is going to be $6-7mil/year, they could probably get two good wingers for that price. Nuge multiplies into two top six wingers, and suddenly the top six is complete.
I think the absolute lower bound Nugent-Hopkins would sign for in Edmonton is 5 x $6.5 million. I’m content with 5 x $7 million.
Calgary/Sutter will move Gaudreau/Monahan out and bring in Hall/Nugent-Hopkins, and all the #HallHater and #NugeHaters in Edmonton will endure a life of misery.
Edmonton fans hate all the wrong players.
As I said, I don’t hate Nuge, I actually really like him. Just wondering if this is a time to be opportunistic with cap space
Holloway on a ELC. And Nugent-Hopkins at 5 x $7 million. Those are my top two left wings. And both can also play centre. (Mucho injury insurance).
Holloway McDavid Puljujarvi (McDavid between two wrecking balls)
Nugent-Hopkins Draisaitl Yamamoto
And Lavoie coming with a bullet.
One doesn’t have to overthink this.
This could work very well, absolutely.
Of course, we don’t know Holloway can play 1LW with McDavid and, even if we assume that he can, we don’t know what the reasonable time frame is.
We can hope and pray that its April or October 2021 – that could end up being the case. It also could be October 2022 or January 2023.
Holloway might not be the perfect fit with Connor right away but who of the players available would necessarily be better and they would come at a much higher price.
If Dylan isn’t ready for the NHL, I don’t imagine the GM thrusts him in because there are no “better options”. What’s best for Holloway’s development will be primary I’m sure.
Given his physical attributes, he may be able to “arrive” at 19/20 but that’s far from a certainty and we just don’t know at this point.
Valid point. Holland likes to assure young players are ready.
Projecting rookies into key positions was the cause of the decade of darkness. Holloway shouldn’t be counted on being a top six winger until he proves he is ready. Recipe for success is to have key positions filled with proven players, and force the rookies to steal those jobs when they are ready (like jp taking Kassian job)
It could be argued that the true pure scorer on Connors line is Connor. Having two big fast wingers that can be physical in JP and Holloway as Connors wings is low risk especially given you get to keep Nuge as the backup plan.
Sounds good in theory. Our pro scouts record is historically not good. Nuge covers a lot of areas. He is the quintessential 200 foot player that is extremely competent in all disciplines. He is good value at his current cap. Sometimes we don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. See Jeff Petry.
Who is your preferred LW target?
Or do you see this hole being filled internally by Holloway next season or the year after?
The team is 12th in all situations SV% (.9071). Does that change anything?
I have been defending Barrie over the last few days and in today’s thread as I don’t think he is only a product of McDavid and/or Nurse and I don’t think his “secondary assists” should be discounted to the level they have been.
At the same time, for me, 100% the key right shot D UFA to re-sign is Adam Larsson.
Tyson Barrie is very valuable to the current team but organizational skill set and cap structure lends itself to Adam Larsson, likely at a shorter term (and definitely at a cheaper cap hit) is primary.
I have learned that Tyson Barrie is only good because he plays with Nurse but we already know that Nurse is only good because he plays with McDavid.
“And McDavid is only good because he plays with Draisaitl.
Wait, or is it the other way around?
You’re telling me they both play on seperate lines now? And they have been for over a year now except for the odd occasion? This will make hyping up Matthews even harder. Oh Matthews wrist is better now? Then this will be easy”
-Toronto media
Trolling Motor for Sale: Model SS H.H.
No computer or smart tech – Non Intelligent Model
Runs on negative energy
Non steerable, must use with an OP rudder
Specifications
HP Rating: – 97
RPM Min: 0 (drift mode)
Max: 1 (sail mode)
Model SS is from the Sinking Ship Series, built with low quality parts
Ships directly from B.C.
Keep on fishing even with ongoing solar flares
Note: Will not run when Oilers are winning
Priceless ?????
This… Largely made me laugh out load. Hope neibours dont think ive lost it.
Also, its damn nice to have Ethan Bear back – last two games was 2019/20 Ethan Bear and that is a nice player.
Having Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse being able to play so well together and then Adam Larsson playing the best hockey of his career leads to Ethan Bear playing 3RD (and Bouchard waiting for an opportunity to play games) and, my goodness, that’s the type of depth that championship-caliber hockey teams have.
I haven’t seen the Oilers D as a whole this engaged in offence in a raccoons age. Tippett must be feeling it giving the green light to all.
I remember the day when players got points and we talked about it
Then came the day when it was important to get 5 on 5 points.
Now, apparently, is the day when 5 on 5 primary points are what count the most.
This has nothing to do with the discussion re: re-signing Barrie but only with respect to his impact to the current team. Yes, he has quite a few “second assists”. I encourage all to take a look at the top point producing d-men in the league – one will notice that all of them have a fairly high percentage of their points via secondary assists.
I guess not all points are created equal and not all secondary points are created equal.
One can knock Barrie for his “secondary assist” but damn if the secondary assist on the winning goal wasn’t a damn good play and a huge part of the winning goal which doesn’t happen without Barrie.
exactly…when you are a puck moving D man it would seem logical you will get a lot of secondary assists especially 5 x 5…funny how every other D man in the league has a chance to get those crappy 2nd assists but don’t…I am just happy to have a d man that gets any assists
I’m all onboard the points are points train. Secondary assists was a huge argument against M. Tkachuk on draft day (along with footspeed). For a wide community that values Corsi and recognizes the value in zone exits and entries, secondary assists being thrown out as trash doesn’t make sense.
Analytics is the idea that all aspects of the game are part of a chain that leads to scoring. Yet for some reason the third last guy in the chain wasn’t important? Even though the fourth last guy in the chain who carried the puck out of the d zone gets praised for his contribution?
As Oiler fans we have a low bar threshold.
I did it for them…
Top 20 D by Pts. 7 of the top 10 have a A2% > .500.
The secondary assist was a pass up the boards to Kassian. That’s a play that Bear, Bouchard, and even Adam Larrson make regularly.
The really good pass on the play was Kassian hitting McDavid in stride with the bump pass.
Barries outlet was pretty routine. Surely you can see that?
Barrie’s rate of first assists and second assists per 60 are the best on the Oilers in a long time. All these other D have gotten to play with superstar McDavid and superstar Leon the past few years, yet don’t get the points that Barrie is getting now. Barrie scores points 5 on 5 at a rate of 1.58 per 60 with first and second assists being .42 and .97 respectively. Nurse, Klebom, and Bear over the past 2/3 seasons have been at 1.14, .73 and .81 points per 60 respectively, .33, .16 and .26 first assists per 60 and .48, .45 and .4 second assists.
All these defenders have other things to offer to the team that Barrie does not, but none of them adds to the offense like Barrie. Yes you can always say, well so and so could have made that pass, but the fact is, they have all had the chance to, but Barrie has succeeded at almost double the rate. Surely you can see that?
While what you say is correct he has to have a extremely mobile, physical, defensively sound D partner to not be a black hole defensively.
Positive goal differential playing primarily with Ian Cole in 2018/19.
But he shed two forecheckers before making the simple pass….surely you saw that?
He made a nice move to shed the 1st forechecker. I saw Bear make the same move successfully twice last night.
He “shed” the second forechecker by bouncing his outlet pass into the guys shinpads. He was lucky the puck bounced back to him.
He then proceeded to make the pass up to Kassian.
If you don’t believe me go back and watch the tape..
Saying that play doesn’t happen without Barrie is pure bullshit. That play happens 50 times every NHL game.
The only difference is that McDavid turns that play into a goal a lot more often than any other player.
I like Tyson Barrie. He’s a good player on a great 1 yr contract. A contract that allows Tippett to ease Bouchard into the NHL lineup. He’s piling up a shitload of points.
None of these things mean the Oilers should extend him for big money and term.
Yes it can happen without Barrie, but again, his shitload of assists piling up at almost twice as often than with any other Oiler defender that has gotten to play with McDavid (and Draisaitl) over the past several seasons.
I get that many people don’t think Barrie should be signed long term (and some want him gone now) and I am not sure I want him signed long term either. That doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge that he is clearly the most gifted, experienced offensive defenseman the Oilers have had in a long long time. Maybe Bouchard can fill that role or maybe Ethan Bear can grow into it as well, but the thing is there is no way to know for sure, and Tippett needs to win now. And since Barrie became Nurse’s partner, the Oilers have gone 17-7. A lot of other factors have contributed to that, and some may even be more important (eg. Smith being healthy.), but Tippett has zero incentive to change his top pairing right now.
The outlet was after a plus defensive play and under pressure. It was not a routine play or many d-man.
Yes, Bear, likely Bouchard and even Larsson, have the ability to make that play but I don’t think it was a play they routinely make and it is a play that Barrie routinely makes.
Barrie comes with a resume of scoring in the NHL, over the last 10 years in various offensive stats amongst Defensemen he is ranked as follows:
Goals: #14
Assists: #13
Points: #16
Even Strength Pts: #12
PP Points: #15
Pts per 60: #10
Pts per GP: #11
Assists/60: #15
The per 60 stats include Cale Makar and Jake Bean, so he does very well overall. He is an offensive NHL defenseman FULL STOP.
We haven’t seen much of his type in these parts, but his numbers aren’t a fluke. He picks up points because that is what he does. Certainly he is definitely benefitting from playing with the top 2 scorers in the league, but so are they. That is exactly what point producers do and he is doing it.
This is exactly why he chose to play in Edmonton this season and so far all is going as planned.
What is the issue?
For the record. I have never once used the term “second assist” in any of my posts with regard to Barrie.
People are just making up straw men now.
Who is the one who initiated the discussion on “secondary assists.”
It wasn’t me. I don’t use silly arguments! -).
The Oilers are third in points percentage, second in winning percentage.
I love the idea of making the playoffs without a single Bettman, it’s such a flex on the rest of the division. Loser points are for losers.
Edmonton media after Mike Smith has a good game: “Great game Mike. Lots of greats saves. It looks like you were seeing everything.”
Edmonton media after Mikko Koskinen has a good game. “Mikko. Tell us about how great the team played in front of you tonight.”
Oh great another conspiracy myth.
I think it’s more a criticism of Edmonton Sports Media than anything else.
So stemming from more than one person, is fictional and which stretches through time (implied).
In other words yet another patented Godot conspiracy myth.
Ehh, I think most would agree that Edmonton sports media can be pretty awful when dealing with players.
Think about the last two games the Oilers played and what the two goalies in those two games faced, The questions from the media are a reflection of the actual games and what happened. Reality however, has rarely been a restriction to Godot’s narrative-building.
WPG: HDCA: 7 SCF: 16 SF: 21
CGY: HDCA: 9 SCF: 27 SF: 26
And two of Calgary’s goals come in garbage time when the Oil clearly stop playng in front of him.
Godot: these are identical games and the media is being mean to Koski.
We would have cause to criticize the media on this issue, if they did what Godot is doing… prefering one goalie over the other AGAINST the data.
Mike 10 wins 3 losses Mikko 9 wins 10 losses. If your the coach who you going to call? GHOSTBUSTERS! I mean MIKE SMITH!
I think that you may be misunderstanding my post. The post was not about the quality of Mike Smith’s play.
I probably should include a trigger warning, but um… you’ve been warned, I guess.
McDavid = Hemsky^5
Draisaitl = Hemsky^5
Nugent-Hopkins = Horcoff
Khaira = Pisani
Kassian = Torres
Puljujarvi = Dvorak
Archibald = Reasoner
Chiasson = Moreau
Yamamoto = Samsonov
Barrie = Bergeron
Nurse = Pronger
Larsson = Smith
Russell = Tarnstrom
Bear = Spacek
Smith = Roloson
Koskinen = Conklin
I feel like Jean-Luc in the hands of the dastardly Kardassians when it comes to both teams…
There are THREE goalies!!!
Oh, and Barrie is clearly Spacek.
Skinner = Morrison?
I hope not.
Wut???
Why is Skinner entering this conversation? He’s not on the roster.
Was a joke because he’s the only third goalie to technically play for the Oil this season.
Who’s Rem?
The Athletic Power Rankings.
https://theathletic.com/2462561/2021/03/19/nhl-power-rankings-no-surprises-at-top-or-bottom-of-the-athletics-first-weekly-edition/?source=user_shared_article
Having Barrie and Nurse on the backend is sorta like having Bergeron and Pronger back in 05-06, no?
So should we be considering a lucrative extension for Bergeron or Pronger?
Trade him for Lupul tbh
There’s nobody in the league today that is like having 05-06 Pronger on the back end.
Getting to watch #44 play live every single home game that season is something I’ll never forget.
It started with him ambling out of the tunnel and thinking “That guy plays for the Oilers…everything’s going to be alright.” Then you’d watch him go out and just destroy other teams – defensively or offensively. The guy could’ve been a 100 point forward if he wanted. Dominance. Control of a game. Could beat you any way you’d prefer to lose.
Not arguing against that at all, Pronger > Nurse ofc, BUT I think it could be said this is the closest they’ve come to having a Chris Pronger on the team since, well, Chris Pronger was on the team.
Hedman.
The closest to Pronger 05-06 right now is Victor Hedman. He is not as physical or nasty as Pronger was but his command of the ice is exceptional. All the talk of Makar and Heiskanen in last year’s playoffs, but Hedman was the best all around defenseman throughout the playoffs last year (and fully deserved the Conn Smythe), and he is having his best regular season this year. Hard to fully judge Hedman in comparison to Pronger since he is surrounded by better players than Pronger was here. Most of the other members of that Oilers’ team had the best season of their career with him on the back end.
Loving Nurse’s game this season. I have been a fan right from the start and believed his would round into an All Star quality defenseman. At the World Juniors in 2015, he didn’t show a lot of offense, but in his own end, he was in complete command of the ice, particularly in the Gold Medal game where he was awarded player of the game. He is now achieving that level at the NHL with added offense and he has room to grow even more. He is providing more than full value for a 7th overall pick d-man.
Pronger played half the game. It was simply not possible for the opponent to attack up his side of the ice.
Of course Nurse isn’t at Prongers’ level but it is almost impossible to beat Nurse off the rush.
His rush defence is among the best in the league.
Nurse has also played over half the game twice this year…..
Barrie – let’s see how he plays in the playoffs.
Also, Ethan Bear looked like a Calder candidate playing alongside 25 last season. He’s a legit NHL player, but I credit Nurse’s reliability and skill to drive an effective pairing, thereby allowing his partner an extra half-second to snap passes.
What does it all mean?
Tyson Barrie benefits immensely from playing with the Doctor – he gets to focus on attacking (or distributing the puck to enable 97 to attack). I’m not convinced however that EB1 or EB2 couldn’t achieve similar results if and when given the opportunity.
I am convinced. I think it is dead evident to anyone watching the game that Bear and Barrie do not possess identical skill sets. The stats seem to agree vociferously as does the coach’s deployment.
Bear’s skill set is more useful and valuable. Bouchard will cover what Barrie does well.
Please address the post’s point, rather than pulling an HH and moving the goalposts..
Not sure Bouchard can cover Barrie, his skating ability is no where near as good,and he’s not near as quick.
Dead wrong, I would argue Bouchard has better flat out speed and better straight line acceleration. Barrie might have an advantage on agility but it’s close. Once we have puck and player tracking up and running we can revisit the argument.
Yes exactly… although I will add that Bouch has extremely good stability to go with the package. You rarely see him fall and he is extremely hard to push off balance. It’s the Popeye Forearms! ?
Larry Murphy outscored, outdefended, and outlasted most of his flashier peers.
That’s not to say I’m not thoroughly enjoying Barrie’s play and the run he’s on.
Spring weather in Edmonton, a team well above .500 competing for the division, the league’s two leading scorers, and top-scoring defenseman.
And our new puppy Puljujarvi has learned not to bark wildly when the doorbell rings.
Walking.On.Sunshine
If we could sign Barrie for 3 or 4 yrs at a reasonable price, and resign Larsson I would consider trading Bear for something we need. If the team keeps playing this way we may be closer to the win now window than we think. Instead of waiting for young D to develop, sign the vets, get a goalie, and go for it.
Bear with Nurse, Bouchard on the 3rd pairing and PP, sign Larsson is a far better strategy and use of cap space.
Get healthy Oscar. Make signing Barrie impossible.
It all means ride Barrie for the rest of the year and do not re-sign…Pair Bear with Nurse promote E Bouchard to run the PP and play 2nd pair with Kleff…it also means do not forget we have Broberg developing in the shadows…Priority #1 is a bonifide #1 915 sv% Tendy
Note that the 24 and 21 games for Edmonton and Toronto includes the 0-3-0/3-0-0 sweep by Toronto over Edmonton.
Slow start aside, of the top three teams in the division, the Oilers should definitely be in the discussion of which one is the best, IMO.
Rest of the division:
Note that Ottawa’s 24 games includes going 0-6-0 against Edmonton.
Think you’ve got a couple of glitches in your math OmJo for Vancouver and Calgary. Vancouver’s last 24 should be .500 and Calgary’s last 21 just over .500, no?
You’re right, forgot to include OTL, so the second two rows are W% rather than P%.
Oops.
I’ll repost it with correct numbers.
Can’t edit my post, but fortunately the overall conclusion doesn’t change:
Choosing the first 9 games as a break point was obviously a contrived effort to pump some tires.
Why not split the games played in half. That would present a more accurate picture with larger sample sizes.
Be my guest 🙂
Math really isn’t in your skillset, is it?
Aren’t you the guy who always chooses 2 – 10 game sample sizes as a contrived effort to pump some tires?
“Demko’s save % in the last 4 games is…” (3 of which were against the Sens at that time)
“Canucks in March are…”
“Sutter Flames after 3 games are…”
You are so desperate that now you are going after people who put in actual effort into putting numbers together.
If only you could put in the same kind of effort. And no, copying other peoples work from Twitter does not count.
I love Larsson, but if I have to choose between Larsson or Barrie, I am picking Barrie every time. I think next year Klefbom will be an able replacement for Larsson’s solid play night in night out. After 110 games I don’t see the offense in Bear’s game- I think he is a solid defender with good puck moving skill and that can replace Larsson some of Larsson’s minutes.
Next Year the best line up IMO is;
Nurse-Barrie
Klefblom-Bear
Jones/Lagesson-Bouchard
saves a $1M-$2M for a winger net of Krusty salary reduction/Barries raise.
No one is counting on Klefbom playing any games next year.
And even if he is, we know the abs will be dreamy, but will the shoulder be?
Thinking Klefbom is a solution for next year is just hope. No one has any idea if he will be here and if so, for how long.
110 games is not enough to decide that you know the future of Bears offence, in my opinion. He has been mostly focussed the defensive side of the game which is important for a long career in the NHL. Personally I think his offence will grow with more opportunity and confidence.
Larsson’s value come playoff time when the physical play ramps up is a real plus. The work horse becomes more valuable than the race horse.
The discussion surrounding Barrie’s second assist rates is amusing
There is literally no correlation between first and second assists and the quality of the pass/value to the goal
Many of our goals on the rush are due to a great outlet pass – regardless of whether the puck changes hands a few additional times
After he found his oil legs, he has been great in recognizing passing and skating lanes
Full value
Yup thing with Barrie is he so skilled that players recognize that and are continually looking for him on breakouts and in the offensive zone. In result he will have way more puck touches in a game than the average player and lots of second assists. Sometimes it will give bloated boxcars but shouldn’t diminish his value offensively
Barrie was always going to look above average offensively when he has the Nurse security blanket.
Barrie’s skillset is too specialized
Barrie is expensive synthetic oil, when just a normal high quality motor oil would be good enough.
Regardless of what you think of Barrie as a player and his future contract, how everything is playing out for the Oilers is a game changer for them. We finally have a high profile player in the prime of his career take a one year show me contract to play with McDavid and Draisaitl and he is having a career year. Hopefully this encourages other future UFA’s in a similar spot to do the same. Plus from all accounts Barrie is a very popular guy around the league and I’m sure other players will ask him how he liked it here and I’m sure we all know what his answers will be
There was talk of nicknames for Jesse last night, so I was playing around with Finnish translator this morning.
“Fast Tree” literally translates to:
Nopea Puu
He already has one: Pujo
Which is Finnish for “Stephen King’s rabidly vicious St. Bernard… puppy.”
My wife and I call out “Pupu!!” like we’re trying to find a dog that’s wandered afield whenever he scores. But, like people refusing to call Jujhar “Jujee Fruits” and insisting on calling Ryan Smith “Smitty” instead of “Rhino”, my nicknaming brilliance will continue to go unrecognized…
I find that a bit hilarius, because pupu means bunny in finnish.
Water and fiber should help with both.
It’s a good thing Nuggy’s goal didn’t count, he has far too many on them for a man that can’t hit the net. He would of been tied with Ovi and that’s just insulting the men that hit the net.
Anyone else concerned that McD looked a bit hobbled with that shot block right at the end?
Whatcha talkin’ bout Willis?
35 seconds left in the game, McD blocks a shot and hobbles.
Shot from point by Ehlers.
Every time he’s on the bench he looks like he’s hobbling and then he steps on the ice and angels begin to sing. So no. Seen it so many times that if I let it bug me, I’d never leave my bed.
I am only concerned when McDavid can’t get off the ice without assistance.
Otherwise he is like the Terminator. Metal pipe to the face? He just turns his head back and stares you down.
And he has excellent wrist health.
Can you give Specs a blindside hit for all of us Willis.
Oilers seem to be much better on face offs this year, from what i see more than 50% most games. seems like most have improved. Is the canadian division weaker at face -offs overall, has anyone looked at this.
The Oilers are now 12th in the league in faceoff %, at 51.3. If they can stay at or near that for the remainder of the season, they could finish at above 50% for the first time since 2007/2008. Like with several other things on this club, it is due to Leon and Connor surging ahead. Leon has always been very good but is up to fantastic 57.4% (especially since he averages 18 faceoffs per game). Connor has gone from 47.8% up to 51.4% and he takes more now up from ~10 a game to ~13 a game. That is also the one thing Turris was good at while he was in the line up with a 52% winning percentage.
To judge the North, the only comparison is to look at how they did last year, and Vancouver and Toronto were 2 and 3 in the league, while Ottawa, Winnipeg and Montreal were also above 50%. Calgary was at 49.1 and Edmonton was 23rd in the league at 49%. So overall last season, the North teams stacked up well in terms of faceoff prowess. Vancouver and Toronto are still ahead of the Oilers this season, as they both remain very good faceoff teams, but Edmonton has moved past all the others.
Very tight, evenly matched game last night. McDavid was the difference; Mikko played really well; and Jack Michaels somehow managed to make a tight checking seem exciting. Say what you will about Archie but, man, he puts in 110%.
Not sure which of the intermission commentators described Kyle Connor as a player who could make nothing out of something, but it turned out to be true on the night. Great player though. Disappointed with Scheifele on the night – I like him a lot.
Last five complete games – Mikko vs Mike
96.0 92.9 92.9 97.7 95.2 Average — 94.9%
90.9 85.2 92.0 95.5 94.4 Average — 91.6%
Mikko deserves more love. (Apologies for somewhat duplicating ArmchairGM’s post).
I agree Mikko has been fine. His numbers are skewed by the fact it took us a dozen games to settle down defensively and he had to play them all.
I thought the Jets looked a little off last night, tired maybe, but they were not clicking. I expect Saturday’s game will be better hockey and a tougher test for the Oil.
But what Tippett cares about most, wins and losses, and Smith is 10-3 which is the 3rd best winning percentage of goalies in the league who have played at least 10 games, behind the 2 sunshine state goalies, Vasilevskiy and Bobrovsky. Since Smith’s return, even adjusting for the Winnipeg game that Smith started and Koskinen finished getting the loss, Smith would possibly be 10-4 (no way to know if Smith would have given up the winner if he’d stayed in), while Koskinen would be 4-2 with 3 of his wins against Ottawa.
Maybe Koskinen can be as good at stopping shots as Smith, but the Oilers D and forwards love Smith’s puck handling which changes the forecheck and the flow of the game. Again, since Smith’s return, the OIlers have given up 31.6 shots per game with Koskinen in net, and 29.6 with Smith in net. That was true last season as well with the Oilers giving up over 33 a game with Koskinen and 30.3 with Smith. Koskinen handled the puck pretty well last night with only one noticeable goof that didn’t cost the Oilers and he played the puck a fair bit, but he will never be Smith in that regard.
I would think as long as Smith keeps winning more than 70% of his starts, Tippett will start him more than he starts Koskinen. Smith has only had 3 or 4 really bad games since Christmas of 2019. Unfortunately one was the first half of the game against the Hawks last August, which is what everyone remembers and worries about. Unless, Holland has a shot at getting a long term solution in goal at the deadline at a very reasonable trade or the goaltending on the Oilers flounders between now and then, I think Smith/Koskinen will be goalies for the duration this season.
Yup, 100% agree with all you say. My point was more about Mikko being a little undervalued / under appreciated. He is like this year’s Kris Russell (who is now finally gaining some well deserved recognition).
Anyone read Spec’s latest article? Here’s my reaction:
https://twitter.com/jonrmcleod/status/1372906400075112449
Drai/McDavid in the Selke conversation?
I thought Marner was a lock for it weeks ago?
I like how Spec takes credit for Draisaitl’s improved +/-!
I’m tempted to open a Twitter account just to stalk spector and make “run their show” comments. Tippet totally ran his show right there.
Getting to watch McDavid every night is a serious blessing, I will never take him for granted. Should he ever deliver even a single Stanley to this City, I don’t know what I would do.
Loved Barrie’s play on the second McDavid goal. Races back to his end, collects the puck, makes an excellent skating maneuver to evade the forechecker, tries an initial pass, it hits a second forechecker but Barrie corrals it with his feet, doesn’t panic, and sends a bullet up to Kassian who shovels it to McDavid.
It’s the plays like that where Barrie shines. He makes these plays with the puck that are brilliant. Remember 2, 3, 4 years ago when we would say, “wow, imagine if we had a D who could hit these guys with great outlet passes?”. Love to see it now.
One advantage to keeping Barrie is that as much as it stings, one of Bear or Bouchard could be turned into a very solid acquisition to fill another need (long term goalie, legit top 6 LW). Not saying we should do that, just saying that Barrie/Larsson don’t have trade capital, the other two do. Does Kenny think that too?
The thought of Bear/Bouch out for a LW has to be on his mind. Problem is Bouch looks like a future top pairing guy himself and what does Barrie’s salary look like if he stays?
I don’t think we’ve seen nearly enough of Bouchard to make claims that he looks like a future No 1 Dman….as much as we want that to be the case.
On the other hand, if we let Barrie walk we have the money to afford both a mobile blueline AND a hired gun in the Top 6. Those two things together > Barrie extension imo.
Yes except that the team needs a true #1 tender. Unless of course Smith and Koski find a way to win a cup. But even then…
It really does come down to how much a Barrie extension would cost. He makes 3 now, what would he take? 5? 6? It’ll be rich.
5-6 million could probably get you a new goalie (Linus Ullmark?) and a 3C I would guess. Would Getzlaf on a short term deal make sense?
I wish we had a better idea of what this offseason will look like for free agency and deals. It’s a flat cap world and there are some big names that will be available. How the hell does it all shake loose?
But it was only a secondary assist.
Barrie and Larsson both UFA. Barrie is going to want to be paid and he’ll want term. If you think Bouchard can be a poor man’s Barrie isn’t it better to save the money, sign Larsson and try to get better wings?
Haven’t we seen over and over again that having cost-controlled players is a huge deal in today’s NHL, especially when you have 2 players making $20million?
I think Barrie has done very well, but this just screams UFA mistake to me. Of course if they can get him to some reasonable term I’d be looking at it, but he’s going to go to Seattle for like 8 years, $8m
Yes, cost controlled, young players that can play are the key to success. I would hate to see this team sign Barrie to a 6 X 6 deal. That would be bad news.
If you could convince him to sign for 5-5.5 million times 3 years (he won’t but let’s say the allure of winning a Stanley is enough to convince him otherwise and tell his agent to piss off), would you? Or maybe the better question is, what would a reasonable ceiling for a Barrie deal be?
I’d love to see some analysis on what the age curve looks for a Barrie type. i think Willis has done these types of things before.
Kevin Shattenkirk and Keith Yandle. Signed their rich extensions at this exact point in their careers. Jake Gardiner, who was on waivers the other day. St. Louis isn’t exactly rocking and rolling with two guys Krug and Faulk signed to new albatross contracts.
This is how I see it. Piling up points playing with McDavid when your calling card is puck moving isn’t exactly making a huge contribution to the betterment of the team.
The Oilers do not need more offense, they need more two way players, because that is what wins in the playoffs. Barrie doesn’t make the power play any better than Bouchard would or any capable defenseman who can pass. He isn’t Coffey or Makar or even Q Hughes.
Barrie is really unstable and unpredictable defensively. I am not comfortable with that. There is a middle ground between Barrie and Russell, that is a good thing at both ends of the ice.
I think Larsson when healthy contributes far more to the team’s success than any of the offense only players at any position. Quietly, not flashy, so people don’t notice the puck is going in the right direction. Less D zone time floats all Oiler boats.
I am basically don’t enjoy any players that continually give up possession and can’t consistently and successfully execute basic plays such as winning and keeping possession at the blue lines especially.
For me players like Chiasson (who is at least inconsequentially stable) Kahun Neal and more hurt because the play dies with them more often than is continued and that hurts offense and momentum.
The Barrie decision that Holland is facing is similar to what Benning faced with Markstrom. In both cases, there were younger, cheaper and potentially better options coming up behind both vets. It was a gamble that seems to be paying off in Vancouver and one we need to take here. We can’t afford what Barrie will command, considering the other contracts coming due, and especially since his replacement is almost ready to step in. You’re better off thanking him for his service and letting him go.
Agreed, there is a reason Colorado moved him on, they know what he is at the end of the day…pretty 1 dimensional and if paired with the wrong guy he is a liability…he is paired with his perfect partner this year..he has become Frankenstein…it is a trick
The Avs traded Barrie for Kadri, a 2C they desperately needed on a value contract.
That was a really solid trade for Colorado. Cashed in a surplus for a need. I think Toronto has missed Kadri every single day since he left. I think Toronto expected a lot more out of Kerfoot than they have got. Every time I hear him talked about in Toronto circles, it is how the fans don’t love him.
I made the mistake of reading copper and blue game thread comments last night…wish I could copy this and paste it in there yesterday. Its a regular old barrie hate fest for some reason….just a couple secondary assist and garbage defense all they saw.
I don’t gethow much focus is being placed past how barrie is delivering the puck effectively to our all world skill duo for a brilliant cap hit this year.
-Wasn’t it a big problem in years previous not getting these types of breakouts?
-Was anyone banking on Larsson storming back with a vengeance and us having a surplus RD issue?
-can’t people enjoy nice things?
This is what I keep coming back to, too. I see some of the wobble in Barrie’s d game, but it seems exaggerated by the folks who say he is useless defensively. What I do notice with Barrie is tremendous work in the O Zone. His pinches, his positioning, his ability to pass the puck to the right person at the right time, he’s taking more calculated shots (the JP goal against Calgary).
Watching last night and it just kept happening. McDavid and his line starts to cycle, and instead of the D standing static at the blue, Barrie is getting involved, becoming an option to pass to, cycling in as necessary. His high amount of points isn’t a coincidence to me.
Tippett is using him wisely. Lots of ozone starts and a lot of time with Drai and McDavid. It sucks contract wise, but it’s exactly how a player like Barrie should be deployed. And it is certainly paying off.
I have to say, I am really going to miss Kris Russell when he sails on. He makes the TV scared of the remote sometimes, but his heart and soul show has been a true pleasure to watch and he has earned a loyal fan here.
He’s been good for most part. Pleasantly surprised often when I realize he’s on ice and is the guy skating or holding puck over instant no-look shovel along boards.
Judging by mainly Oilers and other games I’ve caught i think this big break was huge for older players. Seems like a lot are running smoother with second wind.
As it turns out, Rusty has been pretty value for his $4M X 4 contract.
He seemed to have lost a step and regressed a bit last year but maybe that was just concussion-related as he’s had a very good 2021 season, in my opinion.
He is going to be great value at $1.2M next season in the 6/7D role.
He truly is a throw back warrior!
Amazing how the Oil finally are getting offence form their backend and the wins are slowly piling up…say what you want about D men cannibalizing the points of forwards…but it is a rare rare team that wins Stanley without points from the back end
Just think, next year we have a 100% healthy Kleff back , plus Nurse, plus Bouchard and maybe even Barrie if he can see the big picture (I am doubtful)
This 1000x. You can’t win unless you attack with five and defend with five.
In the history of time no one has been more wrong about anything than Ricki is about hockey.
“In the history of time no one has been more wrong about anything than Ricki is about hockey.”
This is so over the top I had a genuine lol
Yup. 5 men back and 5 on attack. Loved the recent talk by the players in interviews about it! Ethan Bear mentioning it last night was Deadlyyyy.
Spot on.
Oilers finally have dmen scoring and contributing to offence and there are still complaints.
Kassian has made a significant impact (not saying he’s good value but) the last 2 games, could argue he’s the marginal gain for the Oil
Also – how about that Rantannen / McKinnon combo? – them and the Avalanche are the real story, Oilers can’t hold a flame to them, etc. etc. (just getting that in there for a friend)
Saturday will be lit!
Grubauer went 3-1-0 with a 1.24 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and one shutout to guide the Avalanche (16-8-2, 34 points) to six out of a possible eight standings points. Earning player of the week.
Most of this is due to toughness of schedule. Don’t forget to adjust for that.
Also need to adjust for wrist health of each player at the time.
Adjustment for ‘wrist health’ only needs to be considered in Hart voting by the center-of-the-universe members of the PHWA.
I look forward to seeing these PHWA members tonight shouldering the weight of Matthews arm down the tunnel to the ice with his wrist resting on a velvet pillow, shouting at everyone to stay back and chanting MVP when he steps on the ice.
Your on a roll this morning. I genuinely spit coffee on this one. Please excuse me, I literally gotta change my shirt. Thanks for that!
Well done sir.
Warts and all (defensive zone board battles and defensive zone positioning, mainly), Zack Kassian is a material upgrade on Patrick Russell (and James Neal).
Someone on Calgary Puck just gave the 2021 Oilers the ultimate accolade: calling them out for “being phony”.
Phony how? Like Johnny Hockey ™ and his defensive play
They are not wrong, since Connor McDavid is unreal….
Who cares
Jesse is discovering his inner Viking…the kid is an absolute beast in front of the net..I mean he man handles D like they are children, he is a couple of years away, but we have a player here and if he can keep the development curve accelerating …man alive the Oil have something here…(reformed critic…glad to be wrong)
Except Jesse is Finnish by heritage who just happened to be born in Sweden (though his parents moved back to Finland where he grew up). Finns are no more Vikings than Germans or Russians would be.
The true Vikings on the Oilers are Larsson (clearly the guy you’d want leading the raid), Klefbom, P. Russell and Nygard.
Vikings tended to ‘get around’ a little when raiding, so a good chance that JP has more than a little Viking in him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_expansion#/media/File:Viking_Expansion.svg
Well whatever the hell DNA is pumping through this kids veins I am Jelly..I mean he is freakishly strong…imagine if he had a mean streak…and his release……single biggest improvement while he was gone
Since Mike Smith came back Feb 8, the Oilers are 4th in the league in GA/GP (2.30) and 5th in GF/GP (3.30). It’s not all Mike Smith, however.
Smith: 839:10 TOI, 2.36 GAA, .920 Sv%
Koskinen: 353:53 TOI, 2.20 GAA, .932 Sv%
Turns out Koskinen is a pretty good goalie if you don’t run him into the ground by giving him 12 starts in 24 days.
Or are we still buying him out this summer?
By contrast Smith has 14 starts in 42 days since coming back. That’s a whole extra day between starts for rest, recovery and practice.
Sports isn’t about fairness, but those stats show Mikko could likely have played a bit more in the last while without hurting the team.
I assume Smith starts on Saturday. It will be a tough game. Winnipeg’s points % after a loss is 0.909, so I expect they’ll come out flying.
I certainly hope that Yammo is back soon
Has anyone heard what his injury is?
Ennis filled in well. This version of the Oilers has decent depth at all position. The “next man up attitude” is refreshing. As long as none of the core go down long term, it’s not a prob. Then again, no team can replace the really high end when they go down. Winnipeg fans were holding their breath collectively last night when Scheiflle took one off the ankle. Even with all the depth they have.
I feel endless posts about Yammo’s imagined fragility are to blame. I couldn’t evil eye alluv’em #jinx
Yamamoto gets knocked around like a rag doll by physical teams like the Jets.
How is that comment relative?
I understand the desire to resign Barrie; he’s fun to watch and adds a dynamic to the attack that feels new to the Oilers of late. But if we assume both Bear and Bouchard will be long term RDs, the Oilers can’t afford both pending UFAs Barrie and Larsson. Between the two, would we not expect Larsson to be cheaper and ultimately the more necessary skill set?
They want to get these players at as good a price as they can. Barrie has been good enough to join the team on a show me deal; and is currently in Norris trophy talk for his trouble.
Also Larsson has the kind of personality that will probably be more than happy to be offered the chance to stay in Edmonton.
Ken Holland is close to being a grand master general manager.
Holland finds a way to sign both Larsson and Barrie. That’s his job. Admittedly Austin Matthews has been playing with an injury but Barrie is only 6 points behind him. How do you walk from that. Plus Barrie wants to be here. Here. In Edmonton. Find a way.
So you sign Larsson and Barrie.
Are you trading Bear or Bouchard?
And if Barrie signs for 5 million plus, is he really worth 3 million dollars more than Bear or Bouchard?
He’s piling up a bunch of secondary assists, 2 last night and 3 the game before, so now we should give him the long term, big money contract?
I like the player, and the 1 year deal, but he is replaceable.
He got pushed out of Denver by Makar, no reason the Oilers can’t do the same with Bouchard.
We have bigger areas of need.
I think Holland will try his best to retain the whole band and keep this unprecedented level of depth at D as long as possible. If Barrie truly wants to stay he will have to leave money on the table. Things will be tight and Nuge remains unsigned alongside Lars.
Sign both Barrie and Larsson to 3 year deals. If they want more than 3 year deals then let them walk. Keep both Bear and Bouchard.
Barrie would have been pushed out sooner, but Timmons had that bad concussion.
Sakic drafted Timmons, Makar, Byram and traded for Girard. That is how much he wanted to pay Tyson Barrie.
Sakic also signed Barrie twice before trading him, including for 4 x $5.5 million in July 2016 – a contract he did not “unload” to acquire Kadri for 3 full seasons. Girard and Byram are both Left D so not directly replacements for Barrie.
I don’t have an issue with moving on from Barrie, but yes he is worth $3 mill more than Bear and Bouchard. Hopefully maybe one day those guys will be better, but they’re kids. IMO I think we have a much bigger hole at top six winger and the money would be better utilized there.
You keep saying “secondary assists” like it’s some sort of epithet… rather than EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE from an offensive defenceman.
Do you actually want a defenceman high in primary assists? Because that basically means you have 12 forwards who are shit at their jobs.
I was going to post your exact same comments.
should we really expect getting the play moving north to generate primary assists? I suppose if one is passing to McDavid, but no one else including Drai.
Very good point. The secondary assists come from transitioning the puck effectively. The exact thing we have been screaming for for years.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever used the term “secondary assists”, and I did it to make a point. Barrie has 6 points in the last 2 games, but none of them were plays that any other dman on the Oilers couldn’t make. He’s getting a ton of points because he plays a lot with McDavid. And because he’s more of a risk taker than the rest of our dmen.
I just don’t want to pay him big money because of his point totals. We have other, much cheaper options.
Who, you know I think you are a strong and valuable commenter.
I think you are wrong here though. If there were others on the roster that can do what Barrie is doing this year, they would’ve done it; we would’ve seen it.
They haven’t because they can’t. Signing and money and cap etc is a separate issue, unless of course, your name is Godot.
We’ll cross that bridge when the season is over and we have even more data (for eg playoffs).
But to reiterate, there is absolutely nothing wrong with secondary assists for Dmen and no, not all Dmen can provide those at the same rate, given the same QoT.
Paying for this is not a problem and is what teams should do. The only question here is given the flat cap, signings this year, expansion, and what’s available by trade and free agency, how should the Oilers move forward with their asset base?
If Holland is deciding on this today, like much of Lowetidia appears to be, then he is an idiot.
Shattenkirk’s and Yandle’s contracts were essentially toxic the day after they were signed.
Lots of time left to see where these players are and a lot of unknowns.
My take:
What does Old Dutch do? No idea, but a good problem to have.
Understandable.
Still:
Cheap mobile blue + $ for Top 6 forward > Barrie extension
The great thing is that the decisions don’t need to be made right now unless an offer comes along for a clear upgrade at G or 1/2LW who is signed for more than this season.