Evan Bouchard turns 22 today, despite not looking one day over 40. Bouchard made his NHL debut back in 2018 but was unready. Last night, the young man moved up the depth chart smooth as silk, and that may be his spot for years to come. He didn’t win the spot next to Darnell Nurse last night, but he did serve notice.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Jonathan Willis: Success or failure for the Oilers could depend on their Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci tandem
- DNB: Evan Bouchard subscriber Q&A
- Lowetide: First impressions of 2021-22 Oilers — is this strong start sustainable?
- Lowetide: Which Oilers AHL players are most likely to be called up in 2021-22?
- DNB: The Battle of Alberta gets heated
- Lowetide: Evan Bouchard is going to be the Oilers’ secret weapon in 2021-22 — and he’s already showing why
- DNB: How the Oilers’ new-look second line wears down opponents and makes a difference.
- Lowetide: Amazing opening night facts on players, past and present, from Oilers opening night rosters
- DNB: New Oilers forward Zach Hyman may have a higher pay grade, but his style isn’t changing
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers final roster cuts
- Lowetide: How Ken Holland is increasing the Oilers’ talent pool, and why fans are nervous about it
- Lowetide: When will the Edmonton Oilers fully embrace analytics?
- Jonathan Willis: How the 2021-22 Oilers mirror their coach’s best teams from the past
- Lowetide: What might Oilers do if Kailer Yamamoto’s goal scoring slump continues?
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: VCR, CAL, ANA (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
- On the road to: ARI, VEG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: PHI (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: VCR (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 5-2-0, 10 points in seven games
- Actual results: 3-0-0, six points in three games
That was one loose game, it reminded me of the games when Hall-Nuge-Eberle would create all kinds of excitement and the guys Scott Howson found in Columbus would give it all back. Kailer Yamamoto and Tyson Barrie were demoted, Mike Smith got hurt, Dallas Eakins lost. Huh. Maybe it was throwback night. Never question a win. Oilers are on to the desert.
GOALIES
Mike Smith started the game, his third in a row, and stopped 11 of 15, .733. Devin Shore fell on him, and coach Dave Tippett says he tweaked something and is day to day. Expect a Stuart Skinner recall.
Mikko Koskinen came in and won the game, stopping 20 of 21, .952. Unless Ken Holland trades for John Gibson today, Koskinen is your starter until Smith can return. The goalie position is why people who love hockey drink.
DEFENSE
Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci played 16:01, going 9-8 shots and 1-2 goals. On the Shattenkirk goal, Keith once again didn’t have separation from Ceci (both on rh side) and Anaheim gained the blue line easily. Keith and Nuge were drawn to the puck, a sweet pass from Henrique to Zegras, and then it’s two-on-one against Ceci. Fine play by the Ducks. Second Shattenkirk goal was a weird play, the puck seemed to be corralled, but instead bounced to Shattenkirk who scored. Keith had two giveaways and one takeaway, Ceci one giveaway. Against fast, skilled teams like the Ducks this pair is going to be challenged. As it was, on this night, they weren’t close to the biggest problem.
Darnell Nurse-Tyson Barrie played 9:28, going 4-7 shots and 0-2 goals. Barrie wasn’t good and the Ducks were young and fast, so the result was plenty of chaos and two goals against. Nurse had a power-play assist, and at five on five: Two shots, a takeaway and several hits. Barrie had one shot, two blocks and a poor decision on the Nicolas Deslauriers goal (he closed to support Nurse but left the entire right side open) and on the second Sam Steel goal (Barrie seemed to stumble and was beaten wide again). Fans will want to fire Barrie into the sun, but the Oilers need him to fill one of the three RH slots, so maybe hold back the water.
Darnell Nurse-Evan Bouchard went 8:57, 7-3 shots and 1-0 goals. The improvement was as obvious via the eye test too, the top tandem settled in and played a more structured game. Not completely structured but some good clearing attempts in high stress situations and Bouchard’s goal helped. Bouchard scored five on five, had four shots, one goalie addled, several defensemen crying and created rebounds. Two giveaways. Had a power-play assist and two more shots. He was a big part of the win.
Slater Koekkoek-Evan Bouchard played 5:30, going 4-4 shots and 0-1 goals. This pairing was on for the first Steel goal, Koekkoek gave up the blueline, but had support from Nuge and Bouchard. Smith made the first save, but Steel’s shot got under his pad. I wonder if an Anaheim stick tipped it or caused Smith to misjudge. Smith being off balance was a contributor to the goal. Koekkoek had one shot, one block, took three hits.
LINES
Leon Draisaitl-Connor McDavid-Jesse Puljujarvi played 12:58, going 9-6 shots and 2-1 goals. Draisaitl (2-2-4) and McDavid (1-2-3) were magic and Puljujarvi (0-2-2) once again had a massive impact. The big Finn is 2-4-6 after three games, sixth in the NHL in points and third on his team. Get good players, keep good players. JP had three HDSC at even strength. After three games, the line has played 41 minutes five on five, 4-2 goals but 27-31 shots.
Warren Foegele-Derek Ryan-Zack Kassian played 9:49, going 8-2 shots, no goals. The line was exceptional against Anaheim, easily the best third line effort in memory. Kassian scored twice, Foegele had an assist, Ryan skated miles and worked smart. Nuge was the key to the five on five goal, but Foegele worked hard and Kassian drove to the net. Music! Three lines with skill is like Christmas for hockey fans.
Zack Hyman-Nuge-Kailer Yamamoto played 6:52, going 1-7 shots and 0-2 goals. Perlini replaced Yamamoto for a time (KY just two third period shifts). The results with Perlini (2-4 shots in 2:58, no goals) stopped the bleeding, we’ll see what the line looks like on the road. Remember, the coach may split 97 and 29 away from home. That might be what Yamamoto needs. Hyman picked up an assist, but got rocked 0-4 goals at five on five. Nuge had that gorgeous assist, two in total, and was 1-3 at five on five goals. Yamamoto went 0-3 goals, and was benched in the third period (two shifts). He’s in the jailhouse now, he’s in the jailhouse now, Ah di o-dalee eehee hee, Ah di o-dalee eehee hee hooo.
Brendan Perlini-Devin Shore-Kyle Turris played 4:46, going 2-3 shots and no goals. Perlini earned a trip up the depth chart, Shore had a HDSC and Turris had a good look too. Tippett played this group a little more than in the first two games.
ROAD FOOD
One thing to watch for as the team hits the road is a line/pairing shuffle. Dave Tippett has plenty of options either way, but with both Barrie and Yamamoto struggling this is maybe a good time to hit refresh.
Yamamoto’s sins include taking penalties and not scoring, but I think his wild pass to nowhere on the rush that immediately resulted in a jailbreak the other way probably didn’t sit well with the coach. A lot of things needed to happen in order for the Ducks to score after the pass, but taking care of the puck is always in fashion.
Barrie is not a great defender. That’s a fact. He can be a useful player, and it starts with less of a feature role at five on five. Since the day will be filled with new ideas for lines and pairings, here’s mine:
- Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
- Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
- Foegele-Ryan-Kassian
- Perlini-Shore-Turris
- Nurse-Bouchard
- Keith-Ceci
- Russell-Barrie
- Koskinen (Skinner)
I would move Draisaitl back to the No. 2 line and bet on a spark with Yamamoto. The third line works, fourth line looked okay, move Bouchard up to the top pair. Tell me I’m wrong, I know you will!
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we’ll have Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal drop in to talk Oilers-Ducks and the first three games of the season. Would he tweak the lines? Plus Joe Osborne from OddsShark will talk McDavid as Rocket Richard winner and what the hell the 76ers are going to do with Ben Simmons. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
NEW for The Athletic: The Oilers finally have an effective third line. So how should they deploy it?
https://theathletic.com/2898383/2021/10/20/lowetide-the-oilers-finally-have-an-effective-third-line-so-how-should-they-deploy-it/
With more minutes.
Not actually convinced it’s the 3rd line at this point.
Better than having 3 fourth lines.
Oh man so much better
Nice article as per usual LT.
Actually would like to see Yamamoto on the third line. I think he would be a forechecking demon and bring a bit more skill while releasing some of the pressure on him as a top 6 guy. until he gets his game back.
ideally Tippett move Drai to his own line, but i wonder if this would also work
Draisatl-McDavid-Kassian
Hyman-Nuge-Puljujarvi
Foegele-Ryan-Yamamoto
Spread the offense out a bit and give some more push to the 2nd line and more offense on the 3rd line.
Yammers on 3 line jives nicely w LT’s Athletic piece.
3rd line does not appear broke. Not sure we would want to mess with success.
Strongly agree with this.
Shuffle the deck chairs up top, but there’s no need to break up that 3rd line after two games.
It hasn’t been on the road yet, where other coaches can pick on Kassian.
I don’t think they can run Kassian with McDavid and Drai as Kassian simply isn’t good enough defensively.
I think the McDavid and Drai, when playing apart, are better defensive players, however, when they are together, both of their defensive games suffer and Jesse is a major major help in that regard.
I agree. Not keen to have Kass in the top 6. This is where the injury to Holloway really hurts. IF he had continued his trajectory and forced top-9 this fall, the lines could juggle to get KY to L3, where I think he is well-suited in the long run.
If the coach had tried Benson in the top 6 for at least ONE game during camp, there would be some indication of whether that could work out….or not.
In the short-term, it wouldn’t hurt to play KY with Drai or McD and see if he can snap to
Agreed agreed. McDrai line definitely needs a strong two-way player as the third component. Split McDrai and the options multiply, imo. That stacked first line should only be busted out for special use.
I agree, both McDavid and Drai seem to become much inferior 2-way/defensive/200-foot players when they are together – both can be good to great in that respect where apart. Jesse fills a HUGE role with his high end 2-way play.
As far as Holloway’s injury really hurting, my retort would be, maybe, but it seems fairly unlikely that he would be on the NHL roster at this point (give he turned 20 a month ago and, of course, Ken Holland’s general development strategy). 100%, he could have “changed the plan” but it would have to have been one heck of a camp.
I wasn’t going to diss anyone, but then I looked up that lines on ice numbers on the seasons – the trio is giving up 45.5 SA/60, lol.
Anyway, small sample and all that.
Setting that aside though, I was going to question how critical Puljujarvi’s defensive conscience is for McDavid and Draisaitl.
Jesse is a real contributor to the line, no arguing that. And he does seem to be taking additional steps forward in a lot of areas.
But from last seasons numbers Draisaitl-McDavid were better across the board with Yamamoto on RW.
With Puljujarvi 53.0%SF 58.6%GF 51.1%xGF
With Yamamoto 60.6%SF 85.6%GF 62.4%xGF
All the against metrics were better with Yamamoto too (28.1 SA/60 vs 31.9 SA/60, for instance).
I’m not trying to argue that Yamamoto should be in that spot, though I wouldn’t be upset either.
More trying to say that Puljujarvi is a good player who works well there, but he likely isn’t a key to their success (in particular, there’s not much evidence he helps Draisaitl-McDavid defensively).
Thank you for posting those. As I’m sure you know, I’ve been talking about Yamamoto being a huge defensive presence in the top six, essentially since he arrived.
When I speak about Jesse being with McDavid/Drai and his importance in that spot, its predicated on Yamamoto not being a real option there for the coach. Don’t get me wrong, I know all about the 80% plus goal for percentage and believe Kailer should be an option but, given his play, we know Tip isn’t likely to put him there.
From watching Jesse, I think he’s involving in to a 2-way stud. The defensive number may not bear that out but I trust my eye test on this one – I see him in all three zones – and I think we know the issues with defensive metrics for forwards, right?
Yamamoto is good defensively (in sum at least, taking into account his forechecking and play disruption). At the same time, I think his GA numbers overstate it a bit due to the PDO heater the Drai line had last year (and the year before for that matter).
In terms of him getting moved to the top line while struggling, likely not. I was thinking about it more generally.
Yamamoto is/should be a legitimate option there. He’s scored when with them, and the line has been lights out.
You really need to give your hate for all things Kassian a break!
To me, Yamamoto is valuable for his tenacity and his defensive capabilities. But I no longer see him as a top-6 option. He does not have the finish. He has been given enough at-bats. Nuge needs to have bigger wingers with him on both sides.
I don’t see Evan Bouchard listed in the rookie scoring leaders on nhl.com. Is he not eligible for the Calder? Only had a hand full of games played prior to this year, so not sure why he wouldn’t be
Because he played 7 games right after he was drafted and 14 last season he no longer qualifies. Any player playing more than 6 games in any 2 prior seasons is not eligible.
If it was all in one season he could have played up to 25 games and would still be a rookie.
Spec reporting that Mikko will start tomorrow. No surprise there.
Nuge can get the job done but he needs help. Driving puck carriers that attack with finish.
Drai needs less help, but needs it. As long as he isn’t the only guy over 180 with talent no worries.
Connor needs net guys with hands and D.
Is the C staff ever going to balance fit and grinding and watching the shop?
Bourgault has a PPG early in the 3rd to put Shawinigan up 2-1.
Five shots so far.
Stayed 2-1 for the final.
The Bourg was named first star, as his goal allowed Shawinigan to win again.
Re: Tomorrow night’s game in Arizona…
The bad news: The Oilers have allowed the most shots per game so far this year (40.3; though the ‘Yotes are only 26th in SOG/game).
The good news: The Coyotes have allowed the most goals per game so far (5.33; the Oilers are tied for 6th in G/game).
Bottom line: The Oilers ought to give the Desert Dogs a helping hand in the Pain for Shane sweepstakes on the morrow.
Good stuff.
The one thing i would note is that almost all of those allowed goals were let in by Carter Hutton and Karel Vejmelka (a rookie that has started off hot) is slated to start tomorrow.
Not that the hot streak will end vs. the Oilers, but it has to end before long. The guy is 25 and has been a thoroughly mediocre goalie in the Czech league for years. It would be a massive shock if he’s even an average NHL goalie.
– it will be interesting to see if the Oil have learned from the smith injury last year. Recall the ram Koski into the ground Amd didn’t play anyone this reconfirming their belief that Koski was no good
– Smith hasn’t ever been a goalie that has taken a team deep into playoffs. The playbook has been often repeated: “relatively unknown backup / callup inherits starter position and takes team deep.
– Just a few days ago I surmised that not by design rather circumstance, the oiler goalie situation would look different when they go deep.
– Suspect smith out for awhile : time for Koski Skinner to be rotated optimally and suspect if this is the case they flourish. If Koski starts every game they won’t have learned a thing. Hope they rotate not because Koski sucks rather they want to use science and data and coaching to set up for success.
GOILERS
Smith took the Coyotes to the conference finals in 2012
– Yeah: brutal, In 20 years of the league… He’s a great dude, plays hard, just not a goalie on teams that go deep. I’m still ticked he started that 2019 play-in game, despite clearly being far worse by any measure than Koski. All they do is screw Koski.
Koskinen didn’t fare much better in the rest of the games.
Watch out now your goalposts are moving.
Smith has played 15 years in the league. In that time he was a backup on a stars team and a lightning team that made it to the conference finals, and also lead the Coyotes to their first conference finals.
Smith has played exactly in 5 playoffs in the NHL. A handful of games in Tampa, the Coyotes run, Once with the flames where he had an amazing playoff but the flames couldn’t score a goal. Finally two playoffs with Edmonton. The play-in and last year, and I will not accept someone claiming Smith was to blame.
Fun fact. The only playoffs where Smith finished with less than a 912 save percentage was the play-in, where he was pulled during the first game.
Smith has never been the reason his team’s don’t go deep. He played on ridiculously bad coyotes teams, average to mediocre flames teams and average oilers teams up until last year.
To be fair, Smith has played on some very bad teams. He’s played in the post season five times, two of them with the Oil. The one year he played with Calgary they lost in the first round and he was by far their best player. If you exclude the Oil, he’s been to the playoffs three times and played well in at least two of them.
Smith had long stretches of being a top 5 goalie in the league that were unfortunately broken up by injury and then periods of recovering
To OP’s point about Keith / Ceci
Firstly Ceci has been good at D and great at moving the puck. That is what you need, he has covered the bet so far. And he’s big and can skate, when the chips are thrown he can survive playoffs if he keeps that up. Love it.
Keith has seemed to make some mistakes. Hard to say if he’s trying to do too much at this point, as Nurse used to, and settles.
However, for me, he has disrupted so many plays with positioning, his great stick stopping cross seam passes, and turned the puck up ice so quickly so many times, I’m hopeful.
Doing those things are Yuuuge. It’s what makes teams really good. As opposed to getting trapped a lot. I feel Keith has been a big part in the wins.
I would agree with this. What we are seeing from Ceci lines up with what we heard/read from those that cover the Pens.
Aside from some issues with being late to cover the danger guy in front, I think Keith has been quite good and, if he can keep up this level of play, I would posit that, (1) no, of course, 100%, he is not worth his cap hit, however, (2) he is worth the acquisition cost of Jones + 3rd and (3) he is MUCH better than what played 2LD for the team over the course of 56 +4 last season.
Yes he is
I forgot to mention an aspect that Keith brings that has been missing for a long time from the Oilers – payback in play.
His hit on Lewis was Gold.
There is someone watching the team with an agenda. With a definite point in his play. Move the puck, take away all opportunities for the opponent as much as possible, and DO NOT mess with the Oilers.
The league is changing, but it should not be understated. Nurse is not alone anymore. Kassian is old school – has it’s place – but you can’t jump people anymore.
The players on both teams notice.
Guys will do what they do. They will know karma. If it’s not cheap, I love it.
The Smith injury imo is laid directly at the feet of Tippett. He’s got to protect his guy better then that, you’re playing a bottom feeding team(most likely) with their back up in. It’s just terrible mismanagement that’s now holding clasp hands praying Skinner arrives.
Koskinen starts against the Ducks, Smith gets the nod in game 1 of the back to back and yes maybe he blows his entire groin out but at least the damn management could sit there and hold their heads high knowing they followed science and just damn common sense in protecting their stud grandfather keeper.
This isn’t rocket science yet Tipps is continuing to amaze me how he keeps getting in his own damn way with simple maintenance.
Also Nuge is a C/60 score of – 1.9 with a 55.3 defensive zone start. Which if continues is well ahead of his previous years of defensive zone starts, needs a more effective RW. Maybe the coach could spread some line drivers out, coaching like he’s only got Wilders right hand, didn’t even bring the body jab this season.
With respect, I disagree completely.
The injury had absolutely zero to do with Smith not being rested or “not following science” – a player fell on him the wrong way when he was down – shit happens and players get hurt.
This was the 3rd game in a week with zero travel and living at home.
There was no maintenance of fatigue issues.
Sure, if he wasn’t playing he wouldn’t have got hurt but the should we sit McDavid and Drai on certain nights as well?
Even before Tip named Smith the starter I was of the opinion that Smith should start that game. Of course, we aren’t looking to run Smith like last year and the net will be shared more but its also not a pure 50-50 split. Smith comes in as the 1A and Mikko the 1B.
Smith had 2 high end games where he was material to the win and was rested. If Mikko played then (1) with the back to backs, its written in pen that Mikko is playing two of the next three (which is not good with Smith playing well) and (2), with the four full days off, Smith has 1 start in like 12 days which is also not good.
Shore fell on Smith – that caused, what looks like, a minor injury.
1. Kind of the perfect outcome with respect to lines. Three wins but the first line has been meh at evens and the second line has failed miserably in tough minutes. I expect you either see the big dogs split up it’s time to acknowledge that 97 has demanded he play with 29.
2. Bouchard moving to first pair is fine but we need to remember that Nurses #1 skill is his conditioning. He is literally tireless. Bouchard can probably play a 1Rd/3RD swing position and 1PK but he shouldn’t play much PP and needs his minutes watched.
1) Generally agree. The question on line 2 that we might find out the answer to is if Tippett thinks the issue is/has been Yamamoto or the trio as a group. I have long speculated that McDavid has a strong desire to have either Nuge or Drai on his line (which is why we very rarely saw the Nuge/Drai/Yamamoto line reunited) – speculation for sure though.
2) This is a good point – they play PK1 together ad PP2 together so, aside from some rare 5 on 3 minutes, etc., this would set Bouch up for massive minutes. Apparently he is also one of the best-conditioned on the team but that would definitely be alot to ask from him.
I think we’ll see quite a bit of what we saw law game (and on the season) with Nurse/Barrie starting together and Bouch getting moved up for more defensive situations and, if/when Barrie is really off or Bouch is really feeling it, a full in-game switch like last night.
Agree Bouch can’t be playing 27 minutes a night at this point, but it sounds like he was major minute muncher in junior. He does seem like a guy that’s used to it and will be able to handle it at some point.
I’m not sure if it was noted but Carter Savoie was named NCHC player of the week. 7 points in 2 games tends to do that.
It’s official, Smith to IR and Skinner recalled.
As I posted earlier, I am not concerned with a fairly short term injury to Smith and this could be seen as a good thing for the future, to get a look at Skinner in a game or two.
Mikko is clearly rested but I presume that Skinner play tomorrow or Friday and I’m stoked to see him on the net. He was VERY food on Saturday in his 34 save shutout – very few rebounds and was square to everything – looked very comfortable.
Im equally as excited for Konovalov to get a couple starts this weekend.
Go goalies of the not too distant future!
He was great in the preseason — that game in Seattle was incredible. Seems that he’s on a heater right now. I’d give him the game in Vegas; Mikko against the Coyotes.
Aghhh, the game against Seattle that only Tier-Telus Oiler fans got to watch…..
Yes, I’m still bitter at that.
———–
Yes, I’d go Mikko tomorrow (as scheduled) and Skinner on Friday.
I was going to say that Skinner will need to travel today/tomorrow to meet the team but, ultimately, he’s got a shorter trip to the dessert than the rest.
Friday is “scheduled loss night” – 2nd game of back to back with road travel and the 3rd in 4th. At the same time, that’s not why I play Skinner, I have NOT conceded those points, just that the plan was, and should remain, the play Mikko Thursday.
I will be none too happy if Tip plays Mikko both games, even if he’s sensational tomorrow.
I’d go with Skinner against Phoenix.
Let’s be real. The Oilers should be able to best the Yotes with the Zamboni driver in net.
Playing Skinner against them puts him in the best position to succeed.
Koskinen is all grown up. He can tackle the tougher matchup.
Just like Skinner v. Ottawa last year.
Honestly though, if I was coach I’d probably run Koskinen both nights since he’s well rested and there’s a full 4 days off before next Wednesday’s game vs the Flyers.
I really don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t give Skinner one of these two games.
I was thinking (incorrectly) there were 2 days off before the B2B, 3 in 4 (2.5 in 4) does sound worse.
I agree with most of what you’re saying, but I guess my comment was as much about how tempting it would be to run Koskinen both games (given how well rested he is, and that there is tons or recovery time after). Not that it would be the right choice.
For me it would also depend some on how long Smith will be out (the team would likely have some more insight than us). If it’s likely to be a bit longer then they do need to get Skinner in the rotation. If it’s only a week or two then I’d have no issue giving Koskinen these starts and a couple more.
I don’t doubt that Tip will be tempted, in particular if Mikko plays well tomorrow night. With that said, even though Mikko should be coming in relatively rested (he did play last night), it still is back to back with travel and, IIRC, he has a horrid record playing both ends and I’ve got to imagine Tip knows all about that.
Also, the org knows they need to find out more about Skinner and his NHL timeline – the have the easiest of opportunities falling in their lap – in particular given the team has banked six points in 3 games.
He’s only played on one B2B situation in each of the previous 2 seasons (and in 19-20 it was a relief appearance). He played in 5 during the 18-19 season (also one in relief).
I don’t have the stats for the 1st game of those games, but game 2 last season was a win where he stopped 38 of 40 shots. The relief appearance the previous year he stopped 8 of 8. He was 1-4 in the 5 appearances in 18-19, though that was before Tippett was coach.
Yeah, this has been talked about here with various players. Not sure the organization has ever demonstrated they share this view.
Beyond all that, I’d be hesitant to throw Skinner in to face Vegas on ‘guaranteed loss night’ in his 2nd NHL start.
Smith to IR is as comforting as a wet fart at a bran & triple blackstrap molasses muffin buffet.
You don’t think Koskinen and Skinner can handle 2, 3 or 4 weeks of the net? This is potentially only a week which would mean, literally, two games.
I think Mikko/Skinner will be just fine and it will provide legit info on both Skinner and Konovalov!
It forces the organization to see what they have for goal tending backup a little sooner than they would have liked but could be, a so called, blessing in disguise!
At Smith’s age, I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn into a lingering problem. I hope Koskinen and young Skinner can do the job, it’s about all one can do.
Google Translate tells me the Finnish word for bison is “Puhveli”. (OK, so it’s actually the word for buffalo. As a wise man once said, close enough for jazz.)
Actually, Translate suggests “biisoni” and “piisoni” for bison, but “puhveli” is cooler and thus what I’m going with.
Nice Puhveli. Kind Puhveli.
well, well, LT may have finally found his next ‘piisoni’
Knock knock Stuart Skinner…….
Let’s hope that Tip actually plays the kid. Last coach who had any semblance of a plan with our goalies was Renny in 2011-13 when he developed Dubnyk in tandem with Khabibulin to good success. Eakins, MacT and Tip have all been very weak and manage goalies like the next game is their last behind the bench. This has to change.
Please god, please please please, let Skinner rock it.
Ancient history, but Renny never did get a fair shake.
Looking back on last night, that was indeed a wild game. Speaking of which it looks like the Wild and Jets also had a bit of a barn burner too. A very un-Hellebuyck like scoreline.
Back to Oilers. As many have said today Bouchard looked excellent, I still think that going into the run of road games we’ll see Nurse and Barrie as the top pair. It’s kind of like what SwedishPoster said earlier about Yamo, Barrie is only at stage one of the coach playbook. He was demoted for a bit in the Ducks game. It’ll take a little bit longer for him to be forced down to the 3rd pair, granted I think it’ll happen. I think I’d guesstimated by American Thanksgiving before the season starts so we’ll see.
Top line wise I’m hoping we split McDavid and Draisatl up again, I’d love to see Hyman go up top with McDavid and the return of the DRY line. If Yamamoto doesn’t start firing then, then I guess it’s down to the 3rd line with him and up goes Kassian – who much to my surprise is looking engaged so far this season.
Smith being out is problematic, however Koskinen has looked steady in preseason and last night in relief. Then I guess now is as good as any time to find out about Skinner, a baptism of fire in Vegas might be asking a bit much, but if we can keep it tight he can come out on top. Far stranger things have happened.
Last thing on the 6-5, if we get to the end of the season and have 50 wins. No one is going to look back and say – oh, but we were so close to losing that one against the Ducks near the start of the year! At this stage, a win is a win. Obviously take it as a lesson in the kinks that need to be ironed out, but still, Go Oilers.
Great write up LT (particularly “The goalie position is why people who love hockey drink”.)
Third line was terrific; I normally wait until game 10 before saying too much but Evan Bouchard just looks a stud; great to have Jack Michaels commenting again but, man, you are exhausted at the end; and MacT was a great interview. Love the guy.
Courtesy of Gregor:
Cody Ceci and Duncan Keith have been a solid second pair.
Ceci’s has a 54.5SF%, 52.6SCF%, 58.69xGF% and most importantly a 60GF%. Keith has a 50SF%, 58.8SCF%, 63.4xGF% and 60GF%. Edmonton needed a solid second pair, and early on they’ve been exactly that.
https://oilersnation.com/2021/10/20/winning-ugly-better-than-losing-for-edmonton-oilers/
Given the number of shots against the Oilers, at a team, have allowed, these numbers jump out at me as quite impressive, no?
Yes, very fair.
If Bouchard can successfully move up on the 1st pairing, we should be
looking okay on D.
By midpoint in the season the D could be, as an overall group,one of the best in the league. We will have Samorukov, Berglund and possibly a couple other young mobile D pushing fro the AHL.
It’s blatantly obvious now that McDavid has upset the hockey gods (read: NHL officials) with his transcendent skill being an affront to the natural order. He will get no help from the refs for the level of interference and down right dirty, dangerous play he receives. Seems it must unfortunately be dealt with in-house. It’s a disgrace it has to come to that imo – I thought we’d move past the days of Gretzky needing McSorley (with due respect).
The NHL is so mind-bogglingly against protecting its stars. There’s something to be said about the league’s everyman energy but when manifests like this it’s very amateur. The sport was robbed of some of the very best of Crosby – how much is too much to lose of McDavid?
I wonder if declining attendance will spur a directive to start protecting the stars. I couldn’t believe how many empty seats there were last night.
It’s going to take time to win fans back, Calgary was 3000 short on their home opener too. People have found new interests and pastimes during the pandemic. Especially because the social side of hockey is really the part that people enjoy the most, gathering at homes for meals and Saturday night hockey, meeting buds at a bar for the game, going to the game.
Until all of that is back too, I think hockey won’t be as big of a draw.
You’d hope so. If the NBA has taught the other American leagues anything it’s that you market your game through your stars. You start losing game time of those stars to avoidable injuries, or the true potential of those stars is mired in the excessive penalties they attract (but do not draw), then yeah I think the owners will start to see the $$$$ impact through a reduction of market share and audience churn.
In regards to empty seats – Don’t forget about the economy and the job losses during COVID. A number of regular season seat folks no longer can afford to be that anymore. Potentially new economics are in play.
And ongoing implications of Covid possibly keeping people away. Some still not wanting to risk being in a crowd, and others not being allowed to attend because they haven’t been/won’t get vaccinated and maybe not willing to get a negative test.
This is what’s going on above all + not many fans are actually travelling to away games yet.
All interesting points. I agree the most likely cause is Covid risk related. Makes me think that patrons are converting the risk of Covid into a price and if the total ticket cost is greater than demand price of ticket + risk price than people aren’t going. Should see how things trend through the season.
The Bell Centre was only half full.
The Edmonton sports media can start by releasing film parts of transgressions against McDavid to their Eastern media outlets in their hi-light packages!
Tip will probably stick with KY for a little longer, hopefully KY can find his mojo. If struggles continue, I vote to try Foegele in the top 6 and move Hyman to RW. I know we just got a working third line and Foegele is a big part but it doesn’t count if the second line is broken.
Here is one possible iteration, not fixed on Drai and Nuge.
Draisaitl McDavid Puljujarvi
Foegele Nuge Hyman
Perlini Ryan Yamamoto
Benson Shore Kassian
We need to split up McDavid and Draisaitl. We also need to leave the third line alone and let then continue to be our best third line in many years. Yamamoto can be the 2nd line RW for October and we can then assess his performance. Holland might consider a trade in November if Yams continues to struggle. Remember that the time is now.
Jeremias Lindewall showing some life for the first time this season really with a nice primary assist in allsvenskan tonight, can’t find a clip but he made the majority of the work to set up an easy goal for his teammate.
So far it’s been a quiet season for him, he had a pretty strong finish to the preseason but once the real games started he ended up the 13th forward for the men’s team with miniscule toi mixed with being a key player for the U20 team where he’s a very good player but as an NHL prospect he certainly should be. I’d like to see him start pushing for proper ice time with the men’s as the season progress to feel he’s still somewhat on track as a prospect. The last few games he’s moved up to the 4th line due to injuries but not really showing a lot until tonight where he had the assist and some nice plays. It’s a start at least. Overall though a fairly disappointing start to the season for him but loads of road ahead.
Draisaitl– McDavid – Puljujarvi
Benson – Nuge – Hyman
Foegele – Ryan – Yamamoto
Perlini – Shaw – Kasstration
Isn’t that where we are meant to be?
Shore for Shaw is just the kind of crazy shakeup move this team needs!
Neither are a sure thing!
My (amateur) theory is that the outcome of any given game is determined by 1) skill 2) effort & execution, and 3) luck.
It is a given that the Oilers have more skill than Anaheim. They were also IMO the luckier team last night (e.g.getting the vast majority of power plays, Anaheim pulling their goalie too early in retrospect, Bouchard’s goal, Connor saving Koskinen’s bacon when he went walkabout).
Point being is that the Oilers shouldn’t be depending on luck to beat Anaheim.
But I’m not complaining about the two points.
A team is not necessarily ‘luckier’ when they have more power plays. It is usually the result of one team having more of the 3 S’s (skill/speed/size), forcing the other team to hook, hold etc.
LTs quote about baseball teams winning and losing 60 games for sure each year but it’s what they do with the other 42 that define them as a team rings true here.
Oilers have won two or three of the coin flips so far, that bodes well for this team if they finally have found a way to get something out of these games.
In theory, I agree with you completely that a team with more power plays isn’t necessarily luckier. In practice however, in today’s NHL with referees’ penchant for “even-up’ calls, a team would be lucky to get 6 out of 7 power play opportunities even if they were all deserved.
“Evan Bouchard turns 22 today, despite not looking one day over 40”.
Effing brilliant!
Tom Gazzola
@TomGazzola
·
3m
Hearing Mike Smith could be out for at least a week and is expected to be placed on IR.
——-
As I posted earlier, I’m not concerned if he’s out for 2-3 weeks (or so) as Mikko can run with the starters net and Skinner is ready for a shot as a real back-up.
I presume its Mikko on Thursday in Arizona and Skinner on Friday in Vegas (which is “scheduled loss day” but I’m not conceding).
Another plus: we’ll see Konovalov Friday/Saturday for the Condors (presumably).
Everyone Wins!
Well, that didn’t take long at all…
Canucks lose 5 – 2 to Buffallo
Kings lose 2 – 1 to Nashville
Avs lose 6 – 3 to Washington
Oilers win 6 – 5 over Anaheim.
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if one really annoying voice suddenly cried out in terror and was suddenly silenced. I fear something great has happened”
Speaking as a Star Wars aficionado.
“Always two there are, no more, no less”.
With the return of Verdad yesterday the Dark Side’s hand was revealed in all it’s disgruntled glory.
As a side note I think by naming someone there I was put into comment purgatory for a bit.
Yes. Posts are still held back, but several recently have met the requirements of the blog and been published.
“suddenly silenced”…. wouldn’t that be nice for a while.
Kings got Danault so they could unleash Kopitar.
As a result, only Kopitar is producing. Funny how that works. Guess LA won’t be winning very many games if Kopitar can’t outscore the entire opposition’s team.
So that means ‘two way’ centres that make 5M plus and don’t score much 5v5 put a drag on the top 6 production?
Is this a bad thing?? What about as 3C?
Oh oh.
I’m pretty sure you’re aware that scoring more goals than you allow is a pretty good roadmap for winning hockey games.
The Kings are averaging 3.00 and giving up 2.33.
They obviously don’t have the luxury of a PP that is running above 40%.
That is good. That two players have dominated the scoring may perhaps prove to be an issue – right?
In the long run?
The Kings currently have 6 players scoring at .67 points/game.
At the same time, they aren’t giving up an average of more than 40 shots/game.
The Oilers are 3-0.
The Kings are 1-2.
It seems goals scored and given up is more important that shots for and against.
6 players with .67 points/game which has them sitting in the bottom half of the league in goals scored. Considering Kopitar was involved in 8/9 of their goals, my point still stands.
It’s definitely hard for trolly whatsaboutism when the rest of division sucks so bad
Only 3 games in, 3 wins so no need to panic. BUT, the resistance to reunite the DRY line and leave reunited for more than 3 shifts is mystifying. Hyman was McD godsend, we saw that for what, 1 exhibition game? Tippett gets his depth and save for the 3rd line, the Oilers are back to where they left off last season. After Vegas game, we’ll see how balanced the Oilers are.
it’s ALWAYS been mystifyingly mysterious.
Hyman McD JP
RNH Drai xxx
Foegle Ryan Kass
Perlini Shore Yamo
Yamo has never been forced to earn his top 6 slot. Time to start. At the end of the day I think he gets traded or settles into a bottom 6 role. Willing to give Perlini some rope and hope Holloway heals up soon. He is exactly the kind of player we need to fill out the top 6.
Time to activate Benson on Thursday, and give Perlini a wake up call that you have to show up for a game after you make the team, he has been invisible since opening night.
The problem is… who plays for xxx?
Benson? Mcleod? Marody? Turris? None of them exactly inspire confidence as a 2RW to me. Unfortunately, we are kinda stuck with Yamamoto as 2RW unless there is a major shuffle in the lineup that sees either a LW shift, Kassian moving up or somebody coming out of nowhere.
I would also say that Holloway is most likely left in the AHL for the year. Its possible he pulls a Draisatl and forces the issue, but a player coming off two wrist surgeries and still very young could do with the 3 or 4 months he’ll get to build his confidence back up, get a true offseason of training and come in strong for next year when we’ll need value contracts. Better to over-ripen and make sure he’s coming in strong than to give him too much too fast, especially when its not clear to me he’s a better option in his natural LW or C than any of our current top 9 options.
I don’t think xxx is on the roster. Might be Holloway eventually but I don’t think it’s going to be Yamamoto. The kid is a gamer but teams have figured him out and he needs to adapt and improve if he wants to be a top 6 forward. Even then I think he gets obliterated and neutralized in the playoffs at his size. Plus you can’t run both RNH and Yamo on L2 and leave all the physical game to Drai.
1A: RNH – Draisaitl – Kind Bison
1B: Hyman – McDavid – Yamamoto
I don’t like the idea of putting Kassian or Perlini on the top line to face the very best forwards in the very best league.
This first line should be a handful for anyone. Then there’s the luxury of McDavid on the “second” line with serious forecheckers who can set up his newly-unveiled “fluffy” one-timer.
I like the theory of switching Jesse and Yamo, but I believe McDavid isn’t always easy to play with, and if Puljujarvi has learned what he needs to do, I’d prefer to keep him with 97 and bring up Hyman – Hyman is the guy we hoped to get with Looch and I wish they’d let him bang for McDavid.
If Nuge-Drai-Yamo fails to produce, and it could very well be that they were a flash in the pan and won’t ever dominate again, then I’d look again at your lines.
Just wanted to note how impressed I’ve been with Puljujarvi’s start to the year. He’s consistently looked like his best self and the player we thought we’d be getting in 2016, except perhaps with even more strength. He was always heralded as a 2 way winger – if he keeps up his offense and using his strength, the selection could even be better than imagined. Definitely never thought I’d say that anytime after about fall 2016.
I’m also impressed with how good Bouchard has looked in the defensive zone and am borderline shocked at how many PK minutes he’s had already. He’s had more shaky moments than JP so far, but if he brings his A game consistently and can serve as a competent complementary top pair defenseman this year, that’s obviously huge.
And hell, I’ll throw Kassian some love too for his past couple games.
Bouchard is for real and Barrie should be playing on the third-pairing from here on in. The Oilers should apply the Bouchard model of development to Broberg and create another very good young defensemen. Develop the prospects you draft properly. That is the lesson.
I don’t think its that easy or cut and dry.
Firstly, Bouch was my 1st start last night and his overall game is developing before our eyes (as we knew it would with his size and smarts) but he’s already playing PP1 and I’d caution against too much/too soon.
Different player but the issue with Justin Schultz was him being moved to 1RD so early……
I think there will be a “hybrid model” – Bouch may get some starts with Nurse but I do think it will generally be Barrie and Tip/Playfair will see how the guys are playing and what the team needs. There will be many games where they do what they did last night.
Lastly, there is the issue of who Barrie plays with when he is struggling – if Bouch is moved up, then Barrie doesn’t have Nurse to “shine him” and cover for him.
Barrie is in the process of becoming redundant. There are better and steadier options quickly developing in the AHL. But Barrie will likely hang around for most of this season, if he stays healthy. The question is do we really want him on defense in the playoffs, when reliability and feistiness become the name of the game.
May I ask who the options in the AHL are? They have:
Berglund
Kemp
Kesselring
Something something Perlini 1st line, something something Yamo 4rth line
Ducks looked legit yesterday but the Oilers D will probably make more than half the teams in this league look that way. Zegras is good but nasty AF. They need to show him his place in the next game. Take the number, never forget. That hit on McPrecious at the end of the game was vicious. The spear on Poolparty should already have had you wondering how much of a POS he is. I want blood.
Just like to echo others in crediting OP with the good job on the Cult of Hockey podcast.
Great job by the veteran Bruce M as well- especially for his crafty seat selection
to ensure he witnessed all the Oilers goals up close.
Just a wily veteran move.
Thank you kindly.
If an Oilers fans can’t “show well” talking about the Oilers with Bruce McCurdy, well……
Eric Engels (@EricEngels) Tweeted:
Joel Edmundson will be away from the Canadiens for an indeterminate amount of time. Bergevin said he was extremely shook up by his father not doing well in his battle with lung cancer. “I gave him a hug,” he said, adding he told Edmundson “family comes first.”
https://twitter.com/EricEngels/status/1450875104154501122?s=20
Holland and Tippett unlocked “The Bison King”
Just need to find Yamamoto a spirit animal.
Any suggestions?
Honey Badger?
You a Rugby fan?
Killer hummingbird.
Kailer Bunny? (pronounced killer bunny)
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftenor.com%2Fsearch%2Fmonty-python-bunny-gifs&psig=AOvVaw0h9Rdc-i6rDZkaubwLpWod&ust=1634837667966000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCLCxxobD2fMCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ
also had this thought 🙂
He’s a feisty mongoose
I’d like to see Kass moved up with Hyman & Nuge , Yamamoto can slide down with his Dad & Foegele . Since they are taking their show on the road replace Barrie with Rusty , place Bouchard with Nurse . Rusty & Koekoek shut down pair to go along with Keith & Ceci & Nurse & Bouch . Let Kosky get some shutouts while Smiddy gets some rest .
Puj is killing it on the 200 ft game.
Kassian does not.
Hyman McDavid puj
Rnh drai yam
Leave 3rd line as is.
That would be my first tinker
The way LT tends to set up his headers had the effect of today’s post dumping When the Bullet Hits the Bone into my brain…
An enjoyable team, Jesse is a pleasure to watch.
The team continues to lose the 5v5 battle, I don’t know if this is Tippett or the team, but agreed with all below, it’s never too early to tighten things up.
Yamamoto on a “show me” contract and he certainly is doing that.
If all goes well, today could mark the end of the GoDaddy era.
I hope we move to GoMommy’s house. GoDaddy is such a jerk.
I’ve never had any joy with them.
Good luck today. Get them DNSes pointed at a fresh home.
GoneDaddy
Very wonky game but I think it showed us (or for some of us) cemented what we’ve been thinking for awhile. Though I’d like to preface things by saying that it’s such a small sample size things should be taken with a grain of salt. If the team continues to play like that they are going to get shelled at some point by several teams.
Anyhoo…
Bouchard is the real deal and it’s impressive how he read certain plays last night. Fluke goal aside, he seemed to be active on both the offensive and defensive side of the plays. Really poised.
Barrie is insurance for the right side at this point. Everyone knew he sucked defensively, so nothing that transpired last night should be a surprise.
Foegele is tenacious. IMO, he’s the type of guy who gets you that game winner in OT in game 6 of a playoff series.
No criticism with your proposed lines, LT.
Yamo’s passes to nobody didn’t just show up last night. He had a couple against Vancouver that I recall which, fortunately, didn’t burn us but I have to think that it was noticed by Tipp.
I know he signed before camp but he has seemed out of synch for a while now.
Hope the Dri-Nu-Mite line explodes in Arizona and Yamo is back to his old self. Will do him a world of good and the team around him.
Curious if you prefer Russell with Barrie or Koekkoek? Do the numbers give us any guidance?
Koekkoek/Barrie were AWFUL last night – of course, it was a sample size of 2:36 but the only thing worse than their Coris and Shot numbers were how they actually looked to the eye in that short time.
Yamo has been underwhelming for some time now
I’d like to see McD and Drais split up. Drais needs to run a line for a while and stop being so loose with the puck. He tends to show more responsibility when away from McD.
Keep Perlini in the top 6 for a few games
Both of McDavid and Drai seem to become worse 2-way/defensive/200-foot players when together – its a reason why Jesse is so key to that line right now.
I like the Zegras kid a lot and his silky hands are going to light up the league in a few years – but I didn’t really appreciate his hit on McDavid at the very end of the game.
Hoping someone can have a polite chat with him next game on etiquette surrounding
hitting McDavid along the boards.
Don’t forget the Poolparty spear too.
Yes, good point.
If by someone, you mean Kassian, and by polite chat you mean ragdoll, then we are in complete agreement. AA is right – if someone is going to be a little shit then its important to dispose of them so they don’t make a mess.
Well… I think your lines are what we will see and are sound choices. I do wonder a bit about the possibility of these forward lines though:
Perlini-McDavid- Hyman
Nuge-Drai-Bison King
Our amazing new 3rd line
Turris-Shore-Yamamoto
Might give Yamamoto some time to reset a bit and give Perlini a shot with McD?
Loves me some Bison King!
Hope the moniker sticks.
The GM needs to be looking very closely at Berglund as a possible 3RD later this year and move Barrie for whatever he can get when Berglund is ready. Barrie is defensive liability. He has had YEARS to learn how to play basic defense, and people can oogle over his points, but he is a net detriment to this team and is redundant in his offensive role with Bouchard. Bouchard will have some ups and downs, but moving Barrie is inevitable at some point this year.
I’ve had this thought. A pedestrian but reliable Berglund could be an improvement on the dynamic but unpredictable Barrie. I think Bergland has it in him but only one way to know.
We will have a better idea on Bergland after half a season in the AHL. He has good size and plays a Defence first style. There will be a couple D looking to graduate from the AHL in the next year including Samorukov if last year in Russia was any indication.
I hear what you’re saying but don’t see it happening.
Doesn’t seem like Hollands m/o to sign a guy for 3 years and trade him in 3 months.
And trading him may not be as easy as some posters are suggesting. If he doesn’t start playing better his contract may have negative value, if it doesn’t already.
Leading the dmen in points only gets you so far. If that’s the only thing GMs place value on, Barrie would have gotten a much bigger, and longer, contract than he did last summer.
I know. Wishful thinking on my part. I think Barrie was Bouch insurance also in the chaos of the Larsson departure. I know it is still early and there will be much more water under the bridge before any moves are made, but it is inevitable. I would just like to get it over with sooner, than later 😉
What do you mean when you say Barrie is a net detriment to the team? He was +.5 GF/60 and GA/60 at even strength last year. That was a pretty decent number for this team. I’m not arguing that he doesn’t have defensive issues, but I think his offence generally outweighs his bad defence.
Riding with McDavid will do that for a player.
What about the rest of his career?
Move a player after three bad games for peanuts, then complain when he comes back later and blows you up.
The Oiler way.
HAHAHA you think Barrie would come back and blow the Oilers up.
That is funny.
It isn’t 3 bad games, it is a career. This is Barrie. This is what he was like in Colorado. This is what he was like in Toronto. This is what he will be like when he is moved somewhere else someday.
Exactly.
The whole league knows what Barrie is by now. He’s a useful player in a 2nd or 3rd pairing role with some powerplay time. He’s not a guy you want playing top pairing minutes against the other teams best players.
Whats that player worth to other GMs? I didn’t see other teams falling over each other trying to sign him this summer.
And yet some people think he’s easy to trade because he puts up points.
Responding to the general comments in the thread, not necessarily for the post clicked on.
To call Barrie a net detriment to the team is a bit exaggerated and catastrophic in my opinion. His GF% over the years doesn’t seem to jive with that, even when taking in to consideration that he is deployed with top 6 players (he is also deployed against top 6 players). He has been AWFUL through three games this season, no doubt about that. I believe there is a larger sample size to the player we can look at.
The Oilers are going to need Berglund (or another D-man to play the right side) this year even without moving Barrie. I don’t imagine each of Barrie, Ceci and Bouchard are going to be healthy for 82 games.
“Hockey Trades” are fairly uncommon during the regular season and I can’t imagine Holland moving Barrie without immediate help to the roster coming back. His contract is VERY reasonable and has no trade protection. Tyson Barrie will recover from this bad start, as he did last year, and his contract will very likely NOT have negative value.
Holland has already talked about adding to the team come the deadline (if they are in a good spot) and we know Holland’s history is of acquiring defensive depth. I can’t imagine he trades a way a legitimate NHL d-man with high end offensive production pedigree.
No team on the NHL will make it to the SCF with Tyson Barrie on their roster. I am most certain about that. The sooner he moves on from here, the better for the oilers
Again, I hear what you’re saying but, ……….. didn’t Tampa win a cup with Shattenkirk?
I would put Shattenkirk and Barrie in the same player grouping. 3rd pairing, 2PP guys.
Shattenkirk with Tampa in the playoffs in 19/20 played more even strength time on ice per game than any other right defender on the team and he split time almost equally with Hedman and Sergachev. Conversely, Hedman’s most frequent right partner 5 on5 was Shattenkirk. Tampa did switch more to Bogosian being Hedman’s partner in 3rd periods where Tampa had the lead. Shattenkirk was not a 3rd pair defenseman. His Tampa playoff deployment and Barrie’s deployment last season were similar. Lots of minutes early in games, or when tied or trailing, no pk time and less deployment late in games holding a lead. Oddly enough, Shattenkirk was 3rd on Tampa in PP minutes per game with Hedman and Sergachev getting the lion’s share of those minutes. Shattenkirk quarterbacked the second unit, which get used more than the Oilers’ second unit currently does.
J Schultz?
During his days in Pittsburgh, Schultz was a better defender than most Edmonton fans want to admit. Yes he was playing with good players, but over his first 4 full seasons there he had a 58% goal share (53% expected GF for those that care about this) 5 on 5 with a goals against per 60 of just barely above 2 which is very respectable. Neither Barrie nor Schultz is a penalty killer, but at 5 on 5, Barrie is more creative offensively while Schultz is more responsible in his own end and got shifts in the last 3-4 minutes of close games even in the playoffs (to give Dumolin and Daley some rest). Since he got the 10 votes for Norris (not just points so 10 different voters had him in the top 5) in 2017, he has been injured 20+ games most season and 10 last year. That combined with playing behind Letang in Pittsburgh and then Carlson in Washington, he never really had the chance to repeat that level of performance. He still had a 60% goal share in Washington last season with a GA/60 of 2.2. Very solid performance. And his time on ice and deployment are as a 2nd pairing defender most of the time, not 3rd.
Looking at Puck IQ and elite competition, Schultz has played significant minutes against elites (2016-17, 2017-18), posting good numbers in 2016-17. He hasn’t been a strong option against elites since, and aside from 2014-15 with Edmonton, he wasn’t a difference maker before arriving in Pittsburgh.
http://www.puckiq.com/players/8474602?player=8474602&season=all&tier=Elite&group_by=player_season_team
Schultz most common deployment in Washington was to play with Backstrom and Ovechkin. Play offensively capable D with offensively capable forwards. Washington wasn’t keeping him away from elites. Most of his career in Pittsburgh he played a lot with Crosby and Malkin. I was not commenting on his play in Edmonton, where his development was badly handled.
And in your link, it is interesting that in 6 of Schultz 8 seasons he had a positive goal share against elites and a few well above. His last season in Pittsburgh he was 1 below even so almost a saw off and his second season in Edmonton was bad. Results matter.
Sure. Results with very good teams are more likely to be positive, though.
In 14/15 with the Oilers he was 21gf 17 ga against elites for a goal share of 55% and that team was pretty bad. Pittsburgh would tell you for most of his tenure there, he was a contributor to their success.
I thought Schultz played well in Pittsburgh most of the time. He also had a nice run when getting a push playing with Klefbom, they would get offensive zone starts. My favourite Schultz play was his drive from the blueline to the net. If the forward could get him to puck and the perfect moment, the play was not defendable.
I’m not sure how one can be so certain of that but I am clear in your position.
Holland needs to start planning now where he gets the money for JP…he could legit finish top 25 in points this season.
Quality handle
By moving Barrie for a bag of pucks
I prefer my bulk puck purchases in buckets, but to each his own I guess.
Exactly
What an ordeal signing up again after i couldnt recover my old password.
I don’t for the life of me know why WordPress insists on such a complex password for a blog login, but after having been through that process before I just saved the password on a note on my laptop. And then into my browser on my devices so I don’t have to deal with that until I change device at some point down the road.
My tablet had all my passwords saved….dunno what happened there. It was only wordpress i lost.
That happened to me too. I’ve been on the blog so long my recovery password was clearly stale. So after about a decade Yeti is now retired in a cave in the Himalayas.
Goat Sucker is a quality replacement handle.
I had to go 2.0. And my original tag “spOILer” was lost the same way. Actually on my 3rd handle solely because of the WP gods.
Those missing database connections will be the e-death of us all!
I saw really effective zone entries by the Ducks, 3 forwards attacking the blue line, with an area pass to whoever was driving the middle. It caused all kinds of trouble in the first period. I suspect the entire team made adjustments, to take away that middle a bit better. Barrie, either by (brain-fart) accident or (old-age) necessity, over-committed (at least) twice in doing so. The Ducks adjusted to this adjustment, putting pucks wide when the opportunities presented themselves.
Not sure the best way to defend that, should F3 take the puck carrier (typical NHL back-pressure), the middle player or the wide player? I always taught younger forwards to pick up the closest-to-them player. I’d ask them if they could count to 3 (not all forwards can) – do that on the back-check, take the #3 player, and STAY with them.
I like your lines but think Tippett will either sit Yamo or demote to 4th line. Not only did he fire that puck around the boards when he his linemates were deep, he coasted a bit on the backcheck when he may have been able to get to the eventual goal scorer. Tippett will hate that I expect. JP is fantastic out there.