Discovery

by Lowetide
Tyler Benson photo by Mark Williams

Tyler Benson had two shots, drew a penalty and had a scoring chance last night in Buffalo, also sent a screamer of a pass for Colton Sceviour that he veteran couldn’t catch up to on a night when Edmonton was a goal behind at the final whistle.

Benson, along with Stuart Skinner (another solid game) and Ryan McLeod are young players pushing for the NHL. They are vital to Edmonton’s future, because the pipeline needs useful and inexpensive players always. Can any of these three men occupy a prominent roster spot? First they have to find their way as NHL regulars, and that’s this season.

THE ATHLETIC!

WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER

  • At home to: SEA, NAS, NYR (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
  • On the road to: DET, BOS, BUF, STL, WPG (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 1-2-0)
  • At home to: WPG, CHI (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • On the road to: DAL, ARI, VEG (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • Overall expected result: 8-5-0, 16 points in 13 games
  • Actual November results: 4-2-0, eight points in six games
  • Oilers in 2021-22: 10-3-0, 20 points in 13 games

The Oilers have lost two of three on the trip, and that’s not ideal. The final home game against the Rangers had some bad habits and the losing on the road followed. We haven’t seen the return of good habits, so the inconsistency is likely to continue. I have Edmonton with half of their expected points for the month already in the bank, so there’s a little room here for some wobble. I see the Chicago, Dallas and Arizona games as prime opportunities for victories in the coming two weeks. I don’t see St. Louis or Winnipeg on the road as being great chances for a struggling team, but a tighter defensive effort at five on five would be welcome.

GOALTENDER

Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 23, .870 on the night and all three GA were high danger. He has a .902 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA. I think we can call him Laurent Brossoit 2.0 at this point and upgrade if necessary. If Edmonton brought in John Gibson next season as the starter, could Skinner fill the backup role?

DEFENSE

Darnell Nurse-Evan Bouchard played 18:03, going 12-9 shots and 0-1 goals. The GA was Cozens second goal of the game, Nurse lost possession deep in the Buffalo zone, McDavid was re-entering the zone and Draisaitl (who was covering for Nurse) got caught flat-footed. So it was jailbreak, Skinner made the first stop, Bouchard couldn’t move the puck from the slot and Cozens cashed. Nurse had three shots, Bouchard none on a quiet offensive night for this pairing, they are 6-6 goals at five on five this season.

Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci played 11:13, going 2-5 shots and 0-2 goals. Keith made a cross ice pass that didn’t find McDavid, and the counter by Buffalo was too much for Edmonton and the Sabres scored. Keith gets killed on the fast break turnover, needs to avoid causing them. Ceci bobbled a puck at the opposition blue, and that resulted in a clear breakaway and that’s all she wrote. This pairing has been solid, but there’s no doubt Edmonton did not benefit Friday night from their work. They are now 10-11 goals at five on five for the season. Keith and Tyson Barrie spent 3:18 together and went 6-0 shots, keep that in your back pocket, we may see it again.

Kris Russell-Tyson Barrie played 8:46, going 7-6 shots and no goals. Absolutely less chaos with these two than Koekkoek-Barrie, despite 1-2 HDSC’s. Barrie had eight shots on goal for the night, that’s not necessarily a good thing as point shots are by definition low percentage.

Philip Broberg had two more assists for the Condors last night, he has nine assists in 11 games so far this season. Broberg is fantastic in the AHL at this moment. No idea about recall.

LINES

There were many lines.

  • Perlini-McLeod-Foegele: 6:01, 5-2 shots, no goals, 0-0 HDSC.
  • Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujarvi: 5:31, 8-0 shots, no goals, 3-0 HDSC.
  • Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto: 5:07, 2-1 shots, no goals, 0-0 HDSC.
  • Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi: 4:55, 2-4 shots, 0-1 goals, 1-1 HDSC.
  • Benson-Ryan-Sceviour: 4:13, 4-4 shots, 0-1 goals, 1-1 HDSC.
  • Benson-McLeod-Foegele: 2:37, 2-0- shots, 0-0 goals, 0-0 HDSC.
  • Hyman-Nuge-Puljujarvi: 2:04, 0-1 shots, 0-0 goals, 0-1 HDSC.
  • Draisaitl-McDavid-Yamamoto: 1:51, 1-2 shots, 0-1 goals, 0-2 HDSC.

The McLeod line (Perlini and Foegele) is 6-3 shots in just over eight minutes. That’s a sliver of time, but it’s worth throwing out there again on Sunday.

Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi seems a little off lately, not sure what Tippett will do. You can see why he checks down to Leon-McDavid-Puljujarvi even though they didn’t score at five on five last night. I don’t have a solution, but this line has played 89 minutes together and has an expected goal percentage of 59 percent while showing just a 4-5 goal differential so far. I think Tippett has to stay the course.

Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto all had HDSC’s at five on five, Yamamoto drew two penalties and the line has played 91 minutes together five on five. The results are 44 percent shot share and 7-2 goals this season. I think this line will hang together, at least until Zack Kassian returns.

Benson-Ryan-Sceviour played little together but have some success. Who knows if the line ever sees the light of day again, but men like Benson developing is an important franchise priority.

WHO MAKES IT AS AN NHL PLAYER?

Years ago, we learned how that if three promising defensemen are pushing for the NHL (Taylor Chorney, Cody Wild, Jeff Petry) then you can bet on one to make it, really make it, and anything more is gravy.

I’m not absolutely sure any of Ryan McLeod, Tyler Benson and Stuart Skinner will play 200 NHL games in their careers. I would bet on McLeod over the other two, he’s the Petry here. Skinner is probably the Chorney. Long way to go.

CONDORS DEFENSEMEN UP TO DATE!

Broberg’s points have come on special teams (six PP, 1 PK) and you can’t assume he’ll ever see an NHL power play. The even strength goal differential is heading in a good direction and that’s a very good sign. Broberg was -2 after four games, +2 since then. As you can see, there is separation here from guys like Lagesson (who was responsible for the 1-1 goal last night along with Marody) and Samorukov (who is still getting into regular season mode after his pre-season injury).

Broberg is going to be recalled. Will it come before Samorukov? Niemelainen? Don’t know. I think we can say Lagesson is not playing the kind of game that will earn him a recall at this time.

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OriginalPouzar

I’ll take a couple Setagouchi years…….

106 and 106

I really like the Foegle for Bear trade.

But with Carolina an elite team with a new 1RD, early returns are CAR with the edge.

Ethan Bear deserves some special recognition among the newcomers. He currently leads the team in expected goals percentage while playing top pair minutes. The Hurricanes have the best record in hockey and though this isn’t simply a standings retread, they deserve the top spot this week. They’re proving a lot of skeptics wrong.

who

I didn’t like the trade.
Time will tell, I guess.

Bulging Twine

Carter Savoie is leading the NCAA in points per game

OriginalPouzar

Imagine if he didn’t get shut out in two games two weekends ago (with Team Canada scouts watching – blah).

rickithebear

Yzerman is at it again.
I observed him bring in quality GA talent.
But was not sure it would be strongly reflected early in the season.

16 games played
12 gm (75%) of 3GA or less:
5W
3OTW
3L
1OTL
better than the Oilers!
making playoffs may be a battle in off driven reg season.
Can they be a low ranked Reg season GF playoff team that rolls to championships like the stanley cup winning #28 GF LAK.

Will be interesting to follow!

BornInAGretzkyJersey

I’m more interested in PIT as a comparable to our team than an offensively anemic, Sutter coached team in LAK.

PIT recently proved you can win championships in a number of ways — with a strong offence and a strong or “weak” defense.

2015-16 Stanley Cup Champions
Goals For: 245 (3rd of 30), Goals Against: 203 (6th of 30)

2016-17 Stanley Cup Champions
Goals For: 282 (1st of 30), Goals Against: 234 (17th of 30)

BornInAGretzkyJersey

2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning (Swept in 1st round by CBJ)
Goals For: 325 (1st of 31), Goals Against: 222 (5th of 31)

2019-20 Stanley Cup Champions
Goals For: 245 (1st of 31), Goals Against: 195 (9th of 31)

2020-21 Stanley Cup Champions
Goals For: 181 (8th of 31), Goals Against: 147 (6th of 31)

Last edited 2 years ago by BornInAGretzkyJersey
BornInAGretzkyJersey

2020-21 Montreal Canadiens (Lost in SCF to TBY)
Goals For: 159 (17th of 31), Goals Against: 168 (18th of 31)

2020-21 Vegas Golden Knights (Lost in conference finals to MTL)
Goals For: 191 (3rd of 31), Goals Against: 124 (1st of 31)

Last edited 2 years ago by BornInAGretzkyJersey
BornInAGretzkyJersey

Having dug around on hockey-reference.com and looked at the GF/GA ranking of many of the recent SC winners (posted below) I think it’s more random than you’re giving credit.

My takeaway is that you have to have solid goaltending, strong team play, and be able to score timely goals. Plenty of defensive aces failed to more offensive teams in recent years (and vice versa).

OriginalPouzar

Lagesson with the long dump towards the empty net – its wide but Esposito is the first to the puck for an easy empty netter.

Condors sweet Buddy Robinson, Brogan Rafferty and the Gulls.

jp

Nice to see Konovalov and Rodrigue both with good starts this weekend.

OriginalPouzar

The one goal Konovalov let in last night was from a bad angle and allowed the game to get to OT but, yes, overall, a good start.

jp

Bad goal at a bad time, perfect! 😉

I guess 1 GA on 25 shots, and the win, is a pretty decent nights work regardless of how the 1 went in though.

OriginalPouzar

Condors get a 3rd period PP – the Gull’s clear hit the ref and stayed in the zone. Griffith goes cross-ice to Cracknell who provides the goal ahead goal on a one-time snap shot.

OriginalPouzar

Great o-zone pressure by the Condors – Berglund, to Giffith, back to Berglund, shot, rebound buried by Graham McPhee – his first pro goal – nice finish, didn’t just bang it in.

OriginalPouzar

Check that – I forgot he played in Austria last season. First AHL goal.

leadfarmer

Holy crap do the Kraken suck

OriginalPouzar

Savoie’s second of the night is just cleaning up the rebound:

https://twitter.com/DU_Hockey/status/1459718293023981571

OriginalPouzar

Lavoie was just fed for a clear breakaway from beyond the blue but couldn’t handle a perfect pass and the puck rolled harmlessly away – sigh.

OriginalPouzar

Perrault just scored a lacrosse-style goal, 2-1 Gulls.

OriginalPouzar

A couple of good offensive zone shifts for the Lavoie line – he’s using his body well for puck protection down low and moving well. Looks engaged.

OriginalPouzar

What a shift for Marody. First he springs Hamblin for a partial breakaway (who is stopped).

He then picks the d-man’s pocket clean near the faceoff circle, takes it to the net and dekes the goalie to tie the game.

Of note, a big hit by Malone on Brogan Raffety preceded the Marody steal.

flyfish1168

I sure wish Cooper could bring his game to the NHL level and not leave back in the AHL. Love to see this guy get a chance again and hopefully won’t have the deer in the headlight reaction.

OriginalPouzar
OriginalPouzar

Marody with a turnover at the offensive blue and Broberg with great speed and angle to cut the Gull player off from a breakaway but a very late call is made – I thought Broberg cut puck first before skates but refs don’t agree.

Harpers Hair

Mark Stone back in the lineup for VGK.

flyfish1168

VGK didn’t need him to beat up on your team

OriginalPouzar

I think the org is making a conscious and express point of “cautioning” fans hoping for a Broberg call up.

Listening to his pre-game, and this is the fifth time I’ve heard him say “I think phillip is in a very good spot and exactly where he should be, that is working on the things he needs to ever day”

Also went on to talk about he’s been the high minute d-man all year, he plays in ever situation and is deserving of it. He’s got a great chassis or motor, the ability to handle big minutes. He’s got great instincts.

There are small parts of his game that he needs to work on and he’s doing that diligently. He’s very coachable and he’s someone we see growing before our eyes. One of the challenges is him doing it day in and day out and we are working on it. Tonight is the 3rd game in 4 nights, not typical in Sweden and we are looking forward to seeing how he does.

Faustkarz

besides bouchard’s few cups of coffee, he was brought up when he was ready to be the version of himself in the AHL in the NHL. Expect the same for Broberg. Always gonna have a drop off results moving up, but you don’t have to have a drop off in execution and talent moving up.

jtblack

Also Edm is 10 – 3. 1st in the Entire West. CASEY STENGALL once said …. or was it Buddy Ryan …or Whitey Herzog..

Anyway, they aren’t gonna go 82 – 0 …

Team is BETTER and making strides and even in defeat they don’t go down without a fight. LOVE THIS SQUAD

Faustkarz

sure nice to watch an oilers team down 2nd intermission and have a favourable prediction to win

OriginalPouzar

Rodriuge with the start tonight:

Mike Griffith
@MikeGriffith54
·
1m
Rematch from last night in San Diego (2-1 Bak win in OT) as 
@Condors
 host Gulls. 
Hamblin-Malone-Marody
McPhee-Cracknell-Griffith
Schaller-Esposito-Lavoie
Safin-Brosseau-Kambeitz

Broberg-Desharnais
Niemelainen-Lagesson
Samorukov-Berglund

Rodrigue

———–

Would like to see Lavoie where Hamblin is but, 100% Hamblin deserves that over Lavoie, he hasn’t “earned it”.

I’m not sure about McPhee…..

Schaller is legit though so that “3rd line” could create.

jtblack

Such a fun game yesterday. Skinner (LETH – WHL) against Cozens (LETH – WHL).

Would have liked a Skinner win.

I agree with LT. You NEED cheap, effective talent. JP needs to get paid. Then Bouchars, etc etc.

Skinner has been fine. KEEP rolling him out every 3rd or 4th game. He will have to make a big save or two at some point. I think he can be A Great Back up … maybe more …

Post X Mas .. Maybe Holloway on 3rd line and Broberg up as 2 LD or 3LD.

Even when this team loses, they are fun to watch. – that wasnt the case pre McD / Drai

OriginalPouzar

I have fun every game – nice post.

On Holloway, I think “post X-Mas” is a bit too soon to even hope for – he’s likely not even to start playing games until right around there (and that’s best case scenario).

jtblack

Didnt realize he was that far away guess he will be a nxt yr NHL player

godot10

Skinner stopped the breakaway on the 3rd goal. Is that not a big save? Is it his fault Oilers forwards were beat back down the ice by Cozens?

jtblack

Yes sir. Perhaps I meant “steal a game” …

Either way, Skinner has been fine.

Teams give up on Goalies too soon. Skinner has done everything the Org has asked.
He has progressed just fine.

I think they should play him at least 10 more games this yr and then determine if hebis their Backup nxt yr.

#SkinnerFan

OriginalPouzar

Carter Savoie puts one as the 2nd period winds down to give the Pioneers a 4-2 lead.

ChupaCabra

I just wanted to say that I really enjoy these little snapshot updates about the trials and successes of Oiler prospects on a nightly basis. Very much appreciated, thanks.

Chief Inspector

Much obliged OP.

OriginalPouzar

Tulio finished with just the one goal but had 9, yes, 9 shots on net.

Engras finished with the one apple and went 13/7 on the draw and also scored in the shootout.

OriginalPouzar

Tulio’s goal from earlier tonight, a snipe:

https://twitter.com/OHLHockey/status/1459683441939820544

Keeper_13

Hoping for this forum’s opinion. When I watch the games, I’m noticing we are inexplicably worse at hockey in our own zone – we tend to win fewer 50/50 battles, execute less crisply, and make poorer decisions. Do you see this as well? Upvote for yes, downvote for no.

OriginalPouzar

Hmmmm, this may be so. There is data out there regarding battles won, etc. but its not publicly available, I don’t think……does Sport Logiq have it?

What I did want to say, on that point, to my eye, battles won in the offensive zone have increased materially this season.

OriginalPouzar

Tulio with a first period goal and two shots. Game tied at 2 early in the 2nd.

Engras follows up his goal yesterday with a first period apple.

Munzenburger is in the lineup for Vermont, he wasn’t last night….

New Improved Darkness

This is a rant about cattle country being walked up the round ramp to a welcoming stun gun. Semi-circular Stairway to Heaven, for an entire industry sector, as composed by Temple Grandin.

I’ve been reading a lot about plant-based “meat” lately.

A guy named Patrick O. Brown was in the news last week making outrageous claims about the complete elimination of the global cattle industry by 2035. My own term for these meat substitutes is “vat burger”. Impossible Foods is particularly focused on plant-based “heme” production, this being the one true central flavour of beefiness that plants so far lack—or so they hope. I’m far from convinced it’s that simple.

When I make pizza with my lemon tree, we usually make six rounds of 240 g each. This along with an appetizer and two bottles of wine will feed four hungry people until you’re patting your stomachs (with whatever aim you’ve got left). Or it will feed two ravenous people until your cheeks bulge, leaving you with just enough savory leftovers to dunk into your steaming java the morning afterward.

I use a cold ferment, so the rounds come out of the fridge cold and they need to be shaped and tensioned into small balls. Then they need to sit and rise for two to three hours before being shaped into skins. If they sit out uncovered for three hours, they will get a horrible rhino eczema on top, so you usually cover them with parchment paper. But the parchment paper sticks to the dough and tears that nice tensioned skin you created. So before laying on the parchment paper, you have to anoint the crown of your spherical rounds with a dab of olive oil.

My style is to tear off a giant sheet of papal parchment, dab my fingers into the olive oil, and apply a three-finger dab to each one: bless you in the name of pepperoni, bacon, and prosciutto I intone as I make my rounds through all six. Then I lay on the parchment, and see that it is good.

There it is, Impossible Foods, the ultimate meat gauntlet.

When I bless my pizza rounds in the name of pepperoni, bacon, and prosciutto, and all three are fresh off the vat-burger production line—and I’m not wincing inside that the holy trinity is not what it once was—then and only then have you finally accomplished something.

We’re having friends over for veggy pizza tonight. Last night we did a practice run with actual pepperoni, because of a new oven. We won’t suffer tonight even without the holy trinity. We’re doing one with an Emmental white sauce adorned with a mixture of button mushrooms, oyster mushroom, and chanterelles. Another one with quince compote and pecans. One with seared peppers and goat cheese. Maybe one with roast beets. Another one with insanely thin-sliced red onions, crushed pistachios, Parmigiano and rosemary. (That one is always a crowd favourite, originally made famous by Chris Bianco.) One pizza comes out every 11 minutes and it’s a progressive meal.

We don’t have gas. Gas has the power, electric does not. You can make electric work with one simple trick: two pizza stones, with a quick shuffle from the bottom to the top stone at the 4 minute mark of a 7–8 minute cooking cycle. The bottom stone puts the right colour on the bottom of the crust and the top stone melts all the toppings (the top stone needs to be high up in the “heat rises” hot zone).

You can do one pizza with just one stone preheated for a full hour. But unless you want to leave 10–15 minutes in between pizzas for the bottom stone to fully reheat, none of the rest of your pizzas are going to become a true work of art.

Turns out, we already have a workable trinity from the veggy leagues: nuts, mushrooms, and ripe cheese. This is just fine for pizza weekend double-header (after dosing up on the real trinity the night before).

And about that ripe cheese. Somehow I don’t think that heme is the flavour profile you’re seeking to replace the 300 million dairy cows presently residing in India alone.

A few cooking notes while my head is primed.

With a stone heated to 500 °F and a wet dough with 80% hydration, you get traces of leopard spots on the bottom after about four minutes, and the crust will be stiff enough to lift with a regular BBQ spatula (meaning larger than normal, but used with your regular oven). If you heat the stone to 550 °F, after four minutes the crust will have even more leopard spots, but it will also crunch under the cutting knife like a cracker. This is a sure sign you left it on the bottom stone 30–60 s too long. Below about 460 °F you can’t get leopard spots before you get a cracker backbone. No solution. Pick your compromise. I’ve never had a good pizza where the stone started out below 480 °F as reported by my infrared thermometer. 80% hydration is what you need to get the big fluffy, pillowy cornicione around the outside edge. A day or three of cold ferment is what you need is you want open bubble structure in your cornicione, especially the thin bits that rise up on the outside and blacken slightly.

Most of the real flavour comes from bacterial activity. Yeast is easier to slow down than bacteria, so the cold ferment prioritizes bacterial action. Eventually—no matter what temperature—the yeast generate enough alcohol to take over, and after that you don’t gain much in the way of more complex flavour.

I was busy this week so I didn’t mix my dough until yesterday morning, and so we were using dough last night with no cold ferment at all. Got everything but the open bubble structure, which is quite an accomplishment after 18 months of Covid, because without people to invite over, we’d be total oinkers eating six pizzas between us at a single go. With six different topping combos coming out of the oven like a big fashion event in Milan, “no” is not in your vocabulary while you can still press your lips together to make a viable “b” sound.

By the way, Nathan Myhrvold has finally come out with Modernist Pizza. 1700 pages in three volumes. Costs a small fortune.

They haven’t trickled out too much wisdom for the unwashed, but they’re on the record as saying that cooking to perfection with a wood oven rivals riding a unicycle. They vastly prefer gas.

They also like an expensive unbleached flour named Ceresota. Probably not that different from the giant bags of unbleached Rogers flour available in Canada off the shelf from Costco. There are places in the US that go “what’s a winter tire?” In most of Canada we go “what’s a summer wheat?” Total crap, that’s what. Canada: many tire types, but one all purpose flour that really is all purpose. (Myhrvold’s rumoured sequel on pastry might finally disabuse us of our “all purpose” flour due to excess protein content for certain delicate pastry types; only after you can spell “Viennoiserie” do you qualify to come to me to complain there’s really no such thing as “all purpose” flour, contrary to what’s written on the bottom of your Canadian citizenship card.)

Last edited 2 years ago by New Improved Darkness
BornInAGretzkyJersey

Ah yes, meta-meat. The next marketing scam designed to pull the heart strings and yank unsuspecting purse strings of do-gooders by promoting a facade of environmentalism and health virtues.

Strongly suspect that more damage is done to animals and the surrounding environs to perpetuate a faux product with dubious — as yet largely unstudied — health impact in the near and far term. See, palm oil, slash and burn agriculture in rainforests and shrinking orangutang habitat.

Woodguy v2.0

“bless you in the name of bacon, pepperoni, and prosciutto.”

Bless you sir and your lemon tree.

leadfarmer

I’ve tried a few of them myself. Nothing is close to meat. Some taste like feet.

dessert1111

Can I come over?

Munny 2.0

I’m keto. I eat meat and dairy, the odd veg. Haven’t stuffed that pizza poison in my gullet for years.And now that they’ve been using keto diets to reverse Type II diabetes without drugs, I’m not surprised the pharma-chemical industry and the grain tycoons are in cahoots busy demonizing meat in the holy name of Al Gore.

Take meat off the shelf and I will go shoot it.

Last edited 2 years ago by Munny 2.0
BornInAGretzkyJersey

Permission on private land with a valid hunting license + tag, and PAL, otherwise must be on Crown land within regulations.

northerndancer

You need to move to BC. Only a drivers license is needed. You can legally harvest road kill. Yum!

doublepennertration

Hi everybody – long time reader, first time commenter. I don’t know why this pizza post compelled me to finally make an account – but I believe New Improved Darkness is the long form poet who has gone by several different names here?

If so I wanted to say a long overdue thanks. In a post a long time ago, I believe during the decade of darkness, you had a line about how in sometimes, in a relationship, or a professional hockey team, you do what works and stick to it. Until one day it stops working. And you tend to double down on what used to work, which only makes things worse now. Anyways you said it much more poetically. At the time I was in exactly such a relationship and your throw away line gave me so much clarity and I was able to free myself from the situation, and it has always stuck with me.

It’s funny how sometimes in life you see the exact thing you need to see at the right time in the oddest places. But it also speaks to the wisdom and wit of the crowd that assembles around our gracious host here, I would venture to say due to his own way with words and wisdom. Thanks LT and NID.

Randle McMurphy

First time or otherwise, that’s ^ a great post!

You should post more often.

VanIsleOil

Awesome read, thanks. Make sure to save a piece for our famished Finn.

https://gfycat.com/hardsillyladybug

Fuhrious

Lovely, I’ll have to give that Chris Bianco special a try.

I spent part of my summer trying to reproduce the Margherita pizza I ate in Naples. After experimenting, I realized the key is to include a pretty fair percentage of not-quite-ripe tomatoes for the acidity they bring. You just can’t quite match that with lemon. juice. The pizza sauce I end up with is so sharp and sweet that it’s almost like candy. Cherry tomatoes only, lots of olive oil, scads of fresh basil, and strained before use. Now that it’s easier to get buffalo milk mozzarella in North America (not just buffalo “style”!!!!), I can do pretty well. Particularly after a good dousing with imported Ligurian olive oil on my plate. God damnit I wish I lived in Naples and could walk out to buy that for 5 euros at lunch instead of carefully carting my brown bag lunch past a row of Chilis and Kelseys.

I use Ken Forkish’s biga overnight fermentation recipe, and then after the bulk fermentation, I form balls, lightly coat with olive oil, and store in the fridge for 3 days to a week. I have an offer to buy Italian flour from a local pizzeria, but in my initial trials it did no better than my King Arthur AP (which is slightly different protein content than Canadian AP flour I believe).

When I want to show off, I top with minimal buffalo mozzarella, fair amount of blue or gorgonzola, then a few large cubes of boiled Yukon gold potatoes and finally a modest amount of prosciutto. The potatoes are what elevates it to to a star dish.

godot10

Soylent Green, brought to you by the Davos Men.

Bugs and pea flour. It will look like a real steak when you eat it in the metaverser. VR classes on. But bugs on your plate.

Keeper_13

Yuck. Between the highlights and the commentary, sounds like I picked a good game to miss. Seeing Perlini-McLeod-Foegle as the line with the most ice time really paints a picture.

Keeper_13

Missed the game yesterday. Just heard Torts making an ass of himself. He is definitely the apprentice to Burkiesaurus’ Sith lord. If McDavid can’t win in the NHL with the skill and desire he has today, right now, he should leave the NHL and go find a real league to play in and we should all follow him.

OriginalPouzar

Bourgualt with a goal 25 seconds in to the third period to cut the deficit to 4, down 5-1.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Nice to see him break the goose egg. He’s been having a strong season.

Tarkus

Bourgault adds two PP goals to get a hat trick, but the Cataractes fall 6-4.

Now has 15-15-30 in 15 games to continue leading the Q in scoring.

David

And yet Wheeler (I think it was him) has Bourgault on the outside looking in for the Team Canada juniors. Would like to see him get a feature scoring role for the tourney in Edmonton this New Years.

OriginalPouzar

Ya, I saw Wheeler’s piece a few days ago and was surprised that he didn’t have Bourgualt. I think he’ll make it but, like Lavoie and Holloway before him, doubt he’ll have a feature role – maybe.

At one point, Savoie may have had a chance but, from what I heard, Team Canada scouts were at the games two weekends ago and he had a tough tough weekend.

OriginalPouzar

Thank you for the update – I just checked back in on it.

8 shots as well.

dustrock

I don’t trust this coach to win more than 1 playoff round.

I think I’m actually done with Tippett, he’s obviously not horrific, I just don’t see him elevating this team.

He’s another McLellan. A veteran NHL coach who produces mediocre results.

Not sure who out there is a better fit, just too many repeated problems with game starts, don’t like the goalie rotation he employs, don’t like the continued iffy 5v5 numbers.

It could be worse, we could be Vancouver.

fishman

Well we have Gulutzan and Woodcroft in house???? Not sure how long Woodcroft willing to stay in Bakersfield? Would guess he wants to get back to the NHL in some capacity.

OriginalPouzar

Has Derek Ryan really been good on faceoffs?

Yes, he’s at 57% but he’s 69% on the offensive zone, 69% in the neutral zone and 41% in the defensive zone. He’s also 37.5% on the PK.

Keeper_13

Maybe a QoC thing? If he’s taking a PK FO, he’ll be up against one of the other team’s two best faceoff men more often than not. When he’s on the ice 5v5, he’s (hopefully) facing the soft parade. Just a thought, I don’t know much about faceoffs.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

$3,416,667 in dead cap hit, this season and next.

That pays for a quality player in the heart of the roster; a middle six winger type or a second pairing defender. Or it goes a long way towards a starting goaltender, or covering raises due to incumbent players.

I think this doesn’t get enough attention when people complain about holes on this roster.

OriginalPouzar

That’s actually missing the $750K retained on Lucic so its over $4M (although all but $1.5M is due to Lucic).

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Gah. So it does. CapFriendly should update that part of the ledger on their long term outlook tab in their ArmchairGM feature.

So $4,166,667 in dead cap. Essentially Klefbom’s salary.

Last edited 2 years ago by BornInAGretzkyJersey
Bulging Twine

Holland’s MO appears to be:

assemble team in summer
assess to Christmas
AHL call ups and demotions to AHL
add or subtract at trade deadline depending on standings

We’ll see if McLeod grabs that 3c spot (for me DRyan is 4c – a good one) but a guy I would think would be a worth a call to right now is David Krejci.

He’s playing back home in the Czech league, 21 pts in 20 games.

By his boxcars was still productive last year, 44pts in 51. Then 9 in 11 playoff games.

also 58.13% xGF% in the regular season then lead the team in the playoffs with 67.56%.

leadfarmer

He very clearly did not want to play in North America any more

Bulging Twine

He could come back later in the season.

McNuge93

Isnt there a Dec 1 deadline?

Bulging Twine

Is that just for RFA’s?

BornInAGretzkyJersey

No, any player not under contract as of the trade deadline is not eligible to participate in the playoffs.

Bulging Twine

Trade deadline is Dec. 1?

leadfarmer

And what are you going to pay him? League minimum?

Bulging Twine

I don’t know, could be a long shot, but if we send him a DVD of the river valley………

PerryK

Or, have Hemsky go talk to him!

31saves

Krejci of course has the talent to be a wonderful NHL player still.. but if he decides to return to NA he’s got a spot on the 2nd line in Boston waiting for him

Bulging Twine

For sure, but if they aren’t looking like a contender and the Oilers are…..???

OriginalPouzar

December 1 is the deadline to sign RFAs for them to play at all.

The trade deadline is a deadline for UFAs to sign and be eligible for the playoffs.

jp

There’s also reentry waivers for players who played in Europe, no?

Is Dec 1st the deadline to avoid that?

In any case, were Krejci to sign with whoever after his Czech season ends, I believe he’d need to clear waivers in order to play the rest of the seasons and/or playoffs.

OriginalPouzar

Dec 1 deadline is for Group II RFAs

Yes, Section 13.23 required waivers for any former player that is a UFA and playing in a league outside of North America that signs.

Last edited 2 years ago by OriginalPouzar
YYCOil

A unique “problem” is the deployment of McDavid and Driasaitl. I had access to the Washington Capital biometric data . It is very clear that superstars are not superstars EVERY minute they play. Also as the season wears on, heavy minute players are starting shift at 75-80% optimal readiness.

McDavid and Driasaitl’s 1:40 PP, every shift right after the other teams penalty, all the offensive zone face off, is part of the lower numbers contributions from the bottom six. Some of these juicy minutes for other players will get their games going and support a deeper line up.

If you want more scoring from the bottom six, they need to play more minutes where it is likely they will add scoring.

I feel regular season scoring, supporting 50% PP numbers has more emphasis than winning in the play-offs. Last year chasing McDavid’s 100 points in a short season is part of this “problem”. Entertaining for the fans, but maybe didn’t help our play-off performance.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Interesting point about the cherry minutes deployment being used to get the supporting cast going. Could be on to something there.

What else can you tell us about having had access to the biometric data of the Washington Capitals? I find this to be a very juicy morsel.

YYCOil

The Caps have been looking at these metrics for many years now. The case was being made for youth leagues building breaks into to league games and more importantly league wide breaks in training… too much training doesn’t make better athletes.

There is lots of data about the energy levels of players when they play and how long it takes to fully recover to play at “peak performance”. It is simple, but ….it takes a while for rechargeable batteries to hold a full charge.

This data is now available in real time and can be used by professional teams.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Interesting, makes sense.

How did you come into that data, and is it available somewhere online to plebs such as myself?

Keeper_13

I don’t remember the fancy names anymore, but I was taught that maximum intensity can only be sustained for 45-90 seconds and has a 3:1 recovery time. Medium intensity can be sustained for 91-300 seconds and has a 2:1 recovery time. Low intensity can be sustained for hours with practice, and has a 1:1 recovery time.

Is that the kind of thing you’re talking about?

OriginalPouzar

I’m sure that data is real, legit and informative but we aren’t talking about the normal person here or even the normal professional athlete

Keeper_13

Yeah, just hoping for something to tie it to.

JOFA

People wetting themselves over Benson’s game last night. The bar has reached an all time low😄

leadfarmer

I do not understand the love for this player

Tarkus

a) Because local

2) Benson succeeding would take some of the sting out of passing on DeBrincat

leadfarmer

I would love for him to succeed too. I would love for him to have a long and successful NHL career. It’s just not gonna happen

Reja

Give him a chance once he pots 1 or he gets a first assist you will see his confidence go way up. Right now he’s playing safe and he’s scared shitless to make a mistake. He is one of the few Oilers that mixes it up after the whistle. I miss Archie’s scrappy game maybe Benson can bring some feistiness along with some smooth passes.

trader

Serious question…”Have you ever watched Benson play in person?”

Keeper_13

3)Oilers fans come here, and tend to want their prospects to pan out.

What I don’t understand is rooting against your own team’s prospects.

leadfarmer

No one is rooting against him.
saying I don’t see a player here doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be happy to be wrong
that bottom 6 sure needs it

trader

Come on… he had 2 shots and he tried to make a pass…around here that means a “Boner” for everyone.
Oh and by the way he was -1, something that every other 4th liner gets crucified for.

trader

I understand that my statements didn’t move the conversation in the “preferred” direction but I don’t believe that either of my statements are incorrect.

who

Best game I’ve seen from Benson so far, including that great cross crease pass that should have been converted. People bitch about Turris, but he’s probably a better bet to tap that in than Scevior.
Liked Perlinis game as well. Too bad he took the penalty.

SVR

Agree, good play by Benson. Can’t agree on Turris though. He doesn’t drive the net.

who

He scored a goal just like that from Shore. About 5 games ago.

Sierra

That was a fantastic cross crease pass by Benson.

DevilsLettuce

The coaches watching some film, that pass has out to put at least a small tiny fire in the back of the coaches head.

Benson/Mcdavid/Jesse
Nuge/Drai/Hyman
Foegel/Eakin/Yams
Perlini/McLeod/Scev

Benson can take a pass and make a pass, McDavid has worked with much less at points.

If nothing rhymes swap him with Foegs for a spell, see if that has a bar or two.

LMHF#1

Simple question for those here: what is your bar for success for this team this year?

Mine is a regular season division title and a conference championship. Anything less is a failure for a team with the two best players in the world at the top of their game. The Finals can go either way.

And yes – that’s a high damn bar. And it should be. They’re out of excuses and have already burnt a disturbing amount of daylight.

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

I am not picky about the regular-season standings, just make the playoffs. I expect an appearance in the conference finals. Anything less would be a big disappointment.

Scungilli Slushy

I might stop at conference final

At some point the roster isn’t an excuse anymore

We are there. No team has perfect players. What they have is a strong team game which floats all boats

Which leads to fans of other teams seeing greener grass with those team’s players

But it’s more than the players. Foegele was great in Charlotte, not doing as well here. Why? The list is huge of that happening with the Oilers

The Pens have done well with rosters I thought, especially at D, that couldn’t go far in playoffs

But somehow through injury, wobbly goalers, etc they win

The Oilers can do that too

The question is what are the sticking points holding them back?

Randle McMurphy

Foegele playing exactly as advertised.

Pens had better goalies in their winning years.

Randle McMurphy

First round exit – epic fail – fire the coach

Second round exit in 6 or 7 games – disappointing but coach keeps his job

Making it to the third round (Conference Finals) is SUCCESS!

Anything more is unexpected and gravy.

#OneYearAwayFromGreatness

Randle McMurphy

We should be cheering for Vegas to recover quickly. Don’t want to play those guys in the first round. Could cost Tippett his job.

Harpers Hair

The elephant in that room is VGK.

That they’ve been able to hang around in the standings as well as they have under current circumstances is surprising and does not bode well for the rest of the Pacific Division once they start adding back 3 of the best forwards in the game.

leadfarmer

The division is too shitty to not hang around

Harpers Hair

If only if were that simple.

Subject to GP, Vegas is 4 points out of first place in the Western Conference playing without what is essentially their entire top line.

If, as expected, Eichel returns to play at a high level Vegas is effectively going to have the mother of all trade deadlines without needing any external additions.

leadfarmer

What’s Vancouver’s excuse? Not enough injuries?

LMHF#1

This squad should still be able to outrun them and add as the season goes on to address any deficiencies.

Whether they do or not, and whether Tippett finally figures out the playoffs or not is the question.

I am highly skeptical he is the right coach for this crew in the playoffs. Doesn’t have the right approach.

Harpers Hair

Yeah…other than one Cinderella run with Phoenix, his playoff coaching record is poor. .415 overall.

Keeper_13

I used to think this way, but I don’t really see the playoffs as being any kind of honest contest. If Edmonton wins I’ll be happy, but I don’t see “winning the Cup” as “being the best” anymore. JMO

For me, success is watching our players grow and develop, the choices they make, and how they play out. It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey.

Reja

It’s all about the Cups ask McDavid or Leon they’ll say the same thing.

LMHF#1

Correct.

Keeper_13

I used to agree, but I don’t anymore. You can put Osgood’s name on as many Cups as you want, lots of goalies who didn’t win Cups were better. lol that said all of those goalies would probably say the same thing you do.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Osgood winning Cups doesn’t take away from “better” goalies who played on worse teams at the time.

It just means he played on better teams.

The goal is to have your name engraved on Lord Stanley’s chalice; stat lines are secondary. An afterthought, really, in team sports.

Last edited 2 years ago by BornInAGretzkyJersey
Reja

Marcel Dionne would give his left nut to have his name engraved on the Cup.

LMHF#1

McLeod can and will unless they move him in the progress of upgrading.

Benson and Skinner won’t.

Benson should’ve been traded last season when he still had some meagre value. After this year he’s just another young semi-talented forward who’s revealing his very limited upside. These players are available for the league minimum every year. The Benson cheerleading section won’t accept this. That’s fine.

I honestly don’t get the optimism on Skinner. Have yet to see anything that indicates he’s a backup for a top-tier hockey team. People are still stuck in the mentality of a watching a bad team that needs desperately for prospects to work out. These guys aren’t that anymore.

Sierra

 Stuart Skinner (another solid game)

Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 23, .870 on the night

Last edited 2 years ago by Sierra
Randle McMurphy

Skinner exceeded my expectations against the Red Wings.

Was about as flat as the rest of the team against the Sabres.

Sample size too small imo

Prairie_Sentinel

“…..and all three GA were high danger.” (LT)

The Oilers have shown considerable patience with young Skinner, and he’s been coming on strong last season and has shown that there may be an NHL calibre goalie. If Skinner shows he can handle being the backup, I’m thinking it may make a Koskinen trade near the deadline possible.

Keeper_13

I don’t see Koskinen being traded unless at a loss. JMO, but his reputation is pretty low right now, and that’s what goalies are valued for.

leadfarmer

I don’t blame him
if you have a rookie G you protect him instead of everyone cheating for offense

Sierra

I’m not blaming either, but let’s be honest, if Mikko sports a .870 on 23 shots in a loss this place roasts him.

to your second point, rookie goalie or not, the team should not be cheating for offence – especially when they are leading.

JOFA

Should have been traded? Should never have been drafted. Management was ready to move up to get their man. They got him! Now let’s praise his outstanding accomplishment. Popcorn and 4th line duty on a good day. What a steal lol. Some here have him playing with McDavid. That’s exactly what this team needs😉

Harpers Hair

Ran across this on Twitter this morning. Oh my.

Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) Tweeted:
The @LAKings 21-and-under “prospect” depth chart is absurd.

Kaliyev – Byfield – Turcotte
Chromiak – Kupari – Fagemo
Thomas – Pinelli – Madden
Dudas – Helenius – Simontaival
Lee – Laferriere

Bjornfot – Clarke
Spence – Faber
Kirsanov – Grans
Nousianen

Parik, Ingham
#GoKingsGo

https://twitter.com/NHLRussell/status/1457789632343461890?s=20

BornInAGretzkyJersey

I remember when Madden was the next can’t-miss prospect of the juggernaut Canucks. Now he can’t even crack an hypothetical top-6 of prospects in the vaunted Kings organization.

Harpers Hair

He has been underwhelming..It happens.

LMHF#1

The desperation is gone – there’s no reason to be proposing these prospects head straight to the top line or top two lines as people have been proposing.

Strong teams use prospect volume and value FA signings on short deals. Do not commit to your bottom 5 forwards and last 2 D. There’s just no need anymore. This is where the inexpensive solutions piece comes from. NHL teams should trade their iffy prospects earlier as is done in MLB. Almost everyone hangs on hoping too long in hockey.

I’m constantly seeing posts from people who seem to either enjoy a prospect team more than a winner, or have lingering effects from the last awful 20 years. Time to move on mentally and remember what it’s like cheering for a quality squad with the 2 best players in the world.

LMHF#1

There’s no shame in being half a step short of the best league in the world on a good team. None at all.

Procurement – yes. Also using your assets to as close to maximum as you can. This second part has been lacking for so long that I think folks have forgotten.

I’m mostly just happy to be in the position of nit-picking rather than the position of “blow it all up”.

Keeper_13

Scouting goalies is voodoo and developing goalies is done away from the fans view, so we have no way to know which no-name 5th rounder is going to become a starter until one day it happens.

Why are so many people today confused that Oilers fans cheer for Oilers prospects? He’s wearing an Oilers jersey, if his name’s not Matt Tkachuk I’ll cheer for him and hope he succeeds.

It is miles too soon to know either way about Skinner. Goalies need more reps than any other position. With a forward, by the time he’s 23 you’ve probably figured out who he is. Average age of a goalie on his first NHL start is 23. Average age of a starting goalie is ~30 (I searched NHL starting goalie average age, top link was from ingoal magazine, which I highly recommend).

OriginalPouzar

Broberg’s points have come on special teams (six PP, 1 PK) and you can’t assume he’ll ever see an NHL power play. 

Don’t forget about the 1 shorthanded assist (which he was full value for with the neutral zone step up).

Here is the assist last night on the game winner in OT (note: he had been on the ice for a full 90 seconds before this).

As far as call up, he looks like he’s pressing but lets not forget who the GM is and the GM, just two weeks ago, while watching him excell in Bakersfield, spoke about him being there for the year and then mentioned something along the lines of “maybe we’ll see later in the year”. Also I’ve heard Woody say three times: “He’s right where he needs to be”.

https://twitter.com/Condors/status/1459567549654335489

Reja

If Smith went home I’ve gathering he tweaked or pulled his Groin ( Who seen that one coming) It’s time Holland starts working the phones again, Skinner and Mikko as well as Smith just don’t cut it when it comes to pressure packed games. It would be justice if Holland takes a chance on Big Save Dan and he goes lights out. Wouldn’t it be the biggest troll job ever to Calgary if he ended up having the Cup passed to him from Leon.

John Chambers

Holland is patient and understands that you go through ups and downs in a season. Koskinen has played well and the team has banked points.
I doubt we see a trade until at least February. This is when Ken Holland likes to do business.
The team is good enough to make the playoffs with a Koskinen – Skinner tandem. Some bad luck has cost them points this week, but it’s important to use the bullets at the right time on the right personnel.

Reja

Mikko is 8-1 with a 918 save percentage yet does he under pressure make the saves at the right time. You need a Goalie to go to another level come playoff and don’t believe we have one at this time.

John Chambers

I agree.
However who is going to trade you a goalie now and at what cost?
Khudobin? He’s played 5 games and has an .885 sv%
Fleury? How much does it cost to get him now, seeing as now Chicago must retain salary. Probably not feasible.

Koskinen starts the next couple and if you have to play Skinner 2-3 more times over the coming weeks, I doubt it sinks the ship. Hard to blame either loss this week on Principal Skinner.

jp

Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi

/

but this line has played 89 minutes together and has an expected goal percentage of 59 percent while showing just a 4-5 goal differential so far. I think Tippett has to stay the course.

This is essentially what Nuge-McDavid-Puljujarvi did last season, no?

Definitely a curio, hopefully it rights itself sooner than later.

Agree also on staying the course.

Last edited 2 years ago by jp
Randle McMurphy

What are the Lames going to give up to get Kneeordano back at the deadline?

BAWS

I’m stumped at this point on this team. Loads of talent, average goaltending, the 2 best forwards in the game today yet the team as a whole chases the game on so many nights.
Maybe with better goaltending they don’t fall behind, but these lines should all score and quite frequently.
Is it coaching? I’m starting to think that, I honestly don’t want to believe that though. I think defence plays a pretty good role in what’s happening here. On many rushes the other team seems to frequently get in close and get that shot while the Oil seem to be limited to the outside quite often. Not sure.
They turn on near the end when the other team has gone defensive to protect a lead, but this team has troubles showing teeth at the start and middle of the game on many nights.
They’ve got so many of the right pieces and some of the best pieces in the game, but somethings not being executed properly. I think it really comes down to coaching.

Randle McMurphy

I think this is a common sentiment among many here. I feel it occasionally myself.

But what I’m pretty sure of is that Tippett and his staff are trying everything they can to get this team more focused on defense and playing a tighter game.

Question is, is it on the Coaches or on the Players?

Of course it’s a little of both. But for me the larger part rests on the shoulders of the players. And I don’t think it’s a lack of effort so much as the wrong mix of personnel.

Some improvement may come through experience gained by the yutes.

But imo, Grace still needs thicker lips and a second ear 🙂 ; In the form of a world class shutdown 3rd line center.

He could be standing out in the holloway as we speak 🙂

Last edited 2 years ago by Randle McMurphy
Bank Shot

It’s not coaching, except perhaps an inability of coaching to get through to the players.

The Oilers are up 2-1 against Buffalo. All they need to do is play hard nosed, safe hockey, and make it hard for Buffalo to generate anything.

Instead they are trying to thread the needle on passes and alley oop for dunks.

Randle McMurphy

~Yeah. That sounds like the coach~ 😉

Last edited 2 years ago by Randle McMurphy
LMHF#1

This team as constructed should play aggressive hockey until the buzzer every night. They can and will put score every team in the league playing this way. It is only when they sit back that they lose.

leadfarmer

Unfortunately some of us suspected Ryan was close to done

Diablo

Agree with the assessment that he is a 4C … though he’s been that for most of his career. He is a very good PKer and that has value.

Its time for Tippet to shake up the lineup … if he refuses to do so, then it may be time to move on from Tippett and get someone else in who will.

maudite

Did you not see the number of different line pairings?

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

Why not try RNH on the third line for a few games to stop the bleeding? Mix and match the bottom-6 wingers as you like.

Hyman-McD-JP
Foegele-Drai-Yamo
Benson-RNH-Perlini
Sceviour-Mcleod-Ryan

Randle McMurphy

YES! Unca Stevsie…… Reward Foegele.

Yamo is a fierce forechecker, but Foegele is fiercer 🙂

They both have about the same finish 🙂

And our third line needs a life line.

It’s worth a try imo

leadfarmer

Well then Nuge has no one to play with
I think you need to put Foggy and Nuge on third line and Drai and Yamo on second line until you bring in a 3c

MushedPeas

I dig this.

Randle McMurphy

I’m pickin up what you’re layin down Bro!

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

The more things change the more things stay the same.

This team looks very similar to last season. Great special teams and inconsistent 5v5 play.

The bottomless six is making an encore.

McD finally has legit wingers and his line continues to put up medium results 5v5. I know the refs do not help but one would hope McD could put up ~%55GF at 5v5 w/o Drai.

The D remains an adventure.

I think the Oil are a good bet to win the division but things need to tighten up before the playoffs. I have zero confidence in Tip coaching this team through another playoff season.

DevilsLettuce
dustrock

What does Dave Tippett do for this team?

Randle McMurphy

I looked it up on Oilers.com

He’s the Head Coach.

Scungilli Slushy

I’ve been on him for a while.

It’s hard to tell if he’s the right coach for the team. On one hand the results have been improving in his and his boss’s tenure.

On the other hand, he is running a team with a proper dominant D in Nurse, and two superstar forwards, who are growing into their primes. To me their maturation will in itself drive improved results.

So for me it boils down to growth in the on ice game. That isn’t happening to my eye. A team with this much talent will dominate games. Being confident in being able to come back from behind and score a lot of goals is a certain type of growth in the team belief in itself, but it is a double edge sword.

Run and gun hockey is a lot of fun when it’s in your favour. But it is not a recipe for sustained success, and especially post season success. The PP could be run by a monkey with who’s on it. Can Gully tweak it now that it has gone flat?

You have to have a consistently strong 5v5 game. The Oilers haven’t got there in Tipp’s time.

It is up to the coach to get the players performing, and to have a system the team can actually play based on who the players are.

The bottom 6 still sucks despite better players. There are constant defensive breakdowns. The forwards cannot break down teams when they are hard on the puck and clogging the middle ice.

It is why dump and chase remains in the game, it’s the only way through it, it is also playoff style hockey. The cycle also still struggles to get good chances consistently, which shouldn’t be with the talent they have. Just copy the Bergeron and Marchand cycle, they know how to do it.

Maybe the turnover on the roster requires time to settle in. Still, I can’t shake the idea that the system and the coaching isn’t keeping up to the top players, or perhaps suits them. I see too much stiffness with line composition, and no time given to new lines when the do put the them together to gel.

The most important piece for Holland and the coaches is to find the right guys to play with Connor, and to guide his game to the next level of completeness. Hyman and JP are good for grinding for Connor, but neither are top level finishers. More than the defensive side of things I think that is why they want Leon with him.

Holland has made his bed with the NMCs for Hyman for the next few years and Nuge forever. He has to find the right HC and the right mix of players not currently signed long term.

Times a wastin’, I wonder what Holland is thinking.

Scungilli Slushy

People mention ‘The Start’ and why complain. I think some of us, while enjoying winning, are seeing the same base problems which keep them from being a true top team, and memories being what they are, have that uncomfortable feeling of knowing the outcome later.

We will see.

prefonmich

I agree that this team is as close to balanced as has been in a long time. Problem is coach doesn’t play them that way. He coaches like he believes the only way this team can win is if Connor and Drai play together and get pps and when down in games, they play 80 percent of the time. It works sometimes but won’t work in the playoffs or against strong structured teams that have 4 strong lines.
At some point, coach has to play 4 lines and not allow Connor and Drai to have 2 minute shifts. Drai has been better about back checking but mcdavid is often coasting back on drives the other way, often also in picture. Probably because he’s gassed from being overplayed.
This team finally has enough depth to play the 3rd and 4th lines with some regularity but coach refuses to do it. Cannot win in this league with one loaded line. Period. So why play that way in regular season??

Scungilli Slushy

For sure there is time to get the machine tuned

I worry about Holland addressing what he sees as needs because he overpays

I’m feeling meh about any trades. Nobody gives away good except the Oilers. Can they find the diamond in the rough?

A bigger question is would Tipp actually capitalize on such a deal? I am not sure

He seems stubborn even when the team looks as always. He’s in the job of winning and points, but so far more isn’t setting up well

I know a guy who said ‘start as you mean to go’

Jethro Tull

I think the Oilers may need to bring in some help coaching wise.

Whilst the special teams are great, the PP historically great, the bottom six is hot vomit on a cold day.

The turn over has been huge, the results the same. What’s going on?

So, would we be willing to lose a little on the PP and PK if it meant a more solid bottom six?

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

I doubt the coaching has much influence over the PP. So really, the team might see a downtick on the pk for an upgrade at 5v5. I think that is a good trade.

Randle McMurphy

Don’t look now but, Lames backup tender, ex-Bruins prospect, Daniel Vladar had a whale of a game against the Laffs last night.

Age 24 6’5″ signed through 2023-24 at $750k

Reja

Problem Calgary has is that they have to play Markstrom with what they’re paying him.

Randle McMurphy

Well, as they say, it’s nice problem to have.

Reja

We need a Goalie that can steal a game or two when we’re flat.

Woodguy v2.0

EDM Goal Share after 13 gp (10-3-0)

Even strength(5v5,4v4,3v3)
97 w/o 29(4-6) 40%
29 w/o 97(8-2) 80%
97&29 On(10-6) 63%
93 w/o either(3-2) 60%
Ryan (3-10) 23%
Other(3-4) 43%
Net EV +1

Special Teams:18-4
Net ST +14

Empty Net:4-4
Net EN 0

SO/PS 1-0
Net SO/PS +1

Goal Diff +16

Bruce McCurdy

The Derek Ryan situation has become alarming. 11 games without a point while leaking at the other end of the ice.

The black hole at 3C dates back to Michael Peca, with a brief interlude for Ryan Strome even as Peter Chiarelli had no idea what he had.

Randle McMurphy

It wasn’t just Chiarelli. A lot of posters here panned the Eberle for 24 yr old Strome + $3m cap space trade.

Just sayin.

#StirItUpAndServeIt 🙂

Last edited 2 years ago by Randle McMurphy
Death By Misadventure

I’m with you. I’ve seen enough to know that neither Ryan nor McLeod are the solution at 3C this season.

What’s the solution?

Internal = Nuge
External = dollar for dollar trade with 2022 1st going the other way.

fishman

Ouch! I believe Ryan signed for next year as well????

Bruce McCurdy

Yes, at reasonable 4C money. I think he can cover that bet.

Randle McMurphy

I assume Ryan will be streaky throughout the season. Hopefully, with his experience, he can elevate his game come playoff time.

Smart hockey player.

Last edited 2 years ago by Randle McMurphy
Sierra

What’s the bigger concern
97 w/o 29: 40%
Ryan: 23%

Material Elvis

Are you more concerned about 4-6 or 3-10. One of those looks worse to me but I’m not a mathematician.

Who is more likely to improve on their goal percentage 5v5? Hmm…..

Material Elvis

Another way to look at it:

Ryan has played 132.19 5v5 minutes and has contributed to 10GA.

McDavid has played 215.10 5v5 minutes and has contributed to 6GA.

GF is the metric that forwards have the most impact on and Ryan has been ice cold since the second week of the season. He has been amazing at faceoffs and penalty killing. I don’t see his 5v5 GF improving by much. McDavid is still creating offense and has had numerous GF chances missed by JP and Hyman, so the odds are that his 5v5 GF goes way up.

As for GA, the forwards have less impact/control on that stat than defensemen and goalies. It was proven again last night by three costly mistakes made by defensemen that caused 3GA. How exactly is the forward group going to prevent the first two Buffalo goals? There’s nothing they could have done differently to change the outcome but the stat doesn’t allow for context. Yes, McDavid needs to improve slot awareness and coverage, no question, but the team around him needs to stop making the boneheaded plays that lead up to the HD slot scoring chances — that’s the real problem. And maybe he requires the goalie to make a big save once-in-awhile. A team is only as good as it’s weakest players, and that includes Ryan at the moment.

Sierra

speaking of numbers, one makes 12.5M, the other makes 1.25M.

one also plays with much better players than the likes of Zac Kassian.

but yes minus 7 is less than minus 2…obviously

Material Elvis

There’s another poster on this site who really moves the goalposts, too….

Look, I don’t know what your angle is but your argument implies that McDavid’s play is ‘the problem’. Just like Taylor Hall was ‘the problem’ from 2011-2016, some players will always fail to meet the unrealistic expectations of certain fans (“opposite fanboys”).

Death By Misadventure

At what point do we dismiss small sample size and start scratching our heads as to why McDavid can’t outscored at even strength?

€√¥£€^$

Foegele- McDavid-JP
McLeod-Drai-Hyman
Perlini-Nuge-Yamo
Benson-Ryan-Turris