Between 2015 and 2018, the Edmonton Oilers drafted seven already productive NHL players and five fringe NHL players. The haul includes a No. 1 overall pick, a No. 4 and No. 10 overall pick and a No. 22 selection. All others came from outside the first round.
Between 2015 and 2018, the New Jersey Devils drafted seven already productive NHL players and five fringe NHL players. The haul includes a No. 1 overall pick, a No. 6 and No. 12 overall pick and a No. 17 selection. All others came from outside the first round.
The No. 1 overall pick has varying value depending on the year a team gets No. 1 overall. Safe to say Connor McDavid brings more value than Nico Hischier and that’s just a fact no disrespect to anyone.
Taking those two names away, which team drafted better? And, as a followup, which team has used those assets most wisely?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Can the Oilers fix their defence with the current personnel?
- DNB: Why getting Mike Smith back now is important to the Oilers’ present and future plans
- Lowetide: The five most effective Oilers mid-season recalls since 1979-80
- Lowetide: A complete review of the Bakersfield Condors’ 2021-22 season to date
- DNB: For Oilers’ Kailer Yamamoto, the goal has always been to belong with the best
- Lowetide: Oilers prospects have a long history of world juniors excellence
- DNB: Jesse Puljujarvi’s next contract? Expectations for Dylan Holloway? Oilers mailbag
- Lowetide: If the Oilers add a big deadline asset, Philip Broberg will be the ask
- Lowetide: How Jesse Puljujarvi has earned role as Oilers’ top right winger next to Connor McDavid
- Lowetide: 7 AHL trade targets that could immediately improve Oilers’ NHL forward depth
- DNB: How Stuart Skinner became Oilers’ ‘young goalie on the rise’
- Lowetide: Oilers still haven’t replaced Adam Larsson’s nasty edge and goal suppression ability
- DNB: Oilers’ 5-game losing streak highlights 5 glaring issues that need to be fixed
- Lowetide: If the losing continues will the Oilers make a coaching change?
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: PIT (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: LAK, MIN, BOS, CAR, TOR, CBJ (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 1-5-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: STL, NJD (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- Overall expected result: 5-6-0, 10 points in 11 games
- Actual December results: 3-7-0, 6 points in 10 games
- Oilers in 2021-22: 18-12-0, 36 points in 30 games
As stunningly difficult as December has turned out for the Oilers, a win today and the club would land just one game below expectations. For folks who don’t follow these things by month by writing them on your calendar, colour me disappointed. However, I’m a forgiving sort, so here are my predictions for each month and the results for each month:
- October expected: 5-2-0, 10 points in 7 games; Actual: 6-1-0, 12 points in 7 games
- November expected: 8-5-0, 16 points in 13 games; Actual: 9-4-0, 18 points in 13 games
Obviously, this will be the first month during the 2021-22 campaign the club will finish shy of the projection. It could be a blessing in disguise, as general manager Ken Holland may be forced to step in early and clean up some roster issues.
OILERS V. DEVILS 2015-18 DRAFT
If we take the McDavid versus Hischier portion of the 2015-18 drafts out of the conversation, it’s a fairly even playing field as I see it. Neither team had a crazy advantage in draft position and there’s plenty of quality. I’m going to list the players from both teams in the order I would re-draft them, your mileage may vary.
I will tell you that (in my opinion) the top four names on this list are going to have long and productive NHL careers. My list would have some variation of those four names no matter the weather.
The “role” described for each man comes from Puck IQ’s ‘elite’ listings. Smith is ranked as a third pair player this season based on TOI versus elites, so he looks out of place but my suspicion is that it’s only temporary. He’s young, maybe needs an Andrej Sekera mentor, but I’ll bet on Smith every time.
Zacha and Marino are damned valuable and having fine seasons, and Bratt versus Yamamoto is a fascinating conversation. I might be underrating Blackwood and Sharangovich, will admit that knowing one team well and the other not so much puts me at a disadvantage.
OILERS VS. DEVILS 2015-18 DRAFT AND TRADES
This is the haul including trades, so Ethan Bear and John Marino are gone, Warren Foegele and Duncan Keith are inserted. I also added in Andreas Johnsson who was part of a New Jersey trade.
I would give the Oilers a slight edge in drafting, but the Devils the edge in getting more on their trade return—or to put it more accurately, New Jersey bled less in trades than the Oilers. I think that’s fair. You?
TODAY’S GAME
Edmonton has a great opportunity to salvage something in December and it’s important for the team to keep pace with the Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights. I’m confident this team will hit the deadline as a buyer, but if the next 30 days go poorly, expect change.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A special Friday edition of the Lowdown gets underway at 10 this morning. The first hour will be the Don Wheaton GM on Whyte pregame show, featuring Matt Kassian with the “Keys to the Game” and a look at the urgency of the moment for this Oilers organization. Hour Two will feature Steve Lansky, and his view of the team, plus what may come if the struggles continue. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
Give Konovalov the next start.
Ovechkin now with the most PP goals in NHL history.
If that’s the goal then I’ll agree OTF start are a red flag.
I was trying to get an idea how we should expect Derek Ryan to fare over his 2 year contract with the Oilers. And considering his exceptional on ice numbers over multiple years, I still think OTF starts are one red flag vs. multiple green flags for the player.
I’m not sure what ‘replacement level’ is. Was Ryan’s last season in Calgary replacement level? Were any of his seasons? A number of the failures on the OTF list seem like guys who were never above replacement level at any point.
And I sort of get excluding Spezza as a guy who’s career wasn’t over, but I also don’t entirely. I guess if nothing else excluding both Spezza and the guys who were never more than replacement level seems fair.
To try to account for the quality of Ryan’s high OTF starts season I looked for players in the top 20 of OTF starts and similar on ice numbers (this isn’t including his 1.90 P/60 on the plus side, or the big picture negative that he only scored 2 goals in 43 games).
From the start of NST data in 07-08 to 18-19 there wasn’t a single forward who played 500+ minutes, was top 20 in OTF starts for a given year, and had 58% or better SF% and GF% (Ryan had 58%SF and 62%GF in 20-21). Ryan had a very unusual season with truly exceptional results in most ways but also some red flags.
I also looked at a more relaxed criteria (55%+ SF and GF) and found 7 seasons that qualified.
09-10 Colin Fraser ——– 24yo
10-11 Torrey Mitchell —– 25yo
10-11 Mathieu Darche —- 33 yo
10-11 Tim Jackman ——- 28 yo
11-12 Jason Arnott ——– 37yo
13-14 Vladimir Tarasenko 21yo
17-18 Brett Ritchie ——– 24yo
Not exactly a murders row of players, including a couple of top players and probably 5 guys who weren’t considered difference makers at any point. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised in the meh quality of this group since we know on ice results vary a lot year to year (thanks Georgexs), so showing up here is as much about luck as anything else.
I put a bit more stock in Ryan’s results though because he strung together 3/4 seasons with at least 54%SF, 59%GF, 55%xGF and 1.75P/60.
Of the 7 comparables above, the two guys over 30 didn’t fare well. Arnott retired after his age 37 season (despite quality on ice results and 0.47 points/game). Darche only played one year after the high OTF season, but he was more tweener than even journeyman, so he doesn’t seem a fair comparable either IMO.
Anyway, I’m happy to stop this now, it’s taken more of my time than expected as well. I agree you’ve identified a red flag, but I still don’t think Ryan hitting a wall was reasonably predictable.
No players from that list over 30 went on to play above replacement level in their subsequent seasons. You truncated the quote, I’ll have to look back, but juxtaposing those two lines suggests that it was worded poorly by myself. To clarify, I was referring to their career arc in the subsequent seasons after the season in which they had they hit the OTF/60 leaderboard. Their subsequent seasons were so poor that you don’t even need a definition for replacement level.
First, I have immense respect for how much work you put into this, but I completely disagree with your methodology.
If you’re looking at SF and GF rates for top line players, you can fairly reasonably trust those numbers since you know a McDavid is usually going to play against the best while also leading their team in ice time.
I don’t trust those numbers for fourth line centers nor bottom pairing defensemen.
Right off the bat, Derek Ryan had the best shot and goal rates on the Flames last year, but was 12th in time on ice.
Either Derek Ryan was not remotely full value for those metrics, or his coach was an idiot and should have played him far more minutes higher in the lineup.
I Would think it’s obviously the former not the latter.
If someone can tell me what Tippett brings to this team, no snark, I’m honestly curious.
If the Oilers had zero coaching staff I’m not convinced they’d be much worse off.
Off hand, I recall a McDavid/Draisaitl team with the worst PK in modern history (or close enough to). Pretty sure that was the season before Tippett’s first, when they were top-5 in the league with basically the same player personnel.
Since Tippett joined, the PP went up a notch from best in the league to annual contender for the NHL record.
How much of that is based on strategy and coaching, vs individual player’s prime years, I honestly have no idea.
But it’s interesting to mull over.
To add:
Year GF/60(PP) GA/60(PK)
17-18 5.09 8.39
18-19 7.85 9.21
————————-
19-20 10.64 5.15
20-21 10.56 6.13
21-22 12.49 6.32
The change in both special teams is truly remarkable, and I don’t see any reasonable argument that it’s just due to McDavid and Draisaitl’s growth.
He’s a bit stubborn on his deployment. If he lowered the minutes of Nurse-Barrie, I think he would get improved results. The other guys (Lagesson, for example) need to feel like they have a bigger role on the team. Tippett could easily make this small change and get overall improvement.
sort of a non-answer but without being in the room and on the ice during practice it’s really hard to determine what any coach brings; statistically, naturally you can post results and comparisons from previous years but that’s multi-factorial w both player and GM decisions at play
Right.
I appreciate the comments here but if Tipp is deflecting blame off D deployment we need to dial down on who is responsible for the special teams.
Because the 5v5 with 2 Hart win era has been terribad for 3 years.
But if you ask the MSM Smith deserves a Noble Prize and McDavid and Draisaitl need to change their games. , 🙄🙄🙄🙄
Special teams are golden since he arrived. At the expense of five-on-five mind you, but it’s there.
But that’s the job of his assistants.
Bizarro world for the Oilers defense 5v5 goal differential:
Russell____ +2 (11-9)
Koekkoek___ 0 (8-8)
Lagesson___ 0 (4-4)
Bouchard__ -1 (24-25)
Barrie_____ -1 (21-22)
Keith______ -1 (19-20)
Niemalainen -2 (1-3)
Samorukov_ -2 (0-2)
Nurse______ -3 (18-21)
Broberg____ -7 (2-9)
Ceci_______ -8 (18-26)
Not bizarro world…. Ricki world
#GoAskRicki
Ha!
Oilers have managed to sell the future but with the 2 top players in the NHL almost certain to leave eventually – you wonder what managements “Plan R” will be.
Oilers are the Cleveland Indians of the NHL.
do u mean Browns?
Am out of touch so lol missed their new exciting name change. But sure, Cleveland anything will do including Browns.
Carter Savoie NOT in the lineup for Denver tonight.
I know it’s early to judge after 5 games with 2 wins, but I think the g/a 3.91 svp .897 goalie might not be the future of Oilers goal tending.
Add: depending on 40 year old goalies.
#2022 sounds like #2020Too!
I am not exactly sure why, but I found todays OT loss especially soul crushing. We pretty much had our full line up, our “starting” goalie back, Conner pots 2 as does Yamo and we lose to a below average team????
I guess it blows away the mirage, that at the start of this season, we believed that we were a top 8 team. I feel sorry for Katz. He has placed his trust in the wrong people. He has chosen those he has looked up to as heros, those who were successful in the long gone past and those with “hockey” reputations. This is so apparent when you look at exceptional organizations like Carolina or Tampa. I don’t think a Nicholson/Holland led organization will be successful.
I am sure the team will rebound and win again and perhaps get in to the playoffs. I doubt they win if they get there. Goaltending, team defensive play, coaching and lack of grit will be tough to overcome.
To add insult to injury we will have to listen to HH gloat!
My apologies for such a dismal post on the verge of a New Year!
I hope that all of you and your families have a safe and prosperous New Year and we finally put Covid in the rear view mirror!
Best post of the year.
Year ain’t over yet
Happy New Years Tiders!
I’ll throw my hat in for the next Stephen Sheps music blog.
I’ll be the webmaster. I know my hockey far better than my music.
I like this song.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi6qonDrY_1AhXRMX0KHdJGBY0QyCl6BAgGEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dqod03PVTLqk&usg=AOvVaw3hV_u0eLVbP5xGkLXuEIM3
2022!!!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41Vo1Nyi7YOfAyW4f4XOCd?si=1Q0nOZesSH2bbWk3cpCsXg&utm_source=copy-link
Sorry Sheps, had trouble posting before. Here’s a link of my best of, one song per artist.
Top albums off the top of my head are
Turnstile (AOTY)
Idles
Torres
Magdalena Bay
Nation of Language
Beach House
Mdou Moctar
Petrov had an assist on North Bay’s only goal in a 5-1 loss earlier today, finishing the 2021 portion of the season tied for 2nd in points (52).
2022 will begin with Petrov vs. Tullio in a matinee matchup tomorrow.
I had to check, but in case anyone’s wondering, Petrov is 2nd on his team AND 2nd in the OHL in scoring. Hot damn, that’s a solid debut (for a 6th round pick!).
So, if the Oilers lose to the Islanders (second of B2B and after New Years Eve in NYC) and to the Rangers, does Tippet get fired?
Holland won’t fire Tippett in-season. It’s going to be a long second half of the season on the comment board.
I get that people here legit hate me, but Tippett has checked out. He wants to brush his dentures with polydent and relax in Arizona.
I don’t think anyone hates you.
I don’t hate you — no reason to. Also, he is not a denture wearer.
That stuff will bung you right up.
This is a conversation for Oilers fans, not troll pricks.
Mike Smith last two games: .879, .854. Not going to win with that level of goaltending regardless who is coaching the team.
I feel like he is going back on IR tonight anyway
I mentioned this earlier.
If he does, the Oilers could call-up Skinner with zero cap hit (as he would fall under the emergency exemption under $1MM).
At 40 Mike enters IR with a bottle of wine chilled in a bucket waiting from all those IR reward points he’s now earning.
I met Ken Ling at Cross Cancer & Informed him that thei Amalytic Dept was using ,y proprietary work.
King had asked one of the guys if he Knew me!
Sadly Hebpassed before we were in Contact.
Will see what Happens thru post media!
Would like to secure my Familyies future.
As well,as See Ron Gunnvilles family be Compensated for his Table Hockey Goalie Movement
Part 2 of alll proper Analytics!
When the Oilers hire you, can we send trade/line combination suggestions directly to you here??
Only if they include Fistric.
No can do, Sup?
Stupid query couldn’t delete comment.
Nurse at his worst is a bottom 3 def dman
o one give a shit about his #10 fwd evp/60
Tipett is the elite open shot def sys coach.
when you have 6 bottom 40 def Dmen they stand zero chance
.50 GAA to 1.75 GAA in final 4 series 4 wins.
Defence, defence, & Elite Open shot save% goalies like Lehrer, Fluery, Murray, Smith,
You can get away with be.ow AvgAvg goaltending when you are Tampa deep at defence
Murray, the guy waived from OTT of all teams? Whom nobody claimed, for free?
Yeah. That guy’s elite.
Ha!!!!
Matt Murray
then dust off Fayne and Rickis team is good to go
https://twitter.com/dkingbh/status/1477032576883822594?s=21
“ I think we’re officially on Fire Tippett watch now and so this is the best time I have felt about this season since the win over the Rags. These lineup decisions and this gameplan isn’t good enough and there’s no hope or point in sticking with it”.
Big surprise there.
Nurse finished with 29:09 minutes today, which is fine if he’s playing his best, but he did have a rough game today. That penalty he took almost caused a goal against from a 3 on 1 rush chance. Overall, he and Barrie got killed in CF%, shot differential, scoring chance differential — pretty much everything. He could have given Lagesson some reasonable minutes (he looked good when he played last). The Keith-Ceci numbers from today’s game are incredibly good; arguably Keith’s best game as an Oiler.
One more nail in the coffin. It’s getting hard to see wood for all the nails. Hmm.
Pucks directed at the net that are:
Blocked
Miss the net
Shot into Goalie Equipment Have 0% chance of going in.
Exclude those from any shot charting.
onlyOpen ( Scoreable shots need be looked at.
The winning goal was shot at the goalie’s equipment – Smith let it in.
And the bank shot off Smith
Except for the multiple goals that were scored shooting directly at Smiths equipment
Team played hard but poorly.
Those might just be the 2 biggest goals of Yamamoto’s life.
https://twitter.com/dkingbh/status/1477036233062817801?s=21
“Dave Tippett dressed seven dmen and yet basically only played five of them. And Nurse played 27 min and was fucking brutal. I also have never seen anyone play better with only eight min than McLeod. Tippett is pure panic now and he gassed a bunch of fellows in G1 of a BTB”.
Tip just tipnin along.
Benson HS’ed so Willie can get 5 shifts and 2:45 TOI. Nice.
Insanity.
To go from telemarking moguls 6 yrs ago.
to having Cancer for ( Dr suspect last 7 yrs)
to ventilator for 11 of last 14 days & finding it difficult to rollout of bed, & walk with a Kane is a Sureal As it gets.
Suter Did Ak Post media About the husband of Sports Editor he met at Cactus Corner.
I may get to ask him about His decision to stay in gm Knowing that he understood their is only one way to win & Proper mgmt & Coaches have almost zero real input.
look at the top 5 Final 4 orgs.
Not even a Question who is final bound this yr.
If I bet I would put my money on. Flames in final!
one way to win.
(Get them to play like Robots)
Totally disagree with much of what I can decipher of your theories, though not all, but I wish you well.
And fuck the fLames. Seriously. Fuck those guys.
This team can’t seem to win without Kassian in the lineup.
.
.
.
.
.
Or with Kassian in the lineup.
The call is coming from inside the house. It’s not Kassian.
His AAV could make a difference elsewhere.
Play him and it’s (usually) dead cap space.
Bench him, and it’s dead cap space.
Which is too bad, because I like the element he brings when he’s (rarely) on his game.
Connor already up to 25 minutes got caught on an icing and had to take a faceoff. I wonder if he was paired back some minutes he would be fresher and the outcome much better.
I can’t help but feel sometimes fewer minutes for Leon and Connor would be better for the team overall.
Is that you Tortorella?
I think Babcock would concur with Torts.
Mike Keenan would play McDavid 25 minutes a night but they would have to be 45 second shifts.
Sather wouldn’t sign 30-year olds to retirement contracts. He like his bottom six cheap, young, and hungry. And when one of them was in a slump, he would play them with McDavid.
His strategies are sound, he has a winning % and he has a SC. Enough said.
Yes, and Nurse, too.
Smith made some good saves but goals 3 and 6 were pretty soft.
Hated the coverage on the Jersey 4th goal. The Oilers must lead the league in turning 3 on 3 opposing rushes into 2 on 1’s. They seem to all sell out on pressuring the puck carrier, and no one ever picks up the trailer.
Who could have predicted that an oft-injured 40 year old starting goalie would struggle with injuries???
Two year contract — Kenny’s a grinder!
I dunno…seems I recall some dude who kept posting this:
40
Hey, Dude.
You know, in the olden days, a dude was shorthand for a pimple on a donkey’s ass.
Just sayin’.
Yeah, you were the only one questioning the signing of an almost 40 year goalie. Riiiiight.
I was not the only one but there were dozens of posters defending the decision.
Dozens? I don’t recall that. Most were skeptical; almost nobody liked the two year deal.
A whole bunch here defended it as the “only thing to do” like usual, or were at least what I’ll describe as very okay with it.
It was never okay. Bad bet. Full stop.
And even then – if the coach had a clue how to manage Smith and Koskinen, they’d be just good enough because of the power of the forwards that they’d be in position to add a real goalie at the deadline. He has no idea who to start, when to pull, what to do. He just lets it all play out. Might as well have a rando back there.
There probably weren’t dozens, but I was one who did defend the signing. And I’ll stand by it.
There’s a lot of hockey left to play this season. Smith is paid as a backup. Lots of room for upside at his salary.
You are right about most things that you post; let’s see how it plays out.
Well there’s lots of room for it to go sideways. But also lots of room for Smith to be more valuable than his salary, IMO. We’ll definitely have to wait to see the end result.
I’m sure there were dozens defending Ty Dellandrea too
VGK without:
Lehner
Martinez
Stone
Pacioretty
Eichel
Lead ANA 3-0 after 2.
Shots 35-10
Goals from 3 different lines…depth scoring
They are owning them this game.
Shots now 42-14..scoring chances very close to that.
Gibson has been outstanding.
Great for Vegas but this is a Oilers blog sir. But you wouldn’t care as your just around to troll.
McDavid, Drai and a good AHL team should beat the Devils. Goaltending didn’t help, but we should have dominated this game from start to finish. Have no idea what the problem is or the solution, but there is something wrong with this team.
Does the coach need to be fired, even if he’s not the problem?
I think yes. If the coach isn’t the problem, then this team needs two absolute home run off seasons to be in the conversation for the cup.
We are a two star team with a few others guys who aren’t bad. Team has been getting lousy goaltending but what is worse is team defensive play. Give up far too many dangerous chances. The D is constantly getting scorched on bad pinch’s. The team also plays too passively. If we don’t win the special teams battle we normally don’t win. We haven’t been winning that battle for a while. I don’t know if our roster is flawed or our coaching is bad but obviously something is wrong. The team on the ice recently is not a play off team. Yea I know Covid, injuries etc etc but all teams are having similar issues at different times.
I think you meant to say: there are some things wrong with this team.
Has anyone literally checked the water?!
It’s hard when it’s frozen…
No update on Nuge yet. Tip hasn’t talked to the doctors.
He mentioned to TD mid-way through the 3rd that something was up.
One thing that was confirmed tonight: Kailer Yamamoto starts to be fire offensively starting December 31 each hockey season (and this lasts until, at least mid-March)!
And he is NOT useless
Pretty sure anyway
MSG+ broadcast crew did some digging and looked into the rule on the stoppage review.
Here’s how they read rule 38.2b on air:
“A play that results in a goal call on the ice where the defending team claims that the play should have been stopped by reason of any play occurring in the offensive zone that should have resulted in a play stoppage caused by the attacking team but did not could result in a challenge.”
As they went on to say, it was clearly a reviewable play and the refs botched the call.
We were screwed out of a crucial power play at a critical moment in the game.
I doubt any judgement call by an official falls under that rule, which is why it was ultimately ruled to be unchallengeable.
The two cases where it was used successfully was puck in the netting and a hand pass, both non-judgement calls.
Possession is a judgement call.
The key word in there is ATTACKING team. The stoppage (or lack thereof) was caused by the defending team.
Hey OP, need a protege?
As Younger Oil said the key is ”attacking” team. The Devils broadcast crew mentioned this briefly in game.
The play they tried to review was by Hamilton/defending team, thus not reviewable. The refs blew it by trying to review something that should not have been reviewed, and also missed the original call. Their final call of ‘un-reviewable’ was correct though.
Yes, you’re both quite right. Still stinks though.
Yeah, though the *right* call was no goal and and Oilers PP (IMO it should have been whistled down when Hamilton batted it up the boards). So I’ll take the goal and no PP as the more sure thing rather than getting greedy 🙂
Crappy that it ended like that but lots to like in this game. Lot of guys contributing. McD was flying. D had some iffy moments but also great ones. Smith was Great and terrible. We deserved to lose in OT. Devils had two grade A chances but scored on a grade B. Just a strange, weird, wonderful game.
Walk through a few doorways, fellas. Back at er tomorrow.
The Oilers are in the entertainment industry
Point!
I’ve moved from the Tippett gets a shot at winning it this year to fully in the camp of he must go now.
His tactics and inability to manage goaltenders have already cost this team a solid shot at the division title and all the benefits that come along with that. It may also cost them a ton more. You can’t get back this stretch of games they’ve gone through even if you’re on fire the rest of the season. It’s already too late. What a damn freaking shame.
The man is out of ideas.
Goaltending has made alot of coaches look clueless ….and genius.
Holland needs to plug this hole before labeling coaching as the problem imo
He put smith in the net
And kept him there.
When the Devils took a 4-3 lead, I thought the result no longer matters. The team is playing like garbage and doesn’t deserve to win. There’s something wrong with this team. They play with no pace, no confidence, no structure and no will to win.
But but but….
Free Tippett lol
Entertaining, but man this team has alot of issues. Games are still mostly goalie so start there
Oilers are up by 1, get their first powerplay with under 5 to go.. Lose the game that they were again playing from behind and chasing.
OT.. Chasing the entire time.
Sweet systems.
Leon generally buries that insurance goal…. sigh.
It’s true he does, he didn’t so Derek Ryan was thrown out for the last minute of the pp for a feel good moment.
that killed the Oilers momentum when Ryan blew a tire behind the net
I wouldn’t be surprised if the continuing injury places Smith back on IR after tomorrow (he’ll back up Mikko).
Skinner can be recalled for no cap hit at this point (and they might need to “emergency recalls” if Nuge is out for a bit).
Well that was one of the more entertaining afternoon games Oil have played
Mike Smith was great in that game. Mike Smith was awful in that game.
That’s no good for me.
Is that the words for a new song?
Definitely a country song…not the fun kind, either…
Or a polka.
Smith needs to stop that one. Too many soft goals today.
The goaltending is losing us games. I get you gotta let him get back into it but this team has no time for easy bleeding.
Damn. Two great saves by Smith and that’s the shot that goes in? That hurts…
Well that was an infuriating end….
Absolutely awful GA in overtime.
He shouldn’t have seen 2 periods, much less 4.