How different will the player-type Ken Holland acquires while Jay Woodcroft is coach be from the Dave Tippett procured player group? I don’t really know the power a coach wields at the deadline, but it will be fascinating to see in the days ahead.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: 3 trade targets that could help Oilers this season and beyond
- Lowetide: Evan Bouchard’s new role with Oilers and the promising early results
- Jonathan Willis: With easy upgrades done, hard work remains for Oilers as trade deadline nears
- DNB: Oilers setting their sights on challenging trip ahead
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Raphael Lavoie has turned the corner as an NHL prospect
- Lowetide: The furious race to land Oilers’ open job on left defence
- DNB: Derek Ryan flourishing under new Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft
- Lowetide: Jay Woodcroft’s early Oilers roster challenges and possible upgrades
- DNB: Oilers picking Philip Broberg over Trevor Zegras is still debated.
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid’s remains a transcendent talent. Here’s why.
- DNB: Jay Woodcroft’s ascension to Oilers head coach is more than a dream come true: ‘Winning is a skill’
- DNB: Six signs of positive change surface for the Oilers in Jay Woodcroft’s victorious coaching debut
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021
WHAT TO EXPECT IN FEBRUARY
- On the road to: WAS (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: VEG, CHI, NYI (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 1-2-0)
- On the road to: SJS, LAK (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 2-0-0)
- At home to: ANA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: MIN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: TBY, FLA, CAR (Expected 0-2-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-4-2, 14 points in 12 games
- Actual February results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2021-22: 28-19-3, 59 points in 50 games
If the Oilers get three points from the next three games, that’s a win. I have the club finishing 0-2-1, that would bring them home 6-5-1, just a little shy of my original prediction. What a crazy month, wrapped inside a truly peculiar season.
TAMPA AND EDMONTON: A TRADE HISTORY
The Oilers sent veteran Petr Klima to the fledgling Lightning in 1993, for a third-round pick (Brad Symes) in the 1994 draft. Klima would score 28, 13, and 22 goals in TBay before being dealt. Symes didn’t play in the NHL. Edmonton acquired Bob Beers (he was a defenseman) for Chris Joseph in November of 1993, Lightning got the better of that deal.
The biggest trade between the two teams came in 1997, it was a Sather special. Edmonton dealt tough as nails defender Bryan Marchment, and two disappointing draft picks (Jason Bongisnore and Steve Kelly) for defenseman Roman Hamrlik and the rights to Paul Comrie. One of Sather’s better ‘after the Stanley’ deals in my opinion.
In June of 2014, Edmonton parted with Sam Gagner and acquired Teddy Purcell. They didn’t get any faster, or more skilled, but did gain plenty of experience. Two of my favourite Oilers, truth to tell.
HOLLAND AND EDMONTON: A TRADE HISTORY
Holland at the deadline sends away more than he should because (I think) he targets specific players instead of allowing the market to come to him. Mike Green, Andreas Athanasiou, those were significant payments. I have some sympathy because Covid interrupted everything, but it’s also true everything would have needed to turn out very well in order for the Edmonton side of the trade to cover the bet. In the same deadline window, a small deal (Tyler Ennis) might be his best mid-season trade so far in Edmonton.
WHAT KIND OF PLAYER IS A GOOD FIT FOR WOODCROFT?
It’s a question without an answer, yet. If we have a look at the men who were coached by Woodcroft and then played in the NHL, it’s a varied group:
- Potential starting goalie: Stuart Skinner
- Skill wingers: Kailer Yamamoto, Tyler Benson, Cooper Marody
- Two-way centers: Ryan McLeod
- Checking wingers: Patrick Russell
- Puck-moving blue: Evan Bouchard
- Two-way blue: Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, Philip Broberg
- Shutdown blue: William Lagesson, Markus Niemelainen
I don’t see a trend there, save to say the man (and Manson) developed a boatload of NHL prospects who played at least a little in the NHL. I excluded Jesse Puljujarvi because he played only four games for Woodcroft. Looking back, Chiarelli allowing himself to be talked into recalling JP by Ken Hitchcock was a mistake.
Jarred Tinordi
I was hoping the Oilers would be asking after Libor Hajek, even wrote about him recently for The Athletic. This is in ‘replacing Adam Larsson’s filthiness’ folder of Holland’s team building. Tinordi is 30 and has played in 109 NHL games in the 10 years since turning pro. His career five-on-five goal differential is 48-71, good for 40.3 percent goal share in the discipline. That’s why he has played in 109 of a potential 820 (or so) NHL games since turning pro. Hajek? His five-on-five goal share is 45-54, 45.4 percent. The good thing is Tinordi will cost less than Hajek and I’m not certain Hajek is an NHL player, either.
I look at these kinds of acquisitions as generally unproductive but not worth getting jazzed up about beyond checking the asset cost. It can be depressing, like the time Teemu Hartikainen’s rights were traded for Mark Fraser, but you can only get angry about so many things before people stop listening to you. This story means Holland is shopping in the wrong aisle, but we knew that and this isn’t going to be another Duncan Keith trade. Save your rage for the big stuff.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A big day on the Lowdown, beginning at 10 on TSN 1260. We’ll be joined by Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal, he’s uncovered some astounding facts about the 25 game splits for the Oilers this season. We’ll have Crossfire (pew! pew!) and Joe Osborne from Odds Sharks will talk about this Oilers road trip (bet the over?) and NBA second-half value. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. It’s already Wednesday!
Matt Murray to the Oilers in a package for Zack Kassian, Kyle Turris, Smith, the 2023 2nd and Lavoie. E4.
It’s too risky, Murray is playing well but for how long? It’s an interesting idea, though.
I’m beginning to think that Dustin Schwartz should have been booted with Tippett and Playfair.
Without question, and probably before then. We can’t point to his body of work with the Oilers as being successful.
Dave Tippett starts Smith (or Mikko) and he plays poorly – Fire Tippett
Dave Tippett throws Mikko under the bus – Fire Tippett
Of note, Woody starts Smith after a bad performance and he’s lit up and then mentions after the game that they only gave up 23 shots in the loss (which is essentially throwing Smith under the bus).
Where is the “Fire Woodcroft”.
Woodcroft just started, he’s not getting fired 7 games in. In any event, the common denominator here is Dustin Schwartz. I’d start there.
You see that as “essentially throwing Smith under the bus”, I see it as trying to draw a positive from the game. Tippet commented directly on the goaltending, Woody did not.
Also, if this was Woodcroft’s 3rd season as coach, I do believe the narrative may be different.
That is not throwing Smith under the bus.
It’s simple really, Tipps team would lose the game regardless of goaltending because Tipps would lose every single coaching battle that matters.
Everyone gets a clean slate with the new coach, Smith has used his redo’s up. The coach saying they only gave up 23 shots most likely means Smith is on back up duties at best going forward.
Holland decides who is on the 23 man roster. Skinner in Bakersfield is Holland’s decision.
I liked Broberg tonight.
Median dman evp/60 is .92
Looking at Dpairs that have had at least 3 evmin / gm together ( on roster at same time.
Ceci- Niemelainen 0.00 evga/60
Russell- Lagesson 1.68
Barrie – Niemelainen 1.70
Nutse – Barrie 2.39
Ceci- Lagesson 2.46
——————————— 2.62
Ceci – Broberg 2.73
Keith – Ceci 3.00
Nurse – Bouchard 3.06
Russell – Barrie 3.21
Koekkoek – Bouchard 3.87
notable 2-3 evmin/ gm
Barrie Lagesson 1.47 evga /60
Ceci – nurse 2.22
These 6 show signs of Final 4 def ability.
Ceci, 1.05 evp/60
Niemelainen, 0.00
Russell, .88
lagesson, .92
Nurse, .93
Barrie. .81
I dont know if I’m looking forward or dreading the point where skinner possibly has a rough patch and the mob descends with torches to burn him out…
Count me in for a swap the deck chairs type move.
-Griess in kosk out with sweetener
-Smith IR
-Skinner up.
-Barrie out in hockey trade (I do think there could be fit somewhere like CBJ or SEA as both seem short on prospects and not a lot of free agents likely lining up to play fir them short term)
-Braun in for apparently value of like 3rd round pick or 2nd tier prospect
If playoffs go crashing sideways due to perceived goalie issues – in lose or die game activate Smith and give him hail Mary chance to end career in glory.
the top 192 ( top 6) def Dmen median Evga is 2.62 evga/60.
All driven by open shot xSave%% ( xGA) for a given dmans side.
Current oiler Dmen:
Nielmalienen 2.07 evga/60
Lagesdon 2.53
—————————-
Russell 2.64
Keith 2.66
Ceci 2.66
Nurse 2.71
Barrie 2.92
Bouchard 3.15
Koekkoek 3.20
Broberg 4.39
Old Oilers are back.
what ever is the problem?
wait the Offence Lowetides!
why can’t we score like in the 80’s when avg, starter save% was .865
this seasons range of starter caliber save% is .939 to .903 = .036 range
the median is .917 which is .052 greater than .865.
.052/.036 = 144.4% greater than whole starter.
heck the worst is 903 -.865 = .038 better than avg 80’s goaltending.
Condors win 6-3 over the Barracuda. Skinner with the win, Holloway with 1g & 1a and Lavoie had a goal.
Honestly, the way Woodcroft has these guys playing, I’m excited to see Kassian play for him. The energy is palpable watching them under JW.
Who’s the goalie to acquire?? This is the hardest part. Insiders are saying Fluery is not coming here. I think it’s gotta be a vet, Varlomov or Holtby is my choices. But not sure either of those teams has much motivation to trade either of those guys! People say get a goalie but there really isn’t a great target right now that is realistic. Maybe in a few weeks that changes. It’s easy to say get a goalie but the options are few and far between.
Holland is much better at sweet talking guys it’s seems though. Convinced JP to come back, convinced Hyman and Kane to sign here. It’s a skill for sure. Come on Kenny time to sweet talk to MAF and convince him he needs to play with McDavid before he retires!
When Nashville gets bumped out of playoff picture, go after Saros.
LT suggested James Reimer in his Athletic post.
Analytics show that Reimer has been playing very well. Over his career he’s been consistently good, albeit unspectacular.
He’s on a low-$ contract through to 2023. Acquisition cost would be manageable as well.
All things considered I think it’s probably the best move we could make to upgrade the position without costing the moon.
If he gets actual buy-in from Kassian, I agree, that would be a real difference-maker. But I will believe it when I see it.
I didn’t believe it of these guys really, till I saw them repeat it tonight, after the loss to the Wild. Their confidence got shook by the Perry goal, but they reeled in back in and started to play right again. Pretty proud of the skaters tonight, actually.
Kassian doesn’t work hard and is incapable of reliably playing a system and loses most board battles for the puck (where it doesn’t involved hitting somebody).
Is it too much to ask ol Dutch to do something about the goaltending before the season gets flushed?
Am having flashbacks to 2005-06 when we ran Markkanen, Morrison and Conklin in search of consistency to no avail.
Not saying this team will go on that kind of run, but you watch they way they played a seasoned champ and you can see the possibilities.
Please and thank you.
Just a guess, but even with remotely average goaltending this year I see 10 more points
I’m getting 2006 vibes so hard from this team. Deep at forward, decent defense with some young guys coming along, and completely untrustworthy goaltending.
Holland needs to get this team a goalie before a promising teams goes off the rails.
Smith has to have the second one.
Now I don’t know how long Holland will let Smith’s training camp continue, but I’m sure the preference is to wait till closer to the trade deadline before making any moves. That will bring prices down and maybe get some NTCs to open up.
Smith keeps leaking the points though… and Holland will have to make a move. They know Skinner is the better goalie right now, but they would prefer not to put the pressure of this season on his shoulders. Not while there’s other options, including a move. If a trade can’t get done by the deadline, they will have no choice to call up Skins, and I have no doubt that at that point they will hand him the reins and see what he can do.
Not an easy trade though. Here’s what Holly needs:
–a reasonable price
–someone clearly better than what we have and can carry the load
–a team that wants something we have
–a player willing to come here if NTC is involved
–a willingness to take Koski back to balance cap hits if necessary
Holland won’t be seeing the first one right now for sure. And I don’t think I want to wake up to the news of a trade tomorrow because I think it would look pretty ugly for our side.
Going to be a game of chicken between need and cost.
If you had to pick a winner… which of those values would you want to see take that head-to-head?
Why do we clearly need someone better than what we have? It would actually be hard to get worse. Trade Koskinnen for Greiss. Easy peasy. If Greiss craps the bed, then trade him. It shouldn’t be this hard.
How do you simply trade away a goalie that craps the bed? You’d just burning through assets needlessly.
Koskinen is 5-0-1 in his past 6 starts going back over a month. HE’S NOT THE PROBLEM HERE.
The goaltending market right now is bad. Really bad. There’s no other way to put it.
Surprisingly, there’s not much available if anything that’s even a clear upgrade on what we have.
Korpisalo and Martin Jones are not good.
Dallas isn’t selling Holtby. They’re still trying to make the playoffs.
Varlimov has a 16 team no trade list.
Fleury won’t come to Canada and has a huge cap hit.
Reimer isn’t a huge upgrade for what he would cost.
Holland could try to patch the leaky boat by acquiring Forsberg who’s available for a low cost, but then he would have to do something with Smith or Koskinen.
Me, I would do something. I’d pick up Forsberg, give him a run and put Smith on waivers.
Then I’d look to dump Koskinen and bring up Skinner. If someone better than Forsberg shook loose at the deadline, I would consider that too.
I don’t trust Holtby’s stats anyways. Dallas is a shutdown team, heavily defensive-focused.
Varlamov has a chance. Might waive if his plan A falls through. Georgiev is a possibility but I’d think he’ll be too expensive for his track record.
If COL gets MAF, the hopefully Kuemper is in play.
My guess is that if they’re reduced to someone like Forsberg, they’d rather just give Skinner the reins and play Smith at backup. And they won’t know they’re reduced to someone like Forsberg till close to the actual deadline.
No fun.
Yes, I think Varlamov for Smith & a 2nd or something might do it. I’d like to see Chara and/or Mayfield included, and maybe they’d be interested in Barrie?
Demote Smith
Easy enough
Get a goalie? Demote Koski
Its pro sports and they are mature enough to deal with it
Or not. The fear of offending 1 or 2 vs offending the rest
I highly doubt it has anything to do with the fear of offending someone.
Free principal Skinner.
It will be inexcusable if they go into next season without a clearer idea of what Skinner is. Get him up here and in a rotation to give him 10+ more games. I’m clearly picturing the scenario where he stays in the minors for the rest of the season and the question being asked in the offseason is: can Skinner be counted on as a solid back-up or 1B?
Not to mention that he has been their best goalie this year (in limited action against easier teams).
6-2 Condors leading SJ with 4 minutes left in the 2nd.
Holloway with a goal and a assist.
nice
maybe the goal the other night was a bit of a monkey tosser.
Gotta love the Golden Nugget’s honorary half brother.
I know this isn’t the forum but he’s actually done it. We knew he was going to do it. But the idiot actually did it. I hope this isn’t one of those moments we remember forever and I sincerely pray for those in Ukraine. I don’t know about the people here but the prairies has always been a home to some great Ukranian folk.
Stay safe, and let the leaders of the world take swift yet calculated action, and let sensibility and peace ultimately win the day.
Hey LT,
Apologies for my snarky comments today.
I know the comments have been a source of grief for the last year or so. I will time myself out until the playoffs. (feel free to also send me to purgatory).
LT.
You can ban me for this…no problem.
But Russia is invading Ukraine and none of this hockey shit matters.
Millions of our brethren are about to die and we should all be spending our energies on their behalf.
Please, all, pray for their souls.
I noticed almost instant chem between Benson and Yamo when they were put together late in the game tonight. Obviously it was only a couple shifts but I thought they both seemed juiced once they were put together. With Kane I think.
Missed a great deal of the game due to cooking supper, homework, etc. I rarely get to see East coast games.
Did see Hyman’s goal and caught the last 5 minutes. Looked like a totally different team than the last 2 minute of the first period.
Was listening to the game on the drive home and it was 1-0 on only 5 shots. What shot # was the goal scored on?
Spoke about goalie coaches on yesterday’s thread and this is a weak point for this club. SV% be damned, sometimes you just need that one stop. Playing goal is such a tough thing. You may make 5 game saving stops per period for the whole game, but what do people focus on? That one you muffed on the 2nd shot of the game. Do goalies get the yips? It certainly feels that way sometimes.
If I’m Woodcroft, I need to have a chat with Dustin Schwartz. The big question I would ask is are you focusing on the mental or the technical? If both, what percentage are you splitting them into? Are you doing enough mental drills disguised as technical drills? Are you focusing on making the goalie a better goalie or a better athlete? One thing we did glean from the Soviets and other European nations was the notion of developing athletic skills. One glance at Tretiak juggling while dancing like a Cossack should tell you all you need about the need for better athletic skills. I sometimes feel this is lacking in today’s training of year round specialization and hockey academies.
When I speak of mental drills, one that comes to mind for me is one we would use for evaluation camps at the Best Ever program here in BC. The goalie starts on the post on his blocker side, guarding his post. On the other side just 20 feet off the far post stands a shooter with a puck. When he bangs his stick, the goalie must do a pad stack and try to stop the puck that is coming for the low corner. It is a drill designed for huge failure on the goalies part as one, they don’t do pad stacks these days and two, the shooter is told to shoot hard with a quick release (usually a snap shot). The SV% is atrocious, but that is not what you watch for. That is a moot point. What you are looking for is the reaction from the goalie. Does he get up quick and get ready for the next shot? Does he stop and adjust his gear? Does he get a drink? Does he dawdle? By now, you probably have figured that this is a very rough test for mental readiness. Of course, the SV% counts for something, but the focus is on the mental. You do this for 2 straight minutes and count the shots for the first 60 seconds and the second 60. I remember one young fellow who came to evaluation camp in Mackenzie 20 years ago. He amazed everyone, because not only did he not pause once during the entire drill, he never let a shot in at all. He had 13 shots in the first 60 seconds and 18 in the second 60, when most had fewer shots in the second 60. The shooter was a AAA senior level adult player. Suffice to say, we were all amazed and knew one day that we would pay money to see this kid play. Most of you know him. His name is Carey Price.
He begged the question, have you ever had players who were uncoachable? Yes. What could you teach/coach him that he didn’t already have.
Anyway, I’ve prattled on long enough and it’s time for me to get ready for my old timers game.
I think I miss coaching.
Did LT finally put a shock collar on the other troll?
I likely missed some of the missed calls for the Oil, but the worst were:
-The boarding on Foegle.
-The Hedman elbow on Drai.
-The Yammo mauling.
-Honorable mention goes to the 6 “holding” calls identical to the one Nuge got called on.
The play blown dead by Nurse being taken down into the goalie.
The late non-icing.
Just 17 sec of PP time is very rare. Oilers have had 3 or 4 games like this already this season.
Its clear Gary didn’t like the Oilers winning games solely with their PP early in the season.
Multiple interferences not called
In other news, Lavoie has another goal. 3-1 Condors after 1. That Skinner has a 0.66 SV%. What a bum. I kid, only 3 Shots for SJ that period.
I have to give TB credit. Have an active stick and getting the puck to the front of the net for grade A chances
Woody:
Competitive hockey game, held them 23 shots on net, a few breakdowns, some weird goals yes some things we can do better but has far as compete level some real good signs in our team game tonight.
I love Woody.
Hard not to. Only knock against him, if it even is one, is he doesn’t have the swagger. He’s not a swagger coach. I mean look at Cooper tonight. That’s a swagger coach. But I’m more than willing to trade that for the things he does well.
All is clear now… Kozari.
Skinner needs to be part of the rotation. I would trade smith before Mikko if possible
100%
I love Smith but that one is a heartbreaker, watching such a good effort by the team go to waste. With the team playing like this, I think you have more safety and confidence in having Skinner start a handful and try and catch lightning in a bottle. Lots of teams have ridden rookie/young goalies deep into playoffs. Skinner has had enough coffee to be a candidate for that type of run. I just don’t see it happening with the other two.
I agree why not see what Skinner can do. The other two have shown us what they can do and it is mediocre at best. Smitty is done, Woodie has an objective view on things so hopefully he sees it that way too.
I keep thinking Drai looks off, like maybe he’s got a nagging injury but then the other side of my brain reminds me he assisted on all 3 goals and rang a one-timer off the post.
Darnell Nurse played 19:57 at 5v5 tonight.
His CF-CA was 29-12.
Love how some fans bad mouth him. Contract isn’t the best but that was the price this offseason after continually giving him bridge deals. Imagine our team without him… yikes.
$9.25 million in cap space would get you almost any D you would like to acquire.
They just aren’t available to acquire in real life.
Like say, OEL?
Almost any ufa dman. All the others require a trade too.
But likely a dman that good have a bunch of other teams vying for his services too.
Then you end up signing a guy like keith cause theres noone else left.
I think these types of games can really take a team down a negative spiral if coache don’t respond the right way. Gotta put Mikko in next game. He can’t be worse than Smith at this stage can he??
Yes, yes he can.
Well, he’s 5-0-1 and .919 in his past 6 starts going back a month. He’s not a 60-game starter but he’s most certainly the better player right now.
Watched the Tampa broadcast, and the announcers were confused by at least one of the oilers penalties, the non icing on Tampa late in the game, the mystery whistle when Yammo missed the net – they said “really happy Yamamoto missed the net because that woulda been a hell of a controversy”. I just think it is worth while to point out that away broadcasting is incensed by the oilers being ripped off. Kosari is a thing. The NHL is a joke. Tough to argue.
To the down voters, I’m literally just reporting away broadcasting quotes. I guess you dislike the Tampa broadcast crew? Take it up with them.
They were also saying McDavid and Drai should play more, especially in the last half of the 3rd.
I enjoyed the crew. They were capable of complementing the opposing team and weren’t total homers.
Trade stone hands while he still has value a 6 year old would of hit the net.
Funny you say that — my 6 year old was watching the game and was adamant that he could have put that in ha ha.
For what it’s worth, that wasn’t the “Tampa broadcast crew.” It was a national TNT broadcast, with Eddie Olczyk, Kenny Albert, Keith Jones, and Anson Carter, Rick Tocchet, @biznasty etc on the panel. It’s an offical co-production with the NHL. I do enjoy these broadcasts. Everybody knows what they’re talking about, and they’re even-handed and often funny. But this wasn’t a partisan broadcast team.
This is looking like a very strong Oiler team… sans a position or two.
This is true, and I’m actually feeling very happy about the team.
Not goaltending
Which is everything,when you don’t have it.
An excellent game by the Oilers. I like how they are playing since the coaching change. Sure we’d like one more save, someone other than McDrai to score or for the bounces to go the way of the Oil.
I like the total lack of quit. Tampa had to learn grease and dirt game to survive Florida. Oil will learn too
At least if they were to somehow meet again this season, the team should have some confidence now thy can play with these guys.
Goaltending cost the Oilers again
Great effort by the guys skating. This loss is on Smith. It would be ridiculous if he plays the next two.
Kenny can’t need any more evidence. Do your job. Get us a goalie.
The boys played their hearts out tonight. Warriors. You just can’t beat a team like Tampa with AHL goaltending.
Would have been happy to have our AHL goaltender in that one
Nice response. Lol
Good game – some wobble, the team played well but we’re done in by the zebras and the difference in goaltending aptitude.
Free Skinner!
That was a heck of an effort, damn shame not to get at least a point out of it.
Luck was definitely not on their side tonight, man.
No. Mike smith was on their side of it. Had nothing to do with luck
Which goals should he have stopped?
I’d count Stamkos’ as a maybe, though Lagesson tipped it and it found the only hole there.
Which others?
1 2 and 3.
Wow. As I said I agree to an extent on 2.
Shore put #1 in.
#3 was Point potting the 2nd of his 2 unmolested HD chances.
So disagreed.
It hit Shore because of a poor rebound. Smith than couldn’t move as it trickled by him.
1) So poor read on the Maroon move makes him sell out to make the save.
2) Poor rebound right into the slot hits Shore
3) Because he put himself in a bad position he can’t recover and watches the puck trickle by.
Mens’ league level goaltending to start the game.
It didn’t ‘hit’ Shore. Shore put it in the net with his stopping motion.
And there was no ‘move’ by Maroon to make Smith sell out. He shot it on his backhand from in close. The rebound did come out in front where Shore deposited it.
The first goal off Shore was a bad rebound and stoppable as it trickled by, the Stamkos goal was putrid positioning. So the first 2 goals were flat out bad. Oilers 100% win that game with even slightly below average goaltending.
Again 7 of the last 10 games Smith has let in 2 goals on 6 shots or less. He should be sent to the minors. Let Skinner run with it and Koski back him up. Smith is washed, and blames it on the D to boot.
Also every HD scoring chance that hits the net in the first 10 minutes of every game doesn’t have to go in. NHL goalies are allowed to make saves on difficult shots too. The other teams goalies do it all the time.
A bad rebound? Should he not kick it out when it’s a pad save? It’s amusing, some complain he didn’t kick it out, others complain he kicked it out and other complain he caused the chaos.
How about Laggs, Broberg. Shore and Benson doing sweet f’all? Laggs and then Shore were chasing from the Ozone and the other 2 did nothing. 2 Bolts beat 4 Oilers and people blame the goalie.
I’d like Smith to have not been scored on and he could have been better, but the other 4 are the reason for the goal.
Objectivity.
Usually when a team has a decent scoring chance someone made an error, that doesn’t excuse poor goaltending.
He kicked it right into the slot because he made a reactionary save instead of a positional save. When a puck ends up right in the slot that’s the worst possible place to send a rebound.
~Objectivity~
Good lord jp, an NHL goalie has to stop, or be in a position to stop, NHL quality shots. He is not doing it, not reliable at all. Good on the rest of the team for not giving up on the game plan and sticking with it.
100% on Mike Smith.
Bounces still not going the way of the Oilers. Frustrating for us fans and the players no doubt.
The Oilers skaters played a good to great game. They were let down by Nicholson, Holland and Smith.
if this doesn’t cement the desperate need for a change in goal and NHL reffing I don’t know what will?!?
That was a very winnable game except for goaltending once again……
Need to play Smith next game. He is only 5 more terrible games away from playing mediocre.
Embrace the suck I say!
Hyman was supposed to bury that tip.
That’s what she said!
Any type of reasonable tending and this is a win…..
Earn your money, Barrie…
Yup. He sure did…