Stuart Skinner, Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan McLeod, Leon Draisaitl, Kailer Yamamoto, Jesse Puljujarvi. That’s nine men who remain from the team Holland inherited. Names like Olivier Rodrigue and Tyler Benson could still impact things, but there’s a mammoth amount on talent down the line since the change in managers. Anyone you’d like back? I know, I know. Oscar Klefbom.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Can Oilers prospect Reid Schaefer make the NHL leap next season?
- New DNB: Oilers throwing away points as defencemen continue to make crucial mistakes
- Lowetide: Inside Oilers’ Philip Broberg’s progress as an NHL defenceman
- DNB: Why the Oilers need to make a trade to give Darnell Nurse more help on defence
- Lowetide: Ranking Oilers GM Ken Holland’s 5 best trades in Edmonton
- DNB: Oilers’ Klim Kostin much happier in Edmonton than he was with Blues
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2022
- DNB: Connor McDavid questions NHL rules, Darnell Nurse’s gaffes prove costly in Oilers loss
- Lowetide: Will Oilers pro scouts help identify quality at the deadline?
- DNB: If the Oilers can trade Jesse Puljujarvi, where is he likely to end up?
- Lowetide: How Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi is redefining his role
- DNB: The Oilers don’t need someone like Zack Kassian. They need more efforts like this
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers avert disaster with strong finish to November
- DNB: Oilers GM Ken Holland Q&A: Can the team be improved? If so, how?
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers’ Jack Campbell will be better, but can he be a true No. 1?
- Lowetide: Oilers rookie Stuart Skinner is chasing history
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers reasonable expectations for every player in 2022-23
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: MTL, WAS, ARI, MIN (Expected 3-1-0) (Actual 3-1-0)
- On the road to: MIN, NAS (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- At home to: STL, ANA (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 0-1-1)
- On the road to: NAS, DAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: CAL, SEA (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- December expected result: 9-5-1, 19 points in 15 games
- December actual result: 4-4-1, nine points in nine games
- November results: 7-7-0, 14 points in 14 games
- October results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2022-23: 17-14-1, 35 points in 32 games
Championship teams don’t blow entire home stands. I don’t think the Oilers problem was an effort issue, more specific plays that had great importance. A tough night for Evan Bouchard, and Darnell Nurse, but they weren’t alone. The Oilers are a brilliant team with too many players who cheat for offense, and this homestand was rancid because of it.The Edmonton Oilers cost themselves three points this weekend, worked hard but not smart. Unforgiveable. Fixable.
SUMMARY
- Leon Draisaitl picked up two assists, four shots, one HDSC, a giveaway and went 39 percent on 23 faceoffs. He and McDavid checked down to different lines midway through the game. The Draisaitl line (with Nuge and Janmark) gave up a goal at five-on-five (3:45 playing time), disappointing since the line had three of four faceoffs in the opposition end. The trio did get one HDSC.
- Connor McDavid was superhuman. Again. 1-1-2, eight shots, four HDSC, drew two penalties, 29 percent in 14 faceoffs. His second line was actual fire. Hyman-McDavid-Yamamoto was so good we might see them this coming week. Consider these numbers: 3:03 ice time, 7-0 shots, 6-0 scoring chances, 3-0 HDSC. Incredible. I’d run them in the next game.
- Zach Hyman had four shots and six HDSC, including a couple of rebound chances. I think he scored but the referee called it off. He is going to be remembered in this city for a long time, because he plays the game with boundless energy and enthusiasm.
- Mattias Janmark had two shots, a HDSC, drew a penalty and had two takeaways. I know he’s playing too high in the lineup, but the man does a lot of little things that are appreciated.
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a goal, three shots, two HDSC, won six of 11 in the dot. He is looking at career highs across the board after going 15-21-36 in his first 32 games.
- Kailer Yamamoto had one shot, one HDSC, a takeaway and a couple of hits. He’s coming along now, pesky as ever and gets to places in a hurry. Can he score 15 this season?
- Dylan Holloway had a strong game, I’d like to see him play with a strong center when the shuffle comes. Two shots, one HDSC, giveaway, some inspired passes and a couple of hits. A fine young prospect.
- Derek Ryan picked up an assist, shot, HDSC, won five of seven in the dot, solid on the PK.
- Jesse Puljujarvi had one shot, one HDSC, a couple of hits. He’s in a deep slump but gets scoring chances, perhaps he’ll have a hot streak in the final half of the season.
- Warren Foegele didn’t play much (9:40) but had three shots, three HDSC and drew a penalty. That’s excellent production, would like to see him play on the third line soon.
- Devin Shore is getting squeezed now, just 5:16 and he lost all five faceoffs. Had a giveaway, zero time on the PK and that’s usually an area he gets minutes (before this season).
- Klim Kostin played 5:52, hit some people and blocked a couple of shots. Oilers need a better No. 4 center for nights when the wingers are Foegele and Kostin.
- Darnell Nurse scored a goal, six shots, took a penalty, GV-TK. The enduring memory of his night will likely be his trying to do much after the turnover the led to the first goal. He raced over to double cover the puck carrier (Ceci’s man) and left the slot open. Nurse has struggled at five-on-five this season (27-29 overall) and is 8-8 in the nine December games.
- Cody Ceci took a penalty and drew one, had strong possession numbers (70 percent expected goals) five-on-five and wasn’t the culprit on the GA. He is struggling (5-8 goals) at five-on-five this month.
- Brett Kulak took two shots, took a penalty, drew two penalties, two blocked shots. The puck was going in a good direction much of the night, 10-5 shots and 69 percent expected goals five-on-five. In December, Kulak owns 9-4 goal differential in the discipline.
- Tyson Barrie has been playing so well the coaching staff finally placed him with Nurse in this game. He had an assist, six shots and drew a penalty. For December, Barrie owns a five-on-five goal differential of 8-1, 89 percent.
- Markus Niemelainen didn’t play much (9:19) but did have a shot and a HDSC. He had a 73 percent expected goal share in the game at five-on-five.
- Evan Bouchard had another tough night. His wayward flip in the general direction of the Nuge was a disaster, and he blocked out his goalie on the winning goal. Incredible. Had an assist, HDSC, 2-2 TK-GV, he is 4-9 goals in December. I recommend patience. I’m sure that will land well.
- Stuart Skinner didn’t have his strongest game, but then again he didn’t get much help. He still has a .915 SP and I’m not sure why he played in the game. Surely Jack Campbell was next up? I thought the Cam Fowler shot could have been stopped.
JAY WOODCROFT’S PROBLEM
In his first full year as head coach, Jay Woodcroft’s magic wand isn’t working. Things that came easily a year ago are impossible this season. Attention to detail is a fleeting thing. The defensive side of the game looks like a mystery.
There are things you can look for when a team is struggling. Injuries? Yes, but not on defense. Poor won-loss record? Not really. Edmonton was 6-3-0 in October, 7-7-0 in November and is now 4-4-1 in December. You’d like two more wins from the first 32 games, but there should be no panic.
Woodcroft has tried damn near everything. Let’s use Darnell Nurse and his defensive partners five-on-five as an example.
- Nurse with Cody Ceci: 16-18 goals in 430 minutes
- Nurse with Tyson Barrie: 4-6 goals in 76 minutes
- Nurse with Evan Bouchard: 5-3 goals in 64 minutes
The only pairing with enough sample is Nurse-Ceci. Their numbers aren’t terrible, and Nurse was 6-7 goals with main partner Tyson Barrie through 32 games one year ago. Let’s check on expected goals for the most common defensive pairings in 2022-23. We’re looking for duos who have played more than 200 minutes together and are ranking them by expected goals-against per 60. Broberg-Bouchard is at 111 minutes, the other two well clear of 200 minutes.
- Nurse-Ceci: 2.65 Expected GA per 60, against top competition.
- Kulak-Barrie: 2.84 Expected GA per 60, against good-to-top competition.
- Broberg-Bouchard: 2.43 Expected GA per 60, against the soft parade.
Where does the top pairing rank in expected-goals against per 60 among Pacific Division No. 1 pairings? About where you’d expect.
- Chris Tanev-Mackenzie Weegar (CGY) 2.06
- Mikey Anderson-Drew Doughty (LAK) 2.25
- Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore (VEG) 2.34
- Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson (SEA) 2.56
- Darnell Nurse-Cody Ceci (EDM) 2.65
- Jaycob Megna-Erik Karlsson (SJS) 2.72
- Quinn Hughes-Luke Schenn (VAN) 2.89
- Cam Fowler-Dmitry Kulikov (ANA) 2.98
What is the conclusion? Nurse-Ceci worked a year ago, and should work this season. Edmonton needs to acquire a solid second pair option and run that duo against elite opponents more often. If Broberg is hurt for an extended period, than a trade would be appropriate. I would run Nurse-Bouchard, Kulak-Barrie and Broberg-Ceci next game if the rookie is healthy enough to play. If there’s someone out there who can help this defense, then the Oilers should pull the trigger. It’s also true this group can play far better than what we saw during the rancid home stand.
…
I was thinking about the Nurse contract today..
It reminded me a bit of the old Subban contract. I remember thinking back when Subban was no longer a good player, wow, those bridge contracts were a mistake. That bridging strategy is something we won’t see again.
Subban just finished that contract last year. He’s 33 and retired. He won the Norris trophy, only once I believe, and hasn’t been a difference maker in longer than I can remember.
Maybe back in 2017-18 when he was playing his 28/9 season. He had one okayish season after that, then that was it.
I was surprised Subban fell off the cliff so soon.
What’s interesting is that Nurse was actually a year and three months older than Subban was when they signed their respective contracts. I was surprised by this since I thought they were roughly the same age.
Holland bridged Nurse on Feb 10, 2020.
That was a notable date because on Jan 29th, 2020. Holland inked Kassian to that disastrous 4x 3.2.
The Kassian contract was an egregious error in itself.
It’s harder to excuse in light of the ripple effect on Nurse.
Throw in the July 19, 2019 $2.1m on Chiasson, and there was money available to prevent the Nurse contract.
What is the first poor season for Nurse, in your opinion?
So my optimistic side still wants Puljujärvi to work out. But if we gotta do a trade, here’s my random-guy-on-the-internet suggestion.
Columbus trades:
Vladislav Gavrikov to Edmonton with 50% retention
Gustav Nyquist with 50% retention to Arizona
Calgary’s 2023 3rd round pick (which columbus currently has) to Edmonton
Edmonton trades:
Jesse Puljujärvi to Columbus
2023 1st to Columbus
(Insert correct throw-in prospect here) to Columbus – Savoie? I don’t know
Edmonton’s 2023 3rd to Arizona
Arizona trades:
Gustav Nyquist with 50% retention to Edmonton
Oilers gain 225K in cap.
Columbus frees up 1.15M in cap.
Arizona takes on 1.375M.
In case anyone cares, Lucic gets his first goal of the season.
Now that Chiarelli is no longer an NHL GM, I wonder if anyone will give him a contract for next season or if this will be his last.
He is VP of Hockey Operations for the St. Louis Blues.
Broberg out 2-3 weeks after rolling his ankle.
Ryan Murray out a month with a back.
What is with Oilers and ankles these days (Drai, McLeod, Broberg)?
The ghost of Ryan Whitney.
I was wondering about Murray, given he hasn’t played a game since Nov. 18th.
I know he also hasn’t been good, but healthy players rarely (if ever) sit in the press box for that long.
2-3 weeks isn’t good obviously, but that isn’t a major injury at least.
I know but WTF????? Hurt again? On a non-game day?
He was just settling in and gaining traction and, boom, derailed – is he every going to be ever to just play games, every second night (generally) for 2-3 months, develop….
Players get hurt on non-game days, game days, training in the summer. It isn’t like he’s avoiding work or anything. Let him heal bring him back. Not his fault the Oilers don’t have enough defensemen.
Of course and I’m one that doesn’t like to use the phrase “injury-prone” as a player is often injury-prone until he isn’t. With the said, its been one thing after another with Broberg since the World Juniors.
In my opinion its very important for Broberg and the org for him to play a solid 2-3 months of game before March – its starting to look like it might not happen…..
Of course it’s important, for everyone. He played 53 regular-season games a year ago, 18 this year, so it isn’t like he’s been on the shelf for two years. Important he is fully healthy before returning no matter the date.
Lots of trade proposals keep popping up involving players with multi-year salary retention.
I’m wondering how likely that is to happen. Unless a player’s contract is carrying dead cap weight, I don’t think teams will retain salary on a multi-year basis?
The only recent example I can think of is OEL and Matt Murray, but both were considered to have contracts with considerable dead cap weight.
I have brought this up in relation to Karlsson and how much it would cost the Oilers to get the Sharks to retain half (like $20MM plus of real dollars) – I speculated two first rounds for the retain alone.
It’s a matter of price. If you want retention you will end up paying for it with youth and picks.
It’s not just asset price though. Many teams are just not going to be willing to retain salary 1, 2, 3 years out.
Teams that are bad now, sure maybe they accept they will be again next season. But I don’t think anyone is planning to still be bad in 2024 or 2025.
There may be a few teams with internal budgets, but right now there are only 3 teams with payrolls under $76.6M. All 3 of those (Anaheim, Arizona and Buffalo) had payrolls over $80M just 2 years ago. If there are any teams who aren’t willing to spend to the cap if they’re decent, that list is very small.
By the way, I have been in Montreal after the Habs won the cup twice. I have been in Edmonton when the Oilers won the cup 4 times. I am in Miami and you would think Miami won the world cup. Miami Beach is a parking lot and there are just street parties everywhere. Literally a band starts playing at an intersection and then everyone is dancing! And I have to drive down to Sunset Harbor, a trip that usually takes 15 minutes will take an hour and a half!
I was on R&R from a UN mission in Bosnia in 1994 at Senegalia, Italy. The day after they lost the championship game there were torn up and spray-painted Italian flags in the gutters all over the country.
That is not good!
Thank you for your service.
On a flight from Calgary to Frankfurt, I shared a row of seats with an army medic who was heading to Bosnia.
After dinner and drinks, he broke out his med kit and doled out 2 valium for each of us and the next thing I know, I’m in Germany.
He was the best seatmate ever and I remember him fondly.
Interesting wowy numbers.
Connor and Leon on: 238 min GF: 55.6% xGF. 55.6%
Connor only: 277. gf: 43.5%; xGF: 52.7%
Leon only: 266. gf: 40.6%; xGF: 43.3%
Both off: 725 min. gf: 47.8%; xGF: 50.11%
I posted these numbers a few days ago. I suggested Leon might be dealing with an injury, as his numbers away from Connor are dreadful.
Or just effects of Yamamoto’s dreadful start to the season.
Missed your post, but I was thinking the same thing.
Playing him with 97 when he’s injured seems to be a go to as well for the coaching staff.
Leon’s minutes per game this year are under Connor’s. IIRC, he usually plays more
Recently Connor has been playing PK & Leon has not, which is a bit of a reversal. Seems to me Leon taking fewer faceoffs, for a few games there he was only taking around 10 compared to well over 20 a lot of nights. Percentages down as well.
Small clues that the coaching staff might be sheltering him a little bit. Not a lot obviously given his overall minutes.
Actually, to my surprise, Leon’s PK time hasn’t been all that reduced recently – for the season he’s averaged 54 seconds but in the last 3 games and the last 5 games, he’s average over a minute (and over the lsat 10 games, just over 30 seconds apparently).
To my eye, he’s been killing less but I’m not sure the numbers bear it out.
The Connor/Drai together numbers are not good enough either. If those two are together, they need to at 60% (or more), no?
The 97/29 off numbers are what this team has been looking for for years, alas….
Sorry all, I just want to be clear than when I posted the below, it was just my opinion/hope/suggestion – it wasn’t from practice, they didn’t practice today. I wasn’t clear in my post, I’m sorry
I would put Pujo with nuge and Foegele with leon.
Kinda similar players at this point. ~300 games and ~100 points into their careers, I’m not sure who is better at turning pucks over in the offensive end, then accomplishing absolutely nothing with it. (I say this as kindly as possible, I like both players)
I’m keeping Holloway/Puljujarvi as a pair as a primary part of current line building.
Haven’t they traded Puljujarvi yet ?
Nobody wants him without a sweetener.
Summarizing!
Petrov began a new point streak by setting up the OT winner in a 3-2 North Bay win. He also had 6 SOG. His boxcars are now 11-28-39 in 31 GP.
As for the other NA prospects as we hit the holiday break:
Jake Chiasson (Brandon): 31 GP, 9-15-24
Max Wanner (Moose Jaw): 25 GP, 6-18-24
Reid Schaefer (Seattle): 22 GP, 15-12-27
Shane Lachance (Youngstown): 23 GP, 16-5-21
Skyler Brind’Amour (Quinnipiac): 18 GP, 7-7-14
Tomas Mazura (St. Lawrence): 13 GP, 2-3-5
Joel Määttä (Vermont): 18 GP, 3-2-5
Luca Münzenberger (Vermont): 14 GP: 0-4-4
Schaefer and the rest of Team Canada begin their pre-tourney schedule tomorrow night:
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/junior/2022-23/world-championship/stats/schedule?pretournament=true
I leave the reporting on Schaefer at the WJHC to others, as there will be enough eyes here following the event. (I will not, as I’ve cut off my TSN subscription until the CFL season begins anew.)
Since the other prospects are taking a break, so shall I. Prospecting resumes on the 28th.
Appreciate your updates. Have a good xmas break.
I am a bit disappointed in Chiasson’s production in his draft plus 2 season – I wonder if missing so much time last year has slowed him down a bit.
I don’t know what to make of Lachance’s offensive spike but he’ll be a prospect to watch as he heads to Boston U. next season.
Would it be fair to say that there aren’t any massively good arrows like say, last year when Petrov shocked, XB went off and Savoie torched the NCAA?
Certainly some guys having good seasons in relation to their draft spot (Wanner) but in terms of guys an independent observer might put on a top 50 list maybe a bit of a weak group?
The closest I’d say is Schaefer, though his recent swoon has taken off some of the shine. Potting a few goals at the WJHC would be most welcome.
The most pleasant surprise would have to be Lachance. Even though this is his D+2 season, he was only a couple weeks away from being picked this past summer, being a late August b-day. (He is only 22 days older than Schaefer.)
It’ll be interesting to see how much ice-time Schaefer gets at the WJs.
The Russian Berezkin is a mover, but we don’t know if he’ll ever come over.
Yeah I misquoted his numbers a while back (hockeyDB had only his numbers from last season for some reason, I didn’t notice, but they now have the correct ones).
The hulking 21-year-old is 27GP 4-7-11 for a strong Yaroslavl Lokomotov team, definitely a strong arrow.
His KHL contract runs through next season – here is hoping he signs and comes over for 2024/25.
Yeseyev is another from Russia that is popping relative to draft.
Potting a few goals at the tournament would be a massive thing for Schaefer – It seems unlikely going in, I’m not even sure he’ll play and, if he does, it’ll start as a depth role.
Playing and earning more ice is my reasonable expectation – hope he blows it away.
IIRC, The Bourg was basically a depth player to start last year’s WJHC and worked his way up to the second line before the tourney was postponed.
Different playing styles obviously, but if the TC braintrust wants some muscle on a skill line–if only temporarily–Schaefer will get his chance too.
Appreciate these regular updates very much, Tarkus, as well as your general cheeriness in delivering them. Still waiting for Bruce time, or perhaps I missed it.
To quote a Led Zeppelin song, “your time is gonna come”. 😀
Andrew should come first
Did anyone ask Woody why he started Skinner and if so what was the reasoning. Skinner let’s in the tying Goal with 20 seconds left against St.Loo and then he loses the shootout. It was time to give Skinner a mental rest and clearly a perfect game for a reset and a jump start for Campbell.
I don’t necessarily think Skinner needed any sort of mental rest but I do agree that it was the perfect game for Campbell and was surprised he didn’t get the start.
How about those Lions!
From various accounts, Demers has been Malone-like for the d-men in the Bake and been great for the team. At the same time, to my eye, he’s a good, not great, player at the AHL level and is not a legit option for the NHL. I presume this is a deep insurance type move, however, if Demers is in the NHL lineup, things are going off the rails.
I think the AHL PTO has an expiry date..yes..?…25 games…?
*edit-nevermind, yes, an AHL PTO is 25 games, Condors have played 24 games, so a decision was forthcoming one way or another
Things must be going off the rails .
The Pacific division is a mess!
The Final Four from last year’s playoffs are fighting for the two wild card spots:
Wildcard:
—-
Out:
As inconsistent as the Oilers have played, NONE of these teams look like how they played last year in the Final Four.
We should see some clarity between now and mid January.
Calgary has had the second toughest schedule in the league so far but that changes starting tonight and they have the easiest schedule the rest of the way.
GR in December:
@SJS (Sharks on a back to back)
@SJS
@LAK
@ANA
vs. EDM
@SEA
vs. VCR
Colorado is treading water while they wait for numerous players get healthy but most are close.
In the next 3 weeks they should be adding:
Darren Helm Dec 18
Bowen Byram Dec 21
Nathan MacKinnon Jan 2
Josh Manson Jan 7
Gabriel Landeskog Jan 12
No guarantee on those times of course but adding 5 regulars in addition to Val Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkkonen who just returned should get them back to their dominant ways.
The Oilers have the second easiest schedule and have been treading water while they wait for numerous players to get healthy but most are close.
When Kane, Broberg, and McLeod return, they should return to their dominant ways.
I am just making shit up, but pot, kettle, black.
Actually, the Oilers have burned off a few easy games like the last two and now have the 5th easiest schedule.
As to the rest of your post…
Kane is no MacKinnon
Broberg is no Byram
and McLeod is certainly no Landeskog..nevermind Manson and Helm.
Did you see the part where I was just making shit up. Sort of like you most of the time!
To ensure not all is just making up shit, given the oilers was future easy schedule is being qualified with them having burnt off games, when noting the flames future easy schedule it should be noted they’ve burned off three supposed easy games in a row themselves, more burning than the Oilers….
Me thinks we will no longer see him tonight. It will be cold under the bridge!
🙂
An idea for a trade to shore up the defence that no one has really talked about on a team trying to tank and add a little scoring could be:
To Oilers:
Jake McCabe – 29 years old
$4 million cap hit M-NTC signed 2 more years
1.5 million retained
Taylor Raddysh – 24 years old
$798333 cap hit signed 1 more year RFA 9 goals on season
To Chicago:
Jesse Puljujarvi – 24 years old
$3 million cap hit RFA end of season
Xavier Bourgault – Entry level deal
2023 3rd round pick
McCabe has played 18-21 minutes a night most of his career with some decent advanced stats on some bad teams.
Oilers also gain $3.25 million between $1 million cap increase and both Sekera and Lucic cap hits coming off the books next season.
Line up when healthy is 12 forwards, 7 defencemen, 2 goalies
left to right
Hyman Mcdavid Raddysh
Kane Draisaitl Yamamoto
Foegle Nuge Kostin
Janmark McLeod Ryan
Either Holloway or Janmark to the minors makes cap work
Nurse-Ceci
McCabe-Bouchard
Kulak-Barrie
Broberg or Niemelainen or Murray
Campbell
Skinner
This should allow Mcdavid and Draisaitl lines to play 17:30-20 a night, Nuges line to play 13:50-15:30 McLeods line to play 10-12:30 a night. All rough estimates and not including PP and PK for certain players. Can actually roll the lines consistently.
I’m sure glad we didn’t trade our injury prone defenseman for the better injury prone defenseman
Quite the numbers for McDavid and Drai together …against the Ducks.
If not effort , then what explains this?
Just gotta clean up some things.
Mindset. 29&97 must contribute 2-3 goals per game when on the same line, so the lack of defense is directly a result of focusing purely on offense. When on different lines, it’s a balanced attack; at both ends of the ice.
Drai is lazy.
I guess that explains why he only played 56 minutes on Thiursday night & Saturday afternoon.
I was worried about Drai having heavy legs before puck drop yesterday, & sure enough…
Calling him lazy is itself lazy.
Facetious!
Goes back to my response yesterday when people called Drai lazy. I certainly do not think he is lazy. Exact opposite actually!
I remember. Almost posted in your defense but figured you could handle it.
I was being facetious!
Demers signed to an NHL contract.
Assigned to Bakersfield, is on waivers for the purpose of reassignment.
Hmmm?
something is happening…thanks for the update!
YIPPIE!!!
PuckPedia
@PuckPedia
The #LetsGoOiler
signed 34 y/o RD Jason Demers to 1 year contract:
NHL 750K
Minors 375K
He was then placed on waivers & will be assigned to minors if clears, therefore he does not count against cap or roster limit
I know it’s been said before but Smith’s puck handling skills (other than the odd flub) really masked our defensive deficiencies and kept the opposition more on their toes…this and having the steady calmer play of Keith …Nurse is a horse but hockey IQ?
Smith only played 28 reg games.
Mikko wasn’t as great a passer but he stopped a kit of dump ins behind net as well.
I agree with the original post. I think we all knew that Smith had an effect on retrievals/breakouts/d-zone strucutre/etc. and teams would actually change their dump in strategy from accounts. At the same time, I do think it helped alot more than at least I realized.
Maudite, references that Smith only played 28 regular season games – sure but note that the majority of those were AFTER the coaching change and when the team really tightened up and started to not leak goals nearly as much. I know we saw better forward support, Smith was on a save percentage heater, etc. but I think there is a bit more to it as well.
Puck handling from the goalies has not been the problem. I actually prefer Skinner’s and Campbell’s puck handling over Smith’s. Not nearly as high risk. Smith couldn’t help himself. Yes he could knock pucks down and make great break away passes but he gave the puck away so many times.
If we had access to data on goalie puck handling (passes connected, giveaway etc. (which I expect coaches do), Smith’s positives from handling the breakout in the form of avoidance of the forecheck vastly outweighs the gaffs that have resulted in goals or even scoring chances against. Not one of his coaches since Dallas tried to dissuade Smith from playing the puck like he did and in fact would game plan and practice to take advantage of it. And they witnessed every play he made for their team.
Skinner is a 24 year old rookie with 33 games under his belt and is not very good yet at stopping the dump ins or making the right pass once he gets it. He doesn’t seem to stop dump ins very often and at a minimum of a few times a game (of the several I have watched, he makes a pass to his defenseman with a forechecker on him and a lot of extended time often happens in the Edmonton end as a result. Campbell, so far, is better than Skinner is at this, and Koskinen, having played with Smith for 3 seasons, though not nearly as dynamic, was at least average or better at it. Until Skinner gets better, the Oilers D and forwards will have to play more conservative against the forecheck than they did with Smith and even Koskinen.
The first goal last night was just one example of the difference that Smith’s puck handling can make. Skinner went behind the net to stop the puck and missed it as it went around to Nurse who then didn’t make a good play with the puck. Nine times out of ten on that play, Smith knocks that one down and makes a play to an open D man. Instead, the Oilers succumbed to a forecheck to give the goal against. It is not Skinner’s fault on that play as he can’t be expected to play pucks as well as Smith, but it is a deficiency in the Oiler’s game relative to last season. I expect him to get better at this, though not to Smith’s level.
I wonder if it does or in this case did in the past tense. It would be interesting to look at the data.
The impact of goalies on shot data is pretty thin even for puck movers.
League average shooting percentage is usually a little under 10%.
So, Smith would have to cut 10 shots against or make a play resulting in an extra 10 shots on the other team to make up for every gaffe he made that lead to a goal against.
Then there’s also the short vs long range view.
In the context of single game like the playoffs, one gaffe leading to a goal against, it’s basically impossible for him to recoupe that unless he makes a spectacular play since he’s not going to drive possession to the tune of a net 10 shot increase over a baseline goalie in a single game.
Over the course of a season… [Last season in which he had 28 starts]
If he prevents 1 shot against per game (net value), that’s 28 shots or 2.5 goals
If he prevents 2 shots against per game (net value), that’s 56 shots or 5 goals
If he prevents 1/2 shot against per game (net value), that’s 1.26 goals.
Even then it would matter if he made a gaffe in a close game state or if it led to a loss vs when the team is up by 3 and win anyway.
So last regular season, how many gaffes resulting in goals did he make?
It’s 4 or 5, then maybe we’re splitting hairs.
For what it worth, Smith’s xGA 5 on 5 (the game state where goalie puck handling is most relevant) over 3 seasons according to Naturalsstattrick was a third of goal per 60 lower than Koskinen’s based on lower shots against and on lower quality of shots against. Add to this, when healthy he played more games against the better teams. That’s a goal better every 3-4 games. His actual save percent was about .25 better so 1 goal every 4-5 games. Not factored in is the higher goal support Smith got compared to Koskinen in part because the team got to spend more time in the other teams end rather than defending in their own end. On average over the 3 years the Oiler scored 1 extra goal every 5 games with Smith vs Koskinen. It appears that Smith had close to a goal every two games advantage over Koskinen some of which is save percentage but a big part was how Smith helps the D out. As I stated neither I nor you know the actual data but the coaches did and they liked what he did. I doubt Smith over the 100 regular season games he played for the Oilers cost the Oilers more than 4 or 5 extra goals against with his puckhandling (every regular goalie has at least one or two gaffs every year anyway even if they don’t play it as much as Smith).
Its so much more than “puck-handling” though.
His ability to stop the puck behind the net and make a pass to an activated d-man on the flank – its, from accounts, the best the league has ever seen. Its a BIG deal.
Smith was exceptional at knock downs. His passing was a bit erratic, he was no Brodeur though I’d say a net positive, but his ability to intercept & control hard arounds & the like was outstanding.
Here’s me being contrary as usual. I thought Smith’s puck moving while top notch was less helpful as the playoffs went deeper
The Avs put a winger right where he was moving the puck, and he kept on going there. It massively disrupted the break outs to my eye. A goalie speeding up puck movement is fine, the goalie acting like a D isn’t for me, it makes the group too reliant on it, it’s fairly easy to game plan in a series, and if he gets hurt nobody is used to normal break outs
Ruby Soho by Rancid is one of my fave songs all-time.
Good track to listen to the post today (“destination unknown” is a fitting lyric repeated many times), which seems apt for this team.
Hyman/McDavid/Yamamoto
Holloway/Drai/Puljuarvi
Kostin/Nuge/Foegele
Janmark/Hamblin/Ryan
There it is!
I like it. Now for the D pairing
This from practice?
It does look good.
Sorry, I should have been clearer.
No, that’s my hope/thoughts/suggestion.
No practice today.
OK, thanks for clarifying.
We all knew Woodcroft wasn’t going to leave them together all year.
That’s nice, and I’m happy to see what it can do, but they’re not losing because the lines are wrong but because their minds are wrong. That’s where the real change has to take place.
Sorry, I suppose there’s some implicit whataboutism in my statement, but I’m also concerned that Manwood might be missing the elephant in the room. I’m sure they’re not, but this still looks a lot like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Kane being injured definitely puts a damper on things. That 2nd line looks like something that will last 5 minutes
Leo will just love those wingers for a shift or two.
You are not wrong.
Ladies and Gentlemen- 3C’s playing their positions
Look at with a jaundiced eye, could be unicorns or it could be donkeys with twinkies duct taped to their heads. Either way, let’s see if it works.
Bruce and Dave had McDavid contribute to EIGHTEEN high danger scoring chances and ELEVEN in the third period.
McDavid didn’t get in the shooting lane on the PPG against (although, I don’t want him getting in the lane from distance, sure when he’s tight to the shooter but from distance risks injury more materially) and, sure, I guess he didn’t cover back for Bouch quick enough on the Strome breakaway but, really, that’s like 3% culpability, but, at the end of the day, he was a scoring chance creation machine and its shocking they couldn’t bang a few more in.
McDavid positioned himself so that there were two Ducks between him and Nurse, when Nurse was trying to get the puck to him along the boards Two Ducks got themselves into the play. McDavid was lollygagging at the blueline.
The forward HAS to support the D and make it two on two.
Not an accurate assessment of that play at all. McDavid had only stepped on the ice as the puck was arriving at Nurse, and the two Ducks between him and Nurse had both entered the Oilers zone while McDavid was coming off the bench close to center ice. In no way did he “allow” these players to get into the zone past him.
And in terms of numbers, Hyman was already providing back support on the play. So down low in the Oilers end the Oilers had 3 on 3, except Nurse over reacted to his giveaway and left his man to chase the puck fed over to MacTavish who was already adequately covered by Ceci. McDavid was not lollygagging.
This is fairly wild interpretation of the play I believe in an effort to relieve Nurse of culpability.
Firstly, Hyman was there for support.
Second, the forwards were on a line change.
Next, the key, Nurse made a decision to try and make the rim around a harder rim around, I guess. Not sure why but I think it was because he didn’t want to put in the effort to stop that puck on the boards and either (a) reverse or (b) go off the glass and out. It was a really weak effort and, I won’t say this often re: Nurse, I think it may have been laziness.
Lastly, even if one agreed with the assessments, it doesn’t derogate the fact that he played the quick strike rush awfully – just terribly – going full walkabout trying towards the puck carrier that Ceci had and leaving his man for an easy tap in – just terrible decision making and we won’t even talk about him being on his knees again.
I’m a Nurse defender and I also agree that the forwards, including the stars, are often more culpable due to lack of support, but that’s not the 1st goal last nigh.
When will the players buy in?
How many years do we have to wait before the lessons of three coaches finally sink into their damn heads? (I’m not counting Hitch)
Puck management. Simple, smart plays. Reduce risk. Work as unit. Backcheck, forecheck, body check.
Offense will come out of defense and forcing the other team to be the one to make mistakes, but they refuse to believe in it.
Absolutely refuse and always have.
Others have been quick to fry the coaches… look at the bodies strewn across the trail this team has taken, but the players have always been the problem.
Same lessons every player has to learn and every team has to learn. And some teams do. And some teams don’t ever get it…
Till the players buck up, we will continue to wallow in mediocrity, blowing points and leads and entire seasons.
Bring in Toews. Someone who can get the dressing room’s heads screwed on right.
I agree. Oilers 115 GF 5th in the league. 110 GA is 7th worst in the league. Even if we cut GA to 100 we would still be in the bottom half of the league in GA. Support scoring would help but our big guns need to also play some defence. Look at their +/-
We are losing games on goals against. I don’t think there’s any question of that.
And our roster is good enough to have put up more points than they have done, without any trades. The past two games have proven that and they aren’t the only blown points.
It took them over a quarter of the season just to come out at the start of games with any identity or intensity, for Gord’s sakes.
The players need to get their shit together. Unless you’re bringing in someone who can do that, a trade is pointless. Just more talent playing the same loser way.
According to Struds some players never get it
I agree it’s about buy in. Playing two ways isn’t as fun, but the end results are far better. Delayed gratification
Hunter nailed it, I said it recently. It’s not easy coaching superstars epsecially generational ones, when there is no player on the team that can be the sage one that has the right gravitas
I think Keith helped, he had enough cred to be listened to. Maybe Toews would as well
But a coach having the ability to convince, lead, push, cajole such a player is apparently rare
I didn’t think Connor was the right choice for Captain. That role is about leadership, not being the best player. Connor isn’t particularly verbal, is brooding, and like Gretz may not even have a lot of conscious awareness about how he does what he does, he just does it
That being said I’m not sure who else could be, that does it right on the ice and could lead asking for accountability, all that other stuff
Klinberg scored against us. So I guess he’s gonna be an Oiler. Le sigh
Where is this big trade with the ducks before the Christmas trade freeze?
The chances of that happening were always, and remain, very slim.
Good thing you aren’t in charge .
What an odd response – my post wasn’t personal opinion on what I think should happen, its what was the most realistic scenario.
It’s the lack of urgency that is concerning.
What is the urgency to make a personnel change?
It was the same thing that turned me sour on Tippett, and TMac before him.
#29 – 26:55
#18 – 26:01
#97 – 25:30
#93 – 25:10
–
#21 – 5:52
#10 – 8:06
#37 – 9:41
#55 – 12:44(!)
I didn’t include Shore because he shouldn’t be in the NHL. These numbers are not a one game anomaly. Against a team with two regulation wins on the season, this is really really really poor Woodcrofting.
Foegele was flying, Holloway was the best player on the ice during all 12 minutes he received, and I have no clue why Kostin was stapled to the bench, other than, Ryan and Shore were there too.
The team is completely different with 97 and 29 on different lines and that is the only way to move forward IMO.
18-97-56
21-29-13
55-93-37
26-10-x
If the game plan is to ice the 4th line for 5 minutes a game, then better off dressing 8D and give Niemo a couple of shifts as 4LW to dent the boards behind the opposing net.
If Leo is being sheltered, Connor isn’t the only choice. Nuge could centre for him as well until he’s better
Other teams have found out that to have success against the Oilers is to come out hard right at the start and check the shiite out them. That puts the Oilers off balance and they have trouble coming out of their end, lose board battles and being pressured – give the puck away. The checkers more often are first to the puck in the Edmonton zone. By the time the Oilers start waking up they’re behind and trying to catch up. In their haste they ice the puck when not needed and don’t ice when they should. They are rattled and have a hard time getting settled down. You see this in almost every game at the beginning.
All other teams need to do is pressure the Oiler defense and they cough up the puck.
It’s that simple.
Anyone you’d like back? I know, I know. Oscar Klefbom.
Colby. What a tragedy. RIP.
My first thought when I read that
The team is capped out and they are not a Balanced team. Essentially they are a team of 2 super stars with a good support of forwards but let’s face it the D is not great, sometimes they are not even average.
Hears my concern , Holland gives the farm away and the Oilers flounder.
now you have have 2 superstars who probably have had enough and not much in the prospect pool
Holland has not made this team better defensively and he trades away draft picks like hockey cards
at some point you have to take a hard look at this team and ask are they really a contender, they are a team where their star players have always cheated for a break away back to the Hall days. Look at teams like Carolina , no superstars, just a really good balanced team.
everything starts at the top, and these management types have not delivered
Holland is no McCrimmon
According to him, they saw needs, so they fixed the needs
Kinnigets – Want to upgrade D, get Pietrangelo. Want a true 1C get Eichel. Want a dominant winger get Stone. Want a shooting winger, get PatioReady. Don’t want the winger, ditch his 7M salary at no real cost
This seems dissimilar to how the Oilers brass work. Imagine if the Oilers had Pete and Stone. Instead of Yama or JP and Ceci
You forgot the part where the Kinnigets miss the playoffs.
You missed the part where they had massive numbers of injuries.
This season they don’t and are predictably leading the division.
Their last year was insurmountable for any team really. Glad they missed though
I don’t know. Their injuries got a lot of play because they couldn’t get themselves into a playoff spot.
Any time Eichel missed was self inflicted. The only other major time missed was by Stone, Pacioretty and Martinez, who all missed about half the season. Lehner got talked about since he wasn’t available at the end, but he still played 44 games and he’s never been a workhorse (only twice over 50 games back in 16-17 and 17-18).
All of Eichel, Stone, Pacioretty and Martinez were playing down the stretch when they couldn’t get it done. Even Lehner was playing up until the last 7 games.
In the last 10 games (with all those guys aside from Lehner in the lineup) Vegas lost to the Canucks, Oilers (0-4), Devils, Sharks, Stars and Blackhawks. Some of those were OTLs, but only 2 of them were against playoff teams.
The team McCrimmon assembled just didn’t get it done.
I can live with the defensive blunders, as weird as that sounds. Players make mistakes, some are glaring and end up in the back of the net.
What baffles me is continuously lack of defensive commitment by the entire team, the forwards cheating for offense and the coaching decisions. Running up the minutes of the top players, while limiting minutes of the bottom 6, who are playing well enough. Injuries shouldn’t be a reason for this stubbornness.
Maybe it’s the PTSD from previous unsuccessful seasons, but we’ve seen these story lines before and it doesn’t end well.
The forwards cheat for offense and yet this isn’t a good team 5v5.
I’m trying to stay optimistic about Bouchard but he is having quite the season. He is now -14 on a +5 team. Holland has until the deadline to figure out what he has on the blue line and that includes Broberg and Bouchard. I think both players will turn out down the road but I’m not sure either one helps this team win anything this year in the playoffs. I’m not saying trade either one but they probably need some veteran cover this year for a playoff run. I don’t want to sit here and watch the Oilers lose in the first round because the Oilers are trying to develop a bunch of rookie D men. If the Oilers sat out Bouchard for a Luke Schenn type player today they are a better team full stop.
Bouchard’s next contract. Holland is going to have to hammer Bouchard’s agent on his players goal differential this summer. He can’t get payed on points alone. It’s probably going to have to be a one year show me you can play defence deal.
At least Bouchard is not on “skewed” entry level deal like Schultz signed back in 2012. But his path is following Petry and J Schultz…. the “show me” contracts….uggh. These players are seductive.
The problem with the show me deal with Bouch, if Barrie is moved this summer, Bouch very likely will show off a 60 point season. Then KH is screwed. I’d much rather see $4m times 4 (Dobson) or 8x$5m and roll the dice.
Assuming he gets back to last years performance in the 2nd half of this season, the early struggle driving the price tag down likely ends up being a good thing in terms of the next deal.
I’m a bit demoralized by Bouch’s performance this season but I’d still give him the Klefbom deal.
Oh yeah, for sure. But yes, there are definitely too many errors persisting in his game (or cropping up again, compared to last season).
He’s still way out ahead of every other Dman in SF%, SCF%, HDCF%, so there’s tons there once he irons it out (which again, he has done before ).
But straight lines and all that. Overall I’m not too concerned about him.
With his offense a long lower deal is a movable contract so not very risky
There was a point in the game where Strome was just outside the Ducks crease, between an Oilers player and the Ducks goalie. And I thought “why don’t I just ever see Oiler forwards on the right side of the puck down low.”
He used to be an Oiler, you know, but then he got beat by a fresh Sid Crosby 80 seconds into an overtime shift so he had to go. At least Oilers got defensive juggernaut Ryan Spooner in return, eh.
A grand total of 58 minutes with McDavid over that season plus part of a season. FIFTY EIGHT. Dominant in that time as well – only one goal against (3 goals for).
For some reason, they refused to give that combo a chance and then tried to convert him to a 3C. He was helping bring along Jesse and becoming a fairy solid 2-way C and doing well on the PK so they decided to trade him for “more skill” in the Spoon.
That drove me nuts as well. They talked of Strome as a C/RW, used him at RW early in this first season, then moved him to 3C & left him there. Then traded him for Spooner cuz Chairelli decided he needed a winger. 🤯
Roll the lines coach.
Been saying it all year Woody is playing the short game putting all the weight on Leon, Connor and Nurses backs. In Basketball you can get away with this strategy but not in Hockey which is a team game.
I wonder if the boys sat around the dressing room after the game having a beer and discussing the game, or did they get dressed fast and got the hell out. Clickity click cliques, these is no boys on the bus.
Sather was in charge of that team.
Replace Sather and it’s anyone’s guess how the 80’s Oilers would have turned out.
There is zero evidence of this
I hear Jason Arnott kissed Mickey Rooney’s high-school girlfriend
You’re right, but then again you dont hear stories of long nights out at Koutoukis or even rookie dinners.
Rishaug on his pod says lower body for Broberg and “may have been seen in a walking boot”. Sigh.
Who was the idiot who let Broberg play injured in training camp? There was never any competition. Broberg had to be the guy, and had to be healthy to start the season, and they were playing him injured for the sake of some silly “competing for a roster” spot.
Rookie camp, even.
Stupid is as stupid does.
same GM who commended Bro for playing hurt in WJ
Are we at the point where we’re blaming Holland because Broberg can’t go down a flight of stairs without tripping and hurting himself again.
The WJC are meaningless games. Broberg was not playing for the Oilers that season. Broberg was not playing a mission critical role for the Oilers that season.
Those games are also far from meaningless for the players participating, of that I’m sure.
That was not an Oilers’ decision, for him to continue to play. If Broberg was cleared by Team Sweden’s doctors and he and the coach’s wanted him playing, well, if Oilers management interfered from a far and “prohibited it”, I presume that would not have been the best start to the relationship between player and team.
You aren’t implying this has anything to do with his current issue, are you?
I mean, from accounts, it was at Friday’s skate where he get hurt.
A Bayseian accumulation of results. The first error leading to a greater probability of a 2nd error leading to a greater probability of a third error.
Broberg has been in catchup mode all season because they didn’t let him get healthy in the first place.
Smart person words that I don’t know notwithstanding, given you (we) have very little information regarding the injury except that it seems a foot issue and that it happened at the skate on Friday, the above seems wildly speculative and not based in reasonableness.
Not sure playing through a rib injury and them being fully recovered and playing in 11 NHL games and certainly fully “caught up” and no “drained” could reasonably have anything to do with this apparent foot issue.
He’s on the Sami Salo path sadly. Bro is definitely injury prone. Two non game injuries this season alone
Every player gets hurt. Some less than others. Part of it is learning how not to get hurt IMO
I like the player, but I like winning more, and being available is huge
Rancid individual plays – yup – overall a dominant performance by the Oilers, even in the first half when they were sleepy and weren’t battling hard, still the better team, by far.
Rancid individual plays cost the game.
That wasn’t coaching it structure, that was poor plays/bad mistakes by individuals.
I THINK that makes me feel better.
I KNOW for a fact that Nurse is a much better player, I’ve seen it over the years. Even with big minutes and tough comp he has proven to be much better. He could use help, for sure, but he’s been much better even when playing this role. He will be better buts it frustrating in the moment.
Bouch is well. Yup, struggling with the puck big time. With that said, he’s still in his ELC and we’ve seen him be much better and in big games (playoffs). He will be much better and I can’t believe there are many fans expressing that he’s trash and needs to go. Come on.
These guys (and not just those two – lots of players) need to tighten the eff up. I know they will and am frustrated that they are so loose physically and mentally right now.
The coach as well – play your four lines. No need ti staple Kostin last night. He was just fine erarly and drew a PP. No reason for Jon to play like 8 minors as an example.
Dave Manson has his work cut out for him.
Disappointing that the 2 d-men Holland inherited are both having such fundamental problems managing the puck, or recovering after they cough it up. Far too many gifts being gleefully accepted by opponents this last while.
Interesting. I’m going to ask the question and am sure someone will say I’m smoking the drapes. Seems that a lot of the errors Nurse and Bouchard are making right now are mental errors. Some of it comes down to Nurse playing too much, but I wonder how much the team misses Keith’s leadership and accountability in game. Also, I wonder if the team misses some of the death stares that came from Smith when they made mistakes in front of him.
Am not saying that either is un-replaceable in terms of production at that point of their career, but I go back to what McDavid told Holland they needed after getting swept by Winnipeg (leadership on the backend). They had it last year, they’re missing it this year and the defense at times looks completely lost out there – and the mistakes are costing them games.
You’re probably 100% correct.
Unfortunately the management have other ideas.
Interesting stat Bruce McCurdy provided, Connor and Leon’s points in 1st period are not very good versus 2nd and 3rd period. It is quite unbalanced. This supports the eye test I see in most games too.
I have always been a big advocate of rolling 4 lines. Connor and Leon playing 22 minutes is better than them reaching 25 minutes during the last minute of the game.
If players are struggling they never get a chance to play out of it without more time on the ice. That is not fair to them. Sends the wrong message of trust.
Said stat being that just 10 of McDavid’s 62 points have been scored in 1st period, & just 9 of Draisaitl’s 54.
Ya, I heard Bruce talk about that on the pod. Last night was a microcosm for the season – while they were still the better team from the opening puck drop, they were so damn sleepy in the first half – why?
I understand shortening the bench in certain circumstances but it seems Woody defaults to this every game (but for the ARI game) – he refuses to come close to rolling the four lines even when the bottom two lines are helping create and sustain momentum and energy.
If there is a PP, either way, before the 3rd or 4th line get their shift, boom right back to the start of the rotation after.
Attention to detail. Cheating for offense. Lack of execution.
Love the summary LT. Love the point about Stu on the 2nd. Don’t want to bang the drum too hard but I’ve seen him very tentative lately. Playing deep in his net, not fighting through a screen. If he initiates contact with the Duck on the 2nd I think a) he saves it and b) it’ll be called back cause of crease crowding. Instead Stu sat back and looked off and got beat. That’s happened a few times this year and as a young goaler I hope he works to correct it. Not the end of the world but a teachable moment.
Good lordy did Bouchard have a performance and a half yesterday.
Both GAs were suicide passes to nowhere except high danger areas. Full control, no real pressure in either situations but absolute eggs in both cases. Come on dude you’re better than that, I know it, you know it, we all know it 😉
Finally, I find it quite so funny that many of the same posters who were over the top in their criticism of the Keith deal, how stupid Kenny was, how unbalanced the whole thing was, are now ready to move a 1st, JP Broberg, Bouchard, Bourgault or a combination of the above to get someone like Keith that can mark that spot down. Kinda funny.
Sometimes pissing away points like this can be a good thing. An upsetting thing. A teachable thing that shows players, even the best in the world, that there is no free lunch and you need to keep the details front and centre.
All that said there’s no worry. The Oilers will still win the division with ease. Everyone crashing back to earth spectacularly now. Need to tighten it up.
Gonna need to keep a fun eye out East. After Hunters warning of a must win game and the gushing over the Devils they are too are coming back to earth. I don’t think they make the second season… not this year.
Broberg Ceci doesn’t work. We saw that last year. Ceci has to play with a veteran D. He cannot carry a pair at any level. He is a support D only.
Broberg Barrie is my preferred option. But since Kulak Bouchard is horrid, Broberg Bouchard will have to do.
They played 90 minutes together and won the shot differential five-on-five 40-39. Goals were 3-4. I don’t think there’s evidence for your point, and i generally agree with your takes.
Broberg is injured AGAIN. So much for the Bro-Bouch third pair. They need an experienced veteran shut down guy to play with Bouchard, that’s all there is to it. Might need an experienced veteran shutdown guy to play with Nurse while we’re at it. But Tyson Barrie might have to do, He has been the best D-man this season for the Oil.
Prospecticus!
One last game featuring an NA prospect before the holiday break, and it’s Matvey Petrov who gets the spotlight. He hasn’t gone off for hat tricks or five-point nights this season, but has been remarkably consistent, held pointless in only 5 of his 30 GP so far.
He gets a chance to begin a new point streak when the puck drops @ noon Fabyan time.