The Chicago Blackhawks of the 1960’s-early 1970’s and the current Edmonton Oilers have some things in common. The ‘Hawks were all around Stanley (one win, five finals appearances) but didn’t deliver what should have been accomplished with Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita in their prime. Why? The awful truth is next.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Evander Kane, Connor Brown and the Oilers’ aging skill wingers
- Lowetide: Making the early call on the Edmonton Oilers’ 2019 NHL Draft haul
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers 2023-24 complete reasonable expectations
- Lowetide: What should Oilers fans expect from new scouting director Richard Pracey?
- Lowetide: How will Tyler Wright’s time with the Oilers be remembered?
- Lowetide: Is trading Philip Broberg in the Oilers’ future?
- Lowetide: Unpacking Oilers’ decision to hire Rick Pracey, part ways with Tyler Wright
- Lowetide: 9 bold Edmonton Oilers predictions for 2023-24
- Lowetide: The NHL offseason’s 5 most risky moves and what they mean for 2023-24
- Lowetide: USHL has produced some of NHL’s top talent. Is it hockey’s best junior league?
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers and their dilemma at centre
- Lowetide: NHL teams that are best positioned to take advantage of the 2024 free-agent watershed
- Lowetide: New Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson promises innovation. What will it look like?
- Lowetide: For Oilers in 2023-24, a more aggressive in-season approach is likely
- Lowetide: Why skating ability has such an impact on NHL Draft scouting and success
- Lowetide: What Oilers’ Jeff Jackson hire could mean for front-office’s future
- Lowetide: Oilers sign forward Ryan McLeod to 2-year extension: What it means for Edmonton
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid, the Art Ross and challenging Wayne Gretzky’s record
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ pro scouting upgrade helped elevate team in 2022-23
- Lowetide: Projecting Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard’s points for 2023-24
- Lowetide: Oilers’ graduate a strong group of prospects to pro this fall
- Lowetide: How Oilers’ veteran roster, cap issues could impact Raphael Lavoie
- Lowetide: What the Oilers are getting in 2023 NHL Draft pick Beau Akey
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects, summer 2023
- DNB: 10 questions with director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright
THE 1968-69 BLACKHAWKS
Chicago had two fantastic lines in the 1960’s: The Scooter Line (Stan Mikitia at center with wingers Doug Mohns and Kenny Wharram) and two guys who played with Bobby Hull.
Mikita and Hull tore apart the NHL on the PP. The two men were in on 26 goals together during the 1968-69 season and postseason, 17 of them coming with the man advantage. At even strength, Hull’s most common linemates based on scoring logs were:
- Chico Maki (20 EV goals together, Maki was extremely challenged offensively and was the designated defensive conscience for the Hull line. Habs would have found a Claude Provost or Gilles Tremblay, Chicago kept running out a ‘below replacement level’ winger)
- Eric Nesterenko (17 EV goals together) Nesterenko had been playing in the NHL for almost 20 years and over a decade in Chicago by 1968-69. I knew him as a RW, but he or Hull might have played center during this season. Hull did play in the middle at one time but would have been way past that by this time, so Nesterenko might have been the center with Hull and Maki. Bruce McCurdy will probably comment sometime today in order to bring clarity.
- Stan Mikita (nine EV goals together)
- Andre Boudrias (nine EV goals together) and none before February and the trade deadline. ‘Hawks general manager Tommy Ivan went looking for a center for the Hull line. Pit Martin was on another line, with Dennis Hull and Jim Pappin, that was emerging. Boudrias was Ivan’s attempt to match the strength and depth of the Montreal Canadiens.
- Kenny Wharram (eight EV goals together, looks like Doug Mohns took a powder mid-season with Hull moving up with Mikita and Wharram)
- Bobby Schmautz (five EV goals together, this was the very beginning of Schmautz’ NHL career and he did get a push)
- Jim Pappin (three EV goals together, Pappin spent most of the season with Martin, so it was rare to see R. Hull-Pappin at even strength)
- Pit Martin (three EV goals together, Martin had his best offensive season to that point in his career with Jim Pappin and Dennis Hull)
- Dennis Hull (two EV goals together, the brothers were LW’s and the younger Hull was just emerging as a pure scoring winger)
- Bill Orban (one EV goal together, Hull was slumming it with Orban and Schmautz)
- Doug Mohns (one EV goal together, he was the other skill LW so it makes sense they weren’t on the ice much at even strength)
Bobby Hull led the league in goals (58) and finished second in league scoring. Stan Mikita finished second in assists league-wide and fourth in points. The league leader in assists and points? Phil Esposito, former Chicago Blackhawks center who was dealt with Kenny Hodge by Ivan leading up to the 1967 expansion draft.
Chicago had a 50-goal man, four 30-goal scorers backing him up and two more forwards who pumped in more than 20 goals. They had a defenseman with 50 assists (Pat Stapleton). The Blackhawks missed the playoffs.
Depth was the issue. Chicago’s top line of Mohns-Mikita-Wharram scored 82 goals, Dennis Hull-Martin-Pappin scored 83 goals, and Bobby Hull-Nesterenko-Maki scored 80 goals. Imagine what that team could have done if it was Hull-Phil Esposito-Ken Hodge, but all Ivan could do was add Andre Boudrias at the deadline.
The Oilers had a 60-goal scorer, a 50-goal scorer and two men who scored over 35 goals last season. Edmonton also had seven more forwards who scored between 10-16 goals.
Chicago’s problem was all of the cannons were pointed in one direction, defense was not a priority. ‘Hawks scored 53 more goals than the NHL average that season but allowed 19 more than the average. The Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens scored 44 more goals than the NHL average that season, and allowed 25 fewer than average goals against. That’s the lesson.
That’s why Mattias Ekholm has to be a major story in Edmonton this coming season.
New for The Athletic: What to expect from Oilers rookies, led by Raphael Lavoie
https://theathletic.com/4829698/2023/09/04/edmonton-oilers-raphael-lavoie-rookies/
What I love about HH (and I mean this truthfully) is that he forces you to explore NHL hockey beyond the Oilers. As a hockey fan I like that. Go and watch some other teams, poke around their fancies, see how they play and stack up, its a good exercise.
HH’s poking over the years is why I’m so excited that Colorado and L.A. mucked things up this offseason. Two tough outs that gutted their depth. Beautiful.
This year its Dallas.
Dallas plays Oettinger a lot. 81 games last year including 62 in the regular season. He posted nice win totals in March but lordy he also posted a 3.07 0.895 in 12 games. They went and ran him another FIVE games in April. He posted a 3.07 0.895 in the playoffs and truly ghastly numbers against Pacific comp in Seattle and Vegas.
They need to back this off we know what happens to overplayed goalies. How much confidence does DeBoer have in Wedgewood?
Pavelski at 39 for $3.5 plus up to $2 million in bonuses that’ll land next year (per Cap Friendly) is heavy for a team with only 13 guys signed for next season.
Matt Duchene bringing his positive attitude should be a big boost (eye roll).
At 34 and 39 do Benn and Pavelski have near ppg seasons in them again? Do they get worn down by another long season? Benn’s jump was an outlier from his previous four seasons. Pavelski is consistent as the day is long, some guys just have the longevity.
Re-watched a few games and the stats match up with the eye test. They don’t defend rush chances well and their D give up the blueline quite easily. Once established skill teams beat Dallas down low and across Royal Road. They have Heiskanen. Their forwards find defense optional most of the time. Seguin is a deadweight loss.
If I have a comp its Toronto from the early Matthews/Marner years. Way too much put on Oettinger (Freddie Andersen), wiley forwards that can entertain but a defense that allows for easy zone entry and control, save for Heiskanen (Reilly).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFhgVeoFOhA
Heavy Duty by Spinal Tap
with the airport security scene as the intro to the song
To reduce GA this year:
I hope the coach and team learned a good lesson last year – most of these players can’t play man-man D (looking at Nurse and a few others in particular).
Simplify the D system, base it from zone coverage – protect the house from Game 1.
One doesn’t necessarily have to change the system. Not all teams are capable of breaking the system down like Vegas, and if Woodcroft had had a proper line match against Eichel, the system might of held up. But Eichel and Marchessault were free runners because of the lack of a proper forward line match, and they knew how to break down the man-to-man.
The minimum is that the Oilers have to be prepared to adjust the system if the other team is capable of breaking down the man-to-man. The man-to-man defense should hold up if the opponent is not decisively winning a line match.
Their poor D zone play got exploited extensively by VGK, but they cannot seem to play a solid defensive system as a team consistently (last 15+ years). A change in strategy is likely required for any positive changes to occur…The definition of insanity is….?
Eichel and Marchessault were free men in Paris most of the series, because of the forwards.
They used the net for picks against the D, and then skated them out to the blueline because they were free men in Paris.
I definitely agree that the existing system should be modified so the D don’t follow the forward to the blueline. They have to build in a switchoff. If the forward wants to skate out to the blueline, there is time fo switch and let a forward pick him up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXBba77U1_Y
Free Man in Paris
This is from the Mingus tour recorded in 1979 – and album was released a year later as Shadows and Light
Pat Metheney and Jaco Pastorious, Michael Brecker, Lyle Mays, Don Alias
I have been bingeing on Joni for weeks
To reduce GA this year:
Campbell needs to boost that SV%
Cap Hell.
https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2023-nhl-team-salary-cap-rankings-32-25
I love Daily Faceoff but this makes no sense.
The Columbus Blue Jackets own several of the worst contracts in hockey and don’t rank in the leagues worst?
Yzerman has overpaid for depth talent – Copp, Compher, Chiarot, Walman are all bad bad contracts.
Anaheim has bad bad deals with Strome, Killorn, and Gibson.
Those would be my bottom 3.
As for the Oilers, Campbell’s is the worst, and Nurse is overpaid by $1.5M, but otherwise they run pretty efficiently. Hard to argue with the performance of a perennial playoff team and SC contender.
That the author cites Nugent Hopkins and Hyman as questionable contracts is ludicrous IMO
Parise & Suter are eating up almost $15 M in dead cap space this year. That should qualify for its own category of cap hell. I understand why Guerin did it. If rumours are true I even agree it had to be done but for a ranking of this sort that should put them 35 out of 32 and I don’t see them anywhere in the first instalment.
Disagree on Columbus having several of the worst contracts…only Gudbranson IMO and it has only 3 years remaining and would be easy to move or buy out.
Detroit seems to have been captured accurately.
Anaheim too…since they have several high value contracts with a ton more coming and the contracts you mentioned coming off the books as they enter their window to win and, of course, they retain ton of free cap space.
Edmonton is at the bottom IMO because it has severely limited flexibility which promises to get worse as the years pass.
You suggest all the sins can be forgiven, NMCs, bungling Bouchard, overpaying Nurse, relying on aging out veterans etc., because they are perennial cup contenders but are they really?
They have had three consecutive shots to make the finals and have come up well short every time.
You have to understand this exercise is not about who might win the cup this year but tries to capture their overall potential based on how they managed the cap for now and the future. That the Oilers can’t even ice a full 23 man roster is a pretty good indicator that things are out whack.
A couple of key injuries and/or a suspension could easily derail the season while other contenders have the luxury of full rosters.
Over-reliance on the PP or clear mid tier 1st line production at 5 on 5?
Nugent-Hopkins was 53rd among forwards in 5 on 5 points last season – tied with the likes of Gaudreau, Fiala, Eichel, Scheifele and more than the likes of Aho, Horvat, Tavares, etc.
Nuge was clearly a 1st line producer at 5 on 5.
Tough to take a model seriously that has such factual inaccuracies!
When the conclusions are nonsense a reasonable course of action is to re-examine the methodology.
His methodology is clearly laid out, exhaustively in fact.
If you disagree with it I would certainly be interested in why you think so.
Otherwise, your conclusion of “nonsense” is merely an uniformed opinion.
I have no idea what a ‘uniformed opinion’ is.
My own opinion is based upon a template of what each position should cost relative to the current cap for a particular year extrapolated to an assessment of the competence of the current place holder to perform the duties incumbent upon that position.
Using that methodology I determined that Suter & Parise costing almost $15 M of cap space to not play for Minnesota warranted that team’s position as one of the worst teams in the league.
I think it’s a military reference. 🙂 (No it isn’t).
“ the system sees this group as a fringe playoff team that shouldn’t be over the cap like they actually are”
this is – how you say? – dumb.
Since missing the playoffs in 2018/19, the Oilers record in the playoffs is 15W 21L.
Yes, exactly. They have made the post-season four years running and have been contenders to win it all for several years. Hardly a “fringe playoff team”
The 68/69 Blackhawks team that missed the playoffs returned a big chunk of the same line up in 69/70 finished, first in the league then lost in the semis against the Bruins. In 70/71, they got to play in the West but barely lost to the Canadiens in 7 in the final.
Chicago carried the same top 7 forwards all 3 seasons along with Pat Stapleton as their big D (though he missed the ’70 playoffs due to injury). The big differences between the 68/69 team and the 69-71 team was getting Tony Esposito in net, trading for Bill White on defense (after the Stapleton injury) and getting rookie Keith Magnusson up and running.
Maybe Ekholm is the Oiler’s Bill White and Broberg is like Magnusson (without the fighting, boy did Keith fight). Esposito was already 26 when he came to the Hawks, so maybe Skinner can get there too. Espo won the Calder the year Chicago got swept by the Bruins.
Who is a right-handed Ekholm, not named Brett Pesce, they can add to strengthen the blueline defensively?
Rasmus Andersson?
Dumba (he’ll be traded, can he help?) and Tanev
Just play Broberg with Nurse and see whether the solution is in house.
This is the first I’m hearing of this…would you care to elaborate..?
AsiaOil suggested Brandon Carlo from the Bruins a couple of weeks ago.
I don’t know enough about him to say one way or the other but if they are unable to find a trade to get a centre for the season they might be amenable to a trade.
There has been a lot of speculation the Bruins might trade him but the Oilers don’t have the assets to acquire him.
Perhaps if the Bruins fall out of contention by the deadline, they might look at futures but the Oilers don’t have many if those either.
1st round picks always have value.
Yes they do and Boston doesn’t have one but high 1st round picks could with a A level prospect have far more value.
Yeah, I have no idea what Carlo might fetch. I was just noting that the Oilers have draft picks and I expect them to spend them this year if circumstances reveal the need.
Every year teams with dreams of winning it all pay way too much for that ‘last piece’. I expect that from Holland and would do the same if the opportunity presents itself.
It is the ‘everybody into the pool’ year as far as I am concerned.
Broberg could be part of the package but I’m not sure I do that if he pops this year. Any way you slice it it’s a hard problem because of cap, availability of RHD and the need to send a significant dman salary back in return. Might better to bank as much cap as possible from now to the deadline and make a cheaper deal for Dumba or Tanev with retained salary.
Parayko but his damned back is toast.
Artem Zub, but he just signed a fresh contract.
Pionk might be vulnerable if they don’t have any traction.
Mayfield would be a dynamite addition, if unlikely. Also, Lou.
After that it’s kind of into the weeds with guys who wouldn’t be able to regularly take on top competition (Matt Benning), so not much of an upgrade over Desharnais.
Or looking for talent that hasn’t matriculated yet, maybe a buy low opportunity.
I wouldn’t go anywhere near the Parykho or Mayfield contracts – 7 years for a defensive d-man that turns 31 less than a week in to it….
Dylan DeMelo.
*runs and hides*
Yeah there’s lots of guys (including DeMelo) in that ‘can help’ category who are not RH Ekholm’s and who are not clear upgrades on Ceci.
Pretty sure one of them at the deadline is far more likely than a RH Ekholm-type addition.
DeMelo is certainly not Ekholm, but he’s cheap and likely to be available. I don’t have the Jets making the playoffs, but who knows they still have Hellebuyck.
You know who likes Demelo?
PuckIQ elites.
DeMelo plays top pair mostly with Morrissey. Still he has good results with and without last season.
I think DeMelo is an upgrade on Ceci.
Your wording there is noted to be clever “not clear upgrades on Ceci.”
Chevy has the power to be a real king maker next trade deadline with Sheifele, Niederreiter, Hellebuyck, Brossoit, and DeMelo all on expiring contracts.
I used that wording because it’s not clear to me that DeMelo is an upgrade. Which is another way of saying, ‘as far as I can tell they’re about even’ (and personally, I definitely wouldn’t make a change if it’s likely a lateral move).
DeMelo’s DFF% is nice, though IIRC he’s been a Corsi darling his whole career. He has finally been able to move up to the top 4 these last 2 years and mostly maintain his numbers though.
I still come back to the extra minutes vs. elites meaning something. Ceci played 30% more elite minutes than DeMelo last season, almost 50% more the season before. Ceci’s numbers vs elites weren’t bad, and I think they’d have been better if he’d played less of them (and was fully healthy).
All that said, I agree DeMelo is cheap, likely to be available, and quite decent. I view him more an an ‘improve the D corp’ option than a player you’d pay for to replace Ceci though. Having both would certainly mean a strong 3rd pairing (and probably a less than an ideal 1st pairing).
I would throw Tyson Barrie into that camp
He is definitely NOT from the Ekholm tree but we saw stretches with him over the last couple seasons where he was the best RH D on the team, and by ‘best’ I mean the puck was going in the right direction when he was on the ice
This team could use a RH Ekholm, but that player is tough to identify right now – the 2 Calgary targets mentioned (Andersson, Tanev) are nice fits, but they play for, well, Calgary. Not sure there is a fit there
If Ceci is just ‘OK’ through 60 games, I’d look to move his salary out at the deadline for another defender that is just ‘OK’, or perhaps/hopefully a little better than ‘OK”, assuming that defender is on an expiring contract, making that cap space available next summer
Andersson is the goods, but there’s no chance Calgary trades him.
He plays 24 minutes per game all situations. He’s 26 and he’s signed for 3 more years at $4.5 million cap. He had 49 points and 11 goals last year.
That is a crazy value contract.
Yes, agreed about Andersson
I like Tanev as a target but I doubt Calgary is in any hurry to do us any favors
Yeah, I agree with most of that.
I’m excited to see Lavoie in training camp. I might start him on the wing of either Nuge, Connor or Leon early in preseason to give him a legit shot and making plays out there. The Oilers need him to make the team and contribute this year, not just hold a spot on the roster. Now that the dust has settled from the offseason, it looks like this team will need another tune up at the trade deadline to take the next step. No doubt more 1st round picks are headed out the door. I would argue the roster is not as strong with Bjugstad and Kostin gone but the team may be better from their painful experiences. I was hoping for better free agents than Gagner, and Sutter but I guess when there is no money there is no money.
Anchoring a 2nd pairing that can lighten the load on the first pairing – upgrading 2 pairings at once.
Being a strong partner for a developing player in higher leverage minutes – Bouchard last year and Broberg this year (potentially).
Seemingly a leader on the ice and off the ice – staying in Edmonton over the summer and having his child here and being all over the community.
Yes, the Oiler paid in full for this player (2 high end futures plus Barrie) but damn if they aren’t getting full value for the cost.
I 100% agree with you.
Broberg being able to grab a top 4 spot on defence this coming season would be a bigger impact than anything else that could go right and that includes Campbell bouncing back imo.
I would suggest that EK & Bouch should be the 1st pair, Nurse & Ceci or Broberg or Kulak or maybe even Desharnais the second. Therefore, yes, the second pair’s workload will be lightened considerably.
I don’t really care if one labels the Nurse pairing or the Ekholm pairing the “1st pairing” except to note that Nurse played more 5 on 5 minutes and more overall minutes than Ekholm but in the regular season (after Ekholm arrived) and in the playoffs.
The gap was less in the playoffs but I believe there was only one game where Ek played more (the game where Bouchard played the most of anyone).
The TOI vs. elites in the regular season after Ekholm arrived was almost split even 84 min vs. 83 minutes.
————-
There is a very good argument to run Ekholm/Bouch – they were so very good last season.
I’m not sure they start with that pairing but they very well might. I see two reasonable ways to start the season:
Nurse/Bouchard
Ekholm/Broberg
Kulak Ceci
OR
Nurse/Ceci
Ekholm/Bouchard
Kulak/Broberg
——————————-
I can’t for a second imagine Deharnais getting 2nd pairing reps if the group is healthy. I’m not even sure he plays game 1 as he seems to be the clear 7D, handedness notwithstanding
Ekholm Bouchard (outscoring pair)
Nurse Broberg (shutdown pair)
Kulak Ceci/Desharnais (above average 3rd pairing).
I think the Oilers should have went for Niks Hoglander who signed for 1.1M. That would be their high energy skill addition.
This player or player type can score from bottom 6, particularly if he top two centres rotating through.
Oilers have super high top end, but are vulnerable to teams with better balance and strong bottom end. We know this.
We need a touch of scoring and a hard nosed veteran there to counter LA and Vegas.
Maybe if Nils was 6’4″ and 215 lbs.
Through that lens the Oilers were +64GF vs the 16th place offensive team (Oilers were 1st) and +2 vs the 16th place defensive team (Oilers were 17th).
Median would be between 16th and 17th place (I didn’t calculate what average was) so the above numbers (vs 16th place) nick the Oilers slightly.
I agree 100% that the GA is the growth area that needs to improve for the Oilers, but I would say they’re already in a better spot than the 68-69 Blackhawks.
Your point is well taken though, and I agree that a full season of Ekholm is a key story.
A full season of Ekholm, and some kind of rebound by Campbell will go a long way.
Hopefully Skinner avoids a significant sophomore slump.
For sure, all of those things plus a little more commitment to D through the lineup, and through the whole season would make a huge difference.
Based on what’s available today, how would you build that fourth line?
Allow rookies?
Toughness?
Defence?
Penalty killers?
Assume top centres will rotate through so go with skill?
allow rookies
Veterans on the fourth line. I really hope Sutter is up to the task. a fourth line with
Janmark-Sutter-Ryan, might be ideal. If not Sutter than they might have to settle on one of Pederson or Holloway, I wouldn’t consider either of them to be raw rookies. I suppose they might even go with Janmark-Ryan-Gagner/ Lavoie too. there’re lots of possibilities.
Sutter has the “ideal skill-set” – A big right shot center, with a history of playing against elites, is a high end faceoff guy and a high end PK guy.
Of course, he was barely hanging on to an NHL career when he last played, before he missed two full seasons dealing with long term illness. I’m sure he’s in “great shape” but it seems unlikely he can positively impact an NHL roster.
I can’t agree with the connotation of the phrase “settle on Lavoie” – for me, the ideal is that Lavoie outright wins that 12F job on merit and then continues to grab the opportunity in the regular season.
He’s not a center but, whatever, he’s only one of the group that has a potential role on the team going forward and still has the potential to be an impact player.
Kane McDavid Hyman
Holloway Draisailt Brown
Foegele McLeod Ryan
Janmark Nugent-Hopkins Lavoie
Vegas and Colorado are 4 lines deep. The OIlers have to play four lines. Cut a couple of minutes off of McDavid and Draisaitl.
Try to find mismatches for Draisaitl and/or Nugent-Hopkins.
Nugent-Hopkins was 53rd among forwards in 5 on 5 points last season – tied with the likes of Gaudreau, Fiala, Eichel, Scheifele and more than the likes of Aho, Horvat, Tavares, etc.
Nuge was clearly a 1st line producer at 5 on 5.
I wonder if an NHL head coach has ever taking a prime career, top line producer and 100 point scorer, who is potentially a career team player, a 2-way responsible player, a top PK guy on the team, leader and well-liked and placed him on the fourth line.
Maybe the other coach will be clueless enough to put Bjugstad or a Yamamoto against him like Woodcroft did against Eichel.
Do the numbers on Vegas’s lines matter? They are a four line team.
If one has two third lines, McLeod’s line, and Nugent-Hopkins line, except against the best teams, one should be able to find a mismatch for Draisaitl’s line, or Nugent-Hopkins line.
You might have created 3 third lines….
Drai should be able to be in a mis-match with Nuge or Kane on his left wing not matter who the team faces (with McDavid on the other line) and, given the progression of McLeod/Foegele against top lines, even moreso.
Its not a feasible set-up to have Nuge on a 4th line – its not enough minutes for a player that is currently a clear 1st line producer.
I see it’s mostly the smart folks chatting the last month so I thought I should drop in and balance things out.
its September and the question is always the same. Have they done enough? (Over the summer) and I guess it’s what you are asking today LT
I think we mostly take the top of the roster for granted. That’s dangerous. Complacency can set in. I can see a few coasting a little, waiting for playoffs. There always should be pushing. Still, you cannot complain about the top 6. Even the top 12.
So I agree it’s all about the depth. Yet I don’t agree they were beat due to depth. Oil were out hitting, outworking, and out chancing across the lineup.
The refs, yes, the refs again reduced the effectiveness of the oilers game, and were part of pivotal decisions.
Also, it was the top 6, playing injured, that were not as effective as they could be.
Back to depth. Could or should a healthy player have stepped up and took on a top 6 role? We won’t know, but coaching learned some lessons too.
Back to the roster. I see Kostin missing. On a long road trip, in an angry barn, that’s the guy you need. And that is a guy who still needs replaced on this roster. Shame because everything worked as it should to land him, lost due to money.
I complimented Ryan many times. But now I don’t think he has much left in the tank.
I wouldn’t say the team failed over the summer, as they have a lot. But I do agree they did not manage to fill the last couple of depth positions with known quality. They are scaling together lots of hopefuls.
I wish they had a hopeful second line player who is playing depth because the roster is so darn good. We are not there yet.
Maybe some youth will come through. Every team loves to have a rookie come through.
On defence you remember how excited the bench was when Niemo stepped up for a hit? Or Kostin went on the ice with mean intentions? I know Lavoie is popular. I see Bourgault getting a long look. Still, I don’t see these guys as those high energy, hard working, shot blocking forth liners who win.
All in all, more depth please, but not really a lot to complain about, there are a lot of riches here.
I don’t disagree, the bottom of the roster was positively impactful this season but, on the face, its been a bit depleted. There is, of course, the presumption of internal development from the likes of McLeod, Holloway and maybe Lavoie but the depth has been depleted.
As far as:
There is a reasonable chance Holloway is that guy – playing 3LW but potentially being a 2nd liner but Brown has filled the position – or the other way around.
I see Bourgault playing well but 100% starting in Bako – presuming he got stronger this off-season, I look for him to be 0.8 P/G, positive goal share and PK guy in Bako – do that consistently for 3-4 months and lets talk.
I see it’s mostly the smart folks chatting the last month so I thought I should drop in and balance things out.
oh yeah – first!
Curses!
Not the same season I think, but rookie Ken Dryden killed them in their last good chance. Mikita was my favourite. I was listening to the last game on a portable radio while doing chores for my mom in her garden. And getting that sinking feeling…
Yes. That was 1971. Dryden killed your ‘Hawks and my Bruins. Incredibly the Minnesota North Stats gave them fits with a bunch of former Habs iirc.
Esposito was fantastic as well Chicago had so many opportunities to bury the Habs that series. Up 2-0 in games and 2-0 in game 3 Habs storm back and win games 3 and 4. Hawks win game 5 have 3-2 lead going into the 3rd in game 6 to win the Cup Habs score 2 in the 3rd to win 4-3. Hawks blow 2-0 lead in game 7 game is tied 2-2 going into the 3rd Henri Richard scores the winner as you already Know. For me this was the best Stanley Cup ever, yes even better than when the Oilers finally got to Hextall with the Anderson blast.