Andrei Vasilevsky is from Tyumen, Russia; Nikita Kucherov is from Maykop, Russia. It’s a 36-hour drive. Last night in Edmonton, the sons of those communities shone like almaz against the Edmonton Oilers. Some games are difficult to explain, last night was easy as pirog. Stuart Skinner didn’t have it on this night, despite his teammates playing a fantastic game. The lesson to be learned? Sometimes your goalie isn’t good enough while the muzhchina at the other end is searing. Overreaction is the only bad play here. Stuart Skinner is the Oilers No. 1 goaltender. He should play in the next game.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: How much has Oilers trading prospects and picks actually hurt?
- New DNB: Stuart Skinner takes blame as goaltending leads to end of Oilers’ win streak
- Lowetide: Are the Edmonton Oilers able to make a strong trade this season?
- Lowetide: 3 young Edmonton Oilers prospects looking for full-time duty
- DNB: Calvin Pickard’s play and improved defending give Oilers time to make a goalie trade
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ 4 most famous midseason demotions in franchise history
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Evan Bouchard has the points. But is his recent defensive uptick legit?
- Lowetide: Oilers organizational depth chart reveal elite centres, real needs
- DNB: Oilers’ Philip Broberg seeking trade, per source: Why he could be on the move
- DNB: The Oilers penalty kill has finally found its groove. What’s changed?
- Lowetide: What do the Edmonton Oilers still need to be a Stanley Cup contender?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects ranking, winter 2023
- Lowetide: Oilers begin rise from the depths during a stunning November
- DNB: Is it time the Edmonton Oilers expected more from Ryan McLeod?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Darnell Nurse impressive in all areas after coaching change
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Philip Broberg reaches crossroads as NHL defenceman
- DNB: Four reasons why the Oilers are very much in the Western Conference playoff race
- DNB: Oilers must address goaltending situation before it’s too late
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers making a productive goalie trade is an expensive proposition
- DNB: Who is new Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch? These 3 traits define his approach
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: CAR, MIN, NJD, CHI, TBAY, FLA (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 4-1-0)
- On the road to: NYI, NJD, NYR, SJS, LAK, ANA (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-6-0, 12 points in 12 games
- Actual December results: 4-1-0, 8 points in 5 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 13-13-1, 27 points in 27 games
I know you’re disappointed/upset/enraged, but these kinds of games happen. There’s a book I read years ago by a man named W. Mitchell. It’s called “It’s Not What Happens to You, It’s What You Do About It” and it is an amazing story. I won’t ruin it for you in case you ever read it, but it’s about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and starting all over again. There is zero need to fire Stuart Skinner into the sun, there is a need to have him get back to his previous level. How do you do that? Play him! The rest of the team is playing all-world hockey right now, in my opinion.
THE NUMBERS
We can talk all night about this game, but it was a goalie battle and the Oilers had the lesser stopper. Sure you’d like Cody Ceci to play things a little better and there was a tipped shot in there, but for me Skinner’s performance was the difference. I don’t think the Oilers should alter the gameplan in net. A goalie to tandem with Skinner is a need, but the man has been playing well (.907 save percentage at five-on-five over his last eights, including last night, .917 in all strengths) for the last while.
Skinner is not a popular player online in some areas, including this blog’s comments section. His career trajectory may take him to journeyman status, but I think he’s a player. I would stay the course with Skinner. Find him a partner.
Evander Kane and Connor Brown are not at their best. Kane isn’t practicing and doesn’t look great in games, I wonder and a nick or a dent. Brown remains in the seeming eternal loop of “getting back to game shape” and he’s mostly there save for the offense. Kane is 15-23 on-ice goals at five-on-five, Brown is 2-12. Leon Draisaitl, whose numbers aren’t strong in this area, is 5-3 Kane w/o Brown, 1-2 Brown w/o Kane, and 1-4 with both men at five-on-five. Draisaitl between Foegele and Janmark is just getting started, we’ll see where this goes.
Bottom line on last night is about goaltending. Don’t overreact, Edmonton Oilers. Remember the Devan Dubnyk experience.
Oh, there’s lots to discuss today on the Lowdown! We’ll be on noon to 2pm, with Steve Lansky our feature guest and plenty of Oilers chatter. We’ll also look ahead to the NFL weekend. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
New Lowetide: How much has Oilers trading prospects and picks actually hurt?
https://theathletic.com/5132632/2023/12/15/edmonton-oilers-history-prospects-picks/
I think you give Stu the start tonight. Then if you really want run Picard 2/3 in NY. Or vice versa and then Picard gets 2/3 on the California trip after the holidays.
FLA shutout 4-0 in back to back games. They’ll be cheating and once they start cheating there will be chances. Even better they might be hesitant. If they back off and box up it’ll be a shooting gallery again.
If Turtle were on the Oilers he’d be 7th in team scoring. He likes to play tight to the net, Nurse, Ekholm and Vinny need to make his life hard. Bobo having a Draisaitl-esque start to his December and got the hook against the Nucks last game. Might get Stolarz tonight but he’s been just as bad.
FLA topline is fire but its a dogs breakfast of mediocrity after that. Can’t take them lightly but nobody really shooting the lights out. Whoever draws the Barkov line will have their work cut out. Leon Draisaitl has the toughest job on the Oilers.
Final Fact this thread – Evan Bouchard has four multipoint games in his last five.
I start Pickard tonight and then in one of the back to backs.
I had this opinion even before his tough game/3rd period last game – that has zero impact on my thought that its time to get Pickard a start.
Oettinger left last night with a lower body injury. Unfortunate for Dallas but they’ve been riding him like Secretariat for a few seasons now.
Copley left Kings practice with an injury.
Colorado has very shakey goaltending.
Agree there’s a lot of shaky goaltending around the league, but to your related post below:
Skinner had an ugly start, but I don’t know where the ‘4th last’ is coming from. I’m not sure he’s 4th last in anything.
More importantly, Skinner has actually been an exactly league average goaltender since the coaching change. Skinner’s at .903 since Nov 12th, which is 27th of 54 goalies with at least 5 games. This is including the TBay stinker.
.903 is also the league average SV% for the 23-24 season (down from .904 in 22-23).
The list of goalies with a worse SV% than Skinner since Nov. 12th includes: Oettinger (51st of 54) as well as Vasilievsky, Forsberg, Blackwood, Husso, Binnington, Gibson, Markstrom, Shesterkin, Vladar, Kuemper, Allen, Samsonov, Korpisalo, Vanicek, Grubauer and Rantanen among others.
I think you have to be careful splicing what is already a very small sample size. Stu has only played 50 games. This year its 21, in the sample size you’ve created its 10 games. I agree there’s encouragement in the avg but its masking a very volatile sample.
In the ten games Stu has played since KK and Coffey took over half of his games he’s posted a .852 or worse save percentage. In those 5 games he’s played a rung lower than NHL level. If we recall the games – he was very bad against Tampa, got the hook after getting shelled in Carolina, helped blow a two goal lead late against Vegas and helped everyone get lucky against Minny before blowing up against Tampa again.
That’s exceptionally volatile and its why earlier today I preached consistency for the young man. He needs to stop blowing up every two or three games. When it happens its not one goal, its usually three or four. It has turned what were dominant hockey games for the Oilers into having to be Perfect. That’s not reasonable, that’s not good enough. He needs to be more consistent than requiring his teammates to play perfect every few games.
Where do my #’s come from? Right here but they are the whole season not smaller chunks.
https://www.espn.com/nhl/stats/player/_/view/goaltending/table/defensive/sort/savePct/dir/asc
If you narrow down starters vs backups Stu sits at the back of the pack in goals against and save %. He’s tenth worst overall in save % but if you control for starters he sits 3-5th last. If you look up GAA he’s better here, but among starters he sits 4th-5th last.
So as a starter he’s one of the worst in the league and when Jack was playing we’d be sitting dead last or one rung above. Terrible goaltending all year. Its cost the team and it will continue to cost them until it improves.
I believe in Stu. He’s got a very hard job and its his first year as a starter. The sophomore slump is easy to explain for goalies. All of the pressure, none of the cover, knowing full well you’re the last line of defense. Tough gig, gotta be Tennis or Golf level tough in the mind. He needs to be more consistent though. If we expect it from everyone else we should expect it from Stu. He’ll get there.
But more to the point of this. Since KK and Coffey took over the Oilers have ran a 11-3-0. That’s a .786 points % which works out to 128 over a season. So even with his volatility they are dominant.
If he smooths things out and plays a bit more consistently this is far and away the best team in the NHL.
All of that said..
I do like that others are picking up on how loose the rest of the league is this year. I tried telling y’all that pretty much everyone went out and got worse this past offseason. Holland’s only job was not to make the team worse and so far its razor thin whether that is the case.
Indeed small sample sizes are dangerous. The larger sample for Skinner is the main reason I’m higher on him than you.
He’s played 85 career regular season games btw, and 12 (not 10) since Knoblauch was hired.
In those 85 career regular season games Skinner has a .907 SV% (above league average in that span, even including his tough start to this season). He’s also got an .883 SV% in 12 career playoff games (much less impressive).
I’m not going to calculate the overall regular season/playoff number, but it’s clearly ‘league average’-ish.
So, I view Skinner’s last 12 games under Knoblauch as a return to what he has been rather than a small sample size improvement.
This is where the measures for goalies can be more robust than other players. Skinner has 214 saves over 240 shots in the last 10 games. n = 240 (not 10 or 12).
Dear Bruce McCurdy;
Thank you and your co host David Staples with The Cult of Hockey.
From myself, and the many fans who listen to your podcast.
You guys explain the ins and outs of the Oilers better than anyone else. Your critique of the Tampa Game was particularly outstanding. In fact, it was more than that.
I listen every single morning after a game at the gym:
a bit late now. LT – what about Kole Lind? as a depth pick up
4th line plays a bit less under Knoblauch, with some (like Hamblin) off the kill. But strangely they score at a high rate. Not certain how that translates in the playoffs. 11/7 increased TOI/GP for these players, but reduced GP. When Ganger got on the ice in the third, he could barely skate and looked like Jagr when he was playing for CGY, from sitting too much.
Under Woodcroft ’23-’24 5v5 TOI/GP
Ganger 10:59
Hamblin 8:13
Ryan 8:11
Under Woodcroft ’23-’24 PK TOI/GP
Ganger 0:00
Hamblin 1:09
Ryan 1:26
Under Knoblauch ’23-’24 5v5 TOI/GP
Ganger 9:24
Hamblin 7:46
Ryan 8:45
Uder Knoblauch ’23-’24 PK TOI/GP
Ganger 0:00
Hamblin 0:00
Ryan 1:48
if you can trade GUDAS straight up for CECI, do you do it?
GUDAS 33, 2 more yrs $4 mil
CECI 29, 1 more year $3.25
You can’t because Gudas has a No Trade Clause and he was very vocal about getting Canadian offers and turning them down this summer because of too much Canadian media pressure.
fair enough. trying to think of a possible upgrade, who plays on bad team and has similiar cap hit…
That would be Tanev but, of course, he’s unlikely to make it through a playoff run – and he’s not THAT much of an upgrade, if really at all – he’s almost always under water against elites.
God no.
Ceci >>>> Gudas
Gudas is a 3rd pairing d-man. He played 20.2% TOI vs elites last season and Ceci over 37%.
The grass is NOT always greener.
I think you have to sit, or waive, Brown when Holloway is ready.
Are you forgetting about Adam Erne on the roster? He’s clearly the guy that gets waived.
There is zero chance they waive Brown – he gets claimed by most teams at league min and, no, losing him would not be fine – he’ll provide more than league min cap hit worth of value – in fact, he is right now with his PK work alone.
There is a very very small chance he gets sat but his PK work in the 8-game winning streak was impactful – lets not discount the PK’s impact in the run.
He could very well move down the lineup but unlikely to move out.
There are 3 more games until he’s back – Holland said a couple of weeks yesterday so I presume not until after the holiday break.
Those stamkos shots were insane, and give kucherov credit for the last second tap through skinner. But, I wonder if we’re seeing a bit of ‘high glove’ on skinner like was the case with ‘the big finn’. Vasilevksy’s performance would win any game, would win the stanley cup.
Skinner is in the bottom 10% of goalies for save percentage for goalies with more than ten games played. 44 out of 50.
At some point its not the other team making great plays.
Oilers need another opinion in goal.
I disagree
Vas was beaten top net and shooting upstairs apparently was not cagey enough
So they kept going under arm and 5 hole
Summarizing!
Nathan’s been Dayzed and Confused for so long, it’s not true. His swoon continueth as he permits five goals on 21 SOG in a 6-4 loss.
soul of a ‘tender was created below?
Somewhere Joe Sakic and blog regular ryan are sipping a beer and laughing at the league 5v5 sv%s.
Edmonton is second last in 5v5 sv% and Calgary is last.
What do these teams have in common? They both handed out the two biggest free agent goalie contracts in the last 5 years.
This is way off base.
Bobrovsky then Markstrom, Grubauer and Kuemper are the biggest true UFA goalie contracts of the last 5 years.
Campbell is tied with Lehner and Matt Murray for total cap behind that first group.
Vasilievsky, Sorokin, Hellebuyck, Bennington, Merzlikins and Jarry also signed larger deals than Campbell’s as pending UFAs to remain with their former teams.
@EvolvingWild
The Oilers may be a .500 team currently, but they’re kind of terrifying. They currently lead the league in 5v5 RAPM xGF differential, and their standard 5v5 on-ice xG% has only improved over the last few weeks. It’ll be interesting to see what their record looks like in a month.
(click for charts)
https://x.com/evolvingwild/status/1735797933981774278?s=61
@Woodguy55
Not getting this team their Dwayne Roloson is a crime.
Roloson with Pronger or Lemaire was a slightly different goaltender than Roloson without Pronger or Lemaire..
Folks don’t want to believe how good they are. Best in the NHL by a mile.
Just need NHL level goaltending. Nothing special, just a fella who’s digits rank 32nd in the league and not 4th last.
Tony B spoke with Holland pre-game last night.
They are taking the goaltending week by week and right now Skinner/Pickard give them the best chance to win. Campbell won’t be back before Christmas. He’ll re-evaluate after the New York trip.
Holloway is about a couple of weeks.
Even though Day lost last night, he still turned in the OHL Save of the Night.
Win or lose, the Oilers play an entertaining and interesting brand of hockey. For two periods last night, Stu and the crew took it to a veteran, Stanley Cup winning squad. To me, they’ll get better and finish the job next time.
The gulf between
Trade Leon
and
You can’t win ‘em all
is like 4 weeks.
yeah. You can’t make this up. Crazy
Perhaps the “you can’t win them all” crew is not the same crew as the “trade Leon” crew.
For me, in the second period I felt the Oil were gonna loose this one and not for a lack of effort.
The chances that the Boltz generated, albeit few, were very high quality.
They also have a few players that have a knack for finishing.
I agree with your assessment.
I also felt Kane was not skating as he should, and there seemed to be a lack of attention to detail.
I guess one could say the team got Vasilievskied in one end and Skinnered in the other. There’s no goalie with a higher level when fully on than Vasy. Incredible performance. Skinner is an NHL level goalie but also a non elite talent guy in his second year and as such there are swings in his performances, even in-game. He fell apart and threw away an insane game from his teammates.
Well most of them at least. As mentioned Kane looks hurt. The Kulak-Desharnais pairing struggle as soon as the pace goes up.
With Tyler Motte scoring last night it means that Connor Brown sits stone alone as the least productive forward in the league with over 20 games played, if we use goals as the tie breaker. He’s tied with Ryan Reaves, pretty much the last of a dying breed in the league, in points but since Reaves only point is a goal Brown is last. Of all forwards with 20 games.
Motte now has a goal and an assist.
And Brown has gotten a decent amount of ice time with McDrai in those 20 games. It’s almost impressive. Lennart Petrell could probably produce more next to those guys…
That was a very entertaining game. Playoff intensity mid-season and both clubs were up to the task. Applause, applause.
Goals 4 and 5 are ones Skinner would like another chance at. But other than that, he played really well with some dazzling saves that seemed like they were going to be sure goals and had TB players looking at the rafters. TB is a good offensive team.
The blame finds its way to Skinner in a game like this a lot more easily because of the comparison to the guy at the other end of the ice. What a performance. It could have been 10-2 after two. 14-5 final score playing an ordinary goalie. Superhuman.
All this is to say the Oilers were exceptional. If we get that every night, I think they are going to easily make the playoffs and have a strong playoff run.
A goalie to tandem with Skinner is a need,
Can we please play Pickard and find out what he offers?
I’m in the camp that wants to prioritize a RD acquisition.
Are the goalie options from a trade scenario any better than Pickard or Rodriques?
Are we overplaying Skinner?
Colton Parayko has been having a fine season so far
Sean Walker is a more achievable target
Philly is 4 points of out first in the Metropolitan Division.
Why would they trade him?
Hart has been sensational, he’s sick again but they’re a playoff squad when he’s between the pipes.
Oilers would win the multiple cups with Hart paired with Skinner.
They won’t trade now but Hurricanes, Devils and Penguins might all be ahead of Philly before the trade deadline. Then it is a different story
Pickard looked great against the Devils.
Pickard was so dialed in and calm against Jersey it was nice to watch. I think Kris will start him against the panthers. The way this team is playing all we need is a Goalie who can make a few saves. When Skinner is not tracking the puck well he can single-handedly kill a game.
Good points. Stu’s glove is suspect as well
At the end of a winning streak you win games you should have lost, while at the end of losing streaks you lose games you should have won.
So this must be the end of this particular losing streak.
No matter how well you play, the other team has it own say and you won’t go a period without giving up a scoring chance or two — the expectation to get through the third without a single dangerous shot is utterly unrealistic.
Skinner needed to do better. He will. Put him in net again and move on.
That was disappointing for sure. Can’t win them all. I thought there was some reversion to old not good habits. Hopefully that motivates them to clean things up
Vas had a great game for sure. He owned the bottom half of the net. Part of the old habits thing for me was when they have trouble beating goalies playing well, they aren’t shooting for the top of the net. They also weren’t getting into good positions a lot of the time and were banging away with not much to shoot at or able to get a good shot off
Hyman dinged post top shelf, beat Vas clean. Bouch bomb was up and in it went. They had huge shot volume, not so sure of the quality, especially against a guy on his game. Also they got a couple of deflection goals but weren’t getting those attempts in consistently, as they had been through much of the run
Hopefully we see a nice game against the kittens. Getting back to where they were team game wise right away would be a good sign in team growth
I would put Kane on IR, and call up Lavoie. Run Foegele, Draisaitl, and Lavoie. Janmark, McLeod, Brown. Or flip Foegele and Janmark.
See if a break till the new year can heal Kane up.
I don’t understand the OIlers fascination with playing banged up players, like in last years playoffs.
They wouldn’t play Lavoie down the stretch when he earned a trial, they wouldn’t play Lavoie to start the season. Now they won’t play Lavoie when they have injuries.
That would require sitting Kane for 10 games and 24 days.
He’s been hurt for weeks. He has barely practiced in a month. He was hurt during his recent heater.
He was always been streaky. Maybe he’s “more hurt” now or maybe he’s just cooled off from an unsustainable pace and is in a cold spell that will pre-date his next heater in Jan?
Lavoie up. Erne down. Kane on regular IR.
have a look at Holloway first.
Can’t they retro the LTIR?
To when? He’s been playing, hasn’t missed a game.
Right, wasn’t sure and didn’t have time to look it up, thx
The more the people change the more they stay the same
Don’t have a RW that can score? Definitely don’t use the guy in house with a world class shot. I’d try Janmark and Ralph with Drai. Foggy had his heater but to my eye has been poor lately. MJ doesn’t mess up much and can skate
And play The Capt for goodness sake. Reward players for playing well. Stu does burn out mentally, we know this. He is a calm guy but the on ice play shows it when he’s needing a break. Probably not the next but the one after. I’d also pull Stu if he’s off and lets in a couple of softies tomorrow
Keith Gretzky’s recent assessment of Lavoie’s play in Bakersfield wasn’t exactly glowing. Doesn’t sound like he’s competing hard enough to get a call up at this time.
Lavoie window is closing fast the team has never pumped his tires. Lavoie could get a Gordie Howe hat-trick yet they’ll complain about something. I don’t get it he’s a big body that can score he’s not a defensive liability so why do they continue to bury him. The kids morale has to be taking a hit Lavoie will be traded by the deadline.
If Lavoie got called up and go a Gordie Howe hatty nobody would be complaining .
Inconsistent effort. Too many giveaways. Making the kind of mistakes that a veteran player shouldn’t be making at the AHL level. I really don’t see an NHL player other than his shot.
Last night, the fundamental weaknesses in the Oilers defensive play from forwards and defensemen resurfaced as the speed and talent and elite sniping ability of the opposition was able to match the Oilers pace.
It leaves the goaltender exposed to high quality chances and elite scorers.
These Oilers are vulnerable to varying degrees of rope-a-dope. We have seen it over and over for three years as the quality of the opponent becomes top tier. If a top tier team can defend well enough to not be knocked out by the Oilers elite offensive players, the Oilers defending at an individual and team level is not good enough.
It is too easy to blame the goaltender.
“It is too easy to blame the goaltender.”
Yes, especially after seeing the fifth goal.
Mainly Ceci’s fault. He is not good enough against elite players like Kucherov, Eichel, and MacKinnon.
One could have been playing Broberg there from the start of the season to see if there was a cheap solution in house. Now one probably has to trade away four assets for an expensive external solution.
Oops wrong goal. Stamkos tricks Bouchard into losing his gap (after a giveaway by Bouchard in the neutral zone), and then an elite shot using Bouchard as a screen from distance.
I don’t care what the shot looks like, a goalie can’t be beaten by a clean wrister from the blueline….
Bouch looked to be screening Stamkos’ body but the puck was still in sight lines
Everyone knew/knows where Ovechking and Draisaitl should from, and the goaltender cannot stop it. Elite scorer Stamkos with an elite shot from behind a screen by a defenseman he has outwitted.
That’s not an elite shot.
They played really well defensively last night. Skinner let in 4-5 bad goals. Even that first goal was stoppable. He was square to the shooter and the puck beat him. Your bar for defensive play seems to be ‘zero scoring chances allowed’.
Not really, the defensive structure was bending and breaking sometimes when Tampa’s elite player were able to pressure it.
That happens when playing against elite players. It’s all well and good to push for zero mistakes but it’s not a feasible expectation. A goaltender has to expect a few high quality shots against a period — even on nights your team controls play.
You will rarely go a period in the NHL without allowing a scoring chance of some sort.
The skaters were dominant last night. They did their job. Skinner came up short.
Oh well. Time to start a new streak. As long as it’s the right kind of streak that is.
I would think Pickard starts Saturday and then one of the back-to-backs late next week.’
I would have the same opinion even if Skinner was great last night.
Kane has been hurt for the better part of a month I think. This missing practice is not new – he’s barely practiced in weeks now, at least 2-3.
I remember posting during his heater how impressed I was with his production and continued aggressive/physical game as he was banged up (not practicing).
Perhaps he’s “more hurt” now but I just think its him coming off his heater – he’s always been streaky and he was bound to come back down to earth.
He’ll get hot again in 3 weeks or so.
We need to put him on LTIR. Need to absorb as much of Brown gift as possible
That would hurt the cap savings though.
there is zero cap accrual while in LTIR.
Maybe he shouldn’t be taking practices off. If he’s still able to play games, he couldn’t be hurt too badly.
Lots of negative towards The Principal today, but that was a great game to watch. Hockey, for me, is entertainment. Do I want the Oilers to win every game – yes, yes I do. That being said it is a vast improvement over past Oiler teams that did not appear to be giving it their all.
I believe that this Oiler team, playing like last night, can beat any team in the NHL in a 7-game series. Need to make the playoffs then it is on.
Prospectomongo!
Today’s spotlight falls solely on Nathan Day. He has hit a rough patch of late, losing his last three decisions whilst allowing 16 goals. He seeks redemption when the puck drops @ 5 p.m. Larkspur time.
Imo Pickard gets the net next game, Skinner may be the starter but he was worse then awful last night.
It’s best for accountability for Pickard who played splendidly last time out to get back between the pipes.
This isn’t hard, why the Oilers insist on playing goalies 58 games in a row is madness.
Skinner can watch Pickard play stellar or shit the bed like himself and Stu in self anger for letting the team down with his horrendous evening.
Accountability.
Skinner may have been slightly intimidated by Vasilevskiy’s performance last night. He was spectacular and put immense pressure on Skinner to stop that puck, because Vasilevskiy proved once again, he’s the top goaltender in the world.
Not to hammer on Stu, he is allowed a bad game now and then, but you could kind of see it coming last night in first 2 periods, when he was tested, he didn’t look great. He lost his net a few times and was fighting it. It was pretty easy to see. Not that they have much choice, it is what it is.
All this talk of “It’s Skinner until they get a capable backup”.. I don’t get it!? What about Calvin Pickard this year has indicated he cannot be a capable backup? When called upon, he’s been effective both in the AHL and NHL. Goalies are voodoo man, for the most of them, you can’t let last year’s results be an indicator of present. I don’t see a whole lot of difference between Pickard and any of the other names being tossed around, espeically not at the acquisition cost to get them!
Play Pickard more until he proves he’s no better than Campbell. Don’t tire Stu out.
EDM had 57 shots, most per game in franchise history. Vasilevskiy had 53 saves, second most in career. Most people look at him with terror and with fear. Stamkos with first 4 goal game. He could preach the Bible like a preacher full of ecstasy and fire.
And yet Marek says Tampa showed why they’re still a dominant team and Vasy had a ‘good’ game.
Must be the mail-it-in time of year.
But when his drinking and lusting
And his hunger for power
Became known to more and more people
The demands to do something
About this outrageous man
Became louder and louder
Not often does one see a goalie give in 4 goals and be named 1st star, nor a sniper score 4 goals and be named 2nd star.
I think they got it right.
The question is are you winning the cup with Skinner.
Not if you play him 70 games in the regular season, that’s for sure.
He is as good a bet as anyone the Oilers can trade for at twice the price. Upgrading Ceci is the better move.
Oilers could have 6 Prongers as their defenders, they’re all pooched if their mostly goalie plays as Skinner did last time out.
Vegas ran out four mediocre goaltenders last year. Ditto Colorado and Kemper.
Adin Hill’s playoff performance was hardly mediocre. They wouldn’t have won the Stanley Cup if Hill put up a sub .900 save percentage.
For sure, but it wasn’t the least bit expected either. Vegas themselves had no idea – they had career backup Brossoit starting ahead of Hill until he got injured.
Devan Dubnyk himself said he needed to be traded and bottom out in order to come back. It was the only thing that shook him awake.
Meh… one game in a string of good one where the puck just didn’t bounce right for the Oil. For a couple weeks they’ve had the good bounces while last night a champion team took advantage of the bounces they got. Once again, the Oil were poor finishers. Their guy was good but many times they made him look good. On to tomorrow.
Sure would be nice to have Wallstedt percolating in the Ahl right around this time
Rodrigue’s stats are equally good to Wallstedt’s in the AHL. Just saying.
The G situation is murky. Not sure they have a guy in the system that can get them through a cup run.
But the one area I’d look to address first is RD, and the guy I’d target is Tanev. Gives you a pretty monstrous shut down pair w 25.
If you package Ceci and Broberg, does that get it done with $1m retention?
For a rental?
He’s not enough of an upgrade, in particular given it’s unlikely he’d survive a long playoff run healthy.
“remember the Devan Dubnyk Experience”
1- good goalie on a bad junior team
2 -high (ish) draft pick
3-years of development
4-slow burn backup
5-starter
*- Atco Gas TV star (wrong gloves Dubie!)
6-becomes a father
7-loses consistency
8-fans get impatient
9-run out of town
10-kids get older
11-finds a mentor
12-dealt to a fine defensive team
13-all star
At least we got a few years of the “Cream” of Matt Hendricks
Dubnyk would have retired a beloved Oiler if the home fans could have got the Annie Lennox “Dubie Dubie doo doo doo….oh-oh!” chant going for him. Big missed opportunity.
e: There’s also the missed marketing potential of a guy nicknamed Doobie leaving Canada shortly before legalized cannabis became a thing.
thanks a lot, durag
Talbot was same thing…had a great year, but then had twins and his play dropped off. i had 3 kids in short order and I can tell you I was in a fog for about 2 years. I can’t imagine how these guys do it. It’s kind of the unspoken negative performance factor. I”m not blaming the kids or the homecare, but I bet this is a real thing.
I bet it extends to non-goalies too..Nurse may be a good example.
Oilers played Talbot 500 games in a row, complete madness
Was Talbot’s kids year the same year he let in the first shot for something crazy like 14 games?
In his first 3 full seasons, Devan Dubnyk played 120 games with 2.65, .917. On the Decade of Darkness Oilers.
Then came the perfect storm of 2013-14:
— Lost his long-time partner Khabibulin
— Equipment changes for which he was 0.5” too short for his preferred gear
— New baby at home
— New GM who “had to ask the question”
— New coach who advocated for The Swarm
— National media that circled like vultures
Did he have a bad start to the season? Yes. Should he have been cut loose after the previous 3 good seasons not to mention the high draft pick & development time invested in him? No, a thousand times no. The Oil weren’t making the playoffs in 2013-14 even if Dubnyk played like Vasilevskiy. It was a short-sighted & costly decision.
The most frustrating thing about the game is Tampa didn’t deserve to win. They were flat out awful. Multiple giveaways in the dzone, multiple odd man rushes. I know you can say this about any game where the winner is so badly outshot, but you expect something like this against Chicago, not Tampa.
This is why the game is sometimes called
mostly goalie
😁
stu had a stinker
vasy showed again why he is perhaps the best goalie in the world the past 5 years or so
Might trade Bouchard for that mostly goalie.
Vasilevskiy stole the game it’s as simple as that.
The goaltender is part of the team, especially in Tampa where the goaltender is being paid handsomely.
Also, Hedman wasn’t playing. Take Nurse out of the OIlers roster. What would happen?
Disappointing outcome last night. Vaselevsky stole the show for sure.
Oilers were flying last night. I think Drai really needs a legite winger that can snipe. He seems to be passing a bit much and dishing off. Team played well and has a few weak spots in the 3rd line area. Brown tried hard last night but no clue if he ever scores again. Kane is hurt and still banging but McLeod is a real mystery. Skates miles, good on the Pk, but will not go to the front of the net hard or in the corners. Think this team really needs a better option at 3rd line C, a winger that scores on the 2nd and figure out the goaltending. How they get all that is a tough one .
Regroup and start a new streak Sunday.
McLeod has been a perimeter player for his entire career. He’s not changing at this point.
Yeah I don’t get why the team and people like him. He’s the exact opposite of all of our complimentary players. Doesn’t get much done but does it fast I guess
that’s the “Steve Kelly Experience” .
Ot the MPS experience.
The best smile in hockey. LOL.
Woodguy was very big on him, and of course if he is big on him….
I’ll admit it. I have a bias against McLeod. I hate his game. Those big drifting loops drive me crazy. He may bring value to the team, but his unwillingness to engage physically, skate in straight lines, or go to the hard areas, drives me nuts. He did a big loop in the ozone last night and the puck popped up about 15 feet in front of that net, where he should have been, but he was closer to the blue line than the net.
Shots on goal by Oilers forwards last night:
McDavid 7
Draisaitl 7
Hyman 6
RNH 6
Foegele 6
Kane 3
Janmark 3
Brown 3
Hamblin 3
Ryan 1
Gagner 1
McLeod 0
Playing with an injured Kane and Connor Brown will do that to you. Like it did with McDavid to start the year, and Draisaitl subsequently.
Put Kane on IR (after Florida), call up Lavoie for the road trip east and go Foegele, Draisaitl, Lavoie. It will give Kane a long break till the critical road trip after Chistmas.
McLeod transports the puck from the D zone to the O zone like a 2nd line centre.
Play him with wingers that add physicality to the line.
If guy are calling someone up, you are letting him out for 24 days and 10 games.
No, just Lavoie up, Erne down. No need to put Kane on LTIR.
Everybody got a shot except the Popcorn girl and McLeod. I continue to say that he’s not an NHL’er. Even his skating is off some this year especially with the puck. Someday he might excel in a European league.
McLeod’s speed is a gift and a curse, his structure and positioning are awful but he’s been allowed to get away with it because he’s been most likely faster then everyone until he hit the bigs.
If he is to have a long successful career he needs a coach that hates his speed and screams details at him imo.
They won 8 straight and then obliterated TB in every sense of the word, except in goals.
Dwayne Roloson was 1 year older than Pickard today and had similar numbers and career games when he got his big chance after Manny Fernandez shit the bed in Minnesota.
Tim Thomas
Ah Tim Thomas. The worst of 5 goalies on the Hamilton Bulldogs.
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0007911999.html
Johnny Bower.
Maybe a goalie mask with Johnny Bowers face might be enough to terrify shooters.
He never wore a mask anyway.
I don’t want to see Skinner having to come out and face the media after being shoved out there game after game. Skinner may become a good NHL starter one day but he is not ready yet and last years playoffs were a glaring example. If the Oilers go into the playoffs with Skinner/Pickard/Campbell then the exact same thing will happen. Skinner needs another guy to split the load in half with. The Oilers just need average goaltending.
One thing Skinner does is handle the media well.
I think we are at that point in the program where we understand that Brown is a very good PKer. Not sure where he fits in the line-up otherwise.
It is too bad the 4th line is playing so well!
Kane is very inconsistent and doesn’t appear to process the game at a high speed. With the puck on his stick, he either shoots or skates/passes into trouble. When the shots are going in, great. But they aren’t at the moment and he looks a little lost so high up the batting order.
It is too bad the 4th line is playing so well!
Kane was the glue earlier in the year when half the team had deer in the headlights syndrome. It would be unrealistic to expect a 32 year-old Kane to run around and smash the opposition like a 24 year-old Wendel Clark for 82 games.
I’m not sure I’d call playing LW on a line with McLeod and Brown “so high up the batting order”.
If he’s banged up and playing through it ask yourself if coach Kris is playing him lower in the batting order so he sees easier competition and less minutes.
Is Calvin Pickard perhaps the best goaltender in the organization? Discuss
Second best, behind only Rodrigue.
I do not disagree with this.
He’s the only goalie to play this season that doesn’t make my sphincter clench when I’m watching the game… so there’s that.
I like Stu Skinner. He saved our season and won a playoff series last year. That kid will continue to mature.
I like Pickard. Vet who can provide occasional NHL starts.
The Oilers need an organizational #1.
Yesterday I posed the question whether the team needed to prioritize at RW, at RD, or in goal. It’s abundantly clear.
At the very least, he is the one goalie who has played an AHL game that I want on the Oilers’ roster.
I don’t get why he doesn’t get more respect as a backup. People talk about him like he’s a terrible option as a backup. Yet all he’s done is play well this year. Sure in the past he’s had ups and downs, but that’s why he is where he is. Backup goalies should be treated/decided on in the moment. He costs nothing, any other backup you go get, is going to cost you something and I don’t know if the’ll be any better.
Pickard has had a very small sample with the Oilers at the NHL level. It would truly be difficult to say. He might be better than Campbell. Which isn’t saying much.
Except it is.
The trouble with goalies is the margin is so thin that it’s hard to tell who they are and even when you do, the slightest wobble will fool you.
Stop 91 shots out of 100, you’re an NHL goalie. 92 shots and you’re elite. 90 shots and you’re a back-up at best or out of the league.
Stuart Skinner has about 86 NHL regular season games under his belt. He’s played well through most of them. Faltered a bit in the playoffs last year in his rookie season. Faltered at the beginning of this season.
Years ago, G Money (known now more commonly as OilersNerdAlert on Twitter) and I looked at goalies with not a lot of games played. One of things we found was that goalies that made it to 50 games were exceedingly rare. Most who did, went on to have careers. However, we also found that it was pretty common to have a sophomore slump before stabilizing out. I wonder if we’re seeing that now with Skinner?
That said, there’s always exceptions. Jack Campbell, you might note, looked quite good after 86 games and now… much less so.
Goalies, they’ll be the death of you.
I’m convinced there is a sophomore slump because you get 50 games for teams to video you to death and find all your bad habits. So come sophomore year, you’re surprised to get burnt.
The good goalies overcome their bad habits. The average ones overcome some of them.
Much respect for how Skinner owned the loss. There’s a lot of pressure to win the Cup with McDrai here and he is still young. Every goalie has games like this but I think his ceiling is as a league average starter. Hopefully, that’s all we need him to be
I don’t know… maybe it was the splits on Hamblin. It just never felt to me like that was going to land the Oilers’ way. We’ve all watched enough hockey to know sometimes the other goalie won’t let the next one in. Skinner could have stopped the next 100, Vasilevskiy was going to do him one better.
I liked KK’s comments afterwards: More good than bad, on to the next one.
Maintain that second period level of compete and you’ll win 9/10.
If Skinner had stopped the next 100 when it was 3-2 Oilers all would have been good.
Hey don’t let detail ruin my vibes!
Dozen Losses To Catch Vegas Watch
I’m looking for two things: Can Edmonton keep their post 8-game winning streak (Nov.24-Dec 12) losses to pre winning streak loss levels (12) thereby losing 1/2 their games within the first 1/5 of the season? And what would then need to happen to catch Vegas and likely de facto win the Conference / Division?
If Edmonton can continue at 44-11 (.800) they will finish with 115 pts
Vegas would need to continue at 35-17 (.673) to finish with 115 pts
Likely? No. Unpossible? LET’S GO, BUFFALO!
Running at .800 would be insane. I’M IN.
The longer I am even able to track this the better the season!
So since you posted this, they have 1 Loss?
The math gets tricky quickly.
Schedule certainly softens up in the new year, but .800 is a BIG ASK.
Yeah down to 11 losses before this magic jig runs its course. I’m trying to conjure the most impressive possible turn-around.
Not Skinners best game but if Vasilesky wasn’t playing an all world game we still win that won. In goalie terms Skinner is still young and inexperienced and some days his game may not be all there. Consistency often comes with age and experience. Its the organizations fault that they made a bad gamble on Campbell that failed miserably. Can we afford a significant upgrade both in assets that would have to be traded as well as Salary cap room. Not likely, but again not Stu’s fault. Better back up is all we can hope for folks and Stu will be good most nights.
Vasy himself posted a .760 at Dallas a while back. 25 shots, 6 goals. Even the great ones have off nights.
Felt like the baseball proverb. You’ll win 50, you’ll lose 50, the margins are what separates the good from the bad.
Everything is contextualized with the terrible start unfortunately. Otherwise we’d be disappointed but have no issue getting goalied by one of the greatest the games ever seen after an 8 game heater.
Stu didn’t have it, the other guy did, at least it wasn’t a backup this time. Move on.
I appreciate Janmarks talent but to have him on a second line when theres Lavoie and or Bourg in the minors looking for a chance 🤔 idk ! There should be a shot there for a skill wing prospect
Bourgault, I don’t know, he strikes me as a less talented Yamamoto when I watch the Condors. Lavoie, on the other hand, is currently a league too low.