Smooth Operator

by Lowetide
  • On the road to: CAR (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 1-0-0)
  • At home to: ANA, MTL, DAL (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 2-1-0)
  • On the road to: BUF, NJD, NYI, NYR (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 2-2-0)
  • At home to: UTA, WPG, SEA, DAL (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • At home to: CGY (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • Overall expected results: 7-5-2, 16 points in 14 games
  • March result: 5-3-0
  • Oilers in 2024-25: 39-24-4, 82 points in 66 games

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Mayan Oil

Comments appear to be closed already on this article! Why would that be?

Mayan Oil

It appears to be working again. It was not allowing me to post replies for a short while….

dcsj

Just remember, they really are out to get you

Bruce McCurdy

Not for me.

Clarkenstein

With home games I’d try to limit Bouchard to the other teams 3rd and 4th lines and of course the PP. If he only plays 12 minutes all the better.

31saves

Evan Bouchard (according to PuckIQ):

TOI/GF-GA/ CF%

Elites: 414.6/ 18-17/ 58%

Middle: 477.3/ 18-15/ 59%

Gritensity: 364.4/ 19-18/ 61%

Not sure that would work out very well for us. We could reduce Bouch to Desharnais level minutes, but that would leave quite the chasm of elite defending to fill, especially considering Bouchard is 3rd on the team in GF% against the elites. Kulak and Nurse have 51.6% and 52.6% to Bouchard’s 52.4%. Who do you suggest takes those minutes if we’re pushing Bouchard to PP specialist?

Bruce McCurdy

If you want Bouch to be making outlet passes to McDavid (as I do) it’s unlikely he’ll be matched against bottom tier opposition.

but hey, we could always bury him & have those butter passes going to Janmark & Kapanen.

Reja

I agree with you 99% with the exception of the Ceci stretch pass on the tape to a inspired Janmark. This was the greatest outlet pass I’ve seen since watching Al Hamilton spring Ron Chipperfield a few years ago.

Bruce McCurdy

2024 June 24: the last time Mattias Janmark shot a puck past an NHL goalie.

OriginalPouzar

Nuge at 3C needs to be explored. As both coach and Rob Brown have said, he touches the puck more at center and perhaps is more engaged and effective. It’s hard to imagine this player can’t help a positive 3rd line behind the big two centers.

Also, this team needs someone they can plan 4C and neither Kap nor Janny are it. Henrique can be it and, when Frederick and Kane are added to the lineup, they should have the wingers for the 4 legit centers team.

Spine this team.

Also, it’s was two shifts but Skinner and Arvy flanking McDavid was as dominant as can be in two shift. Take notice coach.

oil-in-the-blood

Your last sentence. AGREED.

cowboy bill

Edmonton’s new super lines.

Skinner-McDavid-Arvidsson
Frederic-Leon-Hyman
Kane-Nuge-Podkolzin
Janmark-Henrique-Brown

Last edited 1 hour ago by cowboy bill
Bruce McCurdy

Their shift at the end of the first was fantastic. 3 Grade A shots & a drawn penalty as they overpowered the Rangers & swarmed the net.

I was absolutely stunned to see Kapanen start the next 5v5 shift (the following period) on McDavid’s line, rather than any effort made to capture lightning in a bottle. The whole reason 53 & 33 were brought in was to bolster yhe top 6 be it with Draisaitl (as planned) or McDavid. Months later, not much progress, but there was a jolt of chemistry shown there that got immediately ignored.

Striking enough to me that the shift was my Good Thing on last night’s CoH podcast, & the coach’s reticence in responding to it was my Bad Thing.

cowboy bill

It was a small sample size. However, Knoblauch certainly will have it locked in his memory banks.

cowboy bill

Can’t forget Kapanen-Ryan-Perry & Philp-Savoie.

SVR

At the start of the year, I thought Perry was a part time player at best so what do I know. At this point I don’t know how you can take him out of the line up. Both Brown and Janmark should sir before Perry. Neither of them will ever score again. Someone else will need to PK

cowboy bill

I expect to see Perry contributing during the playoffs also. But Brown & Janmark are a large part of the PK and have shown to raise their level of play during the playoffs. Perry struggled during the playoffs last season. Who knows how he will perform this year or Kane for that matter? Best to keep all options open.

OriginalPouzar

Well, ya, maybe, except I think Perry needs to be in.

Janmark at risk unless “Playoff Janmark” is a thing again.

Reja

Kapanen was frustrating to watch he could of easily had 3-4 grade A opportunities but he fumbled the puck or made the wrong read.

Side

There are miles of goals on his stick, but he’s wired to be a playmaker. Maybe that goal gives him confidence to try more shots.”

I was really hoping McDavid’s 72 goal season would give him the confidence to try more shots.

oil-in-the-blood

Props to Stu Skinner. He blocked out the noise, played a low event game, tracked the puck, made some great saves and looked focused. Its funny what good tending will do.

Scungilli Slushy

Currently in 2nd, but the Kings have 2 games in hand. Those two games against them are going to be bangers unless somebody fails out. I don’t see that happening

cowboy bill

The thing about the Oiler defense is there’s so much flexibility with the addition of Walman.
With his comfort level on both sides along with Kulak’s abilities on both sides the options are countless. It would also appear they can get along without Ekholm with this added depth. There’s no doubt his return will up the anti even more, but they now have the luxury to ease him back into the defense rotation. Therefore this is what I see initially.

Walman-Bouchard
Nurse-Kulak
Ekholm-Emberson

Scungilli Slushy

I like that set up. Play all three pairs and keep them fresh

ArmchairGM

Small sample size, but Walman-Bouchard doesn’t look like a drop off from Ekholm-Bouchard. I think Walman plays with a little more pace than Ekholm, which influences Bouchard to move a little quicker.

Also small sample size, but Ekholm-Emberson has excellent metrics. 20-10 shots, 78 xGF%, 14-3 high dangers.

cowboy bill

They will be ready for the Jets.
But first they’ll need to dust off Utah.

Last edited 55 minutes ago by cowboy bill
OriginalPouzar

For all the doom and gloom about the Oilers recent play, each of the Oilers, Kings and Knights have 5 wins in their last 10. The other two teams have two extra points from losing in extra time.

ArmchairGM

Nuge with a surprise 3 point game! He now has 42, could this be the season he finally breaks the 50 point barrier?

sgmogram

Glad they pulled out a win.

And Amen, LT. Connor, please shoot more.

Actually, this entire Oilers forward core could and should be more selfish. So many times I’ve seen them pass themselves out of shooting opportunity, especially off the rush and on the wings. And some of these (especially from McDavid) are grade A chances he’s giving up to try and find a perfect pass.

This team generates too many shots from the point, and defers to the D men too often.

Best thing I saw last night was this Oilers team (both McDavid and Arvidsson) fire the biscuit on rushes.

For forwards struggling offensively as much as they have, the first place to start is to be more selfish. And right now, it’s not even selfish to be shoot first.

It should be direct order number 1 from Knob and co. And if Evander comes back, and Frederic is a shooter too, that’ll be helpful come playoff time.

teddyturnbuckle

Jeff Skinner looked engaged last night which is good news. If he gets an early goal in the playoffs it could light a fire.

oil-in-the-blood

I thought he played a solid game and deserves to play more. He is working hard and had some great shifts, drawing 2 penalties. Let him get some confidence and he will start to score.

cowboy bill

LOL- he’ll need a long stick to score from the press box.

oil-in-the-blood

ugh… he should be playing. I think he has taken his medicine from the early season and it has worked. Let him play so we can actually score some goals.

cowboy bill

I have no doubt he will be pumped to finally be playing playoff hockey. He’s also playing for a contract next season in Edmonton or elsewhere.

Bar_Qu

The focus for coaches is while still keeping the structure to support in their own zone, finding ways to unlock more offense. Running Skinner on a top line, for example, moving Nuge to line 3 to give him lower competition, putting Frederic on a top line to bash some goals in, these are all possibilities.
Having the 6 best D all playing at the same time is only going to help all of this too. If Kulak is in the bottom pairing with Emberson just means that it hopefully becomes rocking chair hockey in our own zone. The next 4 games should be a good chance to see this all work out.

Dee Dee

Time to fire up the old bandwagon!

Mayan Oil

It’s been idling in my driveway all season!

Shamus23

Skinner was great last night as was Pickard in his game. That is great if they can keep it up. Ekholm back this week will be great and hopefully Frederic maybe next week?
Nice to see Nuge grab a couple of points for sure, it would be great if that kick starts him.
LA seems to be coming on a bit winning 5 in a row. With 2 games in hand and only 1 point back , the Oil will have to get on a heater here at home. Vegas is floundering a bit as well and LA also has 2 in hand on them . It’s not out of the question that LA could win the Pacific.
The Oil need to start the week off with a big win tomorrow night. Ekholm will help for sure

leadfarmer

I don’t think we have the finishing ability to keep burying skinner.
Good goalering game by the other Skinner.
Hard to watch Holloway break 50 points. He would look really good in our top 6

Scungilli Slushy

Agreed. What gets me is that it’s not like Jinner is so egregious defensively and the others aren’t. They are. This team needs to be far more dangerous then they have been, they need to bury their multiple chances, because no matter how much they own the puck they are pretty easy to get quality chances against

Bruce at CoH had Grade A chances at 16-10 NYR, and 5 Alarmers at 11-5 NYR. Stu won them that game because they didn’t put it away in the first period

I don’t know really what Knobby values, but I do know that I don’t like how they play these days. I don’t like how it looks, and they are far from as dominating as they should be. They should be creating far more trouble around the net, it should be all the time

It’s less a roster issue I think, they might be a little slower, it’s more that they play slowly and completely obviously. It’s not hard to play against a team like that, especially one that will give you a lot of good chances and the goalie might spot you one many games

I’m not trashing them, it’s just how I see them right now, or really this season. Stauffer had Brian Burke on pre game, his take on the Oilers issues was if your best players are playing their best, it’s pretty hard to lose. Meaning they haven’t been as we know. He also has no problem with Stu

They’ll run the goalies next season again, my main get is two centres. The D is good enough with Walman. I prefer speed and RS. Let go and move some wingers and use Savoie. I’m not sure Philp is going to cut it if he hasn’t jumped on this chance at his age. Might not have the temperament to be an NHL player. No 4C and they prefer Ryan over him and they think Ryan is done

oil-in-the-blood

The team doesn’t score enough and our tending has been putrid. Better tending and we win games but we still need to score more. Arvi has looked a bit better and maybe he will start to get going (until he gets hurt again) We need him to score and let Jinner play, free him, he derserves to play. It is frustrating to watch him play well then next game he will be on the 4th line again, imagine how he feels. He is a scorer and scorers need to get hot then the goals come in bunches, how can he do that going from pressbox 1 game, to 4th line, to 1st line for 3 shifts etc etc…

Last edited 1 hour ago by oil-in-the-blood
cowboy bill

They prefer Kapanen over Philp. Knoblauch had them playing soundly last season.
I don’t think he’s coaching any differently. some of his players are having off seasons and also some of his players have been injured. I look forward to see how Frederic will impact the lineup and of course Evander Kane will be wanting to make his presence felt during the playoffs.

oil-in-the-blood

the perry goal was a good example of creating trouble around the net. Even though it was pp. That is getting and staying in the dirty areas. I think Frederic might help that out when he gets in. Nuge had a point blank opp in that area later on and he just will never score again it seems.

Last edited 1 hour ago by oil-in-the-blood
Mayan Oil

Good Ship Holloway has sailed a long time ago. Live in the moment. Try the koolaid…. it’s Deeeelicious!!!😜

Last edited 48 minutes ago by Mayan Oil
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