Everyone has an opinion, most have a theory. The great thing about sports is there is no script. In this SCF, momentum takes a powder, game to game, period to period, hell, shift to shift. In last year’s final, the Edmonton Oilers went down three games to zero on June 13, then roared back to force a Game 7.
I am convinced the Oilers need an outlet wrinkle. Something that allows a controlled breakout and gives the team a chance to win the puck deep in Florida’s zone. We haven’t seen that much in the Florida series, but we did see more of it when John Klingberg was part of the defensive six. Perhaps we’ll see it again.
I would also bring back Kasperi Kapanen, he’s a game rooster and has good speed and just enough fearlessness to go balls out into every corner of the rink (and to the net).
Stuart Skinner may or may not be the starter tonight, I would play him. The Oilers could be spending a pretty penny at the position over the summer, this might be his last chance Texaco.
Lots of talk about Trent Frederic’s rumoured signing, much of it surrounding the player’s performance in the postseason. Frederic is the owner of a 1.01 pts-60 resume at five-on-five this playoff season. Among regulars, only Corey Perry (0.99 pts-60) has a lower number. He has a 64 percent on-ice goal share at five-on-five (52 percent expected).
In his three full seasons with the Bruins before 2024-25, he was a capable middle-six scorer and was on the good side of the goal share five-on-five (via Natural Stat Trick). I’m not going to convince you of this player, but will tell you that, for me, he’s a good target for Edmonton. He is 27, his foot speed has returned after a slower regular season (NHL Edge) and his cap number will come in well below the (possibly) exiting Evander Kane. I hope they sign him.
On the Lowdown today, Daniel Nugent-Bowman at The Athletic will be our feature guests, and the formidable trio of Declan Krueger, Donovan Paulson and Josh Fenwick will form the Lowdown roundtable and discuss tonight’s big game. Noon to 2, Sports 1440.
Sorry LT – another wrong thread. I’m clearly a bit off this morning.
Thanks LT, for everything. I’m proud of the team and onto next season.
I understand the frustration and disappointment that fans will be having over the next while but personally, I’m content with the outcome.
It’s all a persons perspective I suppose.
Yesterday was a lot more than my favourite team missing out on a championship.
Have a good summer ladies, gentlemen and all.
If I could choose between a decade of deep runs and no cups, or one cup and 9 years of no playoffs, I choose this every time…it’s an honour to cheer for a team this good…they’re simply second best.
Is there a way to add enough to turn nurse into swayman? Or how much has swaymans value dropped / ran out his welcome in Boston.
Nurse has put roots down in Edmonton, is raising a young family in Edmonton, is close friends with many teammates and his wife is close friends with their partners. Is Nurse agreeing to this?
Maybe. Employees tend to not want to work for employers who do not want them.
Why would Boston do this? Why would they be interested in Nurse?
You’re looking at this from a fan’s perspective.
Nurse is not without tools, it’s the toolbox that’s always been the problem. Maybe he moves on and figures it out somewhere else. With teams flush with cap space this summer, with very little to spend it on, an intrepid GM under pressure to make the playoffs might figure that they can unlock Nurse in a different environment. It only takes one team.
If he does get traded, I think people here will be surprised with the return.
The same goes for Skinner.
These players will have value this summer, if the Oilers decide to change up the mix.
I agree, we might be surprised with the return. However the cap space alone is worth exploring if it’s possible. I don’t believe he is a top 4 dman, others may have a different opinion. Every other dman seems to be able to mix and match different partners but not Nurse, that is a problem.
I know there’s a 1 year overlap but i’ve gotta say this Decade of Disappointment hurts a lot more than the Decade of Darkness.
It was nuts not to play Podkolzin with Draisaitl. The Oilers needed Draisaitl to drive a line…a line that could bring physicalitiy.
Draisaitl doesn’t touch the puck enough against Florida when he is playing with McDavid. He plays like a Ferrari with McDavid. And a battle tank when he is driving his own line.
Suddenly, even the Edmonton media calling out the perpetual insistence to not play Draisaitl as a 2 C
Barkov can survive those minutes…then what’s left of the Oilers?
Leon was the #1 C this year. Them not pointing that out was also weak sauce.
Did you watch Knoblauch’s post game? He describes his “plan” and how once they were down, there was no other way.
Just ridiculous.
I don’t think Frederic could play in the Panthers top 12. Bowman is reportedly going to sign him for 7 x $3 million.
He cannot skate.
Agree. Same could be said for Kap, Arv, J Skin, Hen, and Perry in the Top 9.
Wouldnt have been in game 6 of the SCF without them but McD, Drai, Perry, Bouch, and Ek were a combined -18 tonight. That has to be a tough pill to swallow for the boys
Seems like we ran into a better team,not so much last year which sucks.I think management should certainly have a bead on what they need to do,coach,goalie are priorities in my mind.Being a guy from the 80’s winning cups I have to wonder if Kharmas biting us back for a bit,these guys have a bigger window then we think,maybe next year.
.
A sleepless night awaits.
My heart is broken.
A journey so long and taxing only to remain fruitless seems cruel. To have it happen in consecutive years is indescribable.
My focus is to try to remain grateful.
To all of you (except HH, you can frig off), thank you. This is the only place I enjoy talking Oilers.
To the leaders of our community, including our host and the late, great Bruce McCurdy, thank you for making our lives as fans and members of this community better.
To Connor McDavid, thank you for being very good at this game. One day, I swear…
I like watching hockey because sometimes, when my team wins, I don’t feel so bad anymore. It’s a childlike explanation, but at its basis, is that not the truth for us all? Today, they didn’t, but tomorrow they might.
There’s always next year they tell me…
Beautiful words. You captured my experience exactly with them. Thanks for this.
Knoblauch declares post game that it was the plan to run Leon and Connor together and once they were down, it was absolutely staying in place.
Firing offence. I’m so sick of this team being out-coached .
They just didn’t have the collective horses to beat this team. Knobs options were limited when the remaining options are Podz, Kap, healthy scratched Arv/Skin, or Fred, going up against Verhaege, Barkov, Rein, and Rod, Bennett, Tkatch.
This is more of a roster issue
than coach’s decisions
Disagree.
Game 2 early second they cash and go up 4-2, this thing’s over in 5. It turned right there.
Florida subsequently got 2 in that same period so it would have been tied going into the third and anyone’s game.
Florida was either tied or led in this series 335 of the total 419 min played.
The shots and grade As may show it was closer than it actually was. Looking GF/GA and time they were in the lead shows the series was much more lob sided.
If Connor’s comment of “trying the same thing, bashing our heads against the wall” is related to this…
This post is for HH, specifically. I hope he’s gone forever but I doubt it cuz our fearless leader has a kind heart.
I don’t.
I absolutely hate anyone who doesn’t support one team.
The very fact that you always look to jack up any team that the Oilers play pisses me off and I will now make it a point to jump all over you for your only Oilers hate. I’ve only ever loved the Oilers and the fact that you hate them to the point of jumping teams makes you my enemy.
I want the whole team blowing up sky high this is unacceptable period.
The world doesn’t owe us a Stanley or anything else for that matter. Keep your nose to the road Stan and co, you can get us there.
Stealing from Dustin Nielsen…
Who had a really good series for the Oilers?
Great question
Podz….
I think you are right….
For playoffs:
Pod
GF 11 / GA 5
perfect player for playoff hockey
It’s hard for a team to excel when the rules change. Call the game like it’s designed to be called and the outcome is different. Panthers knew this and played it perfectly. We played the game as it was intended and got stuffed.
Makes you wonder if we didn’t get the memo…
I don’t understand either why they call the finals different than the rest of the playoffs.
Don’t ask. Don’t tell.
it’s the American way
Ray Ferraro
@rayferraro21
·
4h
Ekholm has really had a tough time last couple games – didn’t anticipate that
This piss off, for me, was the lack of change in tactics after the first game. We win but only just and didn’t alter anything. Right up until the final buzzer of game six. No changes. No difference anywhere. We just thought that, eventually, they would crack.
Florida lost but saw the endgame. We kept banging our heads against the wall and expected a different result.
If we are ever to win we need to realize that the final round requires a different game plan.
It’s our second time here but still we haven’t learned that there is a different set of rules in the end. It’s not skill but nasty that wins. We needed to be meaner. We weren’t and lost. Again.
If we get a third shot I hope we remember this. Skill matters less than nasty.
Be a shithead. It’s the American way. Hockey is Canada’s game until the finals.
Respectfully I disagree, were the Panthers that nasty in Games 5 & 6? Or were they just better on the boards, better positionally, better finishers, and have a collectively better lineup?
Top 9/4 vs top 9/4
Ver Bark Rein
Rod Bennett Tkach
Lous Lindell March
Ek Fors
Jones Mik
Bark
Nuge McD Perry
Kane Drai Kap
Skinner Hen Fred
Ek Bouch
Nurse Kulak
Skin
Perry, Kap, entire 3rd line, 2nd pair, and G are significant mismatches
FLA made it very clear on the blueprint of how to win in the new NHL. It is no longer about elite skill, it is about cheating so much that the refs “can’t call them all”.
So, next season all we do is hook grab fall on goalies elbows up all game. They can’t call them all right? So I guess that’s the blueprint on how to win now. And if the team doesn’t understand this is how to win…they will continue to lose. Clearly.
It’s very hard to watch McD every night and not wear rose-coloured glasses or have a bias towards the Oil. It doesn’t feel like a bias when you see it with your own eyes…every night.
His skill is so elite that refs will not call the penalties he legitimately draws every night. The league instead chooses to ignore the calls. Rather than reward McD with endless PPs until players get the message…like they should.
Could you imagine being so good that the league just says “ya, you can cheat on him a bit, he’s too good”?
It’s so brutal…for him.
I also do think this “special treatment” gets applied to the rest of the team now through the years too. Even just these playoffs…how many games did we have more PPs than the other team? Maybe 1 game? 2?
With McD, it should be the exact opposite…2 games of less PPs.
The “McDavid effect” actually turned out to be a negative factor for the team…because the league allowed it to. Let that sink in.
Love this team…always. And another amazing run for a fan to witness. Thought the ending would be better though this time…damn.
I thought the Oilers played nasty all playoffs until Game 3 of the SCF. Not sure what changed in their heads but after that game I knew deep down they were cooked. Hyman injury sucked but the whole team stopped hitting and playing heavy.
Well that sucked.
Proud of this team.
hate the outcome.
2 months ago they wobbled into the playoffs as many important parts of the team were injured.
they gave us one helluva ride.
it was fun.
ending hurts.
Florida is one helluva team. So gotta give them credit. They stifled Kucherov, Matthews, McDavid and Draisaitl.
I have hope Oilers return to the final.
Even if they win – it will now be relief, not joy or ecstasy. Wins of relief are not the same.
They’ve missed one of the windows completely now. And that’s just effing sad.
I wouldn’t project your feelings and experiences on others.
Dafuq are you talking about? Can you, in good conscience, say that the refs called a decent game in the last two? It was a different game call. Period. The Oilers need to understand that the rules are different in the finals. We were to passive, as evidenced by the eye” eye in the sky”. We were within the rules. That isn’t the measure in the finals.
Scary that Barkov, Tkatchuk, Reinhart, Verhaege, Lundell, Jones, Forsling salaries through 29-30 = $46M
In 25-26 McD, Drai, Nurse, and Bouch at $10 = $46M
In 26-27 those four will be $50M. Other than Nurse those guys are worth their salaries….But can they win it all being that top heavy?
We wait
Seriously consider trading Bouchard because of this reality.
The Oilers are not better with Nurse here and Bouchard elsewhere.
I noted that the first two musts to go are Nurse and Stuart.
Evan is a further consideration that I don’t want, but must be looked at.
Agree but Nurse NMC means we’re likely running it back and tinkering around the edges.
One can only hope the rest of the league steps up and offers Bennett and Ekblad salaries they can’t refuse to partially dismantle that juggernaut.
Come on Leafs…Bennett $12Mx7, I know you wanna!!
Lots of guys have NMC that waive but you have to play hardball and willing to back up. Nurse doesn’t waive you sit him in the press box eating popcorn. That won’t last long. Not saying Nurse needs to go or that I would do that, just saying NMC doesn’t mean you can’t move someone. Vegas has done it many times and their GM is ruthless; he is a “what have you done for me lately guy”
Keep Bouchard, rid ourselves of nurse.
It was not close ..
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
The Panthers spent more time leading during this Stanley Cup Final than any previous team in history: 255:49
That’s what the eye test said too. Deserved win
Despite the disppointing outcome, this team was good and hopefully should be even better next year. Most of this team is coming back. I think Skinner is done though and they’ll ship him out for another goalie. John Gibson come on down.
Hopefully bowman showed enough for McDavid to resign long term. That’s the critical piece this summer along with a goalie upgrade. But really- likely a boring summer for the Oilers provided they can lock up McDavid and Bouchard.
Bowman can fine tune this team and get them
back there next year to finally win it all.
You climb the mountain, and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Either way, you only get so many times on the mountain. This team could be back 1 or 2 times, or Zero times. Not winning hurts. Been 35 years since an Oilers Cup. ………..
A wiser fella en me once said, sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, the bar, he eats you.
N0! bruce & Brian passed?
Did not know!
This is depressing!
Key parts of the community that carried me thru a divorce & helped w/ mental energy (kids, wife) to fight cancer & heal from surving ventalator/coma from Covid!
The discourse was energizing, challenging, impresive.
RIP!
This game went almost exactly as expected, hoped for better of course.
The Panthers looked like Lance Armstrong climbing the French Pyrenees vs. non-doping riders.
I love Bouchard & his offensive brilliance, but god help you if you ever need him to lock it down in a cup elimination game…
Shades of goal #1 in game 7 last year.
I the end, it’s true that Defensive strength will always negate offensive genius even if it’s generational.
Fld won w/ the 4th worst gaa 2.00 in last 33 final 4 series 4 wins.
Since mid 90s Elite EV & PK F & D establish my xAvg (Predict Plastic disaster NAIT 94’) open Shot (scoreable) xG = xOSHSave% rate a goalie has to perform around.
Do you guys think there is a good chance Mcd heads off to a new team.
Hey Ricki, hope you’re doing well. Personally I think there is a less than 0% chance Mcd goes elsewhere.
There isn’t another team other than Florida that’s been better than the Oilers the past two seasons. I think Connor knows that his best chance to win is still in Edmonton, as this organization will do whatever it takes to get Connor a Cup.
You still have to win three rounds to get to the Finals, and Connor is not good enough to do that without Leon.
I don’t know what this means?
I had a little Indica after the game and it still doesn’t make any sense.
The narrative before the series was that the Oilers depth and superstars would overcome Florida’s dirtiness and goaltending. Florida turned out to be better than the Oilers in all four areas.
Oilers gave up 27 goals in 6 games – that ain’t playoff hockey!!!!
Time to enjoy the summer.
Not a lot of offence the last games either….
Couple of thoughts:
1) Well, that ending sucked;
2) Major surgery incoming to this roster, to my eyes a few players played their way right out of town (Kane, Henrique, Arvidsson, Nurse come to mind, your list may vary);
3) Will be interesting to hear what the injury situation was, a few guys were clearly limited;
4) NHL officiating and NHL player safety did themselves no favours whatsoever;
5) I hope/pray we make informed and rational choices, avoiding the front office chaos from last postseason should help;
6) Coaching: KK has taken us to two straight SCF. I’d like to see some changes to his coaching staff, starting with Schwartz and Coffey;
7) Thanks to LT and everyone on this site, you all bring unique viewpoints to our favourite hockey team. I continue to learn something every day.
Have a good summer everyone.
Gulutzan needs to go too … I’m not saying that he’s a bad coach, but they clearly need someone else because Connor and Leon have tuned him out and their PP deployment hasn’t changed despite it sputtering all season long.
Gulutzan will probably be coaching Dallas again next year.
Someone going to run the hits numbers and note how as soon as they dropped off, they lost?
Zero excuses for that.
The sturdiest limb you can go out on is the “Hyman hitting at a record setting pace was probably important” limb.
Yep – it was never going to be sustainable without Hyman.
That’s why losing Game 2 was the turning point in this series. Win both games at home, and one in Florida, and this would have gone the distance to game 7.
That said, Florida got better as the series went on, so they would’ve still won.
I was told (earlier in the conversation) that’s a totally subjective stat that doesn’t mean anything.
I agree about some big changes. I’d like to start the year with room for Savoie, Philip, and Tomasek to see what they can do. Then bring in hungry players in their late 20s, be active with the waiver wire, and leave room for the deadline.
imagine RV would accept a trade, maybe Henrique to Anaheim. Kulak out, Nurse would be better but not realistic. Brown and Kap out unless cheap, Kane out if he’ll accept a trade. I’d like Skinner back but he’ll be running for the hills. Frederic was underwhelming but sounds like he’s staying, give him a PK role.
Then time to see what Bowman can do. IMO look for under valued players on strong teams with speed and defensive acumen. Time to be creative. 97-29-2-96-18-93-92-14 is a solid group and they have some useful depth. Need to find the missing pieces and think about tactics. It’s gonna be hard to get back, the status quo won’t do it.
one missed (Ignored?) Too Many Men call against Florida was likely the turning point of this series.
so like always, the refs are to blame.
NHL is bush league
Nope – beginning of the second period of game two. They had control. Blew it. Missed a ton of chances. Panicked and a 5 game win became a 6 game loss.
The refs showed their hand. They weren’t going to anything than wasn’t undeniable. It’s on the coach and players to not adapt. We weren’t dirty enough. Period. This is nit a skill league. This is a “don’t take obvious penalties” league. We just didn’t adhere to the memo.
Yep, like how you described it. Didn’t adapt well. Not smart dirty enough.
Committ many infractions, but don’t make them obvious.
Make infractions incurred look obvious.
All This takes skill
It was always going to be 33 years for a Canadian team. If you know, you know.
i don’y know. Patrick Roy?
McJesus reference?
Oilers made it to the cup finals again.
Great season.
Lost two great humans – Brian King & Mr. McCurdy.
Wild to think I used to sit in class with Brian, take the bus home to Twin Brooks, and he was a good friend in Junior High and High School.
Had no idea he was the brains behind PDO.
Bruce passed? i did not know … no humor here. dang
Damn! I really enjoyed that guy, Bruce:
https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/in-loving-memory-of-bruce-mccurdy-2
So who can we snipe from flordia. Bennett. Marchant?
Florida will lose one of them and Bennett will regress. Still a big gap there.
Lots of folks here, myself included, were pushing to trade for Marchand. Too bad we couldn’t make it happen.
Well, the next two weeks or so are going to be VERY interesting. I have had strong reservations about our esteemed host’s assertion that Goalie Skinner is going to be supplanted by a new goalie., but now I can se it happening if they can work a deal for Swayman. No one else out there that is probably available is worth the change IMO.
I can see Henrique walked, Frederick extended, Ryan retiring, Pederson walked, Kane possibly traded, Skinner walked, Cagiula walked, Arvidsson traded, Brown extended, Perry an tear to year extensions at a mostly buryable rate, maybe a surprise move at LD, Dermott walked of course, Bouchard on a LT extension, possible short extension for Klingberg, one or both of Kemp and Attard gone, possible change at goalie.
The posible surprise might be move of Nurse to someone in desperate need on D for a lesser LD and a solid physical two way middle 6 winger or two to handle teams like Florida who have a vicious forecheck game. How they balance the books for all this will be very interesting. Some young blood will get opportunity, but most of our needs require NHL experienced players for their roles.
Question: If we get Swayman, do you try to keep SKinner as the backup (younger and more runway ahead) or Pickard? Or will dollars sway the decision to the cheaper of the two to balance the books? I believe Boston has used up all their salary retention spots IIRC, so we would carry the full freight.
Skinner is gone the sample size is big enough, Steve Penny not Bill Ranford
I doubt it’s Swayman, unless Boston is going to eat some of his contract (also unlikely). We don’t have the assets or cap space to make that deal.
They’ll have to be willing to take risks now – trade Kane for Demko, and sign Carter Hart once the trial is over.
Trade Skinner (he’s a bonafide starting goalie in the NHL and there are still some bottom feeder teams in need of one) for picks.
Keep Pickard for insurance.
Move Nurse to LA for Spence and whatever forward they want to dump to make cap space to sign Marner (?Trevor Moore).
Buyout Henrique and Arvidsson (if you can’t trade them for picks).
Let Fredrick walk if he wants too much for too long. Let Skinner walk.
Offer sheets for players like Will Cuylle, Mavrik Bourque, Luke Evangilista, Nick Hague, Jack Quinn.
Goalie’s going to be Carter Hart.
Oilers do like reclamation projects
In theory, there is a 1 in 5 chance(ish) of a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup on a given year. The odds of no Canadian teams winning 31 years in a row is about 0.09%.
Eight Canadian teams have made the finals in those 31 years. Given 50/50 odds, the odds of a Canadian team not winning a single one of those finals series is 0.4%.
4 game 7 losses. if you think that’s a fix. a few others.
I think in this series you can look at every metric – eye test, analytics, goals, xG, etc and determine Florida was the better team. no fix. no funny business. far better team in the series
See you guys in the fall.
10-4. Have’s great summer!
Knoblach lost the plot 4 minutes into the game. He loaded up McDrai and they proceeded to go minus 4 on the night. He set up the team for failure and I blame this series loss on coaching. Absolute disgrace of a game tonight and for the series.
This series was lost on coaching.
Yep – it was over right there and with Stuart in the nets.
it’s true. team was playing well. Then he loaded up. -1. and team morale sank. not sure whey he loaded up so early when results have been so poor loading up
Probably because the Oilers have had the lead for what? about 8 minutes all series.
Florida was just better top to bottom, in a large part due to health.
They are just better, or at least more of a team. They had injuries to major players Z well
I said at the time, one of the things I respect about Maurice is that his players know their role every game. Way too much movement in our lines, no identity
We thought having more skill would win. We were wrong. Again. It’s not skill it’s nasty. Clutch, grab and interfere is the game.
Get ride of the little guys. Sign come machines.
I’m something of a come machine myself
Ha ha!
Boy, did I need that laugh tonight – well played!
Florida has both – skill and nasty.
I said it after game 5 … their top 6 forwards of Barkov, Tkatchuk, Reinhart, Bennett, Marchand and Lundell are better than McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge and whatever other 3 Oilers forwards you want to name.
Losing Hyman was devastating in that regard.
On D, their top 4 of Ekblad, Jones, Forsling and Mikkola are better than Bouchard, Ekholm, Nurse and Walman, especially given that Nurse couldn’t find a stable partner all playoffs long for two consecutive years; he’s more a liability that a plus player, especially with that boat anchor buyout proof contract.
Bob is miles better than Skinner.
And yes – filth matters. It always has. The teams that win Cups are filthy and get away with it. The dynasty Oiler teams of the 80’s had some of the dirtiest skill players on the planet. It’s called gamesmanship, and this has been in the game forever.
This was the typo/autocorrect the blog needed tonight.
Christ man. That sucked. Hell of a series by the Panthers. Oil just had to run into a dynasty Panthers team.
Well congratulations to Edmonton Oilers 2nd place back to back in guess Is still something.
It’s nothing. You’re either first or last. Ricky Bobby was right on this.
Nope – I disagree with that. It’s disappointing to lose two in a row … but this team is at least able to get to the Finals.
Talk to Leafs fans or Jets fans about what they would give to have their teams reach that level; those teams have top talent, and aggressive GMs, but they lack whatever it takes to win consistently in the playoffs.
The Oilers have been 1 and 2 wins away from winning.
These experiences will teach Connor, Leon and Bouch how to find the gear necessary to get over that Final hump. Other NHL teams have a much longer way to go.
More likely, teams like the Jets will figure it out and surge past the oil. Too much money tied up in a few players that can be neutralized when the rule book is tossed, #97 will have to Ray Bourque a cup elsewhere.
Punch Imlach was right. Can’t beat them in the alley, can’t beat them on the ice.
I’m proud of this team. Not quite good enough, again, but better than most.
I am no fan of what the NHL seems to want.
Could not agree more with every last word here. Well said.
Very proud. With all the small flaws they have. Second place is nothing to be ashamed of and it beats the heck out of the DOD. The Oilers core have not learned how to step on the necks of opponents yet, and they need to win their division to prove they can step on opponents necks. Take home ice advantage throughout the playoffs and prove they can do it.
Fvck, Bennett and his filth gets the Conn Smythe. Nauseating
Calgary just upped their offer to $25MM AAV.
He’s never going back to the shithole that dumped him. My Calgary friends are still under the delusion that Makar is signing there as a UFA
It’s now obvious the Florida fans don’t understand hockey. Bettman must be booed!
Wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in a new head coach. Maurice demonstrated what a huge difference having an all=time tactician and voice who can get an entire roster to buy in and play a near-perferct team game night in and night out.
KK’s biggest qualification seems to have been that he was 97’s junior coach. If he wasn’t, does he get hired when Woodcroft gets the boot? I don’t think so
KK’s best players had their worst final. Is there more than that?
Maybe. Depends on the reason.
Two Cup Finals in two seasons? After taking over a team that was 30th in the standings and had just lost to the Sharks?
I don’t think KK is going anywhere.
Sure, honour the stone cold killer (Bennett)
I mean, we knew this was coming.
Oilers coulda prevented it with two wins.
Tkachuk with self labelling them a dynasty.
Is he wrong?
Of course he is you cant go one cup then a dynasty there needs to be a middle scale.
I would say in the cap era, 3 cups would be the qualifier.
Well, I’m never ready for the off-season, but here we are again. The Panthers were undeniably the better team, and while the Oilers have the horses to win, they were undeniably not prepared to dig deep enough.
Cup chances are hard to come by. The Oilers have the team to run it back, but we’ll see if the organization from management to players have it in them.
The one person I feel will take this the hardest, is Hyman. Nothing he could do to help, and all because someone got angry and charged at him with intent to injure. Life is not fair.
Has anyone ever had that injury before on a hit like that?
How about protecting yourself especially when to chips are down?
Jesus, Mary and victim blaming christ. Have some class.
Blaming Hyman for a fluke injury is a real stupid thing to say.
It really was fluke injury; blame the hockey Gords for spiting Hyman like that
Marchand congratulating the officials on a great series.