Here we all are contemplating another loss by the Edmonton Oilers. Tristan Jarry took ownership of a rancid effort on his part, but Mike Babcock sees other problems. So do I.
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen: 12:16, 14-2 shots, 1-1 goals, 96X
I don’t see anything wrong here. I mean, Leon Draisaitl had several exceptional chances and didn’t cash them, but that’s bad luck and good goaltending on the other side. I don’t think we can fault this line. Vasily Podkolzin scored twice, the second one a gorgeous shot to tie the game. I’m going to go ahead and say this line wasn’t the problem.
- Formenton-McDavid-Hyman 11:42, 10-3 shots, 3-0 goals, 85X
Connor McDavid had a pair of assists, the wingers had an assist each and Zach Hyman had four HDSC’s. There were several sorties that showed McDavid was trying to do too much, and that desire leaves him vulnerable. Canucks overloaded on entry, and blocked off the pass. Makes the world’s best player easy to mark. The elevation of Formenton over Howard seemed random, but there wasn’t an ideal choice available. I don’t see any problems here beyond the lack of depth.
I said in preseason that if Mike Babcock can fix this team’s defensive play, he’s a hockey genius. Connor McDavid said he wanted to be coached. There was plenty of evidence the coach can use to suggest to the captain he is trying to do too much. It’s a difficult task, helping the world’s best player get better. McDavid isn’t the lead story from last night, but he is the leader. When he plays more intelligently on those frustrated shifts, this team will take a step forward.
- Jones-Dach-Joseph 10:09, 3-5 shots, 0-1 goals, 61X
I think the problem here is the line doesn’t have much offensive torque. This trio was outshot and outscored, with Max Jones getting the one high-danger chance in the group. The line had 14 hits, though, and that is a Babcock priority. I don’t like Dach at center and no one is dynamic on this trio.
- Howard-Michaels-Frederic: 6:55, 2-3 shots, 29X
The line didn’t perform well, but holy mixed bag Batman. What exactly are we doing here? Put Dach on this line, move Howard to the McDavid line and use Formenton instead of Jones on a Samanski-Joseph trio. It will take Mike Babcock some time to figure out the roster, but he could do this today.
- Ekholm-Bouchard 13:45, 10-2 shots, 2-0 goals, 90X
Evan Bouchard had an opening night for the ages, going 3-2-5 and is on a 250-goal pace. I mean, what can one say about Bouchard? That was an inspired draft pick and he has delivered exceptional returns since 2018. A reminder Dave Tippett didn’t want to use him in 2020-21. Ekholm played well, drew an important penalty on a nothing play with a fantastic ‘this is outrageous!” reaction to his stick breaking.
- Shea-Mukhamadullin 9:46, 7-3 shots, 1-1 goals, 92X
- Walman-Murphy 8:45, 5-6 shots, 0-1 goals, 38X
- Ekholm-Murphy 4:05, 0-0 shots, 100X
- Shea-Murphy 3:46, 2-0 shots, 88X
- Shea-Bouchard 3:37, 3-2 shots, 1-0 goals, 75X
- Walman-Mukhamadullin 2:49, 0-1 shots, 0X
I thought everyone played well enough, but continue to worry about Connor Murphy’s boots. Ryan Shea got beat in overtime but some help would have been welcome.
Tristan Jarry had a Red Light Racicot and the Oilers win this game with even subpar goaltending. He stopped 17 of 23, .739 save percentage. Horrible. Playing net for the Oilers isn’t easy but he faced only seven high dangers and allowed four. That’s very poor. I don’t think the Oilers should bury him, but would say the position remains wide open. Devon Levi can annonce his presence with authority tomorrow night.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: Vancouver (Expected 1-0) Actual 0-0-1
- On the road: Vancouver (Expected 1-0)
- At home to: Seattle (Expected 1-0)
- On the road to: Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles (1-1-1)
- At home to: Mammoth (1-0)
- On the road to: Mammoth (0-1)
- At home to: Minnesota, Carolina, Toronto, Detroit, Calgary (3-2)
- On the road to: New York Islanders (1-0)
- Expected Record: 9-4-1, 19 points in 14 games
- Actual Record: 0-0-1, one point in one game
OWEN MICHAELS
His foot speed is 73rd percentile according to NHL Edge. Music! We don’t know about this player, so any news is big news. He can scoot.
On the Lowdown today, Kevin McCurdy is our feature guest at 1. We will talk about last night’s Oilers game and the NHL results across the league. MLB playoffs, NFL and CFL, too. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You TUbe.
3 games last night, a short handed goal is each one and not always by the winning team.
It’s going to takes teams a few weeks to get rolling with only 4 preseason games.
were Tlusky and NJ GM part of edm org 10 yrs ago?
Not Eric Tulsky, but Tyler Dellow.
@LT’s next musical continuity clue should be from Tristan by the Pool, although the situation is not Dire. Yet.
We hoped for the best…
I like the pressure they played with and this lineup has better boots. But then Groundhog’s Day started. Breezy goals agin, with the Clamour Twins and Brochard left to outscore the mistakes.
But it turned out like Oilways.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that there are only 65 free games on tv this year (if you want to call sportsnet free), this will give out sphincter, blood pressure, anger issues a needed break.
One positive:
I liked the defensive zone structure way better. It’s pretty damming they seem to be playing pretty goalie friendly no more free shots for middle of red zone style and jarry’s sv% is as bad as the worst moments last year where there was way way more goalie hung out to dry moments.
Team definitely looks faster
Jarry taking up where he left off. He really looked unsettled just like most of the time last year. It’s Too bad. I bet Babcock throws him back in on the road tom. Maybe less pressure on the guy .
It looked like an X game. They got a point which is fortunate after being down 5-2.
The injuries hurt the team for sure . 0-3 on the pp missed Nuge. I guess
Bouch with a game.
Pods with a game
Lots of mistakes for sure.
Be interesting to see how they come out tom night. You would hope they come out guns a blazing.
I do think he gives Jarry the game , but I would luv to see Levi.
Giving Jarry the game would not be smart. If Levi is ready get him in, we can’t do a month of goalie wobble to start.
I’m guessing it was decided earlier to give Levi tomorrow and they won’t go back on that.
They cant start Jarry after that performance.
They are going to have 3 G eventually. Set the precedence that is unaccetable.
Sick of exhibition season extending into Nov
I enjoyed the first period. They seemed to be taking it to the Canucks. I also figured they would solve Lankinen faster than Jarry and D, forecheck momentum broke down. I was wrong…sort of.
Alas OT, there still isn’t much of an answer for the non McDraiBouch shift.
Happy for Bouch’s epic night, wish it was a win. Got the point.
Here’s hoping we see Anderson by Halloween
1st period was very good
Is verite Cassandra?
Verdad.
verite wishes. It’s hard to find anyone who can hate with so much eloquence as Cassandra did.
Verite is verdad with autocorrect enabled.
I appreciate your knowledge on trolls, like a neighborhood watch.
Checks and balances, I hear that’s supposed to work?
I would’ve loved to see a Joey Moss Cup game where a line with Frederic-Dach-Joseph takes on Clattenburg-Samanski-Hutson.
I know who my money’s on there.
Two lines that dont exist squaring off..
Why?
We’re one game in, still in the month of September and already the season rests on the shoulders of Devon Levi.
To be fair – it did before last night as well – whether people wanted to admit that or not.
Drai, Podz, Kap should be a line chiseled in stone! Connor, Zach + take your pick. Nuge 3 rd line centre and Dickenson/Samanski 4 th line centre.
I started referring to it as the “cap sum clearly greater than it’s costs” line
Continually confused how many seemed to be in a hot rush to reivent wheel with line combos.
Even if some of the air relesaes from the tires, it seemed crazy the wouldn’t be written in pen to start season.
Regular season until injury it was nuts effective like the kapanen dreamed of when drafted clearly best place to start him unless results collapsed.
A 1A level dominance in the guise of a 1B option….no brainer IMO
With hyman and mcdavid having multiple season higher end chemistry thst extends over seasons to boot:
Like you are nearing 2/3rd’s of even strength minutes covered by real threats to outscore.
I honestly would love to see Dach on that LW and like i said many times give that line new clear objective of “minimize the flat footed wingers straddling blueline on Mcentries”
Mcdavid hits resistance on any level of preplanned coached double team strategically choking middle of ice and pushing him to the RW board rush into bodies ready -> he dunps it without second guessing.
Dach and hyman almost always in full stride with hyman preloaded to net front either crashing or expecting mcmagic pass to right of net and dach full steam up the left side rushing expecting the puck is likely going to end up dumped for right boards either full ring around retrieve left or crash behind net left corner.
In event mcentry successful then try to pull up with space to quick release or possibly find the pass peefectly sent to beat defence from wide and drive on net.
More speed and chaos that rightly adjust mcdavid line tactics to choke out motion and variance (there is literally a far too hard written strategy basically every team is coached to try and play him and his line for far too long have not adjusted and ultimately the left side of offensive zone has been perpetually underattacked.
Making that left defender more at threat if overplaying the standard tactic is key adjustment they’ve needed to adapt for over a season now.
Keep that side more honest and i just can’t help but see mcdavid surely will find more seems to exploit than pattern stuck in for too long.
And maybe howard omce he gets settled also works as the distance sniper (opposite wing drai snipe option from more the ovi spot or whatever) if heavy luck retrieval dumpins is not effective enough and they want to try a shoot first option.
He has the speed
He has the shot
Just simplify strategy enough to stand better chance of executing then guess what happens next or where you got to be.
Formenton only makes sense as far as defensive concious concerns go. So just give mcdavid lots of on the fly in transition to offense and ozone starts like sedin sister style ice tilt
Gives you plenty to work with bottom 6:
Nuge C/LW
Dickinson C
Dach C/LW
or
iceman LW/RW
Samanski C/LW
michaels C/RW
Savoie RW/LW
Frederic/jones/etc
It’s so easy when you don’t overthink it.
This! Howard/Nuge/someone-who-can-pass on the third line. Dach/Dickenson/Frederic for the fourth line.
Watching the replay of the 3-2 goal, Jarry’s body language is the exact same as Campbell’s was in his final days.
Campbell, by the end, didn’t make saves; pucks hit him, almost by mistake.
He would have a stretch of average play, but a terrible goal would just explode a game.
If last night is any indication, Jarry has four games to right his ship before he should never be heard from again.
Good analogy. Personally I think Jarry is cooked and now has a ceiling of a 20 game a year back up. Likely a future Campbelesque buy out candidate…….
Ugh. He has another year after this!?!?!!
The real question is why Bowman is not fired?
Like today?
Jarry, Frederic and the stooges from Chicago?
None are NHL players.
I’ve always (well, since he was acquired) figured Jarry pretty much just makes positional saves. It’s like his eyesight can’t pick up the puck after it’s shot. He has his position…if it hits him, great, save. Just don’t ever expect a reaction save, and be ready with the Bronx cheer if there is one.
Too bad, I really wanted to believe the “he’s working with the new goalie coach” narrative from the summer. We’ll see…..I’m betting his future his hanging out with Jack Campbell.
Nuge not even in the building last night for introductions.
I’m thinking he’s sick, not injured.
With him not even being in the rink last night after having left practice with nothing apparent, that does seem likely.
Babcock never said he was injured just that he was told he was day to day which to him he goes to a couple of weeks.
And if true, it always seems that when sickness hits, it runs through the dressing room.
Didn’t Babcock say a lower body injury or am I incorrect on what LBI means?
I re-listened to the video from yesterday and, nope, didn’t say anything. He said LBI for Savoie.
I can’t remember who said it today on the radio but I heard he was in the building getting treatment on the injury. Weird for him to not come out for the introductions though if that was the case
Maybe he couldn’t walk
Gazolla said today he was getting treatment during the introductions….
Presuming true, not sure why the couldn’t schedule his treatment some time other than 8:10 pm?
I like the idea of an aggressive system. It does require a lot of speed, quickness, power and agility. I’m curious how the older forwards and defenders will hold up physically doing this over a season. With a couple already injured they have to be absolutely physically ready to return to action or more IR visits will follow.
It irks me to see Panthers and Lightning battle, fight, ect and do it every night. Or Carolina relentless pressure game.
NHL Team Roster Age Rankings, 2026-27 | RotoWire
To your thoughts, I see Oilers are ranked 19th, just into the veteran heavy category. Lighting and Carolina ranked balanced and Panthers, Leafs, Knights way in the veteran heavy ranking.
Gotta love those Habs (sorry LoweTide)!
I’m curious if Nuge, Dickinson, Hyman, and Ekholm can maintain themselves in that pressure system. They’re relied upon players for the team and without them it may be a tougher slog.
factor in Nuge annual Nov plague there’s alot of availability risk in this lineup
Clatt and Marjala going to play some games
Call up goalie Unger and Samanski. Move Howard up and Formenton down in the lineup. Frederic a 4 th line winger at best. Hopefully Levi can provide at least average tending. Have to believe Jarry is done. Another expensive boat anchor goalie.
Ha, don’t forget the remaining $30M we owe Frederic!
Yes quite the bargain for a 6 min a game 4 th line winger! Not sure WTF Bowman was thinking there?????
10 is just taking up a spot for a young player with more potential.
He plays so slow!
I just listened to the Got Yer’ Back podcast from last night and had to chuckle at the closing. Starts at 1:34, they nailed the game summary in song. GYB, scroll down to the link.
I think it was a good game.
1) Very impressed with the forechecking pressure. Wow. Team looks way faster.
2) Podz announced himself forcibly as a legit top 6 talent. My goodness what a game. A huge coming out party for a player who has worked as hard as any in Oilers memory. He joins Horcoff at the pinnacle of that unofficial pantheon of “I didn’t expect you to be this good.” Fourth line to first, just like Shawn.
3) Bouchard. Goodness.
4) One benefit of Draisaitl on the wing is he can make plays in tight spaces on the side board that are super human — ie game tying goal. Is there more than a handful of hockey players in the world that can make that play?
5) Ekholm still has PLENTY of game. Physical and the passes were darts. Managing his TOI by spotting in Shea is brilliant. Load management. Is this man going to age like Lidstrom?
6) Balanced TOI despite chasing the game. Thank you Babcock and staff.
7) Game one roster is the start of the story, not the end. Some of these men will play themselves off the roster — I feel like Joseph is one, but it’s early.
8) If Owen Michaels’ speed is real he may well stick. That’s an advantage over Samanski.
9) Kapanen was excellent. A bull.
10) Compete level on side board was excellent. More please.
11) Breakouts better. Crisp.
Once the Babcock doctrine sinks in this team will be a force majeure.
Excellent post, that’s how I saw it too. Lots of positives… mediocre bottom-6 and a poor effort by Jarry notwithstanding. With the shortened pre-season this group will need a month of games to iron out the kinks.
To happily pile on… Will Bruce Cassidy be the coach by Halloween?
haha can you imagine? Now that this team is about the drama almost hoping for it.
With reasonable goaltending last night the Oilers win 4-2 or similar and it is a different conversation. As Babcock inferred, goaltending was so obvious its not even worth talking about. Obvious problem, difficult solution – or maybe not.
Still, there were other learnings to focus on; as there should be when looking at new coach, system, and roster turnover.
Performance wise, McDavid and Draisaitl are having trouble changing their ways, which is not only defence but also offence. The thing is, multiple teams have adjusted in how to defend them. Still, they will succeed but becoming less predictable will help.
Oilers AHL team won against Vancouver with simple way and winning battles.
Last night Oilers did not win enough puck battles. This is where they were supposed to get better. I will pick on Frederic who did not play much but when he did he was slow and routinely was knocked off puck or out of the puck battle.
I saw the need to win more puck battles overall, and play a simpler game, waiting for opportunity as opposed to forcing it.
The roster is unsettled, coach doing his own try-outs still.
Great post 👍
Post-Talbot Oil have not prioritized the net at any point in the McD era, with the results speaking for themselves. At this point I’m ready to burn the assets needed for a smooth, late or post-McD(rai) retool and just chase Hellybuck and put this to bed. Finally.
Breaking: EDM acquires Hellybuck
UPDATE: Hellybuck added to LTIR
Bowman was ready to burn assets just to get out from under Skinner. It didn’t go well. You know he had doubts this year, he goes with three goalies.
Can he afford to burn more chasing Hellybuck? I do not know, not yet Im sure, but hes got a trade proposal in mind.
Babcock as truth teller was totally missing in action , but not publicly denouncing his goalie.
The rest of the banalities he said were forgettable.
Babcock inherited Jarry. Bowman should be fired. Immediately.
He should never have been hired, IMO.
Jarry was the story, but we learned a few things. Hopefully someone can share some footage of Frederic-Samanski-Dach from the end of last year, was better than either 3 or 4 lines last night. Not sure what Joseph brings, was late and lacked any physicality. I think Frederic is actually a solid positional player, but he needs an aggressive, fast winger on the other side to create some chaos. That’s not Howard. Frederic-Michaels-Dach would be reasonable at a 4th line, but I suspect the Dach at centre experiment will continue.
Will be interesting to see how/if 97 changes his approach. Formenton was fine but I didn’t see his speed as much as I noticed it in the bottom 6. Worth giving Howard a shot, though honestly 29 might be a better fit for him than 97. Adding Savoie, RNH, and Dickinson would make a big difference, but in the short term I’d like to see Babcock actually execute on his ‘a role for every line’ rhetoric. Find a defensive line that can do the role, and then an energy line for forecheck.
McD is key. If he can stop forcing the play and going off script with high risk hero plays then he and Drai can demand the similar discipline from the entire squad. If they do not… and Bab’s verbal remains unchanged (no accountability)…it’s over. Sell McD and rebuild around Drai.
We’ll start the season with Tomkins and Ungar as the tandem as Day and Jonsson (and Stonhouse) have been reassigned to the ECHL
Giving Tomkins a spot in Bakersfield amounts to wasting an opportunity to develop Day or Jonsson in the AHL. Playing veterans who are past their prime or who have no potential to make the NHL is not the way for the big team to develop players internally and win the Stanley Cup.
I know I am in the minority but I do not agree.
Neither Ungar not Jonsson are even established at the AHL level. Matt Tomkins does not have an NHL future and they are not developing him but he is important to the Condors’ organization, providing veteran mentorship and a calming presence in the chaos of the league and helps with a winning and positive on-ice environment that is imperative to helping develop the real prospects.
There is simply too much risk in a tandem of Ungar and Jonsson with no AHL track record. There will be plenty of reps for Jonsson in the AHL this season. There will be injuries and he will get his games.
There has been no winning environment in Bakerfield since Tompkins has been there, so how is he exactly helping.
Do you know where Vinnii is?
I’ve been asking this question and wondering where he will play.
I presume they are trying to find him a landing spot where he’ll get games.
Babcock should have started Levi like a few of us mentioned for the last week as now Jarry already has the mob on his ass. Jarry next start needs to happen on the road with the team playing a simple game in front of him.
In a way, I am glad he started Jarry. Let the truth be shown.
Same. Let’s get this over with and move on.
As much as I hoped Jarry would recover, hard to be hopeful given Oilers precedents.
Can anyone name a worse bottom 6 group in the league? Jarry won’t last in the NHL, the shooters have so many holes to look at, it’s probably hard to pick one. But here we are again, same old problems. Being outcoached and the goalie at the other end is showing fans what tending is supposed to look like. If Levi can’t play well, then what?
Take away injuries, and I see lots to work with to develop a good bottom six. Things are unsettled right now, coach doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Besides players returning from injury, we have 2-3 in Bakerfield I think can play.
It will take a bit of time until they are near peak execution of the new high pressure system of play. In that type of system, if one of the components (players) is off, it can get exposed. With only 2 exhibition games and then injuries and last minute injuries leading to a complete re-jig of the forward lines, these guys didn’t even get to practice in their units.
Even with all that, the win last night with reasonable goaltending and I think the have a reasonable goaltender to play tomorrow night.
I can’t believe that the most elite of elite goaltenders has demanded a trade. And yet we are sitting here with the same bad goaltending that has cost McDavid and Draisaitl a Cup (or more).
There is NO piece more important than a reliably elite goaltender. None.
Not even Evan Bouchard.
(There, I said it.)
Make it happen.
Evan Bouchard is worth so much more than Hellebuyck at this stage of his career. I don’t think they Oilers have the pieces. Top end is too valuable to trade, next level is not worth enough from WInnipeg’s perspective
Unfortunately, that’s why Bouchard may be the only option.
I love Bouch. But we don’t win a Cup without Hellebuyck.
We don’t win a cup with Hellebuyuk and the Dogs breakfast of what would remain of our RHS D corps either.
We don’t need an all world goaler we need one that can save 9 out of 10 shots and make an occasional high danger save. Also, Helly has never looked that good in the playoffs.
I’m all about upgrading the goalie position and of course would love to have him f the acquisition cost made sense, and we could fit his cap hit and if he might actually be willing to play here but that’s a lot of IFs to be sitting on our phones lamenting why it hasn’t happened.
A switch of Bouchard and Hellebuyck almost certainly makes us worse this year and absolutely long term. I’m all for Hellebuyck but he is 33 and was mediocre last year. His GM will not accept the kind of offer that would allow us to improve while attaining him, IMO. Yes he could get hot but honestly so can any goalie come playoffs.
You can’t believe the Oilers haven’t consummated a trade for a player with full trade protection that won’t play in Edmonton?
I certainly wouldn’t trade Evan Bouchard for Connor H.
There are just as many rumours that he would waive for Edmonton as that he wouldn’t waive for Edmonton.
Not from the most reputable – I mean, Steve Simmons….
Friedman has spoken about which teams he believes are on his widened trade list and never mentioned Edmonton.
Someone who allowed himself to be a prop in the Commander in Chief’s entourage should not be welcome in Edmonton. Period.
Win in Vancouver and you’re still sitting at a .750 points percentage. It’s fine and maybe a wake-up call to the team. Unfortunately, I think the line construction and bottom 6 decisions will take a few more games to sink in how black hole it all is. On merit Levi should have earned the opening night start, I thought, but understand why you give it to Jarry (confidence-building, ‘seniority’, etc.). It’s funny because that’s a game you could win with a goalie stick taped to the posts or whatever, but somehow the goaltending still whiffed on it. The team is sort of still playing ‘same as it ever was’, so it will be interesting to see if anything changes. Trading Nurse is also addition by subtraction so we don’t have that excuse for poor play anymore. That Freddy contract, although not super consequential when it comes to the cap still remains one of the most baffling management decisions I can think of. Bouch for the Hart! Anyways – I guess if nothing else, that was pretty entertaining and since the bafflingly poor officiating in the NHL means that results can never be taken TOO seriously, and this is all just theatre, I guess I’m sort of excited to see how this season plays out and there are already so many interesting storylines! So, good job to the league and team, I guess!? (cynicism 11/10, here) Ha. GOILERS!
Didn’t Babcock and Smith spend the whole summer watching film of what works in the NHL this summer?
Last night we saw the Oiler deploy;
The swarm.
Over reliance of the PP1
McDri overplayed
No cycle time when Connor played 5v5
Ceci to Regula to Murphy is the definition of hope
Apparently the NHL coaches are watching last year’s game film as well.
McDavid and Draisaitl were at 23 and 21 minutes in an OT game which is low compared to recent history when the Oilers are chasing the game.
Under Knoblauch, they would have been at 25.
Big Brain Bowman thought that Jar Jar Blinks would solve the Oiler goaltending problem. And Bowman went all in on trade, adding Kulak to it.
Jarry, disaster.
Frederic, disaster.
Walman, disaster.
Dickenson, disaster.
Murphy, disaster.
Andersen, signed another injured player.
It could be worse, he could have signed Cam Moon as our EBUG.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daren_Millard
Careful Scungilli Slushy will be right along to tell you how each of these acquisitions and contracts were very reasonable and logical and Stan Bowman was in no way wrong.
Haha – beat him to it!
Although Im only defending half.
Ill give you Jarry and Frederic.
Not Dickinson why played a few playoff games hurt yet bangs in a couple goal right away. He can help.
Walman – uncertain. massive tool kit here. Has the drive when he gets angry but can fall into the malaise. He can be really, really, good, doesn’t mean he will be.
Murphy – smart, steady veteran, getting slower but you can count on him
Anderson, I think they signed him knowing he would be out, and as a back up plan. So while he is presently injured, it looks like a good move to sign him based on Jarry already.
Healthy Dickinson Murphy can contribute. How much and for how much longer are the questions.
Walman got his big contract and has stunk since then. 3rd pair D getting paid more than Ekholm and Shea, and Kulak is a better D.
Walman remains part of the reason Oil reached the final last time. I remain hopeful he lives up to the contract he signed as a result. If he’s even 80% the guy we saw that postseason he’s providing value given where salaries have gone since (and continue to go)
Tristan Jarry last night.
“C’mon shoot it right through me. I dare you. I double dare you.”
Knoblauch must have a shit eating grin on his face this morning.
Knob lost 6-0 and 8-1 on his two opening nights…..
Not that it matters much, but Woodcroft was behind the bench for the 8-1 opening loss of the 23/24 season. You are missing the 25/26 opener.
Yes, correct. Thanks.
So what’s your point?
All coaches that lose opening night are now gone.
Should we fire Babcock?
My point was to have fun in a comment with about as much relevance as the Oilers have started better this year than Knob’s first full year with the team
Well, Babcock has lasted one game longer than Columbus.
I would have pulled Jarry after the 3-2 goal. That was just horrendous.
(Somewhere Torts is dusting off his resume)
They are who we thought they were!
I cannot believe the bottom 6 put up these results…..against Vancouver.
( On home ice )
Said no one.
The bottom 6 performed exactly as many of us thought.
Why punish / torture Howard by putting him with Frederic?
Cruel
the bottom 6 looks like decade of darkness level or worse
The Belanger Triangle 2.0
As LT mentioned – a better roster is right there in front of them. Reeks of ‘smartest guys in the room’ stuff… Why can’t we just have competent line construction?? At least he got forced to split up McDrai… sheeeesh.
Jarry and Frederic are playing for Bowmans reputation now, but it looks unsalvageable. Few more games and we’ll see. Everyone is hoping they can contribute.
I don’t think we need to over react to this game. Hockey experts say the core forwards are the top 6 plus the third line centre. There were 3 of 7 core forwards injured last night, meaning 3 bottom of the roster forwards need to play higher up, and there extra or AHL players need to play in the bottom 6. Despite that, the team badly outshot the Canucks and easily deserved to win. We also all talked about goaltending being a question mark. The concern was that Anderson would be injured a lot, Levi is unproven, and a lot of scepticism that Jarry could bounce back. The hope was that one of them would be playable. That played out exactly like a lot of people expected, Anderson injured and Jarry playing dodge ball instead of golaering. Let’s hope Levi can step up and Anderson gets back soon, or maybe we just start the EBUG, he can’t be any worse than Jarry
Jarry, Savoie, Emberson and a 1st for Hallebuyck?
Do it.
Like yesterday.
He’s been clear about no Canadian teams, unfortunately.
There have been reports that he’d report to the Oilers.
Ha!
Might as well ask for Scheifele while you are at it…
The reports of Helle being willing to waive for a Canadian team are not exactly the most reliable (Simmons), but even if he would, the Jets will tell the Oilers to keep Jarry.
Game #1 was a disappointment. I have nothing good to say, so I’m not going to say anything. There are 83 more to go so that might change. At least nobody is blaming Mike Babcock.
Issac Howard’s agent calling….
Things were going well last night until Jarry let in a soft goal to start the 3rd period. Then the wheels fell off. Edmonton getting back into the game to steal a point says more about the Canucks than it does about the Oilers; a better team would not have given up that lead.
OT goal – the forwards flew the zone and left Shea stranded. Playing McDavid and Draisaitl to start the OT was an inpatient coaching move. Dach had no business being on the ice for the second shift.
Frederic does not belong on the team at all. Banish him to the pressbox and call up Samanski or Marjala.
As a defenceman – not getting that puck up to said forwards was criminal.
He had the angle, the body position, and the puck out in front. You can’t get beat there. Even if you just take an icing.
And in OT, a lot of the forwards’ job is to get behind the defenders as soon as your team has the puck. They shouldn’t be able to stop you.
Bad sequence – but needless to say, it also never should have gotten to that point.
This is the correct read. The behind net angle shows him having a glorious wide open path to Kapanen for a tip in deep or tip/chip to Hyman in the middle if he goes up the boards.
Shea hesitated, he almost, almost tried to wrap it back around the boards behind the net but got caught in between ideas.
Where’s Nurse when you needed him.
Standing in San Jose covering no one of course.
Dach was sent out to win the face-off, won the face-off then immediately went to the bench.
He did the business asked of him to perfection.
Was it though? The score was 2-2 and twice the Oilers trailed the AHL Canucks.
Considering the flow of play, the possession, the scoring chances, the high danger scoring chances, I would say, yes.
I really really really wanted Frederic to succeed, hoped the initial results were injury related – but have to admit, he’s pretty useless. Slow, not really physical, not a pest, not anything really. A Roomba would be as effective. I was actually hopeful when he was acquired but he just has done nothing. So the contract is truly baffling unless they can unload him.
Same old Oilers.
Old Oilers lost 8-1 and 6-0 on opening night.
This is an improved Oilers!
I turned off the game after the 5-2 goal. Did Vancouver give up a single odd man rush last night?
Game one. Breathe.
Only the Oilers can have a defenseman who scores a hat trick and get 2 assists in a game and still lose 6-5. That’ll be a fun trivia question for the younger generations in the future.
@Lowetideedm
What you call malaise I call hesitation. Too many wrong decisions (leading to hesitation) at the offensive blueline cost us goals. Thing is, Babcock’s aggressiveness in the forecheck is the right approach. The first period was a good example where we absolutely controlled the flow of play, hemming the nucks in their zone and causing numerous turnovers leading to chances. This style will inevitably lead to a handful of 5-alarm chances against when pucks are chipped past our forecheck leading to jailbreaks. Here’s where we need the goalie to make a couple saves. And yes 97 pressed too much at times, and needs make better decisions, but again in general I liked our aggressiveness, but as babcock would say we need to dial in the details more. Old (bad) habits are hard to break, and damn do we have a lot of em.
Slow boots (Fred and Joe) playing playing aggressive forecheck. What is wrong with this scenario? Wait to we play a good team and see how this works.
Although the big mistake and poor goaltending seem similar to previous seasons, the intended style of play is not similar. Babcock is pushing for pace and a high pressure system that might ultimately serve the speed and skating abilities of this team. However, during the period of adjustment, said system is bound to drive greater volatility than conservative systems. It seems like getting off to a good start is going to be very difficult.
Murphy and Dickinson were bad acquisitions and cost too much in contract. Mangi was terrible. Frederic is a terrible contract. Jarry is a terrible goalie. These bad decisions are costing us.
well, you are not wrong. Savoie has been good, but he cost us McLeod … so probably a wash …
I can’t disagree on Murphy & Dickinson. Even taking in account the contracts given out this summer, those two are not the guys we need.
It’s a shame Jarry cost us Kulak too. He’d be a much better fit in the bottom 4 than Murphy.
Trading Kulak for a 2nd rounder should have been the play and keeping the first rounder and two second rounders
Bowman should be fired this morning.
I don’t know why it isn’t obvious to everyone who comments on the Oilers.
Wait till you hear that they both have NTC in their contracts.
I argued this summer that neither guy should have received a NTC as these defense first and only guys are exactly the players that should be upgrade as soon as an opportunity presesents, but was told that would have increase their ask by $1m.
I would increase their contracts by $1m happily in exchange for the optionality to trade them.
Time to consider flushing Bowman.
Every game Frederic plays is a liability.
Jarry is entirely on Bowman’s ineptitude.
His failure to add quality within the foward group was evident last night.
Third and fourth line garbage playing with McDavid and Draisatl is insane.
Howard is a non-entity. The sooner he and Savoie are set away for real quality the better.
And a last word, what is the point of Gord Murphy? Can’t pass or skate?
The Murphy-Dickinson trade on Bowman. It has added nothing.
What’s wrong with Savioe’s game?
He was invisible last night
Ha, ha, ha. That’s pretty good.
He is always invisible, see last year’s playoffs.
Did he do anything?
But if he has any trade value use it immediately and get back real quality.
Connor McDavid – zero shots in the opener.
I’m just going to leave that there.
WTF man…
Start as you mean to go?
If you’re in that hockey game, and you’re Trent Frederic, and you can’t make any kind of difference, you deserve to be on the 3rd line in the AHL.
Bowman has the wrong group at the bottom of the NHL squad.
Freddy catching strays…
Frederic needs the boots. He was slow last night
Howard 37.62 kmh (99th percentile)
Dach 35.77 kmh (92nd percentile)
Max Jones 35.42 kmh (88th percentile)
Frederic 32.88 kmh (below 50 pct)
Mathieu Joseph 31.35 kmh (below 50 pct)
Frederic and Joseph can’t get to the play. That’s the problem.
Again, time to fire Bowman.
I think they need to make a Howard – Formenton shift the lines. It could improve the first and fourth lines.
It was almost like he was throwing poo against the wall to see if it would stick.
And this time we are not going to wait a whole season and claim that it’s all due to injury, right?
Instead of deploying retreads who are not up to speed, why not DEVELOP some of the promising young players they have in Bakersfield by giving them real opportunities? This team keeps looking for short-cut solutions (e.g. Jarry, Joseph, etc.), because it is too fixated on placing a Stanley Cup into the arms of McDavid. Build the team intelligently, not through numerous stop-gap measures involving players who cannot perform at the level they once did.
Worth noting that even with an injury depleted line up, Frederic’s TOI was second lowest among forwards (Owens with less).
For those hoping for a bounce back, don’t hold your breath.
The ghost of Jack Campbell played last night.
A maligned goaltender coming off a down year, looking for a fresh start with a team that desperately needs him to perform, and he provides a sub .800 game. The 3-2 goal was just mind-melting, and just vintage Campbell.
In 23/24, Campbell got exactly five games before he was cast away for ever.
Babcock would be wise to give Jarry no more than that.
AND YET AGAIN, this team must rely on a thrusting a vital role on an unproven player.
Godspeed, Devon Levi. To you from failing his hands we throw the torch.
That Jarry trade was just horrible at the time. Jarry had two more years of a buyout proof contract. He had cleared waivers the season prior and he had actually missed games prior to the trade due to injury.
He had a small rebound in performance last season prior to the trade, yet he had been paced sparingly by Dubas. Then Bowman paid real assets.
Jarry was just awful last night. That was a terrible performance.
Jarry was also .912 in 14 games at the time of trade with advanced metrics around 10th in the league.
Is 14 games enough of a sample?
No, and we all know this, right?
His sample size as an Oiler is 20 – is that enough?
His career sample size is 327 games, with a 0.907 S%
As a goalie, Jarry’s body language is almost never confident. He seems to flop around and is easily discouraged. I don’t see how anyone playing in front of him can feel confident that he can stop the puck. At least, Skinner showed some resilience and effort. Jarry is simply jarring. Connor Ingram was infinitely superior. But Bowman has to live with his disastrous trade, and that means we have to live with it too.
Bye bye McDavid and Drai
Drove my chevy to the Levi
But the Levi was dry
And good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Jarry Singing
This will be the day that I die
This will be the day that I die