A reminder, in the last several days, you have told me (via dm or in the comments section) the worry is Evan Bouchard, Stuart Skinner, scoring wingers, speed, the RH second pairing spot, and fourth line RH center. In last night’s comments section, losing Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway was once again discussed.
Bottom line: Among Oilers fans I interact with, here, at The Athletic and at Sports 1440, the general mood is not sunny. You are not happy with this team. Full stop.
Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are on one of those patented winning streaks that makes one imagine a Stanley Cup parade in summer. I used to worry that fans weren’t enjoying Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s brilliance, but do believe we’ve gone past it to a new desire. Fans simply want to see this group of talents win the Stanley, and because of past disappointments, every game is Game 7 of the SCF. I get it. I understand. At the same time, there is no sin in enjoying this team as it is currently constructed. The Oilers are finding their way in close games, in games against quality teams, in games where mistakes cost goals. Music!
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- On the road to: VEG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: CBJ, STL, TBAY (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: VEG, FLA, BOS, SJS, OTT (Expected 4-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: LAK, ANA (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: UTA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 9-4-0, 18 points in 13 games
- December results: 3-1-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 16-10-2, 34 points in 28 games
The Oilers win last night puts the club on a 100-point pace and it does appear as though the team is playing a repeatable and effective style. The Lightning are a fantastically talented team, and winning against a quality club this December shows (perhaps) a new maturity and a better mix than we saw one year ago. We’ll see.
THE NUMBERS
The goals were truly fabulous, this team has so much passing skill it’s breathtaking. Seriously, at their best this edition of the Oilers are devastating in carving up opponents with expert passes. It’s a beautiful thing. I giggled when Connor McDavid passed a passel of Lightning like they were leftover mannequins from the old Eaton’s downtown.
Leon Draisaitl got lucky on his goal, but it counts and that’s just fine. I was once again impressed by Draisaitl’s verbal surrounding Stuart Skinner. One of my beliefs that doesn’t align with math surrounds goaltending and confidence. I think we saw that with Jack Campbell, but also with others (Devan Dubnyk, Tommy Salo, Grant Fuhr) over the years. Having your goalie at his confident best is always a fine idea no matter the regular season or playoffs. What kind of difference can confidence make?
- Skinner five-on-five SP October 2024: .890 in seven games
- Skinner five-on-five SP November 2024: .908 in nine games
- Skinner five-on-five SP December 2024: .948 in three games
We will see Skinner in the .890’s again, but I believe he can backstop the Oilers to a Stanley Cup in spite of the flaws. I’m absolutely certain that I am in the minority, but that’s okay my entire life has been a little bit that way. Call it my comfort zone. Make no mistake, if the Oilers could acquire Connor Hellebuyck today and get him under the cap, that’s a brilliant solution.
We don’t know what we don’t know about Stan Bowman’s opinion of Skinner, if the Oilers fall shy in the playoffs this spring, we could see a change at the position. For now, he remains a key part of the team.
At noon today, Sports 1440 will feature Bruce McCurdy from The Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal at 1. We’ll also have a guest host (Chad, @Chadillac39 on twitter) plus Paul Almeida will drop in for a few minutes. Declan Krueger will have Dunkin’ with Declan (NBA chatter) and I’ll ramble on about the Rule 5 draft (which is today). I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio; Radioplayer Canada, we tweet out the show after it’s done and you can catch us on Apple and Spotify.
New for The Athletic: The Oilers July 1 UFA signings are showing a pulse.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5984210/2024/12/11/edmonton-oilers-arvidsson-skinner-henrique/
Demko’s .840 save percentage is well below Skinner’s. That’s a shame…
(if HH can quote Wedgewood’s stats in 3 games with the Avs, I think it’s fair game)
I wonder what Phil Kemp is thinking today.
Likely looking forward to UFA status at the end of the season.
I wonder if they trade him for a LD. New management
Him and his agent discussing which organization he may sign with next season – the current one forget about him.
Doesn’t matter much, every team has 3 or 4 Kemps in their system.
I’m curious to see who shakes loose to make room for Regula?
I hope he’s thinking that he has to up his game to beat out the competition. That’s what a mature player would be thinking
1 Keep Skinner 2. Focus on obtaining 2RD and do not take eyes off the mark!
PS. Good luck to Regula but he is not 2RD
The general mood under the troll bridge is pretty good if the only thing complained about are nails-across-the-Chaulkboard. I can see see the sun under the bridge this year.
Unlike last year, all the contenders have issues.
I don’t want this to come off as a bash of Stuart Skinner but more something to note.
Anecdotally, it seems to me that, for the first 10-15 games of the season, even if Skinner (or Picks) played fine, we were routinely saying that the goalie at the other end was better – whether that goalie stole the game, made one more big save or the Oilers goalie had a rough night.
It seems that has flipped and we are in a solid stretch where we can honestly say that the Oilers have had the better tender many nights – and, on some nights, facing a substantial goalie on the other end.
Some nights. Last night I don’t think Stu was better than Vas, you could say he matched him which is perfect. Stu played really well but Vas had a harder night and more high dangers according to Bruce’s CoH. Vas made quite a few saves that he shouldn’t, Stu did too, but not as many as I saw it
Vasilevskiy also allowed 3 goals to Skinner’s 1.
That’s true, but the Oilers were the tighter team defensively I thought. Of the 3 against him, 2 were not likely to be saved, and Drai’s was a broken play off of a very fast rush with three Oilers bearing down, Vas tried to bat the puck away from Pod and Kap which he did, but Hedman with the finish
One thing on the GA last night. I think teams have Bouchard well scouted. They like having a forward high in the d-zone because he is frequently making that long diagonal pass.
This happened last night, it happened against Toronto and I want to say there was another game in the last couple of weeks where this happened as well.
Don’t want to take stretch passes out of the arsenal, but something to consider how/when to deploy it.
Don’t fight the defense. To commit to one thing is to give something else. Take what they give you.
He just needs to have a peek and see if someone is in a spot that’s too risky to try one. Puck management
That would be my guess. Not saying I know anything, but one of the things I always tried to impress on the d-men I coached was to not just do things automatically because forwards will take mental notes on you. You need to read – and if anything, bait someone into a move.
Oilers claim Alec Regula off waivers from Boston Bruins.
Right Shot D-Man
Since he will have to stay on the NHL roster to keep him, does Dermott likely get waived now?
Condors need LHD, so I’m thinking that is the likely move.
Dermott has also not played in 3 weeks. They seem to prefer Stecher and Emberson.
That’s what I’m thinking – Dermott waived and assigned. This is a move to help the Condors while keeping an extra D on the roster.
In Boston its pronounced Regulah
He might be in direct competition with Troy Stecher and be replacing Dermott on the roster.
I wonder if he can play LD. Bowman has a read on this player as he played in Chicago.
Evan Bouchard will also have knowledge of this player since they were team mates with the London Knights.
My goodness Stuart Skinner is the Rodney Dangerfield of goalies – can’t get no respect.
In his past 5 starts he is 4-1-0 with a 1.41 GAA and a .947 save percentage. This against some of the league’s best offensive teams: Rangers, Colorado, Vegas and Tampa. He was .935 or better in each start.
A little credit is in order.
Well I think I have read many posts recently on how well he has been playing???? Like everything else it is what have you done lately, and lately he has been very good.
Also Pickad has been playing well himself we don’t need a goalie to win games we just need one that doesn’t leak at the wrong times. We have such a history of star goalies backstopping us to Cups. Skinner lost the net for a few games to recalibrate against Vancouver but had a wonderful playoff after that. Skinner seems to rise up when folks start dumping on him Campell couldn’t. Edmonton is a graveyard for tenders the last 20 odd years but I give full credit to Skinner for rebounding the last 5 games.
Not sure graveyard is the right term. A lot of the goalies we cycled through had one foot or at least a toe in the grave already. Khabi, Smith, Scrivens, Talbot was what he was, a decent goalie but inconsistent from year to year, Koski was an adventure. Most of these goalies from time to time gave us decent play, but on the whole were not number 1 goalies.
We don’t need a Ranford performance but I do think we have 1 cup with steady eddy Salo and 2 Cips with Roloson. The last 3 playoff appearances Skinner needed his partner to bail him out and I expect we’ll need him again going through the likes of Nucks-Knights-Avs-Stars. Is Pickard good enough to handle the load while Skinner resets at a inopportune time.
He’s getting it around here mostly since the cold start
Best signing in Oilers history I think is Leon this summer. Half of that is on the team, half of that is on the player to prove himself. Leon just signed the biggest contact in the NHL and he’s a good bet to reward the team with the Rocket Richard. Surprising? Maybe not, but hugely relieving and impressive.
Just completely impressed by Leon and Connor. Their artistry is second to none, all time. I realized at some point last night that I want a cup for them as much as I want it as a fan.
Leon is rolling, Hart of a lion season so far.
Maybe even a Chandler Byng of a season so far…..
Not my best haha
All we need is a couple more signatures resulting in us having a top 6 chance at winning the Cup year in and year out.
These math questions that Lowetide makes us do sometimes to enter this site is frustrating. Being older, I can never remember where I put my calculator.
I’m thinking the BroHoll situation has become a Taylor Hall-esque rift. Many won’t let it go and many don’t want to be happy. Unhappy is normal to some DoD’ers.
I’m happy as a clam. They beat Tampa’s AHL team by some poster’s math. 2 points, moving on.
At least we aren’t Buffalo with the GM blaming the city for his ineptitude.
Not everything is a binary. I am enjoying watching the Oilers this season. I also think the Holloway and Broberg off sheets was a disaster and will inevitably shorten the Oilers window.
“Many won’t let it go and many don’t want to be happy”. These are 2 different things, I did not make a binary claim.
To your second sentence, we know.
I agree, I like the team right now, after the slog start of a long bitter playoffs they are starting to roll. It was definitely a HUGE f up by management. I would of wanted Holloway retained, he wanted to be here but it was insulting what they did to both players. I liked Bro all the way but he had sailed on already.
Reading about it everyday gets tiresome then it just kind of goes blurry and disappears.
Since I’ve left Twitter, and exclusively use Bluesky, I am noticing a much happier discourse around the Oilers. I am with you LT. This season started weird, but this team is growing and gelling with each passing game. It’s hard to count all of the up arrows right now: Nurse is playing awesome, Kulak might be playing the best hockey of his career, Skinner is returning to form, Emberson is developing right in front of our eyes into a legit top 6, Connor + Leon dominant as usual, Kapanen and Podz look like players, we don’t even have Kane back yet – team will only get deeper when he returns, etc etc.
This team has a story to tell. Not sure what the end will be, but this is a team that learned some lessons last year, has a chip on its shoulder, and is starting to look DAMN good. I pity anyone who can’t hop on and have some faith on where this team could take us.
Darnell Nurse – ANOTHER really good 2-way game and unlucky not to pick up a couple of primary assists (he fed McDavid on his first breakaway and, of course, Drai on his goal).
This is true – we don’t know what we don’t know.
What we do know is that Skinner is locked in at a $2.6MM cap hit next season and the Oilers will have Drai at $14MM and Bouchard somewhere in the $9MM-$10MM range (I presume).
I can’t say what Bowman thinks for certain, but I would think that, if nothing else, he believes Skinner is on a value contract and this team needs to balance some big big big AAVs with value deals.
Dahlin is the template/comparable signing a year earlier. My money is over 11 with rising cap.
Bowman has said he’s good with the goalies. He’s pretty straight forward, and he doesn’t seem like he can’t see what’s happening, and they have been good for 2/3 of this season. If nothing changes dramatically I don’t expect them to look for goaltending. Maybe more depth to the AHL if they don’t trust Delia enough
Defense, obviously. They are also really deep at forward outside of a RS C, but maybe they think Philp can do it after some more time. If not they may add that
He backstopped the Oilers do game 7 of the SCF so the ability of Skinner to do so is very close to simple fact.
Today, many consider Fuhr the greatest goalie in Oilers history. In the past, Oilers fans treated Fuhr the same way they treat Skinner now.
Remember, we don’t know what we have, until we find out what we had.
Fuhr was prone to some pretty bad reg season games. I recall people freaking out because of how far he would come out. But the proof is in the pudding about the playoffs
The Nurse/Stecher vs. Nurse/Kulak numbers are eye-popping.
I’m not sure there was is a quality of competition diversity that explains part of it but I would think not at home (i.e. I don’t imagine that Coffey was deploying Stecher vs. harder comp than Kulak with last change).
I think Stecher has been playing good hockey recently but those numbers give credence to LTs opinion that they need to find a way to run Nurse/Kulak full time.
Given how the team is playing, etc., unless things hit the skids, I do think they will continue to wait until close to March to acquire that 4-5D.
Regula has me wondering. Perhaps they see Emberson as possibly able to step up a pair with Nurse as he’s playing so well again at some point, and Regula with Kulak to add some size on third pair. Likely what they hoped Brown could do, for whatever reason
Bowman must have some confidence in him because he’s not guaranteed to pass through waivers at that cap hit, big, can skate and RS, as he didn’t this time
Last night I asked a question about the disputed Lightning goal, as I thought the high stick meant the play was automatically dead. I guess I should have googled it, here is the Hockey Canada rule, which I assume is similar to the NHL rule:
So, I guess that means last night’s goal depended on whether the puck crossed the line, and none of the reviews showed it clearly crossing.
I wonder, though, if that isn’t a kind of dangerous play which should automatically make a goal disallowed.
Anyway, thought I would share this in case anyone else was wondering. Here’s the link:
Rule 6.9 – High-Sticking the Puck » Rule Book Admin
Nurse also didn’t control and possess, batting the puck into his own net.
That play shouldn’t have even been reviewed really, much less counted.
I think the interpretation relies on the “batted the pick into the net” meaning if it touched anything else, except a teammate, on the way in it was not batted into the net.
You have to direct it. It can’t simply bounce. Otherwise high stick tips would become ever-present.
Yes, I should have said except a teammate, the ice or a goal post.
If there was any clear evidence the puck had crossed the line, it would have counted. It’s Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning of course it would count.
They would have ruled Nurse somehow batted it into his own net. But no worries the puck stayed out.
I think it may have crossed the line but Nurse didn’t touch it until it was already across.
If they’re was no evidence that the pick crossed the line, I’m not sure the refs would have used batted in with a high stick as the reason for disallowance.
If they couldn’t tell for sure if Nurse touched the puck before it crossed the line, battered in would stand as the call on the ice.
From the NHL Explanation: ”…Nick Paul’s stick was above the height of the crossbar when he contacted the puck. It then deflected off Darnell Nurse before it entered the Edmonton net
So the NHL thought it went in but the high stick ruling resulted in no goal
This makes sense. They got it right.
“Explanation: Video review supported the Referees’ call on the ice that Nick Paul’s stick was above the height of the crossbar when he contacted the puck. It then deflected off Darnell Nurse before it entered the Edmonton net. According to Rule 80.3, that states in part “When an attacking player causes the puck to enter the opponent’s goal by contacting the puck above the height of the crossbar, either directly or deflected off any player or official, the goal shall not be allowed. The determining factor is where the puck makes contact with the stick.””
Damn, shows what I know (nothing).
Thanks Lucid, I posted the rest of the explanation as well, because it’s new to me.
I was sure a recent challenge was called a goal because it hit a defenders glove. Maybe it wasn’t going in till it hit the glove or of course, I could be misremembering.
I really like the way our forwards are looking for the most part. Should Arvidsson ever come back, I wonder where they try to slot him? Kap and Podz currently seem to be doing just fine with Drai, so maybe the third line becomes the focus for fine tuning as players come back?
Who comes out of the line up when Arvidsson returns, I’d say Brown. I appreciate Brown’s defensive play but he needs more then a decent back check to stay in the lineup.
Nuge/McDavid/Hyman
Podkolzin/Draisaitl/Kapanen
Janmark/Henrique/Arvidsson
Skinner/Ryan/Perry
Skinner and Janmark probably flip flop, Janny does everything but put the puck in the net himself, Skinner does alot of good things with the puck but his own mother doesn’t trust his defense.
I’m not so sure. Defense is very important to this Oiler team & Connor Brown is also very effective on the PK. Arvidsson also PK’s and is solid defensively. It’s a tough call between Kapanen & Perry. I like Kapanen’s speed and overall play.
Kapanen has impressed me given his reputation prior to us picking him up. Seems very similar to Podkolzin in that regard
Podkolzin is filling in nicely on the PK, Kapanen can do èverything Brown does with a much better shot.
Perry plays 5×5 hockey much better then Brown.
To me, Brown is the odd man out.
Its not just who comes out of the lineup but who gets put on waivers.
Once Arvy is ready, I presume they will want to get back to accruing as much cap space as possible – back to 21 players on the roster.
Unless they take one of the wingers and turn him into 4C, I think it’s Brown that hits the waivers. Kapanen should not be near the waivers currently imo.
Brown has been low impact recently but I don’t see them waiving him – I mean, if he survived last season….
I rewatched most of the game after the fact and I am in awe of how different Darnell looks right now. I wondered, after the playoffs, if maybe he just didn’t have the processor to match his physical skills. The game has slowed for him. He is holding onto the puck at times with one hand on his stick while using his strength to fend off the attacker, then making a smart play with it. Inconceivable based on his past performance. I wonder, at this point, if a Nurse Bouch top pairing could be tried and Ekholm can mentor and play a little less. Nurse and Bouch are horses and could both play half the game if necessary.. Not sure Eks is capable of that kind of time. Thoughts?
The problem with Nurse last year was plain to see see. The Vegas series loss broke Nurse’s confidence in Ceci. He, at least subconsiously, had lost trust in Ceci, and it impacted his own game.
No reasonable person could watch the Vegas series loss, and argue that rerunning Nurse with Ceci was a good idea if one wanted to win the Cup.
I think we both were advocating to move Ceci and Kulak, use Bro 3LD and replace Ceci because while his reg season was decent his playoffs weren’t. He’s a decent player, but I think the tempo gets him in the playoffs, like Des
I like Kulak. But Tampa had to trade McDonough because cap. Liked him enough to bring him back. Sometimes you have to do things for now, and the future. I think Bowman gets this as he did it in Chicago. It was too late for him to salvage Bro by the time he arrived
I have never advocated trading Kulak. I really wasn’t advocating trading Ceci. I was advocating playing Broberg before deciding what to do with the other two, particularly Ceci.
Stunning. Apparently you don’t believe any of Woodcroft, Manson, Knoblauch or Coffey are reasonable people.
Or, well, he was hurt and had been less than 100% since playing with the torn hip flexor in 2022.
Given he essentially didn’t participate in camp (no games), he was clearly not 100% in the playoffs.
Key moment from last nights game:
Sami Kapanen’s kid selling out to block a shot with 4 minutes to go, then limping around until the puck was cleared to safety.
Veteran play you expect in the playoffs. Impressive from a guy who’s been on the team three weeks. Kid’s a gamerrrrr
Agreed! I’ve been super impressed with his backchecking and overall speed element he has added. For Holloway we ended up getting Podz and Kapanen. Not bad.. both playing really well with Leon at the moment!
Agreed except Podz and Kapanen were acquired on their own. Nothing to do with Holloway.
Hard to argue that Podz had nothing to do with the loss of Holloway. He was traded for during the week the Oilers were deliberating on matching Holloway’s offer sheet (and gave them some mitigation for not matching).
Podz is basically filling the roster spot that Holloway was expected to be filling. Had they signed Holloway earlier or planned to match, they wouldn’t have traded for a player likely to be waived (and probably claimed). There is no other roster spot that Podz would have been expected to vie for. Who knows if Podz wasn’t available for 4th round pick at a salary less than half of matching that the Oilers might have bit the bullet and matched.
Kapanen would very likely not be an Oiler if Arvidsson wasn’t injured at the time he became available on waivers, which is just a fortunate break that Bowman took advantage of, so I agree that transaction has little to nothing to do with the loss of Holloway.
They could have had all three. Excuse making.
No excuses, just the reality of managing a NHL roster under the current CBA. With the Oilers cap space, Podz and Holloway both wouldn’t have fit on the roster. They waive Podz and he gets claimed and the Oilers don’t have Podz nor a 4th round pick. Vancouver traded him because they believed he wouldn’t make their opening roster and would likely lose him to waivers so got something instead of nothing.
No person here can credibly claim that they believed at the start of camp with Holloway being there that someone else on the current roster would have been expected to be waived to keep Podz. Even as well as he played in camp, if Holloway was on the team, they would almost certainly not have kept both.
That’s assuming Kapanen hits the waivers if St. Louis doesn’t have Holloway.
Vancouver and St.Louis could of just as easily had all 3 themselves then. Excuses excuses
Podz was acquired days before Holloway left town, Kapanen was put on waivers by the team Holloway went to. They’re all literally tied together.
Good grief
All three could be Oilers today if they wanted to make it happen. A low cost change of scenario and a waiver claim doesn’t mitigate bad decision making. Good grief!!!
I would have taken Holloway and Broberg over Podz, Kapanen, Skinner and Arvidson, easily, so kind of moot as far as I’m concerned.
Stu played really well again. For me it’s more than SV%, we have watched him enough that I see games where he is on top of things and tracking the puck well, reacting to the plays directly like last night, his glove is going, and in earlier games where he wasn’t quite connected regardless of his SV%, more lucky than good
In losses sometimes it gets called getting goalied, others don’t see it that way, but Vas last night robbed them a few times, made saves that many don’t make. Man is he good when he’s feeling it
Agree on Skinner. He’s a solid NHL goaltender and I have faith the Oilers can win it all with him. But earlier in the year this is the kind of game the Oilers lose:
This time, Skinner made some difficult stops allowing the Oilers to win a game they deserve to win. (This is true both by my eye and Money Puck — but Lord do I miss Natural Stat Trick)
NST hasn’t gone away, I have it up right now. ?
Oh thank you! I could have sworn they were bought up by an NHL team and then shut down.
That was capfriendly.
Well, the second Oiler goal was a bit unlucky going in off Hedman. Those are usually the kind of goals scored against Edmonton going off Nurse.
After a clean breakaway though, in a game where the Oilers had four, and while fortune smiled on Leon that deflection looked real tough to stop.
The equivalent goal from earlier in the year would be off a nothing play not associated with a legitimate scoring chance after the Oilers fired three A-grade shots at the opposite net.
In the end, the Oilers won a game despite the opposition’s goaltender playing very, very well because Skinner stopped some legitimate scoring chances.
You can’t expect to limit quality opposition to zero scoring chances for an entire period — Skinner did his job. He’s good enough to do so consistently moving forward and I’m excited to see it.
Heh heh. I caught Bruce on LT’s show and he thought Kap and Pod being the next players coming after Drai, and absolutely charging in, caused Vas to try to clear it. Good pressure causes mistakes and more bounces. Nobody driving the net, no goal probably
Great game for sure. Really only one big breakdown on their goal, where the goalie and three skaters couldn’t quite get it done
The puck movement was great (lots of nice break outs), coverage great, energy great. I still think they can generate more offense 5v5, I think they could add some different looks than what has become their norm, we’ll see if the coaches can help that along as they did with the D group. Add that and a little more physicality and watch out
Skinner to me is fine, a more substantial other goalie wouldn’t offend me if something sensible came up
If Nurse can keep this type of play going, which I think is his true game, his contract will age well (given health), and given the good fortune of more significant cap increases coming, won’t be a cap problem for much longer. It will soon be in range maybe better
Holloway in particular for me is making Jackson’s et al pre-Bowman decisions look less shiny. If Bowman can avoid more big blunders, as has been the Oiler way the last few decades, the future looks rosy this chilly morning
In a sense I find it heartening – the team is playing this well and yet we still have an established 30 goal scorer not playing up to his usual level, plus Kane and Arvidsson, who will hopefully come back healthy enough for a deep playoff run. If they have enough time to gel on the good third line or something then this team is scary up front.
It would be nice if Skinner could actually pot a few goals, he’s certainly been the most disappointing signing so far.
Yes if they are healthy and the coaches can sort things out they have a lot of quality. The D have been playing well, Stecher is a gamer, but I’m on the side that they could improve there
The thing that has kept Stech as a tweener is his size. Typically a D that size is an offensive D with great skating. My ideal would be a big strong defending physical D that can make a pass. Offense isn’t needed as much as the other things. Hard to play against
It was another shin dinger from Bouch that led to the goal. Same play – attempt a dangerous cross ice pass from deep in his zone. He needs to get this out of his game as the rest is looking really good.
Yes hopefully as he matures he’ll reduce risky plays. Hopefully not as long as Drai has taken. Stu could have avoided the whole thing with a freeze or a better play with the puck in the first place
It’s good to see the Oilers playing well and winning games. They are definitely a good enough team to make the playoffs. I’m not as confident in their ability to contend for a cup. To my eye, this team is a step down from last years squad, and that’s what is worrying some of us.
If you look back to the end of last season, the biggest hole on the team was 2RD. That position is still not filled. Yes you can argue that Kulak has filled it, but who has replaced him at 3LD?
The other hole on last years team was a scoring winger for Draisaitl. The Oilers signed Arvidson, and that’s where Jackson should have stopped. Because he had 2 other in house solutions under team control. He had Kane, who the team still seems to be counting on at some point. And he had Holloway, who looked like a good fit on Draisaitl wing during the playoffs.
Instead Jackson chose to double down on veteran forwards like Henrique and Skinner. These players have impressive NHL resumes, but are on the wrong side of 30, with declining footspeed, in a league that seems to be getting quicker every year.
I keep hearing about the Oilers impressive forward depth, but I don’t really see any of it showing up on the ice. Which forwards, other than McDavid and Draisaitl, are having good years?
These are the issues that make the loss of Broberg and Holloway sting so much. Yes, this is a good team. But it would be a much better team with Broberg at 3LD, and Holloway in the middle 6. And all it would have cost the Oilers is Henrique and Skinner. Who doesn’t make that trade today?
The Reinhart trade was the worst move the Oilers have made since McDavid was drafted. The loss of Broberg and Holloway may prove to be just as big a talent drain, maybe bigger.
Although not a finished work, I like this D group better. I think overall they play with more tempo, gap better, retrieve better and pass better. I think it showed last night
LT, your commentary on enjoying the brilliance of the Oilers stars is correct. But dont blame anyone who isn’t truly happy until they win a cup. We all know eventually fans from other teams will be saying the Oilers are a failure as they had one, maybe 2 generational talents and couldn’t win a cup. And in fact maybe 97 or 29 eventually move on late in their career to try and get that cup.
I have a hard time enjoying the memories of the great 80s teams, knowing this team hasn’t accomplished that yet. What a feeling it will be if we finally win number 6
Winning the cup in the NHL parity era is very hard. But every year that this goes on the closer this team comes to being the SJS – great team with no cups.
I understand. I’m in a different position. I am enjoying this era immensely, all the while knowing it is possible this era of the Oilers doesn’t win a Stanley. No Canadian team has done it since 1993. It’s Everest. I sincerely hope they do. The Bruins team that started to build in 2003 and is now crumbling 20 years later boasted brilliance every year. The Bruins won one time. ONE time.
It is crazy to read that, it says a lot though. It feels weird to see the Bs struggling to be honest.
I am enjoying this era as well and am praying they get at least ONE cup. I did see the glory days and the league is so different now you cannot compare it, parity rules and the more teams that come in the more washed down the teams get.
Given what you say, and the 30 plus years for the last Canadien 🙂 team to win, one will be enough. Dont need a dynasty.
And only one was a failure for that group. They were better than one title and underachieved. They won’t be important in the passage of time and the league’s history because it was just one. Even with the season wins record.
I could go on a long diatribe about how this is why parity is idiotic and dynasties (and getting to the top of the mountain then knocking them off it) are what sports is all about, but I won’t.
Both of my teams went to the finals this year, lost the first 3 and couldn’t finish. Neither will be remembered for that season. Pennant notwithstanding.
Just one and I will make sure I savour it and will never ask for another.
No one is entitled to a championship, but I as well feel like they have left cards on the table, and that’s mostly on management. Other teams don’t have Connor and Leon. And Bouch. I suppose the Avs are close with Mac Rant and Makar. But they have one
On Draisaitl’s breakaway that forced the “own goal”, the next two players to make it to the blue paint were Kapanen and Podkolzin.
That’s a beautiful thing.
I’ve never heard of a forced own goal. They’re usually just plain bad luck.
The Oilers sawed off with the Lightning on special teams. The Lightning, like most high-end teams, wins games when they succeed in this area.
The Wild are not following the usual script in their last 10 games.
The Wild are on a PDO heater and winning close games 5v5 or in gimmick time.
The Oilers have only lost the special teams battle once in the last 10-games – to the Avs and they won the game in spite of that. Oilers, like the Wild, have 7 wins in the last 10 games, with all three losses coming with the Oilers being even on special teams. It must be noted that the Oilers PDO in their last 10 is 101.0 – no PDO pony with this team and only 1 gimmick time game (which they won).
It is imperative that the Oilers win the special teams battle as I believe their recent 5v5 play is good enough to at least saw it off with the Wild. Time for the Oilers to show that the Wild are pretenders.
Interesting analysis thanks for this.
That was a confidence game last night, they were already playing that way the last little bit but that game is a builder for the team and should be for the fans. Solid, structured and on another night when those breakaways go in the score would be different. This team is good and when they win 2-1 games against top teams, the blocks build. Kulak is playing kulak playoff hockey already. The secondary scoring hopefully catches on a bit, add a nice deadline D, add E Kane, we have fire. Some hopes in there but lets go OIL.
I’d like to see the team figure out where Kulak is going to play and add a defender.
Add a 4C.
Don’t care about Philly Buttercupberg or the Flames fan.
The Oilers RH 4C is currently getting reps in Bakersfield. No need to spend assets when the answer is probably already in the system.
I highly doubt they use the rookie as 4C for the playoffs, wouldn’t be shocked but imo they bring someone in.
I could live with the Flames Fan. He’s 1.7M less than the 4M guy who I like but can’t play, and is bigger. DH is also now producing at Arvi’s career rate P/PG – .65
Ok but who cares, he’s not a Oiler and will never be again. I hope he enjoys watching the playoffs like the rest of us.
For sure. Can’t wait for O’Reilly and Nicholl
What’s the 4C for? When Kane and Arvidsson are back, even Connor Brown is sitting. They have more than enough. If you want to upgrade someone, sure, but Ryan will already be knocked out of the lineup.
Ryan & Perry will eventually both be knocked out of the lineup.
None of the wingers are playing 4C though, so while they have a ton of amazing wingers, they need a 4C upgrade. It will be Philp or a veteran that’s an upgrade on Ryan. I don’t know if they’ll feel like Philp is ripe for the position. Can he be the right hand draw winner they’ll covet, not sure.
I believe that we are seeing Drai and Nurse playing some of their best – and maybe their very best – hockey in their careers.
For Drai, the scoring and FO chops are there as always but his defensive awareness and positioning has been off the charts. He’s no longer cheating for offense and making blind east-west passes. I cannot recall a time when Drai’s details were this good, but that could be recency bias.
For Nurse, he seems to almost always make the right play now. He pinches when it’s an 80-20 puck, not 50-50; he’s rushing the puck as well as ever, but holding it a little longer to open things up and he’s almost always making the right pass; he’s not running around in the Dzone nearly as much; he’s positioning in the slot is good; he’s blocking shots away from the net, not into it; he’s physical but not taking bad penalties. I can’t recall when Nurse has played such a calm, complete game. Again, it could be recency bias. (McT said last night this is the best he’s seen Nurse play, so I’ll take that as confirmation. COH guys said something similar).
There will be stretches where their play slips, but what if they have reached a new level? What if Drai and Nurse can keep this up? If so, you can make an argument that Drai is the number 2 F in the league and no longer mainly because of his offense. I don’t know how good MacKinnon’s D game is so that’s an open question and maybe it’s Drai/MacK with clear separation from everyone below them. Matthews is slowed again by injuries this year and doesn’t bring it in the playoffs the way Drai does.
If Nurse can keep this up, he’s not merely a top 4 D, he’s top pairing level–on the 1B level of Ek I’d argue. These two developments, if sustainable, will be very valuable moving forward this year. For all the anguish about the off season roster changes, did anyone see Drai becoming a or even THE dominant two-way center in the league, and Nurse emerging as even better than the elite Dman he was a couple of years ago? I sure didn’t.
We wait.
I wonder how much praise KK deserves for some of this? I find it heartening that when this team struggles, it never struggles for long, and then some roster shuffle happens that seems to ignite a few players. He seems to understand the modern game better than any coach we’ve had in the last 20 years. And both this season and last I feel like we’ve seen the team structure grow and improve as the year goes on. Most impressively, team defense seems to be improving without sacrificing offense!
Agreed on Nurse. He’s been a top pairing guy before but had been miscast as a shutdown guy for a while now. I think Coffey can get some credit here.
Drai won a Hart trophy and had some of the highest playoff production ever over multiple years.
I get that he’s playing incredible right now but I would suggest you are correct on recency bias towards him.
It would be amazing to see Stu lift the cup with the Oilers. Just an incredible story of development and seizing opportunities. In his first year here as a true starter (the last two years it was Campbell) he’s getting better and better.
Not sure what you mean. He’s played 50 and 59 regular season games the last 2 years. That’s the starter 100%.
He took it over though, there was still hope that Campbell would recover and become the starter. This year, no Campbell, Stu is the de facto 1.
I was at the game last night – a rarity – and enjoyed the pace from the 4th row. You forget how tight the game is when sitting at home. There are milli-seconds between events that can determine the outcome. Fun.
One observation is the lack of finishing checks/truculence. Kulak got hammered right in front of us (a great hit) and while no immediate response was required, it would have served the Oil well to deliver a few of their own big hits.
At the moment, particularly without Kane, we don’t have a winger(s) who goes out and bangs bodies. This type of player matters in certain games/series.
I think KK preaches puck possession over retaliation. Even with Kane in the lineup, I’m not sure he’ll be encouraged to make those kinds of hits, unless they also happen to be hockey plays. Playoffs might be a different story, but I don’t recall the team running around all that much, even against LA.
The other day I suggested flipping Janmark for Kappanen.
This morning I’m very encouraged by Kapanen’s play. Very responsible two way play, with strong backchecks, good against the boards. He send a brilliant backhand to Bouch on a 3-2, and has a strong shot.
I hope the Oil can unlock this farmhand FIN.
I’m also liking the Oil’s defensive play. They’ve been shutting out the opposition, and for the most part, making it hard to stay in the zone.
Tap a stick for Paul Coffee.
Kapanen and Podkolzin should get a stick tap for the Draisaitl goal. While they didn’t touch the puck, all of them going hard to the net helped create the chaos that resulted in the puck going in off Hedman.
I like what that line is bringing.
Would also add that Nurse looks very strong and seems to be calming the waters around him when he’s on the ice. You can see the confidence with his decisions and frankly it’s the best I’ve seen him play.
I’d agree with Cooper’s comments on last night’s game not being particularly good for either team. Neither did what they came to do. The Oilers got the ‘W’ which is what matters, but would never say that was the standard.
The team isn’t far off. The forward depth is borderline ridiculous and improving as players heal. That can take you very far.
One defenceman away. The question is whether Bowman and crew can figure that out correctly. Further – can the coach figure out deployment to get this team on a sustained run to unleash the offence and give more nights where the third period is much less of a grind.
Cooper can say what he wants, but the Oilers came to win, and they did. Skinner wasn’t pressed too much, the Oilers scored enough to win, didn’t make too many egregious mistakes, and got the job done against a damn good team. If that isn’t the standard, not sure what is lol.
Did he watch 97 whip through 3 defenders and say to himself ‘they probably didn’t want to do that’.
Bizarre.