Have you ever been to California? I’m no hippie, but it took me 20 minutes after the plane landed at LAX to figure out I could live outside 24-7 and have improved atmospheric conditions compared to back home. When you see paradise, the mind does strange things. Maybe I could hang out at the Pioneer chicken stand and see if Warren Zevon still dropped in from time to time? How much money does a guy need anyway? I could get a job down by Rockford’s trailer. Sure! That’s the ticket!
I thought of the young Los Angeles Kings last night, and what they’re building, and how long it might take for them to build a winner. Quinton Byfield, Tomas Bjornfort, Artur Kaliyev, who is Jordan Spence? They’re all arriving now and should push for most of a decade. Whatever the Oilers have planned, better get a move on. The people running the LA Kings aren’t hippies either.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Early look at Oilers free-agent targets for 2022 offseason
- DNB: Why Ryan McLeod’s best outing matters so much to the Oilers
- Lowetide: 3 changes Jay Woodcroft could make immediately to improve Oilers
- Lowetide: The legend of Oilers prospect Matvei Petrov continues to grow
- DNB: Oilers’ defensive warts on full display in critical game against hated Flames
- Lowetide: Are Oilers approaching a crossroads with Zack Kassian?
- DNB: Should Oilers budget for Evander Kane beyond this season?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ 2022 draft strategy takes shape after trade deadline
- DNB: Oilers’ solid deadline adds depth but without goaltending upgrade, top concern remains
- Lowetide: 7 Condors who could impact Oilers’ fortunes in the playoffs
- Lowetide: 9 Oilers prospects who could be available in trade at the deadline
- Lowetide: Is Oilers winger Warren Foegele doing enough to warrant his contract?
- DNB: How Jesse Puljujarvi, as a player and person, became perfect fit for Oilers
- Lowetide: Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci emerging as top pair for Oilers
- Lowetide: Ryan McLeod’s case for a spot on Oilers’ skill lines
- DNB: Oilers’ recent play only underscores that upcoming trade deadline must be a time to act
- Lowetide: Revisiting the Oilers’ choice of Evan Bouchard in the 2018 draft
- DNB: Markus Niemelainen collecting catchy nicknames as his surprise breakout accelerates
- Lowetide: Oilers fans still adjusting to Ken Holland’s management style
- DNB: Ken Holland Q&A
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM MARCH
- On the road to: PHI, CHI (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 1-0-1)
- At home to: MON (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: CAL (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: WAS, TBAY, DET, BUF, NJD (Expected 3-1-1) (Actual 5-0-0)
- On the road to: COL, DAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-1-1)
- At home to: SJS (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: CAL (Expected 0-1-0) Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: ARI, LAK (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-5-2, 18 points from 15 games
- Actual March results: 9-4-2, 20 points in 15 games
- Oilers in 2021-22: 38-25-5, 81 points in 68 games
Edmonton had a five-game winning streak in the middle of the month and went 4-4-2 over the balance of March, the inconsistency is galling but the overall record shines like a diamond. On pace for 98 points, I believe a point-per-game over the last 14 contests will be enough to secure a playoff spot. This month saw the team perform as well as any in the division, and if Edmonton does make the playoffs, the March run will have been key. The club is 15-7-2 under Woodcroft and Manson. Sign these men!
I’m sure Oilers players pondered the normal regular season style of play by mid-third period and wondered if this hooking and holding would continue. It did, of course, prison rules were in full force on this night. The NHL has turned the screw and we’re back in the twilight zone. Buckle up, here we go. Remember, survival is success. Big two points.
GOALTENDING
Mikko Koskinen stopped 38 of 41, .927. Several were of the difficult variety, I thought he played well. First goal was a tip (double tip), second goal was a point-blank shot after a turnover and the third goal was a fluke but you’d like Koskinen to stop it. Oilers took a powder in the first part of the third period, Koskinen kept them in it. He should get credit for it.
DEFENSE
Darnell Nurse had three shots on net, a bunch more in the area, had a takeaway and a giveaway. He made one outstanding play in OT, holding off an LAK forward through the neutral zone and into the Oilers end. He didn’t take a penalty and the game was on the line at that moment. Great play. Cody Ceci scored a great goal, went shelf to get Edmonton to even at 1-1. He had three giveaways and five blocked shots on the night. The duo is 22-15 goals at five-on-five this season.
Duncan Keith had a shot, a couple of giveaways plus a takeaway along with 1:16 of clean PK work. Some nice passing too, no points on the night. Evan Bouchard was high event and not in a good way. He was unable to corral the puck along the wall on the first GA, Edler’s shot went off him in the slot and then Arthur Kaliyev (uncredited). Bouchard was pinball wizard on the second goal, a harmless puck comes to him and immediately goes hard left into the slot. Damndest thing. I’m a fan, but those kinds of plays won’t help suppress frustration about his casual approach (it’s more style than anything, but weird things happen to Bouchard). He had two takeaways and three shots. Pairing is 14-9 at five-on-five for the season.
Brett Kulak had an assist, two shots, a GV and a TK, and checked down too late to Carl Grundstrom who scored the third goal. Tyson Barrie was originally the mark on Grundstrom, but got beaten clean to the puck and then fell ass over tea kettle and by then it was five alarms and a lot of horns. He saved a sure goal with a timely clear late. These two are 4-2 goals in just under an hour at five-on-five.
FORWARDS
Evander Kane had five hits and played a rugged game, his penalty was ridiculous. There were 100 other calls that could have been made before that one. Jesus. A nice physical play along the wall was the genesis of the first Oilers goal. Connor McDavid was at his determined best, I just love it when he sets his jaw and sets the world on fire. The disallowed goal featured some of his best work, and the shootout goal was so filthy Jonathan Quick was visibly upset. Poor guy. 97 was 1-1-2, 8 shots, six five-on-five HDSC’s, truly your basic nightmare for the defense. Jesse Puljujarvi was credited with the McDavid goal, and then the disallowed goal, so lands without a crooked number in the scoring column despite so great work. Six hits. He was merciless in board battles and parked his butt net-front with authority. He also engaged some poor LAK player late, just some shoving because it stood out. JP may feel it’s wasted effort, as do I, but he’ll win fans with that kind of mentality in scrums. Players mistake JP’s kind demeanor and fun-loving presence for weakness, pretty sure. He’ll get more room with more physical play, because he’s a big damned human.
Zach Hyman treats every shift like his life depended on it. I love his game. His work on Leon Draisaitl’s goal was outstanding, and just one of his impressive moments with the puck. Three shots, two HDSC, he never wears down. When we’re talking about differences between last year’s team and this season, remember Hyman should be just as effective in the playoffs. Leon Draisaitl scored goal No. 49 on the season, six shots, seven HDSC (!!!), drew a penalty, 4-1 GV-TK. His shootout goal was subtle brilliance. Kailer Yamamoto had a couple of good looks, couldn’t cash but he’s a threat and I do think better suited to working with Draisaitl.
Warren Foegele didn’t get a lot done, he played on two lines and accomplished little. He did take an unnoticed (by the officials) head hit during a rush over the blue line. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins can’t find wingers right now, losing Puljujarvi has sent the entire third-line project spinning out of control. Derek Ryan played a steady game, not much pop in his bat on this night. Ryan McLeod had one HDSC, a couple of giveaways and a lot of try. There are some games where he doesn’t get a lot done, but I have noticed they are fewer and farther between. Josh Archibald was physical, but lost position on Alex Edler during the sequence leading up to the first Kings goal. Just two shifts in the third period. Derick Brassard had one HDSC, but he too sat for much of the game. One third-period shift, the Nuge line wouldn’t Nuge and we’ll look for possible changes on Friday.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10, TSN1260, we’re going to talk about consistency today on the Lowdown. Edmonton has little, but are they alone? Chris Johnston will update us on the GM meetings and the deadline fallout, and we’ll talk about the marriage of Ken Holland’s patience with the anxiety fueled Oilers fans. We’ll chat final four, Jays, Raptors and more, plus Canadian men at the World Cup and what bin they’ll be in. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Smith looks done.
When you knock the stick out of a player’s hands, has been an automatic interference penalty, but not against LA, they are missing players , cmon , they ned help
Not only not called but leads to the OT PP.
Huge win in OT for the Kings.
Now up 6 points on Vegas.
It was a shootout lol
Dam phucken phlegms have to screw us over
it’s January 15,2007, my first day of work in Southern California and I’m checking in at the security shack getting my badge.
Its slightly above freezing, sunny, big blue sky and not a single cloud in the sky.
A worker walks into the shack shivering, arms crossed, rubbing his shoulders.
He sais: It’s too cold to be outside.
Im thinking to myself. What is this place!
I moved from Ottawa with 56 out of 64 days of constant rain with temps at freezing levels. Absolutely miserable fall
useless, good-for-nuthin, godless Flames
Refs love LA
Flames have 3 PP opportunities to the Kings 2
OT calls count six-fold, I looked it up!!!!
Kings tie it with 4:22 to go – Anderson and Hanafin being terrible.
OT it is.
What a slow paced game.
Looks like those understrength LAK’s using their 2nd goalie no less are set to defeat Calgary. Its only the end of the 2nd period but that 1-0 lead might yet hold.
This is for the naysayers always belittling Oilers in general/last nights game.
Flames tie it, but the Kings look legit, trading chances. And Peterson is 1 or 1A despite Quick’s pedigree.
Hasn’t this been…. you?
Only… the consistency of …the current goalies.
THAT is an ongoing potentially catastrophic issue that is never going away until a certain AHL shutout youthful regular style goalie that allows the team he plays for to jive with.
Meanwhile:
1 – A fully healthy Smith I have zero issue with but the poor slob is now at an age that his warrior mentality can no longer overcome the calendar.
2 – Koskinnen simply leaks goals which makes the team wander in a desperate direction.
Is the shames going to screw us over tonight
You were counting on something else?
Anybody have any insights into the college goaler we signed a few days ago (Ryan Fanti)?
I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t seen anything about him yet (forgive me if I missed it)
All I know is from the press release:
Fanti, 22, is 20-12-4 on the season with a 1.83 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage over 37 games this season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Fanti will join the Condors on an amateur tryout contract for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign.
apparently he’s the NCHC hockey Goalie of the Year with the potential save of the year.
9.29 S%
1.83 GAA
Posted three straight shutouts
It was discussed on here the day of the signing and day after.
Not really much to say except the smart people think that its not just adding another warm body and bullet but that the kid has a real chance. Likely to be the starter in Bakersfield next season (hopefully Konovalov can provide real comp for that job).
Friedman had a good few paragraphs on him about a year ago and a week before the signing spoke about him and quite a few NHL teams be interested.
Thanks, I must’ve missed it
LT wrote about it here:
https://lowetide.ca/2022/03/29/something-better-beginning/
The blog discussed it mostly the day before.
Athletic, good size, ultra-competitive and he speaks up, he’s a leader.
This is not Shane Starrett, the last collegiate goaltending prospect signed by the Oil. He played frequently vs top 10 NCAA competition and his numbers shine.
Also, he played behind a smallish D-corps, 2 guys 6’1”, plus a 6 footer; 4 of the top 6 dmen were under 180 lbs. Only 3 regular skaters over 190 lbs. He’s going to have quite the shock at the view behind the relative giants in Bako, lol.
Matthews 1st to 50.
That empty net didn’t stand a chance!
Wayne didn’t care how pretty they were. Only how many. If you have 92 in a season, some of them will be pretty. Some won’t.
I think that’s Matthew’s 4th empty netter and Drai has 3.
This was annoying when Ovi beat Drai by one goal for the Richard with, I believe, 8 empty netters and Drai had ZERO!
EVG
Matthews 35
Connor 31
McDavid 29
Draisaitl 28
Ovechkin 27
The lad seems to have some skill.
I believe they all do. Some just have more in the toolbox than others that are just a one-trick pony.
Elite job proving a positions that noone is disputing.
Auston Matthews- 50 goals on 478 shots.
Leon Draisaitl- 49 goals on 412 shots.
Draisaitl is clearly the more complete goal scorer.
He’s the more complete player for sure.
Matthews is a very good 2 way player.
Yep, just not quite Draisaitl’s level – he’ll probably get there, he’s a few years younger.
Matthews: 3.25 GA/60
Draisaitl: 2.55 GA/60
Drai kills penalties regularly
Matthews doesn’t kill at all
Drai takes most important faceoffs
I’m not sure on Matthews
Drai with a lower percentage of offensive zone starts and a much higher percentage of defensive zone starts.
Not saying Matthews is no a good 2-way player but I don’t see evidence he’s on Drai’s level at anything other than scoring goals.
Last night McDavid hit his 5th 100 point season.
he’s now tied for 5th all time in that category, one behind Crosby. When he gets 100 next year he’s top five.
Mathews is a sublime talent.
But the Greatest of All Time is currently centering the Oilers. Pipe down
I’m and old school Oilers fan who will go to his grave believing that Gretzky was the GOAT and Messier was the greatest winner hockey has ever seen. McDavid and Draisaitl are just a blast to cheer for though.
Summarizing!
Tullio maintained his lead over Petrov among Oilers OHL prospects, despite being out of the lineup tonight.
However, Petrov drew one goal closer with this howitzer from the left circle on the PP for his 35th marker of the year:
https://mobile.twitter.com/OHLBattalion/status/1509700422411370496?cxt=HHwWgICysaKixPMpAAAA
Also had a game-high 8 SOG.
The legend of Petrov grows!
But but but, LA!
The Blues have two games in hand but are only 2 points ahead of the Oilers…..
This. Oilers are still in a race for a higher placement than 7th in the West.
I was speaking to the gap between the Oilers and Blues being fairly small, i.e., Oilers are not an inferior squad.
Yeah I was noticing that the other day. A bunch of Central teams seemed so far ahead not so long ago (StL and NSH specifically).
By games over .500 in the West:
COL +33
CGY +22
MIN +21
STL +17
NSH +15
EDM +13
LAK +13
DAL +12
VEG +9
WPG +7
VCR +4
All others .500 or below (what an ugly collapse from Anaheim btw).
Anyway, the Oilers are as close to St. Louis and 4th in the West as they are to Vegas behind them.
The Blues are not a good team defensively. The Oilers should be able to exploit that.
https://youtu.be/x2VD1swaDaM
This randomly popped up in my YouTube feed.
Watching that made me just shake my head about current ones we get.
It’s no small wonder why they can’t be bothered to deal with repetitive lazy and garbage local scribes fishing for negative context dirt.
I agree brother. Also, Anson Carter, loved him. One of the toughest to ever play the game.
Jay W. talking about things such as looking at the sport science today is giving OIlers fans across the world the feels!
So I see Skinner had another shutout last night in Bakersfield. Tell me again the logic in leaving him down there and going into the playoffs with Smith backing up Koskinen?
If it’s to “protect” him, I really think management underestimates his mental fortitude. I honestly don’t believe Skinner is so fragile – he’s had tough games before and somehow he is still developing well.
Question I have, is who is making the decision on where Skinner plays. If this is Woodcroft’s decision I can respect it. He knows Skinner better than anyone. If it’s not????
Since the coach is merely temping for the last sacked one, with zero reason to think he is a certainty to be hired…
Politics…politics… “You have 2 NHL goalies now…wtf is the matter with you?” etc…
This is actually one of the main reasons I think Woodcroft is on board with Smith in goal. He’s coaching for his life, if he misses the playoffs, or gets swept in the 1st round, he likely won’t be back.
I think he’d speak up if he thought Skinner would give the team a better chance to win games than Smith.
I would hope that Holland would listen to Woody if he was adamant he wanted Skinner but, of course, the roster is ultimately Holland’s call.
I would note that Woody recently had Skinner available for 3 (or 4) games and didn’t play him.
Smith is signed for next year is this Holland trying to keep Smith in the mix? Of course it is same goes for Mr. Keith these are Holland bets and he’s double downing come Playoff time.
I don’t think its about protecting Skinner at all. I think the GM believes that the best chance to win this season is if Mikko and Smith are playing at the top of their games and is still working towards that scenario – which may never come vis-a-vis Smith.
It is certainly frustrating that the team can still have the defensive tire fires they are prone to having.
however; perhaps just my eyes but in the past 5 or so games they seem to be learning that most goals in the league are scored via slot, tips, bounces, screens. Relying on the Harlem globetrotters highlight reel goals are nice and all but a recipe for failure most games and especially in the playoffs.
The wraparound must of been strategy because Hyman wasn’t the only player trying this all night. I hope they employ this during the Playoffs instead of going back to the points try the wraparounds with as much traffic as possible. Look for a nice bounce and you also wear down their Goaltender. Hyman almost looks like Ryan Smith when he attempts these Wraparounds that cause all kinds of chaos in front of the net.
The Oilers have officially
assimilatedsigned The Bourg to an ELC:https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/release-oilers-sign-bourgault-to-entry-level-contract/c-332478994
Reasonable performance bonuses which we know can come in to play for LTIR teams (hopefully, with Klef off the books, this won’t be an issue come year two of this contract).
Also, of note, while he is 19 now (on the date of signing), given he turns 20 between Sept 15 and Dec 31 of this year, the contract will NOT be subject to slide if he doesn’t play 10 NHL games next season.
Next season will be year 1 of the ELC.
Sounds like he’s pretty much guaranteed to be in Bakersfield next season. And I think his play this year suggests he’s ready.
There is no doubt.
There is zero reason to send him back to junior for an over-age season which would be a rare occurrence in the circumstances.
According to the “Other Nuge”, The Bourg could join the Condors this season, depending on how far Shawinigan goes:
https://theathletic.com/realtime/moNTFHoAmUPz/?share=app_brief_share
Of course, that goes for Tulio and Petrov as well.
Thanks, and as OP says that does make sense (though it hadn’t occurred to me).
Appreciate all the updates!
You know that around here it’s a merry go round with developing D when you have people criticizing Bouchard on a night where Barrie was too slow on a puck retrieval and then incapable of eating a puck, leading to a GA.
By the way, Barrie made an excellent play to save a GA, so I’m not trying to hang his feet to the fire, rather just demonstrate that there’s a silly double standard when it comes to young D making mistakes and older D doing the same.
Bouchard’s “mistake” was also a tough bounce on a play that KY failed to clear the zone on. Are we really laying all blame at his feet for that?
Bouchard also made a *fantastic* poke check on Danault in the neutral zone, leading to a re-gain of possession for Draisaitl, a shot on net, and a whistle resulting in an o-zone draw. Plays like that are gold. Bouchard has the smarts and ability to be a very capable d-men, I am 1000% behind this player and he must play every night.
Btw, he’s top 15 or so in EV points, has played almost half the season on the top pair, has added PK ability to his repertoire, and at times supplanted Barrie on the top PP unit.
The meanest thing I can say about Bouchard is he’s not Hedman; what the hell happened to reasonable expectations around here? Whatever they are, Bouchard has surpassed them.
And lol @ Braun replacing Bouchard.
I mean, for some people, it’s not enough to be wrong once or twice, they have to keep doing it and they have to resort to making things up about young D. Here’s a tip: if you hate every single young D you see, maybe there’s something wrong with you and not the player.
Bouchard is a brilliant young player.
Seriously, some of the comments around here are hysterical.
Maybe a defense with both Barrie and Bouchard is not ideal?
A few people might have mentioned it a few times last season.
More than a few!😉
Yep
Bouchard is basically a Rookie you don’t learn how to play D in the NHL 3/4 of a season.
Fair comment. Have watched young d-men for years and as our gracious host will point out, there will be nights they will break your heart. Growth is not linear and so you have to understand mistakes part of the process. But there are a lot of things he does well. Give him 200 games, give him time to develop his craft.
It’s too bad he lost most of last season, but nothing we can do about that any more.
Isn’t this the truth? You talk Bouchard and I agree. Folks need to calm down he’s the goods.
Personally, I’m really liking the focus from many a poster lately on “moar Grit!”
Sure they’re the 4th highest scoring team in the league with seven guys who are setting or likely to set career highs this year offensively but yup we need moar grit!
I sorta get it but think it’s overrated to the extreme.
Go back and watch the clip of Draisaitl bagging that Shark in 16/17, Kane just dropping that Coyote the other night or Nurse speed-bagging Roman Polak a few years ago. There’s plenty of crazy.
Folks seem to forget that the playoffs allow everyone to ramp up and get weird, not just Oiler opponents. Oh and we can score more than they can.
Take promising young defenceman, play him on the first pair before he is ready. Watch him struggle. Trade promising young defenceman and replace him with new promising young defenceman. It is the Oiler way.
Either you are immediately Chris Pronger during his prime or you are worthless.
If anyone does, I think Ken Holland understands the time young D-men need to develop their game and also, as GM that highly values AHL development time, understands last season was far from ideal for Bouchard.
Even though there are fans who are down on Bouchard currently (probably some that championed him playing top pairing minutes early and now speak about “too much too soon”, I don’t think we are risk of a trade out at all unless there is more than full value coming back.
Ken Holland is not going to panic due to defensive slumps from rookie d-men.
What is this claim based on? Ken Holland traded Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones in the same off-season.
Both are useful NHL players on cheap contracts traded for middling returns/bloated contracts.
I disagree that Ken Holland knows young D-men take time to develop. He traded two in the same off-season wasting years of growing pains and development. A Jones-Bear third pairing would be miles better than the average third pair the Oilers have been trotting out this season.
Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones are turning 25 this spring and were 24 when traded – that is vastly different then a 22 year old and that is without getting into massive delta between the ceilings of Bear and Bouchard (Jones is an NHL tweener).
My concern with Bouchard is that he is not really improving defensively, and he seems to be regressing offensively.
He’s still young, certainly not a finished product, but you’d like to see some baby steps towards better defending.
He is about the same as a year ago five-on-five offense and his goal share in the discipline has improved. Bouchard may never be a top pairing option for the Oilers five-on-five but he’s going to post numbers there and should be an electric PP player.
All true. And I recognize it’s a long season for a 1st year dman. I’m just watching for signs of defensive awareness and a willingness to compete for pucks physically.
I’m still hoping Bouchard turns into a quality 1RD. Right now he’s got a long ways to go.
Agreed. He needs to show improvement, and the rest of the roster is pretty much 50 percent or better at five-on-five goal differential.
tail end of a long season with the games close together is not a great time for a rookie
I wish Bouch would show more urgency or get back to retrieve the puck in the Dzone. It would give him more time to look up ice to make his passes and not be rushed.
I wonder if the Oiler power play needs a re-look.
Barrie starts the Power play with the long drop back to a full speed McDavid.
Barrie lately, is not getting to the red line before the drop back which is the key to entry. As it forces one or two defender to back INTO their zone and create space. Then McDavid establishes the zone with a controlled pass back to Barrie and across the blue to Hopkins or Driasaitl. 10-20% of the power is gone before McDavid touches the puck again.
Would McDavid be better in the drop back role. He is going to gain the red line, he is threat to not drop back and still gain the zone. Then he is the second player to touch the puck IN THE OFFENSIVE ZONE.
Not sure exactly what you mean, but last night as soon as the game hit 3-3 and that 4th goal was disallowed the entire team morphed into a semi panic mode for the rest of the entire game.
Not surprising, given the way Koskie bleeds those 2 goals.
1) The PP was terrible last night but it had been out of the world for the last few weeks.
2) Your post is about zone entry and the Oilers are the top team at zone entries on the PP this season – even when the PP was struggling for a long time, zone entries were simply not part of the problem.
I agree, McDavid gains the zone. But he then distributes the puck.
This approach would be to get McDavid the puck in the Ozone – between the dots – with a 4-3 advantage – much earlier in the 90 seconds for PP1. A drop back to Driasaitl or McLeod is going to be very effective gaining the zone.
An in game adjustment would might be like saving the “fumbleruski” for just the right time, to change the game.
I have wondered for some time now whether the ol’ Gretzky J-hook would work. McD enters the zone with speed, D have to respect he is going directly to the net. Instead he J-hooks at the blue line with the other Oiler forwards heading straight to the net, McD has the option to fire the puck through the screen at the net or over to the Oiler D at the other point if the screen is not there.
https://lowetide.ca/2019/06/21/here-comes-the-sun-2019-draft-edition/
It’s very early days, but he’s currently 12th in points, 8th in gp, and 8th in goals scored from the 2019th draft class.
Certainly a steal for a #33 pick.
Teams were probably weary of picking Kaliyev partially due to how Yakupov stumbled in making the jump from OHL superstar to the NHL.
Even though Kaliyev is an American?
Maybe the scouts always seen him wearing his favourite Ushanka Hat.
I think he was born in Uzbekistan…….. came to the states as a toddler though.
LT made me aware of this young man during his OHL career. I followed him up to the draft. What a shot! And a sizeable forward. I couldn’t understand how he didn’t get picked in the 1st round.
Yeah, hats off to LT for his ranking on this player. Maybe like another LA draft pick Tyler Toffoli whom the math loved, but the scouts didn’t.
When thing about, or talking about, how the Oilers needed OT to beat a depleted Kings’ team and/or how they got outshot in the process, Gregor tweeted some of the micro stats last night that showed the Oilers (5 on 5) with more possession time and dominating in slot shots, scoring chances off the rush and scoring chances off of the cycle.
https://twitter.com/JasonGregor/status/1509400683807580160
Perfect summary of the game. Brutal 14secs unravelled the team. Between the ears is where this team needs to improve. There will be setbacks, bad bounces and crazy non calls. It’s how they respond after these events that will determine their playoff success.
Very good summary. In past years, that :14 lapse in the 2nd and terrible start to the 3rd would have sunk this team (not just unravel). They righted the ship.
Shouldn’t forget the LA was coming off a brutal loss to Seattle and so they came out with something to prove. I liked our response after the pushback and instead of blaming the refs, they won the game. Good sign.
Some say Mikko was great last night.
Some say Mikko was terrible last night.
Reality is likely in the middle.
What I will say is that, I’m not sure Mikko outplayed Quick last night but a key is that Mikko did not get outplayed by Quick.
Sometimes “good enough” goaltending is all that’s required/needed and Mikko provided that last night (and I would say that he did outplay Quick in the shootout) and has for almost the entire season (see “Wins”).
Only place Costco outplayed Quick was in the shootout. Quick was sharp sharp sharp last night.
McDavid has this way of making every opponent look like they haven’t got a clue.
I think Quick got hurt at the end of OT and it affected him in the shootout.
He tweaked something in the lower half of his body.
Also, Oilers have won 8 in a row at home – 9 would tie a team record.
I presume Smith will get the opportunity to help the team do so against the Blues on Friday – Of course, we all (well most) have more confidence in Mikko right now but this is probably the time to get Smith another game.
Well, its likely time to get Skinner the game but, we know that’s not happening.
Thank you. Bringing Skinner up is my current hobby horse.
When i read or hear options that Nurse is terrible defensively, or not good enough defensively, I wonder if the person opining realizes/notes/takes in to account/thinks about the fact that:
1) playing 40% of TOI vs. elite is hard
2) that is 40% of ALOT of overall minutes
3) doing so with a partner that is less than ideal for that role (Ceci: likely best suited for 2nd pair, Bouch: struggling defensively as a rookie, Barrie: better suited for lower comp)
4) 58% goal share in those huge minutes against elites is, well, ELITE!
Just looked it up – Nurse is 2nd in the league in total TOI v Elites. The only guy ahead of him has played 7 more games, and has only played 20 more minutes than Nurse. So Nurse is being asked to do more than any other defenseman in the league. Wow.
Yes, but to some that simply means he’s an overpaid bum lol
But you also have to take into account that those minutes are all pretty much with Mcdavid or Drai and therefore Quality of teammates exceeds quality of competition (which is only 40% of time elites)
Nurse has spent more time v Elites without McDavid than with him. He’s 5-3 goals with and 9-6 goals without. McDavid is 4-4 goals without Nurse and the team is 7-10 goals with both players on the bench.
Nurse is 5-4 goals with Draisaitl and 9-6 without. Leon is 6-5 goals without Nurse.
I’m not sure I buy what you’re insinuating here.
Sure but he spent a lot of time with Drai when he wasnt with Mcdavid.
And when he wasnt with Mcdavid he spent that time with Drai
Most of the bottom 6 guys he spent 100-200 min with which is quite a bit less than the 550 with Mcdavid and 470 with Drai
I wonder if there is a reason why every Oilers coach has played Nurse a lot with McDavid and Draisaitl? It’s almost like they think he’s the best defenseman on the team and should be playing with the best forwards.
Is anyone arguing that Nurse isn’t the best D on the team??
For some reason any criticism of Nurse brings out the Nurse fanboys who unless you declare Nurse a top 10 D in the league you automatically must think he’s garbage
You can use the term fanboy if it suits your needs, but I feel the same way as LT about it: it is a term used by someone who does not want to hear the opposing point of view. I am willing to objectively praise or criticize anyone on the team as their play justifies. I don’t really care about labeling him top 10 in the league, or top 20, etc. He’s the best, most consistent two-way defenseman on the Oilers. He received votes for the Norris last year. He was in consideration for Team Canada. Every coaching staff plays him the most minutes with the best players and against the opposition best players. All of his Sportlogiq advanced stats are near the top of the league over the past 3-4 seasons.
Recently, you said that Nurse was garbage on a game-night thread, which has made me feel like I need to defend him. Of course, he did have an awful game that evening, and is going to take criticism for bad play. I’m just attempting to change your perspective: good players can have nights or stretches of games where they play like shit but doesn’t mean they can’t play.
Like I’ve said multiple times he should have got a 7.5 mil per year contract. Somehow this gets construed over and over by some as saying he can’t play.
This game reminds me why I think the NHL needs to completely revise their whole “foul” system. I spoke to Steve Kouleaus about this and he’s actually proposed something similar.
A 2 minute PP with a 25% of success means 1/4 goal per penalty. That’s 8% of an average games offence. In basketball, a shooting foul is worth 1.5 points which is about 1.5% of a teams offence.
A two minute minor has too much of an impact on the outcome and referees know that.
Hockey needs to borrow from basketball and add a few designations for fouls below a 2 minute minor.
In basketball, a foul that takes away a scoring chance has a penalty of free throws. As does an egregious foul (flagrant) which also gives you the ball back. But on the low end, a ticky-tack foul has no immediate penalty but those infractions are cumulative and eventually turn into shooting fouls. The bonus I think comes after 5 fouls per half so that 1.5 % turns into 0.3%.
The NHL should leave the top end of their fouls chart alone. A clear violation would still be an immediate 2 minute power play. But every one of those minor hooks and holds “accumulates”. If possession isn’t lost just flag the foul and keep playing. If it is lost, spot the puck like soccer or have a faceoff if that is too radical.
Once there are say 3 minor fouls, it turns into a 2-minute power play and starts the count over. This reduces the impact of a ticky tack foul to 8%/3 or about 2.7%. Much more reasonable and way easier for refs to call everything.
Penalizing every third penalty is essentially what refs are doing and calling “game management” but this quantifies and standardizes the whole system.
If a two minute minor has too much impact on the game then I propose an alternative solution: quit taking needless two minute minors.
you know what else has a big impact on the game? cheating to stop the other teams offence with no consequences
Yes but the refs make mistakes obviously. They will be hesitant to make a borderline call or a call where they didn’t see things well, if it could change the outcome. Knighttown’s proposal sounds good to me.
I guess my philosophy is: if the rule is the problem, change the rules; if the people are the problem, then change the people
I understand what you’re trying to do here, but basketball is a horrible sport to emulate.
I don’t think there is a tidy way to handle gaining or losing possession like some other sports have.
I’d rather see an additional category of penalty, 1 minute minor. Things like puck over the glass, maybe some of the roughing non-sense after the whistle, borderline hooking and holding, maybe if offsetting penalties aren’t really equal, one guy gets 2 min, the other 1 min.
Another way to solve that “8% of the offense” problem is to increase the amount of 5v5 offense. Get rid of offsides. A rule who’s only purpose it to stifle offense and increase stoppages. Nobody misses the two line pass.
I would put getting rid of offsides up there with making the net bigger or, only allowing goalies to play 10 minutes per period.
Are those things together in the same “The NHL will never do that” bucket, or are they in the “OP thinks those are terrible ideas bucket”.
…Or both.
(There are a lot of things the NHL will never do that aren’t necessarily terrible ideas, they can be terrible ideas by merit. ) 😀
With respect, box 2 – well, probably both boxes.
Taking away offsides would change the game almost in a fundamental manner in my opinion.
I mentioned a few things in the last couple of days – one that I’ve heard/read that Holland was fairly active at the GM meetings and, as per CJ on the show today, Holland actually labelled the conversation about LTIR and the cap in the playoffs. Nothing really important here but interesting to note his material involvement.
More important was that I posted about hearing that the standard of officiating and consistency and how it relates to the playoffs was another thing discussed at the meetings (and mentioned last night about this game tape being something that could be shown to the league prior a Kings/Oilers series. Unfortunately, CJ mentioned today that, for the most part, that conversation was cut fairly short and there were reminders to the GMs that they are not to be “publicly discussing/criticizing” the referees and there will be material penalties if they do.
My goodness the NHL is overly protective of its officials – the NHL referee union must have some power…..
Maybe the union run by “Wise Guys”!
Looking back to the ref debacle of gambling in the NBA, someone should be investigating the refs for betting. They look alot like Calvin Ridley out there trying to hit some parlays.
It’s Bettman’s league. He seems a conservative type when it comes to changes and wants to carefully cultivate the league’s image. I bet a some activism like a website, tracking, cataloging, measuring and highlighting missed calls would get a lot of attention.
The NHL boardroom meeting reminds me of Enrons boardroom meetings
So Bettman pulled the “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” for the reffing. And then showed the stick.
If anything, it pours gasoline on the situation for those that believe the NHL has an agenda of who they want to win and enact it through the refs.
The PR person for the NHL should be fired. Fears can be assuaged. “We hear your concerns, and we will look into reffing discrepencies, should they exist.” A bollocks political statement that means nothing, but buys you time.
Instead, it’s “Nope. Just Nope. Don’t even. We’ll fine you.”
I’m going to start telling kids to pursue a career as an NHL ref as a dream job.
-get paid over 6 figures
-get to travel all around North America
-benefits
-you get a rulebook but don’t have to follow it
-don’t need to be consistent
-make as many arbitrary calls as you want
-can only be fired if you are caught on a hot mic demonstrating your intention to call a game unfairly
-the league, your union and a large portion of fans will defend you no matter what
-people will make excuses for you when you make a bad call, or deflect the issue by blaming the players and teams for not adjusting their game to take into account your habit of making bad calls
-you get a uniform so you don’t have to buy work clothes
What a life.
I too thought the same thing stepping off the plane in L.A. many years ago. But now the landscape has changed so much, it’s not desirable to live there unless you like paying for ridiculously high cost of living while navigating through homeless encampments. Check out Jon Crist’s new unofficial commercial for L.A. on YouTube. It’s short, funny and spot on!
Was that L.A. or Vancouver? There is a common thread and theory about how such disparity can exist side by side.
Anyone remember the Northern Pikes song: She ain’t pretty ?
Brett Kulak comes to mind.
Very toolsy but just not sure about his actual game.
( yes, it is still early)
Holland doesnt even have change for the bus though
Heavy Hockey.
Some players seem to fade when every square inch of ice is contested. If the plan
is to continue to really, essentially, not use the 4th line in the playoffs-I wonder how it will turn out for us?
Heavy Hockey takes a toll.
TOI:
Brassard 6 mins
Archibald 6 mins
McLeod 7 mins
Everyone makes the claim ( myself included) how deep this teams is at forward.
You can’t afford not to roll 4 lines – fairly evenly – in *playoff* hockey.
I think the Oilers can roll Unicorns if they take Archibald and shoot him into the sun.
Did you not watch the game last night?
I did.
I was pretty impressed with a lot of Ontario players, actually.
What did you think of them?
Just seems from your comment that you are unaware that LA was running 7-11 and Jay was hard-matching.
Prospectoration!
The OHL tandem of Petrov and Tullio share the spotlight this night.
Since we’re on April’s doorstep, we can discuss the playoff picture. (The top eight in each conference qualify for the post-season.)
Petrov’s Battalion–#10 in the country–have punched their ticket to the dance, while Tullio’s Generals have yet to qualify. They’re in a decent position to do that, but tonight’s opponent happens to be Hamilton, who not only has the best record in the O, they’re #2 in the CHL rankings. A tall order indeed.
Both are in action @ 5 p.m. Huallen time.
All your updates lead me to believe the Kings are pucked when the Oilers pipeline of talented forwards make the move to the big club.
You may want to read this.
https://theathletic.com/3101357/2022/02/09/wheelers-2022-nhl-prospect-pool-rankings-no-2-los-angeles-kings/
Oh so you did read Wheeler’s prospect pool rankings.
And yet you somehow concluded the Oilers prospect pool was “near the bottom”.
Interesting.
19th is far closer to the bottom than it is to the top.
There’s this space between the top and the bottom called the “middle”.
You may want to study this concept.
You may want to consider that any team lower than 16 is below average.
There’s a huge difference between “below average” and “near the bottom”.
I’m not sure if you are trying to troll or are just genuinely demonstrating an inability to grasp simple concepts.
I think we all know the answer ;)…
I think the word you are looking for is the median.
Yes, because prospect rankings are an exact science that can be perfectly replicated and there is no subjective analysis involved. So 19th position is *way* lower than 16th. Waaaay down at the bottom.
No, this is a Oilers blog. You can read up about your 14 favorite underdog teams all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that the Oilers have a plethora of young emerging highly skilled forwards that will be entering the ranks for the next few seasons to go along with the best 2 offensive players and best set of centers the league has.
The opinion of Wheelers view on prospect is nothing I’d hang any relevance on.
Holloway, Savoie, Tullio, Petrov, Bourg.
Jesse, Yams, McLeod
McDavid only 25, Draisaitl 26…
The Kings have a very challenging opponent infront of them for an awfully long time.
I miss having Nemo as well. I liked the 7D rotation and the chaos he brought along.
I also wanna see Holloway and Skinner but I dont think its a must at this point. Team is winning and Holloway getting 1st line minutes in the Bake is good for him. But it sure is tempting to pencil Holloway with Nuge come playoffs. I would think Borgeault could turn pro here soon and play for in the AHL playoffs.
Truckelainen needs a spin around the industrial site.
Manu Chau! Me Gustas Tu.
Manu is dependably unpredictable. So strange it’s good.
Always important to remember that this is Bouch’s de facto rookie season. He’s done many good things and the part of his game that seems to need the most maturing is from the hashmarks down in his own end, which makes sense and will get better as he gets more experience. And while more urgency in defending in that area is needed, it’s also his calmness that contributes to his excellent puck movement. Hurry up Evan so you have more time to slow down!
On the 1st goal he was positioned between the shot and Kaliyev rather than between Kaliyev and his net thus forcing himself to have to make a defensive play on the puck vs. making a defensive play on the winger by tying him up. I’m curious whether that was a function of getting beat off the wall and not recovering quick enough, or whether that’s how Manson wants him to play that shot from the point. Suspect (and hope) it’s the former which can be learned, but perhaps it’s not and that’s new age defending. Any coaches out there who know?
We still teach that when the puck gets to the point, find a man and block him out…which means gaining inside position. But the NHL certainly does do more “fronting of pucks” than I’ve ever taught.
Nemo/Sammy cannot get here fast enough (especially Sammy). Need some D who can make a pass and smash face. The mix of current Oilers D is going to have a tough go in the playoffs.
I don’t think it’s at all possible to have both of those two dmen on the team next year.
So you are saying d core of Nurse, Ceci, Barrie or Keith, Bouch, Broberg, Sammy and Nemo wouldn’t work???? I agree. You can’t play D with 4 rookie D man although LA kind of did that last night!
My point was not that we need those two on the roster next year. Rather, the Oilers need a different mix on the blueline. Sammy and Nemo are potential internal candidates to change the mix.
Playing the Kings, you know the refs are 100% on their side. It was the same damn way with the Lakers for 20 years. You’re going to get jobbed, this is the way. Gotta fight through it.
And yes, they need to be tougher and nastier. I wish the NHL would push the game to be as beautiful as possible, but as that’s not going to happen, they’d better figure it out.
Quick is a veteran playoff goalie, he’s not going to be scared of this team. Ditto Doughty, Kopitar, et al.
You didn’t watch the game, did you? Refs let egregious penalties go for both teams. No one could have watched last night’s game and said the refs were 100% for the Kings.
Call them bad or disagree with the philosophy of putting the whistles away, but they were not particularly one-sided.
Tyler Dellow on the NJD analytics approach.
https://theathletic.com/3218905/2022/03/30/a-look-into-the-new-jersey-devils-analytics-team-how-they-understand-data-and-their-relationship-with-the-front-office/?source=user_shared_article
How’s that been going for them?
It seems like all their off season acquisitions (save Hamilton, who’s being paid in full) have been mediocre to poor.
They’ve managed to move up from 29th to 27th overall, though with an identical.402 points percentage year over year.
Yeah…not sure what all the issues are but 3 goaltenders on IR certainly doesn’t help.
They have some very nice young players…Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier and what appears to be a decent blue line.
With Subban’s contract ending, they’ll have about $25 million in cap space in the offseason so they may bring in some help.
Not sure who the off season acquisitions you are calling poor are…Tatar has been okay and Ryan Graves very good.
Worth noting that 13 of the players on the current roster were drafted by the team and the team’s average age is only 25 (Oilers 29) so perhaps it’s partly a function of that.
OK, noted we have another emerging juggernaut to worry about. Thank God they’re in the East.
All of them save for Hamilton really.
Tatar is on pace for 32 points, for $4.5M.
Graves has been *fine*, but definitely not ‘very good’. He’s a negative rel to team (on a very poor team) in most on ice metrics.
Bernier at over $4M has been injured and poor when he has played.
I guess you could include Vessey too. He’s getting outscored 2-1 on the year. He’s cheap, but that never stopped folks from criticizing Holland for not having enough cap left to afford competent 3rd liners.
I wonder if Dellow was responsible for the Gusev and Subban failures. Their acquisitions were after he joined the team.
Tough to know, he could have been. Nobody gets everything right though.
And I’m not trying to slag Dellow, or analytics, here.
I just find the discussions of team analytics and their impact to be very one sided. They’re too often regarded as infallible, and there’s very little real acknowledgment or examination of any failures.
Without doing a deep dive, isn’t Dougie Hamilton himself underperforming expectations, by a fairly wide margin?
He looks fine to me. Over 0.5 points/game. Goal differential closer to break even than most on the team. Good underlying numbers.
Take Smith out and they’re 13 1/2
That Bouchard description was bang on . I’m a fan, but those kinds of plays won’t help suppress frustration about his casual approach (it’s more style than anything, but weird things happen to Bouchard). The funny thing is it applies to the team as a whole ,. not only Bouchard ..
I thought Bouchard , Keith and Kulak were all terrible last night. Our D is very soft
Kulak has not been good since coming over. It seems like he’s trying to do too much out there. I hope he settles in soon.
Truth bomb on Kulak.
Decent player terrible fit for team needs
I don’t think it was a bad acquisition, and his speed could be a good fit, it just hasn’t panned out yet unfortunately. I’m still hoping he comes good.
Seems to be lost on Holland
It’s odd he mentions how other playoff/contender teams have ‘rangy D’
but fails to notice that to team they sought out size and grit also
The Avs and Bolts both had earlier than desired exits and that was their response
For me only elite offensive players earn the privilege of not being typical size and coarseness for an NHL player
Fancy nice guy hockey goes nowhere in the playoffs, never has, it’s too easy to strategize against
As one would think the Oilers might have noticed
The third period “barrage”…it’s important to make note of the fact that this is what the Kings do. They direct every puck possible at the net and although Mikko was tested, I thought almost none of those were truly dangerous. Many are by defense or forwards from distance. It’s a MacLellan feature, not a bug.
The Kings have the #1 shot differential in the entire NHL at +449.
I thought the Oilers were aware of it and didn’t get particulary concerned or frazzled by it.
Because what they know about the Kings is that those kind of shots deliver an 8.1% shooting percentage, a full 30 basis points than the 31st ranked team.
The horror of that for Oilers fans is that we’ve lost the last two playoff series to teams that seemed to just filter pucks to the net and hope for a Kaliyev-like bounce so get ready for butt-clenching time. But if they tie up sticks and Mikko can control rebounds it’s very, very beatable.
Don’t disagree.
However:
The problem was large chunks of time we spent chasing the Kings..The first half of the
3rd period -not sure we touched the puck.
Now add the sheer number of injuries the Kings had. And that we were at home.
The Kalyev goal was the exact template for how most playoff goals are scored.
Imagine watching Bouchard and Barrie try to tie guys up or box them out in the playoffs.
I love Bouchard. But he has some work to do here.
That was McLellan’s approach in Edmonton too – he wanted lots of shots to out-Corsi other teams.
Woodcroft Era
EDM Goal Diff 24 gp(15-7-2) (0.667 pts%)
EV (3v3,4v4,5v5)
97 w/o 29(20-15) 57%
29 w/o 97(19-9) 68%
97&29 On(7-3) 70%
93 w/o either(7-6) 54%
71(3-5) 38%
10(5-4) 56%
Other(2-6) 25%
Net EV +15
Special Teams 21-21=0
Empty Net 9-4=+5
SO/PS 1-0=+1
Goal Diff +21
EDM Goal Diff 68 gp(38-25-5)
EV(5v5,4v4,3v3)
97 w/o 29(43-35) 55%
29 w/o 97(43-33) 57%
97&29 On(21-14) 60%
93 w/o either(15-15) 50%
71(11-16) 41%
10(15-27) 36%
Other(6-13) 32%
Net EV +1
Special Teams 60-54
Net ST +6
Empty Net 19-12
Net EN +7
SO & PS 4-0 = +4
Goal Diff +18
I got shouted down for suggesting getting Braun to sit Bouchard at the trade deadline but hes gonna cost us
Rishaug made a good point on 1260 this morning – Bouchard’s recent play is the price the Oilers are paying for letting him wither on the vine last year.
Maybe, but not unusual for a rookie to hit a rut at the tail end of the rookie season
Even less unusual when the rookie basically played no games the season prior and thus has been unable to build up any endurance.
Last time he played 67 games was in 2017-18.
He has also been played too high in the line-up for large segments of the season.
No to nitpick but he did play 37 games last season – no a full season, of course, but note quite “no games” or close thereto.
So can we expect Skinner to have uneven play next year, since they are not giving him more reps in the NHL this year?
Bouchard didn’t get any reps anywhere last season, it’s not the same thing.
37 reps.
Rookies are rookies ’til they ain’t.
Also, yeah Munny makes a good point – Bouchard was eating popcorn in the pressbox, not playing 1st pairing minutes in the AHL playoffs.
That would still leave Tyson Barrie.
Year in , year out – we have been buyers at the deadline.
The plan was always to roll with Tyson Barrie and Evan Bouchard.
Think of the likely path we would need to take to exit the West.
If the Oilers do make the playoffs, what are the odds McDavid gets charged with more penalties than he draws?
I think the odds are very high of that happening. He’ll be fighting his own battles after all.
I read an article that blamed Canadians for this. It argued that Americans like their stars to shine while Canadians prefer their “grit and grind” blue collar players. Thus Bettman is too influenced by Canadian voices
There should be no excuses. None whatsoever.
Last night’s game, had the tables been turned and the Oil were with without a gazzillion of their D-Men would have been a blowout given the way the Kings were playing and mugging the Oiler players.
Forget the refs. We all know that movie and have seen the unfairness of it all. It’s not changing and to think it will is a recipe for crazy.
After a number of years of the same thing with getting trounced in the first round by teams that knew how to play playoff hockey this team should know exactly what is coming down the pipeline for them in the first round…should they make it there. Highlight hockey from McJesus & Co is great and everything but that’s not how a team survives and makes it through a number of playoff rounds. A team game is required that you all know requires grit, a plethora of hits and blackeyes and being nasty and filthy.
Archibald is a liability out there. He hits but gives up the puck at an rate which requires a bloody red alert horn. Kassian hasn’t shown the nasty in quite some time. I love Bouchard but someone has to light a fire or set off a box of TNT under his ass. His defensive acumen is looking so very pedestrian he’s making Barrie look uber responsible in the back end. So I ask who is going to be that filthy player? Kane? God love him but if he’s the only guy pushing back then the team is going to be PKing for big stretches of the 1st round. Can’t win that way.
I’m not seeing the drive or push back from this team which many of you have noted is needed.
Woodcroft and Manson have no excuses either. They have both been there in the playoffs as both coach and player. Maybe Manson has to get medieval on the defensemen. I don’t know but I’m getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of meanness in this team.
Bouchard as, LT has reminded us often, really came on for Bakersfield in the 2nd half of the season and I don’t seem to recall him being a defensive liability at the AHL level.
I’m hoping this is just first season inconsistency, and maybe having to switch from Playfair to Manson’s systems (though he should know them from the Condors).
I am a huge fan of him and he could be our 1RHD for a decade, but I agree the brain freezes are concerning
When Bouchard was drafted I argued his floor was probably Cody Franson….and so far, I’m not convinced he’s that much better than Franson.
Bouchard in his 1st real season has more points so far then Franson delivered in any full season of play.
If Evan Bouchard=Cody Franson….I worry. From what I recall, Franson was big, not overly physical, but had a nice bomb from the point. Uh oh, spider senses are tingling.
Evan Bouchard in his first real season, that isn’t completed, already has more goals then any season that Cody Franson participated in.
Oilers just have to get that casualness out of their game .
It shows how much of a need for a kid like Neimelainen and grabbing UFA Josh Manson to be in the lineup next year to add grit. Kulak is not good and has had 3 really bad games. Keith is terrible, and Bouchard’s confidence has gone back to London. Even his shots in the Ozone are brutal and whereas he used to be a wizard at getting shots always toward the net, he is hitting defenders way too much. His D is getting progressively worse .
Man they miss Larsson.
keith on the 3 on 3 was brutal. ( why wouldn’t you put Barrie out? At least he can skate , pass and shoot). He has lost all sense of when to pass or shoot. His offensive reaction time has left the building and it is not coming back. He needs to be gone by next season.
But what to do for next year? Trade Barrie, for sure, but how do they get rid of Keith. I don’t think a buyout saves us anything on him ( 1 mill I believe). But he can’t be here next year . They do need toughness on the back end for sure .
Was a good and exciting game last night, But when we got up 3-1 , no way should we have surrendered that lead like we did.
Should be interesting this summer.
I’m wondering why Ceci did not get any 3 on 3 time after Nurse? He’s better than Keith.
Keith had a couple of really nice passes in OT last night.
In his 2:31 the Oilers were 3-0 in shots, 4-0 in scoring chances 4-0 in HD scoring chances.
I have no idea what there could be to complain about.
Thanks for the info. I must have just been biased with his slow skating. Those are definitely good results.
Honestly, I think your eyes were deceiving you, at least on last nights 3v3.
I don’t get it. Over any random span of 14 seconds NHL goalies have to be able to keep 2 pucks out of the back of the net.
Foegele-Nuge-Ryan had one dominant shift after the line shake up. I’m surprised to see their numbers so shitty. A minor defense of Foegele on that odd looking (almost offsides) play in the 3rd because I make that pay a lot. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw Nuge behind him and attempted to push the defense back so he could gain the blue and just leave the puck their for Nuge. It’s a good play (when it works) because he can then bull his way to the net allowing Nuge to be like a running back following his blocker…he should be able to get off a Grade A.
Unfortunately the damned defenseman wouldn’t back off and give him the line and Foegele isn’t good enough to adjust.
So I guess saying Foegele thinks and plays like a shitty beer leaguer isn’t a wonderful defense of him afterall.
Yes Foegle just does not have the offensive mind , I had hoped he would. Could see him traded this summer for sure with Holloway moving up and using that $$$$ for signings
I find that play you mention about Foegele at the blue line to be a bit of a microcosim of his game. Odd at times.
Don’t get me wrong, in the playoffs, like Kassian, I suspect I will appreciate both players much more.
The filthiest of all no-look passes in baskeball are those where the passer continues to stare in the wrong direction (well after the pass is made) and starts walking away as the recipient makes the basket.
That was Hyman on the wrap around pass. Just continued to “no look” as he slid out of the picture knowing he’d hear the goal horn.
I’d like to see someone make a gif of that.
I’m guessing that play was a wrap around attempt that slid off his stick across the crease to Leon.
Hyman is a good player but playmaking is not his forte.
Yep. As you mentioned yesterday, that play has been there for some time….brilliant pass by Hyman.
No offence to Hyman, love him as a player of course, but, from watching his game generally, I have little doubt that he was trying to put that puck on net, not across to Leon.
Going back and watching the replay just now confirms that in my mind. Even his wrist action as he makes the pass/shot seems to indicate he was trying to put that puck towards the net.
Ha!
You May be right.
Felt like a lucky win last night. I thought the Oilers lost a lot of puck battles and just plain got out worked for much of the night. Especially in their own end.
Our defense is just too soft. It’s difficult to see this team going far in the playoffs without a big step forward from the dcore. It’s kind of sobering to watch the Oilers top 6 dmen give the puck away as much, OR MORE, as a Kings defense that is missing Doughty, Walker, Roy and Anderson.
I thought the Kings were only the better team for the first half of the third period. The other 2.5 periods, the Oilers were the better team (in my opinion).
Oilers were starting to get desperate , they were seeing the game slip away .
Finally. A sensible analysis.
Oilers started to panic after the 4th goal was disallowed. Fantastic that they were able to pull out a Win.
LAK played calmly, like a veteran team that understood their opposition was in a semi-panic.
Too casual . LOL .
Possession time, slot shots, scoring chances off the cycle, scoring chances off the rush – all heavily favored the Oilers.