JR Ewing

LOL... Yeah, Mathewson threw a lot of Complete Games (435 out of 552 starts) but it looks a little bit different on further reflection. He completed 78% of his ballgames, but the average in those days was 73% (we're under 5% now). Still, he stands among the absolute greats: 12th best Wins Above Replacement (95.3) all-time. But, the game was pretty different. In Mathewson's first season, the rules were changed so that foul balls were now counted as strikes, and that led to league batting averages to drop by almost 50 points. So, low scoring ball was in. There were few home runs (the NL leader's average for the decade was 10) so any pitched ball was less likely to result in runs against like now. So, pitchers sat back a lot more and saved their best stuff for key moments in the game. From Matty's classic book, "Pitching in a Pinch". This was common practice in those days. I'm pretty sure I would have gotten along with Mathewson; seems right up my alley. When he was in the hospital, recovering from injuries suffered in World War 1 (he was gassed, which eventually proved fatal to him) he used the time to create a table top baseball game based in a statistical element.

Ah, I'll stick with Christy Matthewson for now. Somebody has to be there to prop up old players. After all, in two years, it will have been 100 years since he retired. What a pitcher. AND! And... He doesn't get credit for it, but it was Mathewson, working in the media after his career, who outed the Black Sox scandal for what it was, by cataloging suspect plays. It was him that came up with the names of the guilty players, all of whom (aside from Joe Jackson) eventually confessed. Then again, he wasn't your average player in those days. The league had a mix of farm boys, toughs, college boys, etc. When on the road, Matthewson used to find local chess champions to play against on off days. To contrast that, Chick Gandil was a former hobo.

I had to go and find it, as I could scarcely imagine somebody who is paid to talk about hockey being that obtuse. That's all kinds of stupid.

Agreed. HNIC's coverage has weakened over the years due to TSN's hockey brain drain suckigng quality analysts from everybody else's talent pool. I'm surprised Friendman hasn't been lured yet.

I have no issue with Strombo; he comes across as a solid broadcaster. But really, I don't really watch intermission, pre-game / post-game stuff anyway (most of the "analysis" is mindless stuff from guys Healy, Stock, etc) so it's no skin off my nose. The only real decent one there is Elliote Friedman.

Things I don't like about the Oilers... -The lack of ability for the franchise to produce one of its own goalies since they drafted Grant Fuhr. -Last summer, Craig MacTavish talked about the need for a 4th line which could actually be looked at to at least hbe an occasional threat to score and hold the puck in the offensive zone. Then, Zack Kassian broke Sam Gagner's jaw, and they decided that dressing Luke Gazdic was the answer. -The rebuild is in its official 4th year (but they've been terrible since 2007) and the club hasn't progressed since they started playing musical coaches and fired Tom Renney, who did an admirable job. -The club has a long history of hiring old Boys on the Bus players to be part of the coaching staff when other coaches with superior experience and success aren't even interviewed. Case in point: Steve Smith was hired to be an Associate Coach after bumping into member of Oilers management at O'Hare airport. Literally, within a couple of minutes, standing there with suitcases in hand, he was offered a job. -Have had, for about 20 years, a habit of labeling certain players as AHLers, and not giving them a real shot, even when they're clearly superior to players on the major league roster. This year's guy: Mark Arcobello. Previous players include bums like Ray Whitney. -I can't recall a time in my life that the Oilers had a balanced roster, even when they were outstanding. -Up until the 1st lockout, Oilers management cried the blues, citing payroll as the reason for their lack of success. This was eaten up by fans, but ignored a glaring point: their drafting was terrible for a very long time. -Too many times, the Oilers have made quality for quantity trades. Those almost never work out. They also have a terrible habit of trading actual NHL players away while not having a replacement for his minutes ready. One which comes to mind: Brodziak, Kyle. A solid depth centre with good size who can play both sides of the puck, given away for a 4th and 5th rounder for no bloody reason. When you have an actual NHL player, you hold onto him until he impacts your cap harshly enough or you have a replacement. Late drat picks? Foolish, and a long term bad habit of Edmonton management. I'll add more as my grumpiness increases.

I've always enjoyed the spectacle of a good fight, but it's mostly on its way out of the game. Probably for the better, overall, but either way it will be gone to a large extent, imo. NHL calibre players getting heated and into a scrap? Will always be around to some extent. Goons going at it? I personally never understood wasting roster space for players that can't take or make a pass, but I think a lot of will go.

Well, busy days... Father has been sick, which had me going back and forth from here to BC... That, and we're getting ready to sell our house and move. The fun never stops. lol

Hemsky's no Cam Neely, but he takes the pucks to dangerous areas, never shies away from physical contact, and will take a hit to make a play. Everybody can have their own definition of soft, of course, but mine would be a non-physical perimeter player who runs from contact. Hemsky fits none of that criteria. Primadonna... Well, ok... I don't know the man, and can't personally vouch for his character. I know that I've never seen anything which indicated it to me. No swagger, no big mouth, no cocky attitude on ice from what I've noticed. He's quiet, fairly unassuming, reporters don't turn to him for a colorful quote. He'll never be confused for Jeremy Roenick. Doesn't play on the other side of the puck... Hemsky's own coach has a completely different opinion on that matter: If Hemsky didn't play on the other side of the puck, he wouldn't be getting the toughest defensive minutes and zone starts or have his most common centre be Boyd Gordon.

A couple of different things: -Hemsky's offense has been pretty stable for the past three years, but injuries have really cost him. Before he separated his shoulder, he was scoring 2.5 points/60 minutes. Since then, it's been 1.4 pts/60. This season: 1.3. -With adding Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, etc, he's not getting the plum offensive opportunities he received before. Hemsky's role has changed this year, and he's now getting buried in zone starts (43% toughest among Oilers RW) and is playing on a defense-first line with Boyd Gordon. Nobody plays with Gordon to INcrease their scoring. His job has been to start next to his own net, get the puck into the other end, and he's that.

Point-form: -Yakupov has struggled defensively, and even got the press box for two games. He is also far from the only one who has struggled to adapt to the new system, yet is the only one being benched. In just the last few games alone, Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle have made horrific slot passes for opponent one-timers right in front of the net. Their minutes don't get cut nor are they sat out. -He is moved up and down the roster, LW and RW... It must be tough to gain consistency in your game when you're being dealt with in an inconsistent way. -Hall, Eberle, Hopkins and especially Justin Schultz were given tons of minutes to learn with early in their career, in a consequence-free environment. This is a luxury not afforded to Yakupov. -I feel bad for the kid in certain ways. He's described by those around the team as a sensitive kid. Yet, there he was, abandoned by team AND Larionov, and left to fend for himself in a second language with media all around him, all because his agent talked to the press and told them he was flying to Edmonton. -People can say what they like, but he clearly gives a damn. He's expressed frustration at not being given as much opportunity as he hopes for, to help the team. JR

It's a single game, and winnable. Even a crap team with a hot goalie can win any given game. JR

Oh no, Lundqvist is an elite goalie, while Dubnyk is an average NHL starter. Worlds apart, those two. It's just that after only two starts, the numbers don't mean anything yet. It's, you know, a small sample size... JR

I hear you. I know that almost nobody got past the low boxcar numbers. Pity. Agreed with all of that. If Craig MacTavish was able to find a taker for Shawn Horcoff and his cap hit, you'd think the Leafs could have gotten at least SOMEthing for Grabovski. JR

-If the Oilers traded Yakupov for Bernier, I'd bottle a fart and send it to the Oilers offices. The thing is, how do you get fair value for a 1st overall with one season under his belt, particularly when he was mis-handled by his coach, but still produced (same Pts/60 as Taylor Hall's rookie year)? Frankly, I think the Oilers are best served holding one. Dubnyk's an average to slightly above average goalie who's had a tough start, so it's important to look at the volum of work rather than the last couple of outings. Henrik Lundqvist is sitting on s .870ish SV%, but the Rangers aren't looking to deal him. With Dubnyk, he's shown the ability to post .915-.920 SV% and that's with a grotesque defense. -Drafting goalies is one of the few real crapshoots left in the first round, and I'd be very hesitant to use one remotely near the top of the round. quote]As far as picking a defenseman out of need in a draft, correct me if it's out of context, etc, but didn't Nashville pick Seth Jones out of dire need for quality d-men, rather than going for a top forward? Maybe that case was different though... :unsure: They picked Jones because he was there and they felt he was the best guy available, which he probably was, considering he was in the mix for 1st overall. JR

I'm pretty much where you are on that. Yakupov piled up a ridiculous amount of points in junior, scoring at the same rate as Steven Stamkos did, but Yak did it with a knee injury... Murphy could very well turn out to be a very good player, but literally the only thing that scared off some scouts, with Yakupov, was "the Russian factor", where they were scared he would prefer the KHL. Yeah, THAT'S why Yakupov left home as a teenager and moved to Canada... Because he wanted to play in Russia. JR

Playoffs: can't blame Grabovski for being frustrated. He was saddled with tough zone starts: 28.8%. Despite starting out the vast majority of his shifts next to his own net, his line still badly out-chanced the opposition and he was far and away the best centre in terms of chances/possession: +19.3 CorsiRel. What Carlyle did with Grabovski is a textbook case on how to mismanage a player. Grabo had a good year in 2013, did a ton of heavy lifting from next to the Leafs net with weak linemates, and that let Kadri score easier points with plumb offensive zone starts. Despite those rough starts, the puck still moved the right way. A chart of the players who played 200 minutes with Grabovski, and Tyler Bozak over the last 5 years, for reference: That's 17 of 18 players whose possession numbers improved, and not just a little bit either. WAY better. There's nothing wrong with using Grabovski the way that Carlyle did. I'd rather throw tough minutes at a veteran who can handle them, but it's not right to treat him like a disappointment when (gasp!) his offensive numbers take a hit when his shifts start in his own end next to weak teammates. That's a damned good hockey player who they paid to play for somebody else. JR

-Drafting for need is like digging for fool's gold with an extra large shovel. -Given the track record for lottery picks in general, and #1 overall especially, taking a defenseman represents extreme risk as compared to a forward. Any pick needs to be well considered, but #1 overall can set your team for a decade: you can't miss. Forward can be projected with much more confidence. -If choosing a defenseman #1 overall is risky, selecting a goalie (especially when there isn't one considered to be remotely close to #1 territory) is terrible.... Like "lose your job as head scout" kind of terrible. -It's more than revisionist history to say a team screwed up by taking the concensus #1 pick. JR

Just to be brief, Bossy was an incredible goal scorer, which isn't to take anything away from the other guys here. Trottier, Potvin and Smith were great players. Bossy is one of the very few best snipers I've seen in my life. JR

With the Oilers calling up LWer Ryan Hamilton from OKC today, I think that's exactly what's going to happen. Also: I agree with it. JR

Actually, what I've come away with, in this thread, is people saying that they see the league as having little alternative but to reduce the number of fights, and/or eliminate the hired goon who can't even play hockey. Not a lot of "I hate fighting and I want it gone!" Devil's advocate time: "it's part of the game" isn't really much of a good reason to keep anything around. Hitting opposing players over the head with sticks used to be part of the game. A damned big part, as a matter of fact. Bench clearing brawls used to be a part of the game. Jumping star players and beating them to a pulp used to be big part of the game. Less than a generation ago, hitting a guy square in the head was called a clean hit and part of the game. They're not a part of the game any longer, because enough people decided that it shouldn't be that way, that it didn't match their view of what the sport should represent. When determining if something should stick around, we need a reason other than its sheer existence to determine if it should continue to exist. JR

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=433411 Dallas Eakins: http://video.oilers.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=451469&catid=4 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: http://video.oilers.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=451468&catid=4 JR

Sample size... It's no more indicative of their PP ability than if they had gone 5 for 7. JR

a] I'd be mad, too, if I were Patrick Roy, and my prized young player was hit at the knees. b] Patrick Roy is still Patrick Roy. Temper temper. JR

Agreed on both. It's easy for Yzerman to say it now, but he did benefit from Probert. At least Probert could actually play hockey. I don't know too many people who care for the pre-staged "you wanna go?" fights between two goons. They do absolutely nothing to curb dirty plays or "police" the game. The way I see it, the league could do a few things to make that type of player disappear from the game: -Adopt the OHL rule which targets serial fighters. This would -Hand out a game misconduct after two fights. I completely disagree with a game misconduct after one fight because I could easily see teams trying to target star players this way, to remove them from the game. -The league could drop the numbers of players dressed for a game from 20 to 19, which would effectively drop the Steve MacIntyres of this world off the NHL map. JR