JR Ewing Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Through three games so far, a few things are very evident: -Connor McDavid is a marvelous hockey player. -Milan Lucic might bounce back to some degree, and get more points than last year, but neither his feet nor his hands can keep up in this league. On one Oilers PP, in New York, I counted 5 instances where the play simply died on his stick. -Leon Draisaitl is getting his points, but has time where he flies the zone in order to cheat for offense. It's one thing for wingers to do this a bit, but it's a whole other thing when your centre is blasting out of the zone before the puck is safely in control and/or out. These aren't the only issues, but are three that I'll bring up for now... Given that the coach has decided that Milan Lucic as 2LW is the hill he's willing to die, I think I would change the top 6 from: Nugent-Hopkins / McDavid / Rattie Lucic / Draisaitl / Yamamoto I would try: Rattie / McDavid / Draisaitl Lucic / Nugent-Hopkins / Puljujarvi -Line 1: We already know that McDavid and Draisaitl are golden together, and it gives Connor 2 players who can accept one-time passes. The impact of Leon cheating for offense is mitigated somewhat by his playing a position with less defensive responsibility. -Line 2: Nugent-Hopkins plays a 200' game, and brings more speed to off-set Lucic's lack of it. A complete lack of speed for Lucic is made a bit more of a problem when paired with 29, because Leon has big heavy legs and takes a few more steps to get up to speed. Puljujarvi should be playing with skill rather than Strome and Khaira. I *only* have Lucic on either of the first two lines because of Todd McLellan's insistence upon playing him there. I think he would be better served on line 3, but then again, I'm not an NHL coach, am I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 This team...... Just look at these two tweets from TSN's Ryan Rishaug: Followed by: https://twitter.com/TSNRyanRishaug/status/1051905609493241856 It's like a keystone cops movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 17 hours ago, JR Ewing said: This team...... Just look at these two tweets from TSN's Ryan Rishaug: Followed by: https://twitter.com/TSNRyanRishaug/status/1051905609493241856 It's like a keystone cops movie. I feel your pain. Watching Steve Spott completely misuse Karlsson and Burns..... here is a thought! Look at the caps PP and put Burns in the Ovechkin position please. Stop putting him in the passing quarterback position and Karlsson in the shooting position. And before he went down with injury, Thornton was in the shooter's position LMAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 3 hours ago, J0e Th0rnton said: I feel your pain. Watching Steve Spott completely misuse Karlsson and Burns..... here is a thought! Look at the caps PP and put Burns in the Ovechkin position please. Stop putting him in the passing quarterback position and Karlsson in the shooting position. And before he went down with injury, Thornton was in the shooter's position LMAO While I definitely think that Spott is doing it bass ackwards, if he has Burns QB'ing and Karlsson shooting, it's probably even more fair to point out that The Big Shot From The Point is a pretty outdated way of producing on the PP anyway. Hell, even when Burns almost scored 30 goals and nearly reached double digits in PP goals, the Sharks had a bad PP. At it's best in the modern game, it seems like the teams who have guys with great point shots (San Jose, Nashville) are running middle of the pack on the PP. The best power-plays are using their forwards for most of the punch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 Game 4 @ Winnipeg Prediction: We are going to see Paul Maurice's deep forward group forecheck the absolute hell out of a mediocre Edmonton defense that can't move the puck. Combined with the inability of EDM's forwards to help transition the puck out of their zone, I think we'll see a high amount of defensive-zone turnovers that lead to high quality chances against. The Oilers struggle terribly in this (important) part of the game and could very well get lit up like a pinball machine tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 1 hour ago, JR Ewing said: Game 4 @ Winnipeg Prediction: We are going to see Paul Maurice's deep forward group forecheck the absolute hell out of a mediocre Edmonton defense that can't move the puck. Combined with the inability of EDM's forwards to help transition the puck out of their zone, I think we'll see a high amount of defensive-zone turnovers that lead to high quality chances against. The Oilers struggle terribly in this (important) part of the game and could very well get lit up like a pinball machine tonight. Yeah, it's about as ugly a match up as their is. On paper at least. The Jets' offense hasn't really got going yet outside of the Wheeler line. Tonight could be the night. Look for Brendan Lemieux to be in the Oilers' face all night. Not his first NHL game - he got some games in late last year when they were kind of inn coast to the playoffs mode - this will be different. If you're on the Oilers' 3rd D pairing imagine the fun of looking forward to Lowry, Copp, Tanev, followed by Lemiuex Roslovic, Perreault? That's a lot of hard minutes in your own end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 1 minute ago, Podein25 said: Yeah, it's about as ugly a match up as their is. On paper at least. The Jets' offense hasn't really got going yet outside of the Wheeler line. Tonight could be the night. Look for Brendan Lemieux to be in the Oilers' face all night. Not his first NHL game - he got some games in late last year when they were kind of inn coast to the playoffs mode - this will be different. If you're on the Oilers' 3rd D pairing imagine the fun of looking forward to Lowry, Copp, Tanev, followed by Lemiuex Roslovic, Perreault? That's a lot of hard minutes in your own end. To me, the only thing the Jets need is a bit more depth on the left side of their defense, which isn't as strong as the right. That's not the same as calling them bums (because they're not), but Morrow and Kulikov were absolutely caved by the Canes the other night, and a lot of those shots came from right in the home plate area. As you say, the Jets haven't really gotten going yet, and I think that could be the only saving grace for Edmonton. I think the mostly likely scenario is that the Oilers get absolutely run out of the building by Winnipeg. Such a good team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 31 minutes ago, JR Ewing said: To me, the only thing the Jets need is a bit more depth on the left side of their defense, which isn't as strong as the right. That's not the same as calling them bums (because they're not), but Morrow and Kulikov were absolutely caved by the Canes the other night, and a lot of those shots came from right in the home plate area. As you say, the Jets haven't really gotten going yet, and I think that could be the only saving grace for Edmonton. I think the mostly likely scenario is that the Oilers get absolutely run out of the building by Winnipeg. Such a good team. Yeah, fair point on the D. I think Kulikov was actually very good last year until he got hurt, missed like 2/3 of the year. He's rusty as hell no doubt. Morrow too has been good as a Jet, on the whole and earned a contract. The whole team is not humming yet from Helly on out. Wait until they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, Podein25 said: Yeah, fair point on the D. I think Kulikov was actually very good last year until he got hurt, missed like 2/3 of the year. He's rusty as hell no doubt. Morrow too has been good as a Jet, on the whole and earned a contract. The whole team is not humming yet from Helly on out. Wait until they do. Back problems are brutal. I can't imagine trying to play defense at the NHL level like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 It was all going as I thought it would: the Jets were absolutely punishing the Oilers in their own zone. McDavid scored the Oilers first goal, and then put up 3 more points in the 3rd before Nurse scored in OT. Wild stuff. Paul Maurice must be livid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 11 hours ago, JR Ewing said: It was all going as I thought it would: the Jets were absolutely punishing the Oilers in their own zone. McDavid scored the Oilers first goal, and then put up 3 more points in the 3rd before Nurse scored in OT. Wild stuff. Paul Maurice must be livid. I missed most of it. It will not be a fun day at Jets practice, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Podein25 said: I missed most of it. It will not be a fun day at Jets practice, no. He could say "Well, that's just Connor being Connor" but I don't think a coach worth his salt would do that, and Maurice is a coach that I always thought was pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 14 minutes ago, JR Ewing said: He could say "Well, that's just Connor being Connor" but I don't think a coach worth his salt would do that, and Maurice is a coach that I always thought was pretty good. Yeah. I'm a huge fan of Maurice. Needless to say, not all Jets fans are. And at the first sign of trouble (was last night it? I don't think so), there will be loud Jet fans calling for his head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 The chip and chase is a real thing with this team: Ugh. This is not in keeping with the modern NHL game. NONE of the best teams employ a strategy of giving up the puck, and some players are especially hurt by this, ala Kailer Yamamoto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 1 minute ago, JR Ewing said: The chip and chase is a real thing with this team: Ugh. This is not in keeping with the modern NHL game. NONE of the best teams employ a strategy of giving up the puck, and some players are especially hurt by this, ala Kailer Yamamoto. Yea, I am not understanding this kind of strategy at all from Edmonton given who they have on the roster. I mean, from Line 1 with McDavid all the way to Line 4 with Kyle Brodziak, they have guys who SHOULD be able to carry the puck more, and if they have the puck more, perhaps as a team, can put their talents to better use on the attack instead of having to play defense all the time because the other team recovered the puck first. I am not a big Kyle Brodziak fan, but I believe when he played for the Wild, he did just that...carry the puck more...in fact, the whole Minnesota team when he was there was known as a "possession" team because most of the guys did just that...and it afforded the team more opportunities to score. From a pure talent point of view, this current Edmonton team appears to have more offensive ability than those Wild teams Brodziak was on.....yet do NOT employ the strategy that team with lesser raw ability did. I don't like blaming coaches for the lack of player execution on the ice, but at some point, you really DO have to look at the guys giving the marching orders. In this case, it honestly does feel like the players aren't being utilized in the best possible manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 49 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said: I don't like blaming coaches for the lack of player execution on the ice, but at some point, you really DO have to look at the guys giving the marching orders. In this case, it honestly does feel like the players aren't being utilized in the best possible manner. -I'm also not too big on blaming the coach, generally , as I think the bigger issue with the team is the roster itself, and that's not the coach's fault. -Where it IS on the coach is how the players are used. Every single coach has blind spots and areas where they could improve. This seems to be one for McLellan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 It's going to be interesting to see how the Oilers deal with the Bruins tonight. I watched most of the Boston-Calgary game yesterday, and it seemed a tale of beginnings and endings... Calgary started out strong, but seemed to fizzle a bit towards the end, while Boston started out weakly, and seemed to gain strength as the game wore on. Of course, Calgary got the results where it counted, on the scoreboard, but my point here is, Boston KNOWS they played right with Calgary, even outplayed them at points and they are gonna go into Edmonton today, following that hard-to-swallow loss, on a mission.....tired players or not. Boston has become quicker since phasing out older players for talented younger ones and they have ALWAYS been sound defensively, so if the Oilers continue to employ dump n chase against them, it could be a long night for Edmonton. On the second game of a back to back, the Bruins could be RIPE for a type of game where talented forwards like the Oilers have could carry more and make them work harder to take the puck away from Edmonton. Otherwise, I see Boston exploiting dump in chase schemes, and using the momentum they finished last night's game with to take out their loss frustrations to Calgary on your Oilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 Seven games into the season, and the Oilers are 3-3-1 against a hellish schedule. I thought they were like to go something like 2-4-0 (I never bother predicting OT) or possibly 1-5-0, so I think that wins against Boston and Winnipeg in addition to the Range, has to be considered a good record so far. They handily outplayed Pittsburgh last night but didn't get the saves. It happens. -Chiarelli signed backup Mika Koskinen to a $2.5M deal with a NMC and Todd McLellan hasn't played him for one minute, even though Cam Talbot has been all over the place. Sounds like a disconnect between the GM and Coach. -McDavid continues to be amazing and continues to play a ton of minutes; too many in fact. Last night, McLellan played 97 for 28 minutes. If/when he wears down and sustains an injury, McLellan is probably out of a job. -Evan Bouchard has showed well, but needs to be playing lots and lot of minutes somewhere, and not 3rd pairing time with the big club. THE NHL IS NOT A DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE, despite how the Oilers continue to run their team. -Oscar Klefbom has rebounded very well from shoulder surgery, and looks like the player he was in 2017. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Nine games down now, and the Oilers are now 5-3-1 after outplaying both Washington at home 4-1, and Nashville 5-3. These are not easy games, and they won after controlling play most of the night in each contest. Right now, they're playing well, and have out-played and beaten quality teams that spend their time at the top of the standings. -Trent Yawney definitely has the defense playing differently, and it's showing by the game. They're making faster plays with the puck in their end: before, there was too much east-west passing, and not nearly enough of the puck moving north, which led to trouble against aggressive forechecks. The result is crisper passes out (Larsson and Klefbom have shown well) to the forwards at speed. -McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins continue to play well together, with 97 noting that RNH's defensive responsibility allows to free-wheel a bit more. So far, McDavid has 16 points in 9 games, RNH has 12. When on the ice together, the Oilers score 83% of the goals. -Again, I will say it: Evan Bouchard has shown well, but needs to be playing lots and lot of minutes somewhere, and not 3rd pairing time with the big club. THE NHL IS NOT A DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE, despite how the Oilers continue to run their team. I will never stop saying that, because the Oilers continue to do this to their kids and then wonder why they're not developing. This leads me -Jesse Puljujarvi. They brought him to NA having barely turned 18 and not knowing a lick of English. He's not terribly mature, struggled with the language barrier and culture shock, before the team finally hired an English tutor half-way through the year. At the ages of 18, 19 and 20, he's played few minutes, is punished fairly harshly when he makes mistakes and doesn't receive reward in the form of ice time when he does well. When they finally sell him for pennies on the dollar, please don't wonder why it happened. -If the Oilers ever make a public statement which says they're going to take a more conservative approach with young players, I simply won't believe it. Take History. Deduct word smithing. Adjust for climate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 An odd piece from this: https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/rangers-hayes-drawing-interest-oilers-kassian-allowed-seek-trade/ Quote “Zack Kassian has permission from the team to seek out a trade out of the city, try to find a fresh start,” Friedman said of the Oilers depth forward. Maybe I've just forgotten, but I can't ever remember hearing that a GM has given permission to a player to seek a trade. I would be quite happy if they could move Kassian, but finding trading partners is something you would expect from the GM, not the player. A strange piece, based on the wording. Two things come to mind: -I can only assume that this means there is no market for him. -This is why you don't give term to 4th line players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 Further news on the Kassian situation from Jason Gregor: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 10/30/2018 at 9:05 PM, JR Ewing said: Further news on the Kassian situation from Jason Gregor: So which way is it; wanting out or wanting to stay put? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 10/24/2018 at 7:37 PM, JR Ewing said: -Chiarelli signed backup Mika Koskinen to a $2.5M deal with a NMC and Todd McLellan hasn't played him for one minute, even though Cam Talbot has been all over the place. Sounds like a disconnect between the GM and Coach. Now he's played a few games - what's the verdict, a bust or a keeper? Hopefully that washed up Montoya isn't your 3rd best choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 30 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said: Now he's played a few games - what's the verdict, a bust or a keeper? Hopefully that washed up Montoya isn't your 3rd best choice. On a per-game basis, he's been better than Cam Talbot, though he's very pricey for a backup. Mind you, he's now started 3 of the Oilers last 4 games, so there may be competition for the starter's job as of now. This is far from bad. Overall, they seem to have found a competent backup. Get back to me in a week when the world is ending, and I'll probably be ready to burn the offices on Kingway Ave, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 He looks like a more than adequate backup, probably an acceptable 1B. I have always been VERY skeptical of any player who suddenly bursts on the scene after around the age of twenty two or twenty three, let alone thirty one years old which is why in his late twenties coming off a year with 20 something good starts with the Rangers I felt that the Oilers overpaid for Talbot. Occasionally you get a Tim Thomas but they are so clearly the exception that I just give them a wide berth. As far as Koskinen goes though he has a significant body of work playing on an elite team in the KHL going a combined 36-10-4 over the past two years with goals against of 2.08 and 1.57 so he clearly can play. In fact over the past seven years in the KHL his combined goals against is a bit over two in a league where scoring is close to what you could expect in the NHL. Do I think he could be a long term answer? Probably not but there is a chance. Could he be a long term backup or part time starter? Well he is certainly a better guy to take a flyer on than guys like Montoya or Gustafsson so why not find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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