Edmonton is No Good Episode 4: New Rink, Same Stink

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

4 years 5 million bucks Chia

I'm really, really hoping the Oilers will sign him. I fear if the Oilers let him get to free agency that the Flames will pursue him.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Ooooooohhhhh. Super special secret stats.

More like secret sauce.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

My lord Spector's writing is painful.

[White Out 403]

"Fancy stats are stupid!"

'This is why we, as the Oilers, feel Russell is better than the fancy stats suggest'

"LOL! Sign him for 4 years at your own risk, stupid!!"

Jeez.

[Ashasx]

what

[calumniate]

Go Philly!

[Tron_fdc]

Hey, the more high value contracts for mid range players the oil make the better. Anything to further reduce their ability to afford Mcdavid/hamstring other potential players is tops in my books.

5x5 would be a dream come true for Russell.

[McG]

I hope that they re-sign him to keep the greasers from getting something when they don't make the playoffs and trade him. Besides that, every no goods fan tells me how great Russell is, fancy pants stats be damned!

Don't they have to sign Nurse this off season as well?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bax

Saying he was unprepared isn't fair. The majority of new coaches go through a rough start for about 20 games. Even Pittsburgh did last year before going on to win the cup

I'm going to disagree. He had no idea what his ideal lineup was on opening night, slotting in guys like Grossman, who was subsequently bounced out of the league, and mixing his lines all over the place and constantly changing his defensive pairings.

This was due in part to not adequately using his pre-season opportunities to hone both his roster and his systems.

And further, your example of the Pittsburgh Penguins? Not even remotely the same thing, Mike Johnston was fired after 28 games and replaced by Mike Sullivan and then there was an almost immediate and meteoric improvement.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Spector wrote an interesting article about Kris Russell yesterday...

Based on a number of possession and shot metrics, the hockey analytics community has little value for Russell. Today in Edmonton, where Russell is playing out a one-year deal, the Fancy Stats community lives in fear that Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli will “make the mistake” of signing the soon-to-be 30-year-old Russell to a four-year contract.

However, hockey people — defined as coaches, managers, players and scouts — have an almost unilateral respect for Russell’s gritty, hard-nosed game. The fact that the Oilers have stats that paint him as a premier puck-mover in the NHL exacerbates that opinion in Edmonton’s front office, where Chiarelli maintains access to different stats than the ones we’ve found today on excellent sites like Corsica and HockeyAnalysis.com.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/k...ytics-critics/

Wasn't spector and the EDM media ripping Russel last year for the exact reason they are praising him now?

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Wasn't spector and the EDM media ripping Russel last year for the exact reason they are praising him now?

Spector was always pro Russell. He wrote an article last year that the Flames could get a 2nd line forward for Russell if they traded him.

[sureLoss]

Perhaps the best/funniest reaction to Spector's most recent article on Russell:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Matt-...nned/191/81191

The author suggests the Oilers are being conned by whatever private analytics package they are buying into.

His evidence is that Chiarelli keeps saying that Russell is a league leader in passing when all the publicly available analytics tools say Russell is not.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Perhaps the best/funniest reaction to Spector's most recent article on Russell:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Matt-...nned/191/81191

The author suggests the Oilers are being conned by whatever private analytics package they are buying into.

His evidence is that Chiarelli keeps saying that Russell is a league leader in passing when all the publicly available analytics tools say Russell is not.

He's not wrong. Why, if he's sick a great passer, do the oilers never get any shots, and he gets no assists? It makes zero sense

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

He's not wrong. Why, if he's sick a great passer, do the oilers never get any shots, and he gets no assists? It makes zero sense

Hey... the Oilers spent good money on analytics that Kris Russell is the best passer in the league behind only Nik Kronwall. Who are you to argue?

[ZedMan]

Didn't the Oilers fire their stats guru? Probably because he said bad things about Kris Russell.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm going to disagree. He had no idea what his ideal lineup was on opening night, slotting in guys like Grossman, who was subsequently bounced out of the league, and mixing his lines all over the place and constantly changing his defensive pairings.



This was due in part to not adequately using his pre-season opportunities to hone both his roster and his systems.



And further, your example of the Pittsburgh Penguins? Not even remotely the same thing, Mike Johnston was fired after 28 games and replaced by Mike Sullivan and then there was an almost immediate and meteoric improvement.

Huh? A 5 game losing streak immediately after being hired and a 3-6-2 first 10 games. They didn't start improving until mid-January. Their record under Sullivan up until that point was 6-8-5. Hardly immediate and meteoric.

[Vinny01]

I haven't been watching the Oilers but from what I read online recently Russell is dragging down the almighty Larson and his fancy numbers are hurting.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Russell is good at passing? Since when? He was always the one on our team who struggled with the stretch pass.

He wouldn't have to block so many shots if his passes were more accurate.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Huh? A 5 game losing streak immediately after being hired and a 3-6-2 first 10 games. They didn't start improving until mid-January. Their record under Sullivan up until that point was 6-8-5. Hardly immediate and meteoric.

I would have to say that 'eventually winning the cup' is about as meteoric as it gets.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Locke

I would have to say that 'eventually winning the cup' is about as meteoric as it gets.

True. But "eventually" and "immediate" are pretty much polar opposites. The team had a pretty significant adjustment period before their run to the cup.