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

[Textcritic]

What the hell does Cuddles McDaiper know about "team" success? He and Cam Talbot are the Edmonton Oilers, and surrounded by a roster of skating mannequins.

I can't wait for the regular season to start and to shut up the prima donna show ponies in the North.

GFG.

[djsFlames]

Wow the first Flames drubbing of the Oilers is like 6 weeks away.

Exciting.

[Muta]

.... still can't believe we have Giordano / Hamilton / Brodie / Hamonic / Stone as our top five. That's just ridiculous.

[-TC-]

the Flames D is very exciting, I'm stoked for the first game against the oilers... and the silence that will follow.

[CaptainCrunch]

This whole hyping of the Oilers this off season is going to backfire on them. The whole they're cup contenders now, and how awesome of a team they are. All the teams in the NHL are going to use those dumbo's as a measuring stick. There aren't going to be any easy nights for the Oilers.

I'm sure that the Flames will be reminded that the Oilers swept them last year, and they'll come out of their dressing room like starved bears after a long summers hibernation.

And Connor will look at the players around the locker room and pray everynight that Cam Talbot won't falter because this team is missing a top 4 defenseman from last year, and while Eberle was bad, Strome is worse.

But at least he'll have $12.5 million dollars a year to keep him comfortable when he and his Oilers get their teeth kicked in a lot.

I mean even in his heart of hearts he has to know that a team that improves from 70 points to 104 points is a mirage, and illusion, and that when every team amps up their game against the Oilers and every team looks at how Anaheim mistreated him that its going to be a long hard season of disappointment.

And at the end of the year when he looks at himself in the mirror and see's his toothless mouth and he realizes that the sour taste in his mouth is a combination of the bitter taste of failure, the pungent taste of defeat and a healthy portion of his liver.

Then just when he thinks he's at the lowest point of his depression, he'll look towards the 2018-2019 season and realize that its not going to get better, its going to get worse as the competitive window slams shut on his fingers.

But through the blurred vision caused by his tears he'll see a sign of hope and optimism.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by -TC-

the Flames D is very exciting, I'm stoked for the first game against the oilers... and the silence that will follow.

I hope the Flames defence shines and the Oilers D are exposed, just to drive home the importance of that position, how much the Oilers actually lack there, and how screwed they are after putting all their remaining cap space into a few players up front.

[MisterJoji]

On the Edmonton subreddit u/tylemaker did a thoroughly comprehensive look at the Oilers cap situation next year. I think he nailed things pretty much bang on. Tldr: he admits the Oilers are going to be in a bad cap situation unless they can trade RNH for picks/prospects or some of their free agents take extremely friendly deals. They will not be able to retain all of Maroon, Strome, Nurse, Benning unless the cap goes up by a minimum of 4 million and they don't have a prospect base than can come in and fill those roles adequately. A realistic fan of the Oilers, who would've thought?

https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOil...DX&sh=22c47e1e

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

Connor McDavid throwing some shade on the Flames ability to "gel" as a team.



https://www.fanragsports.com/nhl/mcd...worked-oilers/

I dunno, I wouldn't call that shade. He's saying the Flames have a good roster and made some good moves and that the Oilers have to be a better team. I don't see anything wrong with what he said. If anything, he's praising (for lack of a better word) the Flames.

[Gaudfather]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I dunno, I wouldn't call that shade. He's saying the Flames have a good roster and made some good moves and that the Oilers have to be a better team. I don't see anything wrong with what he said. If anything, he's praising (for lack of a better word) the Flames.

He is diplomatic, but he plays for the Oilers - so I give him no quarter!

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

And Connor will look at the players around the locker room and pray everynight that Cam Talbot won't falter because this team is missing a top 4 defenseman from last year, and while Eberle was bad, Strome is worse.

They're actually missing two top 2 defensemen.

[McG]

Originally Posted by Jacks

They're actually missing two top 2 defensemen.

Can you miss what you never had?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

On the Edmonton subreddit u/tylemaker did a thoroughly comprehensive look at the Oilers cap situation next year. I think he nailed things pretty much bang on. Tldr: he admits the Oilers are going to be in a bad cap situation unless they can trade RNH for picks/prospects or some of their free agents take extremely friendly deals. They will not be able to retain all of Maroon, Strome, Nurse, Benning unless the cap goes up by a minimum of 4 million and they don't have a prospect base than can come in and fill those roles adequately. A realistic fan of the Oilers, who would've thought?

https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOil...DX&sh=22c47e1e

That isn't taking into account the fact that Talbot and his agent have paid very close attention to how much Chia handed to Draisaitl and McDavid. I imagine Talbot and his agent are building up their case for him being the team's MVP and should be paid as much. Things will get worse before they get better for the Oilers as he has a case for his next contract to be in the area of highest paid goaltender in the NHL or very close to whatever Price fetches on his upcoming deal. Without Talbot the Oilers don't get a sniff the playoffs so he's got a lot of leverage.

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

every team amps up their game against the Oilers and every team looks at how Anaheim mistreated him that its going to be a long hard season of disappointment.

I think this will be the single biggest challenge for the Oilers to overcome this season.
The entire league saw an effective tactic to beat a team with, arguably, the best player in the game without having to match that skill (not to say that Anaheim doesn't have skilled players).

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Without Talbot the Oilers don't get a sniff the playoffs so he's got a lot of leverage.

Cannot wait for his signing watch. They simply won't be able to afford him.

[Gaudfather]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

I think this will be the single biggest challenge for the Oilers to overcome this season.
The entire league saw an effective tactic to beat a team with, arguably, the best player in the game without having to match that skill (not to say that Anaheim doesn't have skilled players).

They are so busy planning parade routes up North that no one is even considering a sophomore slump for McDavid. they will go catatonic if he has just an average year.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Things will get worse before they get better for the Oilers as he has a case for his next contract to be in the area of highest paid goaltender in the NHL or very close to whatever Price fetches on his upcoming deal. Without Talbot the Oilers don't get a sniff the playoffs so he's got a lot of leverage.

Talbot isn't getting anywhere close to 84M or 10.5M/year on his next contract. Especially if it means he'll be 40 by the time it ends...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

They are so busy planning parade routes up North that no one is even considering a sophomore slump for McDavid. they will go catatonic if he has just an average year.

Its not as much McDavid that they should worry about. Draisaitl has consistancy holes in his game.

Year one Molten hot $$$

Year two, starts really well, last 20 games 4 goals 5 assists and pretty much invisible.

Year three lights out, no denial except when away from McDavid.

If there's a guy that's going to fall in my mind its Draisaitl especially if the Oiler need him to be his own guy and improve their depth by centering and succeeding away from McDavid.

I think McDavid will be fine, I honestly don't think that a guy at 100 points is going to have a massive jump in points, I mean Crosby had a 120 point season and took a beating to get there and fought injuries the next year.

Where McDavid will improve is more in terms of his two way game, maybe becoming a little more dynamic, but in this day and age where the good teams have deep good bluelines and 4 lines that can skate and be two way guys the game will get tougher for Conner.

But if I'm looking at the career year guys for the Oilers. I think Draisaitl will have trouble living up to that contract. I think Talbot will still be good, but he won't be as good as he was last year.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Talbot isn't getting anywhere close to 84M or 10.5M/year on his next contract. Especially if it means he'll be 40 by the time it ends...

I think even if he's not as good, he still gets that 7 million dollar deal or even a 7.5 million dollar deal on the market, and the Oilers really can't even afford that.

[Vinny01]

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/The-F...onton/32/87037

Basement blogger who is an Oilers fan compares the teams line by line.

I disagree that both the bottom 2 lines of the Oilers is better as well as the bottom pair. Personally I take Stone over Nurse or Benning today. Stone would be pretty clear #4 on the Oilers. The author also has Chiasson listed on the Flames so it shows he doesn't know much.

I will agree the top line and goaltending favors the Oil right now but everything else favors The Flames

[CaptainCrunch]

First of all he has Sekera on that lineup and Sekera is gone until pretty much the second half of the season, So having him there is an error.

I tend to think that neither of Calgary or Edmonton's third lines are great shakes, but Calgary's second line is just far and away better then Edmonton's second line and I do agree that Edmonton's top line is better then Calgary's top line.

However there's very little distribution of offense in Edmonton's lineup. If the top line gets shut down, Edmonton is badly hamstrung.

Also with sekera out the defense combinations are probably

Klefbom Larsson
Nurse Russell
?Gryba Benning

Versus

Gio Hamilton
Brodie Hamonic
Stone Kulak

That's a massive massive gap and a bigger gap I believe then the Calgary forwards vs Edmonton Forwards.

Goaltending by default goes to Edmonton, we don't know enough about Smith and Smith behind this defense. But both teams have the same problem, if Talbot faulters even a bit, I doubt it matters how good that top line is, the Oilers drop like a stone. Calgary's lineup showed that it can make the playoffs in spite of goaltending so the goaltending factor isn't as big especially since Calgary improved their lineup.

What this column also didn't account for and it should have had the top 5 prospects that are called up in case of injuries, because Calgary probably wins that easily.