WCQF: Edmonton Oilers (PAC 2) vs LA Kings (PAC 3) (Oilers win 4-1)

[Sofa GM]

Stauffer pinned at Marriot in LA, checks out…..

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Hilarious that for the longest time, Columbus looked so smart taking Dubois over Puljujarvi in that draft but today you couldn't trade Dubois straight up for Puljujarvi.

[1qqaaz]

Cap efficiency is everything.

[Erick Estrada]

I wonder how much rope Blake has? He's to them kind of like Iginla is to the Flames so kind of awkward when the day comes that they have to let him go. The PLD trade, the goaltending situation, firing a head coach mid-season, and going quietly in the first round once again to the Oilers is likely going to make for an uncomfortable end of season meeting with ownership. They do have some cap space and the opportunity to go clean slate with no goaltenders signed for next season but the outlook isn't great.

[GioforPM]

PLD reminds me a bit of Rene Bourque. A lot of tools, a lot of talent. Can put up nice stats when he wants to. But doesn't want to when it counts.

The trade for PLD even reminds me of the trade of Bourque for Cammaleri and Ramo.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Oilers are lucky the Kings can't score, as they're having all kinds of difficulties with them and have been badly outplayed. I take comfort in knowing that the Oilers will likely get smoked by whoever they play next.

At this point it's pretty likely Vancouver without Demko and that's... not going to go well for Vancouver.

Whoever comes.out of the central is the great hope. Looking like Colorado right now but a lot can change.

[Manhattanboy]

Why did they fire McClellan again? Seems like a good coach.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Kopitar and Doughty are the core left from the cup teams.

Seems like they are not the clutch players, since they have done nothing since in the playoffs.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

At this point it's pretty likely Vancouver without Demko and that's... not going to go well for Vancouver.

Whoever comes.out of the central is the great hope. Looking like Colorado right now but a lot can change.

Desmith is as good as Talbot and Rittich.

Vancouver hasn't played well for a while, but they have more talent than the Kings. Oilers only look good because of their PP. If they were playing a real team they would be in trouble.

Canucks can beat them without Demko.

Good news is, there is basically no upsets around the rest of the league. Vegas when healthy is too good to call them an upset.

FLA, BOS, NYR, CAR, COL are all real hockey teams and so are DAL/VEG

Oilers of course have the easiest path to the finals but at least they are not getting a break by tons of upsets happening around the league.

[dino7c]

Oilers and Canucks both looked bad yesterday but for the horseshoes
teams with under 20 shots winning playoff games

[Brick]

Game decided by a PP that they should not have gotten...some things never change..

[Paulie Walnuts]

Even a depleted Flames team probably would take this to 7 and put a better fight.

This is simply embarrassing.

The Kings are a listless and gutless team.

This series and the central bracket should be all the evidence needed to change the playoff format back to 1-8. You have 3 50 win teams on that side, and you have this crap over here and some team that doesn't deserve to be in the WCF will arrive, while all the good teams take each other out on the other bracket.

Whatever playoff run they go on should have an asterik. Mickey mouse playoffs.

[midniteowl]

Got shutout by Skinner, the Kings were absolutely embarrassing!

[Groot]

https://moneypuck.com/g.htm?id=2023030184

Oilers with 21.5% on the deserve to win-o-meter. Both teams are bad. Kings are just worse. When you don't have the firepower to score on the Oilers porous defense and suspect goaltending, you don't belong in the playoffs.

If the Oilers get past the Canucks because of their goalie injuries they get steamrolled by whoever they face. The Avs would put up 5+ a game against them.

[trackercowe]

TSN now calling the Oilers the favourites to win it all. Do they even watch the games? They haven't looked good at all, it's just the Kings have been that much worse.

[Paulie Walnuts]

TSN and the others are openly cheering on Hyman.

I’ve never seen the media do that before.

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Even a depleted Flames team probably would take this to 7 and put a better fight.

This is simply embarrassing.

The Kings are a listless and gutless team.

This series and the central bracket should be all the evidence needed to change the playoff format back to 1-8. You have 3 50 win teams on that side, and you have this crap over here and some team that doesn't deserve to be in the WCF will arrive, while all the good teams take each other out on the other bracket.

Whatever playoff run they go on should have an asterik. Mickey mouse playoffs.

Yep, this bracket bull#### is just more "americanizing" the game. Ever since March Madness brackets became the in thing the NHL had to jump on that bandwagon. Just go back to 1 vs 8 or at the very least re seed after each round of the playoffs.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Kopitar and Doughty are the core left from the cup teams.

Seems like they are not the clutch players, since they have done nothing since in the playoffs.

I mean you had both players in their prime who are now aging... not to mention:

-Dustin Brown
-Mike Richard's
-Jeff Carter
-Jonathan Quick
-Alec Martinez
-Jake Muzzin
-Robyn Regehr
-Toffoli and Pearson

They are NOTHING like that former team. Not to mention they also had a top 5 coach of all time behind the bench.

This collection of Kings has losers like Pierre Luc Dubois. That Kings team would not even let him on the ice playing like he has been. That was a group with every player buying in from top to bottom.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

TSN now calling the Oilers the favourites to win it all. Do they even watch the games? They haven't looked good at all, it's just the Kings have been that much worse.

I'd assume it is just their easy scheduling. Every other team actually has to face some competition before the conference finals. Oilers got the draw of the century, if Demko is not back.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

I'd assume it is just their easy scheduling. Every other team actually has to face some competition before the conference finals. Oilers got the draw of the century, if Demko is not back.

Accurate, every other series will be a coin flip. The Canucks can still win, but Oilers are the favourite, especially with how the Canucks played the last few months of the regular season.