Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
Well I guess this season will be an interesting experiment.
Last season the Oilers were 12th in goals against.
This was with Nurse and Barrie in the top pairing role.
They added Keith who is essentially dead last in XGA/60 over the last 3 years. They also added Ceci who is like bottom quartile I think. Nowhere near good by this metric.
So with the expectation that Smith regresses this season and the Oilers have the worst top four group in the NHL defensively according to XGA/60 where do you think the Oilers finish the season in terms of goals against?
Last? Bottom five?
I personally think it will be closer to middle of the pack than bottom five.
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I guess some hope could be placed on adding a couple of forwards that know what to do in their own zone, and won't blow the blue line looking for a stretch pass every shift.
That will help a bit.
But yeah it looks like a firewagon season in Edmonton. Can the offence out score the defense and the expected goalie decline?