Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I hope everyone is enjoying their Canada Day long weekend.
Its funny, there's a couple of things that are bugging me.
The Oilers and their fans are talking about their march to the Stanley Cup. But wouldn't last year be a major step back? I mean the year before they get to the semi's before getting their faces beaten in. Last year they got to the second round, and once LV figured out that all the Oilers had was a powerplay and started playing with more discipline. They slapped them around the ice.
The Oiler's now have 4.7 mil left in their cap with Bouchard and McLeod to sign. They both had good seasons. Bouchard still showed that without the puck he's got to be hidden on the bench. McLeod showed pretty decent potential for his first full year. He might be the problem.
I doubt they can get both under contract for the 4.7 million unless they're one year contracts. And why would Bouchard to that? He has the hammer here. McLeod isn't going to sign a million dollar contract which is what the Oilers need.
Are the Oilers better after losing Yamamoto etc? I'm not sure, I mean they're going to have to put two young players in Holloway and Lavoie or Pedersen (sp?) into their bottom 6. Are these players suited to the bottom 6 that is already pretty terrible? Not really, Holloway is an offensive player, who struggled at the NHL level last year and isn't exactly a AHL standout. Lavoie had a good year in the AHL so he's a natural to make the jump. Pederson is a dufus.
Their blueline is still utterly awful. Nurse is the guy they should be desperately trying to trade. He's a blunder of a contract. He got it on the basis of the Covid year and schedule and a outlier shooting percentage. The pressure on him to take another step is huge, and we saw what the pressure did to him in the playoffs.
If I'm Holland I have a terrible feeling about the goaltending. Skinner completely fell apart in the playoffs, and Campbell is hot garbage.
The Oilers have a lot of problems, a small window to win and questions around Draisaitl will start floating around in the last quarter of next year, and he doesn't strike me as a guy that isn't going to be really interested in being a UFA.
They have a coach who's main strategy is MOAR icetime for the Conna and Drasaitl. I would be worried that the Conna is now 26 turning 27 with a ton of miles on the tires, He looked average 5v5 in the playoffs. It might not impact him this year, but that loss of a last step is accelerated by the hours on ice that he's spent in the last 7 years. He has to find a way to reduce his and Draisaitl's workload not increase it, and he's trapped by his weak forward depth beyond the top 6.
The thing that is probably going to save the Oilers is the other teams in the Pacific. I expect the Flames will take a step back. The Canucks aren't there yet. Vegas is going to be strong like usual. Seattle might take a step up, and the Kings might take a large step up.
If teams can figure out how to reduce their penalties against the Oilers, then the Oil are in trouble.
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All very solid points, the Oilers have also been lucky that the wonder twins have been pretty healthy in recent years, an injury to either one and they are awful. The Nurse contract is the gift that keep on giving and Douch Bomb will soon be way overpaid to be a PP specialist.