Edmonton is No Good VI: Chia•den•freu•de

[Locke]

Originally Posted by crapshoot

Koskinen didn't stay at Vezina-level of play forever? Well color everybody surprised!

I hope they both pick it up at the tail-end of the season to justify their outrageous raises.

[Samonadreau]

Playing almost meaningful games at the end of December is uncharted territory for the Coilers. They will be out of it by the end of January but hopefully its enough for Chia pet to keep his job

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Hatty Rattie doesn't even have a hat trick worth of goals? Well that's not what the pre-season was showing!

I heard he was way up in the preseason scoring race.

[browna]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So just for fun, because it is so much fun. Lets look at the future of the Oilers.


[IMG]

Now hear me out fellas. I think that the Oilers have to make a choice in the offseason. they're not going to be able to move Lucic, or a lot of the other crap.


They need to decide on whether to move Draisaitl or put feelers out on McDavid.


Draisaitl is not an elite center, he doesn't drive a line, he's a great winger for McDavid, but he's really expensive for a complimentary piece and teams will probably give a lot of value for him.


However


The name of the modern NHL is depth through your lineup. At least two lines that can score, a deep blueline that can move the puck, and a 3rd and 4th line that won't hurt you.


McDavid would instantly be able to right that ship with the right GM dangling him.



Its no secret that right now the Oilers are looking at a failed rebuild, they're heading towards another one. With years of draft failures in all rounds, the Oilers don't have a prospect pool that can help them out with the cap, and they don't have enough NHL players to be excited about.


But trading a McDavid allows you to fix a lot of mistakes. The kings ransom that the Oilers would receive in prospects and high picks could instantly give the Oilers the building blocks that they need to restart the franchise.


As well, having a generational player is nice, but teams are so deep now that it doesn't tip the scales, especially at 12 or 13 million dollars in cap space.


McDavid is a dynamic scorer, he's a decent setup guy, but nobody can argue that he's a terrific all around player. Frankly other teams are building two man units that are more production for a lot less the Oilers pay for their premiere one two punch in McDavid and Draisaitl.


Draisaitl will get you a return that can help. a first, a good prospect and a decent young roster player.



Nurse won't get you a better defenseman or a top 6 winger.



But with McDavid you can name your price and instantly put some depth in your roster and boost your organizational depth.

Not so fast. Assuming you get Lowe out of the way, and a competent GM, any player or collection of players that will be of the impact variety, will have NTCs. There is far too long a history of the Oilers organization over
promising and under delivering upon arrival, for players to waive that.
Even if Lowe is gone, which is by no means certain and is actually unlikely as he's risen back to the command it seems.

Hall got moved for Larsson because Larsson didn't have an NMC. RNH and likely even Dr Drai may have been traded a few years back, never mind others like Eberle much sooner, if it was as simple as picking players from other teams and putting a package together and agreeing with the other GMs. But when those proposals got to the player level, they got tossed.

No one wants to go to Edmonton given their very shady history of incompetence and neglect, starting with Comrie, continuing with Pronger and turning off numerous numerous players since then.

And if the return for McDavid isn't a home run, no way Katz goes for that.

[GioforPM]

So was Hitch's honeymoon pretty much exactly the 10 games that Peter Maher always used to talk about?

[oldschoolcalgary]

Hitch is now 9-6-2 with the Oilers... slowly sinking back down into the oilsands after that initial burst

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

So was Hitch's honeymoon pretty much exactly the 10 games that Peter Maher always used to talk about?

I think thats fairly accurate. I mean, Hitch's style is pretty much boilerplate for what the NHL was working hard to eliminate and its difficult to maintain.

"Hook, Hold and Hope" while stuffing the neutral zone doesnt work so well anymore and he really doesnt have a 'Plan B' and with that team he is basically resigned to doing the exact same thing every coach before him has done, his only real revolutionary tactic has been not hiding it.

They need scoring exclusively from their first line and godlike goaltending and nobody can make any mistakes.

When you look at that team do you really see 9 forwards and 6 defencemen who can make no mistakes?

[getbak]

On the day that Hitchcock was hired, the Oilers were in a tie with Vegas and Arizona for 5th in the Division. They were 2 points back of Anaheim, 3 behind Vancouver; and 6 behind Calgary and San Jose. They were 4 points ahead of LA.

Today, they are 6th in the Division. They are 5 points ahead of Arizona and 6 ahead of LA. They are 1 point behind Vancouver, 4 behind Anaheim, 7 behind Vegas, 8 behind San Jose, and 10 behind the Flames.

[Beninho]

Canucks have scored 17 more goals than the Oilers this year. 17. The Canucks. NO GOOD

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

It's almost 2019, so let's take a look at some numbers.

Tobias Rieder - 0 goals this season
Milan Lucic - 1 goal this season
Ryan Spooner - 2 goals as an Oiler
Valentin Zykov - 0 goals as an Oiler
Ty Rattie - 2 goals this season

Yeesh.

They should cool it a little bit. They need to save some for next year’s preseason.

[1qqaaz]

Kucherov and McDavid have had the same production for the past 2.5 years. Kucherov has only been making 5.5 million. He'll then make 9.5 mill until 2027.
McDavid, with the same production, will make 12.5 million until 2026.

Draisaitl will only make a million less than Kucherov.

I wonder why the lightning have way better depth...
Oh yeah, drafting, trading, and developing are things too.

[Robbob]

Oilers have zero depth. They had Kassian out there for a portion when the goalie was pulled. How sad must the depth be to throw Kassian over the boards to try and get a goal in a close game. Was losing a PTO player really all that separates Kassian and their top 6? It is scary no good.

[bubbsy]

Double digit lead over the generational oilers in December.

They are such a joke of a team & franchise.

[kukkudo]

Well if the Oilers miss the playoffs this year, they are cleaning house once again. The new GM probably puts McDavid and Draistial's name out there to see what the market is. Or McDavid requests a trade. Rebuild 6.0 starts 2019/2020

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

So was Hitch's honeymoon pretty much exactly the 10 games that Peter Maher always used to talk about?

You get a weird sense from Hitchcock that he's positioning himself for the whole







First with him throwing management under the bus in that interview with I think the Journal where he basically said that the depth of this team is poo, the Identity line that he named sucks, and he has to play McDavid so much because no one else can score.


Then his equally bizarre post game interview last night where he said that injuries have completely derailed the Oilers and that they're playing awesome with what they have.


You know, players are pretty saavy, they hear that stuff and it effects them.


The other interesting thing watching sportsnet is that they pointed out that by this time of year the whole shaking out of the standings is getting pretty close to set in stone and you don't see a lot of miraculous charges of non playoff teams jumping into the playoffs.


We all know that good teams will take the next big step and ramp up their game leading to the final sprint and bad teams will fall behind.


Edmonton stands on that cliff edge with one foot in a puddle of industrial sex lube and the other foot on a roller skate and death staring them in the eye. Do they manage to escape and continue to struggle? Do they follow fates evil hand and fall. do they shut their eyes, take their foot on the gas and pray that the Oilers bus drops below 50?


I mean they know that missing the playoffs means a house cleaning, maybe they just . . . you know . . . go with it.

[flamesforcup]

Originally Posted by getbak

On the day that Hitchcock was hired, the Oilers were in a tie with Vegas and Arizona for 5th in the Division. They were 2 points back of Anaheim, 3 behind Vancouver; and 6 behind Calgary and San Jose. They were 4 points ahead of LA.

Today, they are 6th in the Division. They are 5 points ahead of Arizona and 6 ahead of LA. They are 1 point behind Vancouver, 4 behind Anaheim, 7 behind Vegas, 8 behind San Jose, and 10 behind the Flames.

Is it ok if i steal this?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Locke

I hear you. The thing that burns me is the 10 points Gulutzan gifted them that season they made the playoffs.

Calgary pretty literally handed them a playoff spot against a burnt out Sharks team.

That led to two fantastic things:

Giving the oilers fan hope and giving Draisaitle an 8.5 million dollar contract. It’s Like those 10 points came with Herpes

[Racki]

Every time I think the Oilers might actually be getting their act together...they totally redeem themselves and become no good once again. I love it. They really are the gift that keeps on giving.

[Burner]

its fun watching the Identity Line live up to their Identity

cant score - cant defend - run around trying to hit something

[Erick Estrada]

Who knew that a hot goaltender's +.930 SV% wouldn't last forever?