Here's the cold hard truth to keep Oiler fans up all night. They talk about McDavid's contract extending the window. It doesn't matter, if this team fails, if this team doesn't win a cup, and worse yet, if they get bumped early in the playoffs, or manage to miss the playoffs. They can't go into next season with this old and aging roster. They right now are going into next season with about 84 million on their cap. If they fail, they have to retool. they don't have the assets to make the trades for a retool, they don't have hotshot prospects to bail them out. They're going into next season with no goalies, and they're not going to find a starter at $2.7 million.
If they fail, they have to rebuild next year in a hurry because McDavid's ass is looking to be half way out the door, with a very trade friendly contract.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Here's the cold hard truth to keep Oiler fans up all night. They talk about McDavid's contract extending the window. It doesn't matter, if this team fails, if this team doesn't win a cup, and worse yet, if they get bumped early in the playoffs, or manage to miss the playoffs. They can't go into next season with this old and aging roster. They right now are going into next season with about 84 million on their cap. If they fail, they have to retool. they don't have the assets to make the trades for a retool, they don't have hotshot prospects to bail them out. They're going into next season with no goalies, and they're not going to find a starter at $2.7 million.
If they fail, they have to rebuild next year in a hurry because McDavid's ass is looking to be half way out the door, with a very trade friendly contract.
When they fail, not if.
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Here's the cold hard truth to keep Oiler fans up all night. They talk about McDavid's contract extending the window. It doesn't matter, if this team fails, if this team doesn't win a cup, and worse yet, if they get bumped early in the playoffs, or manage to miss the playoffs. They can't go into next season with this old and aging roster. They right now are going into next season with about 84 million on their cap. If they fail, they have to retool. they don't have the assets to make the trades for a retool, they don't have hotshot prospects to bail them out. They're going into next season with no goalies, and they're not going to find a starter at $2.7 million.
If they fail, they have to rebuild next year in a hurry because McDavid's ass is looking to be half way out the door, with a very trade friendly contract.
what about Isaac the iceman Howard? another Rob Schremp
I've said it before and I'll say it again. McDavid is quietly asking for a trade if the Oilers don't meet his expectations in the playoffs. He had zero intentions of playing 3 more years in Edmonton but he felt like he owed it to the team and city to make it easy to trade him when he decides its over.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. McDavid is quietly asking for a trade if the Oilers don't meet his expectations in the playoffs. He had zero intentions of playing 3 more years in Edmonton but he felt like he owed it to the team and city to make it easy to trade him when he decides its over.
Signing an extension to remain for another three seasons seems like an odd way to try and exit an organization. The Oilers will not ever trade him until the 11th hour as he's the golden goose and means everything to the organization. The day he leaves is the day it's over for the Oilers as Canada's darling team. I really don't think McDavid is intelligent enough to be scheming anything. He's just one of those guys that has a gift to play hockey that otherwise would be serving coffee and donuts at a Tim Hortons or something.
Sometimes people (Pinder) talk about McDavid being one of the all time great offensive players.
I suppose that's true in 2025... but then I think about some of the great offensive players from earlier eras. And I think about THOSE players having to play against Scott Stevens.
I find myself wondering... how would McDavid fare against those sorts of players? Maybe he would be like Gretzky or Lemieux and be slippery enough to avoid it.
Then again... maybe he'd be Paul Kariya or Eric Lindros.
But it probably shouldn't be anointed within that pantheon of all time greats in this no-hit pu-sy fest that is the NHL in the modern era.
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Sometimes people (Pinder) talk about McDavid being one of the all time great offensive players.
I suppose that's true in 2025... but then I think about some of the great offensive players from earlier eras. And I think about THOSE players having to play against Scott Stevens.
I find myself wondering... how would McDavid fare against those sorts of players? Maybe he would be like Gretzky or Lemieux and be slippery enough to avoid it.
Then again... maybe he'd be Paul Kariya or Eric Lindros.
But it probably shouldn't be anointed within that pantheon of all time greats in this no-hit pu-sy fest that is the NHL in the modern era.
He definitely wouldn't have his "right of way" to the net back then. His head would have been taken off.
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But it probably shouldn't be anointed within that pantheon of all time greats in this no-hit pu-sy fest that is the NHL in the modern era.
This opinion sucks. I watched a lot of the NHL in the late 90s/early 2000s and frankly, I don't miss the head hunting big hits that destroyed careers and brains. I don't miss seeing Hatcher or Stevens headhunting the best players in the league. I would much rather be able to see Paul Kariya being an elite player... and that isn't even beginning to mention the human aspect of someone not having their brain damaged for the sake of a big hit.
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The game is better without low skill guys hired strictly to head hunt. Having 3-4 skill lines makes for a better product all around.
But he's right that McDavid's stats probably don't carry over equally to other eras. Forget bone crunching hits, defense in general has never been this soft and more or less yielding to certain players.
You'd never see that 20-40 years ago. A lot of plays mcdavid makes would not be possible then because he would be put right through the glass. And the refs wouldn't pity him nearly as much as they seem to today.
Odd for sure that pundits have foggy memories and make these bold declarations so lightly.
McDavid picks up most of his points from faking infractions and cashing in on the ensuing powerplays. We're really going to celebrate the way this guy plays the game as much as we do?
Smh
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I understand the appeal of a big huge crushing hit that often would turn the tide of a game, and create so much drama and emotion.
Then you sit down and realize that the game was slower, and so many great players had their careers cut short - and probably are still suffering side-effects from these big hits.
This is why I always argue against: "It was a clean hit, he shoudln't have to fight" even if it was a big hit. A big hit is designed to hurt, and if you are head-hunting out there, even with clean hits, then the other team can and should take exception to it. As long as the puck was at your feet, it was 100% fine to give someone a blindside hit to the head, as long as it wasn't an elbow.
I don't miss those days. I can romanticize about them and even wax poetically about all the raw emotion and toughness and all that hoopla, but really, the game is more exciting today.
If that era had continued, Sidney Crosby wouldn't have come close to 1000 games. We got to enjoy watching one of the greatest players of all time. Was Eric Lindros better? Gee.. I have no idea. His career was cut short, and he was probably playing through concussion for a large portion of his career. It is hard to formulate an opinion on how great Lindros really was since we were only blessed to witness a portion of his career.
760 games of Eric Lindros (and who knows how many of those were while he was playing concussed). Yet we got to 'enjoy' 1635 games of Scott Stevens. How much enjoyment did one give you versus the other? Yeah, let's not go back to that era.
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If you don't want to get hit by the train, get off the tracks.
You didn’t answer my question. You enjoyed seeing players lying on the ice concussed? You think it’s manly to put your elbow and shoulder into the face of an unaware player?
A big con being the career ending injuries way too soon for gifted players.
But call me mad but I'm a sucker for a 2-1 or 3-2 war of attrition type of game over a 6-5 shootout result where you watch both sides pulling back in their zones and killing the clock.
I love goalie battles.
Gold medal game 2010, 3-2 in overtime. Two star studded teams held in check by two great defenses and elite goalies. Hard fought all the way to the end peoducing the golden goal moment. Chef's kiss.
More recently Dallas-Calgary in 2022 was a throwback series in a way. Highly physical and two goalies playing out of their minds. Made for a can't miss 7 game series.
Contrast that with round 2 against Edmonton which turned into an amalgamation of everything that's wrong with today's game. Constant penalties, constant diving, not physical, 9-6 games, terrible goaltending and defense. Just awful. Sucked the tension right out of it.
And the oilers are the poster boys for this type of glorified "right of way" pond hockey. Not only are they a repulsive team but they represent what's broken about the league right now.
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I don't think anyone here wants to see "dirty" hockey. Vicious predatory hits or the like. But yeah I love a big hit, I love a physical game. I even like...a fight.
I would've loved to see McDavid go up against Regher. To see him try the tunnel of death. Think about it, a big physical, clean hitting, defenseman going up against the wonder twins! That would've been fantastic!
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I don't think anyone here wants to see "dirty" hockey. Vicious predatory hits or the like. But yeah I love a big hit, I love a physical game. I even like...a fight.
I would've loved to see McDavid go up against Regher. To see him try the tunnel of death. Think about it, a big physical, clean hitting, defenseman going up against the wonder twins! That would've been fantastic!
That would have been something to see. Never saw anyone as good at giving that space wide only to close it quickly. By the time the forward had realized what was happening, it was too late. Hemsky was the worst for falling into that trap.
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That would have been something to see. Never saw anyone as good at giving that space wide only to close it quickly. By the time the forward had realized what was happening, it was too late. Hemsky was the worst for falling into that trap.
I'm sure the wear and tear shortened Hemsky's career. But the thing is – he kept falling for it. He kept trying that same play over and over, and getting hammered into the end boards.
It's hard to feel sympathy for someone who keeps choosing to go back for more punishment.
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