You still haven't provided any evidence that they tried their hardest to ice a competitive team. Playing hardball with an RFA while your team struggles isn't IMO trying to ice the best team possible. If the Eric and Sacco were such good friends why the lame duck status? Holding on to a coach that lost 22 more games than it won the season before with whispers the coach lost the locker room doesn't sound to me like they had expectations of improving especially given the ROR fiasco.
Doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me in fact it looks like the organization just decided they were going to ride the strike shortened season out hell or high water and hope for a good draft pick.
Their top front office guys were all fired after the season. Be pretty dumb for them to tank considering it cost them their jobs.
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Based on what they've done I'm the nhl to date, I would say 1)MacKinnon, 2)Jones, t3)Monahan, barkov, 5)lindholm, 6)druin.
Who knows how it looks in a few seasons once everyone had had a significant chance at meaningful minutes.
Lindholm is really the only one who made the NHL and struggled. Mackinnon, Barkov, jones, Monahan and the Russian are all doing well.
Mackinnon is definitely the favourite for the Calder at this point.. currently 1+2 in a 7-1 game against Buffalo.
40 points in 53 games.
I think MacKinnon is the only top pick from last year in Calder contention right now. The other main candidates are all from older drafts (Johnson, Palat, Kreider etc).
Nichuskin would have definitely gone earlier if people knew he was coming over for sure. He's having a hell of a season too.
My memory is a little cloudy, but I thought Nichushkin said all along that the NHL was his goal and the KHL was his back-up for this season only if he failed to make the NHL.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I don't think that anyone really worries about the Russian factor when everything's going well. It's when or if he hits a bad patch and needs development time that the potential issues come out.
I think MacKinnon is the only top pick from last year in Calder contention right now. The other main candidates are all from older drafts (Johnson, Palat, Kreider etc).
Krug has to be in the conversation.
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No necessarily because it isn't like any of the top picks are flaming out. So far everyone could just be darn happy with their picks.
The Drouin pick is the only one I don't care for - Bolts should have grabbed Jones.
Speaking of the Bolts, kind of crazy that they have 4 rookies in the top 30 for scoring (and one is a defenseman).
Of the four, the top two (2nd and 4th overall) were undrafted and drafted in the 7th round. The other two in the top 30 were from the 2nd and 3rd round.
That is some pretty good scouting/drafting. Maybe our GM search should include the Tampa area.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Nichushkin has really cooled off, he's on the 4th line now.
Do you know who has the second most points of any player since Jan 1st 2014?
7th round pick Ondrej Palat in 2012. He was also passed over in two consecutive drafts. He's a team leading +28 and will be nominated for the Calder this year.
Mackinnon still leads all rookies in scoring and is doing it with less ice time (he's 7th among rookies in average ice time). He'll win the Calder.
Monahan has second most points of any 2013 draft pick. He'll be a stretch to get nominated for the Calder however as they'll likely pick a defenceman as the third nominee, that defenceman will likely be Torey Krug.
And of some of the biggest news...
Teuvo Terevainen is in Chicago and will likely play Sunday. Kane is out with an injury so he'll have opportunity to play with some of the top players in Chicago.
I haven't seen any evidence that organization attempted to do anything other than pick 1st overall but if you feel otherwise please don't hesitate fill us in on why you think they tried their best to ice a competitive team. All I see is a team that went into the season with a lame duck coach they knew they were going to replace. Didn't bother even trying to sign one of their top forwards until they were forced to. Not even half way into the season when it was evident the locker room was a mess they didn't even try to fire the head coach and let an assistant try and turn things around. They just turned a blind eye to the issues and looked straight ahead to the prize in June. Can't argue with the results. They get the coach they always wanted and the stud forward they coveted. I don't like what they did but you can't argue with the results.
Not wanting to overpay for O'Reilly translates to tanking? Sorry not buying it. Landeskog missed time and had an off year. Stastny had a poor year. O'Reilly was missing. Downie was injured at the start of the year. Erik Johnson missed a bunch of time and had a terrible year. They didn't tank.
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Not wanting to overpay for O'Reilly translates to tanking? Sorry not buying it. Landeskog missed time and had an off year. Stastny had a poor year. O'Reilly was missing. Downie was injured at the start of the year. Erik Johnson missed a bunch of time and had a terrible year. They didn't tank.
It's just the attitude of a lot of people. "What, a team is legitimately bad, they must be tanking!"
On these boards I've heard a lot of people blast Buffalo for tanking. You know, despite starting a Vezina winning goalie for a majority of the season, firing the GM and head coach early on, and attempting to improve the team and not just play a bunch of rookies by acquiring players through trade and waivers. We're just legitimately bad. And if we get better next year and challenge for a playoff spot (unlikely, but you never know), it just proves what a lot of people here can't accept -- just because you get the number one pick does not automatically make you the Oilers, destined to be mediocre for a long time. In fact, most teams it actually makes better.
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People are talking about Buffalo tanking next year since they're setting up for one of the worst years in the history of the NHL. It may hurt your feelings, but it's true.
Colorado is called for tanking because it was obvious 10 games in last year that their coach wasn't getting the players to do anything anymore and they just sat on it and didn't attempt to correct anything ... at all.
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Johnny eats garbage and isn’t 100% committed.
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It's just the attitude of a lot of people. "What, a team is legitimately bad, they must be tanking!"
On these boards I've heard a lot of people blast Buffalo for tanking. You know, despite starting a Vezina winning goalie for a majority of the season, firing the GM and head coach early on, and attempting to improve the team and not just play a bunch of rookies by acquiring players through trade and waivers. We're just legitimately bad. And if we get better next year and challenge for a playoff spot (unlikely, but you never know), it just proves what a lot of people here can't accept -- just because you get the number one pick does not automatically make you the Oilers, destined to be mediocre for a long time. In fact, most teams it actually makes better.
Yeah, I got to admit Buffalo is awful. It's maybe the worst NHL team I've seen in 20 years.
