Yeah. and pretty honest, the part about Poolparty was really accurate, whenever I saw highlights of him that had Oiler fans going like OoooOh he's going to be awesome. I saw bad goaltending, bad defensive coverage and wide open Euro Ice surfaces with lots of space. It was literally looking like that beer league game that you and I would play in that had that one college player who thought he should have been in the NHL if it wasn't for his knee injury who shows up and dominates.
Frankly at that level of hockey JP should have dominated, its great that he played in a league that paid him and the other players probably got paid in the season end Pizza Party. But the NHL and AHL are several levels above SM-Liga. They play on the small ice, and the players are faster, better coaches and way more aware.
Maybe Poolparty will bounce back, but I wouldn't count on it, same as Turris, but at least their contracts are cheap, which is weirdly the most positive thing to say about those two.
Losing Klefbom guts their blueline. Like Klefbom was the only do no harm defenseman that the Oilers have. He's steady, he's positionally strong and makes smart decisions. (it says a whole ton that the loss of a 3 or 4 defenseman guts the Oilers blueline)
The same can't be said for Nurse who in his own end borders on awful, and is terrible in his positioning and cover. It seems to be a common theme for the Oilers when they draft players. Is his hockey IQ lacking? Is he a bit of a selfish player? Yup, looks like he checks our boxes, but does he have a youtube stick handling video?
I mean Russell is a "warrior" but he's like a guy who creates his own stats with brutal give aways and lost board battles that force him to heroically dive in front of the puck to clean up his own mistakes. Larsson looks about done, he's been awful for two years, and you don't bounce back from that. Jones and Bear are ok, but a bit over rated, Bear looked pretty bad after the team came back.
Sure they can bring up Bouchard and Boberg or whatever his name is, but Bouchard is more of the same in his own end and the other guy won't be helped by getting rushed.
Goaltending is just going to be bad.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Oilers were at a 70 point pace next year, when Holland is turfed in a breath taking move of backstab maneuvering by Tippett who tried the same thing in Arizona.
Or Tippett does the same thing he did in Arizona when he didn't get his own way. Which is show up, stand behind the bench and read cracked.com articles on his phone.
Its going to be a long bad year for the Oilers next year. Holland has literally been as bad as Chia pet.
And Conna won't stand for it, no sir he won't. Look for teams to start clearing cap space for Conna in the next off season.
I love how you write paragraphs and paragraphs about the Oilers <3
That's what this thread is all about. Just thing, a thousand years from now, after mankind has passed beyond the veil of destruction, Aliens will arrive, find a server and activate it and find an archive and look at their overlords and realize that Edmonton was really No Good. I'm doing gods work here son.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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The Oilers are just fantastic this year. There are some really interesting, 4D chess moves going on up there. Turris can easily replace Riley Sheahan, and if the Oilers can find a way to keep Sheahan in the fold, look out!
LOL, Oh god yes please, please replace a guy that was useful on the penalty kill with Turris. And how are the Oilers going to keep Sheahan they're out of cap space. 1.2 left and still not a starting goalie in the house.
The Oilers are literally worse if your replacing Klefbom with Barrie, Turris replacing Sheahan. That's some 4d chess. And if Kosknogloveinan is your starter. with that lineup in front of him, 70 pionts for the Oilers in 82 games is a fantasy.
Face it, while all the other GM's in the league are playing Chess, Holland is playing tonka toys.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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Can't wait to read Staples' deep thoughts on how masterfully Holland has performed at this UFA deadline and how each signing / non-signing would benefit the Oilers immediately.
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"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel
“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake
At this point I think Holland's plan is to just make it through this season and start pretty much fresh in 21-22 with only a few players players signed. Their buyouts come down to 1.5M, which probably is the perfect time to buyout Neal. Especially when he only has a couple years left. Pretty much another rebuild, albeit a decent foundation in McDavid and Driasaitl.
The only question is if McCovid is willing to throw another couple years away before Holland can get the team back on the tracks. He will be on the back half of his 8 year contract once that happens.
With Smith locked up for another year, the Oilers continue building something special.
Late-breaking rumours have it that they are in intense talks with Fernando Pisani and Dion Phaneuf, trying to pull them out of retirement. The expect to have no cap problem bringing the two on board after realizing it's "free" agency.
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Can't wait to read Staples' deep thoughts on how masterfully Holland has performed at this UFA deadline and how each signing / non-signing would benefit the Oilers immediately.
Read them?! That minor hockey all star coach has a YouTube channel dedicated to his favourite squad.
I wish I knew Talbot personally. For sure Holland called him, and for sure he laughed and hung up the phone (assuming he actually took a call from a 780 area code).
They would have been better off with Dubnyk, but I'm assuming he call screens those numbers as well, and threatened to retire if he ended up there.
Enjoy Mike Smith. I hear he's a good 3rd defenseman when he isn't fishing pucks out of his own net.
