Edmonton is No Good X: Up and Down Like a Toilet Seat

[Bingo]

Month of November Team Ranks

CF%
Cgy 2nd
Edmonton 26th

xGF%
Cgy 7th
Edm 25th

SCF%
Cgy 11th
Edm 24th

HDCF%
Cgy 2nd
Edm 20th

Oilers getting worked five on five

[jlh2640]

Boy I love to see that.

[memphusk]

I have never listened to the spittin chiclets podcast. After watching that clip I'm pretty certain I never will.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by playmaker

can't get enough of this picture:

And this is with McDavid being on a tear, and his shooting percentage is well above his historical average.

To think they would have a negative expected goal differential, with McDavid and Nurse on the ice, is pretty crazy. But then to realize that the actual goal differential is even worse, while McDavid is on a major heater, is almost unbelievable.

Defense? Pffft, we'll just outscore the opposition.

Okay, but you can't even do that with the best player in the game on the ice.

[Bingo]

xGA60 five on five defensemen with 100+ minutes

202 players

Weegar 4th 1.81
Nurse 159th 2.97

but but but ... Nurse is an offensive defenseman! He makes up for it!

xGF60

Weegar 37th 2.98
Nurse 118th 2.50

So no surprise ...

xGF%
Weegar 9th 61.7%
Nurse 146th 45.6%

[Enoch Root]

Was going to mention this in the OOT last night, but it should be in here...

Watching that game, and seeing all the talk during the broadcast and on twitter about the reffing - the mantra last night was "where are the penalties?" - not just from fans, but also from the media the commentators, and even the players, the first reaction is to think what are they whining about? Did I miss something? (spoiler: no, the reffing was fair, and was as balanced as you're going to get in an NHL game)

But then you realize, it wasn't just that game, it's every night. It's every single Oiler broadcast. The team, the commentators, the fans are in a perpetual state of "we deserve/need a PP". And there's the rub.

They NEED power plays. Their entire game plan is to try to survive 5 on 5, and score on the PP. The only way they can hope to win a game is to get at least 2 PP goals. And everyone knows this - the fans, the media, and the players.

So the entire game, the players are trying to draw penalties, and the commentators are calling for penalties, and the fans are outraged every time an Oiler gets touched and there isn't a penalty. They have to be. It is literally their game plan.

It has become their identity.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Bingo

xGA60 five on five defensemen with 100+ minutes

202 players

Weegar 4th 1.81
Nurse 159th 2.97

but but but ... Nurse is an offensive defenseman! He makes up for it!

xGF60

Weegar 37th 2.98
Nurse 118th 2.50

So no surprise ...

xGF%
Weegar 9th 61.7%
Nurse 146th 45.6%

You read those stats and you think: yeah, Nurse is no good.

But then you realize, these stats are being generated WITH McDavid or Draisaitl on the ice with him most of the time. How on earth can you have an xGF% of under 50% when you are playing a good chunk of your minutes with the best player in the game?

That is elite level sucking.

[Erick Estrada]

Nurse is having a nightmare season so far defensively. To be spending over $9 million on a defenseman that's a back hole in his own end is a disaster. I still can't understand how an NHL GM thought it was a good idea to sign a player a year early coming off a career season when that COVID season which was a total outlier season for several reasons. Heck one of the worst teams in the league made the SCF because it was such an outlier. Like what are you thinking?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Bingo

xGA60 five on five defensemen with 100+ minutes

202 players

Weegar 4th 1.81
Nurse 159th 2.97

but but but ... Nurse is an offensive defenseman! He makes up for it!

xGF60

Weegar 37th 2.98
Nurse 118th 2.50

So no surprise ...

xGF%
Weegar 9th 61.7%
Nurse 146th 45.6%

Remarkable really.

Man is that franchise hooped.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Was going to mention this in the OOT last night, but it should be in here...

Watching that game, and seeing all the talk during the broadcast and on twitter about the reffing - the mantra last night was "where are the penalties?" - not just from fans, but also from the media the commentators, and even the players, the first reaction is to think what are they whining about? Did I miss something? (spoiler: no, the reffing was fair, and was as balanced as you're going to get in an NHL game)

But then you realize, it wasn't just that game, it's every night. It's every single Oiler broadcast. The team, the commentators, the fans are in a perpetual state of "we deserve/need a PP". And there's the rub.

They NEED power plays. Their entire game plan is to try to survive 5 on 5, and score on the PP. The only way they can hope to win a game is to get at least 2 PP goals. And everyone knows this - the fans, the media, and the players.

So the entire game, the players are trying to draw penalties, and the commentators are calling for penalties, and the fans are outraged every time an Oiler gets touched and there isn't a penalty. They have to be. It is literally their game plan.

It has become their identity.

It started a good 2-3 years ago with Freidmann. Every time he was on HNIC (Oilers playing or not) he would squawk about how the league needs to call more for McDavid because he's simply THAT GOOD. A player this good needs to at least 38 minutes of PP time per night, that's what the fans want to see! It snowballed from there.

[Toonage]

MacLean (and other media members) lobbied as well, and sadly (or coincidentally) it seemed to work. Oiler games were just called differently. And yeah, it would seem they've become accustomed to it

[Ashasx]

i just hate the oilers

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by chummer

Lol Biz-

https://twitter.com/user/status/1592976025021206528

Right on que.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593081820375298050

[Tkachukwagon]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593120549290795008

You love to see it

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Boreal

Right on que.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593081820375298050

*you're

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Month of November Team Ranks

CF%
Cgy 2nd
Edmonton 26th

xGF%
Cgy 7th
Edm 25th

SCF%
Cgy 11th
Edm 24th

HDCF%
Cgy 2nd
Edm 20th

Oilers getting worked five on five

Oilers fans: ThE eYe TeSt TeLlS mE oThErWiSe!

[CroFlames]

I love how the Oilers have an army of fans and media to defend their honor online.

So insecure.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

*you're

And "too".
He insults the guys intelligence, then gets both of those wrong, lol.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I love how the Oilers have an army of fans and media to defend their honor online.

So insecure.

No other franchise has more cheerleaders in the media. It's just weird.

[CaptainCrunch]

Its not like we knew things about the Oilers that the Oiler fanbase didn't know. They just live in denial of it.

The bottom line is the Oilers are exactly what we thought they were. A team with two elite players in McDavid and Pissy, then nothing.

RNH and Hyman are decently good players, but losing Kane kills their top 6. But outside of those 4 players that forward group is expansion team bad.

Their blueline is a train wreck of chase and lose, Nurse is nowhere near a 9 million dollar defenseman, and that contract is going to handicap that team for years to come.

Campbell was what we thought he was, Oiler fans were bleating that he was going to be an elite starter. But he was so bad at the end of last year that the Leafs happily let him go. He's continued that track record.

In fact what has to be worrying is that Skinner with his 932 svpct is an outlier that cannot last, he's probably not ready for a starter role behind that awful defense.

I said at the start of this year when the Oiler faithful were bleating like developmentally delayed sheep that this team was worse then last years, that they would badly miss a stabilizing defenseman like Keith, and that Campbell was a poor mans Smith without the puck moving skills that bailed the Oilers out time after time last year.

They have a badly balanced team, what's worse for them is that last years miracle man Woodcroft the wunderkind coach, has run out of new coach smell and bump and is getting outcoached badly, and he's back to just letting Conna and the Urine do their own thing without structure in a quest for individual glory.

This team should have traded Draisaitl two years ago, they could have gotten a kings ransom to balance out their lineup, shored up their blueline and probably gotten a good middle strength forward or two or the assets to get that.

Now, and this is hilarious. They're screwed on Cap, yeah Kane being out for a lengthy period of time gives then cap relief so Oiler fans are screeching, give us Kane or Toewes. But Kane will be back they don't have the cap space, and unless they're willing to trade a prospect like Holloway (Not ready yet) their first, and a asset like Hyman or RNH, or one of their big two, there's . . . . just . .. . nothing . .. . interesting for other teams.

They could try to take Nurse, but they're going to have to eat a huge chunk of that salary or bribe another team to take him. But you can't pay a 3rd or 4th defenseman as a elite 1.

I don't think this is a slump and the Oilers are going to row out of it. The team's lack of good depth and pathetic blueline is going to drag that team into an early grave.

They should have rebuilt when they failed to take advantage of all of those high picks, but they didn't

Now they're in cap hell, their window is closing, their new coach is failing, and as this subpar play continues their two selfish superstars are going to do a slow burn.

Out by January.

Its not a prediction, its a spoiler.