There has been a lot of discussion about their defense being worse than last year, but few are talking about the reduction in size and speed up front - especially while Kane is on LTIR. These are their wingers to start the season:
Last year, their forecheck and Ozone physicality was led by: Foegele, McLeod, Kane and Holloway. This year they are back to the team of 5 years ago - soft, and waiting for McDavid and Draisaitl to do something.
Yeah it appears they built a team to excel in the regular season. Another thing the talking heads haven't considered is that the Oilers only had a couple of months off between seasons and considering the age of their roster I would expect some tired legs in the back half of this coming season and Draisaitl in particular seemed to finally show signs of slowing down last season.
Also the pundits seem to have discounted the Oilers road to the finals where the Stars were the only legit contender they had to face on route to the finals. I just don't accept that teams like the Avalanche, Stars, & Knights are going to fold their tents this season as those teams are really good and in particular I think the Avs and Stars should be the class of the west.
Jeff Skinner is the new Kyle Turris who was the new Tyler Ennis. Former second liners with generic white dude name who will be out of the league in a season or two.
Yeah it appears they built a team to excel in the regular season. Another thing the talking heads haven't considered is that the Oilers only had a couple of months off between seasons and considering the age of their roster I would expect some tired legs in the back half of this coming season and Draisaitl in particular seemed to finally show signs of slowing down last season.
Also the pundits seem to have discounted the Oilers road to the finals where the Stars were the only legit contender they had to face on route to the finals. I just don't accept that teams like the Avalanche, Stars, & Knights are going to fold their tents this season as those teams are really good and in particular I think the Avs and Stars should be the class of the west.
Fortunately for the Oilers, they are in the weakest division in the league - by a large margin.
The Central is incredibly deep - at least one of NSH, MIN, and STL won't make the playoffs, even though all of them would probably finish top 3 in the Pacific. Hell, even Utah might be able to get 3rd in the Pacific, and they still may end up being 7th in the Central this year.
Thoughts and prayers to Lavoie and his family. Lavoie must have thought he made it out of the sewer... He must hate Cole Schwindt right now, as he's the reason Vegas waived him.
Yeah, I feel like I am missing something big time by not seeing, at all, how Edmonton can be such an overwhelming favorite for all these pundits.
I doubt that some of these guys actually believe what they’re saying and predicting. But they’re all well aware of who signs their checks, and as long as McLotteryball and Pissy are in Edmonton, the Rogers/SN narrative will continue to be that the Oilers are the greatest most elite team in history. A lot of these pundits are just following their marching orders.
Well Craig Button picked the Oilers to win the Cup so given what a buffoon he is we won't see that happen. The Oilers should have hired him as GM, he would have traded Draisaitl away for some unknown Russian prospect.
500k over the cap now with Kane still not on LTIR. So they either have to send Savoie down as he's the only waiver-exempt player they have or they have to officially LTIR Kane
It won't affect their cap space. They will have to send Savoie down to make room for Lavoie, and Lavoie actually makes $100k less, so it helps them
Allegedly they're over the cap with the Lavoie claim, so how does that work if they're not allowed to actually exceed the cap? The waiver claim should void and he should go to the next claimant.
Well Craig Button picked the Oilers to win the Cup so given what a buffoon he is we won't see that happen. The Oilers should have hired him as GM, he would have traded Draisaitl away for some unknown Russian prospect.
It was really weird, because he started by saying he thought they had problems on defense, weren't as good, etc. and he wasn't going to pick them, but then decided to ignore his better judgement and join the circle-jerk anyway.
allegedly they're over the cap with the lavoie claim, so how does that work if they're not allowed to actually exceed the cap? The waiver claim should void and he should go to the next claimant.
