Edmonton is No Good VIII: There's Still Something in the Water!

[Yrebmi]

Originally Posted by Redrum

With the different schedule/timing this year, I wonder what time of the season the Oilers reach their usual benchmarks. There's a lot more to figure out than just a new schedule.

OK I will play.

When will they be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs? Game 49
When will the Oilers and/or media start using the 3-stooges syndrome excuse for Connor (yet again)? Game 25
Will they try it with Drai now? yes
Will they be allowed to use that hilarious excuse again without risking Connor/Drai needing to be quarantined? They will instead say nursing undisclosed injury.
Jersey toss? sadly no
Lottery party? yup
Who will they pick 1st overall? Won't get first
How long before he scores a goal? Game 1 :/
Asks for a trade? Maybe if eliminated early.
Which one comes first? The goal

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

This happens every god-damned year. Every training camp McDavid is "stronger!", he "shoots harder!", and he is "even faster!!"

And yet , here we are ... fourteen years and one playoff appearance.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

That's because he tears all of his major muscles each off season and rebuilds.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Redrum

With the different schedule/timing this year, I wonder what time of the season the Oilers reach their usual benchmarks. There's a lot more to figure out than just a new schedule:

When will they be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs?
January 13th
When will the Oilers and/or media start using the 3-stooges syndrome excuse for Connor (yet again)?
Game 10
Will they try it with Drai now?
Yes
Will they be allowed to use that hilarious excuse again without risking Connor/Drai needing to be quarantined?
Yes
Jersey toss?
Game 14 by a staff member
Lottery party?
Like it's 1999
Who will they pick 1st overall?
Whoever is on the cover of the draft guide
How long before he scores a goal?
A couple games, banked off his back by McDavid
Asks for a trade?
As he puts on the jersey at the draft
Which one comes first?
January 13th

[VilleN]

I hope McDavid scores 2 pts per game. They’ll still miss the playoffs. The better McDavid does while the Oilers toil in mediocrity only highlights just how bad they truly are. They are going to be remembered for squandering the greatest offensive talent the game has ever seen... how can you recover from that? What can you possibly hope for after that to reverse your fortunes?

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by VilleN

I hope McDavid scores 2 pts per game. They’ll still miss the playoffs. The better McDavid does while the Oilers toil in mediocrity only highlights just how bad they truly are. They are going to be remembered for squandering the greatest offensive talent the game has ever seen... how can you recover from that? What can you possibly hope for after that to reverse your fortunes?

Really?

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Keep thinking of the story about when Yzerman bought into being a complete player. Perrenial 100+ point player - played to get points. Bowman came to him one season and asked him to be a more complete player and told him his point totals would drop but the team would have more success. Yzerman never scored 100 points again but the team went on to win 3 cups and Yzerman was one of the best Captains in the history of the NHL.

I hope the 2 wonderboys up there keep playing just for the points. Let them have all the Harts and Art Ross', thats all they'll have.

This is exactly what is needed. McDavid as a checker and on the pk with that speed could be dominate. He could play that role and still get 90 or more points. Biggest problem is the red wings were stacked. The Oilers need him to score.

Watching McDavid and leon reminds me of dion Phaneuf years ago when the Flames decided to ride him big minutes. He eventually started to coast on the ice to conserve energy. Imo it ruined him. He just turned into a lazy player lost his edge physically. McDavid and Leon had way to many 24+ min games last season. When you need them to score and score because no other line scores they got lazy in their own zone. Its hard to play 24+ on forward night in night out and work your tail off and commit to d on every shift.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

This is exactly what is needed. McDavid as a checker and on the pk with that speed could be dominate. He could play that role and still get 90 or more points. Biggest problem is the red wings were stacked. The Oilers need him to score.

Watching McDavid and leon reminds me of dion Phaneuf years ago when the Flames decided to ride him big minutes. He eventually started to coast on the ice to conserve energy. Imo it ruined him. He just turned into a lazy player lost his edge physically. McDavid and Leon had way to many 24+ min games last season. When you need them to score and score because no other line scores they got lazy in their own zone. Its hard to play 24+ on forward night in night out and work your tail off and commit to d on every shift.

Absolutely! I saw a live Oilers game last year and it was incredible how much coasting around the ice McDavid does. I mean it's really amazing, I bet he spends 25% of his ice time doing absolutely nothing. Sure it's impressive to see him turn on the burners when he gets sprung but that's about all you're going to get out of him. Clear as day he's not going to lead any team through a couple of rough rounds.

[VilleN]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

Really?

I’d say he’s up there. Few have had the offensive gifts that he has... As far as raw offensive talent is concerned I would say he’s in the conversation. I didn’t think that was controversial... the Oilers have still managed to #### it up. Which I find hilarious. They made an awkward kid with poor leadership skills the captain without earning it, they haven’t made him develop his defensive game and essentially they remove him from any responsibility for their lack of success... the fact that he likely could have been so much more with another team is what really highlights Edmonton’s no goodness.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Pre-Season is the second most entertaining time on the E=NG thread.

Most entertaining, of course, being the 1/3 point of the season after the somewhat respectable start disintegrates.

[Groot]

Tippett's concerns so far in Oilers camp

https://thehockeywriters.com/edmonto...cerns-at-camp/

Tippett spoke with the media after practice and noticed a few things that the team, specifically a few players, will need to work on if the team is going to get out of the gate with a good start and their strong special teams numbers are going to continue to be a weapon for them.

After not skating for a month, Tippett admitted that Neal needs to get caught up with the rest of the group. “It’s going to take him some time to get up and going here, but he’s got a great attitude, he jumps in there and he’s been working hard.” He added, “We’ll keep at it, but he’s got a ways to go yet.”

Tippett did note that it’s going to take a little time for the Oilers, specifically the guys on the power play to get used to Tyson Barrie at the point.

When talking about newly-extended defenseman Ethan Bear, Tippett said, “He’s got to get up and going here.” Tippett chalked that off to Bear being not quite there mentally.

So Neal somehow has a way to go to even return to last year's form. Man he must be playing some ugly hockey right now.

PP needs work as the team has to adjust to Barrie. If the PP returns to normal % the Oilers season is over.

Klefbom out and "single Calder vote" Ethan Bear is having a rough start. Hard to imagine the Oilers defense getting worse but that seems to be a very real possibility.

This is gonna be a terrible season for Oilers fans, great for the chiadenfraude in others.

[Locke]

How do we know what Dave Tippet is the biggest liar that ever lied?

"James Neal has a great attitude."

Sorry.....Dave's not here man....

Many people have lied about James Neal over the years, but that right there....you're asking a lot.

[jessnuts]

Originally Posted by Locke

How do we know what Dave Tippet is the biggest liar that ever lied?

"James Neal has a great attitude."

Sorry.....Dave's not here man....

Many people have lied about James Neal over the years, but that right there....you're asking a lot.

Unless...

great
/ɡrāt/
adjective
1.
of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average.

[Enoch Root]

Neal thinks he is great - thus he has a 'great' attitude

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Neal thinks he is great - thus he has a 'great' attitude

So Oilers.

[Groot]

Neil is great, if you were to compare him to an average beer league player.

If you were to compare him to an NHLer, he's an average beer league player.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Groot

Neil is great, if you were to compare him to an average beer league player.

If you were to compare him to an NHLer, he's an average beer league player.

I'm not going to comment on his skills, he is an NHL player and I know what that takes and its insane, he is a massively talented person.

James Neal's Achilles' Heel is being James Neal. That man thinks he's God's Gift to Hockey but hes just James Neal.

If there is one thing that can be incontrovertibly applied to James Neal its that he is a rotten teammate and has a terrible attitude. James Neal cares about one thing and one thing only: James Neal.

I initially hated the Neal/Lucic trade because it was garbage in/garbage out. But Milan Lucic, if nothing else, appears to a great teammate and apparently a wonderful human being. And its not my money, so I'll call that a win.

I hope Neal has fun losing in Edmonton.

[Macho0978]

Neal was motivated last year. An off season of media comments about how bad he was and a team that just signed him traded him for what most were saying was the worst contract in the league. He took offense and played well early. As the motivation faded and others started to take his ice time he got worse. Now they added more guys id say will move ahead of him on forward. I bet he ends up on the 4th line by mid season. He will be bought out too.

The retained salary plus buy out will continue to put Edmonton at 4 to 6 million dead cap space for the rest of Leon's contract. Then he will ask for 15 mil. Can't wait

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Neal was motivated last year. An off season of media comments about how bad he was and a team that just signed him traded him for what most were saying was the worst contract in the league. He took offense and played well early. As the motivation faded and others started to take his ice time he got worse. Now they added more guys id say will move ahead of him on forward. I bet he ends up on the 4th line by mid season. He will be bought out too.

The retained salary plus buy out will continue to put Edmonton at 4 to 6 million dead cap space for the rest of Leon's contract. Then he will ask for 15 mil. Can't wait

I didn't even think he played all that well in October. It's just that every shot he took went in for the first 10 or 15 games. Once that returned to normal, that was that.

[Vinny01]

Neal is going to be a disaster for the Oil this year and almost certainly a buyout next summer which would result in them spending 2.65M to not have Lucic on the team with penalties of 1.9M for 2 years after the contract would have expired.

[GS Skier]

Originally Posted by Groot

Tippett's concerns so far in Oilers camp

https://thehockeywriters.com/edmonto...cerns-at-camp/



So Neal somehow has a way to go to even return to last year's form. Man he must be playing some ugly hockey right now.

PP needs work as the team has to adjust to Barrie. If the PP returns to normal % the Oilers season is over.

Klefbom out and "single Calder vote" Ethan Bear is having a rough start. Hard to imagine the Oilers defense getting worse but that seems to be a very real possibility.

This is gonna be a terrible season for Oilers fans, great for the chiadenfraude in others.

They honestly believe that Bear and Caleb are solid with not quite 2 years experiance between them and that Bouchard and a couple of other rookies with zero NHL experiance will do fine for their taxi squad. They actually believe that they could TRADE a defenseman!

Vancouvers practice is cancelled due to covid concerns today. Teams will play every second night and there will be banged up players at a higher pace. Their D is no screamin h*&l anyway so it's not if, but when their D has two guys off for short term bangs and bruises that they will be in deep do do. They can cope with forward injuries as long as it isn't the big 2, but defense?
Thats mission critical and a lot of teams are waaay better set there including the Flames.