McDavid turns 24yrs old in mid January...he's got 6yrs left on his deal. Can we say we're on the back nine of the McDavid in Edmonton era yet? Feels like it.
Is their lineup this year better than last year's?
Goalies - worse due to aging
D - replaced Klefblom with Barrie, neutral at best or slightly worse
F - added more depth
To me they are slightly better, but hopefully the fact that they are no good will overpower any additional depth
sounds like the company line...what is so great about their added depth? more bad defensive players added and it doesn't even matter because 2 guys get all the minutes
Is their lineup this year better than last year's?
Goalies - worse due to aging
D - replaced Klefblom with Barrie, neutral at best or slightly worse
F - added more depth
To me they are slightly better, but hopefully the fact that they are no good will overpower any additional depth
I've always thought that Klefbom was over rated by a bit, but he's solid in his end and has a good first pass, he's a good middle pairing guy but not a top pairing guy. Barrie is a defensive nightmare. You can't have him on the ice when your nursing a lead. He's a power play specialist, and Toronto fans badly wanted him gone.
When you look at the forward ranks
1) RNH, McDavid, Kassian - Kassian is hot garbage, after his so called battle with MT and signing his contract he showed his character and checked out.
2) Ennis Draisaitl and Yamamoto - The jury is still out on Draisaitl driving his own line. Ennis is nothing special. Yamamoto was blistering at the start, but tailed off badly when things got physical.
3) Archibald Turris Chiasson - This is a bad third line. Turris looks done, Archibald is a good checker, Chiasson looked done
4) Neal Khaira Pool Party - Neal for his goals was incredibly streaky, for the most part he was bad with a few streaks. Khaira is pretty much trash. Pool Party on the fourth line is laughable and I'm not sold that he's going to have a miracle return.
They have a decent top 6 sort of because of McDavid, Draisaitl and RNH but after that its sub par, their third and fourth line look like garbage. As a forward group there's no defensive consciousness either.
They have a sub par blueline, Nurse is awful in his own end. Bear tailed off badly, Larsson looks lost and Russell is a in zone disaster who has to block shots to clean up his mistakes.
Don't get me started on their goaltending. Their decent record last year was a product of special teams, 5v5 they were terrible and will be worse this year.
They'll finish ahead of Ottawa and that's about it.
I have spoken.
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Is their lineup this year better than last year's?
Goalies - worse due to aging
D - replaced Klefblom with Barrie, neutral at best or slightly worse
F - added more depth
To me they are slightly better, but hopefully the fact that they are no good will overpower any additional depth
Then I think you may have started drinking early.
Even if, and its a mighty 'if' I were to agree with your assessment there...were their forwards really their biggest problem last season? Many would contend that it was their defence and goaltending which....at the most optimistic could be described as 'No Better.'
And their added forward depth? It doesnt matter. They're adding 3rd and 4th liners 'who can play.'
Thats not really going to move the needle a whole helluva lot.
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I think the biggest issue for the Oilers is some of their metrics last year not repeating. If that happens no added forward depth is going to save them.
Generational powerplay, top of the league penalty kill ... and then Draisaitl's line having some of the biggest on ice shooting percentage metrics in the league.
Law of averages brings the first two back to the norm to some degree at least, and I guess we'll see when it comes to the Draisaitl numbers. Bottom line something is fishy when Yamamoto leads the league in that stat.
McDavid turns 24yrs old in mid January...he's got 6yrs left on his deal. Can we say we're on the back nine of the McDavid in Edmonton era yet? Feels like it.
I mean, I do have less sympathy because he's making $12.5M a year, and he's the one who signed the longterm deal. But I do feel kinda bad for McDavid in that, 10 years down the road, knowing that he was a generational talent, it would dawn on him that he potentially wasted 11 prime years playing in Edmonton, with that joke of an organization never doing anything good?
Last edited by The Yen Man; 12-01-2020 at 11:50 AM.
Even better is he is wearing 0 Oilers branded gear. I am SURE the Oilers can spring for some branded workout gear for their top player... he just doesnt want to wear it?
Looks like the girlfriend also got the contract for choosing the color palette for that gym.
Also, maybe she's branching out in her awkwardness in now trying her hand at filming and editing hype videos.
