bigfaninlethbridge

most of the shots in both games were perimeter muffins.

We are drafting and developing a 70's team in the 2020's. We are hooped.

we are in good hands, Sutter gets the reigns. Prepare for an old school team in new age NHL. We are hooped for the better part of a decade.

Bedard is ridiculous. That kid is going to be one special NHL player

Yes I figured that when I re-read your post. I edited mine to address that. When you turn back and see your team mate surrounded by opposing jerseys you defend him first and ask questions later. This team did nothing of the sort.

Exactly. We THINK our guys are worth more, but they aren't. This is a horribly built team, how Treliving continues getting a free pass is beyond me, because he built a team that is terrible. Had we traded JG 2 years ago before his shortcomings were made blatantly apparent we would have easily won a trade involving him. Monahan too. Giordano should have been traded right after winning the Norris to cash in on him, we all knew he was aging and it was downhill from there... but THEN somebody would have paid. Now, no way.

I wasn't talking specifically about the muzzin incident at all, but yes that is part of it. and nobody left the ice, they sat there and watched him take it with nobody coming to his side. Here's the video... the entire line was right there watching and doing nothing else. Not one of them left the ice. BUT, when you do see your linemate deep into it with four opposing jerseys on top of him you leap in to help them. You don't leisurely skate up there to who wants tea and crumpets. You steamroll the dicks that are pounding on your line mate. This team is not cohesive, they don't like each other, and will not take a punch for one another. The one player who would got blasted by his own team for it. Ridiculous. (OK there are two, Lucic too)

Of course that's true, and it's likely true for every team in the league. As you face the tougher teams that are the top of the divisions your goals for and goal differential goes down. That's how standings work, and Edmonton currently ranks second place in those standings with games in hand. It has nothing to do with over inflating tires, it has to do with their on ice performance. And newsflash, they are performing far better than we are, in fact they are performing better than most of the rest of the division and are biting at the heels of the one in top spot. That tells me they are a good team. Not good enough to win it all, but they are good and trending to be better. The sooner we see this and how they got there so we can fix our problems the better.

Take your foot out of your mouth, and follow along. Maybe you should read the comment before posting chirps about it and erroneously chastising somebody. I said nothing about goals for or goal differential, not even once in that post. What was it you said about letting facts get in the way of opinion? I said "First in the division for goals AGAINST ". and here's your proof:

tkachuk got screwed by his team mates. he wore his heart on his sleeve and everybody else sat back and watched while he was knee deep in the shizz. then his team mates stabbed him in the back telling him that basically he was the problem with stirring crap up. funny that wasn't a problem when the team was winning though was it? i don't blame him for losing interest, his team did long ago.

you don't think that maybe it's because we overvalue our players? we lucked out with bennet but it could very well be our ask for our players was higher than teams that were interested wanted to pay. our problem is we know what these guys have done, but the question that the trade partners are asking is what have they done lately?

they are first in the division for goals against and goals against per game. they are never blown out by any team. after their first handful of games when they put their crap together they have for the entire season been in either second or third in the division, even last night they blew the doors off of winnipeg. They are maddingly consistent in my opinion.

lol well said. Did anybody hear Boomer on the fan this morning? talking to Friedman he says "And the Oilers have been MADDINGLY consistent this year..." that to me puts it all in a nutshell right there.

There are 3 players on this team IMO that are carrying the load in the "heart" department. Tkachuk, Mangiapane, Lucic. Mango is still too young and not established, To me it's between Lucic and Tkachuk. Lucic has the heart of a lion but is aging and slowing and just doesn't have the talent. Tkachuk is IMO the defacto captain anyways. Give him the real leadership and see if this team starts to follow him.

OK well I think we've debated this one to death lol... time will tell if they are actually a good team trending towards great, or a bad team over performing and destined to fall back to the bottom. I think they are the former without question, and I think there are things that we can and should learn from them. I never once claimed them to be a top team, but by the eye test they sure seem to be trending that way.