travel_dude

Unless you have a 2nd team that you cheer for, that is in the playoffs, I don't see getting pumped up for the playoffs. I want to see whomever plays the Oilers destroy them. I would like to see COL come out of the West perhaps, but I could support DAL. LA would be okay as well. I won't be cheering for Canada's team even if they are the last one standing. Only three of them and I don't like any of them.

I don't know what to think about WPG. They have a superior goalie. But they suck most nights. We beat them and didn't even play a perfect game. LA and SEA are battling for 3rd in the Pacific. SEA could cement their spot with a RW and a LA loss. That puts EDM facing LA and COL winning the conference (assuming they win out and EDM gets a single). Hard to believe that we may not even know the seedings until games 82. WPG plays either COL, VGK or EDM. SEA plays either EDM or VGK or DAL or COL. SEA is the only team that will know before they play if they have to win to avoid those teams.

Instead of getting their starter ready for the playoffs, they have a question mark in nets. Skinner is the better goalie, but that has changed over the last few months. Campbell struggles, Skinner takes the ball. Skinner has the ball and starts to struggle, so Campbell gets the ball. Neither has meaningful playoff experience or success. The Oilers were gifted PP's last playoffs. In what is typically a drought, it poured. When it dried up in the 3rd round, so did the winning. Same thing against WPG the year before. Without the PP firing on all cylinders, they are 20 points back. 82 PP goals from 4 players and 2 from one D-man. That is it. I'm not discounting what the team has done, but the stats show a lot. Starter - 36 games 21-9-4 record with .888 and a 3.41 Backup - 49 games 28-14-5 record with .914 and 2.76

Did you not also tout Cossa as being the guy we should be looking at? RE: Wallstedt - he is not one of the top AHL goalies out there this year. I would have lost my mind (for a wee bit of time) had we chosen Wallstedt or Cossa. Especially Cossa, who I always felt played on a stacked team. Wolf ending his WHL years and starting AHL with the amazing numbers. Waited to the playoffs last year to start getting shutouts. Anyway, we didn't need another goalie in 2021. We needed more F and D. I'm not pumping Wolf because of one game. He's a AHL All Star and will have a longer runway before he needs to be the starter here.

Maybe that is true, but the epitome of failure is not making the playoffs. You don't play 82 games, sacrifice your body, make unpopular roster decisions, pay $81.5M to play hockey. Every year you miss the playoffs is another year of failure. While I don't always agree with the moves we make, if you make round one in one year, success is measured around getting to the next round. The year following the VAN series, we should have made progress. The year following the COL series we should have made progress. The year after the EDM series we should have made progress. In each one of those failure years, one thing was consistent. Coaching changed perspective and the success went out the window. I'm not sure how you react to a goalie playing to the point of failure, then going back the next year with the same rotation. You had great goals for/goals against differential, then decide you want to play more low scoring games. We had that because we didn't play prevent to protect a one goal lead. We were one of the best teams for scoring in the first period, but failed to follow up in the 2nd.

I don't know if I get it, just that we seemed to pick guys without talking to them.

That was a Burke move.

If I hdn't already said that, then I am saying. Peletier-Ruzie-Coronato 3rd or 4th line. Shelter them.

I don't really remember it. Maybe something like our best players needed to be our best. Tkachuk owned up to every loss whether it was his fault or not. Backlund saying what needed to happen. This year it was Huberdeau needs to work on his game. Or Vladar made some good stops but let in a bad one. Or our PP didn't score or put in the goal that sails over the net or off a post. Like you goofed. Markstrom took way more blame than he was ever shown. I don't recall the coach saying the 4th line was on for a couple goals against. I don't think the team ever looked as bad as the Jets did when they were called out in the media. We had some pathetic games, but I don't think they are games you openly criticize them. We failed but not the way the Jets looked like they didn't care. Maybe just me.

More like WOOF.

If you look at the guys that go before we pick, there are some that are going to drop, meaning that other possibly drop to us. Do you see any you would trade up for? Meaning likely left at 10-15th. I looked after us, and the one that popped out was Wood. Good UConn numbers and size and position, but no idea. Maybe the weakest division.

Start with Kadri. He was the messenger for a team that half the players felt the same thing. Sutter had a closed door policy, so not being willing to talk it out with Kadri or Hubey created a split. You can fault Kadri for having a chip destroy his game, but there was a lot in the exact same boat that just shrugged and said whatever. That was exactly what this team was; whatever. Hard to get up for games when the coach says it's this way only and half the team feels it's hurting the season. On Gaudreau and Tkachuk. For what it's worth, we had 2 players (more actually) that wouldn't play for us this year. None of them said it was the coach, but the reasons seemed like guys that wanted to spare the coach. Hard to blame a coach when you have your career year. Guddy signed in CBJ, but was that the coach's dick comments or playing with Johnny or money. Gaudreau and Tkachuk never mentioned the coach, but gave some lame sounding reasons. Blame the wife. Blame not getting a longer deal when you are positioned to be the highest paid Flame ever. Weak sauce. I'm not saying Coronato belong or doesn't belong in the NHL. I don't know. Who have we really developed that way? It makes no sense to bring in a prospect and play them on a 4th line that is all grit. Ruzicka's best was on the top line. Once he played on the 4th line, he was barely NHL. Duehr was more like a Hathaway, so it didn't hurt to have him play with Lewis. Not exactly top 6 material though. Choices Play him in the AHL with guys that he may never play again with. He learns the game at the AHL level and gets used to the team and style and players. He's going to have a tough adjustment to the NHL game. He gets a call up and plays where there is a need. He gets pigeonholed as a certain type. Play him in the NHL with similar like minded, same age guys with similar skills. Shelter the line. The NHL adjustment happens early in the season when every team is adjusting. He has a tough game, he sits the next to get a different view. Not 5 games, just 1. When he gets his first NHL goal, he will get hungry for the next one. Key to this type of plan is that you give enough leeway that mistakes are considered learning. Whatever decisions we make next season, it can't be icing a grit 4th line. That is how maybe a handful of teams coach.

Gaudreau was always an assist first player. But if you take out one 40 goal guy, where is that going to come from? I don't have an issue with Kadri, other than he was not used right. He's not the guy to gain the zone. Put him with another passer on the wrong wing and expect him to be the guy to gain the zone and finish plays? Gaudreau without Monahan in top form was a passer with little targets. Huberdeau without a fast break group of finishers is not going to work. With Coronato, I think you need to build a new line. Not using Kadri, just bringing together a group of similar skilled guys and let them develop. I suggest Ruzie and Pelletier, because they are the right age to grow together. Big C that can pass and shoot. LW that can pass and go to the net. RW that has a shot. Kadri is the type you need to look at how he was successful and build the line with that. Duehr maybe a good RW for him. Need a different type for LW, and I don't know if we have it.

Yes and no really. One goal games suggest that he saved 1 goal too few too often. But it's hard to pin it on goaltending when he plays well and we score 2 or less way too often. 80 times we hit the post. Add in the 40 missing goals this season and we get maybe 5-10 more wins. 5 of the OTL can be blamed on penalties, no doubt. Forcing guys to the wrong wing, taking out productive players for grinders. Bag skates, pissing off players, playing the vet when your backup is on a win streak. Making a goaltending change makes sense because we have two young guys ready for work. With no other changes to the game, it doesn't get us back to being a playoff team. You need to outscore the other teams when your goalie is meh. I think it's something like 19 games where Markstrom let in 4 or more. Of those, we got points in 10 games, some of them wins. The other 40 should have been more winnable. If you can gets points in 50% of the games you get scored on 4 or more goals, why can't you win more when they score 3 or less against you? Too many reasons why we didn't win games. Puck luck, poor PP, playing from behind in the first period, wasted chances, bad lineup decisions, wrong goalie in nets, poor player management....The list goes on.

I think that's what happens when you change the game for a top player. His best stretch of game IMHO was the start of the year. Chance to play with Lindholm, a former 40 goal guy.

I don't think he was that much better after the birth. His last 19 games he was 9-6-4. And that was his best stretch, against some of the weakest teams.

Yeah, I get that. It depends on his family situation. He's only ever played in Canada and FLA, so he may not even consider a trade to another US team. CGY is the retirement community for hockey players.

You posted a non-Sutter team up there. We have to trade Backlund, regardless of direction we go in. He's done with this team and we need to get younger and cheaper. I can see getting a decent return on Backlund, very low risk C for any team. Kadri is a non-starter in a trade, not because I love him but because you can't trade him. Tanev would be possible too, since he's a guy that a team like COL uses. They have 2 guys 35+ right now. Coleman might be of interest to TBL, but may require retained salary; they have guys aging out. Hanifin should be our most valuable asset to trade. If we go that route, then either we need to use Dube at C or trade him. Possible D with those trades, Ras, Weegar, Zadorov, Kylington, Stecher. Need one more 5/6D. Possible F with those trades: Hubey, Kadri, Lindholm, Toffoli, Dube, Mangiapane, Ruzie, Pelts, Coronato, Duehr. Need a 3rd line.

The issue is 3 years remaining of an aging goalie. Vegas needs a solution, since Lehner is a big unknown and Quck is likely done. But we are trading from a weakness of a bad season. It's a possible trade, but I don't see what they give us that makes it a win for us. The unfortunate thing is that we never explored what Vladar really was. Sutter set his mind and it didn't matter what Vladar did or didn't do. Under a new coach, I think you see Vladar and Wolf thrive. Forces the D to play a little different, but they played better in front of Vladar mostly.

Unfortunately, if you trade Vladar, you get 62+ games of Markstrom. But, it does make the most sense considering that Markstrom is untradeable.

It really depends on what we have in the roster by training camp time. This wasn't a great game to get a read on him, since it was at best unstructured. All you need to do it look at the way lines were set up last night. There was no thought to it, just players plugged in. We have too many LW that play best on LW. Only 2 main guys that play best on RW; Toffoli and Duehr. Dube on top line doesn't work for me, not when you have Huberdeau. Our 3C should be Ruzicka and we should move Backlund to save cap. Not a change because Backlund sucks, just that we are spending too much for the spot. Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli should be obvious. Kadri with Mangiapane and maybe Duehr. Pelletier-Ruzie-Coronato should be the third line but shelter them. 4th line should be fast and responsible. That's major surgery, but may be possible. May have to use Ruzie line in that case. That leaves you Dube and Coleman with the Backlund replacement.

ARI will re-sign both Ritchie's. I was okay with Brett, but he wasn't a good fighter. So, it was just grit when he was healthy. I'm not against having a fighter in the lineup for a dozen games, maybe 24, but 82 is not needed. If we get a new GM, then he's going to have to decide on the roster, not the coach. I can personally do without anyone named Lewis, Lucic or Ritchie. Coleman is a liability most nights, since he takes 10-1 penalties to what he draws. Considering that we have to make trades to keep the roster we already have for next year, there is little to nothing available for scrubs. Backlund and Hanifin out for cheaper alternatives isn't because they are useless or one of our best C's, it's about surviving the cap and changing the approach to the team.

Only NAS can pass us now, but they need 2 wins of any type. Sutter's reliance on Markstrom for the final 19 of 20 games gave us a 9-6-4 record in his starts. 22 of 38 possible with the easiest schedule in the league. Not like we would beat EDM, COL or Vegas, but if you already screw up a decent draft pick, you best get in. 10 of those games he has > 900 SA% and 7 of those 10 resulted in points. I guess it doesn't really matter, we were going to draft late with this coach. Play the kids in game 82, but play the A team with them to make sure they have a good chance to win. This game could have been a game to look at what we have coming up, instead it was continue with the same group that couldn't get it done. We saw the best goalie in the AHL and two prospects, but no Duehr or Zary or even Phillips.

Thanks for nothing Markstrom. Lost the key games when they meant getting in. Thanks coach for ruining the team. Thanks Kadri for turning into a shooter and Huberdeau forgetting how to pass. Thanks Ruzicka for sitting out enough games to have us miss the playoffs. Thanks former cup winners for providing zero knowledge on how to win.

It's possible that the Oilers face WPG in round 1. That's a tough team to beat in the playoffs. They blew it once. LA is a tougher team when they are rolling.