travel_dude

I'm fine with the Bennett-Ryan-Mangiapane line. Could even be Mangiapane-Bennett-Ryan. The issue I have with Czarnik is that he will always shoot the puck over making a play. But that's just limited views this year, so I could be off. Part of the reason I would lean towards Ryan at C, is that it starts them with the puck more. It would help if they started wth the puck in the O-zone more. Right now, all the C's are struggling in sames, so It's hard to say what the best setup is to start them with pssession. On a side note, I find Bennett to be the guy with absolutely the worst luck on the team. He stands in front of the net, the puck hits him and dies, to be cleared by a defender, or goes off into the corner. He goes to a puck battle in the corner, and it comes loose on the opposite side he is on. He makes a pass and it goes behind a player. A player passes to him and it goes behind him. He's involved in a shift where the puck is controlled for the whole shift, and the end results is a weak shot by someone else. He touches a player and gets called for tripping or whatever. THAT must be frustrating.

IIRC, Bennett's first full year in the AHL was a combination of LW (playing with Granlund) and 2nd line LW with Backlund. He may have gotten some time in at C after Granlund was traded. Anywho, we can argue about what was best but this isn't helping. He needs to play consistently and have consistent linemates to raise his and their value. I have no idea what he does at practice, or how he responds on the bench. The coach has problems with him at times. Or he plays him like he has problems. He may just see things that we don't and is curbing the issues.

There are some teams that value the kind of game Bennett has, and has potential for. I doubt we get a solid return in any trade though, until he starts producing. Usage is going to be tough the way this team is stacked up. Lucic is burning 3rd line minutes and not really what we need out of him. I like the physical edge and some of his possession game, but he needs N/S players to succeed. Mangiapane is taking advantage of whatever minutes he gets. Ryan is starting slow. Janko is looking less like a NHL center, but he's only ever produced with 13-15 minutes. Rieder is I don't know what. Some good stuff and jinxed on his limited chances. Czarnik is limited results from very limited ice. The top 2 lines are returning to what they looked like last year. When you barely have a winning record, having them together right now is key. Not the time to "try" to get Bennett going in the top 6, unless you don't mind waiting 10-20 games for results. An injury to Backlund could trigger that, but even then I doubt they insert him. The only solution right now is to pick the 2 best remaining players and glue them to Bennett. That is likely Mangiapane and Ryan. Play Bennett at LW and stick to it. Having Mangiapane getting used to RW will give us a bit options should the top 6 have any issues. Bennett gets the role he's looked the best to date in. His linemates are solid, if not spectacular.

Early returns suggest a bunch of BF's (bottom feeders) will ne in the playoffs. EDM is getting a lot of teams on B2B's, A lot of goalies that are looking like crap. They are winning the games they should win.

Kassian and Chaisson are probably similar in results to Neal, when Neal is playing well. The goals they scored on the PP account for their (elevated) scoring for the season. Neither of them is a 20 goal guy really. Chaisson managed to get enough during his heater to finish over 20. But he is more usefull off the PP than Neal is. Don;t expect much from Neal at 5v5. Once his SH% cools down he won;t be contributing to the PP either. You are not going to get that many goalies playing like garbage in a season. They have faced 5 like that so far, which is pretty remarkable.

I am used to JJ's posting so I knew it was sarvasm. Bennett played a full year in the NHL unlike Draisaitl, but I get what you mean about going back in that first full season. Then again he had a decent enough rookie year. Not spectacular, but 18g 18a (4 g in one game I know). Do you send him to the AHL then? The next year was a bit less but he did have some decent depth player (other than Brouwer).

Draisaitl was meh his first season where they burned his first year and sent him back to the WHL. Thn he started in the AHL for 6 games, putting up 2 points. How is that the same? Bennett went to junior without playing a single NHL game, after his surgery. And then played the whole year after the playoffs, Was not eligible to play in the AHL until after that year. But anyway, we get the message. Would you trade him to EDM for Puljujarvi? Two players that have not met expectations or adapted to their circumstances. I am not saying Bennett should be lighting it up with the players he gets, but he should be at least doing what Mangiapane is doing. You want to score goals? Put yourself in position to do it.

What could go wrong. Tippie actually said they wanted to reel in the minutes of the top 2 players. That was before the season started. I guess you have to shorten the bench when trailing, and they have trailed every game. The bench must be really short. As in bucket seats.

I think he is actually on pace for 82 PP goals.

If the OIlers can play McDavid and Draisaitl 26 minutes per night, they stand a chance at winning games. The downside for them, even with playing non-playoff teams, is they have been trailing in every game so far. Not a recipe for success. In fact, a lot of those comebacks have been on the back of PP's. So, Neal is scoring on the PP. Good for him. He's just scoring the goals that Draisaitl or McDavid or Chaisson or Kassian would have on the PP. Doesn't mean I like the trade, just that it's too early to call it a steal.

EDM is making hay while the sun shines on their easy schedule. NYI the only playoff team from last year, and they suck so far. Games against team on the 2nd night of a B2B: NJ (last week) Philly (this week) DET (this week)

I find early season hockey to be like pre-season. Schedules favoring a team by having them ply against a team on game 2 of a B2B, Wink wink. Teams don;t really know what their goalies will be, so they make odd choices. Players on new teams, adjusting to it or playing like fire.

By some angles, the Flames won that game in Tampa in '04. Two angles they showed last night had the puck below his shoulders. BTW, I misquoted before. Crossbar is relevant if it's whacked in directly. If you play the puck with a "high stick" before you whack it in, the puck has to be below your shoulders. My bad. https://www.nhl.com/video/tkachuk-bats-game-tying-goal/t-309895990/c-69470603 Have a watch of the actual play and freeze it if you like, around 56 seconds into it. I don't think you see the puck contact his stick above his shoulders. The angle is from behind the net and gives a better perspective of where the stick was in relation to his shoulders. Draw a line between the puck and Campbell's shoulders and it's the same height, at the time he was in a crouch. The other angle in the footage is decieving because it's from a weird angle. Your pic is from that angle. The stats I was referring to was exactly what I was talking about. A huge contributing factor to two wins. Has nothing to do with last year or a full year. Has everything to do with 2 or 3 games. Fun debate.

I only had a few views of it, and didn't waste too much time. What I saw was the puck made contact below the crossbar, and he kinda lacrossed it down and batted it in. Oversight or not, it was reviewed, but the old addage is that it must be conclusive. The coach could have also called for a review had they not reviewed it. The difference between that goal and the Landeskog assist, was that took place in the neutral zone. The refs refused to review it themselves and refused to allow the challenge (rightly according to the rules). The other difference is that when you make contact above you head, that is obviously above the shoulders (standard for high stick that leads to another person scoring. In reference to the rest of your post, the the impact was obvious. The Oilers scored 2 in a games they won 6-5. Tied it up on one and GWG on the other. They scored 2 in a game they won 5-2. Go ahead goal on the first and 3-1 lead on the next.

I counted at least two plays where he used his size to prevent a play from happening. Not a big fan of using him in last minue situations or on the PP. That is not the right choice.

Helps if you get 5 PP opportunities against the Kings. And 5 against the Isles. Just saying. Honestly, I am surprised we managed to tie it up, considering Campbell is a better goalie than Quick. Bennett was in rare form taking a penalty in the last minute of play. Up to that point, the refs were fairly restrained.

Nuge, McD and Draisaitl all had career years last year. Kassian and Chaisson both benefitted from top line, #1PP time. That wasn't the problem. Depth scoring was. Both Kass and Chaisson scored little outside the top 6. If Lucic was supposed to provide that, they were mistaken. So, this year they have a guy to replace Chaisson in the top 6. Doesn't help much.

Good start against sub-par teams. Not being condescending, just saying. NYI is going to be bad this season, and Varly in nets is a real shame. Credit where credit is due, the top line is clicking. Doesn't matter who's on the top PP, they will score. Kassian, Chaisson, Neal....

Pretty easy to fit in a top 6 withour having defensive repsonsibilities. On a team where Jurco is a top 6. Playing 20 minutes in a game. So, to put it anothe way, the Oilers do not have a capable shutdown line. Nuge used to be, but they decided they need a 2nd scoring line, hense Neal playing there. TBH, he could have been worse this year. There was no place to go but up. Janko and Bennett both have had 4 goal games, but it means nothing.

Wasn't one of the 4 tonight a EN goal?

And so far, Rittich has not shown any bad tendencies. He's playing exactly how you want him to. Unlike the Happy Wanderer up north. Play the way we did in front of him last year and he will shine. I'm not as concerned about Talbot sitting as much as what his first game will look like. Get some win out of the way and clamp down extra hard when he does get in.

I personally don't think the Sharks are a harder game. Besides, the schedule is as follows: Tues LA @ CGY Thurs CGY @ DAL Sat CGY @ VGK Sun CGY @ SJS I would give Talbot DAL and SJS. Doesn't really matter, since Vegas is the tougher team but the team will be tired against SJS.

I'm not happy with the Lucic trade, but I will let the season unfold before I say it was a mistake. Passing on Smith was a load off my mind. He wouldn't be a good influence here this year. He's only in EDM because he thinks he will get more than 40 starts. He knows how bad Koskinen is. I've had my fill of soft goals, flopping around in the crease, and having a heart attack watching him casually play the puck behind the net. I don't even feel he made a difference in the COL series. Does it make sense to count 3 saves off one shot, because he can't handle a rebound? Mistake to start him. Rittich may not have fared any better, but watching the season end with Smith in nets was hard to take. They can choke on him. Won't be long before he waves his arms after a goal.

Early thought on Smith? We've seen that version before. I get some fans are drooling over Neal's 2 goal game, but honestly Keegan Lowe could have scored two on the PP with McD.

I'm just wondering what makes sense for him. He's primed to have a great year, but the team also has to help him out. And we do need two goalies with similar results.