Oilers

[C_worthy]

Itll be interesting to see if Evander Kane will accept The Jets offer.TSN has it at 6 years 29 million.So around 4.8 per year.The guy just doesnt seem happy there does he.Reminds me of what Nashville did to Weber,lowballing him the year before.Howd that work out for them.?Halls contract is just right,everyones happy.Mostly the fans,the guy will be playing in Edmonton pretty well all his 20s.A two time MC MVP,led his team to back to back championships.A future Olympian for years to come.Hes worth taking a chance on a 7 year deal.Eberle next,another future Olympian,coming soon to a message board near you.

And about that pic Carty...only one heads up per person.,it makes no difference to me.

This post is so typical of Oiler nation... an entire franchise completely based on hope.

"he deserves $6m a year because he's going to be a future Olympian for years to come"

He hasn't really done anything yet.

"doesn't matter - it's all about hope and he's going to be the next Mark Messier!"

What about the fact that you don't have any defense or goaltending?

"what are you talking about? Didn't you see how much Tambilowe paid Dubnyk? That's because he's going to be a great goalie, you'll see. The Oilers are going to be great! Oh, and we just signed Schultz and he's going to be a superstar too!"

He hasn't played a game yet.

"You're just a hater, we're going to be great!"

[Carty]

And about that pic Carty...only one heads up per person.,it makes no difference to me.

Either you made up what you posted, perhaps heard it from a friend, or just got it from an extremely unreliable source...

It is obviously a Photoshopped pic intended for humor... The story you gave was BS...

[Flyerfan52]

This post is so typical of Oiler nation... an entire franchise completely based on hope.

"he deserves $6m a year because he's going to be a future Olympian for years to come"

He hasn't really done anything yet.

"doesn't matter - it's all about hope and he's going to be the next Mark Messier!"

What about the fact that you don't have any defense or goaltending?

"what are you talking about? Didn't you see how much Tambilowe paid Dubnyk? That's because he's going to be a great goalie, you'll see. The Oilers are going to be great! Oh, and we just signed Schultz and he's going to be a superstar too!"

He hasn't played a game yet.

"You're just a hater, we're going to be great!"

You "Nail"ed it. (pardon the pun)

[ConnorFutureGM]

This post is so typical of Oiler nation... an entire franchise completely based on hope.

"he deserves $6m a year because he's going to be a future Olympian for years to come"

He hasn't really done anything yet.

"doesn't matter - it's all about hope and he's going to be the next Mark Messier!"

What about the fact that you don't have any defense or goaltending?

"what are you talking about? Didn't you see how much Tambilowe paid Dubnyk? That's because he's going to be a great goalie, you'll see. The Oilers are going to be great! Oh, and we just signed Schultz and he's going to be a superstar too!"

He hasn't played a game yet.

"You're just a hater, we're going to be great!"

Most contracts after a young star's ELC is over is based on projections. Hall is getting paid more than Tavares but less than Kane. They are withing 800k of each other si I'll take it.

Fans have tendencies to compare players to other players. If for example, the Flames had Evander Kane on the team I'm sure a few of you would compare him to Iginla. No player is the exact same as another but there are always comparisons made.

The goaltending and defence will need to be attended to eventually. Teams aren't completely rebuilt in one off season.

Dubnyk got 3.5 because Schnieder got 4 and over three seasons and he hasn't been an NHL starter yet.

There is a tendency on the Flames board to be extremely critical of the Oilers rebuild and potential they have. I visit other Canadian teams boards too and they generally agree that the Oilers should turn into a contender. It's only on the Flames board where most people like explain why the Oilers' glass is half empty. At the same time, almost all posters on these other Canadian team sites think the Flames need to rebuild because they are going nowhere faster than the speed of suck.

[Flyerfan52]

The goaltending and defence will need to be attended to eventually. Teams aren't completely rebuilt in one off season.

6 off seasons.

Dubnyk got 3.5 because Schnieder got 4 and over three seasons and he hasn't been an NHL starter yet.

So Dubnyk is almost as good as Schneider?

There is a tendency on the Flames board to be extremely critical of the Oilers rebuild and potential they have. I visit other Canadian teams boards too and they generally agree that the Oilers should turn into a contender. It's only on the Flames board where most people like explain why the Oilers' glass is half empty. At the same time, almost all posters on these other Canadian team sites think the Flames need to rebuild because they are going nowhere faster than the speed of suck.

Do any posters on the other boards pay any attention to the Oilers? They likely just see all those picks & figure they have to become good someday.

To most fans Edmonton is an afterthought. Mention the 1/1 picks & there might be a response like "Didn't they have a few SC winners back in the day?" or "How can we steal 1 of those 1/1 picks?".

[woodendoug]

Some people feel more secure when things are going in their favor. And some in addition also have a back up plan so when plan A fails fall to plan B. Good thinking.

In Alberta we have two teams one strong and one on the rise. I suspect when the strong team starts to faulter some will become an exclusive PF fan.

[stranger]

This post is so typical of Oiler nation... an entire franchise completely based on hope.

"he deserves $6m a year because he's going to be a future Olympian for years to come"

He hasn't really done anything yet.

"doesn't matter - it's all about hope and he's going to be the next Mark Messier!"

What about the fact that you don't have any defense or goaltending?

"what are you talking about? Didn't you see how much Tambilowe paid Dubnyk? That's because he's going to be a great goalie, you'll see. The Oilers are going to be great! Oh, and we just signed Schultz and he's going to be a superstar too!"

He hasn't played a game yet.

"You're just a hater, we're going to be great!"

[/quote Look,there is no way to shake the excitement from Oiler fans.Even in the goaltending dept.6ft6 Devin Dubnyk is ready for the next step.The kid was a 2 time WJC tender for team Canada for a reason.Tyler Bunz,a kid from Edmonton,the WHLs "goaltender of the year winner" will be in his 1st pro season.Theyve got a couple highend kids playing in the goaltender factory of Finland,yes its Rinne,Kipper land,big kids that are turning heads over there.The defence,is even more exciting,especially if your in the grocery business.Anyone remember the show The Friendly Giant,{actually thatd be a great nickname for JBO}anyway"Look up,look waaaay up"comes to mind here.Reporters are starting to use steplatters to interview these guys.Some of them even ordered stilts.Pssst..rumor has it the Mr.Big and Tall shops owner in Edmonton just ordered a new Mercedes in anticipation of training camp business. This stuff is for real,cross my heart.

[cross16]

The goaltending and defence will need to be attended to eventually. Teams aren't completely rebuilt in one off season.

It's been more than one off season and all it does is add to the belief that the OIlers would actually prefer to keep drafting number one than make their team better.

Dubnyk got 3.5 because Schnieder got 4 and over three seasons and he hasn't been an NHL starter yet.

comparing the two is laughable. Schneider is a bonafide number one, Dubnyk is not.

There is a tendency on the Flames board to be extremely critical of the Oilers rebuild and potential they have. I visit other Canadian teams boards too and they generally agree that the Oilers should turn into a contender. It's only on the Flames board where most people like explain why the Oilers' glass is half empty. At the same time, almost all posters on these other Canadian team sites think the Flames need to rebuild because they are going nowhere faster than the speed of suck.

Do those boards constantly have OIler fans that post about how the Oilers are guaranteed to be a dynasty soly based on the fact they have been drafting number one and completely ignoring the fact that the rest of the team is well below average? There is no question the Oilers have potential, most of the better fans would admit that too by the way, but they also have to this point done a VERY poor job of building around that potential. So when you see that and you see that really outside of their top picks they are not getting near the production they need you realize that there is a big difference between having potential and realizing potential, yet we get the pleasure of Oiler fans coming to the board in ways talking about how the Oilers are going to recreate a dynasty.

[Zirakzigil]

I assume you thought the same of the Skinner and Tavares 6 yr packs?

Skinners deal is bad but not as bad. Tavares deal was ok, not great just ok. He has lead that team offensively and turned a bunch of scrubs into goal scorers and point getters.

[ConnorFutureGM]

Skinners deal is bad but not as bad. Tavares deal was ok, not great just ok. He has lead that team offensively and turned a bunch of scrubs into goal scorers and point getters.

So Crosby's deal is dynamite?

[ConnorFutureGM]

It's been more than one off season and all it does is add to the belief that the OIlers would actually prefer to keep drafting number one than make their team better.

comparing the two is laughable. Schneider is a bonafide number one, Dubnyk is not.

Do those boards constantly have OIler fans that post about how the Oilers are guaranteed to be a dynasty soly based on the fact they have been drafting number one and completely ignoring the fact that the rest of the team is well below average? There is no question the Oilers have potential, most of the better fans would admit that too by the way, but they also have to this point done a VERY poor job of building around that potential. So when you see that and you see that really outside of their top picks they are not getting near the production they need you realize that there is a big difference between having potential and realizing potential, yet we get the pleasure of Oiler fans coming to the board in ways talking about how the Oilers are going to recreate a dynasty.

- Last off season the Oilers added veteran depth to give support to the younger players. Belanger thus far has been a bust, Eager started the season with a concussion and never got up to speed. Smyth was decent as a whole but a strong start followed by a weak finnish makes one ask what role should Smyth play? No the Oilers didn't add any star power but the position the Oilers are in they would likely have to overpay for that. IMO TLC has been very careful in trying not to overpay anybody since Khabibulin because it's hard to create a contender with elephant contracts.

- First off, Schneider is a measuring stick, I'm not saying that Dubnyk is as long as the measuring stick he's being measured upon. Second off, they are comparable in a few ways hence why Scheider was the measuring stick. Both 26, last year as RFAs, both 1st rounders, Dubnyk 101 NHL games played - Schneider 68 NHL games played. Thus far, Schneider has shown more promise to being an NHL starter but I wouldn't say that's a certainty. An enlightened fan such as yourself must have seen several goalies have one strong season to falter after.

- As an Oiler fan, I've never seen this much talent on the Oilers since I've started watching closely in the 90s. It's easy as a fan to get caught up in the promise and potential but that is an excuse. Truthfully, the Oilers are not yet even close to becoming contenders much less a dynasty. With that being said, the Oilers have acquired some of the hardest parts to get of an elite team, especially if Hall is eventually turned into a centre. The Oilers would then have two elite centres and two elite wingers. They would still need to acquire and or develop defencemen to lead the backend.

Hypothetically speaking, if the Oilers two centre-winger combos turned out elite ie top 3 in the league consistently, the other parts of the team wouldn't have to be to that level. I'll break down a team into top 6 forwards, depth forwards, top 4 defencemen, depth defencemen and goaltending.

top 6 - projection: elite

?-Hall-Yakupov

?-RNH-Eberle

? Candidate - Paajarvi, Hartikainen, Pitlick, Moroz, Zharkov, Khaira (All players with size)

- The Oilers have a lot of forwards with the potential to fill out those question marks. Some of them that don't cut it will be relegated to the depth forward part of the team but either way, the Oilers have the skill in the top 6 that seems to be the most expensive and hardest to get.

depth forwards - projection: above average

-Lander-

-VandeVelde-

Other candidate - Hamilton, Tyrvainen, Pells, players listed above

- The Oilers still should have enough depth in their forward ranks to fill out the bottom 6 well IMO. Even if they can't, bottom 6 forwards are easier to acquire.

top 4 - projection: above average

Smid-Petry

?-?

cadidates - J.Schultz, Klefbom, Marincin, Gernat, Davidson, Fedun

- IMO at least two of these players will turn into top 4 defencemen. I also think that Schultz and Klefbom have the potential of turning into 1st pairing defencemen, maybe not #1s but two #2 defencemen.

depth defence - projection: average

Peckham-?

?-?

candidates - Musil, Plante, Teubert, Bigos,

- Musil could turn out to be a #4 shut down defender but he should at least make it as a depth defender. Plante and Teubert have similar games so only one would likely make the cut. Bigos is still a couple of years away. This again isn't hard to find players in this role.

goaltending - projection: unknown

Dubnyk

candidates - Roy, Bunz

- This is probably the hardest position to predict because it's relying on only one player but none of them have proven much at the NHL level. Roy had a good season in the ECHL and is now AHL bound while Bunz will be taking Roy's place in the ECHL. It would seem the Oilers' fate as becoming a possible elite franchise rests in their goaltending. This is a somewhat difficult position to fill but not impossible but the Oilers franchsie better have a backup plan if their prospects don't come through.

[gsp393]

I just see the oil having a terrible bottom six as they won't be able to afford any talent back there. Sure there top 6 will tear it up but once there off the ice any depth team (current flames) will just rack up the points. I mean look at the ducks.

[ConnorFutureGM]

I just see the oil having a terrible bottom six as they won't be able to afford any talent back there. Sure there top 6 will tear it up but once there off the ice any depth team (current flames) will just rack up the points. I mean look at the ducks.

The Ducks are not a deep team and their defence was ok but the stopped listening to the coach.

It's not common to hear about another team's best checking prospects. The Flames could have a few but 80% of Flames prospect talk is about Bartschi, 15% Jankowski, 3% Gardeau and the rest get a solid 2% combined. I don't know about any solid 3rd line prospects. 3rd liners are usually reinvented offensive players.

Even if the Oilers had a weaker bottom 6, the top 6 would be on the ice for two thirds of the game anyways. The Oilers' top 6 playing 40 minutes should make up for any loss of the bottom 6's 20 minutes.

[403Loyalty]

The Ducks are not a deep team and their defence was ok but the stopped listening to the coach.

It's not common to hear about another team's best checking prospects. The Flames could have a few but 80% of Flames prospect talk is about Bartschi, 15% Jankowski, 3% Gardeau and the rest get a solid 2% combined. I don't know about any solid 3rd line prospects. 3rd liners are usually reinvented offensive players.

Even if the Oilers had a weaker bottom 6, the top 6 would be on the ice for two thirds of the game anyways. The Oilers' top 6 playing 40 minutes should make up for any loss of the bottom 6's 20 minutes.

I dont think it was just them not listening to their coach ( i mean they even changed coaches lol)

As for our prospects thats only because you are only hearing and keeping track off the ones you want to hear (albeit that Bartschi is our blue chip so he will be talked about more just like oilers talk about nail and florida talks about hubertdeu etc . ) there is many talks about nemo granlund and reinhart etc.

Though you are right that a 3rd liner at times is a reinvented projected top 6 but not every team has the same blueprint for a 3rd line, some are checking some are skill some are youth, it depends what your team make up is.

As for the bolded part i suggest you rethink what you wrote, thats silly to think all you need is 2 lines up front. I have seen teams better than the oilers lose games 1-0 2-1 because a mistake was made on a 3rd liner shift, and your saying that you would dress ahlers and your top 6 will just score if you get scored on the third line? that koolaid must be awesome up there.

[C_worthy]

The Ducks are not a deep team and their defence was ok but the stopped listening to the coach.

It's not common to hear about another team's best checking prospects. The Flames could have a few but 80% of Flames prospect talk is about Bartschi, 15% Jankowski, 3% Gardeau and the rest get a solid 2% combined. I don't know about any solid 3rd line prospects. 3rd liners are usually reinvented offensive players.

Even if the Oilers had a weaker bottom 6, the top 6 would be on the ice for two thirds of the game anyways. The Oilers' top 6 playing 40 minutes should make up for any loss of the bottom 6's 20 minutes.

Also, 47.3% of all quoted stats are made up on the spot.

[travel_dude]

Even if the Oilers had a weaker bottom 6, the top 6 would be on the ice for two thirds of the game anyways. The Oilers' top 6 playing 40 minutes should make up for any loss of the bottom 6's 20 minutes.

You are banking on RNH, Hall, Eberle, and Nail playing 82 games @ 20 mins each? Good luck with that. Who would play the checking role against the top lines of other teams? Or are you suggesting power vs power?

Injuries aside, playing your top guys night in/night out against the best will grind them down. Asking a rookie like Nail to play that way is asking a lot. You really need a line to play against the best or it will be a shooting gallery.

[DL44]

You are banking on RNH, Hall, Eberle, and Nail playing 82 games @ 20 mins each? Good luck with that. Who would play the checking role against the top lines of other teams? Or are you suggesting power vs power?

Injuries aside, playing your top guys night in/night out against the best will grind them down. Asking a rookie like Nail to play that way is asking a lot. You really need a line to play against the best or it will be a shooting gallery.

There'll be peaks and valleys through the learning curve... But the kids did just fine last yr going power on power... The Canucks had nightmares after a couple of those games getting pinned by the kids...

The kids were fine... it was the depth that got abused last season - Horcoff, Belanger, Petrell, Lander etc..

[403Loyalty]

There'll be peaks and valleys through the learning curve... But the kids did just fine last yr going power on power... The Canucks had nightmares after a couple of those games getting pinned by the kids...

The kids were fine... it was the depth that got abused last season - Horcoff, Belanger, Petrell, Lander etc..

That's exactly what im seeing as well. +1

[travel_dude]

There'll be peaks and valleys through the learning curve... But the kids did just fine last yr going power on power... The Canucks had nightmares after a couple of those games getting pinned by the kids...

The kids were fine... it was the depth that got abused last season - Horcoff, Belanger, Petrell, Lander etc..

And what was the result? 29th. If the problem is the bottom half, then they should have fixed that area of weakness.

My point was that adding a new top 6 guy and asking that group to take the tough minutes every night won't really solve anything. Depth is a better answer, IMHO.

[403Loyalty]

And what was the result? 29th. If the problem is the bottom half, then they should have fixed that area of weakness.

My point was that adding a new top 6 guy and asking that group to take the tough minutes every night won't really solve anything. Depth is a better answer, IMHO.

I believe that was what DL44 was saying, that their depth is suspect and you cant just have a top 6.

and thats not even touching base on their defensive problems.

[ifiwaschucknorris]

Both the Flames and the Oilers have been nothing but disappointing for fans for the last few years. Flames fans have ridden the rollercoaster of the Playoff chase only to fall a few points short. Oilers fans have been force fed a steady diet of hopes and dreams only to see there team consistently tank to the bottom of the standings. Bottom line is both our teams have failed us. Are the Oilers Stanley Cup contenders? No. Absolutely not. Do they hav a legitimate opportunity to make the playoffs? Again, no probably not. The best the Oilers can REASONABLY hope for is to make significant strides by finishing in the 9-11 range and showing the FA's next year and there fans that they are moving in the right direction. They are dangerously close to becoming the new Islanders and they have to start making strides soon. IMHO anything more than 9th would require so many things going right for the Oil and the odds of Dubnyk having a career year+the kids all staying healthy+the d magically playing way above there heads+the coaching coming together all in one season is kind of like expecting a cba resolution before Sept.15th. Possible but no one would put money on it without great odds and maybe a decent point spread.

I drink the Flames koolaid and so despite their lack of any proven #1 or 2 centers and there recent history of coming up just short of the playoffs I BELIEVE the Flames will win the Cup in 2012. My belief doesn't mean that I expect them too. I can acknowledge the aging core, the lack of centers, and the questions regarding the new coaching style as significant hurdles for the team to overcome but my heart doesn't listen to my head and belief is blind. I can acknowledge that a reasonable expectation for this Flames season is 9-12. How many Oilers fans can be honest enough to admit the reality of their team not being likely to make the playoffs?

TLDR

Don't forget the Oilers have to leapfrog 6 teams to make the Playoffs. Did 6 teams get worse?

[ConnorFutureGM]

thats silly to think all you need is 2 lines up front. I have seen teams better than the oilers lose games 1-0 2-1 because a mistake was made on a 3rd liner shift, and your saying that you would dress ahlers and your top 6 will just score if you get scored on the third line? that koolaid must be awesome up there.

I'm saying the Oilers' (not now but in the near future) best players will be playing most and should be better than most teams' top 6s hence should win a good amount of games. Sure, there will be the games where the top 6 comes out flat and the bottom 6 doesn't pick up the slack but those games theoretically would be the minority since the Oilers would have an elite top 6 who should be on the ice for 67% of the game.

You are banking on RNH, Hall, Eberle, and Nail playing 82 games @ 20 mins each? Good luck with that. Who would play the checking role against the top lines of other teams? Or are you suggesting power vs power?

Injuries aside, playing your top guys night in/night out against the best will grind them down. Asking a rookie like Nail to play that way is asking a lot. You really need a line to play against the best or it will be a shooting gallery.

The scenario I was describing was in the future, not next season.

Also, 47.3% of all quoted stats are made up on the spot.

Those percents were in respect to how much I hear.

There'll be peaks and valleys through the learning curve... But the kids did just fine last yr going power on power... The Canucks had nightmares after a couple of those games getting pinned by the kids...

The kids were fine... it was the depth that got abused last season - Horcoff, Belanger, Petrell, Lander etc..

The Oilers were not deep enough last season but I'd say the main reasons for the Oilers lack of success last season was playing some horrible defencemen for too long, inconsistent goaltending and too young of a team not knowing how to win the tight games.

[ConnorFutureGM]

Both the Flames and the Oilers have been nothing but disappointing for fans for the last few years. Flames fans have ridden the rollercoaster of the Playoff chase only to fall a few points short. Oilers fans have been force fed a steady diet of hopes and dreams only to see there team consistently tank to the bottom of the standings. Bottom line is both our teams have failed us. Are the Oilers Stanley Cup contenders? No. Absolutely not. Do they hav a legitimate opportunity to make the playoffs? Again, no probably not. The best the Oilers can REASONABLY hope for is to make significant strides by finishing in the 9-11 range and showing the FA's next year and there fans that they are moving in the right direction. They are dangerously close to becoming the new Islanders and they have to start making strides soon. IMHO anything more than 9th would require so many things going right for the Oil and the odds of Dubnyk having a career year+the kids all staying healthy+the d magically playing way above there heads+the coaching coming together all in one season is kind of like expecting a cba resolution before Sept.15th. Possible but no one would put money on it without great odds and maybe a decent point spread.

I drink the Flames koolaid and so despite their lack of any proven #1 or 2 centers and there recent history of coming up just short of the playoffs I BELIEVE the Flames will win the Cup in 2012. My belief doesn't mean that I expect them too. I can acknowledge the aging core, the lack of centers, and the questions regarding the new coaching style as significant hurdles for the team to overcome but my heart doesn't listen to my head and belief is blind. I can acknowledge that a reasonable expectation for this Flames season is 9-12. How many Oilers fans can be honest enough to admit the reality of their team not being likely to make the playoffs?

TLDR

Don't forget the Oilers have to leapfrog 6 teams to make the Playoffs. Did 6 teams get worse?

A few things;

What's the difference between getting 9-11 and getting 7th or 8th? Last season, the spread between 7th and 11th was 8 points. Once a team is in the mix, they can have a run of luck and be in or out, kind of like the Avs of 2010.

I agree that several things would have to go right for the Oilers to make it. You should take coaching out of the equation because that is more a cause of the other variables going right. For this current roster of the Oilers to make the playoffs, the goaltending would have to combine for a .915%, the Oilers will have to be in the top 10 in league scoring and the Oilers will need to have better depth from the AHL level to deal with injuries.

I have also stated that if the Oilers don't upgrade their defence, (the player I want upgraded is Peckham), the Oilers will have a hard time even being a bubble team.

[The_Don]

Skinners deal is bad but not as bad. Tavares deal was ok, not great just ok. He has lead that team offensively and turned a bunch of scrubs into goal scorers and point getters.

Tavares' deal is one of the biggest steals already. And he is only 21.

[Flyerfan52]

The Oilers have 1 less RFA to worry about. TSN said Omark signed in Switzerland for 1 year.