Random 2021 Playoff Talk

[Portland Blues]

Wow. What a disaster of a game 3 by Edmonton. Giving up two goals in something like 16 seconds and then losing in overtime after being up 4-1 with 8 minutes left.

[WaukeeBlues]

Wow. What a disaster of a game 3 by Edmonton. Giving up two goals in something like 16 seconds and then losing in overtime after being up 4-1 with 8 minutes left.

How much longer until McDavid asks for a trade?

[theohall]

Just look at Edmonton's defense. Instead of finding someone to replace Klefbom, who hasn't had a healthy season in forever, they keep bringing in a) prospects or b) bottom pairing defenseman. Nurse, Russell, and Larsson are fine, but they aren't the defensive type defenseman the Oilers need. Meanwhile, they are relying on prospects like Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, and Evan Bouchard to pick up the slack. I can see Bouchard eventually doing so, but he isn't a defensive defenseman either - his skill is as a puck-moving offensive defenseman. Then there is the attitude which has seemed to prevail, regardless of the head coach, that Oilers forwards don't play defense. Hitchcock got them to do it for a couple of games in '18-'19, but Oilers forwards simply will not commit to playing a 200' game. Until someone can get that through their thick heads, all the McDavid era Oilers will be known for is McDavid and Draisaitl racking up individual statistics while choking in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, if Winnipeg wins this series, they have the defensive makeup and right mindset among forwards to cause problems for Toronto. Winnipeg's defensemen, while they struggled last year, have improved from last year to now. Can't say the same for the Oilers.

[Portland Blues]

Ouch. Oilers lose in triple OT.

[WaukeeBlues]

I can't even imagine getting Conner McDavid, have a second pairing center in Draisaitl and this has happened. What on earth are they doing? You wouldn't think it'd be this hard.

If you're an Athletic subscriber, fantastic article this morning:
The NHL gifted the Oilers’ Connor McDavid; six years later, they have yet to adequately support him

The cliffnotes version without running afoul of paywall'd material is that stacking McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line doesn't work, can't work and needs to stop immediately, the coaching pairings and decisions are baffling, and oh, president Bob Nicholson has franked this up with some of the puzzling coaching hires and Chiarelli decisions (namely Koskinen being signed the day Chiarelli fired, and oh that didn't work, say waaaaht?)

Edmonton has to shuffle the deck this summer, right? They have the most cap space to play with they've ever had (capfriendly says $22 million) and they have 8 forwards and 5ish D signed for next year. It's time they make some moves. This "let's bring back Khaira, Haas, Ennis and Archibauld" every year thing isn't working. Clearly. Defense, as you say, needs some serious re-vamping too.

I just don't get it. 25ish other GM's would kill for the opportunity to manage the Oilers and they can't get out of their own dang way.

[theohall]

This is the 3rd of 4 coaches who've tried stacking McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line. Hitchcock would be the 4th, but I credit him with resisting until it was either do it or keep on losing - which they kept doing anyway.

This is where the "Is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins over-rated?" conversation starts, because when he isn't on a line with Draisaitl or McDavid he doesn't produce. The only two forwards on the Oilers who generate points on their own, mostly, are Draisaitl and McDavid. The rest of the forward core is so "meh". Remember when the Blues wanted Kyle Turris. All he's done in all of his stops is put up reasonable individual stats, but whatever team he is on loses... He didn't even post the individual stats this season. Heck, the 3rd and 4th leading scorers for the Oilers are defenseman - Barrie and Nurse. You at least have to get to #5 on the Blues to find a d-man in points, and the Blues weren't good this season. Seriously, pull up hockey-reference and look at the Oilers scoring among forwards. Without Draisaitl and McDavid, the Oilers would be a last place franchise. Draisaitl and McDavid were over 22 minutes per game. For comparisons sake, ROR who plays every situation averaged 20:45.

I don't know what they do, but developing from within hasn't worked. Of course, it's Holland''s 2nd season as GM and he has to fix everything Chiarelli and Craig MacTavish before him broke. 2 years isn't enough time. Tippett has to work with what's available - and right now, it's pretty doggone bare. We'll see how Holland addresses it this off-season, but given his background with the Red Wings, he understands how to fix this. It's just going to take years - years which McDavid might not have. He could be the Yzerman guy winning a Cup by sticking with the team while the GM fixes things - even if it will take years. Yzerman was 31 when he finally won a Cup and at that point, Holland had been Director of Amateur Scouting for 7 years and Asst GM for 3 - then got promoted to GM when they won the Cup. He knows the ins and outs of building a franchise from the scouting level up. The big question - will McDavid have the patience to wait 6 years... but for that to work, they have to start showing some playoff success, which I don't see happening. Heck, the Seattle draft is coming up - of course, the Oilers will have no issues protecting the players they want. The question there, beyond the obvious, is whose worth protecting?

[Portland Blues]

Maroon opens the scoring in the Tampa Bay game. Kind of amazing he could be on the cup winning team 3 years in a row.

[glen a richter]

Let’s go Islanders

[theohall]

Sorry, Glen. I don't have the Isles getting past Boston. Boston's trade deadline moves have transformed that team. If the Isles think Sorokin might be an answer, I'd be worried. The Isles will need Varlamov to stand on his head while actually being aggressive on offensive. They were in that last game vs the Pens until they scored goal #3. Then they flipped into that 1-2-2 and got lucky with a couple of turnovers. IMO, that won't work against Boston.

NBC are a bunch of dickwads. Nashville and Carolina starting at 9:30 ET???? Seriously???? WTF????? That's not starting on time barring some magical event in Montreal. Which looks like it's going to OT. OK, NBC - which network is carrying the other game you gaslighting dickwads.

[theohall]

I suggest looking at NHLN if you want to see Carolina-Nashville right now - because NBC doesn't give a crap about you seeing what you want to see.

[theohall]

Yep, Preds-Canes are on NHLN - ZERO MENTION from NBC. Nick Cousins already scored for the Preds

[glen a richter]

Yeah the Isles probably have little to no shot, but it would be great as they close out the Coliseum before their move to Belmont plus it would give them one more Cup than the Rangers which is always good.

[theohall]

Isles-Bruins was more competitive than I thought it would be, at least until the 3rd period. Ouch!!

And Toronto still has the same problem they've had ever since drafting Matthews - no depth worth a darn on defense. When their 3rd pairing is on the ice, all bets are off as to whether or not the puck even gets out of the Leafs end. Jake Muzzin, looking like he pulled a groin, certainly didn't help them. The one defenseman whose ice time they were clearly trying to limit, Dermott, winds up turning the puck over in OT which led to the game-winning goal. He only played 19:11. Bogosian's ice time would have been similar, but he got bumped up to fill in for Muzzin. What's messed up, Dermott replaced Rasmus Dahlin who was benched for turning pucks over in previous games resulting in goals against. Speaks to their lack of depth on D which is largely a result of inexperience at the NHL level - and especially in NHL Playoffs.

[Portland Blues]

Dang, Colorado spanked Vegas today.

[gaijin]

Dang, Colorado spanked Vegas today.

Colorado is looking practically unstoppable. Makes me wonder how the Blues would have fared against Vegas instead.

[theohall]

Vegas looked tired - travel, post hard played 7-game series, rusty goaltender, the altitude thing vs the Avs who had been off for a week. Imagine resting up and getting healthy for a team with that kind of speed. IMO, it's a horrible matchup for Vegas, because they aren't a "fast" team beyond their top line - and their top line isn't fully healthy. Vegas strength is keeping you from moving up ice, then hemming you in your own zone, and they simply can't do that vs the speed of the Avs. Avs defensive depth is insane... and it still scares the heck out of me, as a Blues fan, knowing it's going to probably get better over the next two seasons.

Tampa-Carolina was a good game. That series could easily go 7. Depends on how often Tampa relies on Vasilevsky to stand on his head. He can do it, but it's not good facing 35+ shots per night. Tampa needs to tighten up their D, while Carolina needs to finish their chances when they've got Vasilevsky down and out. The Canes missed what should have been essentially empty netters set up off rebounds and good passing.

[WaukeeBlues]

Vegas looked tired - travel, post hard played 7-game series, rusty goaltender, the altitude thing vs the Avs who had been off for a week. Imagine resting up and getting healthy for a team with that kind of speed. IMO, it's a horrible matchup for Vegas, because they aren't a "fast" team beyond their top line - and their top line isn't fully healthy. Vegas strength is keeping you from moving up ice, then hemming you in your own zone, and they simply can't do that vs the speed of the Avs. Avs defensive depth is insane... and it still scares the heck out of me, as a Blues fan, knowing it's going to probably get better over the next two seasons.

Tampa-Carolina was a good game. That series could easily go 7. Depends on how often Tampa relies on Vasilevsky to stand on his head. He can do it, but it's not good facing 35+ shots per night. Tampa needs to tighten up their D, while Carolina needs to finish their chances when they've got Vasilevsky down and out. The Canes missed what should have been essentially empty netters set up off rebounds and good passing.

The only "good" news is that the further and further the Avs go into the postseason the more and more expensive it's going to be to re-sign Landeskog, Grubauer and Makar. Makar doesn't really have any leverage being RFA but I doubt the Avs want to piss him off either. Landeskog and Grubauer being UFA have the very real threat of just walking if they doesn't like the Avs offer. Tyson Jost and Timmons are RFA with arb rights. Jost signed his bare minimum RFA tender last offseason but that was in the heart of COVID so maybe with arb rights now he asks for a couple million a year?

But yea, they have a ton of reasonable contracts. Makes me sick. If they can move EJ (who they clearly haven't missed) that'd free up $6 million by itself too.

[Portland Blues]

Holy smokes! That Winnipeg player just absolutely freight-trained the Habs player on the empty net goal.

[Portland Blues]

Colorado scores first in Game 2 on the blooper shot.

[theohall]

Really weak slashing call in OT. The guy who loses the stick only has one hand on it - he gets stick checked, drops it, and they call slashing?? in OT???

Weak. Resulting in OT GWG on power play.