You know... David Savard is an elite leader AND defenseman. They call him papa savvy. I think Habs could give him to EDM too and we'd take the German cap dump back... what's his name again? Draiwasher?

I like how they keep putting the camera on McDavid like he’s about to punch one of his teammates in the face

5-12-1
Is that a padlock combination?, OR
The Oilers record?

I love Willy don’t get me wrong but Holland blocks Trees number after that call. It’s absolutely recency bias to suggest Nylander is on Draisitl’s level

Nylander strikes me as someone who will fall off a cliff the instant he gets paid like say: MacKinnion or McDavid

The Blues and Yotes are 5-5 with 9 left in the 2nd period... on a hair over 3 xG combined. This is an exhibition of goaltending don'ts. Both backups are in.

Were not starting this lul

Drai is better overall, but this season Willy is arguably playing the best hockey we have seen. But after this year is where you argue Drai takes the advantage back or not no idea as this may just be Willy 2.0 Keefe has been seeing all along.

But wow if he keeps things going Willy is on pace rn to beat Kucherov's 2018-2019 season by goals and points

Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lack of accountability.
If the players think goaltending is the issue, or the forwards think the defense is the issue, and there aren't strong, credible voices telling them otherwise (or how to correct it), they aren't going to believe it.

Character isn't the only issue, but it can be a significant factor.

He should hire Jay Woodcroft. Good coach available.

I’d put a large amount of money on the table that Pierre Dorion is the next GM of the Oilers.

Edit:
And Woodcroft for SJS next coach

HAAAAYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOO

im Mike Grier:
I’m leaving David Quinn in Seattle TONIGHT.

Then I’m waiting till 3am, I’m calling Holland AT 3am *we know he’s going to be a few brews in*, organizing a trade with Campbell for a fleece job to save his JOB.

Then I’m hanging up, calling Woodcroft; telling him to hop on the Bakersfield Condors PJ with Jack Soup and get his behind into some sunshine in California.

——————

Honestly it’s the best play out there for Mr. Grier.

A few days ago, I mentioned the Blues had yet to have a single lead change either way in any of their first 17 games. Tonight they had one. Then they had another one less than four minutes later. After another four minutes, another one. And then another one 16 minutes later. None for 17 games and a period, and then four in 24 minutes.

St. Louis Blues hockey in 2023: Buckle up, it's gonna be a weird ride.

Both starters (Vejmelka and Binnington) in rumors to go to Edmonton are like: no please don't, I suck

I can't believe how many people genuinely think McDavid or Drai could be traded lmao. Do you honestly think the Oilers ownership would do that? I guarantee if there is so much as a whiff of trading McDavid, the entire managerial staff gets sacked. He is the franchise

Too many things insanely wrong with this statement.

Nah the more realistic thing we could see is what happened with Ohtani and the Angels if things dont change and they see drastic improvement beyond this year

Gone for nothing well ANA gets compensated thanks to baseball rules but thats it

Honestly NHL should explore that would be interesting

But yea either they fix it or one/both leave in FA


Cause I just cant see a scenario EDM winning a trade involving either guy especially McDavid.

Anyone good at calculating capspace?
If Florida cuts Gadjovich and Balinskis, and adds existing capspace + accrued ltir cap = *** much could they offer Kane at deadline?
Around 3,7M?

If Draisaitl or McDavid request a trade, they will eventually get one. If they indicate to management they will not re-sign, it would be negligent to simply allow their contracts to expire and not recover some value (assuming they are out of the playoff picture).
They won't make those trades by choice, but they may not have one.

i don't understand why oilers fans are so upset at least you guys scored goals last night

Lord knows the last thing the Oilers management would do is be negligent

Idk, can’t get the link to work, but the current Beaverton article on mcdavid is here:

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2023/11/****-it-lets-do-some-connor-mcdavid-trade-proposals-to-see-how-mad-they-make-oilers-fans/

These writers have some of the best jobs on the planet.

An alternate history scenario for the Oilers:

How to make this team better. I'm only focusing on the Ken Holland era, which started in 2019. And I'm completely ignoring the drafts here. One can make too many GMs look like fools by examining their draft history. I'm not going to play that game.

First thing Holland should've done differently is in 2020, resign Athanasiou. He had just paid two second round picks for him. I get this move hadn't worked out, but paying two good picks just to let a guy leave a few months later is awful. AA is a speedy player. He could've been paired with McDavid for at least the 2021 season. That season lasted 56 games, surely AA would've scored 20 goals and 35 points while playing with McDavid, right?

Then, on to the 2021 offseason. First, Holland should've NEVER, and I mean, NEVER let Larsson walk. The contract he signed with Seattle was a 4 year, 4M AAV one. If he had to, Holland shoul've overpaid to keep him. Like, 5X5. Sure, that would've been a bit too much, but losing Kelfbom in 2020 and a year later, losing Larsson, was just not something realistic. Cause, without Larsson, the Oilers turned to Cody Ceci and Duncan Keith to replace him defensively. Keith had regressed a lot by 2021 and Ceci is no Larsson. And we've seen what Larsson has done with Seattle, he's quietly been a steady presence of their top pairing.

Then, in 2021, entering Holland's third season, the Oilers badly needed an upgrade in net, and the tragic thing is, there were quite a few guys who could help with that on the market that year. Fleury could've been a one year stopgap, Linus Ullmark would've been great too or even F. Andersen. Smith was too old for a big workload and Koskinen was overpaid for what he brought. I would've personally called BUF and offered to retain 1M on Koskinen's deal and trade him there for like a 6th round pick in 2022. BUF played a 40 year old Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski that year. Koskinen was better than Tokarski at least. In fact, MK wasn't a bad goalie. He was in fact a decent 1B guy, but overpaid by 1,5M. Thx Chiarelli for that.

Let's say EDM sign Andersen. 2 year, 5M per. No need to sign Campbell, then.

Now, to recap a few of the changes I would've made to this team, by that point in time, I wouldn't have Ceci or Keith or Koskinen in the lineup, but I'd have AA, Larsson and Andersen, meaning, a good middle six forward, a steady shutdown top pairing RD and a good starting goalie.

I wouldn't have signed Hyman. There, I said it. I get why Holland got him. He needed a winger for McDavid for the foreseeable future. That was understandable. What wasn't, however, was doing so while forgetting the goaltending and not upgrading the defense, which, btw, I would've done by adding UFA Jake McCabe. This would've left the Oilers with a bit of money to spend up front, and, while not being able to get Hyman, others could've and would've been fits. Tatar, Rodrigues, Saad, P. Suter, Haula, F. Gaudreau and Johansson would've all been players that would've added some much needed depth to this roster. Say, the Oilers sign F. Gaudreau and Haula. You add that to AA, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto and Foegele and you would've had decent wingers to surround McDavid, Draisaitl and RNH down the middle.

Your defense could've looked like this:

Nurse-Larsson(much better than Nurse-Ceci)
McCabe-Barrie
good shutdown defender-Bouchard
C. Jones

Offense:
Haula-McDavid-AA
F. Gaudreau-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-RNH-Puljujarvi

At the 2022 deadline, thx to Bouchard's emergence as the PP quarterback, you could've even traded Barrie along with other pieces for a better defensman when it comes to defense. Could've possibly even tried getting Severson from NJ! Could've even tried adding some depth to that offense at the deadline. Domi?

That would've been a better plan than to go all in on offense, which doesn't work.

By now, you wouldn't have the horrendous Campbell deal, you would've had more flexibility without Kulak and his almost 3M per deal (no need for him in my scenario) and Hyman and his deal that'll age bad. I'd even argue Nurse's cap hit would be lower because with McCabe and Larsson he would've had less playing time. Maybe 8,5M and not 9,25M? 8M even?

In other words, the Oilers would be in a much better situation right now. In 22-23, you could've had Andersen mentor Skinner and I know Andersen has some health issues right now but by now the Oilers could've probably figured out their goaltending.


TLDR: in 2021, Holland should've forgotten about Keith and Hyman and instead focused all his time on bringing back Larsson and signing a true starting goalie.

They got 2 of the 5 best centers in the NHL rn and they are looking like they gonna miss the playoffs and both look like they are so close to demanding a trade

Like all that progression seen 2020-2023 gone they look like the 2015-2019 Oilers who missed the playoffs most of the time.

Now there is still a chance but as of now they need to win 66% of their games to do it. Something has to give

Coach and assistant coach already got fired when it was undeserved whose next

Holland's deals up this summer do you trust him making moves rn.

Something has to give as if McDavid demands a trade from the Oilers thats it they are done and this might burn the franchise to the ground. Best player in all hockey rn demanded out.

Klingberg to robidas island opening up timmons return
Tomkins on waivers so Vasilevskiy is back