Mark spector is really one of the worst writers in hockey. He seems to think the world should really revolve around him and that whenever he says something it should happen now. He feels like someone who feels like he's in entitled to get what he wants when he wants it.
No doubt they miss him. But If 1 guy in you're top 6 is missing and it has this much of an impact then there's probably a much larger issue to begin with. Kane is a great player but him missing is not the reason for Edmonton's defensive issues.
In the 90s, Ken Holland was known as the GM who kept a great team together by making elite players stay for less. Obviously, the Red Wings still had deep pockets, but they paid a lot less than what they could have. It’s weird that that hasn’t quite translated into the Cap Era.
I'm guessing that was more because Scotty Bowman was the coach and people wanted to play for him and win. I don't think that's because Holland was a great GM.
Jim Devellano was the GM, with Scotty dictating a lot of the moves, during the lead up to the 97 cup. Holland gets credit for a winning franchise he didn't build.
The Oilers' biggest problem is their defensemen screening their own goalie. They're really missing Smith screaming at them to get out of the way. If Skinner or Campbell would speak up, I bet their GAA would cut in half.
Yeah, actually I feel that, when my goalie would yell move it would actually work, bc sometimes you're just trying to play positionally but don't realize how little the goalie can see
Defence have no clue how to box out opposing screeners,Instead they let them get inside position whilst continuing to stand on the outside of them(just compounding the amount of traffic that’s in front of the goaltender)
$19 million on Campbell, Barrie and Nurse, all contracts signed by Ken Holland, and the result is that when your power play ends the other team’s coach gets to throw out his best forwards against Shore and Ryan…..
We really need an upgrade on the defensive side and until that happens I'm not ready to write off Campbell yet. I can say without a doubt for me Ken Holland easily is the best GM we have had that I can remember in many years.
Sometimes player greed plays a role in a team being caught in cap hell, especially with how many young players tend to overvalue themselves. The Oilers are also paying dead cap for Lucuc, Neal, and Sekera for the remainder of this season (Lucic and Sekera are on the final year of their dead cap, which will leave at least $3M in cap space for Holland or whoever is GM next year to utilize or save for a Trade deadline acquisition). And looking at the Oilers roster, trading guys on 1 or 2 year contracts with a cap hit of under $3.5M per year seems logical, but what will the team get in return? Who would be willing to take on those contracts if Holland decided to trade them?
Always erudite always interesting. Thank you. I would say that as much as analytics play into team performance, it's team chemistry that always and I mean always propels the team forward. I look at the Bruins right now and they can setup a master class on team chemistry. Edmonton has the talent for sure but they need a spark of inspiration. Some way to catalyze their cohesive playing so they operate as a seamless machine. The lines should dovetail into each other and make the team work as one organism. The coach is definitely in a position to do this but it's interactions and dialogue off the ice that plays into it too. McDavid certainly plays a inspired game on ice but what is the guy doing off the ice to congeal the team. Not saying he is not doing anything, I honestly don't know, but having worked as a scientist for 40 years, I can tell you I never accomplished any big project with out those off line interactions .
Well said. Stats are interesting but a team needs a cohesive identity. it is a truth in other team sports too. I reference FSG with Boston Red Sox and Liverpool. FSG manage to create team identity , what was Boston, 'the idiots' or something? With the team singing from the same hymn sheet value role players tend to produce more than their average expected. fascinating subject.
Thank you Shannon! I value your explanations and opinions and have decreased my worries about them and just have to see what they do. If they end up going on a extended losing streak like they did last year around this time I will become concerned. But, if they lose the majority of the upcoming games over xmas break I will slide more into panic state lol.
Oilers are missing Keith and Russell. Say what you want, replaced by Broberg, Nemeilienan and Ryan Murray. The shot blocks and Keith mentoring Bouchard seems like a gap.
Both Russel and Larson are large loss's. Keith was done anyway. But ya, Oil are right back to being way to short of Solid D to go much of anywhere in playoff time.
Nurse is absolute ride or die buddies with McD and Drai. I really think this was a factor with Nurse contract, with an eye on re-signing of McD and Drai, knowing Darnell is gonna be there long term. Sounds ridiculous, but I do think this was a consideration.
Yeah leave no cap space for mcdavid and especially draisaitl's new contracts. Mcdavids next contract probably wont be too much higher than it is now but we're not getting drai for that amount 2nd time around
@Scottie Paterson I see you know what the cap will look like in 3 years. I also see you know how the team will perform through 2026 and what transactions might occur during that span. You also seem to have access to McD and Drai frame of mind and future priorities. Fascinating!
@@cclark4366 i know that nurse isnt worth 9 mil no matter what that cap does. I know that drai is seriously underpaid. The rest is just connect the dots
Started with one of the tougher schedules in the NHL - Missing Foegele, Mcleod, Kane for extended time seemed to hurt with lacking on back end - Campbell should be playing much better - Bouchard hasnt taken a step forward
Draisaitl (1st), Nurse (4th) and McDavid (9th) are all in the Top 10 of most giveaways in the entire league. They have way more giveaways than takeaways. That might contribute to why Edmonton are just barely above .500 hockey.
There's a reason Wings fans were happy when Ken Holland left as GM. He signs terrible deals, signs past their best veterans and overpays on average players. He handicapped the Wings for years chasing a pointless Play-off streak. His drafting towards the end was utterly brutal.
Another in the on-going series of underachievement lol. Another top 4 D-man would be a nice addition. Also, if they can get another goaltender, that would also be welcome.
4:13 Well, they went on to fire their coach after the start you are addressing here. XD Tippett was fired in February, and Woodcroft came in and worked some magic voodoo for the remainder of the season. That likely won't be happening again this season.
The Oilers definitely need an upgrade on defense, and Holland's poor cap management has put them in the position where they can't make those changes. That said, some of his contracts are actually pretty good. RNH's extension and signing Kane were good moves.
Yup the only moves he can make now will cost a lot of draft capital unfortunately. Basically, they need to acquire some really good value contracts which are not cheap to acquire.
Exactly! You can't make Assumption that because The Team Was Doing A Certain Way The Year Before, They're The Same Team This Year, And, it's Especially So, When They Make A Change/Changes
A big thing with Edmonton is a lot of players don’t want to play here so that is a big factor in being able to get certain players and why we would have to pay more to get certain players to play here.
Campbell's numbers are exactly why I'm glad the Leafs didn't resign him. Great guy but last year from Jan 1-end of round one had an .888 That's terrible. The Oilers just need average goal tending with the occassional big save every game or so. Campbell is just too emotional. Highs too high, lows too low.
@@theGENIUSofART-understood no, they didn't lose because of him. But they could've won had he played a little better. He was sub .900 in that series against Tampa. If Campbell put up a league average save% then the Leafs win that series. You cant win in the playoffs with sub .900 goaltending no matter how good the rest of your team is.
@@chrisg1556 dont think you can blame the series on him. the leafs didn't show up for games 6-7. he did let in 2 bad goals in the series. i do agree he wasn't spectacular but nor was the team.
The thing with the Oilers defense this year is that every single defenseman is playing at least slightly worse than last year, including Kulak and Ceci, which were really good bright spots to me last season. The lack of defensive quality has, also, a lot to do with how the forwards are playing defensively though, can't put it all on dman.
I'm a Jets fan. I like to compare to my Jets. Last year the Jets were awful defensively, 21st in the league in goals against. This year, with effectively no change of defenseman, a different coach, and an almost completely different bottom 6 forward group, they are one of the best defensive teams in the league, tied for 3rd in goals against per game.
When the armchair GM's is more smarter than the real GM this guy sucks as a GM sucks he overplays players, I have probably more money in my bank account than the oilers has money in cap space.
Klefbom and Larsson were supposed to be our major D core. We lost both, one to injury and one to expansion. Nurse being left as the only remaining D core after two bridge deals is what allowed him to sign for 9.25, even though he shouldn't have. In my opinion selfish on his part, when he knows McD, Drai, Nuge, and Kane all took discounts. We sign Green for veteran defense, retires immediately. We sign Keith for veteran defense, retires 1 year later. We have had absolute zero luck in the defensive area. Sometimes you need some fuckin' luck. I would also take Koskinen 10/10 over Campbell and I never thought I would say that last year.
Is there any team in the league that is hurt more than the removal of two players? I know for every team you remove a select few players and the team will struggle, but for Edmonton you take out McDavid and you take out Drai and what do they have?
Oilers fan here, and Edmontonian. The one thing a lot of Oilers fans refuse to account for or believe in is that most players would prefer to live in almost any other NHL city than in Edmonton. It's just a fact. Edmonton is amazing in the spring/summer/fall, but in the winter!?!? It sucks!! It's cold as hell and there is no sun!! So we HAVE to over pay (or draft/recruit players who grew up around here. That's not a coincidence folks!!). It makes building a roster so much harder. I personally think Holland is....not a good GM anymore. The game has passed him by. But it's not ALL entirely his fault.
No coincidence in the correlation between when Edmonton's winter starts and the team drops off it's hot streak. Every year lol, same time. Like clockwork.
Not really all that worried, Edmonton seems to slump in the winter every year and then finish red hot. Edmonton just needs Campbell to find his form to reclimb the standings. Outside of complaining about the Nurse deal (which was obviously bad, but was a tactic to keep McDavid long term), people complaining about other players like they are the sole problem is just so toxic, and does nothing but damage your team's players' confidence. With Evander Kane back the team should be able to take some load off of Connor and Leon and spread out the scoring, and when McLeod comes back he should have a similar effect on the bottom 6. Holland signed RNH, Hyman, Kulak, Kane, and Skinner to great team friendly deals and only badly flopped on the Nurse deal (who also seems to be having lingering issues with his hip, the same way he did in the playoffs). But people have been ragging him for signing Puljujarvi to his QO to retain his rights, Campbell who's still only 15 games in, and Ceci who's actually been pretty average (I assume people think he's been playing like he did in Toronto, he's been fine). Edmonton will be fine.
I very respectfully and not angrily disagree with the take on Nurse and him being a solid defenceman. As an Oilers fan who does not miss a game and I cover them in the media as well, he does not seem to understand very basic defensive zone structure responsibilities that are taught at a very young age like, what to do when you are the weak side defenceman in my opinion is his biggest weakness. He constantly looks at the puck instead of picking up his man which I also theorize is a lot more to do with the bad play of Campbell who was hung out to dry often due to this lack of execution, and not only by Nurse as your fairly pointed out, the entire defensive unit can and should be held accountable, but Nurse is without question the biggest culprit.
I feel Holland was brought in with a mandate to win now. He has rolled the dice on a few players. Inevitably, some of those decisions work, and some don't. Edmonton is in a situation not unlike Toronto in that the team needs to win before its superstars leave town. I don't feel confident either franchise can do that; although I think Toronto might actually be able to go deep if they can get past the first round.
The Kane loss was more impactful than anticipated. I would like to see the RNH, Draisaitl and Yamamoto back together, but, who else can play with McDavid?
People crap over advanced stats because JP isn’t doing well this year, but even advanced stats say that he’s having a bad year. And another thing I want to see is better deployment. Janmark keeps getting 2nd line minutes. He’s third in TOI in the past while and other players like Kostin or Holloway are playing better or deserve those opportunities
Janmark has had frustratingly bad finishing forever. Takes the puck deep and then doesn't score. I wonder how much Puljujarvi is like Denis Gurianov in Dallas, in terms of performing under expectations (but Denis seems happy enough in Dallas, just not with his performance). Guri is skilled, fast, and just hasn't broken through in Dallas. Maybe he needs a change of scenery.
Goalies are so freaking weird. This year especially. Jack Campbell was seen as the goaltender that could help Edmonton make another deep push. And there was reason behind it. He was absolutely brilliant at times as a Leaf. And everyone was scratching their heads on why Toronto was going with a tandem of Samsonov and Murray. Yet so far, Campbell's numbers have been borderline unplayable. An .876 save percentage is a non-option as a backup, let alone a starter. Is it all his fault? Not necessarily, as his defense isn't exactly stellar. But still. Meanwhile, Murray and Samsonov have been one of the best tandems in the league. Each with a save percentage above .920, Samsonov almost a .930! Their GAA numbers have also been great! It's just so weird how goalies make little to no sense sometimes.
Watching the defense play the way they are game in and game out is so frustrating. Watching 2 of the best players in the world score at the pace they are and having a .500 record is a nightmare. Something needs to be done, a coaching change isn't happening, but woodcroft better start making them skate lines until they pass out. Their offense is amazing and top tier, depth could be better but I'm not complaining. Defense is an absolute gongshow with them turning over the puck in the slot or at the blueline resulting in a goal against, Campbell has not been good. Other than the squeaky dribbling pucks he has been average at best, he better pick it up aswell as our defense, mike smith should attempt to pass his physical and run it back with us, put the d-men in their place by yelling at them again. Love the videos, keep it up. But this team is so aggravating.
@@spartan2693 well said all around...you want upsetting for a lifelong fan? I'm from Buffalo...😜 In lieu of flowers make a donation to The Don Cherry Home For the Wardrobe Challenged....😐 Wide Right ....No Goal...then we draft the legendary Samson Reinhart #2 overall while local pundits and fans were 😱 screaming about this big forward , a guy named Leon something or other...😕
@@brianjones7660 I honestly feel bad for buffalo fans such as yourself. At least you have a bright future with the likes of dylan cozens and jack quinn, and even Tage Thompson. It just sucks being a Oilers fan and having this once in a generation talent being wasted by awful defense.
i dont think the oilers offencive numbers matter. they are fifth in the league in goals for. its the goals against that needs to drop. I don't really care if we have players dropping off in scoring because when you have mcdavid, draisaitl, nugent hopkins, hyman, and barrier, you get a top 5 offence in the league.
Another superb job, THG! However, defensemen should also be measured on +/- . E.g., I think you were a bit rough on Cody Ceci, who has a +/- of +8, when the Oilers team is only +4. So, it seems to me he is doing his job, holding the lead for the big guys. Keep on keepin on, THG!
They aren't +4 at even strength though, they are +4 overall. Obviously they have scored many PP goals where +/- isn't used. Ceci also benefits from not being on the ice with the net empty, so he never gets a minus added on at the end of games where they give up an ENG. Erik Karlsson, having an outstanding season, is currently -8 but he's actually even, with 2 ENG for and 10 against.
Kulak has some potential and is an Edmonton native. You take a chance on guys like this that are very likely to stay. Its hard to get some players to come to Edmonton!
good luck to any team playing boston, gonna be hard for them to not make the finals, current team stats are nuts. only went to overtime 2 times s far? and won both games
The GMs who complain on the cap space, they should have their next winter meeting in Winnipeg. There are no distractions there. I hear the Fairmont is a good place stay to get things done. Thin walls so there is no secret deals. You get zapped every once in a while linens, keep you alert. There are no restaurants nearby to get anything to eat. 😁
I´m not into it that deep, like you, but when I read lines like "Nurse only still plays here, because he´s McD´s buddy" I get concerned. I dunno if it´s true in the end, but if it is we have some serious issues...
This is why I like Dubas. Pretty much all the players let go were not worth the cap hits they were asking for, and in many cases he dodged a bullet. No GM is perfect, but he's made some really smart moves. Even Hyman, the best among the departing players over the years, was replaced with someone almost as good (and draws a lot of penalties and gives the team a bit of an edge) for a 1/5 the cap hit. Letting Lyubuskin, Campbell and Mikheyev go were all smart deals. Mrasek was a fairly poor signing, but considering he got two All-star caliber goalies for free (Ottawa even paid the Leafs 2 picks and some cap retention to take Murray), I consider that an overall win. It's easy to see the contract mistakes with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, etc. being a bit too high, but I still submit that if the cap had continued to go up, the Leafs would have profited immensely from these deals. They are already a top team with the cap problems, just imagine how good the team would be with an extra 6 million in cap. If Dubas had known a pandemic was coming the very next year after these deals were signed, he wouldn't have done it. None of the GMs signing contracts just before the pandemic would have. Bad luck for the pandemic to hit right after the first RFA period. And as a consequence to the pandemic, any GM signing contracts this year are going to have that effect but in the reverse. Guys signing for 7-9 million that could be paid 15 million in a few years will make those teams much more competitive - similar to how Tampa, Colorado, etc. had many players signed to lower contracts than market value at the time. Buffalo will be a very good team now that Tage has signed long-term for 7 - that is such an advantage.
@THA KANG Tell me something actually unique to him rather than a statement that can apply to 30 gms in the league. A gm cannot promise a cup - at best, you can only create a team that has a 20% chance to win and seeds 2-8 only have a 10% to win each year. A GM can only build a team that could conceivably win a cup, and he has. 2016-2019 are years they weren't supposed to win - they over achieved - so putting any these failures onto the team and the GM is the wrong way to even look at it. Kucherov and MacKinnon didn't win a cup in the first several years either. And considering the division they are in where the 1st round features an opponent that is equivalent to a Stanley Cup final in terms of the opponent's strength, blaming him on a coin flip series where they lost to the 2-time champs by only 1 goal in game 7 doesn't really make a strong case that Dubas did anything wrong. It's not like Florida and New York did any better - in fact, they did worse. Florida was a joke. Nobody took 3 games of Tampa but Colorado. I think that speaks volumes to the team Dubas has built. If they got swept, you'd have a stronger case but they didn't. There is zero controversy as to where Dubas has built a contending team or not. He has.
The Oiler's biggest problem right now is Nurse. He's overpaid, he is playing too many minutes, he's making too many mistakes in positioning and turnover. I sure hope that he gets it together and turns things around because that contract is an albatross on the team. Woodcroft needs to lower his minutes and tell him to trust his partner and goalie. He seems to be chasing the puck a lot (leaving his man open), and also trying to play goalie but very poorly.
The problem with comparing this year to last year is that scoring has gone up significantly this year across the league, so just because their scoring is better this year compared to last year does not necessarily mean that they are doing better. Think of it like inflation.
Chevy is underappreciated when it comes to his decisions to let players walk at the right time and avoid overpayment. Ladd,armia, copp, comrie, Hayes to name a few
Agree with the cap space and budgeting issues BUT nobody takes covid into account. So no GMs didn't know cap will stay flat for that long so they expected to be able to absorb that hit
Hey, boss... Not sure how to dm you... Can I help you with your audio processing? It's a bit terrible on headphones. Send me a message if you get this.
Shannon, I would be curious to see you do a video on players that avoided UFA by re-signing with their team. Does it usually work out or do teams often regret that deal? I can think of a number of contracts that were probably mistakes (OEL for the Coyotes, Karlsson for the Sharks, etc.) There are probably examples where they are worth it as well, I am just not thinking of them at the moment.
Generally I'm going to put more faith in your opinion because it's more based on logic and less on emotion than that of fans. The Oilers need several pieces (i.e. a real #1 defenseman and a quality starting goaltender... Skinner may or may not be that guy, scoring depth, etc.) before they can be considered a true contender.
Honestly, as an Oilers fan, I have zero panic... and this is just what I expect from our team. I feel like we're at a huge disadvantage through mid-November til mid-January every season. It's effin' cold here and there's no sunlight. I lift through the winter months, but you definitely don't have the same energy this time of year as you do when you're getting more sunlight. We're the furthest north team in the league, we have a very unique disadvantage. We'll probably still slump for another month, fall outside a wildcard spot, then go on a heater after January and safely make playoffs and do some damage in the post season. Still hope we add another dman like Chych, but c'est la vie.
Kulac wasn't really signed in haste due to familiarity bias it seems. The Oilers signed pretty much every other player and still waited on him, telling him to test other teams' offers, I believe. Holland didn't get the usual situation in the first two years because they had no money to spend thanks to Chiarelli's competence which probably outdid Benning's. The Oilers' top lines are stellar. Add Kane back in and you couldn't ask for more. This year, Holland's biggest mistake in my opinion (biggest mistake over his whole tenure in Edmonton) was not pushing harder for more skill and speed on the bottom lines. Available guys like Rodrigues would have really outdone Shore-like guys. The Avalanche beat them with speed and skill on more lines than the Oilers had speed and skill last year (plus Draisaitl's double maiming by Anderson and McKinnon).
As for Puljujaarvi, he's had every chance on every kind of line. And the new coach is the most open to data coach I can think of. He puts players wherever they'll succeed regardless of cache or seniority, etc..P's just a guy that doesn't think the game on an elite level. So when he gets the puck, he suffers under mental load or just doesn't always know what to do. But playing defensively is a bit of a different thing. He hustles and cares about defence, so that's where his value is. He may slowly improve, but I don't see an explosion. Unless his attitude really really is tripping him up - that's something we can't rate unless we're in his head.
Ceci's getting payed more to play defence than score I think. I'm not quite sure why you're just pointing out boxcars vis a vis their contracts when they're on defence. Nurse - yeah, overpaid by 3Mil. Would you have to pay him to keep him? Maybe. 9Mil? god I don't think so.
Re disconnect with fans. I imagine it is the biggest. Other teams having disconnect doesn't address degree. The Oilers are the least successful franchise over the last 10-15 years. There you go. Most of it due to endless incompetent management. There seems to be a weird old boys culture where they always think they have contrary twist on how to proceed and it always turns out the consensus was far more correct. No matter how upset fans got, the management showed the same blinkered idiocy for 10+ years. It's gone on longer than Toronto. Vancouver has had more success during that time. Montreal has predominantly been a good or decent team... I think the Oil were even the worst team in pro sport altogether over a certain span. It's been bleak, man.
Very tiresome listening to GM's complaining about cap space almost 17 years after it was implemented. I guess they expect the owners to bail them out again like when they had to save them from handing out those 15 year front-loaded contracts. Maybe another strike is necessary to limit the % of the cap by even more then it is now and limit the number of players that can earn that amount on the team. But even then. if the % was limited to, say 10%, GM's would just start handing out 9.99% of cap salaries like they were candy.
First off, THANK YOU for doing this video, Shannon! Great job, and it does reveal a lot of what’s going on in Oil Country, and who is really responsible for what I consider to be a HUGE mess! You are 💯% on 🎯. Ken Holland, imo, has to take ALL the blame for their situation. Way overpaid for Nurse, who is GOOD offensively, but defensively gets a Grade of D(American grading), imo. I definitely don’t know more than a GM, but as a knowledgeable fan, it is both frustrating and sad to see how this team has been mismanaged for decades now. To think with 2 of the best players in the game, we can’t find a GM who can surround them with higher caliber players than what we have and still be under the cap. Yes, the Oilers are under a huge microscope and the expectations are always high because of our history and what we had in the 80’s to early 90’s. It’s been 32 years now, since our last SC Championship, and we should be a much better team than we are now. Sorry for being so lengthy, and thanks again for an excellent video!
@@allendale18 If we can hold on until he gets back, which won’t be until February. It’s the huge drop off in point production after RNH & Hyman that’s the concern. Well, and a weak D corps.
I absolutely love that jersey. If the oilers don't win a cup with prime mcdavid and prime drai I'll be so bummed. Goaltending is a killer for them this year.
The Oilers just seem to be more of a second half team and so I'm not really worried about them. The depth scoring seems to be turning a corner especially with guys coming back from injury. And the D will be fine, but they need to find someone to fill the hole that Duncan Keith left. Nurse is struggling because he's playing too many minutes. Should a 9.25 million dollar player be able to play close to 30 every night? Maybe, but he doesn't thrive playing that much and that's the reality. So I'm still optimistic about this team.
Peter Chiarelli was in charge a few years ago and made a few…really bad moves. He got fired and Holland came in, and he’s been making some bad moves too. Seems to me ownership is killing them for repeated bad GM hires.
"bad moves" He secured Kane and Hyman, Re-signed Kulak at an incredible deal etc etc. Every GM will make bad moves but Ken Holland has done a lot of good things and only just a few bad things.
@@TCV12 Yeah but that Nurse deal (which has a full NMC until 2027) is awful. Compound it with a 5x5 for Campbell, who’s lost a step this year, Holland has really handicapped the team in terms of cap space.
This team seems to be at the same crossroads the Penguins were at just before Sid won his first. ALL of their moves in the immediate future will be crucial to them becoming either the stuff of legend and team of destiny OR the team that infamously squandered 2 of the greatest players of their generation. So, no pressure…
Not even close bud...they're 3 centers Crosby, malkin and stall..top d Letang... goalie Fleury all around the same age of 21 is nothing compared to the oilers of today
newgent hopkins also turned out to be real good. mc david is at 1.5 points per game, no one is close, he's kicking ass. last game before christmas was hard to watch tho. edmonton's consistency is all over. if mcdavid and drisitel don carry the team its over
I also don't get the ''if JP was put in a position to succeed he might'' crowd, playing on a line with Connor McDavid should surely be considered that.
They lost Klefbom, Larsson and Keith and no one seems to bay an eyelash, when the guys they have playing behind Nurse are all bottom pair guys. It's not the goaltending. So many games where they lose by one goal or one misread in their zone. They could be 20-11 right now.
Kane is the most important addition to the team. Guy's biggest problem is even when he's losing he thinks he's winning, mcdraisaitl biggest problem is even when they're winning they think they're losing. He adds that extra bit to the locker room, excessive ego/flamboyance, that I think is amazing for the locker room. McDraisailt are continual wet blankets.
I am a sharks fan here. I think my team will be looking to move James Reimer at the deadline. Maybe Edmonton and the Sharks could make a trade work? I'm not much of a trade analyst so I dont know any of the details but it is something I am pondering
@@jeffreyrainey1015 He is a great goaltender at his age. Since we aren't really ready for the playoffs maybe we should trade him while he has some value.
We're seeing this all over the league, a lot of players are paid more than they deliver. It was predicted when the league went to a hard cap that the top players will get paid and other salaries will be forced down leaving few in the middle. And it's only worse under the flat cap. Teams have no flexibility. Nobody wants Puljujarvi at $3M so they retain salary or ride out the term of his contract. It's clear what Holland's choice was.
Currently, Edmonton is at their best when they can score their way out of problems. A lot of their wins seem to be high scoring comebacks. I hope that Campbell can bounce back from his struggles, because he was beloved in Toronto. And that's a feat, because Toronto has not exactly been kind to their goalies over the years.
I honestly don't get it with the oilers. Do mcdavid and draisaitl suck defensively or something? ... Or does the rest of the roster just suck year after year?
You have to watch Holland because he loves to just ride the same rosters forever and just focuses on making the playoffs. At least he did that with the wings for the last 10 years he was here.
Ken Holland doesn't understand how to effectively manage the Salary Cap. And his asset management has also been poor. I would say that the Klim Kostin trade might be the only trade he has won. The Andreas Athanasiou trade set the team's shallow prospect depth even further. The Kieth trade is one when asked about the price He rhetorically asked "if he should have got him for free" and only to have the MAF trade to Chicago happen shortly after. A trade that probably couldn't have happened with Kieth's SPC still on the books. One of the things that really sticks out about the Oilers is their love of players who have physical abilities and skills that are NHL level with Major Junior Hockey IQ. Nurse and Puljujarvi are prime examples of this. I love both of them, but they are not worth what they signed for, and Ken Holland should have known this. Their SPCs really have hampered the team's ability to round out their roster. Playing with a 21-man roster to start the season created an atmosphere where there was no threat of being scratched for a poor game. There is no ability to change up the lineup look if things aren't working. One of the worst things about the Nurse contract is how it is tied to the Kieth trade. When Seth Jones signed his new SPC he wasn't even eligible to sign it. So on top of paying more than they probably needed to considering the limited teams Chicago could deal with the Jones SPC drove up the market for top-pairing defenceman. If Nurse was signed to 8.5, which would have been more than fair, IMO, that gives the Oilers at least space for one more League Minimum SPC. Ken Holland should have known after JP's run in the latter half of the 2021-22 season that things weren't trending in the right direction. Part of this is on JP as only he can really tackle his confidence issues. That said the Oilers seem to be a team that doesn't prioritise developing the mental skills a professional NHL player needs to succeed and perform at their peak, more often than not. If the Oilers do win the Stanley Cup it certainly could be because Leon and Connor overcome the work that Ken Holland has done.
The internet and social media is largely just an echo chamber for people. Most aren't using it to challenge their beliefs or opinions or to learn something new. And for the rest we're just using at as background noise to fill our day.
I like THG's channel because it has fans from every team. You end up with balance, and can see how fans parrot talking points from their team's broadcast. What comes out of the TV during a game feeds the echo a lot.
For the record, Shannon, to Stuart Skinner to have a GAA of 2.83 million so far this year, he would need to have given up 55,751,000 goals in the 1182 minutes he's played so far this year. Which I'm not sure is physically possible, but there you go.
Mark spector is really one of the worst writers in hockey. He seems to think the world should really revolve around him and that whenever he says something it should happen now. He feels like someone who feels like he's in entitled to get what he wants when he wants it.
Spec is the worst
@@michaelkeller5927 I remember watching a segment on Sportsnet and the amount of entitlement and how condescending he was was unbelievable.
Standard Edmonton media
Sounds like a great guy. I wish him the best in retirement.
Not a fan
This team is clearly missing Evander Kane up front, the way he plays a power forward game and can produce about a point per game.
Yes, I think this is a factor, no doubt. Still, I think most fans are expecting more points, at this point.
Still, there are those games where McDavid gets 4 points and they still manage to lose. Those are the real headscratchers.
It's not the forwards bro. Isn't it obvious it's defense. Look at the pairings after nurse. There isn't any top end guys there.
A team one injury away from mediocrity is a poorly built team
No doubt they miss him. But If 1 guy in you're top 6 is missing and it has this much of an impact then there's probably a much larger issue to begin with. Kane is a great player but him missing is not the reason for Edmonton's defensive issues.
Could be worse for the Oilers, Chuck Fletcher could be their GM.
Chuckles the Clown is the WORST. He singlehandedly ruined the Flyer Organization for Years to come.
In the 90s, Ken Holland was known as the GM who kept a great team together by making elite players stay for less. Obviously, the Red Wings still had deep pockets, but they paid a lot less than what they could have. It’s weird that that hasn’t quite translated into the Cap Era.
I'm guessing that was more because Scotty Bowman was the coach and people wanted to play for him and win. I don't think that's because Holland was a great GM.
Kane, Nuge and Hyman are all signed by Holland. All under 5.5 and they’re all a ppg and elite supporting forwards
amazing how the truly good Gms get exposed when you can't just throw money at whoever you want
Ken had a legendary front office and bench in those days.
Jim Devellano was the GM, with Scotty dictating a lot of the moves, during the lead up to the 97 cup. Holland gets credit for a winning franchise he didn't build.
The Oilers' biggest problem is their defensemen screening their own goalie. They're really missing Smith screaming at them to get out of the way. If Skinner or Campbell would speak up, I bet their GAA would cut in half.
Lmfao. Great conspiracy
As a goalie I hate it when my guys try to hard to block shots. If I can’t see the shot, my odds of stoping drop drastically.
Yeah, actually I feel that, when my goalie would yell move it would actually work, bc sometimes you're just trying to play positionally but don't realize how little the goalie can see
Defence have no clue how to box out opposing screeners,Instead they let them get inside position whilst continuing to stand on the outside of them(just compounding the amount of traffic that’s in front of the goaltender)
You are correct in saying that fans have no idea what is happening with the team and have unrealistic expectations.
It would be fun for Shannon to make vids of him “fixing” teams.
Great idea! ✅
$19 million on Campbell, Barrie and Nurse, all contracts signed by Ken Holland, and the result is that when your power play ends the other team’s coach gets to throw out his best forwards against Shore and Ryan…..
We really need an upgrade on the defensive side and until that happens I'm not ready to write off Campbell yet. I can say without a doubt for me Ken Holland easily is the best GM we have had that I can remember in many years.
Off-topic, but man you've got excellent penmanship! You're handwritten whiteboards are so easy to read.
Don't be fooled ......he sent it out to Kinko's
Sometimes player greed plays a role in a team being caught in cap hell, especially with how many young players tend to overvalue themselves. The Oilers are also paying dead cap for Lucuc, Neal, and Sekera for the remainder of this season (Lucic and Sekera are on the final year of their dead cap, which will leave at least $3M in cap space for Holland or whoever is GM next year to utilize or save for a Trade deadline acquisition). And looking at the Oilers roster, trading guys on 1 or 2 year contracts with a cap hit of under $3.5M per year seems logical, but what will the team get in return? Who would be willing to take on those contracts if Holland decided to trade them?
Always erudite always interesting. Thank you. I would say that as much as analytics play into team performance, it's team chemistry that always and I mean always propels the team forward. I look at the Bruins right now and they can setup a master class on team chemistry. Edmonton has the talent for sure but they need a spark of inspiration. Some way to catalyze their cohesive playing so they operate as a seamless machine. The lines should dovetail into each other and make the team work as one organism. The coach is definitely in a position to do this but it's interactions and dialogue off the ice that plays into it too. McDavid certainly plays a inspired game on ice but what is the guy doing off the ice to congeal the team. Not saying he is not doing anything, I honestly don't know, but having worked as a scientist for 40 years, I can tell you I never accomplished any big project with out those off line interactions .
Well said. Stats are interesting but a team needs a cohesive identity. it is a truth in other team sports too. I reference FSG with Boston Red Sox and Liverpool. FSG manage to create team identity , what was Boston, 'the idiots' or something? With the team singing from the same hymn sheet value role players tend to produce more than their average expected. fascinating subject.
Thank you Shannon! I value your explanations and opinions and have decreased my worries about them and just have to see what they do.
If they end up going on a extended losing streak like they did last year around this time I will become concerned. But, if they lose the majority of the upcoming games over xmas break I will slide more into panic state lol.
Oilers are missing Keith and Russell. Say what you want, replaced by Broberg, Nemeilienan and Ryan Murray. The shot blocks and Keith mentoring Bouchard seems like a gap.
I agree, Duncan Keith was actually a big part of this team last year and is being missed rn
Totally agree. Getting Veteran Top 4 D help would be massive
Both Russel and Larson are large loss's. Keith was done anyway. But ya, Oil are right back to being way to short of Solid D to go much of anywhere in playoff time.
Nurse is absolute ride or die buddies with McD and Drai. I really think this was a factor with Nurse contract, with an eye on re-signing of McD and Drai, knowing Darnell is gonna be there long term. Sounds ridiculous, but I do think this was a consideration.
I heard the same thing. Couple of bad giveaways tonight but it didn't cost them. Wed. after Dallas game
This is 1000% correct
Yeah leave no cap space for mcdavid and especially draisaitl's new contracts. Mcdavids next contract probably wont be too much higher than it is now but we're not getting drai for that amount 2nd time around
@Scottie Paterson I see you know what the cap will look like in 3 years. I also see you know how the team will perform through 2026 and what transactions might occur during that span. You also seem to have access to McD and Drai frame of mind and future priorities. Fascinating!
@@cclark4366 i know that nurse isnt worth 9 mil no matter what that cap does. I know that drai is seriously underpaid. The rest is just connect the dots
Started with one of the tougher schedules in the NHL - Missing Foegele, Mcleod, Kane for extended time seemed to hurt with lacking on back end - Campbell should be playing much better - Bouchard hasnt taken a step forward
Nurse's contract of 9.5 mil per season is the one true mistake that handcuffed this team.
Darnell Nurse is not an elite defenseman.
End of discussion.
Draisaitl (1st), Nurse (4th) and McDavid (9th) are all in the Top 10 of most giveaways in the entire league. They have way more giveaways than takeaways.
That might contribute to why Edmonton are just barely above .500 hockey.
great stat!! This team is fat happy offense that gives away so much on the backend.
There's a reason Wings fans were happy when Ken Holland left as GM. He signs terrible deals, signs past their best veterans and overpays on average players. He handicapped the Wings for years chasing a pointless Play-off streak. His drafting towards the end was utterly brutal.
His appeal to personal loyalty is his downfall. He's not a good butcher. I don't think he's a bad GM, but he's not great.
@jesseostermann1349 Sounds like he picked the wrong team.
He's signed great deals though. Hyman, Nuge, and Kane all under 5.5 each and he just got Skinner to sign an awesome bridge deal.
@@mahockey3 he also gave campbell 5m, ceci and kulak a combined 6m, and nurse 9.5m lol
Jarnkrok for Legwand in 2014 to lose to Boston in 5 games
Shannon, are you/could you talk about the Devils losing streak? Is it just Vanacek not playing well or is it a team thing?
Another in the on-going series of underachievement lol. Another top 4 D-man would be a nice addition. Also, if they can get another goaltender, that would also be welcome.
4:13 Well, they went on to fire their coach after the start you are addressing here. XD
Tippett was fired in February, and Woodcroft came in and worked some magic voodoo for the remainder of the season. That likely won't be happening again this season.
They are missing Larson so much! He’s underrated defensively.
The Oilers definitely need an upgrade on defense, and Holland's poor cap management has put them in the position where they can't make those changes. That said, some of his contracts are actually pretty good. RNH's extension and signing Kane were good moves.
Yup the only moves he can make now will cost a lot of draft capital unfortunately. Basically, they need to acquire some really good value contracts which are not cheap to acquire.
Shanny, this is a family show! Did you say Snippy? How dare you! Great Video!
What they really need is an experienced backup to work with Skinner, like a Mike Smith, and maybe a good veteran D, someone like a Duncan Keith.
Exactly! You can't make Assumption that because The Team Was Doing A Certain Way The Year Before, They're The Same Team This Year, And, it's Especially So, When They Make A Change/Changes
A big thing with Edmonton is a lot of players don’t want to play here so that is a big factor in being able to get certain players and why we would have to pay more to get certain players to play here.
Campbell's numbers are exactly why I'm glad the Leafs didn't resign him. Great guy but last year from Jan 1-end of round one had an .888 That's terrible. The Oilers just need average goal tending with the occassional big save every game or so. Campbell is just too emotional. Highs too high, lows too low.
And Skinner is giving them average to slightly above average goaltending at a far lower price point then what Jack Campbell is giving them right now.
he’s a good goalie who kept up with price and vasi in the playoffs, the oilers just have bad defense
he was good enough in the playoffs for toronto. they certainly didn't lose because of him
@@theGENIUSofART-understood no, they didn't lose because of him. But they could've won had he played a little better. He was sub .900 in that series against Tampa. If Campbell put up a league average save% then the Leafs win that series. You cant win in the playoffs with sub .900 goaltending no matter how good the rest of your team is.
@@chrisg1556 dont think you can blame the series on him. the leafs didn't show up for games 6-7. he did let in 2 bad goals in the series. i do agree he wasn't spectacular but nor was the team.
Excellent video.
It's easy to be an armchair GM.
The thing with the Oilers defense this year is that every single defenseman is playing at least slightly worse than last year, including Kulak and Ceci, which were really good bright spots to me last season. The lack of defensive quality has, also, a lot to do with how the forwards are playing defensively though, can't put it all on dman.
I'm a Jets fan. I like to compare to my Jets. Last year the Jets were awful defensively, 21st in the league in goals against. This year, with effectively no change of defenseman, a different coach, and an almost completely different bottom 6 forward group, they are one of the best defensive teams in the league, tied for 3rd in goals against per game.
When the armchair GM's is more smarter than the real GM this guy sucks as a GM sucks he overplays players, I have probably more money in my bank account than the oilers has money in cap space.
Klefbom and Larsson were supposed to be our major D core. We lost both, one to injury and one to expansion. Nurse being left as the only remaining D core after two bridge deals is what allowed him to sign for 9.25, even though he shouldn't have. In my opinion selfish on his part, when he knows McD, Drai, Nuge, and Kane all took discounts. We sign Green for veteran defense, retires immediately. We sign Keith for veteran defense, retires 1 year later. We have had absolute zero luck in the defensive area. Sometimes you need some fuckin' luck.
I would also take Koskinen 10/10 over Campbell and I never thought I would say that last year.
Miss the duo of smith and kosky
@@falzelite7420 I certainly wouldn't have been upset if Edmonton ran Smith and Skinner this year...
it doesn’t help when u sign ceci and kulak for a combined 6m and skip over wallstedt in the draft
Is there any team in the league that is hurt more than the removal of two players?
I know for every team you remove a select few players and the team will struggle, but for Edmonton you take out McDavid and you take out Drai and what do they have?
Nurse and Campbell are really screwing this team over rn. Can't make the team better with those two brutal contracts.
Oilers fan here, and Edmontonian. The one thing a lot of Oilers fans refuse to account for or believe in is that most players would prefer to live in almost any other NHL city than in Edmonton. It's just a fact. Edmonton is amazing in the spring/summer/fall, but in the winter!?!? It sucks!! It's cold as hell and there is no sun!! So we HAVE to over pay (or draft/recruit players who grew up around here. That's not a coincidence folks!!). It makes building a roster so much harder.
I personally think Holland is....not a good GM anymore.
The game has passed him by. But it's not ALL entirely his fault.
its only -43 here with the wind chill today what are you talking about
@@hemskyfreak The sad part is I'm not even sure you're exaggerating. 🤣🤣
No coincidence in the correlation between when Edmonton's winter starts and the team drops off it's hot streak. Every year lol, same time. Like clockwork.
I bet a lot of players put Alberta on their no movement clause
Not really all that worried, Edmonton seems to slump in the winter every year and then finish red hot. Edmonton just needs Campbell to find his form to reclimb the standings. Outside of complaining about the Nurse deal (which was obviously bad, but was a tactic to keep McDavid long term), people complaining about other players like they are the sole problem is just so toxic, and does nothing but damage your team's players' confidence. With Evander Kane back the team should be able to take some load off of Connor and Leon and spread out the scoring, and when McLeod comes back he should have a similar effect on the bottom 6.
Holland signed RNH, Hyman, Kulak, Kane, and Skinner to great team friendly deals and only badly flopped on the Nurse deal (who also seems to be having lingering issues with his hip, the same way he did in the playoffs). But people have been ragging him for signing Puljujarvi to his QO to retain his rights, Campbell who's still only 15 games in, and Ceci who's actually been pretty average (I assume people think he's been playing like he did in Toronto, he's been fine). Edmonton will be fine.
I very respectfully and not angrily disagree with the take on Nurse and him being a solid defenceman. As an Oilers fan who does not miss a game and I cover them in the media as well, he does not seem to understand very basic defensive zone structure responsibilities that are taught at a very young age like, what to do when you are the weak side defenceman in my opinion is his biggest weakness. He constantly looks at the puck instead of picking up his man which I also theorize is a lot more to do with the bad play of Campbell who was hung out to dry often due to this lack of execution, and not only by Nurse as your fairly pointed out, the entire defensive unit can and should be held accountable, but Nurse is without question the biggest culprit.
I feel Holland was brought in with a mandate to win now. He has rolled the dice on a few players. Inevitably, some of those decisions work, and some don't. Edmonton is in a situation not unlike Toronto in that the team needs to win before its superstars leave town. I don't feel confident either franchise can do that; although I think Toronto might actually be able to go deep if they can get past the first round.
Seeing way too much “lines in the blender” and “just put 29 with 97” with Woodcroft.
The Kane loss was more impactful than anticipated. I would like to see the RNH, Draisaitl and Yamamoto back together, but, who else can play with McDavid?
The problem is who do you play with McDavid while Kane is out? Edmonton really has done a poor job at building depth along the wings.
To be fair to Yamamoto, he isn't playing with McDavid or Dri this year so his point going down should be expected
And he started with an injury and after that was injured again
@@almuthebebrand7487 And that useless team mascot will injured again because of his butterfly body
People crap over advanced stats because JP isn’t doing well this year, but even advanced stats say that he’s having a bad year.
And another thing I want to see is better deployment. Janmark keeps getting 2nd line minutes. He’s third in TOI in the past while and other players like Kostin or Holloway are playing better or deserve those opportunities
Janmark has had frustratingly bad finishing forever. Takes the puck deep and then doesn't score.
I wonder how much Puljujarvi is like Denis Gurianov in Dallas, in terms of performing under expectations (but Denis seems happy enough in Dallas, just not with his performance). Guri is skilled, fast, and just hasn't broken through in Dallas. Maybe he needs a change of scenery.
Goalies are so freaking weird. This year especially. Jack Campbell was seen as the goaltender that could help Edmonton make another deep push. And there was reason behind it. He was absolutely brilliant at times as a Leaf. And everyone was scratching their heads on why Toronto was going with a tandem of Samsonov and Murray. Yet so far, Campbell's numbers have been borderline unplayable. An .876 save percentage is a non-option as a backup, let alone a starter. Is it all his fault? Not necessarily, as his defense isn't exactly stellar. But still. Meanwhile, Murray and Samsonov have been one of the best tandems in the league. Each with a save percentage above .920, Samsonov almost a .930! Their GAA numbers have also been great! It's just so weird how goalies make little to no sense sometimes.
lol. it is. December does not a season make though. what really matters is the playoffs
Watching the defense play the way they are game in and game out is so frustrating. Watching 2 of the best players in the world score at the pace they are and having a .500 record is a nightmare. Something needs to be done, a coaching change isn't happening, but woodcroft better start making them skate lines until they pass out. Their offense is amazing and top tier, depth could be better but I'm not complaining. Defense is an absolute gongshow with them turning over the puck in the slot or at the blueline resulting in a goal against, Campbell has not been good. Other than the squeaky dribbling pucks he has been average at best, he better pick it up aswell as our defense, mike smith should attempt to pass his physical and run it back with us, put the d-men in their place by yelling at them again. Love the videos, keep it up. But this team is so aggravating.
Extra credit points for use of Gongshow in a hockey forum😁
@@brianjones7660 Its the correct definition of what is going on. Its upsetting for a life long fan.
@@spartan2693 well said all around...you want upsetting for a lifelong fan? I'm from Buffalo...😜
In lieu of flowers make a donation to The Don Cherry Home For the Wardrobe Challenged....😐
Wide Right ....No Goal...then we draft the legendary Samson Reinhart #2 overall while local pundits and fans were 😱 screaming about this big forward , a guy named Leon something or other...😕
@@brianjones7660 I honestly feel bad for buffalo fans such as yourself. At least you have a bright future with the likes of dylan cozens and jack quinn, and even Tage Thompson. It just sucks being a Oilers fan and having this once in a generation talent being wasted by awful defense.
i dont think the oilers offencive numbers matter. they are fifth in the league in goals for. its the goals against that needs to drop. I don't really care if we have players dropping off in scoring because when you have mcdavid, draisaitl, nugent hopkins, hyman, and barrier, you get a top 5 offence in the league.
Another superb job, THG!
However, defensemen should also be measured on +/- . E.g., I think you were a bit rough on Cody Ceci, who has a +/- of +8, when the Oilers team is only +4. So, it seems to me he is doing his job, holding the lead for the big guys.
Keep on keepin on, THG!
I like that you judge +/- relative to the team, because it is useful to judge defensive results where they are.
They aren't +4 at even strength though, they are +4 overall. Obviously they have scored many PP goals where +/- isn't used. Ceci also benefits from not being on the ice with the net empty, so he never gets a minus added on at the end of games where they give up an ENG. Erik Karlsson, having an outstanding season, is currently -8 but he's actually even, with 2 ENG for and 10 against.
@@kylejohansen689 good point!
Nurse is being overplayed, if we had someone to help him get off the ice he’s worth that contract
Puj to Philly for Macewan and our 4th back??
Kulak has some potential and is an Edmonton native. You take a chance on guys like this that are very likely to stay. Its hard to get some players to come to Edmonton!
good luck to any team playing boston, gonna be hard for them to not make the finals, current team stats are nuts. only went to overtime 2 times s far? and won both games
Absolutely loved when Kostin called Spector out for being horrible
The GMs who complain on the cap space, they should have their next winter meeting in Winnipeg. There are no distractions there. I hear the Fairmont is a good place stay to get things done. Thin walls so there is no secret deals. You get zapped every once in a while linens, keep you alert. There are no restaurants nearby to get anything to eat. 😁
I´m not into it that deep, like you, but when I read lines like "Nurse only still plays here, because he´s McD´s buddy" I get concerned. I dunno if it´s true in the end, but if it is we have some serious issues...
This is why I like Dubas. Pretty much all the players let go were not worth the cap hits they were asking for, and in many cases he dodged a bullet. No GM is perfect, but he's made some really smart moves. Even Hyman, the best among the departing players over the years, was replaced with someone almost as good (and draws a lot of penalties and gives the team a bit of an edge) for a 1/5 the cap hit. Letting Lyubuskin, Campbell and Mikheyev go were all smart deals. Mrasek was a fairly poor signing, but considering he got two All-star caliber goalies for free (Ottawa even paid the Leafs 2 picks and some cap retention to take Murray), I consider that an overall win.
It's easy to see the contract mistakes with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, etc. being a bit too high, but I still submit that if the cap had continued to go up, the Leafs would have profited immensely from these deals. They are already a top team with the cap problems, just imagine how good the team would be with an extra 6 million in cap. If Dubas had known a pandemic was coming the very next year after these deals were signed, he wouldn't have done it. None of the GMs signing contracts just before the pandemic would have. Bad luck for the pandemic to hit right after the first RFA period.
And as a consequence to the pandemic, any GM signing contracts this year are going to have that effect but in the reverse. Guys signing for 7-9 million that could be paid 15 million in a few years will make those teams much more competitive - similar to how Tampa, Colorado, etc. had many players signed to lower contracts than market value at the time. Buffalo will be a very good team now that Tage has signed long-term for 7 - that is such an advantage.
@THA KANG Tell me something actually unique to him rather than a statement that can apply to 30 gms in the league.
A gm cannot promise a cup - at best, you can only create a team that has a 20% chance to win and seeds 2-8 only have a 10% to win each year. A GM can only build a team that could conceivably win a cup, and he has.
2016-2019 are years they weren't supposed to win - they over achieved - so putting any these failures onto the team and the GM is the wrong way to even look at it. Kucherov and MacKinnon didn't win a cup in the first several years either.
And considering the division they are in where the 1st round features an opponent that is equivalent to a Stanley Cup final in terms of the opponent's strength, blaming him on a coin flip series where they lost to the 2-time champs by only 1 goal in game 7 doesn't really make a strong case that Dubas did anything wrong. It's not like Florida and New York did any better - in fact, they did worse. Florida was a joke. Nobody took 3 games of Tampa but Colorado. I think that speaks volumes to the team Dubas has built. If they got swept, you'd have a stronger case but they didn't. There is zero controversy as to where Dubas has built a contending team or not. He has.
The Oiler's biggest problem right now is Nurse. He's overpaid, he is playing too many minutes, he's making too many mistakes in positioning and turnover. I sure hope that he gets it together and turns things around because that contract is an albatross on the team. Woodcroft needs to lower his minutes and tell him to trust his partner and goalie. He seems to be chasing the puck a lot (leaving his man open), and also trying to play goalie but very poorly.
The problem with comparing this year to last year is that scoring has gone up significantly this year across the league, so just because their scoring is better this year compared to last year does not necessarily mean that they are doing better. Think of it like inflation.
Video idea: Kopitar vs Bergeron...... It's much closer than people think and tbh, you could argue Kopitar is actually the better player
After watching Kostin pot 2 and Jesse notch 1 against Seattle, Holland is looking like a freakin' genius.
Chevy is underappreciated when it comes to his decisions to let players walk at the right time and avoid overpayment. Ladd,armia, copp, comrie, Hayes to name a few
Agree with the cap space and budgeting issues BUT nobody takes covid into account. So no GMs didn't know cap will stay flat for that long so they expected to be able to absorb that hit
This team REALLY misses Kane.
Who does John Smith play for ?
Hey, boss... Not sure how to dm you... Can I help you with your audio processing? It's a bit terrible on headphones. Send me a message if you get this.
Shannon, I would be curious to see you do a video on players that avoided UFA by re-signing with their team. Does it usually work out or do teams often regret that deal? I can think of a number of contracts that were probably mistakes (OEL for the Coyotes, Karlsson for the Sharks, etc.) There are probably examples where they are worth it as well, I am just not thinking of them at the moment.
Generally I'm going to put more faith in your opinion because it's more based on logic and less on emotion than that of fans. The Oilers need several pieces (i.e. a real #1 defenseman and a quality starting goaltender... Skinner may or may not be that guy, scoring depth, etc.) before they can be considered a true contender.
Honestly, as an Oilers fan, I have zero panic... and this is just what I expect from our team. I feel like we're at a huge disadvantage through mid-November til mid-January every season. It's effin' cold here and there's no sunlight. I lift through the winter months, but you definitely don't have the same energy this time of year as you do when you're getting more sunlight. We're the furthest north team in the league, we have a very unique disadvantage. We'll probably still slump for another month, fall outside a wildcard spot, then go on a heater after January and safely make playoffs and do some damage in the post season.
Still hope we add another dman like Chych, but c'est la vie.
Kulac wasn't really signed in haste due to familiarity bias it seems. The Oilers signed pretty much every other player and still waited on him, telling him to test other teams' offers, I believe.
Holland didn't get the usual situation in the first two years because they had no money to spend thanks to Chiarelli's competence which probably outdid Benning's.
The Oilers' top lines are stellar. Add Kane back in and you couldn't ask for more. This year, Holland's biggest mistake in my opinion (biggest mistake over his whole tenure in Edmonton) was not pushing harder for more skill and speed on the bottom lines. Available guys like Rodrigues would have really outdone Shore-like guys. The Avalanche beat them with speed and skill on more lines than the Oilers had speed and skill last year (plus Draisaitl's double maiming by Anderson and McKinnon).
As for Puljujaarvi, he's had every chance on every kind of line. And the new coach is the most open to data coach I can think of. He puts players wherever they'll succeed regardless of cache or seniority, etc..P's just a guy that doesn't think the game on an elite level. So when he gets the puck, he suffers under mental load or just doesn't always know what to do. But playing defensively is a bit of a different thing. He hustles and cares about defence, so that's where his value is. He may slowly improve, but I don't see an explosion. Unless his attitude really really is tripping him up - that's something we can't rate unless we're in his head.
Ceci's getting payed more to play defence than score I think. I'm not quite sure why you're just pointing out boxcars vis a vis their contracts when they're on defence. Nurse - yeah, overpaid by 3Mil. Would you have to pay him to keep him? Maybe. 9Mil? god I don't think so.
Re disconnect with fans. I imagine it is the biggest. Other teams having disconnect doesn't address degree. The Oilers are the least successful franchise over the last 10-15 years. There you go. Most of it due to endless incompetent management. There seems to be a weird old boys culture where they always think they have contrary twist on how to proceed and it always turns out the consensus was far more correct. No matter how upset fans got, the management showed the same blinkered idiocy for 10+ years. It's gone on longer than Toronto. Vancouver has had more success during that time. Montreal has predominantly been a good or decent team... I think the Oil were even the worst team in pro sport altogether over a certain span. It's been bleak, man.
Thanks for the Oilers video
Very tiresome listening to GM's complaining about cap space almost 17 years after it was implemented. I guess they expect the owners to bail them out again like when they had to save them from handing out those 15 year front-loaded contracts.
Maybe another strike is necessary to limit the % of the cap by even more then it is now and limit the number of players that can earn that amount on the team.
But even then. if the % was limited to, say 10%, GM's would just start handing out 9.99% of cap salaries like they were candy.
A No Movement Clause.
Nurse seems to take it literally in his own end...
First off, THANK YOU for doing this video, Shannon!
Great job, and it does reveal a lot of what’s going on in Oil Country, and who is really responsible for what I consider to be a HUGE mess!
You are 💯% on 🎯. Ken Holland, imo, has to take ALL the blame for their situation. Way overpaid for Nurse, who is GOOD offensively, but defensively gets a Grade of D(American grading), imo.
I definitely don’t know more than a GM, but as a knowledgeable fan, it is both frustrating and sad to see how this team has been mismanaged for decades now.
To think with 2 of the best players in the game, we can’t find a GM who can surround them with higher caliber players than what we have and still be under the cap.
Yes, the Oilers are under a huge microscope and the expectations are always high because of our history and what we had in the 80’s to early 90’s. It’s been 32 years now, since our last SC Championship, and we should be a much better team than we are now.
Sorry for being so lengthy, and thanks again for an excellent video!
Don't forget we have Hyman and Kane who are higher caliber and Nuge too. Things will change when Evander gets back.
@@allendale18 If we can hold on until he gets back, which won’t be until February.
It’s the huge drop off in point production after RNH & Hyman that’s the concern. Well, and a weak D corps.
I absolutely love that jersey. If the oilers don't win a cup with prime mcdavid and prime drai I'll be so bummed. Goaltending is a killer for them this year.
The Oilers just seem to be more of a second half team and so I'm not really worried about them.
The depth scoring seems to be turning a corner especially with guys coming back from injury. And the D will be fine, but they need to find someone to fill the hole that Duncan Keith left. Nurse is struggling because he's playing too many minutes. Should a 9.25 million dollar player be able to play close to 30 every night? Maybe, but he doesn't thrive playing that much and that's the reality. So I'm still optimistic about this team.
Peter Chiarelli was in charge a few years ago and made a few…really bad moves. He got fired and Holland came in, and he’s been making some bad moves too. Seems to me ownership is killing them for repeated bad GM hires.
"bad moves"
He secured Kane and Hyman, Re-signed Kulak at an incredible deal etc etc.
Every GM will make bad moves but Ken Holland has done a lot of good things and only just a few bad things.
@@TCV12 Yeah but that Nurse deal (which has a full NMC until 2027) is awful. Compound it with a 5x5 for Campbell, who’s lost a step this year, Holland has really handicapped the team in terms of cap space.
@@seanragsdale5636 But we know both of those aforementioned players can do much, much better.
This team seems to be at the same crossroads the Penguins were at just before Sid won his first. ALL of their moves in the immediate future will be crucial to them becoming either the stuff of legend and team of destiny OR the team that infamously squandered 2 of the greatest players of their generation. So, no pressure…
Not even close bud...they're 3 centers Crosby, malkin and stall..top d Letang... goalie Fleury all around the same age of 21 is nothing compared to the oilers of today
“We don’t have cap space” my brother in christ you wrote up the contracts
We have the worst media in the league dumb questions and dumb takes.
newgent hopkins also turned out to be real good.
mc david is at 1.5 points per game, no one is close, he's kicking ass. last game before christmas was hard to watch tho. edmonton's consistency is all over. if mcdavid and drisitel don carry the team its over
Nurse is always on his knees. Worst contract. Puju is handicapping our team and Mcdavid when he plays with him, you can’t even deny it’s obvious
I also don't get the ''if JP was put in a position to succeed he might'' crowd, playing on a line with Connor McDavid should surely be considered that.
They lost Klefbom, Larsson and Keith and no one seems to bay an eyelash, when the guys they have playing behind Nurse are all bottom pair guys. It's not the goaltending. So many games where they lose by one goal or one misread in their zone. They could be 20-11 right now.
lol good teams will still play good through injuries, leafs lost most of their d core this year and are one of the best teams
@@GG-ng6zm but it's been a factor to how they've lost games. Reality for them.
Kane is the most important addition to the team. Guy's biggest problem is even when he's losing he thinks he's winning, mcdraisaitl biggest problem is even when they're winning they think they're losing. He adds that extra bit to the locker room, excessive ego/flamboyance, that I think is amazing for the locker room. McDraisailt are continual wet blankets.
We expected Kane to be here, and unfortunately he isn't. I can't wait for him to get back on the ice, though. It'll be an exciting game.
I am a sharks fan here. I think my team will be looking to move James Reimer at the deadline. Maybe Edmonton and the Sharks could make a trade work? I'm not much of a trade analyst so I dont know any of the details but it is something I am pondering
Why the rush to get rid of Reimer? Performance, money, or personnel?
@@jeffreyrainey1015 He is a great goaltender at his age. Since we aren't really ready for the playoffs maybe we should trade him while he has some value.
@@insanum666 Ah, I take your point.
I love how Jordan Greenway chirped Darnell Nurse and now everyone's come to agreement he's overpaid.
I thought Bob Gainey was also Patrice Bergeron...? 😇
I Like Nurse but I’d like him a lot more at what I think he’s worth at 6.5-7 mil but I’m never gonna fault a player for getting paid.
We're seeing this all over the league, a lot of players are paid more than they deliver. It was predicted when the league went to a hard cap that the top players will get paid and other salaries will be forced down leaving few in the middle. And it's only worse under the flat cap. Teams have no flexibility. Nobody wants Puljujarvi at $3M so they retain salary or ride out the term of his contract. It's clear what Holland's choice was.
Can you please do the islandera
Islanders*
Currently, Edmonton is at their best when they can score their way out of problems. A lot of their wins seem to be high scoring comebacks. I hope that Campbell can bounce back from his struggles, because he was beloved in Toronto. And that's a feat, because Toronto has not exactly been kind to their goalies over the years.
I honestly don't get it with the oilers. Do mcdavid and draisaitl suck defensively or something? ... Or does the rest of the roster just suck year after year?
This was my issue with Colorado just resigning everybody (minus kadri) and everyone being happy about it.
Just running it back usually doesn’t work
IS POOLPARTY THE NEW TOBY RIEDER?
How can the argument be made for Sid?
He leads the NHL in points 5 on 5.
You have to watch Holland because he loves to just ride the same rosters forever and just focuses on making the playoffs. At least he did that with the wings for the last 10 years he was here.
Ken Holland doesn't understand how to effectively manage the Salary Cap. And his asset management has also been poor. I would say that the Klim Kostin trade might be the only trade he has won. The Andreas Athanasiou trade set the team's shallow prospect depth even further. The Kieth trade is one when asked about the price He rhetorically asked "if he should have got him for free" and only to have the MAF trade to Chicago happen shortly after. A trade that probably couldn't have happened with Kieth's SPC still on the books.
One of the things that really sticks out about the Oilers is their love of players who have physical abilities and skills that are NHL level with Major Junior Hockey IQ. Nurse and Puljujarvi are prime examples of this. I love both of them, but they are not worth what they signed for, and Ken Holland should have known this.
Their SPCs really have hampered the team's ability to round out their roster. Playing with a 21-man roster to start the season created an atmosphere where there was no threat of being scratched for a poor game. There is no ability to change up the lineup look if things aren't working.
One of the worst things about the Nurse contract is how it is tied to the Kieth trade. When Seth Jones signed his new SPC he wasn't even eligible to sign it. So on top of paying more than they probably needed to considering the limited teams Chicago could deal with the Jones SPC drove up the market for top-pairing defenceman. If Nurse was signed to 8.5, which would have been more than fair, IMO, that gives the Oilers at least space for one more League Minimum SPC.
Ken Holland should have known after JP's run in the latter half of the 2021-22 season that things weren't trending in the right direction. Part of this is on JP as only he can really tackle his confidence issues. That said the Oilers seem to be a team that doesn't prioritise developing the mental skills a professional NHL player needs to succeed and perform at their peak, more often than not.
If the Oilers do win the Stanley Cup it certainly could be because Leon and Connor overcome the work that Ken Holland has done.
The nurse signing was a terrible deal that’s going to haunt them.
The internet and social media is largely just an echo chamber for people. Most aren't using it to challenge their beliefs or opinions or to learn something new. And for the rest we're just using at as background noise to fill our day.
I like THG's channel because it has fans from every team. You end up with balance, and can see how fans parrot talking points from their team's broadcast. What comes out of the TV during a game feeds the echo a lot.
@@angiebee2225 I like that you can rely on THG for an honest take on something without having to worry about any bias.
@@jonfox4022 He does have bias, but he's honest about it, and I'm okay with that because he does a good job not making everything about said bias.
For the record, Shannon, to Stuart Skinner to have a GAA of 2.83 million so far this year, he would need to have given up 55,751,000 goals in the 1182 minutes he's played so far this year. Which I'm not sure is physically possible, but there you go.
That's what I tell all of these people in Comments about My New York Rangers
After the top 4 forwards the talent gets pretty slim.
Holland has learned nothing from his last years in Detroit, it’s just that this time he’s being bailed out by high-end talent