just reversible like Byfuglien, still quality on the back end
- oilerfan94

He is now....he was a nightmare for a few years aside from putting up PP points.

Shouldn't you be worried that the Pens only have one cup with that line up. Sid and Mal aren't getting any younger.,
- whipper334

Wasn't happening this year anyways without a poop ton of lucky breaks.


I highly doubt they win another cup with both on the team. Too top heavy, and GMJR is taking apart what could have been a great young, mobile, physical defense which would have given me more hope as Sid and Geno got older.


I'm all for trading Malkin to fill in the holes. No way we'd get "equal" value, but it would make the team better. Hell, I'd trade Sid, but he means more to the team than just what he does on the ice.

Hook me up with a Johnny Hockey shirt.... I guess I'm a Flames fan for at least one round of the playoffs.
- Reveen

*i know you're fcking with me*

*i know you're fcking with me*
- whipper334

And it feels so right.

Wasn't happening this year anyways without a poop ton of lucky breaks.


I highly doubt they win another cup with both on the team. Too top heavy, and GMJR is taking apart what could have been a great young, mobile, physical defense which would have given me more hope as Sid and Geno got older.


I'm all for trading Malkin to fill in the holes. No way we'd get "equal" value, but it would make the team better. Hell, I'd trade Sid, but he means more to the team than just what he does on the ice.
- batjester

Totally agree!! And that pisses me off!

Totally agree!! And that pisses me off!
- whipper334

Agreeing with me usually does piss people off.





But at least they get the satisfaction of being right.

I'm all for Malkin filling in my holes
- batjester

I knew it!

*i know you're fcking with me*
- whipper334

The Johnny Hockey shirt would be my new jizz rag, but I will be cheering the Flames in round one.

The Johnny Hockey shirt would be my new jizz rag, but I will be cheering the Flames in round one.
- Reveen

Despite being jealous of them, at least you can respect the Flames and their fans are much better than anything out of Vancouver.

The Johnny Hockey shirt would be my new jizz rag, but I will be cheering the Flames in round one.
- Reveen

Fair enough!

Despite being jealous of them, at least you can respect the Flames and their fans are much better than anything out of Vancouver.
- Dangles13

Pretty solid read from Matheson about building a NHL blue line.

http://www.edmontonjourna...dlvr.it-twitter-ej_oilers

Fear The Fin ‏@fearthefin 8m8 minutes ago
"Alex Ovechkin has a lot to prove come playoff time"

Well if he was so great he wouldn't have played forward while Vlasic and Boyle were on the top pair.
- Jeropotato

That was more out of a necessity last year than anything b/c of the Hertl injury, Burns to me last year wasn't a good forward, but he's a great point producing blueliner that's for sure.

Where are all my favorite Oiler fans?

*jesus that's funny*
- whipper334

(farts onto your pillow)

schultz is a minute muncher but not the tough minutes. 6th on the team in competition. Russell is looking good as a byproduct of Calgary's inflated year. he's a bottom pair guy
- oilerfan94

I'm confused, he gets Easier competition relatively speaking? Like he plays on the top pair with klefbom and plays the highest minutes, but they get fed easier competition than say fayne who's only generally out when toews is on the ice..?

Do u mean 6th toughest for defencemen? How does that make sense?

I'd assume that if he has easier competition overall than fayne or marincin that it's kinda like how Chicago rolls, giving hjalmarsson the tough shutdown assignments to exploit matchups through Keith. Which isn't in anyway a condemnation of Keith's abilities. Or that coach thinks hjalmarsson is better than Keith. Just solid matchup work.

End of the day, if you're playing 5-7 more mins a night than another guy, you're gonna face more talented opposition on a regular basis

Despite being jealous of them, at least you can respect the Flames and their fans are much better than anything out of Vancouver.
- Dangles13

Yeah but they still have dipsh1t fans like Whipper so it's a crap shoot

Saturday can't come soon enough. I just want to know where we're picking.

Saturday can't come soon enough. I just want to know where we're picking.
- Iloveeveryone

Top 5

I'm confused, he gets Easier competition relatively speaking? Like he plays on the top pair with klefbom and plays the highest minutes, but they get fed easier competition than say fayne who's only generally out when toews is on the ice..?

Do u mean 6th toughest for defencemen? How does that make sense?

I'd assume that if he has easier competition overall than fayne or marincin that it's kinda like how Chicago rolls, giving hjalmarsson the tough shutdown assignments to exploit matchups through Keith. Which isn't in anyway a condemnation of Keith's abilities. Or that coach thinks hjalmarsson is better than Keith. Just solid matchup work.

End of the day, if you're playing 5-7 more mins a night than another guy, you're gonna face more talented opposition on a regular basis
- Ihateallofu

That's what I don't understand myself, if he's playing over 20 minutes a night he's still not playing against 3rd and 4th lines all night.

Top 5
- Dangles13

But which spot? 1st? 3rd? 4th?

I'm confused, he gets Easier competition relatively speaking? Like he plays on the top pair with klefbom and plays the highest minutes, but they get fed easier competition than say fayne who's only generally out when toews is on the ice..?

Do u mean 6th toughest for defencemen? How does that make sense?

I'd assume that if he has easier competition overall than fayne or marincin that it's kinda like how Chicago rolls, giving hjalmarsson the tough shutdown assignments to exploit matchups through Keith. Which isn't in anyway a condemnation of Keith's abilities. Or that coach thinks hjalmarsson is better than Keith. Just solid matchup work.

End of the day, if you're playing 5-7 more mins a night than another guy, you're gonna face more talented opposition on a regular basis
- Ihateallofu

http://www.behindthenet.c...+58+59+60+61+62+64+65+66#

http://www.hockeyabstract.com/playerusagecharts

the 22.5 minutes a night he plays are against mainly bottom 6 comp, the 18-20 minutes Fayne, Ference, Nikitin, (petry), Marincin play are mainly against top 6-top 9 comp

it is the same way with Chicago, Hjalmarsson-Oduya get toughs. Didn't say which was better, I said Schultz doesn't play toughs, he plays 22.5 minutes of pretty matchup-zone start protected hockey

(farts onto your pillow)
- ChetManly

Pretty solid read from Matheson about building a NHL blue line.

http://www.edmontonjourna...dlvr.it-twitter-ej_oilers
- Dangles13

you draft and you wait and hope.

and the oilers pretty much had empty cupboards when they tore it down. there was nothing in the pipelines coming up outside eberle and maybe petry.
they didn't have a keith coming into his own after a few years of development right around the time they had those high picks in kane and toews were coming into the league.
even keith wasn't a superstar to begin with. he had Campbell to insulate him.

in regards to the oilers, they'll be the opposite kind of model (forwards before defence) in terms of having the halls and ebs as semi vets for the young dmen in klefbom and nurse coming into the league. but this isn't by some sort of bad design. its who was available at the times when we had the high picks. and ryan murray is really the only dman one could realistically point to in a missed pick. and at this point, it really hasn't been at all. he wouldn't have made a difference in any significant manner.

I think its probably the biggest reason I defend mact so much. admittedly I do believe hes the right guy for the job and I feel like I understand where hes coming from when he speaks and his vision for the squad.
but its not about arguing that hes some 'great' gm at this point. how could I really? regardless that I think theres a million factors to consider, the bottom line is we're a bad team. and this is where those haters feel justified. and love to use the term apologist if you think differently.

but imo, its about totally unrealistic expectations that most of the haters had because some bonehead 5 years ago said "the rebuild will take this amount of time and we'll be good by this point".
and instead of realizing and or admitting that clearly said bonehead was extremely deluded, theyd rather find easy answers and easy blame.

you draft and you wait and hope.

and the oilers pretty much had empty cupboards when they tore it down. there was nothing in the pipelines coming up outside eberle and maybe petry.
they didn't have a keith coming into his own after a few years of development right around the time they had those high picks in kane and toews were coming into the league.
even keith wasn't a superstar to begin with. he had Campbell to insulate him.

in regards to the oilers, they'll be the opposite kind of model (forwards before defence) in terms of having the halls and ebs as semi vets for the young dmen in klefbom and nurse coming into the league. but this isn't by some sort of bad design. its who was available at the times when we had the high picks. and ryan murray is really the only dman one could realistically point to in a missed pick. and at this point, it really hasn't been at all. he wouldn't have made a difference in any significant manner.

I think its probably the biggest reason I defend mact so much. admittedly I do believe hes the right guy for the job and I feel like I understand where hes coming from when he speaks and his vision for the squad.
but its not about arguing that hes some 'great' gm at this point. how could I really? regardless that I think theres a million factors to consider, the bottom line is we're a bad team. and this is where those haters feel justified. and love to use the term apologist if you think differently.

but imo, its about totally unrealistic expectations that most of the haters had because some bonehead 5 years ago said "the rebuild will take this amount of time and we'll be good by this point".
and instead of realizing and or admitting that clearly said bonehead was extremely deluded, theyd rather find easy answers and easy blame.
- Ihateallofu

You are awesome.

People want change. They wanted something to happen in management since the rebuild was not going according to plan. So they fired Tambi. It was a bit of scapegoating but he was not doing a very good job at making a team that would protect the kids as they arrived.

MacT took over the tirefire and has been settling the ship. It is the fact that it is still taking so long that shows how poorly things were going with the previous GM.

It is hard, if in some cases nearly impossible, to trade for the kind of players that the team needs. Or to attract prime UFA targets. This is not a Vancouver, that is just sliding slightly but with a proper pickup in net is back into contention. This team is a ways away and everyone knows it. No player in his prime, but getting later, years wants to go to YEG. They want a realistic shot at a cup.

So we, the fans, wait. Draft and develop. It sucks, but the team is closer than further now, though the latest results don't actually prove it.

To me the biggest mistake MacT made was the sudden transition to Eakins when he took over. Kreuger should have been given a leash into the next year ,but that is a discussion beaten to death.