Matt Benning is a plus 8. The only player above zero is Currie at 1.
There's plenty of players a 0, but holy (frank) what is Benning doing. - Oilers4Life14
Playing effective bottom pairing minutes where wins the greater share of all the important, measurable battles? But Oilers fans don't like that because he's not exceptional at anything and seems to get beat often (despite evidence proving he doesn't).
Call me crazy, and I love the guy on our team, but Draisaitl is playing shinny hockey out there it seems. I'm getting increasingly frustrated at him giving 90% with the puck, 100% when McDavid has the puck, and 20% in the Dzone and on the back-check. He's close to superstar status already but he can be so much better.
Am I reading too much into this? Please tell me I'm wrong.
Playing effective bottom pairing minutes where wins the greater share of all the important, measurable battles? But Oilers fans don't like that because he's not exceptional at anything and seems to get beat often (despite evidence proving he doesn't). - MaximumBone
Awesome stat! I admit that I've been one of those guys focusing too much on his high profile gaffes. I think he's a pretty good team guy too, no?
I still favour Gravel over him I think... but not 100% on that.
Why not make the future now. The Oilers need wingers now. No more wasted Conner years. Very rarely does a situation present it’s self as is now in Ottawa. It has all the makings of a blockbuster deal. What does Ottawa need? A future. Good prospects and picks. Salary to make the cap. If we can unload Lucic and Sekera, add our 1st and second for a couple years, ship them JP and Keller and get back 2 of the 3 stars we would have a contender now. Ottawa would have a future.
Why not make the future now. The Oilers need wingers now. No more wasted Conner years. Very rarely does a situation present it’s self as is now in Ottawa. It has all the makings of a blockbuster deal. What does Ottawa need? A future. Good prospects and picks. Salary to make the cap. If we can unload Lucic and Sekera, add our 1st and second for a couple years, ship them JP and Keller and get back 2 of the 3 stars we would have a contender now. Ottawa would have a future.
Why not make the future now. The Oilers need wingers now. No more wasted Conner years. Very rarely does a situation present it’s self as is now in Ottawa. It has all the makings of a blockbuster deal. What does Ottawa need? A future. Good prospects and picks. Salary to make the cap. If we can unload Lucic and Sekera, add our 1st and second for a couple years, ship them JP and Keller and get back 2 of the 3 stars we would have a contender now. Ottawa would have a future.
Call me crazy, and I love the guy on our team, but Draisaitl is playing shinny hockey out there it seems. I'm getting increasingly frustrated at him giving 90% with the puck, 100% when McDavid has the puck, and 20% in the Dzone and on the back-check. He's close to superstar status already but he can be so much better.
Am I reading too much into this? Please tell me I'm wrong. - JLO961
Careful, saying things like this will get you trashed here. Everything is black and white with some posters. I said this about Drai a while back, but that said, it seems like he has been putting a bit more effort into it in the last couple of weeks IMO. I've seen a couple good back-checks from him lately that didn't ever happen earlier on in the year.
Awesome stat! I admit that I've been one of those guys focusing too much on his high profile gaffes. I think he's a pretty good team guy too, no?
I still favour Gravel over him I think... but not 100% on that. - JLO961
Not sure about being a good team guy, but he is effective. Gravel has been real solid as well, so no issues if he's your preference. Ideally, I'd keep both.
Call me crazy, and I love the guy on our team, but Draisaitl is playing shinny hockey out there it seems. I'm getting increasingly frustrated at him giving 90% with the puck, 100% when McDavid has the puck, and 20% in the Dzone and on the back-check. He's close to superstar status already but he can be so much better.
Am I reading too much into this? Please tell me I'm wrong. - JLO961
He may be doing that but it's worth noting that the guy is playing more than 22mins a night lately. As someone who already has "issues" looking like he's giving enough effort, playing 3-4 more minutes than he's used to is bound to exacerbate the problem.
Careful, saying things like this will get you trashed here. Everything is black and white with some posters. I said this about Drai a while back, but that said, it seems like he has been putting a bit more effort into it in the last couple of weeks IMO. I've seen a couple good back-checks from him lately that didn't ever happen earlier on in the year. - Beergu
It's fine to point it out so long as there's recognition that the "laziness" doesn't make him not worth it. The guys on pace for 100 points; it's not like just anyone can do that with McDavid.
The reason we react so strongly in opposition to these narratives is because we've seen this narrative drive so many good players out of town and we're sick of it. If you frame it in "shades of gray" (to address the black and white comment), I think you'll find that most are willing to accept the criticism but will counter with "but he scores".
Further, I think his added minutes aren't helping the optics.
Listening to these buttplugs stumbling over themselves to justify their own incompetence is pretty hilarious. Around the 3 to 3:30 mark, Burke and the other guy whose name escapes me start talking about how "Brassard was the best C I managed to acquire in Columbus" and how "Kulemin scored 29 in one year so we were like 'we've got a 30 goal scorer' and had to sign him; we all make those mistakes"
I'm not gonna sit here and suggest mistakes don't happen, but I enjoy seeing the mindset of the old guard of hockey in action.
Location: Whenever, wherever, ON Joined: 06.27.2013
Feb 22 @ 1:36 PM ET
Probably a one-gamer. He meant to do it, maybe not as bad as it looked, but it's not like he does this often. - Oilers4Life14
The hearing is today, so I guess we'll know soon. Because Leddy wasn't injured it wasn't malicious/hard, there's no prior history, and he doesn't have a reputation, I'd be surprised if it isn't just a fine. I guess they could do a 1-game, but Malkin has done way worse without even getting a hearing.
Then again, I don't understand the DOPS, so who knows!
It's fine to point it out so long as there's recognition that the "laziness" doesn't make him not worth it. The guys on pace for 100 points; it's not like just anyone can do that with McDavid.
The reason we react so strongly in opposition to these narratives is because we've seen this narrative drive so many good players out of town and we're sick of it. If you frame it in "shades of gray" (to address the black and white comment), I think you'll find that most are willing to accept the criticism but will counter with "but he scores".
Further, I think his added minutes aren't helping the optics. - MaximumBone
Yeah, I think that's it. It's easy for me to sit at home and criticize watching him coast back into the Dzone, but if he is trying to consciously "pace" himself that makes sense. I'm really happy with his production and in time I think he could actually be an even more complete player than Connor. Perhaps its asking too much for him to go all out all of the time.
Yeah, I think that's it. It's easy for me to sit at home and criticize watching him coast back into the Dzone, but if he is trying to consciously "pace" himself that makes sense. I'm really happy with his production and in time I think he could actually be an even more complete player than Connor. Perhaps its asking too much for him to go all out all of the time.
Great points, thanks. - JLO961
I agree with respect to his potential for two-way play and I think he's on that journey as we speak. He's been improving on the PK last I checked so I have to believe he's working on his threat-detection and clogging up lanes. I won't sit here and say he couldn't do more (he clearly has it in him to do so), but I've seen him elevate his game in the playoffs to the point where I'm not worried about that facet of his game being a negative impact.
Probably lame to bring up, but I remember that you and I used to butt heads on things of this manner a few years ago when you first started posting. We were both rather stubborn and unwilling to adjust our lines of thinking towards a happier medium and that led to some nonconstructive interactions.
Nothing wrong with it as people butt heads all the time, but I just wanted to note that I respect that you've shown a willingness to adapt your thinking I'll keep working to do the same as I work to consolidate the new-age statistical thinking that comes easily to me with the traditional methods of evaluation that don't!
Lucic with possible cap retention and an asset of sorts to Ottawa for one of Gaborik, MacArthur or Smith (depending on which saves Melnyk the most actual dollars when factoring in insurance costs/savings)
Ottawa retains half his cap hit (as little money as possible) and sends him to a team with interest in adding him at 2.5 to 3mil and that he would accept (Boston comes to mind). Since Lucic only earns 7.5mil is salary the remaining 4 years of his contract and signing bonuses are paid out by the team that currently has him, Ottawa retains 3mil in cap hit over those 4 years (12mil) at the cost of just 3.75mil in real dollars. Melnyk should be happy.
Edmonton saves somewhere between 2 and 3mil in cap dollars for two years (more beyond 2 years) and adds a shorter term contract that they can LTIR, Ottawa gets a free 2.5 to 3mil in cap taken up without the burden of any dollars (ideally), the acquiring team gets a useful bottom-6 forward and Lucic gets to go to a team that wants him.
I'll keep working to do the same as I work to consolidate the new-age statistical thinking that comes easily to me with the traditional methods of evaluation that don't!