Sean Maloughney: Training Camp Day 1 Begins

Poor Barrie, if he expected to come here and pad his stats, but ends up with Russell. Bunch of pp points, and an equal amount of minuses?

Russell with Barrie is nothing more than a veteran coach showing respect to a veteran and well-liked guy like Russell. Give it time and we'll see Jones slide up. Same thing is going on in Toronto. Fanboys freaking out about Thornton getting a look on the 1st line. Let them skate together for a couple of days. Maybe that's a trio to use when we're down a goal late in the game, but no way Thornton logs 18-20 minutes for the next 56 games. So just relax.

First day of a bad season. I bet they miss the playoffs this season.

Disappointing to say the least.

Stubborn coaches sink seasons. Tippett in full preplayoff form. Ready to move forward with the forward combos that sunk us. I hope this is just a brief thing but I wouldn't be surprised if Tippett goes to this well over and over throughout the season no matter how much the team struggles.

Russell Barrie makes sense to me in that it keeps the other pairings together.

Nurse Bear has been good for us.

Jones Larsson is a nice inexperienced puck mover with an experienced stay at home very experienced defender able to break up a cycle.

Russell is more of a stay at home type imo. Typically good at playing 2 on 1's. Something Barrie partners need to do very well with the amount he likes to pinch.

Sean Maloughney: Training Camp Day 1 Begins
- freelancer

Do you guys feel comfortable with your depth once injuries start taking their toll?

Wonder how a Jones-Larsson pairing pans out.

I see

Nurse-Larsson
Jones-Bear (Risky as you're putting two sophomores together but I think it'll work)
Koekkoek-Barrie

as a potential starting defensive corps by the time the season rolls in. Russell as the 7th. Barrie taking point on PP1 and Bear on PP2.

Do you guys feel comfortable with your depth once injuries start taking their toll?
- DuranDuran

Holland did quite well to bring in solid depth to the lineup. I think past a certain point, a pile of injuries will always take a toll on any team. Also depends on who gets injured too. But I will say that we are better prepared for injuries this season compared to the last even with Klefbom out.

Losing Klefbom is tough but I think the defenders acquired/signed will help. Positive development from just Jones or Bear (not both just to be a bit pessimistic) will help too. Larsson bouncing back would also help too. Last year was not too kind to him as he was having polarizing streaks of play and couldn't find any consistency. Also, think Barrie anchoring our PP1 unit will do a lot more good than ppl seem to realize. Then you have the possibility of Bouchard finally making his mark.

Poor Barrie, if he expected to come here and pad his stats, but ends up with Russell. Bunch of pp points, and an equal amount of minuses?
- Beergu

Of Oilers Dmen with over 500 mins played in the past three seasons, Russell is 2nd in GA/60 with 2.28/60. This includes him playing top-4 minutes for the majority of 2 season. The problem with Russell in top-4 minutes is how much he sinks the offense, not his ability to defend.

That being said, I also don't think it'll work. Rather than two players of different extremes cancelling eachother's weaknesses out, I think it's likely going to be more of a case of cancelling eachother's strengths out.