Oilers 2012-2013

[Thorin]

Well, lots of ups and downs in this shortened season, but right now the Oilers are battling for 8th (they're in 9th, one point out of 8th place).  There's a chance!  Just gotta win two outta three games for the last 14 games.

[Mr. Analog]

I was looking at the same stuff yesterday after they won, they have to play against both Vancouver and Calgary again and I think both of those are going to be ugly games

[Tom]

It's an april fools prank.

[Melbosa]

LOL... you want to see a prank, check out the east:  Winnipeg is in #3 place (38 pionts), yet is 10-15 points behind most of the top 5 teams, and is just over .500 on the season. Compare that to the top team in the east, Pittsburgh, which is just over .750 on the season , and has 56 points.  With the re-alignments next year, I don't think I'll see Winnipeg in this position again.

Actually the majority of the Canadian teams have had a great second half of the year, with the exception of the fire sale Calgary team.  I hope the Oil make the playoffs, and for that matter I hope they play Winnipeg in a series!!

[Mr. Analog]

Wait, there only is a second half of the year this year

[Thorin]

Well, if you're top of your division then you're seeded 1-2-3, so that's why Winnipeg's in there.  If Washington (currently #10) wins their next game then Winnipeg drops to #10 and Washington jumps to #3.

NHL standings are weird.

And Winnipeg playing Edmonton would require us to go to the Stanley Cup Finals.  That'll never happen with the way the reffing goes in the post-season.  It's unlikely we'll even have a Canadian team in round 2.

With Calgary dumping so many of their players, I think the Oilers have a chance to win again.  And against Vancouver, well, it'll depend on how hard they work for the full 60 minutes.

That booing the fans gave the Oilers at Rexall a couple weeks back sure lit a fire under their butts, hey?

[Mr. Analog]

Well, I'll be cheering for 'em tonight, I think Calgary is going to play angry tonight so watch your butts

Vancouver is going to be a real bitch, especially after the last unexpected thrashing

We're ONE POINT away from a possible playoff spot

*vibrate*

[Thorin]

There's a little more to it, though.  We're 1 point out of the playoffs, but we've played more games than the team that's in 8th (St Louis).  Thus we need 2 less losses than them to get ahead of them, not just one.  And that's what it's gonna come down to, how many more losses can we absorb and still be in the race?

Tambellini was talking today about them keeping Whitney to help with the playoff run, since we're so close and since he's been playing so well recently.  Although "well" is a subjective term, especially when you start looking at advanced stats.

[Mr. Analog]

Exactly

[Tom]

Got a video of the booing? And a account/recount of that game?

[Thorin]

No video, but here's a recap: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/edmonton-oilers/Home+fans+struggling+Edmonton+Oilers/8144583/story.html

I watched part of it, it sucked.  It sucked hard.  They didn't bother trying to get the puck from St Louis and they didn't bother trying to get close to St Louis's net to score.

[Thorin]

Alright, so in the standings the Oilers are now in 8th with 39 points (after that blowout 8-2 over Calgary).  Most teams have played 36 games, thus have 9 games left.  Unfortunately, in 9th is St Louis with 38 points and only 34 games played.  Thus if we assume that St Louis will win one and lose one, they end up with 40 points in 36 games, pushing into 8th and pushing the Oilers into 9th, after all the teams have a level amount of games played.

It's a really big maybe at the moment.  They could do it, but they could just as easily miss by one.  Interesting to seem them actually try, though, rather than trying to tank another season.

[Mr. Analog]

Tonight's game against Vancouver will tell the story, if they play hard regardless of outcome I will feel a lot more positive about where the team is going because it will seem like they are at least trying

The hardest thing to watch over the last couple of years has been watching highly paid professionals mope around the ice for 60 minutes after getting themselves into a bad situation or out of contention, and then hearing the pundits proclaim that "at least we'll get a good draft pick". That's BS and I won't stand for it anymore.

It's a miracle I'm watching NHL hockey at all after all the stupidity between the League and the Players.

[Tom]

Alright, so in the standings the Oilers are now in 8th with 39 points (after that blowout 8-2 over Calgary).  Most teams have played 36 games, thus have 9 games left.  Unfortunately, in 9th is St Louis with 38 points and only 34 games played.  Thus if we assume that St Louis will win one and lose one, they end up with 40 points in 36 games, pushing into 8th and pushing the Oilers into 9th, after all the teams have a level amount of games played.

It's a really big maybe at the moment.  They could do it, but they could just as easily miss by one.  Interesting to seem them actually try, though, rather than trying to tank another season.

They usually tank after half a season, they haven't played for half a season yet

[Thorin]

It's a miracle I'm watching NHL hockey at all after all the stupidity between the League and the Players.

Well Bettman knew us better than we know ourselves - we're interested in the sport no matter how much it dismisses us as fans.

They usually tank after half a season, they haven't played for half a season yet

The last couple of seasons they were already sliding after 25 games.  By 41 games in (half a regular season), they were solidly in last.  This season is only 48 games and they've played 36, so that's exactly 75% through the regular season.  Keep in mind that many of the players played in other leagues and thus are at 65+ games for the year when you add it all together.

I think the players this year told management, "@%&# this, we want to win for a change!"