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.
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
It's an april fools prank.
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!!
Wait, there only is a second half of the year this year :P
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?
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*
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.
Exactly
Got a video of the booing? And a account/recount of that game?
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Thorin on April 04, 2013, 12:21:31 PM
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 ;D
Quote from: Mr. Analog on April 04, 2013, 12:29:46 PM
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.
Quote from: Tom on April 04, 2013, 12:45:58 PM
They usually tank after half a season, they haven't played for half a season yet ;D
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!"
I meant half way through a regular season.
So I was looking at the Oilers website for their schedule. The next home game is April 10th vs Phoenix. There's a link to buy tickets, so I thought I'd click it and see what's available. This took me to Ticketmaster, where they have a neat app that shows for each section what seats are available.
Well, let me tell you... Of the 16,839 total seats there are only 80 seats left to buy tickets for, and they're all single seats! Singles are notoriously hard to sell, and yet it's possible that they'll still sell them. But just think, this is not officially a sell-out because there are 0.475% of the seats still available. That's right, it's a 99.525% sold-out game. Against Phoenix of all teams! After intentionally tanking for three years straight!
So the next time a media mouthpiece paid by the Oilers wants to complain about fans booing a lacklustre effort (as what happened on March 23rd and Dan Tencer then complained about), maybe they need to shut up and say, "Hey, thanks for supporting us through all of this pain and you're right, we need to work harder".
Dunno if you've noticed, but the fans made sure to applaud the Oilers two games later when they won by clearly working hard. Hell, last night in Calgary they got applause from Oilers fans that had driven down to attend the game in Calgary!
..
Weirdest thing I saw in that game last night was a small child wearing an Oilers t-shirt sitting on the lap of his mom wearing a Flames jersey (dad was sitting next to them in an Oilers jersey). It looked ... awkward. The mom and dad disagreeing I can understand. The mom and toddler disagreeing, WTF?
She probably didn't want to taint her young one with such filth.
;)
Well the Oilers are sucking and the players don't look like they're trying anymore. At least it helps their chances at another high draft pick. Here's a hilarious Kijiji listing for yesterday's game:
http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-tickets-Edmonton-Oilers-vs-Chicago-Blackhawks-04-24-2013-W0QQAdIdZ477724110
quoted in case it disappears:
Quote
I'm selling 2 tickets to tomorrow night's Oilers/Blackhawks game. These tickets are a perfect investment for any Blackhawks fan wanting to see their team put a 10-spot on the home squad. If you're an Oilers fan, this will be your second last opportunity of the season to boo the team off the ice. For fringe fans with no allegiance to either team, tomorrow night's game might be your best opportunity to win the 50/50. By my calculations, the Oilers should be down by a half dozen goals by the 2nd intermission--which means the capacity crowd will begin to file out--thereby increasing the odds of you winning some money. If you fall into any of the above categories, please call 780-974-4038 to purchase my tickets.
Section 225
Row 34
***I'd say these tickets are attacking zone twice, but that would insinuate the Oilers will attack something/anything. Please do not buy these tickets if you're a delusional Oilers fan hoping to see an upset tomorrow night. I don't want to be in any way responsible for your disappointment. If you're looking to throw away some hard-earned money, I'm asking for $75 (per ticket).
Now that is some serious disillusionment in that post right there.
Quote from: Thorin on April 25, 2013, 06:46:07 PM
Now that is some serious disillusionment in that post right there.
ah yes, that there is a comedic yet gentle reminder that everything tastes of porridge (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Disillusionment).
I prefer illusionment
Not only did they Oilers win but they did so using wooden limbs instead of sticks whilst riding large birds
You know, the Oilers talking heads said they wanted improvement from this year over last, and they look to have improved. They've gone 30th, 30th, 29th. This year they'll most likely be 27th or 26th. Although they could still drop to 28th fairly easily. Dropping to 29th is almost impossible (but not actually impossible yet).
WE CAN DO IT
lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i0bInJWKcw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd6A5PNvY4A
Here we go, ready for the draft: http://youtu.be/BnqaRY00Cug
Quote from: Thorin on May 20, 2013, 10:02:50 PM
Here we go, ready for the draft: http://youtu.be/BnqaRY00Cug
Ach, du Schei?e!
Sean Horcoff traded to DALLAS
Now watch him have the best year ever lol
Quote from: Mr. Analog on July 05, 2013, 08:51:54 AM
Sean Horcoff traded to DALLAS
Now watch him have the best year ever lol
It's amazing what non retarded management and ungimped coaching can do.
Hopefully
Right, so, centers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on the Injured Reserve list and may or may not be ready to start hockey by the time the season starts. Sam Gagner, well, MacT has come out publicly and suggested he may be moved to the wing. Horcoff just got traded for a defenseman and a large amount of cap space relief. Belanger has been waived so that he can be bought out. Jerred Smithson's contract is up, do they plan on re-signing him? Anton Lander is not believed ready for the NHL yet. Mark Arcobello is believed too small for the NHL.
We've moved from poor at defense to poor at center. Oh, and our top defenders are Smid and Petry, not as strong as defenders on other teams. But hey, at least we have a lot of defensive depth now, right? Petry, Smid, J Schultz, N Schultz, Anton Belov, Philip Larsen, Corey Potter, Taylor Fedun, ... see how quickly we're into the AHL defenders already?
Oh wait, we just picked up Andrew Ference on defense as I was typing this. Where does he slot in? Probably before or after J Schultz. So Ptery, SMid, J SChultz, Ference, N Schultz, Belov, with Larsen, Potter, Fedun waiting for call-ups for injuries.
But still, ONE UNINJURED NHL-QUALITY CENTERMAN. Oh, and only one NHL-quality goalie. We'll see how this all pans out.
For me Horcoff was a hole at centre anyway, I don't see the difference
SICK BURRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNN
Horcoff got thrown out on the ice in his own end, then called back to the bench once the puck went into the other team's end. It's hard to score when the coach constantly pulls you off just as the offence starts. He did hella good in his own end, when compared to other players on the team. Stayed with his check, kept track of the puck, stayed defensive-side of his check almost all the time, and took the demotion from top six to bottom six without complaining (at least publicly, dunno what was said in the dressing room or coaches office).
Defensively, he was better than Gagner, who frequently lost his check in an attempt to help the wingers who were out of position. Offensively, even though he got worse linemates and worse starting positions, he was better than Nugent-Hopkins (Nuge got 2 goals 8 assists for 10 points in 588 minutes for 1.02 points / 60 minutes, Horcoff got 4 goals 4 assists for 8 points in 347 minutes for 1.38 points / 60 minutes).
When Horcoff broke his knuckle, the team suddenly went into a tailspin of losses. Why? I surmise they lost the one guy on the bench who kept jabbering on about "come back and help the @%&#ing goalie, for @%&#'s sake!" Most of the other players this year were more interested in scoring, since that's what seems to pay the big bucks. How many damn times was Justin Schultz past the other team's goal line instead of letting the forwards deal with that portion of the ice as is their job and him covering the god-damn breakout at the blue line? How many times did you see Hall, Yakupov, Gagner, Hemsky, Jones, or Smyth leave the zone early for a breakaway pass that didn't come because the Oilers didn't have control of the puck yet?
Anyway, we have three NHL-quality centers now, Nugent-Hopkins, Gagner, Gordon. Then we start picking from the AHL players: Mark Arcobello, Anton Lander, Chris Vandevelde, Josh Green, Ryan Martindale, then part-time AHLers, Tanner House and CJ Stretch, and lastly WHLer Travis Ewanyk. Arcobello tore up the AHL points-wise but is tiny and I'm sure all the Oil fans will complain about Smurfs. Lander and Vandevelde did poorly in their call-ups last season, they're just not ready yet, and Josh Green has spent years and years in the minor system and probably just doesn't have enough speed and skill to keep up to the NHL (otherwise he'd be playing there by now, he's only three years younger than Horcoff).
MacT played defensive-center, MacT coached defense-first, MacT as GM is now building a defense-first team (just look at how many defensemen he's added to the system).
We picked up Andrew Ference (defence), Jason Labarbera (goal) and Boyd Gordon (centre) today.
We have a lot of young talent that could develop offensively and I can't say I'm surprised or upset that we're moving back to a more defensive setup even though a few years ago I was happy to see the Oil move away from it.
I personally did not care for Horcoff, while I don't consider him a terrible player he wasn't an especially good player either and the Oilers have had some of their worst years ever during his tenure as captain (2010-2013). Not to mention the enormous chunk he took out of the cap.
I wish him well but he can take his 14 points in 54 games with him to Dallas.
:)
Yup, yet another middling defence (not star level like Pronger was, or Suter, Weber, or Chara are) in Ference. I mentioned him in a previous post. Ference is 34 and signed for four years; this is similar to where in their careers Khabibulin and Belanger were signed. So for defence we've got Petry, Smid, J Schultz, Ference, N Schultz, Belov as NHL starters, then Larsen, Potter, Fedun for call-ups.
For center we've got Nugent-Hopkins, Gagner, Gordon, then a bunch of good-to-bad AHLers. For the record, Gordon had 4 goals 11 assists in 551 minutes for 1.20 points / 60 minutes. That's worse than Horcoff's outgoing 1.38 points / 60 minutes. They were both over 50% in faceoffs. They both play a defensive-first game. The difference is Gordon's contract is $3mil/year cap hit vs Horcoff's $5.5mil/year cap hit. In other words, a similar player with lower point output and lower cap hit.
LaBarbera was a good signing, he's very similar to Dubnyk in style so the players don't have to adjust to a different style of goalie behind them when he's in net. If you don't like how Dubnyk plays net this is terrible - I like how Dubie plays, so I don't mind. The best comment I read today about the LaBarbera signing: "So the Oilers' G position is now covered by two similar goalies, collectively Javon Dubarbanyk. I'm good with that."
We've now signed Jesse Joensuu. I expect him to play wing on the third and fourth line, moving back and forth as Eakins tries to figure out where he fits.
If we manage to sign Mikhail Grabovski to a cheaper short-term contract, then we might have something to play with:
Hall - Hopkins - Eberle
Gagner - Grabovski - Yakupov
Paajarvi - Gordon - Joensuu
Smyth - ?? - Brown
Petry - Smid
J Schultz - Ference
Belov - N Schultz
Dubnyk
LaBarbera
However Grabovski might be an asshat in the dressing room, given public comments over the last few years. And that would still leave a hole at 4th line center. I guess we could put Arcobello there but he needs skill and Smyth/Brown aren't that. Lander? He gets discouraged too easy. Vandevelde? Oop, we let him walk. Green? Not skilled enough for the NHL, really. Anyone else in the system beyond that is nowhere near ready.
The one thing I will say, there are a lot of decent D prospects bubbling under. Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom, Philip Larsen, Taylor Fedun, Corey Potter, Martin Marincin, David Musil. Probably in that order.
Hah, I knew you were going to mention Gordon's stats as I had looked them up (hadn't heard of him before either), I'd still trade one Horcoff for 3x Gordons.
It's going to be another interesting year of hockey, hopefully one where we climb the ladder a bit.
As well I agree, I hope we can get Grabovski.
So the Oilers still have the NHL rights to Linus Omark. They could bring him back into their lineup and it could look like this:
Hall - Hopkins - Eberle
Paajarvi - Grabovski - Yakupov
Omark - Gagner - Joensuu
Smyth - Gordon - Brown
(same D and G as above)
Line 1 is frickin' dangerous! no-see-em-tape-to-tape passes, shots that can squeeze the puck through holes that don't exist, and crazy speed.
Line 2 has a defensively responsible winger, a crazy fast center, and an amazing sniper on the other wing.
Line 3 has a guy playing for his spot, with skilled hands, then a guy at center with skilled hands, then the other winger who apparently is defensively responsible.
Line 4 is the shutdown line with crafty-but-slowing Smyth, super-defensive Gordon, and hit-em-all-day-every-day Brown.
Line 1 and 2 are definite scoring lines, Line 3 is meant to be a scoring line and can be matched up against other teams' third, usually non-scoring, lines. Line 4 can be thrown out against other teams' first or second lines just to give our scorers a breather.
MacT has mentioned Omark at least once, possibly twice, during press conferences. This might actually happen. Of course, this all depends on getting Grabovski or a similar-skilled center.
Duuuuude that would kick ass, holy crap
Quote from: Mr. Analog on July 05, 2013, 02:57:27 PM
Hah, I knew you were going to mention Gordon's stats as I had looked them up (hadn't heard of him before either), I'd still trade one Horcoff for 3x Gordons.
I'd heard of Gordon, he singlehandedly shut down Hall when we played Phoenix. I would also trade 1 Horcoff for 3 Gordons. But we didn't we traded 1 Horcoff for 1 Gordon. One thing I missed, Gordon is 5 years younger so we shouldn't see the age-related dropoff that most players get between 33 and 38 (Chris Chelios, Jaromir Jagr, and Jarome Iginla excepted).
Quote from: Mr. Analog on July 05, 2013, 03:05:01 PM
Duuuuude that would kick ass, holy crap
It'd only work for a couple of years and then Hopkins and Yakupov'll want their raises and we run out of cap space to do it.
I also think Ference's four-year deal is gonna become MacT's "Khabby" contract. He's 34 already, it's $3.25mil/year for 4 years.
..
We were in the running for David Clarkson, he went for $5.25mil/year for 7 years. I'm GLAD we didn't end up signing him for that, it would've been an albatross-round-the-neck contract.
..
Now we've signed two new AHLers - the new associate coach's son Will Acton (from the Toronto Marlies), and the former captain of the Marlies, Ryan Hamilton. Seems like there's some inside knowledge that Dallas Eakins, our new coach, has. Or these players really liked him as a coach and are following him into a new association.
..
It's sure been busy for MacT today, but I'm still waiting to see what we get for Hemsky (I predict 2nd round pick or high-price/low-quality center).
Yep, I'm interested to see what we get.
I forgot about Andrew Miller, another center in our system who kicked butt in college. He's smallish as well, so the size nazis won't like him. Apparently very good hands and doesn't give up.
And it's getting a little confusing. CapGeek.com, for instance, lists Antti Tyrvainen as a center and Mark Arcobello as a right wing. Arco played center for OKC, and Tyrvainen played wing, as best I know.
Ahh, Tyrvainen: http://youtu.be/sECQ6uE3WDM. A little bit crazy.