Oilers Got Wreck'd: A Love Story. 2014-15 Season?

[Thorin]

Well and then they beat the team that won the Stanley Cup last year...

[Mr. Analog]

I am more confuse than ever

you just know that they'll tank against Cowtown

[Mr. Analog]

David Perron, Gone

http://www.canada.com/sports/Edmonton+Oilers+send+David+Perron+Pittsburgh+Penguins+Klinkhammer+first+round+pick/10697201/story.html

And we get Klinkhammer, who's an Alberta boy to replace him

[Darren Dirt]

Daryl Katz didn't like something Mark Spector said sometime before December 23rd, and therefore ordered that Mark Spector not be allowed on TV during the Dec 23rd game.  Katz was not able to revoke Spector's press pass - can you imagine if you could lose your press pass for writing or saying something bad about the team you're covering?  So he did the most he could, removing Spector from a broadcast.

Now, do you think that is a good way to manage your image?  Just silence all the critics, rather than actually try to improve your image?

...a page taken out of The Book Of Public Relations Strategies, published by Scientology Press...

Well and then they beat the team that won the Stanley Cup last year...

TOTALLY. Was watching that game and just before the win I was like "yeah here we go again they gonna lose in OT or the Shootout, yet another loss by one point... wait, WHAT?!?!" then a realization "holy cow, with that achievement-momentum and then playing vs Calgary the next night WOW they actually might have a chance to make the sporting news for a GOOD reason maybe..." (then, next night: "Nope. Back to normal...")

[Darren Dirt]

I've noticed the Oil seem to have a habit of running down the clock to get to OT... especially since they often lose their lead late in the 2nd or early in the 3rd (or amazingly CATCH UP) , I thought of them when I saw this today:
http://philbirnbaum.com/overtime.htm#ThirdPeriodEffects


The link came from a discussion talking about, basically, is there an increase in intentional OT/SO aka a kind of "colluding" almost?

https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/556195943825948672 (convo here)
http://blog.philbirnbaum.com/2010/01/gabriel-desjardins-nhl-teams-are.html (another article from 2010)

[Mr. Analog]

Statistically last night was an interesting game, not very many shots on net (13 or something?)

There's hope in there yet

[Thorin]

Darren:

Be careful, you're headed down the path of analytics and it's a long, winding path   Yes, hockey games have score effects (losing team shoots more to try and catch up, winning team shoots less to try and control the puck and protect the lead).  And yes, these are more pronounced in the third period.  And yes, with the ability to pick up two points in overtime, coaches tell their players to play conservatively when tied in the third period.

When I coach, I tell my teams to just keep the pedal to the metal all the way to the end, try and score as many goals as possible.  If you've scored eight, it's alright to give up five or six the other way.  This was known as firewagon hockey, and the Oilers of the 80s exemplified it: http://thehockeywriters.com/firewagon-hockey-the-game-in-the-eighties-review/.  Imagine two players getting hat tricks and that not being enough goals to win the game.

As for collusion, there better not be.  Many people would lose their jobs if it was found out to be true.  On the other hand, Buffalo, Arizona, and Edmonton are all trying hard to tank and be 30th so they get a chance at Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.  And yes, the general managers are intentionally tanking (well, maybe not intentional in Edmonton).  Arizona, for instance, traded away their significantly better goalie (Devan Dubnyk, of all people) for a draft pick, for no apparent reason (other than having a crappier goalie means you lose more goals which means you're more likely to be 30th and get one of those two amazing players).

Mr. Analog:

Shot count was 32-19 for the Oilers, score was 2-3.  Ben Bishop (playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning last night) is a good goalie.  He was available around the same time as Ben Scrivens last year, but we just didn't offer enough for him.  Keep in mind here that we outshot a top five team by more than 50%.  Part of it was that Tampa Bay for whatever reason didn't take any low-scoring-chance shots whereas the Oilers were willing to shoot even if there was no way it was going to go in.  Another part of the loss was that Tampa Bay's defense cleaned out loose pucks at their net, while a couple of our defenders turned their backs to the puck (Nikitin, Schultz).

The game was a lot more enjoyable to watch, though, as long as you know enough about hockey to see all the little chances and all the little passes and stuff that the Oilers did.  They really did play decently most of the game.

Hall and Eberle don't seem too interested in getting the puck back in our own end.  I saw them several times just weakly push the puck towards the blue line or just stand in the way instead of trying to get the puck back.  When they get in the offensive end, though, they light up like little kids on Christmas morning.

Yak's linemates appear to be getting more used to his weird little ten-foot passes.  Once they're used to them, those passes will work quite well, making defenders freeze as they're not sure how to handle a player who quickly makes a short pass and then suddenly jumps over to open ice.  But it's not something most hockey players do; most players would hold on to the puck and carry it with them.  I hope they keep him with those same linemates the rest of the year.

Pouliot's going good, he's scored the last four goals of the team.  But he's not doing it by himself, and he knows that, he's the first guy to point over to whoever got the puck to the net for him.

Just, I wish Schultz wouldn't Jultz, and Nikitin would remember weak-side D pick up a player while the goalie stops the puck.

And...  FRIGGIN' SIGN PETRY.  He may not be a #1 D on a playoff team, but he's definitely the best D on our team.

[Thorin]

Yakupov was drafted because of his great shooting ability. Tonight he got put in the shootout for the first time in his career, and he scored a beauty with multiple dekes.

And it was the game winner.

Jeebus, they're finally starting to understand who has what skills?

[Mr. Analog]

I sure hope so

[Tom]

Did we hire Randy Carlyle? That might explain it

[Thorin]

Wow, two shootout victories in a row!

Last night's game was good because the other team (Washington Capitals) got an early two goal lead thanks to their sniper (Alex Ovechkin - man that guy can shoot), but then the Oilers kept battling and battling and in the last few minutes of the third period managed to tie the game up.

Yak in the shootout again, tried the same moves but didn't beat the goalie this time.  Then Ebs, who didn't beat Holtby the goalie (but Holtby was looking behind him in the net, because he thought he'd been beat), then Derek Roy and Teddy Purcell both scored, while Fasth only let in the first shot of the shootout and stopped the next three (including Ovechkin the sniper!).

We're busy playing ourselves out of 30th, though, so reducing the chance we get one of McDavid or Eichel.  But I'm sure once we're playing against the west teams we'll plummet right back down.

[Mr. Analog]

Nothing like a winning streak before going into the all star break haha

[Thorin]

Hoy, so, they traded Petry today.  He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens.  The return was Montreal's second round pick, and Colorado's fifth round pick (which Colorado had traded to Montreal for a player earlier this season, I think).  The fifth round pick is conditional: if the Canadiens win the first playoff round, it changes to Montreal's fourth round pick, and if the Canadiens win the second playoff round, it changes to Montreal's third round pick.

Oiler Land is pretty sad to see such a small return for the player that four coaches in a row used as our #1 or #2 defensemen (going by time on ice and quality of competition).  Also, he has more points than Justin Schultz, who MacT _still_ touts as a really good offensive defenseman.

I heard a rumour that MacT did make a last-minute offer to Petry, 4 million a year for 4 years.  Petry will likely get more money or a longer contract or both come July.

Hey, you know what's neat?  It's expected that Jeff Petry will play on the second pairing in Montreal, pushing Tom Gilbert down to third pairing.  And you know what?  That's great spots for them, as they're no longer in over their heads!  I wonder how many more of our best players we're going to give away to other teams over the next few years...

Last but not least, thanks to Lowetide the awesome hockey blog, I give you a Keynes vs Hayek rap about economics: http://youtu.be/d0nERTFo-Sk

Because talking about the Oilers is getting too frustrating.

[Melbosa]

http://www.hockeyfeed.com/fan-made-song-perfectly-describes-the-leafs-season/ - how long until a video for Oilers?

[Thorin]

Well, there's this guy with a little mustache who has an opinion or two about the Oilers: http://youtu.be/t79pQ-OMYpU