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 Adam
Messages: 7775
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| CrusaderPi wrote on Tue, 08 November 2022 14:50 |
I thought he was pretty good at the start of seasons until this one. I seem to remember us talking about how he was a good early year players because the game isn't as tough. Then, as we get into the stretch drive, he starts getting muscled out of the play more.
Of course he had a decent post season last year, so that theory got blown out of the water.
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Yeah, I think the hand-wringing about Yamamoto (and other mid-tier and bottom line scorers) is a bit overblown. Would we like more production from him? Sure, of course. But the fact is, we're 2nd in the league in goals for. Some goals for Yamamoto and Puljujarvi would be a nice to have, but it's hardly where we're lacking the most.
The bottom six is getting outscored again for sure, and so as we look to improve 5v5 play, that's a concern - the minus players on the team at forward are Puljujarvi, Holloway, Foegele, McLeod and Malone which is an indication that when the third and fourth lines are on the ice, they tend to get outscored. That said, I think the fact that McDavid and Draisaitl are only at +4 shows that the 5v5 weakness goes deeper than just the depth players. The Oilers are really only getting the job done on the powerplay, so it's not that surprising that the only players with stats to write home about are those who get a lot of PP minutes.
Oh, and Darnell Nurse. I can't remember who it was who was ragging on him fiercely early in the year, but he's a team leading +7 with 9 points in 13 games, only one of which is on the PP. Not a perfect player, and he still makes mistakes, but all-in-all, the stats suggest he's playing well this year - possibly our top performer at even strength. (Although even he falls flat on his face on the PK).
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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