| Review:
Edmonton @ Washington (Game #22) [message #848538] |
Wed, 19 November 2025 19:30  |
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 tardigrade81
Messages: 3674
Registered: November 2022
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan
3 Cups
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Expecting to score a touchdown every night just isn’t practical.
What a joke
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 Skookum Jim
Messages: 5530
Registered: March 2006
Location: Burnaby, BC
5 Cups
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Nurse defied his past poor performances.. had a good game.
Question: What the heck happened to Walman.. that guy is nothing like he was last year.. so slow.. clumsy.. and routinely makes bad reads.. getting consistently burned.. he's been looking like hot garbage.
Ekholm has had a poor season so far as well.. but the guy is recovering from a major groin injury.. groin ligaments pulled off the bone.. not even sure how he's playing .. I expect that would be a long recovery to normal function.. so I'm still hopeful with him.
Walman is another issue.. I can't remember any injury he had that would have contributed to such poor skating.. he looks slow and out of shape .. too much beer and BBQ at the lake over the summer..?
The break away rush where bouchard was fly-swatted out of the way for the shot looked pretty weak.. same old.
Kulak used to be pretty dependable the past 3 years.. he's looking awful as well now..
We have no defencemen currently I'd categorize as NHL level first pair.
Oh.. and we can't score .. Fred, Mangi, Janmark .. zero threat.
McDAVID! Oh YEAH Baby!! (Thank you Lord!)
Tic-Tac-Tao!
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World
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Jay
Messages: 1139
Registered: January 2007
Location: Edmonton
1 Cup
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| Skookum Jim wrote on Wed, 19 November 2025 21:15 |
Ekholm has had a poor season so far as well.. but the guy is recovering from a major groin injury.. groin ligaments pulled off the bone.. not even sure how he's playing .. I expect that would be a long recovery to normal function.. so I'm still hopeful with him.
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It was completely ludicrous to look at this players age and injury history - not to mention his play last year and how awful he was when he eventually came back in the playoffs - and decide that he needed to be locked up for 3 more years after this. Insane.
I'm guessing the list of teams looking to throw a 3 year deal at him in 2026 will be zero. And a NMC.
"Initiative comes to thems that wait"
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Mike
Messages: 1914
Registered: August 2005
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick
1 Cup
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| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:16 |
And a NMC.
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That crap needs to stop. A partial NTC? Maybe. But these full NMCs on old players, middling players, etc...needs to stop. It completely handcuffs the team. I understand the player wanting it, but you know what - too bad. It would be one thing if it typically came with a massive discount on AAV, but here it seems not only do we pay absolute top dollar (and beyond) and way too much term - we compound it with these ridiculous NMCs...
Again I ask a question I've been asking for 20 years: Are Oilers GMs not aware they are allowed to NEGOTIATE?
If Ekholm was settled at $4M per with a full NMC as a hobbling 35 year old Dman.
and with Frederic they "settled" on 8 years, $3.85M per year with a full nmc for 4 years and then a 10 team trade list for the next 4.
WHAT THE HELL was the original ask from the player/agent?!?!?!?!
[Updated on: Thu, 20 November 2025 08:24]
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Jay
Messages: 1139
Registered: January 2007
Location: Edmonton
1 Cup
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| Mike wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 08:18 |
| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:16 |
And a NMC.
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That crap needs to stop. A partial NTC? Maybe. But these full NMCs on old players, middling players, etc...needs to stop. It completely handcuffs the team. I understand the player wanting it, but you know what - too bad. It would be one thing if it typically came with a massive discount on AAV, but here it seems not only do we pay absolute top dollar (and beyond) and way too much term - we compound it with these ridiculous NMCs...
Again I ask a question I've been asking for 20 years: Are Oilers GMs not aware they are allowed to NEGOTIATE?
If Ekholm was settled at $4M per with a full NMC as a hobbling 35 year old Dman.
and with Frederic they "settled" on 8 years, $3.85M per year with a full nmc for 4 years and then a 10 team trade list for the next 4.
WHAT THE HELL was the original ask from the player/agent?!?!?!?!
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It's beyond frustrating.
And the worst part is they sign these deals that anyone can see are complete hope plays with almost no chance of working out and they sign these players like Jeff Arviopanni etc and can't find 2M to pay Cory Perry on a one year deal? After what he did last year? Yes there are performance bonuses which if he meets you should be happy to pay.
I'm starting to think Stan Bowman might fail to reach the impossibly low bar that Doug Armstrongs golfing buddy Ken set.
[Updated on: Thu, 20 November 2025 09:46]
"Initiative comes to thems that wait"
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Adam
Messages: 7591
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:44 |
| Mike wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 08:18 |
| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:16 |
And a NMC.
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That crap needs to stop. A partial NTC? Maybe. But these full NMCs on old players, middling players, etc...needs to stop. It completely handcuffs the team. I understand the player wanting it, but you know what - too bad. It would be one thing if it typically came with a massive discount on AAV, but here it seems not only do we pay absolute top dollar (and beyond) and way too much term - we compound it with these ridiculous NMCs...
Again I ask a question I've been asking for 20 years: Are Oilers GMs not aware they are allowed to NEGOTIATE?
If Ekholm was settled at $4M per with a full NMC as a hobbling 35 year old Dman.
and with Frederic they "settled" on 8 years, $3.85M per year with a full nmc for 4 years and then a 10 team trade list for the next 4.
WHAT THE HELL was the original ask from the player/agent?!?!?!?!
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It's beyond frustrating.
And the worst part is they sign these deals that anyone can see are complete hope plays with almost no chance of working out and they sign these players like Jeff Arviopanni etc and can't find 2M to pay Cory Perry on a one year deal? After what he did last year? Yes there are performance bonuses which if he meets you should be happy to pay.
I'm starting to think Stan Bowman might fail to reach the impossibly low bar that Doug Armstrongs golfing buddy Ken set.
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No one should cry about Corey Perry. He hit the jackpot with a senile GM willing to give him absolute top dollar. The only mistake the Oilers made is that they have refilled his depth role with plugs rather than either a young player with potential or another fading older star. As for Perry himself, that LA deal is idiotic. There's no matching that - you just wish him well.
"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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Jay
Messages: 1139
Registered: January 2007
Location: Edmonton
1 Cup
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| Adam wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:49 |
| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:44 |
| Mike wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 08:18 |
| Jay wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:16 |
And a NMC.
|
That crap needs to stop. A partial NTC? Maybe. But these full NMCs on old players, middling players, etc...needs to stop. It completely handcuffs the team. I understand the player wanting it, but you know what - too bad. It would be one thing if it typically came with a massive discount on AAV, but here it seems not only do we pay absolute top dollar (and beyond) and way too much term - we compound it with these ridiculous NMCs...
Again I ask a question I've been asking for 20 years: Are Oilers GMs not aware they are allowed to NEGOTIATE?
If Ekholm was settled at $4M per with a full NMC as a hobbling 35 year old Dman.
and with Frederic they "settled" on 8 years, $3.85M per year with a full nmc for 4 years and then a 10 team trade list for the next 4.
WHAT THE HELL was the original ask from the player/agent?!?!?!?!
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It's beyond frustrating.
And the worst part is they sign these deals that anyone can see are complete hope plays with almost no chance of working out and they sign these players like Jeff Arviopanni etc and can't find 2M to pay Cory Perry on a one year deal? After what he did last year? Yes there are performance bonuses which if he meets you should be happy to pay.
I'm starting to think Stan Bowman might fail to reach the impossibly low bar that Doug Armstrongs golfing buddy Ken set.
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No one should cry about Corey Perry. He hit the jackpot with a senile GM willing to give him absolute top dollar. The only mistake the Oilers made is that they have refilled his depth role with plugs rather than either a young player with potential or another fading older star. As for Perry himself, that LA deal is idiotic. There's no matching that - you just wish him well.
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Its a one year deal with a 3.5 cap hit (assuming he plays most of the year). If they make the finals its 4M.
You don't think he's worth that to this team? Ok.
There are a million ways to find that money and make it work even if you think the Oilers would have had to pay the same amount which is doubtful.
At least they still have the corpse of Matius Ekholm locked up into his late 30s and Victor Arvidson wearing #88 though.
"Initiative comes to thems that wait"
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Adam
Messages: 7591
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| Skookum Jim wrote on Wed, 19 November 2025 21:15 |
Nurse defied his past poor performances.. had a good game.
Question: What the heck happened to Walman.. that guy is nothing like he was last year.. so slow.. clumsy.. and routinely makes bad reads.. getting consistently burned.. he's been looking like hot garbage.
Ekholm has had a poor season so far as well.. but the guy is recovering from a major groin injury.. groin ligaments pulled off the bone.. not even sure how he's playing .. I expect that would be a long recovery to normal function.. so I'm still hopeful with him.
Walman is another issue.. I can't remember any injury he had that would have contributed to such poor skating.. he looks slow and out of shape .. too much beer and BBQ at the lake over the summer..?
The break away rush where bouchard was fly-swatted out of the way for the shot looked pretty weak.. same old.
Kulak used to be pretty dependable the past 3 years.. he's looking awful as well now..
We have no defencemen currently I'd categorize as NHL level first pair.
Oh.. and we can't score .. Fred, Mangi, Janmark .. zero threat.
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Again - where you see an entire defence corps struggling, especially with guys who've up until now looked dependable, I think you need to take a step back and ask what has changed in the system? What are the coaches asking these guys to do that's creating the issues here? It's unlikely that all seven guys have just forgot how to do this over the summer. Something is off here - and if I'm the GM, I'm asking the coach to figure it out fast.
That said though, we allowed only 19 shots on Skinner and he let in five goals. The offence got four on the goalie with the best stats in the entire league, and we even had depth chip in but with a save percentage below .750 you're going to struggle to win games.
Some stats for you:
Skinner's been over .900 on 5 of 15 nights so far this year. Pickard has been over .900 on one of seven (one game was shared with both under .900). When they've been over .900, the Oilers are 6-0-0. When below, they're 3-9-4.
There are 29 goalies with save percentages of .900 or better this year (using a minimum of 5 games played). If you had someone who could give even average goaltending the Oilers are probably minimum 10 points higher in the standings.
After last night, the team is dead last in goals against while being 6th in goals for. Their goal differential is a staggering -15 - fourth worst in the league. Something has to give soon.
OH! And one more fun stat. The Oilers have more games with save percentages below .850 than they do with save percentages above .900. That's just incredibly bad.
[Updated on: Thu, 20 November 2025 09:46]
"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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Kr55
Messages: 12211
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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| Adam wrote on Thu, 20 November 2025 09:43 |
| Skookum Jim wrote on Wed, 19 November 2025 21:15 |
Nurse defied his past poor performances.. had a good game.
Question: What the heck happened to Walman.. that guy is nothing like he was last year.. so slow.. clumsy.. and routinely makes bad reads.. getting consistently burned.. he's been looking like hot garbage.
Ekholm has had a poor season so far as well.. but the guy is recovering from a major groin injury.. groin ligaments pulled off the bone.. not even sure how he's playing .. I expect that would be a long recovery to normal function.. so I'm still hopeful with him.
Walman is another issue.. I can't remember any injury he had that would have contributed to such poor skating.. he looks slow and out of shape .. too much beer and BBQ at the lake over the summer..?
The break away rush where bouchard was fly-swatted out of the way for the shot looked pretty weak.. same old.
Kulak used to be pretty dependable the past 3 years.. he's looking awful as well now..
We have no defencemen currently I'd categorize as NHL level first pair.
Oh.. and we can't score .. Fred, Mangi, Janmark .. zero threat.
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Again - where you see an entire defence corps struggling, especially with guys who've up until now looked dependable, I think you need to take a step back and ask what has changed in the system? What are the coaches asking these guys to do that's creating the issues here? It's unlikely that all seven guys have just forgot how to do this over the summer. Something is off here - and if I'm the GM, I'm asking the coach to figure it out fast.
That said though, we allowed only 19 shots on Skinner and he let in five goals. The offence got four on the goalie with the best stats in the entire league, and we even had depth chip in but with a save percentage below .750 you're going to struggle to win games.
Some stats for you:
Skinner's been over .900 on 5 of 15 nights so far this year. Pickard has been over .900 on one of seven (one game was shared with both under .900). When they've been over .900, the Oilers are 6-0-0. When below, they're 3-9-4.
There are 29 goalies with save percentages of .900 or better this year (using a minimum of 5 games played). If you had someone who could give even average goaltending the Oilers are probably minimum 10 points higher in the standings.
After last night, the team is dead last in goals against while being 6th in goals for. Their goal differential is a staggering -15 - fourth worst in the league. Something has to give soon.
OH! And one more fun stat. The Oilers have more games with save percentages below .850 than they do with save percentages above .900. That's just incredibly bad.
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When I think about consistently trash sav%'s and blaming the players instead of goalies, I remember when Buffalo was tanking in 14/15 to try to get McDavid and had to keep trading away goalies because they refused to suck as bad as intentional tank skater lineup they made.
From NHL.com, the season stats for the 5 goalies Buffalo went through in their McDavid quest:
Adners Lindback - 0.924
Nichal Neuvirth - 0.918
Andrey Makarov - 0.917
Jhonas Enroth - 0.903
Matt Hackett - 0.884
What I would give rn for 1 goalie in this org that refuses to suck.
Noticing how silent our media is when Skinner outright sabotages games for the team, but then they get super loud blaming the players when they actually play like crap and we lose (with a sub 0.900 sav% of course). They also get loud in support of Skinner when he finally has a good game after weeks of crap. A situation we are used to I guess. The org remains clueless about how to fix a problem we all know is there, and the media is trying to play defense for them for whatever reason.
[Updated on: Thu, 20 November 2025 10:48]
"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013
"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015
5 x $5,000,000
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smyth260
Messages: 1224
Registered: November 2007
1 Cup
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It’s stupid that the Oilers are wasting another quarter season to figure out their same goaltending duo is bad.
Not even a sniff of calling up Ingram. I know he’s not been good in the A but can’t be worse…some accountability at the position might be a good thing.
Clean house or bust
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ryanc182
Messages: 14
Registered: July 2008
Location: Red Deer
No Cups
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I am/was a fan of the Ingram signing, and I wholeheartedly agree that both Skinner and Pickard both are struggling.
That said, Ingram isn't lighting the AHL on fire and is coming back from a leave of absence due to mental health concerns.
If you want him to succeed, in what world do you bring him up to the pressure cooker that is the Oilers right now? The entire team is struggling, this is not a good environment to figure it out...
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smyth260
Messages: 1224
Registered: November 2007
1 Cup
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Try it for a few games. Goalies are not predictable, maybe a few NHL wins is what kicks off a strong run for the guy. But we know what we got here, and they have wasted more than enough season.
The pressure cooker that is Edmonton will be happy to see another name in net for a bit, regardless of outcome.
Clean house or bust
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Kr55
Messages: 12211
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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Just for fun, I went back to McDavid's first season to see what the worst team 5v5 sav% was, and what they were ~20 games into the season (picking Nov 20th as the date, and Feb 27's for the COVID season).
15/16 - 0.9115 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8947
16/17 - 0.9069 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8905
17/18 - 0.9082 -- On Nov 20 - 0.9012
18/19 - 0.8968 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8896
19/20 - 0.9012 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8686 (SJ)
20/21 - 0.8954 -- On Feb 27 (approx 20 games in) - 0.8879
21/22 - 0.8970 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8655 (Seattle)
22/23 - 0.8932 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8891
23/24 - 0.8946 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8892
24/25 - 0.8895 -- On Nov 20 - 0.8850
25/26 so far on Nov 20 - 0.8700 (Oilers)
By Nov 20th of the season, only 2 teams since McDavid entered the league have had a 5v5 sav% worse than the one we have right now. The 19/20 sharks, that finished 3rd last in the league helped by Martin Jones and Aaron Dell. The other was the expansion Kraken who also managed 3rd last by the end off the year using the powers of Grubauer, Driedger and 5 games of Daccord. The starters of both those teams, Jones and Grubauer saw their careers and usage continue to decline in the coming years. Grubauer is just a super expensive backup that keeps putting up crap stats and Jones couldn't get a contract this year after a bunch more bad seasons.
We are accomplishing something truly special right now. I'm told by media shills that it's all the players fault though, and our goalies are OK.
[Updated on: Thu, 20 November 2025 11:32]
"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013
"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015
5 x $5,000,000
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