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Oilers » Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)

Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15) [message #794606 is a reply to message #794603 ]	Wed, 17 November 2021 10:18

RDOilerfan
Messages: 3900
Registered: January 2016

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Adam wrote on Wed, 17 November 2021 09:47

RDOilerfan wrote on Wed, 17 November 2021 09:28

Adam wrote on Wed, 17 November 2021 00:27

RDOilerfan wrote on Tue, 16 November 2021 16:31

Adam wrote on Tue, 16 November 2021 15:25

RDOilerfan wrote on Tue, 16 November 2021 12:52

Oilers lines.

Hyman – McDavid – Puljujarvi
RNH – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Foegele – McLeod – Kassian
Perlini – Ryan – Turris

Nurse – Bouchard
Keith – Ceci
Koekkoek – Barrie

Koskinen

If McLeod has figured out that he doesn't have to run around hitting everything that moves with huge hits, just finish his checks, use his speed to go hard to the net and don't be a perimeter player, that 3rd line has all the makings to be good. Which would allow Ryan to be the 4th line center and he would be an excellent 4th line center.

I wish Tippett would stop with trying to make Turris a thing again. I'd rather see Benson in there.

I am not a fan of Turris but I don't think Benson is better. He's a square peg in a round hole. He's a cerebral, slow the game down, east-west set up man, when bottom 6 guys should be energy, speed the game up, forecheck, north south guys. At least Turris can shoot a little something Benson does not.

To me he is in the top 6 on a bad team or in Europe.

This is old thinking. There's no such thing as what a bottom 6 guy should be that's any different from what a top-6 guy should be. If you just think your bottom 6 is for penalty killers and throwing a few hits, then you end up as the Edmonton Oilers - sucking whenever those lines are on the ice for years. Good teams put cheap young players who can move the needle offensively in their bottom 6 and try to outscore the other team's depth...especially if that depth is just running around trying to land a hit to provide some "energy".

Besides, if you have good scoring depth from your bottom six, it provides pressure on your top 6 players to keep producing or they'll be replaced by someone from behind. It would really be nice to see Oilers management leave this Dark Age thinking behind.

I couldn't disagree more with you and it's not "old thinking". To be an NHL player you have to DO SOMETHING on the ice. What does Benson do? Explain to me what Benson's game is because from everything I can find written about and then comparing them to his stats at all levels, he's not a big goal scorer, never has been. He doesn't own a great shot. His skating is always listed as a problem and in the NHL where skating has become extremely important, that's a problem. He's never been known as a very good defensive guy. He's not big, tough or overly physical. He's never been seen as an energy guy. He's not even a center. He's supposedly a smart set up guy who plays wing. Generally if you are a set up guy, you usually play center, not wing.

In my opinion, for Benson to have ANY chance to succeed, he needs to be in the top 6. I say that because nothing he does is elite and since his skating isn't great, he probably will need a ton of ice time to accomplish something because 9 times out of 10 he will not have enough time or space to make a play because he's not fast enough. So he needs top 6 mins playing on a line with 2 shooters who are fast and aggressive.

So Adam, who are you going to pull from the top 6 to give Benson a fair shot in your estimation? Because if you aren't in the top 6, a player has to do SOMETHING of value to play in the NHL other than give guys a rest and once in a blue moon make a tape to tape pass on the rare occasion he gets any kind of time. I know he doesn't get a ton of ice time but any time he plays, there is little to know urgency in his game to do anything. It's not like the Oilers bottom 6 these days is shooting the lights out so if he did anything of value what so ever, he'd probably get more ice time or more games. I looked up his stats, in 5 games, he's got 3 shots. That's it and is -2. WOW!!! How are they not throwing this guy over the boards more with stats like that.

I'm not pulling anyone from the top 6. I'm playing him with McLeod on the third or fourth line. I'm giving him a bit of a push in that position to see if he can produce. If he can't then I'm cycling him down and bringing up someone else who's contributing in the AHL and trying them there. I am not benching him for the night if the line gives up a goal, especially if he wasn't directly responsible for it being scored, because that doesn't actually teach anyone anything.

I am not tasking these guys with just being perfect defensively, I'm asking them to outscore the opposition. I think that's a subtle, but significant difference from what Tippett is doing.

I am probably working on building up these guys too - you lit up the AHL, most of these 4th liners you'll be playing are at the same level or worse than the ones you lit up down there. Just do what you need to do and don't overthink it or play scared of making mistakes.

To be an NHL player, you need to outscore the opposition. You don't need to be there to make hits, or "provide a spark", or just give 110% or grit it out or whatever other idiotic thing Bob Stauffer thinks 4th liners are for. You need to score more goals than the other guys when you're on the ice. That's it.

If you are basing your opinion on Benson because he lit up AHLers, then we are always going to have a big time difference of opinion on the guy. Go look up the KHL stats or pick any other high end European league you want to look up and I will bet you, you will find a ton of guys who lit up the AHL. I haven't the time to look up every single NHL teams AHL roster but I will bet you that most if not ALL of them are made of primarily never will be NHLers who won't ever get into a single NHL game in their entire hockey career. So while it's great the Benson can dominate never will be NHLers, that jack squat in the NHL. There is nothing about Benson's game that screams NHL player to me. If the Oilers are worried that if he was to be put on waivers, they'd lose him. Oh well. My guess is 30 NHL teams wouldn't even give him a second thought, given that Buffalo is better than I thought, I doubt they would take him so the only team you'd have to worry about is Arizona who's trying about as hard as they can to be horrific. So maybe they might want to take him because Benson might be better than a couple of the never will be, AHLers they are playing.

The only thing I agree with you is that any teams hope is that your bottom 6 outscores your opponents. There is nothing in Benson's game that says he can help the Oilers bottom 6 do that because he does little to nothing when he is on the ice.

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Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: OilFans on Tue, 16 November 2021 02:00
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Oscargasm on Tue, 16 November 2021 08:12
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: NetBOG on Tue, 16 November 2021 08:12
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: RDOilerfan on Tue, 16 November 2021 08:33
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Tue, 16 November 2021 10:38
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: NCREDiBLE on Tue, 16 November 2021 10:28
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: NCREDiBLE on Tue, 16 November 2021 11:14
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: RDOilerfan on Tue, 16 November 2021 12:52
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Tue, 16 November 2021 15:25
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Skookum Jim on Tue, 16 November 2021 16:20
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Tue, 16 November 2021 16:23
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: RDOilerfan on Tue, 16 November 2021 16:31
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: inverno76 on Tue, 16 November 2021 17:34
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Wed, 17 November 2021 00:27
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Oscargasm on Wed, 17 November 2021 01:38
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Wed, 17 November 2021 08:59
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: RDOilerfan on Wed, 17 November 2021 09:28
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Wed, 17 November 2021 09:47
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: RDOilerfan on Wed, 17 November 2021 10:18
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Adam on Wed, 17 November 2021 10:32
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: smyth260 on Tue, 16 November 2021 18:13
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: Skookum Jim on Tue, 16 November 2021 16:18
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: inverno76 on Tue, 16 November 2021 17:37
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Winnipeg (Game #15)	By: NCREDiBLE on Wed, 17 November 2021 10:15

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