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 Kr55
Messages: 12930
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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| smyth260 wrote on Fri, 01 May 2026 07:40 |
A strange series.
Secondary scoring was absolutely there. Hurt McDavid got outscored by Jeff Viel and was a -8 for the series. Special teams including PP was crap. Defense was not there. Goalies for both teams were not good. A crucial goal that in my opinion nobody had any actual evidence it was 100% in. Score first in 5 out of 6 and lose 4. It was sloppy everywhere from both teams, Oilers being the sloppiest. Series was winnable, but with early injuries there probably was no run to be had.
We are nearing the end of runway here I am afraid. The core, outside of Bouchard, is old. McDavid is 30 next year. Crosby won his last cup at age 30. Hyman, Draisaitl, Nuge, Nurse, Ekholm entering or well into their mid 30s. The team is what it is. Without some significant reconstruction around them or with them, we can’t expect much of a bump going forward. And we don’t have a lot of assets to get there.
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Quenneville obviously figured some seriously wrong with how we play. Worked for his team the whole series. Being able to play 4th liners against our best player and it being successful for 5 games is so embarrassing. The Ducks still had leaky D and weak goaltending the whole series but it didn't matter. They could very comfortably expose us defensively all series, especially on our terrible passive PK, and easily neutralized our top line.
Coaching absolutely needs to change now. Knob may have had them playing well in past years, but they have completely tuned him out. Nothing worked all year outside of maybe 1-2 weeks.
"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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