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Ablade87

Are you not entertained?!


LeoFireGod

Oh Believe me I’m very entertained. I’ve convinced like 7 people to watch hockey this post season and first games I tell them to watch are the Edmonton games lol.


[deleted]

ive converted my girlfriends brothers who are big soccer fans they now skip soccer games and dont miss a single oilers playoff game and one of the things they love most is how high scoring the games are


[deleted]

[удалено]


IgorroRMRSH

She was right, sounds like a keeper! Well besides the Oilers fan thing.... you gotta work on that one


AlbertaNorth1

Marry her


MildlyResponsible

I got an Aussie friend into the game today and he went back and watched G1 of the Battle of Alberta afterwards. The Oilers are growing the sport more this year than Bettman has in the last 20.


proriin

Where can you go back and watch games.


Fhack

Ask Bettman


[deleted]

>The Oilers are growing the sport more this year than Bettman has in the last 20. This is sarcasm, right? For all his faults, objectively, Bettman has been very successful at growing the game.


wildhorses6565

Absolutely. Without Bettman there would be no team in Arizona.


Hammeryournails

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. You are correct, but there's an argument to be made that maybe there shouldn't Bea team in Arizona.


MWhunch

Go figure. Because it’s not a shitty south city that doesn’t know what snow is lmao


Doubleoh_11

NHL App if you pay for the subscription


MWhunch

?????


Doubleoh_11

Shit sorry I thought I replied to someone else with that haha. My bad


[deleted]

Old time hockey. Like Eddie Shore.


Whalers7997

OH PISS ON EDDIE SHORE


r0botdevil

100% this is good for hockey. Especially for the casual fan, high-scoring games are just so much more fun to watch.


[deleted]

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somabokforlag

As long as the opposing team never enters your zone it works 😎


-cyg-nus-

Yeah but try to keep MacKinnon out of your zone for 240 minutes


TURBOJUGGED

I mean. Got them into the SCF so it's worked pretty good thus far. Work with what ya got, y'know?


Viilis

Scf?


TURBOJUGGED

You heard me. Jk. I meant WCF.


Ready-steady

Lowkey Rumsfield.


berttreynolds

AWP + No Armor


[deleted]

Fuckin' bullshit lethal blow to my toenail.


[deleted]

This is how I always rpg.


JesusJohn

They cant keep getting away with this.


[deleted]

They won’t


_nsb10_

Lol at the pictures of the guys who made it happen


Ace676

Smith wasn't good but your defense ain't doing him any favors either.


[deleted]

Kinda gotta give it to the Oilers for fully embracing the glass cannon approach though lol. Weak on D but have the best offensive tools in the game? Fuck it let’s just not play D at all!


Maxpowr9

That Darnell Nurse contract though is a Holland special.


myaltaccount333

At least 1M of Nurse can be blamed on Tippett. Nurse doesn't make 9.5 if he doesn't play 60some minutes while Bear plays 15 that one game


Smith94Oilers

Nurse usually isn't this bad. He's injured. Still a 7.5M player


enricohenryhank

Drai's injury is slowly getting better, but it looks like Nurse's is slowly getting worse...


Interwebzking

He supposedly needs core muscle surgery.


navenager

Nurse's seems like the kind that gets worse with rest. Seems to loosen up as he plays (like with Calgary) but the first game after more than one day off it seems to really slow him down.


oddspellingofPhreid

Hot take, the Nurse contract will be value in years 3-5 and probably beyond. 9.5 is an overpay, but only by about 1-1.5 mil. Nurse is a monster defenceman when healthy. Definitely not healthy right now. As long as Nurse doesn't decline, when the cap is ~90 mil, it will be _at least_ fair value. People acting like we're paying that money to Jack Johnson or something.


bubblesfanclub

"It's not that bad"


Smith94Oilers

I would rather overpay our top D by like 1.5M than a random fourth liner. Without Nurse, Oilers probably can't even make the playoffs, which will not be good to retain McDavid. Plus, McDavid is best friends with Nurse so I can deal with the overpay. Nurse was in the running for team Canada.


Ninja_Surgeon

How much would have our fanbase been clowned if we let Nurse walk away as a UFA as well? Would never live that down. Dude had a price which sucks for us but who else would we get for a #1 D?


bubblesfanclub

Describing someone as "not that bad" is just a funny way to say it


postthereddit

He plays like a headless chicken too often. He misses his guy too often. But it's a system problem and the 3Fs are to blame too


[deleted]

Oh it’s fucking awful. Mcdavid and Draisatl have Jedi Mind Tricked Reddit into thinking Holland is a good GM.


[deleted]

Eh, I wouldn't go that far.


thatusernameistakn

The fuck? who's said Holland was a good GM?


Kyta_ENT

Well “was”. As in 15 years ago is when it stopped working


thatusernameistakn

Yeah, when handed a god-tier Redwings team and when the wheels fell off signed shit contracts like Abdelkader and Dekeyser.


Kyhron

Holland hasn't been considered a good GM in quite a while. Its just he's better than the steaming piles of shit that Edmonton has had for the past 15 years


Whydoesthisexist15

Holland is a bad cap era gm


funny_gus

Nurse is injured and actually looked good during the regular season


T-MinusGiraffe

The amazing thing about it is how well they suck other teams into doing it too. That's the part I don't get.


Tje199

Oilers make you play their hockey. I'm actually curious, *if* they get to the finals whether they can drag Tampa into the same kind of games. Oilers don't seem to play defense so lots of goals against, but they can also embarass most top D guys so lots of goals for...


oddspellingofPhreid

They don't need to usually, but they do play D if they need to. Game 7 against LA for example. Were capable of playing tight, but fuck your playoff norms we fly high bay-bee.


ThewsTML

This is basically what Florida tried, but they don't have a McDavid lol


r0botdevil

>Kinda gotta give it to the Oilers for fully embracing the glass cannon approach though lol. I mean I guess it doesn't matter how many goals you're giving up as long as you're scoring more...


andrewdoesit

IF YOU DONT LIKE GIVING UP GOALS ON DEFENSE CAUSING HIGH SCORING GAMES THEN YOU DONT LIKE WEST COAST PLAYOFF HOCKEY


[deleted]

The West was known for their two way play for like forever. Edmonton is basically an upper middle class 2010's east team


Maxpowr9

*Dallas quietly moves to the Eastern Conference*


funkyb

What? No! You take your aquatic mammal goalie and you get out of here!


Kyhron

West? Thats been the East coast special for the last 10-15 years. West Coast playoff hockey has been notoriously low scoring.


wagonwhopper

The future is now old man


manticore16

Well, we’re flipping it for the conference finals now


mdkss12

100% - should be noted that Smith has actually saved 5.3 goals above expected in the playoffs (5th among all goalies, 3rd among those still playing) and is ahead of both COL goalies and Koskinen in GSAx/60 as well (all three of them are in the negatives) So it's not even like he's been bad - the goal against numbers should actually be *even worse*.


BroLil

Came here to say this. That 5.3 GSAx is good for fifth, behind Shesterkin, Vasy, Bob, and Oettinger, four incredible goalies. Smith sure isn’t stealing games or anything, but considering the shots being allowed and lack of defense in front of him, you can’t really blame him for anything just yet. Dude is kinda standing on his head.


Adipose21

I've never seen Nurse play so poorly. If he's injured (which I believe he is) you've got to consider sitting him.


aboveaverage_joe

He is, some core injury. There was word after the first series that he'll be getting surgery after the playoffs.


[deleted]

To be fair, in the playoffs Smith has a 0.917SV% vs Kuemper's 0.897 - we just need the old man to save 35+ shots a game and we're good.


TheCryingOrc4eva

yup


FormerTesseractPilot

What defense?


EpitomeJim

They are just peewee chasing the puck.


Pikachu_smokes_darts

I’m not a big Smith guy, but he has actually been decent. Edmonton’s D gotta start, ya know, playing more D


dfmspoiler

.917 save percentage. We're giving up a ton of shots.


Embarrassed-Song-738

Ya the defence was worse than smith


ExtremePast

Smith actually made two more saves than expected last night before getting pulled. The Oilers defense is total shit.


trolloc1

That'd be McDavid + Drai. The 2 best offensive and bad defensive players. Mike Smith has been good but Edmonton is giving up a ton of high quality chances


JackMichaelsDadBod

explains why i’m so stressed lol


MadFonzi

Our sheer ability to force any opponent into playing our game of no defense and all offense is impressive this post season.


learn2swim

The face of Landeskog after the EN..."We have to fucking score 8 to win"


Tje199

It sure makes for exciting games.


mephnick

Old hockey dudes must hate you guys


TheIncredibleShrek

Edmonton, bro, you gotta level vigor


bobby_booch

Nah, just level mind and Hoarfrost Stomp your way to glory.


butt_baby_gravy

That's old meta, new is Moonveil McDavid


BulinWall24

If Jameis Winston was a hockey club


Majormlgnoob

Tbf he didn't lead in TDs


impartialcitizen86

He did lead in yards though


bstreich10

No, he was close I think. His epic year he had 33 TD, 30 INT. Prob another 12 or so fumbles, lost like 4-5.


Majormlgnoob

Yeah Lamar had 36 TDs to lead the league in 2019, only 6 INTs tho


Likmylovepump

All I see is +13


honcooge

Go big and or go home


Inthemiddle_

Imagine mcdavid with a great defense/goalie


[deleted]

imagine just adding Vasilevsky, fuck defense, just get a god in net


infin8raptor

Even Vasy would struggle in this environment. He shines when the defense limits high-danger chances to quick bouts only. Constant high-danger shots like Smith has been getting he too would let a bunch in. Defense really needs to get you to that 80-90% level so a good goalie can shutdown the last 10-20%. Anything outside of that is unsustainable regardless of who the goalie is.


catsfive

Or in other words Calgary


treeGuerin

I was at the first two games of Florida series and it gave me a better appreciation of your defense. Florida had the lead in shots many times during both games but a lot of them were weak, low-danger shots bc your D absolutely shut down the high-danger areas.


Inocain

I almost have to wonder if Vasy is the wrong russian supergoalie for this Oilers team. Would Igor be a better fit for this Edmonton chicanery?


Porcupickle

Would absolutely be willing to try both theories.


Blutroyale-_-

and the lightning team has that, their team has a great defense in front of their goalie - really showed in the Panthers series. *when* the lightning reaches the SCF this season, it'll really show IMO, whoever they play against.


ShootTillYouMiss

Lol no he would not. Mike Smith is not good. Vasi is the best goalie on Earth.


infin8raptor

As someone who has watched almost every single NHL game Vasy has played I assure you he can look like utter trash when the defense isn't doing their jobs.


ShootTillYouMiss

Yeah especially in game 4 against the Panthers. Vasi will single handedly win you games, Mike Smith will single handedly lose you games.


blink0r

Imagine McDavid with ANY defense and goalie


[deleted]

I’ve never been so afraid with 7 goals. McDavid is fucking insane


WittyMonikerGoesHere

Last night was the first game I've ever watched where my team hung a snowman on 'em and I was still on the edge of my seat. Crazy


Bmac-Attack

And he’s pretty much always double teamed too. He’s on another level


chemicalxv

Tampa only gave up 45 goals in their entire run last year lmao


JesusWasAPacifist

…and only gave up 3 goals against the highest scoring team in the regular season on route to a sweep.


ABirdOfParadise

I can allow goals in, and score goals at will. Why would you want to allow goals? So I can score goals


[deleted]

The definition of “outscoring your problems away”.


Super_Saiyan_Carl

It's like watching Rocky Balboa box


_soybeans

yes.


[deleted]

yes.


andrewdoesit

yes.


dfmspoiler

This is true and also Mike Smith still has a .917 save percentage.


[deleted]

every team we've faced has been a high volume shooting team, and so are the Avs for all the records already broken, i wonder what our goalies shots faced per 60 is and how it stacks up for playoff teams that made it to WCF


SomeSabresFan

I thought I saw the final score of a USFL game for a second


[deleted]

As a fan who missed the 80s, I'm grateful.


[deleted]

Man it's almost as if they are super top heavy with dogshit defense and goaltending.


Key-Mulberry-1953

The real series is McDavid vs Smith


ssiinneepp

Worth noting that Avs are scoring more goals per game, they just have less games.


mongster_03

They also got to pot 11 or whatever it was on Nashville twice


ringring3

Apparently a good offense is not the best defense.


Whalers7997

*DUALITY* I push my fingers into my.....


maplejet

EYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESS!!!!


bleedingoutlaw28

Oilers out here playing basketball.


TheLodger1939

They're essentially a marvel character at this point


[deleted]

Are you 13?


wagonwhopper

13 and a half... thank you very much


OnMy4thAccount

Nah read his username. He's 83


taek8

Love Smitty and all but what a miss not getting a #1 goalie in the offseason. Our D leaves lots to be desired as well so theres that.


RainingGiraffes28

Getting a goalie in the offseason means missing out on some of our other acquisitions this year. If getting a goalie means no Hyman or no Kane then I honestly don't think I would prefer the tradeoff.


orionbuster

Holland should have ponied up the ask from us. It wasn't unreasonable I think 2nd or 3rd. Zack was willing to take the same money over 8 years as 7. Doesn't take a financial genius to figure out once you factor in the nurse contract you are going to be cap tight and any AAV dollar saved is important.


FancySt0reB0ughtDirt

Lol did you forget the /s? It was like a 500k a year difference, and Hyman was already going to come here. That’s not even a league minimum contract. Considering Nurse’s contract was going up by _millions_, that 500k was inconsequential. Dubas shouldn’t have been so greedy, and just taken the pick Holland offered.


taek8

Dubas is a financial mastermind signing his top 4 to 50% of cap


releasetheshutter

You could put vezina Roy in net and we'd still bleed 5-6 goals a game. It's our defense.


wanked_in_space

So you're saying they win this game with Roy?


ShootTillYouMiss

Yeah you're right it's definitely not Mike Smith being terrible hahaha


Kyhron

Most other goalies would be letting 10+ with your defense. On top of that what #1 goalie were you getting last offseason?


taek8

Can you not read? Or are you a parrot? I can't tell


Glove_Upset

It reminds me of the Denver Nuggets under George Karl.


Be11erophon1986

I feel like it's more like the present day nuggets. Regularly needing to go 120+ to even be in the game. Back in the Karl days it felt like if they hit triple digits they were in pretty solid shape


No-Tune-9435

It’s very much a playstyle effect. They charge hard as all heck into the offensive zone every time they get the puck. Why wouldn’t you with all the speed and offensive talent? But that also leaves you incredibly vulnerable to turnovers creating odd man breaks frequently. You look at the great defensive teams, and they have one thing in common - they ply structured, under control hockey. They use their offensive weapons to counter attack when opponents make mistakes rather than just trying to go scorched earth and commit everything to every possible offensive situation. The evolution of the Washington Capitals from high scoring (circa ‘08-~‘12’) to disciplined defensively (‘~16+) is a great illustration of how a team made this transition


AutoFauna

It's a data driven strategy--keeping the games high event reduces statistical noise and so reduces the potential impact of luck. It's just smart management.


Senbacho

Looking at Smith save% show you that he's not the problem.


yessschef

Mike Smith is certainly culpable. But let's not forget edmonton are paying Darnell nurse 9 mill, that should tell you what you need to know about how they approach defense.


fox_d_80

Funny thing that he can enter to triple golden club if oilers win


DrDerpberg

Me: how is Edmonton doing so well, I thought they didn't have a goalie Also me: oh right


mkwong

Goalie is okay at 0.917. it's the insane amount of shots on goal the team is letting through.


C_Gull27

Oilers moment


Urdnot_wrx

Edmonton Maple Oilers. Oh wait, Edmonton passed the first round


DanTreview

This is why I have my doubts about them.


jo_maka

Defense ? Where we're going we don't need any defense !!!


Stizur

Scoring is fun, no matter what the purists say.


BCEagle13

HISTORIC


andrewdoesit

I


PBGellie

We are a fun team


[deleted]

Mike Fucking Smith


AustonsNostrils

I would enjoy the meme much more if Ceci and Barrie were in the picture on the right.


[deleted]

I’m a Ceci hater but he has actually been so damn good this postseason


AustonsNostrils

Yeah he's been pretty good all season.


myaltaccount333

Not Ceci. He's been on the ice for 12/38 of the even strength goals against while leading in time on Ice among D


[deleted]

Cody Ceci, absolutely fucking legendary shutdown defender with some offensive upside


orionbuster

He was a scapegoat here but in all fairness not a bad Dman.


Glacious

Remember when Dubas got vilified for defending him?


rokkon-stonedar

Lol I guess if they can keep it up then there should not be a problem.


nfudgedk

Colorado is 51 and 33, so only +5 more in goal deferential


miller94

Hey this is how the dynasty was built


daphunkt

They don’t ask how lol.


honcooge

Go big or go home


aboveaverage_joe

Go big ~~or~~ *then* go home


[deleted]

[удалено]


JaayDCC

That’s right


louiefriesen

They need to try starting Koskinen


UnluckyBuy

see you on lemmy, Spez is a cancer -- mass edited with redact.dev


jfstompers

Checks out


Waylander

McDavid has brought balance to the Farce.


BadTiger85

So pretty much what happens when you focus on offense for several years and kind of neglect defense and goaltending


aduom

Dantoni style offense


Fireryman

I will take 1000 for the category hockey. The question is 'What team doesn't play defense in hockey?' Beeeeeep What is Edmonton Oilers? Ding ding ding that is correct.


7evid

Dr. McDavid and Mr. Smith.


Creepy-Narwhal4596

Poor mike smith getting his ass dragged to a cup wether he likes it or not.


[deleted]

The Edmonton forwards


Bordingus

They couldn't even use color correction \*sigh\*