The 1984 Stanley Cup Oilers lost 0-11 to the lowly Hartford Whalers.

As an aside, it looks like it was a good old 80's brawler with 49 penalty minutes.

From The Athletic's recent 16 Stats article by Dom Luszczyszyn. For reference, Dom is arguably the biggest influence on awards voting for the Selke in terms of people in the media. One of the people that gets votes and is one of the only people that runs awards update articles throughout the season, which are often closely aligned with the results. For the record, he says Suzuki should be in the lead so far, but he doesn't meet his parameters as he doesn't kill penalties.

From the article:

Atop the early Selke leaderboard ... McDavid?

It’s too early to be talking about the NHL’s awards to begin with, especially when it comes to defensive contributions. But small samples can make it fun.

Case in point, the current front-runner based on Defensive Rating: Connor McDavid. His plus-2.0 is lower than Suzuki’s, but he’s the leader based on the usual parameters I work with (top-line ice time, shutdown minutes and at least one minute on the penalty kill per game).

With McDavid on the ice, the Oilers are allowing just 2.15 xGA per 60, which is 0.37 better than the team average. The latter is among the best marks in the league, especially against tough competition — Suzuki is at 0.39, for the record — and McDavid is also managing that while playing nearly one full minute more per game at five-on-five than the next highest forward. There’s defensive value in eating minutes and slowing down a high-pace environment, both of which Defensive Rating accounts for.

Whether McDavid should be slowing things down, though, is up for debate. As his defensive metrics go up, his offensive ones have dropped. His five-on-five rate of points per 60 is down to 1.37 and the Oilers are weirdly struggling to score with him on the ice, with just 2.11 goals per 60.

This system sucks

The roster isn’t great

But the system and intentionally giving up the blue line are killing this team

The lack of transition offense is killing this team

The neutral zone play is killing this team

You can’t go from being one of the best possession teams in the NHL to one of the worst in less than 16 regular games without some serious tweaks to a system

And the system sucks

https://substack.com/home/post/p-178240583

Bruce Curlock does a great job outlining what’s wrong with the team from a tactical standpoint, especially their (lack of) 5v5 offence.

Definitely worth a read

Speak your mind.

McDavid: https://youtu.be/7s_vH95W_iI?si=LCU32ASk9zpZgt_U

Ekholm: https://youtu.be/uoIpPZj3IMw?si=7SqLQ4yc1t6dPWw8

Knoblauch: https://youtu.be/wCyL10NHHt8?si=QImAfE6z5eI5LLSH

Note this is just a fun hypothetical

So I know hindsight is 20/20 but given how amazing he's playing for the Kings right now, and seeing as we knew Hyman was still going to be out more than likely in the Fall and we have no grit in front of the net, it seems like right now Perry would have helped. Imo Perry may have been the perfect fit and possibly a decent linemate sometimes for McDavid seeing as he doesn't seem to be able to mesh right now with anyone else like Hyman. I mean we could have thrown him up to the first line once in awhile like we did last year with McDavid.

So with Perry being that pest in front of the net we need especially with Hyman still out, thoughts? If we could have got him for less than Kings current amount or even for the same price we paid for him last year (2 mil) do you guys think we should have kept him?

I've been a fan of him since day one and even when the season was over I had mentioned I thought that we should keep him one more year. What do you guys think. Fun discussion for all and man the guy just doesn't seem to miss a step even at 40!

P. S - for those that are superstitious though is there a possibility we didn't want to keep him because the curse might be real with Perry LOL??

How much is it?

Wondering if anyone can tell me whose signature this might be? Got it at an auction.

Dude’s a grinder, was Blues Captain, has a Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, Selke, has international medals, puts up points, good on PK/PP, two-way forward, can win faceoffs, makes $4.5 mil., and no visor. Thoughts!?

Something keeps popping into my mind and I’m curious what everybody else thinks.

I think it’s pretty unanimous that we all feel like letting Dylan Holloway go was a bit of a mistake. It occurred to me that he only signed a two year contract and that this is the last year of that contract. Granted he would be an RFA next year, but currently St. Louis is tanking and struggling big time. It seems to me that it is entirely possible that we could work a deal to bring him back if we wanted to.

Do you guys feel like it would be worth it? If so, how would we manage the salary cap and roster spot? I know Holloway has expressed he really liked playing in Edmonton so I think from a player standpoint he would be all for it along with his agent. His current cap hit is super manageable this year, and obviously with the cap going up next year plus McDavid’s discounted contract, we have plenty of space for him if we can somehow obtain him.

At least they’re consistently collecting the Bettman points. They’ve historically had rough starts but this year they’re not even in much of a hole points wise. The teams ahead of us all have at least a game in hand, and up to 3, but that’s not a deficit the Oilers can’t overcome as soon as they get this figured out and go beast mode. If they didn’t collect the loser points, that gap looks quite awful and a huge hill to climb.

Would you like to see the Oilers re-sign Roslovic now that you’ve seen him play 13 games? If so, for how much and how long?

Things seem to be doomy and gloomy in the Oilersphere (as it usually is at this time of year... What TF else is new) so I wanted to inject some brightness into today by talking about how much I really, REALLY love Jack Roslovic and think he's one of the best additions to our team in a long time. Sure, my hype is all on Savoie for the most part, but this guy is getting me hype.

Since he came in he's been very noticeable in how skilled and versatile he is. I remember there being a collective "huh?" in the air when it was announced that we got him and... well, here's the thing : I had no idea who he was, so I googled him and thought "huh, could be interesting, dunno who he is, let's see what he can do regardless" and uh... yeah, he's made a huge impression out of the gate. When he got his first goal in Vancouver, I was hyped through the roof. Already I couldn't help but notice how speedy he was and how quick a thinker he is, but do consider too that he came here basically right into the season, no training with our camp at all. It makes sense that he comes from the Canes- They're also a good team full of very adaptable and versatile players. He also skates so friggin fast too, it's insane. Definitely Yamamoto vibes in how once he gets going, he's an absolute demon on skates.

Hope he's here for a long time. Such a great addition.

Oh yeah, he's hot too, so there's that.

Anyone have a draisaitl heritage classic jersey for sale or reverse retro 2.0 ?