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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

LeafOfFaith said:
Any person that you need therapy to recover from looking at is not the kind of guy you want to see 82x plus playoffs every year.
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leafman101 said:
Drove them into a ditch? He was their coach for one season and they had their best record and stats and they fired him for a slow start where the underlying numbers were elite,
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If “underlying numbers” say you’re playing elite hockey when you’ve got a 3-9-0 record, what that mainly tells me is that those “underlying numbers” aren’t worth shit as an evaluation tool.

But anyways, I get it now. The argument in favour of this frightening ventriloquist dummy-looking mf’er is mainly that nerd stats loved him during his tenure in Edmonton. The Pierre Engvall of coaches.
 
LeafGm said:
If “underlying numbers” say you’re playing elite hockey when you’ve got a 3-9-0 record, what that mainly tells me is that those “underlying numbers” aren’t worth shit as an evaluation tool.

But anyways, I get it now. The argument in favour of this frightening ventriloquist dummy-looking mf’er is mainly that nerd stats loved him during his tenure in Edmonton. The Pierre Engvall of coaches.
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Bednar is cliniging to the nerdies even after being swept. LOL

“Sometimes I think we did a good job,” Bednar said after giving goalie Carter Hart and the Vegas defenders their due. “Like I said before, you’re looking at this series going into this final game — the analytics are tight, they’re close in all aspects.”
 
CH1 said:
Bednar is cliniging to the nerdies even after being swept. LOL

“Sometimes I think we did a good job,” Bednar said after giving goalie Carter Hart and the Vegas defenders their due. “Like I said before, you’re looking at this series going into this final game — the analytics are tight, they’re close in all aspects.”
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Reminiscent of the days when, following our annual 1st round playoff exit, certain posters would try to cheer us up by pointing out we had the better XGF% in the series, which really is worth even more than winning the actual games.

Pure cope.
 
I mean, I get telling your boss and your wife about the underlying numbers.

But no fanbase (with the exception of zeke) wants to hear about your xGF after you GOT FUCKING SWEPT.
 
LeafGm said:
If “underlying numbers” say you’re playing elite hockey when you’ve got a 3-9-0 record, what that mainly tells me is that those “underlying numbers” aren’t worth shit as an evaluation tool.
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C'mon man.

5v5
57% xG (3rd)
.886sv% (32nd)
6.2% shooting (31st)

PK
.791 Pk SV% (28th)

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see the problem over those 12 games wasn't coaching.
 
LeafGm said:
I really don’t understand our interest in the guy who drove the Oilers into the ditch and then got chucked overboard right before the coach who replaced him turned them right around & took them on two finals runs.

What is the appeal here, exactly?
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Their nerds were good under him, he got shit goaltending and unlucky then they canned him
 
LeafGm said:
I really don’t understand our interest in the guy who drove the Oilers into the ditch and then got chucked overboard right before the coach who replaced him turned them right around & took them on two finals runs.

What is the appeal here, exactly?
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For me it's a stylistic shift as much as anything else. You want to watch an entertaining brand of hockey? This is your guy. He will let his stars be stars and not obsess over digging in. Not much else I can ask for out of a coach tbh. Let your roster determine the style you play.
 
CH1 said:
I mean, I get telling your boss and your wife about the underlying numbers.

But no fanbase (with the exception of zeke) wants to hear about your xGF after you GOT FUCKING SWEPT.
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They're something important to take a look at....after everyone has cleared out their locker and done their final media interviews for the year. Where did you get fucked? What contributed to getting fucked, etc. But the cold fact about hockey is that there's a lot of short sample luck involved in winning any game, or short series. You generally need to both outplay the team you're across from, and get roughly neutral "puck luck" to win.
 
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MindzEye said:
C'mon man.

5v5
57% xG (3rd)
.886sv% (32nd)
6.2% shooting (31st)

PK
.791 Pk SV% (28th)

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see the problem over those 12 games wasn't coaching.
Click to expand...


Fair enough about him likely getting sunk by horrible Oilers goaltending, rather than "driving them into the ditch".

Though I still don't see a convincing reason to get excited about a guy who coached the Oilers for a hot minute and then was immediately eclipsed in both regular season and playoff results by Connor McDavid's junior coach.
 
It is true that even in sweeps, bad luck plays a role. That series obviously shouldn't have been a sweep, those are two teams that are pretty close in quality, with the Avs having some injury problems and their solid goalie suffering from typical small sample randomness with the knights goalie doing the same in the opposite direction.

But yeah there's a time and a place to bring that up from a pr perspective. He was speaking to his Zeke fans when he said that tho. And the zekes nodded in agreement.
 
LeafGm said:
Fair enough about him likely getting sunk by horrible Oilers goaltending, rather than "driving them into the ditch".

Though I still don't see a convincing reason to get excited about a guy who coached the Oilers for a hot minute and then was immediately eclipsed in both regular season and playoff results by Connor McDavid's junior coach.
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I struggle to get excited about any coach tbh. They only have so much control. Just hire someone who doesn't hold the roster back (Berube) and I'm happy.
 
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