LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
Oilers will be strong, but they're not going to the finals again.
Around the League 2019-2024 Edition
- Thread starter LeafGm
- Start date
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
I dont see who in the West is better, maybe the Avs?
Vegas got worse, Dallas got worse,
The Green Hornet
Well-known member
Mcdavid is so good. He really is on another level. I get the concern over that blue line though. An eckholm injury or decline would hurt a ton
zeke
Well-known member
Their goaltending went really well too tho, 5 shit games from Jack notwithstanding.
Habsy
Not playing around anymore.
Pretty sure that's his middle name.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
It's often not the best team on paper that gets through. TB looked great a few years ago till Columbus obliterated them. Boston had the best regular season ever and then flamed out last year. Anything can happen.
So much can prevent a deep run. Injuries, goalies falling off or the opposing goalie going nuts, cold streaks or hot streaks in a short series, bad trades at the deadline. Everything has to line up to get as far as they did and actually win it. Even if they get past everyone in the West, then they have to go up against a beast in the East. And they were dogmeat going into game 4 of the finals, so it's tough to really gauge them despite that crazy comeback.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
I mean sure, but everyone has to deal with potential injuries.
On paper they are best in the West, predicting them to not get to the finals cause they might get someone hurt is stupid.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
Well, no one did that.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
You said they werent making the cup final.
I asked who was better, you bumbled your way through injury concerns and something about the gamr 4 they got to that no one else did.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
You said to say they wouldn't get so far because of an injury is stupid. I obviously never said that. I just pointed out all the basics that go into having the stars align to go so far again. Who's better? How the fuck should I know? Did we know Columbus was better than TB that year? Did we know wild card Florida would beat a true regular season juggernaut Boston in the first round last year?
Everything we're talking about is based on hunches, days into the offseason with changes still to come for most teams, several months before the trade deadline. This isn't a scientific exercise, you bumblefuck.
Artnes
Well-known member
A bit too much hype for a guy who can't stay healthy and another who gives up as much as he gives.
Nice cheap deals but I wouldn't count on either being the the impact players they need to push them over the edge
And yes I know they got within one game this year but a lot of stars aligned for that to happen
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
Don't bumble your way to a reasonable conclusion by citing the obvious realities involved with a long playoff run.
Make a prediction today, stick with it, and debate Jonas about it until he invites you to check out his garage.
Make a prediction today, stick with it, and debate Jonas about it until he invites you to check out his garage.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Are they?
It's hard to pin down their lineup because they wobble back and forth between realizing Leon isn't a centre, putting McDrai together, etc.
But roughly they look like this:
Skinner-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Draisatl-Arvidsson
RNH-Henrique-Brown
Holloway-Ryan-Janmark
Perry
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Brown
Skinner
Pickard
There are more questions in that lineup than the name value suggests.
- They don't really have a 2C. Leon is a greek tragedy at centre to the point where he takes his god tier offensively ability and turns whatever line he's centring to a 50/50 line at evens. The Nuge is also very, very meh as a centre. They try to get by
- Hyman is good but career seasons are usually one offs.
- Skinner and Arvidsson seem like upgrades, but Arvidsson is coming back from back surgery, Skinner a season where he barely outproduced Foegele.
- The top pairing is probably real gud, though whatever age related cliff issues Tanev has, Ekholm does as well. The rest of that blueline is kind of fucking ugly.
- Skinner is fine, average plus as a 1A. But as mentioned a few weeks ago, he's the only goalie in the league whose playoffs stats haven't stabilized to his regular season stats after 20 playoff GP. If there's a goalie in the league who folds in the playoffs statistically, it's him.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
I only just realized they have two Skinners now.
Pwner
Well-known member
I think they are a good team, but if they somehow relocated to the Atlantic Division, where would you rank them?
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
I mean, they made the finals so congrats, but they were 6th in the west last year with like, no fucking injuries.
When I say no injuries, I mean no injuries. Their top 6 forwards missed a combined 15 games. Their top 3 D missed 5 games combined, top 4? 8 combined. Their starter missed no real time at all.
As a point of comparison, the Leafs were pretty fortunate on the injury front. But Mitch Marner alone missed 13 games, and Rielly alone missed more than their combined top 4. Our best 3 blueliners on the season missed a combined 46 games. Our better goalie of the two missed half the year. And that was not an unfortunate season, just normal. Edmonton's injury luck was beyond unreal.
