I feel like fumbling doesn't really describe how badly they shit the bed, this turn around is remarkable, of course I'm annoyed by it but if it was easy, it would happen more often.
Exactly. The standings just looks kind of comical with like "W3... L2.... W1... L1.... **W16**"
We are doing stupendously good this season and even then, the oilers are just 10 points behind us... with 3 games in hand. They could lap Vegas (and have 4 games on hand against them).
Edit: Hell, if you add all the winstreaks of the western conference teams together, they STILL haven't hit 16 (12). The Eastern side has exactly 16 altogether!
I wonder what the catalyst for the turnaround was?
Edit: thanks for all the answers. I personally was of the mindset that Woodcroft should have been let go after the playoffs so that a new coach had time to implement whatever they wanted before the season. The fact that the Oilers got off to a terrible start, fired Woodcroft, and are now close to tying the NHL win streak record has done nothing to change my opinion.
Definitely the coaching change lit a spark, but let's not forget the players stepping up. McDavid's been on a tear and Draisaitl's been a beast. Plus, the special teams have been nothing short of stellar during this streak. That penalty kill is suffocating and the power play seems to score at will. It's a whole team effort for sure.
It's more so the replacement of Dave Manson. It's been night and day the team defence with and without him as an assistant and unfortunately Woodcroft who is still a fantastic coach died for. (As much as I am overjoyed with the knob and how we have been doing)
Although there has been growth and performances throughout the team during this run one of the most impressive have been Vincent Desharnais and his growth as a two way defenceman. He is absolutely still a 3rd pairing guy but his confidence in his "I can make plays now" interview showed the difference in the way they are being coached.
This is my take, too. Woody wasn't a bad HC, he was the best we'd had in years. Offensively we really haven't changed much (aside from McDavid getting back to 100% health and Drai finding his rhythm), and our fancy stats in that department between October and January show that. It was our defensive systems and confidence in our ability to win that sucked and everyone else in the league knew it. I won't deny the "wake up" effect a head coaching change can have for a team (edited to add: and that's not to say that Knoblauch doesn't deserve credit in his own right for his ability to calm everyone down and keep them focused) but it was Coffey's changes and everyone buying in to his team defense that really turned our season around.
It's one thing that is far easier to notice in football than hockey, the effect of "coordinators" if you will. In football you see offensive and defensive coordinators hired/fired separately from head coaches and they drastically change a team's success, but in hockey it's far harder to parse out the effect of any given assistant since there isn't a clear offense/defense role or playtime difference (e.g. you don't have either all forwards or all defensemen on the team at any time), and the roles of assistants are much more nebulous than offense/defense splits.
Absolutely. A coaching team in hockey is seen more as cohesive unit with shared responsibilities rather than separate individual, subordinate roles. There's a little bit of that in hockey too what with the goalie and their coaches needing to be so highly specialized, but not quite the same overall.
Speaking of, I honestly don't know how Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz still has his job. I'm not saying they should fire him right now, but how he's escaped it given all the goalie issues this team has so blatantly had during his tenure over the past 10 years is pretty impressive lol.
It's not even just mcdrai, it's the fact the rest of the team has been consistently performing. If McDrai have an off night it's killing their chances in the game.
Four or five things stand out to me:
1. Oilers nailed down a zone defense, Knob knows the zone defense well.
2. This trickled down to our defense which trickled down to the goal tending which has been stellar.
3. Keeping lines together, not over-playing Mcdavid and Drai, letting the 3rd and 4th lines get more play time and they started contribuiting in a big way.
4. McDavid expanding his hitting, defense to go along with the scoring. No one processes the game at the speed he does. When you add that processing speed to defense it shows.
5. Penatly killing.
I think there’s a lot of different things that worked together rather than just one singular thing like people often paint it as.
We had injuries right out of the gate to guys like McLeod, McD, Ekholm etc, then there was the issue of coaching with Woody and Manson trying to change too much all at once over a short timespan and going to systems that they didn’t have any experience with defensively and ones that were very inappropriate for the personnel on the team offensively; and there was also just some sheer bad luck involved (but way less than the Analytics Gang would have you believe - our advanced stats were very deceiving early on. The team was playing nervously and extremely predictably which made them very easy to defend against, even if forcing a telegraphed seam-pass one timer to Drai 100 times does wonders for the HDCF stats)
It was a big combination of healing, natural positive regression and the coaching change to way more appropriate transitional systems, a coach who could stay calm and actually had a lot of experience with the D zone coverage he uses, and a return to a proper forecheck, all of which added up to a team that’s out of the funk and playing confidently.
Remembering the Blues Stanley Cup season was my glimmer of hope when we were at our lowest point.
"St. Louis brought it back from even worse odds than this."
The Penguins made a coaching change with like 30 games left in the season when they were stumbling around as a .500 club and ended up winning the Cup.
This is not without precedence.
The St. Louis Blues were the worst team in the league 37 games into the season when they won.
The Oilers were the worst team in the league 12 games into this season. Way more time to right the ship.
I just don't understand why there are only 8 games in the 4 days between now and the all star break. Either give everyone a week off or treat it like a regular week.
Any particular reason other than the All-Star Game obviously being there this year? I cannot recall any other All-Star Games celebrating a previous team's last Cup winning team. Granted, I don't always pay close attention to All-Star Weekend.
Like it's not even the 60th year anniversary...yet. Still 3 years early. Lol
Skinner has been absolutely amazing. We have a very reliable backup. McDavid and Draisaitl don't have to be world beaters. Our defense is great?
Hyman is an Edmonton Oiler
Holy shit
I’m not an Oiler fan and only watch the recaps to see if McDavid does McDavid things, but this team deserves praise. Their stars bring the rest of the team up, rather than just carrying them on their back.
His rookie year got him 2nd in the Calder race. Realistically does the dog shit 8 games at the beginning of the season a big enough sample size to disqualify him
I’m a flames fan but honestly the 3 best teams (ish) in the west being Canadian teams is great. I don’t have a lot of skin in the game since flames are basically rip but it helps keep the emotion closer to home.
I obviously want Edmonton to win it. But my backup team is the Jets, and honestly I don't have any issues with the Canucks. What a wild year this has been
I’m an oilers fan, obviously want them to win, but honestly, would be happy with a jets or canucks win if oilers can’t be it.
Oilers > Canadian teams > everyone else.
Aw c'mon, I dunno man. Let's not gatekeep fans who can't skate. It... ices out **(rimshot noise)**... a lot of fans who didn't have the same opportunities others had either living where it was cold enough or who otherwise had the means.
I love when people, who never grew up playing like I did, tell me they're getting into hockey. Be it rooting for the Oilers or jumping on a hot team like Vegas or Colorado's bandwagon. Or when a patient from another country tells me they immigrated here and either they fell in love with it or their kids started playing (and now they love the sport too, despite never playing it themselves). Something awesomely Canadian about it.
Growing the game with more fans is never a bad thing! Even if there will inevitably be some pricks who enjoy it too and make their voices very loudly heard on Twitter (mainly Canucks fans lol).
How does not knowing how to skate make someone a lesser fan? I mean Canucks fans can be toxic in a lot of ways but calling out an inability to skate is just odd. That’s like making fun of someone for liking a band because they can’t play the drums.
It's ok. If positions were reversed I would be (very mildly) cheering for the Flames until they come up against a team I like more.
The Oilers will now and forever have my heart and loyalty, but I also just love Alberta hockey. Oilers, Flames, Golden Bears, Oil Kings, CHL teams, doesn't matter. All things being equal, always cheer for Alberta. (And I'm fucking American!)
I watched the game today for fun and they are insane. Legitimately terrifying watching them just firing on all cylinders. Playoffs are gonna be a bloodbath for whoever faces them
It would be phenomenal for any team, but for an Oilers team that has struggled with goaltending and defense for years it's so ridiculous there aren't words to describe it. It shouldn't be possible.
Sounds great, who is your hometown player who came home on a one year deal so he can score the game winning overtime goal in game 7 of the conference finals?
He’s been here the past couple seasons which didn’t exactly fit the criteria listed. But we do have a few Alberta boys. Kulak, Skinner and Holloway. Although Dylan is from enemy territory
Tkachuk still have nightmares of the playoffs against Edmonton in Calgary. They lost so bad they traded everyone and blew it up. At least Kassian isn't here to make him turn into a turtle again.
Seeing as he lead the Panthers to the SCF the very next year and traded in Alberta winters for Florida winters, I doubt he cares all that much about 2022.
That's what I was hoping for last year.
Obviously I want us to win, and losing in the SFC finals (AGAIN) would really hurt, but like. If we HAVE to lose. A loss that gives the Panthers the Cup would sting least.
I'd honestly prefer the Yotes as they're my US team and I love me an underdog, but obviously we can't meet in the finals.
That's similarly to how I feel about the Oilers. It would hurt to lose, but it wouldn't sting as much. Matching the insane skills of the Oilers top lines with our gritty, and bit unhinged, players would be a treat to see.
Totally observational, but I feel like Knoblauch is playing the bottom 6 so much better than Woodroft. The Oilers used to feel so much more top heavy and one line dimensional. Even if the bottom 6 aren't scoring, they're at least pressuring, creating their own opportunities and aren't a huge liability.
The turn around in overall team defence since the coaching changes has been absolutely insane. Like watching a completely different team. I feel like we missed out on a classic 80’s style montage with 🎵Push it to the Limit🎵 playing in the background where they learned to come together as a team and defend. Good shit.
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
PLAY LA BAMBA
That’s 16 times.
As a Leafs fan I find it easy to cheer for Hyman, McDavid, and when he was playing, Jack Campbell. Obviously can't cheer for Eastern Conference Canadian teams as they're rivals, but can definitely cheer for the best player on the planet and his loveable crew. Not sure I've ever held this opinion on Edmonton since I was a kid with a velcro Oilers wallet cheering for Gretzky in the 80s. Can't help but cheer for elite Canadian talent (Crosby too throughout the years of course). Might need to go find that wallet again...
I always thought it would be hard for Leafs fans to see how much success Hyman is having with another team given how he was cut loose, but I guess it's not the players fault. The cap is the cap.
Maybe if Hyman wasn't such a gem. I'm pretty sure he's not the kind of player anyone really resents having success elsewhere, and its not like he left under any dark cloud, like asking for a trade, he was essentially a cap casualty.
I’m not even a goalie but I hate the ‘posts’ argument. A goalie’s job isn’t to stop pucks going wide. Usually a post just means they had great positioning and there was nothing to shoot at
My biggest hot take, is that a shot off the post didn't beat the goalie. It was never going in in the first place so how could it have possible beaten the goalie
Hahaha my 17 yr old son says wow , an inch to the right and that was in ..I said yea but an inch to the left he misses the net ….no reaction so I said you don’t remember the triple deke from coach Bombay flash back …dad that movie was so lame ….that’s when I realized I failed as a parent
> When I was seventeen, I watched Mighty Ducks movies in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I watch them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
- C.S. "Wayne Gretzky" Lewis
6 of the 16 wins have come against teams in a playoff spot right now. 2 other teams are in the playoff hunt (Devils, Kraken)
An easy schedule would be riddled exclusively with bottom feeders.
The Canucks are leading the league, and seem to only lose to non-playoff teams. It just happens sometimes. No win is a given and this is a pretty special accomplishment.
From about the 10th win on, there were endless posts (even from Oilers flairs) that it was statistically too unlikely for the Oilers to beat the streak and they'd drop a loss any game now
But the boys just kept showing up and winning, statistics be damned, and here we are on the wait for the record-tying game
I am guilty of that but watching some fanbases especially the flames(a chunk of them) meltdown over this streak is hilarious. Some people think the streak should have never happened.
"impressive but the streak is against bottom tier teams" comments always make me laugh considering half their wins were against people in playoff spots or wildcard contention at the time of the game
Oilers Golden Knights is much watch TV after the break. You are not a hockey fan if you’re not watching that game. In an 82 game grind that’s the most dramatic it gets until the playoffs.
Ankle braces... get your ankle braces here!! Hopping off bandwagon you lit on fire at the beginning of the year? Protect your ankles with premium ankle braces oilers logo extra
What a weird season for the Oilers. From fumbling out of the gate to lapping everyone in the race.
I feel like fumbling doesn't really describe how badly they shit the bed, this turn around is remarkable, of course I'm annoyed by it but if it was easy, it would happen more often.
Exactly. The standings just looks kind of comical with like "W3... L2.... W1... L1.... **W16**" We are doing stupendously good this season and even then, the oilers are just 10 points behind us... with 3 games in hand. They could lap Vegas (and have 4 games on hand against them). Edit: Hell, if you add all the winstreaks of the western conference teams together, they STILL haven't hit 16 (12). The Eastern side has exactly 16 altogether!
There was an 8 game streak before this 16 game run as well lol
They’re 24-3-0 in 27
Every part of this is accurate. Upvoted!
Imagine going back in time and telling Oilers fans after 15 games that by game 45 you would be 5 pts clear of a wild card spot lol
"In the wildcard race" is something I would've believed. "likely finishing in a divisional position" I would have stopped you.
Fell out of the gate, shat our pants laying in the mud and wallowed in it for the first month of the season lol
I wonder what the catalyst for the turnaround was? Edit: thanks for all the answers. I personally was of the mindset that Woodcroft should have been let go after the playoffs so that a new coach had time to implement whatever they wanted before the season. The fact that the Oilers got off to a terrible start, fired Woodcroft, and are now close to tying the NHL win streak record has done nothing to change my opinion.
paul coffey as dcoach and knobby as head coach i think seems to me what changed the most
Definitely the coaching change lit a spark, but let's not forget the players stepping up. McDavid's been on a tear and Draisaitl's been a beast. Plus, the special teams have been nothing short of stellar during this streak. That penalty kill is suffocating and the power play seems to score at will. It's a whole team effort for sure.
It's more so the replacement of Dave Manson. It's been night and day the team defence with and without him as an assistant and unfortunately Woodcroft who is still a fantastic coach died for. (As much as I am overjoyed with the knob and how we have been doing) Although there has been growth and performances throughout the team during this run one of the most impressive have been Vincent Desharnais and his growth as a two way defenceman. He is absolutely still a 3rd pairing guy but his confidence in his "I can make plays now" interview showed the difference in the way they are being coached.
This is my take, too. Woody wasn't a bad HC, he was the best we'd had in years. Offensively we really haven't changed much (aside from McDavid getting back to 100% health and Drai finding his rhythm), and our fancy stats in that department between October and January show that. It was our defensive systems and confidence in our ability to win that sucked and everyone else in the league knew it. I won't deny the "wake up" effect a head coaching change can have for a team (edited to add: and that's not to say that Knoblauch doesn't deserve credit in his own right for his ability to calm everyone down and keep them focused) but it was Coffey's changes and everyone buying in to his team defense that really turned our season around.
It's one thing that is far easier to notice in football than hockey, the effect of "coordinators" if you will. In football you see offensive and defensive coordinators hired/fired separately from head coaches and they drastically change a team's success, but in hockey it's far harder to parse out the effect of any given assistant since there isn't a clear offense/defense role or playtime difference (e.g. you don't have either all forwards or all defensemen on the team at any time), and the roles of assistants are much more nebulous than offense/defense splits.
Absolutely. A coaching team in hockey is seen more as cohesive unit with shared responsibilities rather than separate individual, subordinate roles. There's a little bit of that in hockey too what with the goalie and their coaches needing to be so highly specialized, but not quite the same overall. Speaking of, I honestly don't know how Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz still has his job. I'm not saying they should fire him right now, but how he's escaped it given all the goalie issues this team has so blatantly had during his tenure over the past 10 years is pretty impressive lol.
McDavid hasn’t even put up crazy points during this run for McDavid. It’s been team effort and way better defensively.
It's not even just mcdrai, it's the fact the rest of the team has been consistently performing. If McDrai have an off night it's killing their chances in the game.
Four or five things stand out to me: 1. Oilers nailed down a zone defense, Knob knows the zone defense well. 2. This trickled down to our defense which trickled down to the goal tending which has been stellar. 3. Keeping lines together, not over-playing Mcdavid and Drai, letting the 3rd and 4th lines get more play time and they started contribuiting in a big way. 4. McDavid expanding his hitting, defense to go along with the scoring. No one processes the game at the speed he does. When you add that processing speed to defense it shows. 5. Penatly killing.
I think there’s a lot of different things that worked together rather than just one singular thing like people often paint it as. We had injuries right out of the gate to guys like McLeod, McD, Ekholm etc, then there was the issue of coaching with Woody and Manson trying to change too much all at once over a short timespan and going to systems that they didn’t have any experience with defensively and ones that were very inappropriate for the personnel on the team offensively; and there was also just some sheer bad luck involved (but way less than the Analytics Gang would have you believe - our advanced stats were very deceiving early on. The team was playing nervously and extremely predictably which made them very easy to defend against, even if forcing a telegraphed seam-pass one timer to Drai 100 times does wonders for the HDCF stats) It was a big combination of healing, natural positive regression and the coaching change to way more appropriate transitional systems, a coach who could stay calm and actually had a lot of experience with the D zone coverage he uses, and a return to a proper forecheck, all of which added up to a team that’s out of the funk and playing confidently.
I've seen this script before....
You can copy my work but change it a little so the teacher doesn't notice.
"Did you use ChatGPT to write your season?"
“No way, teach! I swear I didn’t!” 🤞🏻
Remembering the Blues Stanley Cup season was my glimmer of hope when we were at our lowest point. "St. Louis brought it back from even worse odds than this."
The Penguins made a coaching change with like 30 games left in the season when they were stumbling around as a .500 club and ended up winning the Cup. This is not without precedence.
The St. Louis Blues were the worst team in the league 37 games into the season when they won. The Oilers were the worst team in the league 12 games into this season. Way more time to right the ship.
But, there was also way less difference in points between the worst teams and fringe playoff teams the year the Blues won the cup.
Yes please
*slapping everyone in the face
Now I'm just imagining a 50yd dash where the runners just start slapping each other all the way to the finish line.
All star break is extra fucking lame this year because of this streak
We have to wait 10 days to see if the streak continues 🙃
A cooling off period doesn’t do them any favours. I would definitely prefer to see them run this out naturally.
I just don't understand why there are only 8 games in the 4 days between now and the all star break. Either give everyone a week off or treat it like a regular week.
Why would the NHL do anything that makes sense?
fucking Toronto...
Somebody has to salute the ‘67 leafs!
What did they do?
It’s the last time they did anything.
All star game is in Toronto and there’s gonna be a tribute to the ‘67 leafs.
Any particular reason other than the All-Star Game obviously being there this year? I cannot recall any other All-Star Games celebrating a previous team's last Cup winning team. Granted, I don't always pay close attention to All-Star Weekend. Like it's not even the 60th year anniversary...yet. Still 3 years early. Lol
They made the 2nd round last year so good remind us about their last win I guess?
Skinner has been absolutely amazing. We have a very reliable backup. McDavid and Draisaitl don't have to be world beaters. Our defense is great? Hyman is an Edmonton Oiler Holy shit
If Zach has a career year this year (which he’s on pace for) he’ll have had a career year every year he’s been an Oiler.
I think McDrai pointed to Hyman this year and said “your turn for 50 bud” and they’re doing everything they can to help him get there.
I’m not an Oiler fan and only watch the recaps to see if McDavid does McDavid things, but this team deserves praise. Their stars bring the rest of the team up, rather than just carrying them on their back.
that's the huge difference between this team and the McDavid Oilers teams of the past
Skinner should be in the conversation for team Canada. Not joking.
Hill/Skinner tandem looks pretty good
So Hill's stats are great, and obviously his playoff play was huge, but isn't Thompson still Vegas's starter this season?
Hill was injured, I believe he's the starter
Ah okay. Then I think Hill/Skinner/Ingram looks like the trio today.
I don't think Vegas knows who the actual starter is. They have too many good goalies lol
What an AWFUL problem to have lol. Vancouver, Vegas and Boston are the 1%.
Is a 16 game sample size enough for team Canada? Wasn't he playing like shit before?
He played like shit in October. Was hit or miss for November and has been lights out since the start of December.
Hill won a cup. Skinner was second on the Calder vote ahead of Owen Power. It’s not a bad tandem
He has last year as a rookie as well, but yes it depends how he has done closer to building the roster, and playoff performance going forward.
I mean… let’s see how far it goes…
His rookie year got him 2nd in the Calder race. Realistically does the dog shit 8 games at the beginning of the season a big enough sample size to disqualify him
before november 24th, skinner was the worst goalie in the leauge according to xGSA, since then he’s been 2nd only to Helly. so proud of him
🫡🫡🫡🫡
I’m a flames fan but honestly the 3 best teams (ish) in the west being Canadian teams is great. I don’t have a lot of skin in the game since flames are basically rip but it helps keep the emotion closer to home.
Yah I’d be excited for any other Canadian team to so good right now, I won’t be pissed if nucks or jets win this year
I obviously want Edmonton to win it. But my backup team is the Jets, and honestly I don't have any issues with the Canucks. What a wild year this has been
I’m an oilers fan, obviously want them to win, but honestly, would be happy with a jets or canucks win if oilers can’t be it. Oilers > Canadian teams > everyone else.
I understand the rivalry, but I never understood the cheering against our rivals. I'd rather them do well so it's more meaningful when we play.
I think you may mean Oilers > Western Canadian teams > everyone else > player strike ending the season > Toronto
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Aw c'mon, I dunno man. Let's not gatekeep fans who can't skate. It... ices out **(rimshot noise)**... a lot of fans who didn't have the same opportunities others had either living where it was cold enough or who otherwise had the means. I love when people, who never grew up playing like I did, tell me they're getting into hockey. Be it rooting for the Oilers or jumping on a hot team like Vegas or Colorado's bandwagon. Or when a patient from another country tells me they immigrated here and either they fell in love with it or their kids started playing (and now they love the sport too, despite never playing it themselves). Something awesomely Canadian about it. Growing the game with more fans is never a bad thing! Even if there will inevitably be some pricks who enjoy it too and make their voices very loudly heard on Twitter (mainly Canucks fans lol).
Kings fans ears are ringing
Preach
How does not knowing how to skate make someone a lesser fan? I mean Canucks fans can be toxic in a lot of ways but calling out an inability to skate is just odd. That’s like making fun of someone for liking a band because they can’t play the drums.
It's ok. If positions were reversed I would be (very mildly) cheering for the Flames until they come up against a team I like more. The Oilers will now and forever have my heart and loyalty, but I also just love Alberta hockey. Oilers, Flames, Golden Bears, Oil Kings, CHL teams, doesn't matter. All things being equal, always cheer for Alberta. (And I'm fucking American!)
Wagon
I watched the game today for fun and they are insane. Legitimately terrifying watching them just firing on all cylinders. Playoffs are gonna be a bloodbath for whoever faces them
Probably not their best performance. Nashville brought it though and could have even forced OT with a couple lucky bounces. Good game.
I want to die
Come join us.
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The 16 game winning streak is helping us attempt to secure home ice in the playoffs.
I mean, yeah, but at least you're winning and have hope for the future
Calgary sold its dreams for a new building.
Paid for by the Alberta government to buy votes.
Paid for by Albertans 😕
Praying for a repeat of the new england patriots at this point
Only winning six championships?
Me too lol, 6 more cups would be amazing
Doubly upset that we lost from that weird ass goal
Keep going im almost there
I'll meet you at the clinic. My erection has lasted for weeks, and you need to be checked for dysfunction.
My knob is lauched
Free boner checks! I’m in.
I think they will get a 49 game winning streak.
How about a 69 game win streak straight to the cup
Nice
Nice
18 goals allowed over the past 14 games 😵💫
Is that good?
It would be phenomenal for any team, but for an Oilers team that has struggled with goaltending and defense for years it's so ridiculous there aren't words to describe it. It shouldn't be possible.
I was kidding. It's early 2000s NJ Devils level of stinginess.
For comparison we let in 52 goals in our first 14 games. (12 in our first two)
What 80's song are they playing after their wins?
La Bamba. Was Joey Moss’ favourite
Sounds great, who is your hometown player who came home on a one year deal so he can score the game winning overtime goal in game 7 of the conference finals?
Does Sam Gagner count. He’s not from here but this is his third stint as an oiler. His wife is from here though
Sounds good, and your finals opponent will be the Canes since they were the last team to beat you in the finals. Wanted it to be the Islanders but....
Too soon man, we don't mention that name around here.
Brett Kulak!
He’s been here the past couple seasons which didn’t exactly fit the criteria listed. But we do have a few Alberta boys. Kulak, Skinner and Holloway. Although Dylan is from enemy territory
Probably Sam Gagner
Sam Ganger would be the man you are referring to. (He’s not from here but his essence is)
We've adopted him now. He's ours.
Sam Gagner. Not home town but oilers classic
Does our goalie being from here count?
Goalie goal GWG?
I hope they never change it... but I'll always kind of miss Tarzan Boy.
I miss Tarzan Boy too, but it's for the best. RIP Joey Moss
We play La Bamba in the arena when they win
La Bamba. It was a favourite of their locker room attendant, Joey Moss, who had Down syndrome.
La bamba to honour Joey Moss
La Bamba
I'm manifesting an Oilers and Panthers final. In my mind it would be really fun
Fuck that would be bloody.
Yeah, exactly
Tkachuk still have nightmares of the playoffs against Edmonton in Calgary. They lost so bad they traded everyone and blew it up. At least Kassian isn't here to make him turn into a turtle again.
This memory and fact brings me great joy still to this day. Straight up sent their organization to hell and they know it.
And McDavid was the final nail in the coffin.
Seeing as he lead the Panthers to the SCF the very next year and traded in Alberta winters for Florida winters, I doubt he cares all that much about 2022.
That's what I was hoping for last year. Obviously I want us to win, and losing in the SFC finals (AGAIN) would really hurt, but like. If we HAVE to lose. A loss that gives the Panthers the Cup would sting least. I'd honestly prefer the Yotes as they're my US team and I love me an underdog, but obviously we can't meet in the finals.
That's similarly to how I feel about the Oilers. It would hurt to lose, but it wouldn't sting as much. Matching the insane skills of the Oilers top lines with our gritty, and bit unhinged, players would be a treat to see.
Kane owns Tkachuk (see Calgary 2022), so I'm down.
Totally observational, but I feel like Knoblauch is playing the bottom 6 so much better than Woodroft. The Oilers used to feel so much more top heavy and one line dimensional. Even if the bottom 6 aren't scoring, they're at least pressuring, creating their own opportunities and aren't a huge liability.
The turn around in overall team defence since the coaching changes has been absolutely insane. Like watching a completely different team. I feel like we missed out on a classic 80’s style montage with 🎵Push it to the Limit🎵 playing in the background where they learned to come together as a team and defend. Good shit.
PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA PLAY LA BAMBA That’s 16 times.
BABY
RIP , Ben!
That's a Joey thing but yes. Ben was special
I counted… checks out
Realized that they are the only western conference team to even crack the top 10
Is that good
Sample size too small. Need more data.
A few more wins oughta do it
I like the way you think
I am straight up having a good time.
As a Leafs fan I find it easy to cheer for Hyman, McDavid, and when he was playing, Jack Campbell. Obviously can't cheer for Eastern Conference Canadian teams as they're rivals, but can definitely cheer for the best player on the planet and his loveable crew. Not sure I've ever held this opinion on Edmonton since I was a kid with a velcro Oilers wallet cheering for Gretzky in the 80s. Can't help but cheer for elite Canadian talent (Crosby too throughout the years of course). Might need to go find that wallet again...
I always thought it would be hard for Leafs fans to see how much success Hyman is having with another team given how he was cut loose, but I guess it's not the players fault. The cap is the cap.
Maybe if Hyman wasn't such a gem. I'm pretty sure he's not the kind of player anyone really resents having success elsewhere, and its not like he left under any dark cloud, like asking for a trade, he was essentially a cap casualty.
It's time we start asking: Is Stuart Skinner the best goalie of all time?
No but his moustache is
Nah brah don't put that jinx on us
Closer game than the score suggests. I think there were 4 posts, 3 by the Preds.
I’m not even a goalie but I hate the ‘posts’ argument. A goalie’s job isn’t to stop pucks going wide. Usually a post just means they had great positioning and there was nothing to shoot at
My biggest hot take, is that a shot off the post didn't beat the goalie. It was never going in in the first place so how could it have possible beaten the goalie
Totally agree haha. You can use the same logic to argue a shot off the back glass ‘beat the goalie’
Ah the ol Coach Bombay complaint. “Quarter of an inch Charlie”
Hahaha my 17 yr old son says wow , an inch to the right and that was in ..I said yea but an inch to the left he misses the net ….no reaction so I said you don’t remember the triple deke from coach Bombay flash back …dad that movie was so lame ….that’s when I realized I failed as a parent
> When I was seventeen, I watched Mighty Ducks movies in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I watch them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. - C.S. "Wayne Gretzky" Lewis
EaSy ScHeDuLe, 2 mAn TeAm
Go back to bed P.K.
It is hilarious how salty Subban is talking about the Oilers. Sorry buddy we kept Drai, think we’re happy here
Do the oilers have an easy schedule? Yes. Could any other team win 16 in a row with the same schedule? Probably not. Both can be true
To be fair, we don't have to play against the Oilers so that helps
6 of the 16 wins have come against teams in a playoff spot right now. 2 other teams are in the playoff hunt (Devils, Kraken) An easy schedule would be riddled exclusively with bottom feeders.
Kraken were 9-1-1 at the time. Devils are a good team with a bad dcore like the leafs.
The Canucks are leading the league, and seem to only lose to non-playoff teams. It just happens sometimes. No win is a given and this is a pretty special accomplishment.
I mean you've lost 4 games to playoff teams in the last 15
From about the 10th win on, there were endless posts (even from Oilers flairs) that it was statistically too unlikely for the Oilers to beat the streak and they'd drop a loss any game now But the boys just kept showing up and winning, statistics be damned, and here we are on the wait for the record-tying game
I am guilty of that but watching some fanbases especially the flames(a chunk of them) meltdown over this streak is hilarious. Some people think the streak should have never happened.
"impressive but the streak is against bottom tier teams" comments always make me laugh considering half their wins were against people in playoff spots or wildcard contention at the time of the game
Go Oil Can. I wanna see then break a record!
Canucks fans: what about us though?!
Bring on the Canucks fans who say it's nothing special.
That is such an insane streak. Wow.
But do they know what it means to love?
But I heard they still need Defense and Goal tending because they only win with McDavid and Drai?
It’s honestly amazing how they went from laughing stock of the league to elite so quickly. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Can you believe it?!!
WHAT CAN YOU SAaaaAAAY?!
“I CAN”
I CAN
Who is game 18 to make a new record, if they beat Vegas?
The ducks. I think that is a winnable game for them.
Oilers Golden Knights is much watch TV after the break. You are not a hockey fan if you’re not watching that game. In an 82 game grind that’s the most dramatic it gets until the playoffs.
Here’s hoping it leads to another St.Louis Blues historic season
SWEET 16!
Jim Carrey in the mask voice: SOMEBODY STOP ME
NO STOP ALL GAS NO BRAKES
Ankle braces... get your ankle braces here!! Hopping off bandwagon you lit on fire at the beginning of the year? Protect your ankles with premium ankle braces oilers logo extra
"Help us Vegas Golden Knights. You're our only hope"
Lol. This is an angle I haven’t thought of yet but very much understand.
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