JB,
Keep a dreamin'. McD is a generational player. All experts agree on this. Try as some here might to say otherwise, well, it ain't gonna work. Like all teams in Minnesota, with the exception of the Twinkies in the late 80s and early 90s n=(2), NO CHAMPIONSHIPS 4 MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS.......... In the historie of the state and the city - none but 2 twinkie wins. Thaz a long time. Like a century. Oil? Many Stanley Cups (n=5) for their one major league team. Hmm.............
Oh my goodness, I just tuned into the Oil-Vegas game. McD is hurt, has he had ice time? Important game. Unfortunately, McD, the generational player, is not going to win the Art Ross this year, despite the pundits and NHL players thinking otherwise. McKinnon and Kucherov are too far ahead and McD is hurt, alas. Could he win the Hart? I think its gotta go also to Kucherov as he deserves it this year and kudos.
We gotta have McD healthy for the playoff run. Nothing else matters at this point. No Art Ross or Hart? Thaz ok, but wait Ceci just scored against Vegas! Pshaw! Thaz what we need, the others to rise up and strengthen the Oil with McD hurt. Oh, and Kaprizov? Doing well this year for a puck hog, some goals, very little team play (as usual LOL hardly any assists).
Overhead view of Edmonton in intermission. Oh wait, hardly any snow! I remember cross county skiing in Hawerlak Park in April back in the day of NHL championship runs. What gives? Oh wait, global warming...........
Minnesota also gave us Herb Brooks and a lot of kids who gave Americans great hockey joy, beating a Russian team that kicked the snot out of the NHLs best a year earlier.
Oilers have zero chance with or without McDavid this year. You have college level goaltending.
@4Boston said:
Minnesota also gave us Herb Brooks and a lot of kids who gave Americans great hockey joy, beating a Russian team that kicked the snot out of the NHLs best a year earlier.
Oilers have zero chance with or without McDavid this year. You have college level goaltending.
Some people here give good, insightful comments, others are merely here to annoy. I think they are called "trolls".
I used to argue with them, but found myself getting angry at their childeshness and stupidity. Now, I do not respond, everyone can already see who's who.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
No question Matthews is very good, but does not seem to have the complete game - which is why he has about 1/3 of the assists of McD despite playing on a high scoring team. Puck hogging means one can score alot, just like NBA ball hogs with few other stats to show, there have been plenty of those over the years and quite a few in the NHL right now. I will prefer to watch folks like McD with a complete game..................
Which part of McJesus' game is complete? For pure comedy, use lucid specific examples. I've made 101 posts about his well below average defense and comedically bad puck battle win totals with actual stats to back up my stuff since the eye-test is failing you. You have nothing but an NHL.com* fluff piece from 2023 after Matthews came off of an injury-plagued season. Matthews is playing with Covid Bertuzzi and Marner, and while Marner is good, he's not a top end pure scorer.....he's also a pass first guy. Then take a look at the AARP reps on Toronto's blueline who can't skate. Where's the Bouchard or formerly Tyson Barrie in that lot pushing the pace and skating the puck out of their own end? Right, they don't have one.
*maybe want to avoid thinking NHL.com is some paragon of journalism when one of their "writers" got her gig by winning a contest....
If McJesus is a complete player, why did Knoblauch cut his (and Kane and Leon's) ice time? In doing so, why did the Oil's rush chances allowed get cut down 40%? Go ahead and clear that one up for us.
I have no bias against McJesus in the same way I don't care about what Crosby does or ever did, other than ridiculous fanboys (know any?) and the provincial Canadian hockey media fawns over him. Don't care if he wins or loses, don't care if he wins every Hart from here on in. However I do hope Leon bolts in FA in '25 and we'll see how his assist totals are after that.
Kucherov or MacKinnon will win the Hart. Matthews scored 51 goals at even strength while piling up plus to plus plus defensive metrics. MacKinnon has outscored McJesus since Jan 1 of 2023, while playing better defense. Kirill scored 95 points in 74 games without the benefit of a legit 1st line center or RW, or any sort of line consistency (never skated with the same line combo more than 11% of his ice-time) - so I guess there are other generational type players out there too. Apparently it's not just one Canadian guy with a d-zone blowing fetish.
McDavid was spectacular last nite and showed why he is a generational talent in game 1 of the first round playoffs. His first pass for a goal came off a curly que move with the puck that leaves you thinking - OH MY!
The Oil were really hungry last nite, clearly showed in their play. If they can sustain that and Skinner can keep from having too many moments, who knows how far they can go...........
Watch the skating moves McD makes in order to get in position to make a perfect pass. It is clear this year they decided to use him mostly this way, as opposed to last year where he scored goals. Either way McD is clearly the best player on the ice in the world right now, as all pundits with the expertise to say this will tell you. Hey don't listen to me, go to any hockey site and read on.
Note in the slow mo of McD's curly cue, he was right in front of the goalie with the 5 hole wide open - but he chose to pass to Hyman for the score. This clearly a decision by the coaching to use McD's superior skating and passing skills this year for being a point guard instead of trying to score as much himself a he did last year. So he is thinking pass first. Doesn't mean he is set up guy only, it is just how the Oil chose to do it this year......... We will see if this continues during the playoffs or if they will move the tactics towards more goals for McD.
@4Boston said:
So McD gets 1 assist and 0 goals in the loss. Series tied 1-1.
He has 0 goals in 2 games so far.
If he wants to be great he has to score at home in the first two games of the series.
He is great there is no ifs and all of the qualified experts/pundits have this opinion via McD's achievements.
To suggest that since he only scored 1 assist for one game, despite being 3rd in the league this year for points after missing games bc of injury, thus to imply he is not great and must 'score at home' is well, just trying to throw darts. How many generational players don't score a goal each game? Well, most, actually pretty much all but Gretz (another Oil star of the past). So huh? Remember last year? McD had 64 GOALS? That is what the team needed of him last year, so he simply chose to score more than anyone bc he can. Hm....................
This year, the Oil have a perfect trio of McD, Draisaitl, and Hyman. McD can do it all, but to get the best out of those guys, it is clear that the TEAM needs to be having McD feeding them those sweet passes to set up goals. That is called being unselfish and doing what the teams needs you to do. He can switch from goal scoring to setting up mates because his game is the best in the league. Sure, if you are from Boston, Minnesota, and places in between, you hate it, you want to find any flaw. I would be too if I had to be subjected to watching the generational player toast my home team all of the time. I feel your pain.
Series is now 2-1 Oil. Finally, Skinner had a game without a short run within the game of letting in multiple goals. McD just keeps feeding perfect passes to H and D for goals goals goals, the Oilers strategy this year and it IS WORKING. We will just have to see if they can sustain this if they win this round.
3 games into the playoffs. Oh Look who leads playoff points:
Look who leads playoff goals:
Er, well, McD's 2 line mates. Why? BC McD is the best player in the game right now and is doing what his team asks of him, to provide sweet passes to his mates so they can score.
Playoff scoring updates. McDavid-Draisaitl-Hyman line dominates. EDM-VAN looks closely match. Hope the Oil prevails, we will see.......
McD shot the puck 5 times last nite, still had 3 assists. This goal was typical of a generational player with speed and spectacular puck handling skills. Snuffed the Van goalie once he skated past everyone:
Tis what I feared. Skinner is choking. From the web:
"How bad is it? Skinner not only has the worst numbers of any netminder to start a game in Oilers postseason history. But he is also the NHL’s worst playoff performer in the salary cap era by a sizable margin. Of all 69 goalies since 2005 with at least 15 playoff appearances, Skinner ranks dead last in save percentage with an .881 mark in 20 games. He’s worse than Kari Lehtonen’s .887 (19 games) and Nikolai Khabibulin’s .898 (15 games) – and that’s not a small sample size."
Ouch, dude has confidence issues, you could see it all season when he would have streaks in a game of letting in multiple goals over a short time period. For Oil to get over the hump, they are going to have to get a better goalie next year, but that won't help them in this series. So one has to just hope that Skinner will somehow getting his mental state better. One has have the best line in the game but unless they can keep up with a bad goalie, won't matter.
A better goalie would certainly help Edmonton. It would help Edmonton even more to have more than one line. With McDavid and Draisaitl off the ice, the Oilers would struggle to keep pace with the Sharks, or even a very good AHL team. They are a very bad team except for one phenomenal line.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
@spacehayduke said:
Tis what I feared. Skinner is choking. From the web:
"How bad is it? Skinner not only has the worst numbers of any netminder to start a game in Oilers postseason history. But he is also the NHL’s worst playoff performer in the salary cap era by a sizable margin. Of all 69 goalies since 2005 with at least 15 playoff appearances, Skinner ranks dead last in save percentage with an .881 mark in 20 games. He’s worse than Kari Lehtonen’s .887 (19 games) and Nikolai Khabibulin’s .898 (15 games) – and that’s not a small sample size."
Ouch, dude has confidence issues, you could see it all season when he would have streaks in a game of letting in multiple goals over a short time period. For Oil to get over the hump, they are going to have to get a better goalie next year, but that won't help them in this series. So one has to just hope that Skinner will somehow getting his mental state better. One has have the best line in the game but unless they can keep up with a bad goalie, won't matter.
yep, it's all the goalie's fault....
McJesus - 32.1% of ice-time spent in the d-zone (1st percentile - league average is 41% meaning he's still blowing the d-zone early all the time...I don't know, if the goalie sucks, maybe help out the goalie?).
Game 3
Oil - 23 giveaways
Canucks - 12 giveaways
Oil - 24 slot shots against
Canucks - 10
and maybe tallying more goals than the Canucks' 3rd pair defenseman would help too (Zadorov 4 goals, McJesus 2)
I think there was some talk of defensive responsibility/importance in this thread, maybe. Let's have a look at Game 5....
wait that's not _that _guy is it?
oh dear...that's not the best time to lose your check, probably. You know what, let's go ahead and blame that one on the goalie.
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
@Darin said:
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
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lanemeyer is probably the moat knowledgeable hockey guy here.
Forwards are expected play defense. Stopping goals is as important as scoring them.
When people start losing their minds and say someone's the best player in the NHL, their guy better be able to play defense as well as score points.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
@Darin said:
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
The Selke Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association following the regular season.
Most of the below winners played in the Stanley Cup that year.
1997–98 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 1
1998–99 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 2
1999–2000 Steve Yzerman Detroit Red Wings C 1
2000–01 John Madden New Jersey Devils C 1
2001–02 Michael Peca New York Islanders C 2
2002–03 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 3
2003–04 Kris Draper Detroit Red Wings C 1
2004–05 Season cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout
2005–06 Rod Brind'Amour Carolina Hurricanes C 1
2006–07 Rod Brind'Amour Carolina Hurricanes C 2
2007–08 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 1
2008–09 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 2
2009–10 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 3
2010–11 Ryan Kesler Vancouver Canucks C 1
2011–12 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 1
2012–13 Jonathan Toews Chicago Blackhawks C 1
2013–14 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 2
2014–15 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 3
2015–16 Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings C 1
2016–17 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 4
2017–18 Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings C 2
2018–19 Ryan O'Reilly St. Louis Blues C 1
2019–20 Sean Couturier Philadelphia Flyers C 1
2020–21 Aleksander Barkov Florida Panthers C 1
2021–22 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 5
2022–23 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 6
2023–24 Aleksander Barkov Florida Panthers C 2
#LetsGoSwitzerlandThe Man Who Does Not Read Has No Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read. The biggest obstacle to progress is a habit of “buying what we want and begging for what we need.”You get the Freedom you fight for and get the Oppression you deserve.
Should be a good series Dallas vs Edmonton in the Western finals. Hope Edmonton pulls it off and make sit to the Stanley Cup finals. I am Canadian so this is the last team we have standing.
@Darin said:
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
I don't follow Hockey a ton, which means I'm the only one in Minnesota it seems. Everyone is telling me that Kaprizov might be gone next season. People seem worried.
@Darin said:
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
I don't follow Hockey a ton, which means I'm the only one in Minnesota it seems. Everyone is telling me that Kaprizov might be gone next season. People seem worried.
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He's under contract for the next 2 seasons. Stop getting your information from idiots.
Hockey fans here are always worried about something. Probably because we lost the North Stars.
The Wild will pay him whatever he wants. The team looks poised to come out of their salary cap problem in time to pay him, possibly add a nice free agent or two, and they have some great prospects coming. A couple are Russians, that might help keep him here.
He doesn't appear to be a money driven person, I don't think he's going anywhere as long as the Wild are competitive.
I would encourage to watch a couple of Wild games, this guy is amazing.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
@Darin said:
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
I don't follow Hockey a ton, which means I'm the only one in Minnesota it seems. Everyone is telling me that Kaprizov might be gone next season. People seem worried.
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>
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He's under contract for the next 2 seasons. Stop getting your information from idiots.
Hockey fans here are always worried about something. Probably because we lost the North Stars.
The Wild will pay him whatever he wants. The team looks poised to come out of their salary cap problem in time to pay him, possibly add a nice free agent or two, and they have some great prospects coming. A couple are Russians, that might help keep him here.
He doesn't appear to be a money driven person, I don't think he's going anywhere as long as the Wild are competitive.
I would encourage to watch a couple of Wild games, this guy is amazing.
That’s good advice to watch some Wild games.
I really don’t talk a lot of hockey so to have this guy come up with the same sentiment, unsolicited, on three occasions, with 4 individuals - one was two guys with the same theme at a poker game… I thought maybe there’s something there. That’s why I brought it up.
I’m going to tell the 2 guys I play poker with that “Joe says you’re dumb as a box of crayons” next time we’re in a hand and see if I can tilt their chair a bit. Who’s Joe? Why is he hatin’?? What about crayons??? All in!
@Darin said:
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
I don't follow Hockey a ton, which means I'm the only one in Minnesota it seems. Everyone is telling me that Kaprizov might be gone next season. People seem worried.
>
>
>
He's under contract for the next 2 seasons. Stop getting your information from idiots.
Hockey fans here are always worried about something. Probably because we lost the North Stars.
The Wild will pay him whatever he wants. The team looks poised to come out of their salary cap problem in time to pay him, possibly add a nice free agent or two, and they have some great prospects coming. A couple are Russians, that might help keep him here.
He doesn't appear to be a money driven person, I don't think he's going anywhere as long as the Wild are competitive.
I would encourage to watch a couple of Wild games, this guy is amazing.
That’s good advice to watch some Wild games.
I really don’t talk a lot of hockey so to have this guy come up with the same sentiment, unsolicited, on three occasions, with 4 individuals - one was two guys with the same theme at a poker game… I thought maybe there’s something there. That’s why I brought it up.
I’m going to tell the 2 guys I play poker with that “Joe says you’re dumb as a box of crayons” next time we’re in a hand and see if I can tilt their chair a bit. Who’s Joe? Why is he hatin’?? What about crayons??? All in!
Just tell him "Joe KNOWS".
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
Oil has made it through 2 rounds, sometimes with sketchy goalie play (Skinner). That has to improve if they want to continue to win series as the other 3 teams left will pounce on a weak goalie who lacks self confidence when he is scored on, thereby leading to a group of goals over short time periods against. So the future of the Oil in the 2024 playoffs is on the goaltending.
Good news is that offensive is doing just fine. McDavid has sacrificed his goal scoring this year for setting up whoever else is on the ice with him. And it has worked. As ESPN notes today -
"What happens if Connor McDavid starts consistently scoring again?
It's not like McDavid hasn't been busy. He has created goals for others while anchoring Edmonton's top line and also driving a power-play unit that at one point was converting at a rate of 50% this postseason. This is what makes McDavid a perpetual threat who requires everyone's attention.
But the fact that he has scored only two goals through 12 postseason games raises two questions: What does it say that the Oilers can get this far without needing McDavid to score in bunches? And how terrifying could Edmonton be if McDavid starts consistently scoring again and continues to create for those around him?"
What is says is this:
This is what happens when a generational player, i.e., the best player in the world, sets up everyone on the ice. You end up outscoring all other teams. So we will see if they can get bay Dallas, again, it's on Skinner overcoming his mental weaknesses............
Yes LOL @JoeBanzai. Who is the laugh about really? Certainly not the Oil.
I want to call out Skinner for playing fabulous in Game 1 against Dallas and keeping his head in it when he was scored on both times. Both goals against him were defensive breakdowns in front of him that can be corrected. He did get lucky in OT when a puck bounced off the goal post. If he keeps playing this well.................
And then there was McD, the best player in the world. Kept shooting in both OT's and got the the game winner.
The best player in the world (as quoted multiple times after the game in the press), gets the game winner in 2OT. And just like that for sure..............................
Hyman, Draisaitl, McDavid, were dominant when on the floor. This is a very talented team, let's hope they play up to their talent for the rest of the playoffs.
Credit to Dallas for super hustle on defense. I think this might be a low scoring series.
Stayed up late to watch McDavid poke the puck in the net in 2OT (went in/out of sleep) - I'm cheering for them to win it all & would rather see it against the Rangers - Larry David's favorite team.
The folks up in EDM deserve it - zero ties (for me) between the North Stars and Dallas - same thing for when I was told as a teenager that the Lakers came from MN - I cheered for Boston.
@PillarDollarCollector said:
Would love to see Canada get a Cup geez it has been 31 years that is insane!!! I am Canadian we need one badly.
Sure but only if it is Edmonton... Van is too uppity as is the Hab city and Toronto. OK if the Jets ever get there, I am all for it...... HST, the Oil have their work cut out for them against Dallas and then against FLA or NYR and I would say at this point the Oil are the underdogs.
Another accomplishment by the current world's greatest hockey player that puts him again amongst the elite all time:
@Darin said:
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
no he doesn't need to conserve energy. This isn't soccer where the top scorers are on the pitch for 80-95 minutes a game gunning up and down. Even the top offensive players like McJesus average 20-21 minutes in regulation. It's a 60 minute game and they're rolling 4 forward lines. And FYI, even if your job title is NHL Defenseman, that doesn't automatically mean you're actually good at defense. See Evan Bouchard who is also a complete fire-drill in his own end. Who Elkholm has to babysit on a nightly basis like Nick Lidstrom had to do with Nik Kronwall for years for the Red Wings.
There's an old basic adage in hockey that is simply - in order to be responsible defensively you have to sacrifice some offense. That doesn't mean conserving energy, it means you sacrifice easy (cherry-picking type) offense because you're staying in the neutral zone and defensive zones longer. Most of being defensively responsible is simply effort. You don't even always have to be a great man-on-man defender. Even just being smart about positioning ie getting into passing or shooting lanes helps . In McJesus' case, he's a poke-n-go flyby defender like most skill players were before the mid-90's when teams became smarter with their defensive systems.
Maybe you're a repetition for emphasis type of visual learner if the afore-posted pics didn't seal it for you so here we are from the other night. Take our Hero (McJesus) here.....this is what flyby defense looks like
when your checking assignment is 20 feet behind you, you shouldn't have to know anything about hockey to know that qualifies as very bad defense. In this example here, the Stars' top human-compost-pile, Jamie Benn, chips the puck off the boards to Wyatt Johnston. McJesus' checking assignment is the opposing team's center, in this instance, Wyatt Johnston. You may notice that McJesus is going in the wrong direction to check Johnston. This is what's called blowing the (defensive) zone early....and this directly led to a Stars goal - just as my afore-posted pics led to another McJesus defensive breakdown which led to a Vancouver game-winning goal. That's Leon Draisaitl, who on this shift is playing leftwing trying to cover for him. That's not where he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be out covering the right side defenseman. So because McJesus blew his assignment, Leon's out of position, leaving a defenseman wide open who can then, if he's smart, drift in toward the slot to potentially set himself up for a shot or slide in to knock home a rebound. Thus an entire trickle down effect of exposing your goalie, pulling a winger out of position and leaving the opposition free to roam with two players in the slot where 72-75% of all goals are scored in the average season.
As another example, take the Florida Panthers. Currently leading the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, Cup finalist last season. Not the most skilled team, but they all play a heavy forecheck...because they have to. They play a very 90's/early 2000's system where they dump and chase all the time. More than any other NHL team. They're first in the league in dump in rate, dump in recovery rate and offensive zone defensive plays. Meaning they literally give up possession of the puck to dump it behind the opposing team's goalie or in the corners and then forecheck like banshees to win the puck back deep in their offensive zone and they create their offense from that - often Matthew Tkachuk setting up shop in the "Gretzky Office" on the goal line passing it out to Sasha Barkov in the bumper position (about 10-15 feet out in front of the goal). McJesus could not play that style with his approach because he doesn't forecheck, like much at all (23rd percentile oh the forecheck). He goes out of his way to avoid pretty much all body contact which is how someone who is around the puck all the time like him, is 164th in the league in puck battle wins.
Another example would be the Boston Bruins. Over the last 25 years they've had what one may consider only 4 high end skill players - Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin and currently, David Pastrnak. They traded 3 of those 4 players, who were all early first round draft picks, in their prime, because they were below average to terrible defensively. Now that doesn't mean you can't win with McJesus playing the way he does, and it's not just him, Leon, Kane and others aren't very good defensively either, nor is Bouchard, but Our Hero is the worst of them. What that does is then puts a ton of pressure of the others to cover for them...and that, as you can see from the idiocy in this thread's posts, is simply blaming the goalie, because that's the easiest thing to do...as the dolts in attendance in Edmonton showed everyone when they were doing the throat slashing gesture to pull Skinner after the Stars' 2nd goal even though neither of those goals were his fault - one goal due to McJesus' breakdown, and the other a ricochet off of Nurse's ample backside. So the usual hockey-dumb overreactions. Since this is like the 4th time you've asked this same question, feel free to bookmark this so you have a future reference point.
Lanemyer- thanks for taking the time to write that post.
I do want to learn a little about hockey and Banzai and you are very helpful. I do understand now there’s no conserving energy for offense since players are switching in and out of the game constantly to get rest. Of course you realize most of what you write goes over my head “dump in rate” “dump in recovery rate” etc. But props for not dumbing it down!
@Darin said:
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
no he doesn't need to conserve energy. This isn't soccer where the top scorers are on the pitch for 80-95 minutes a game gunning up and down. Even the top offensive players like McJesus average 20-21 minutes in regulation. It's a 60 minute game and they're rolling 4 forward lines. And FYI, even if your job title is NHL Defenseman, that doesn't automatically mean you're actually good at defense. See Evan Bouchard who is also a complete fire-drill in his own end. Who Elkholm has to babysit on a nightly basis like Nick Lidstrom had to do with Nik Kronwall for years for the Red Wings.
There's an old basic adage in hockey that is simply - in order to be responsible defensively you have to sacrifice some offense. That doesn't mean conserving energy, it means you sacrifice easy (cherry-picking type) offense because you're staying in the neutral zone and defensive zones longer. Most of being defensively responsible is simply effort. You don't even always have to be a great man-on-man defender. Even just being smart about positioning ie getting into passing or shooting lanes helps . In McJesus' case, he's a poke-n-go flyby defender like most skill players were before the mid-90's when teams became smarter with their defensive systems.
Maybe you're a repetition for emphasis type of visual learner if the afore-posted pics didn't seal it for you so here we are from the other night. Take our Hero (McJesus) here.....this is what flyby defense looks like
when your checking assignment is 20 feet behind you, you shouldn't have to know anything about hockey to know that qualifies as very bad defense. In this example here, the Stars' top human-compost-pile, Jamie Benn, chips the puck off the boards to Wyatt Johnston. McJesus' checking assignment is the opposing team's center, in this instance, Wyatt Johnston. You may notice that McJesus is going in the wrong direction to check Johnston. This is what's called blowing the (defensive) zone early....and this directly led to a Stars goal - just as my afore-posted pics led to another McJesus defensive breakdown which led to a Vancouver game-winning goal. That's Leon Draisaitl, who on this shift is playing leftwing trying to cover for him. That's not where he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be out covering the right side defenseman. So because McJesus blew his assignment, Leon's out of position, leaving a defenseman wide open who can then, if he's smart, drift in toward the slot to potentially set himself up for a shot or slide in to knock home a rebound. Thus an entire trickle down effect of exposing your goalie, pulling a winger out of position and leaving the opposition free to roam with two players in the slot where 72-75% of all goals are scored in the average season.
As another example, take the Florida Panthers. Currently leading the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, Cup finalist last season. Not the most skilled team, but they all play a heavy forecheck...because they have to. They play a very 90's/early 2000's system where they dump and chase all the time. More than any other NHL team. They're first in the league in dump in rate, dump in recovery rate and offensive zone defensive plays. Meaning they literally give up possession of the puck to dump it behind the opposing team's goalie or in the corners and then forecheck like banshees to win the puck back deep in their offensive zone and they create their offense from that - often Matthew Tkachuk setting up shop in the "Gretzky Office" on the goal line passing it out to Sasha Barkov in the bumper position (about 10-15 feet out in front of the goal). McJesus could not play that style with his approach because he doesn't forecheck, like much at all (23rd percentile oh the forecheck). He goes out of his way to avoid pretty much all body contact which is how someone who is around the puck all the time like him, is 164th in the league in puck battle wins.
Another example would be the Boston Bruins. Over the last 25 years they've had what one may consider only 4 high end skill players - Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin and currently, David Pastrnak. They traded 3 of those 4 players, who were all early first round draft picks, in their prime, because they were below average to terrible defensively. Now that doesn't mean you can't win with McJesus playing the way he does, and it's not just him, Leon, Kane and others aren't very good defensively either, nor is Bouchard, but Our Hero is the worst of them. What that does is then puts a ton of pressure of the others to cover for them...and that, as you can see from the idiocy in this thread's posts, is simply blaming the goalie, because that's the easiest thing to do...as the dolts in attendance in Edmonton showed everyone when they were doing the throat slashing gesture to pull Skinner after the Stars' 2nd goal even though neither of those goals were his fault - one goal due to McJesus' breakdown, and the other a ricochet off of Nurse's ample backside. So the usual hockey-dumb overreactions. Since this is like the 4th time you've asked this same question, feel free to bookmark this so you have a future reference point.
You show one example of McDavid on D missing one assignment. What about the thousands of examples where he does not miss an assignment? Keep in mind his very positive +/- this year and why his is the best hockey player in the world despite the haters on this board............. Folks that don't have him on their team will go to great efforts to try to denigrate McDavid bc he beats you every time, LOL.
The Oil is flowing well, hope they can sustain it. And McD got 2 points last nite, his +/- for the playoffs is 7 and in the top 10, and Evan Bouchard, denigrated in the previous post as well by Mr. Lane, is leading in +/- in the playoffs at 15. Yup he is a lousy defender isn't he Mr. Lane? Er, why are the Oil this deep in the playoffs? Think about that during your criticisms of their players...........................
And another point to the rants against McD. His job is to score and set up others to score. Of course he is not going to be the perfect defender when his job is to push the puck up the ice. That is why he is a CENTER, NOT A DEFENDER.
So Mr. Lane, why don't you give us a negative analysis for all of the players out there of all of the teams that are not in the final 4, and also, why not expound upon the shortcomings of Dallas?
@Darin said:
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
You show one example of McDavid on D missing one assignment. What about the thousands of examples where he does not miss an assignment? Keep in mind his very positive +/- this year and why his is the best hockey player in the world despite the haters on this board............. Folks that don't have him on their team will go to great efforts to try to denigrate McDavid bc he beats you every time, LOL.
no, I showed two examples of his defense directly leading to two goals against. But if I see him complete one notable defensive play, I'll be sure to keep the Cult of Fanboy97s posted. Don't remember seeing any this series, but you can also feel free to keep us posted since you should be way more invested in the outcome of this series. In the interim, how about that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins effort last night? Apparently his coach's fave player. Dominated in all 3 zones. Weird that he didn't earn a mention from anyone other than his coach. It's almost like the Oil honks only seem to care about patchy-bearded guys who are leading the playoffs in least time spent in the defensive zone among all forwards or something.
Also, you're probably familiar with an old-school Canadian guy like former d-man, Dave "Vanilla Paste" Reid - "Leaving the defensive zone before the puck arriving isn't winning hockey". What do you think he's referring to there? ...cause he didn't have the testicular fortitude to name the player outright, because you know, Trudeau apparently banishes those that doth dare speak ill of Our Hero to Newfoundland or one of those weird towns in mid-coastal BC where all the abandoned canneries used to be that are now ghost towns. Nothing quite like Canadian hockey media, eh?
P.S. Your thoughts on Hyman's illegal pick play on Lindell here? You know the one that opened up 15 feet of open ice for Our Hero to wheel through and dish to Leon to pick up one of those vaunted assists?
filthy dirty cheater or fair game since he's been doing this pick expo, and getting away with it, all playoffs long? Also, if fair game, does everyone who is triggered by Red Wings era Mike Babcock's chicanery now accrue PTSD struggle sessions treatment on the Canadian healthcare system's dime, even if they're not actually Canadian? Follow up, is Zachary now in the running to be Henrik Zetterberg 2.0 and crowned as King of all Interference?...and why is the answer, yes?
it's where hockey novices are being indoctrinated into believing that assists, even secondary assists, are weighed equally as goals, somehow. Regardless, Adam Oates, Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin are all huge fans of the thread, I'm told.
it's where hockey novices are being indoctrinated into believing that assists, even secondary assists, are weighed equally as goals, somehow. Regardless, Adam Oates, Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin are all huge fans of the thread, I'm told.
BTW, if you watched the TV broadcast, you would have noted the Great One, Yes Wayne Gretzky, acknowlegding that he could not skate anywhere near as fast as McD. Yup the Great One, pointing out McD is BETTER than him.
"'Talk about awesomeness?' Connor McDavid's 'unbelievable' power-play goal"
with a link to vid (that does not copy over so I can post it).
Current points and goals leaders for the NHL playoffs:
Oh look, the linemates of McDavid have a ton of goals. That is thanks to the Oil strategy this year for the best player in the world who can pass better than anyone else, to make those passes and set them up. This is what McD did this year - sacrifice his own goal scoring to elevate his team. Last year McD showed he could score - 64 goals last year, but Oil did not make it through the 2nd round. So now Hyman scores 54 goals this year, McD passes him the puck, and on to the Cup!
Best player of the world playing a team game for the better of all.
Oilers regular season record against teams the met/will meet in the plyoffs:
Kings - 2-1, won first round in 6 games
Canucks - 0-3, beat them in 7 in second round
Dallas - 1-2, won conference finals in 6
Florida - 0-2
So the Oil has not done so well in regular season against these teams, but are winning the series. They have risen to the occasion. They got into the Cups finals as underdogs. We will see if they can overcome this yet one more time..........
Comments
JB,
Keep a dreamin'. McD is a generational player. All experts agree on this. Try as some here might to say otherwise, well, it ain't gonna work. Like all teams in Minnesota, with the exception of the Twinkies in the late 80s and early 90s n=(2), NO CHAMPIONSHIPS 4 MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS.......... In the historie of the state and the city - none but 2 twinkie wins. Thaz a long time. Like a century. Oil? Many Stanley Cups (n=5) for their one major league team. Hmm.............
Oh my goodness, I just tuned into the Oil-Vegas game. McD is hurt, has he had ice time? Important game. Unfortunately, McD, the generational player, is not going to win the Art Ross this year, despite the pundits and NHL players thinking otherwise. McKinnon and Kucherov are too far ahead and McD is hurt, alas. Could he win the Hart? I think its gotta go also to Kucherov as he deserves it this year and kudos.
We gotta have McD healthy for the playoff run. Nothing else matters at this point. No Art Ross or Hart? Thaz ok, but wait Ceci just scored against Vegas! Pshaw! Thaz what we need, the others to rise up and strengthen the Oil with McD hurt. Oh, and Kaprizov? Doing well this year for a puck hog, some goals, very little team play (as usual LOL hardly any assists).
Overhead view of Edmonton in intermission. Oh wait, hardly any snow! I remember cross county skiing in Hawerlak Park in April back in the day of NHL championship runs. What gives? Oh wait, global warming...........
Oil up 3-0 on the Knights mid-way 2nd. No McD. I am feeling it!!!!!!!
Let the Oil flow....................
Minnesota also gave us Herb Brooks and a lot of kids who gave Americans great hockey joy, beating a Russian team that kicked the snot out of the NHLs best a year earlier.
Oilers have zero chance with or without McDavid this year. You have college level goaltending.
The 3 greatest hockey states in America are the 3 M’s.
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Michigan
Some people here give good, insightful comments, others are merely here to annoy. I think they are called "trolls".
I used to argue with them, but found myself getting angry at their childeshness and stupidity. Now, I do not respond, everyone can already see who's who.
Which part of McJesus' game is complete? For pure comedy, use lucid specific examples. I've made 101 posts about his well below average defense and comedically bad puck battle win totals with actual stats to back up my stuff since the eye-test is failing you. You have nothing but an NHL.com* fluff piece from 2023 after Matthews came off of an injury-plagued season. Matthews is playing with Covid Bertuzzi and Marner, and while Marner is good, he's not a top end pure scorer.....he's also a pass first guy. Then take a look at the AARP reps on Toronto's blueline who can't skate. Where's the Bouchard or formerly Tyson Barrie in that lot pushing the pace and skating the puck out of their own end? Right, they don't have one.
*maybe want to avoid thinking NHL.com is some paragon of journalism when one of their "writers" got her gig by winning a contest....
If McJesus is a complete player, why did Knoblauch cut his (and Kane and Leon's) ice time? In doing so, why did the Oil's rush chances allowed get cut down 40%? Go ahead and clear that one up for us.
I have no bias against McJesus in the same way I don't care about what Crosby does or ever did, other than ridiculous fanboys (know any?) and the provincial Canadian hockey media fawns over him. Don't care if he wins or loses, don't care if he wins every Hart from here on in. However I do hope Leon bolts in FA in '25 and we'll see how his assist totals are after that.
Kucherov or MacKinnon will win the Hart. Matthews scored 51 goals at even strength while piling up plus to plus plus defensive metrics. MacKinnon has outscored McJesus since Jan 1 of 2023, while playing better defense. Kirill scored 95 points in 74 games without the benefit of a legit 1st line center or RW, or any sort of line consistency (never skated with the same line combo more than 11% of his ice-time) - so I guess there are other generational type players out there too. Apparently it's not just one Canadian guy with a d-zone blowing fetish.
McDavid was spectacular last nite and showed why he is a generational talent in game 1 of the first round playoffs. His first pass for a goal came off a curly que move with the puck that leaves you thinking - OH MY!
The Oil were really hungry last nite, clearly showed in their play. If they can sustain that and Skinner can keep from having too many moments, who knows how far they can go...........
Watch the skating moves McD makes in order to get in position to make a perfect pass. It is clear this year they decided to use him mostly this way, as opposed to last year where he scored goals. Either way McD is clearly the best player on the ice in the world right now, as all pundits with the expertise to say this will tell you. Hey don't listen to me, go to any hockey site and read on.
Note in the slow mo of McD's curly cue, he was right in front of the goalie with the 5 hole wide open - but he chose to pass to Hyman for the score. This clearly a decision by the coaching to use McD's superior skating and passing skills this year for being a point guard instead of trying to score as much himself a he did last year. So he is thinking pass first. Doesn't mean he is set up guy only, it is just how the Oil chose to do it this year......... We will see if this continues during the playoffs or if they will move the tactics towards more goals for McD.
NM from Colorado is as good as McD right now.
Matthews is a better goal scorer.
McD is no 99,66, or 4, but he is very good.
So McD gets 1 assist and 0 goals in the loss. Series tied 1-1.
He has 0 goals in 2 games so far.
If he wants to be great he has to score at home in the first two games of the series.
He is great there is no ifs and all of the qualified experts/pundits have this opinion via McD's achievements.
To suggest that since he only scored 1 assist for one game, despite being 3rd in the league this year for points after missing games bc of injury, thus to imply he is not great and must 'score at home' is well, just trying to throw darts. How many generational players don't score a goal each game? Well, most, actually pretty much all but Gretz (another Oil star of the past). So huh? Remember last year? McD had 64 GOALS? That is what the team needed of him last year, so he simply chose to score more than anyone bc he can. Hm....................
This year, the Oil have a perfect trio of McD, Draisaitl, and Hyman. McD can do it all, but to get the best out of those guys, it is clear that the TEAM needs to be having McD feeding them those sweet passes to set up goals. That is called being unselfish and doing what the teams needs you to do. He can switch from goal scoring to setting up mates because his game is the best in the league. Sure, if you are from Boston, Minnesota, and places in between, you hate it, you want to find any flaw. I would be too if I had to be subjected to watching the generational player toast my home team all of the time. I feel your pain.
Series is now 2-1 Oil. Finally, Skinner had a game without a short run within the game of letting in multiple goals. McD just keeps feeding perfect passes to H and D for goals goals goals, the Oilers strategy this year and it IS WORKING. We will just have to see if they can sustain this if they win this round.
3 games into the playoffs. Oh Look who leads playoff points:
Look who leads playoff goals:
Er, well, McD's 2 line mates. Why? BC McD is the best player in the game right now and is doing what his team asks of him, to provide sweet passes to his mates so they can score.
Playoff scoring updates. McDavid-Draisaitl-Hyman line dominates. EDM-VAN looks closely match. Hope the Oil prevails, we will see.......
McD shot the puck 5 times last nite, still had 3 assists. This goal was typical of a generational player with speed and spectacular puck handling skills. Snuffed the Van goalie once he skated past everyone:
Tis what I feared. Skinner is choking. From the web:
"How bad is it? Skinner not only has the worst numbers of any netminder to start a game in Oilers postseason history. But he is also the NHL’s worst playoff performer in the salary cap era by a sizable margin. Of all 69 goalies since 2005 with at least 15 playoff appearances, Skinner ranks dead last in save percentage with an .881 mark in 20 games. He’s worse than Kari Lehtonen’s .887 (19 games) and Nikolai Khabibulin’s .898 (15 games) – and that’s not a small sample size."
Ouch, dude has confidence issues, you could see it all season when he would have streaks in a game of letting in multiple goals over a short time period. For Oil to get over the hump, they are going to have to get a better goalie next year, but that won't help them in this series. So one has to just hope that Skinner will somehow getting his mental state better. One has have the best line in the game but unless they can keep up with a bad goalie, won't matter.
A better goalie would certainly help Edmonton. It would help Edmonton even more to have more than one line. With McDavid and Draisaitl off the ice, the Oilers would struggle to keep pace with the Sharks, or even a very good AHL team. They are a very bad team except for one phenomenal line.
If McDavid is so good, he should just out score the other team.
yep, it's all the goalie's fault....
McJesus - 32.1% of ice-time spent in the d-zone (1st percentile - league average is 41% meaning he's still blowing the d-zone early all the time...I don't know, if the goalie sucks, maybe help out the goalie?).
Game 3
Oil - 23 giveaways
Canucks - 12 giveaways
Oil - 24 slot shots against
Canucks - 10
and maybe tallying more goals than the Canucks' 3rd pair defenseman would help too (Zadorov 4 goals, McJesus 2)
Edmonton gives up the late tying goal but scores the winner seconds later. They're up 3-1.
I think there was some talk of defensive responsibility/importance in this thread, maybe. Let's have a look at Game 5....
wait that's not _that _guy is it?
oh dear...that's not the best time to lose your check, probably. You know what, let's go ahead and blame that one on the goalie.
Do or die tonight game 7 at 9h00pm Eastern time lets go Oilers!!!
I know nothing about hockey but why does lanemyer always blame mcdavid for bad defense.
Maybe fairly naive on my part but why don’t the defensemen help the goalie more instead of your best offensive player. He does need to conserve some energy for all those assists he racks up right?
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lanemeyer is probably the moat knowledgeable hockey guy here.
Forwards are expected play defense. Stopping goals is as important as scoring them.
When people start losing their minds and say someone's the best player in the NHL, their guy better be able to play defense as well as score points.
JoeBanzai thanks,
It seems like a balance could be struck where he’s playing adequate defense but it doesn’t affect his offense. I wouldn’t want him going all out on defense if it leaves him too fatigued to make all those great passes for assists.
Too fatigued? Sounds like Randy Moss, another over rated player. Get in shape.
Ever hear of Kirill Kaprizov?
Probably not. He plays both ends of the ice with relentless intensity.
I would NOT trade him for McDavid.
Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez were 2 of the best hitters in MLB from 1995-2000, no one said they were the best players in baseball.
McDavid is the premier set up man right now, but he has linemates who can put his passes in the net.
Last year it looked like McDavid also became a top goal scorer, but it looks like that was a one year experience.
He's a great player. Best in the NHL?
NO.
The Selke Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association following the regular season.
Most of the below winners played in the Stanley Cup that year.
1997–98 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 1
1998–99 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 2
1999–2000 Steve Yzerman Detroit Red Wings C 1
2000–01 John Madden New Jersey Devils C 1
2001–02 Michael Peca New York Islanders C 2
2002–03 Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars RW 3
2003–04 Kris Draper Detroit Red Wings C 1
2004–05 Season cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout
2005–06 Rod Brind'Amour Carolina Hurricanes C 1
2006–07 Rod Brind'Amour Carolina Hurricanes C 2
2007–08 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 1
2008–09 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 2
2009–10 Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings C 3
2010–11 Ryan Kesler Vancouver Canucks C 1
2011–12 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 1
2012–13 Jonathan Toews Chicago Blackhawks C 1
2013–14 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 2
2014–15 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 3
2015–16 Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings C 1
2016–17 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 4
2017–18 Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings C 2
2018–19 Ryan O'Reilly St. Louis Blues C 1
2019–20 Sean Couturier Philadelphia Flyers C 1
2020–21 Aleksander Barkov Florida Panthers C 1
2021–22 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 5
2022–23 Patrice Bergeron Boston Bruins C 6
2023–24 Aleksander Barkov Florida Panthers C 2
Should be a good series Dallas vs Edmonton in the Western finals. Hope Edmonton pulls it off and make sit to the Stanley Cup finals. I am Canadian so this is the last team we have standing.
I don't follow Hockey a ton, which means I'm the only one in Minnesota it seems. Everyone is telling me that Kaprizov might be gone next season. People seem worried.
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He's under contract for the next 2 seasons. Stop getting your information from idiots.
Hockey fans here are always worried about something. Probably because we lost the North Stars.
The Wild will pay him whatever he wants. The team looks poised to come out of their salary cap problem in time to pay him, possibly add a nice free agent or two, and they have some great prospects coming. A couple are Russians, that might help keep him here.
He doesn't appear to be a money driven person, I don't think he's going anywhere as long as the Wild are competitive.
I would encourage to watch a couple of Wild games, this guy is amazing.
That’s good advice to watch some Wild games.
I really don’t talk a lot of hockey so to have this guy come up with the same sentiment, unsolicited, on three occasions, with 4 individuals - one was two guys with the same theme at a poker game… I thought maybe there’s something there. That’s why I brought it up.
I’m going to tell the 2 guys I play poker with that “Joe says you’re dumb as a box of crayons” next time we’re in a hand and see if I can tilt their chair a bit. Who’s Joe? Why is he hatin’?? What about crayons??? All in!
Just tell him "Joe KNOWS".
Oil has made it through 2 rounds, sometimes with sketchy goalie play (Skinner). That has to improve if they want to continue to win series as the other 3 teams left will pounce on a weak goalie who lacks self confidence when he is scored on, thereby leading to a group of goals over short time periods against. So the future of the Oil in the 2024 playoffs is on the goaltending.
Good news is that offensive is doing just fine. McDavid has sacrificed his goal scoring this year for setting up whoever else is on the ice with him. And it has worked. As ESPN notes today -
"What happens if Connor McDavid starts consistently scoring again?
It's not like McDavid hasn't been busy. He has created goals for others while anchoring Edmonton's top line and also driving a power-play unit that at one point was converting at a rate of 50% this postseason. This is what makes McDavid a perpetual threat who requires everyone's attention.
But the fact that he has scored only two goals through 12 postseason games raises two questions: What does it say that the Oilers can get this far without needing McDavid to score in bunches? And how terrifying could Edmonton be if McDavid starts consistently scoring again and continues to create for those around him?"
What is says is this:
This is what happens when a generational player, i.e., the best player in the world, sets up everyone on the ice. You end up outscoring all other teams. So we will see if they can get bay Dallas, again, it's on Skinner overcoming his mental weaknesses............
Best, SH
And just like that, McDavid scores in double OT to take game 1 on the road against Dallas.
Yes LOL @JoeBanzai. Who is the laugh about really? Certainly not the Oil.
I want to call out Skinner for playing fabulous in Game 1 against Dallas and keeping his head in it when he was scored on both times. Both goals against him were defensive breakdowns in front of him that can be corrected. He did get lucky in OT when a puck bounced off the goal post. If he keeps playing this well.................
And then there was McD, the best player in the world. Kept shooting in both OT's and got the the game winner.
The best player in the world (as quoted multiple times after the game in the press), gets the game winner in 2OT. And just like that for sure..............................
Hyman, Draisaitl, McDavid, were dominant when on the floor. This is a very talented team, let's hope they play up to their talent for the rest of the playoffs.
Credit to Dallas for super hustle on defense. I think this might be a low scoring series.
Best, SH
Stayed up late to watch McDavid poke the puck in the net in 2OT (went in/out of sleep) - I'm cheering for them to win it all & would rather see it against the Rangers - Larry David's favorite team.
The folks up in EDM deserve it - zero ties (for me) between the North Stars and Dallas - same thing for when I was told as a teenager that the Lakers came from MN - I cheered for Boston.
Erik
Would love to see Canada get a Cup geez it has been 31 years that is insane!!! I am Canadian we need one badly.
Sure but only if it is Edmonton... Van is too uppity as is the Hab city and Toronto. OK if the Jets ever get there, I am all for it...... HST, the Oil have their work cut out for them against Dallas and then against FLA or NYR and I would say at this point the Oil are the underdogs.
Another accomplishment by the current world's greatest hockey player that puts him again amongst the elite all time:
Oh look 3 Oilers on the list. Another LOL?
no he doesn't need to conserve energy. This isn't soccer where the top scorers are on the pitch for 80-95 minutes a game gunning up and down. Even the top offensive players like McJesus average 20-21 minutes in regulation. It's a 60 minute game and they're rolling 4 forward lines. And FYI, even if your job title is NHL Defenseman, that doesn't automatically mean you're actually good at defense. See Evan Bouchard who is also a complete fire-drill in his own end. Who Elkholm has to babysit on a nightly basis like Nick Lidstrom had to do with Nik Kronwall for years for the Red Wings.
There's an old basic adage in hockey that is simply - in order to be responsible defensively you have to sacrifice some offense. That doesn't mean conserving energy, it means you sacrifice easy (cherry-picking type) offense because you're staying in the neutral zone and defensive zones longer. Most of being defensively responsible is simply effort. You don't even always have to be a great man-on-man defender. Even just being smart about positioning ie getting into passing or shooting lanes helps . In McJesus' case, he's a poke-n-go flyby defender like most skill players were before the mid-90's when teams became smarter with their defensive systems.
Maybe you're a repetition for emphasis type of visual learner if the afore-posted pics didn't seal it for you so here we are from the other night. Take our Hero (McJesus) here.....this is what flyby defense looks like
when your checking assignment is 20 feet behind you, you shouldn't have to know anything about hockey to know that qualifies as very bad defense. In this example here, the Stars' top human-compost-pile, Jamie Benn, chips the puck off the boards to Wyatt Johnston. McJesus' checking assignment is the opposing team's center, in this instance, Wyatt Johnston. You may notice that McJesus is going in the wrong direction to check Johnston. This is what's called blowing the (defensive) zone early....and this directly led to a Stars goal - just as my afore-posted pics led to another McJesus defensive breakdown which led to a Vancouver game-winning goal. That's Leon Draisaitl, who on this shift is playing leftwing trying to cover for him. That's not where he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be out covering the right side defenseman. So because McJesus blew his assignment, Leon's out of position, leaving a defenseman wide open who can then, if he's smart, drift in toward the slot to potentially set himself up for a shot or slide in to knock home a rebound. Thus an entire trickle down effect of exposing your goalie, pulling a winger out of position and leaving the opposition free to roam with two players in the slot where 72-75% of all goals are scored in the average season.
As another example, take the Florida Panthers. Currently leading the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, Cup finalist last season. Not the most skilled team, but they all play a heavy forecheck...because they have to. They play a very 90's/early 2000's system where they dump and chase all the time. More than any other NHL team. They're first in the league in dump in rate, dump in recovery rate and offensive zone defensive plays. Meaning they literally give up possession of the puck to dump it behind the opposing team's goalie or in the corners and then forecheck like banshees to win the puck back deep in their offensive zone and they create their offense from that - often Matthew Tkachuk setting up shop in the "Gretzky Office" on the goal line passing it out to Sasha Barkov in the bumper position (about 10-15 feet out in front of the goal). McJesus could not play that style with his approach because he doesn't forecheck, like much at all (23rd percentile oh the forecheck). He goes out of his way to avoid pretty much all body contact which is how someone who is around the puck all the time like him, is 164th in the league in puck battle wins.
Another example would be the Boston Bruins. Over the last 25 years they've had what one may consider only 4 high end skill players - Joe Thornton, Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin and currently, David Pastrnak. They traded 3 of those 4 players, who were all early first round draft picks, in their prime, because they were below average to terrible defensively. Now that doesn't mean you can't win with McJesus playing the way he does, and it's not just him, Leon, Kane and others aren't very good defensively either, nor is Bouchard, but Our Hero is the worst of them. What that does is then puts a ton of pressure of the others to cover for them...and that, as you can see from the idiocy in this thread's posts, is simply blaming the goalie, because that's the easiest thing to do...as the dolts in attendance in Edmonton showed everyone when they were doing the throat slashing gesture to pull Skinner after the Stars' 2nd goal even though neither of those goals were his fault - one goal due to McJesus' breakdown, and the other a ricochet off of Nurse's ample backside. So the usual hockey-dumb overreactions. Since this is like the 4th time you've asked this same question, feel free to bookmark this so you have a future reference point.
Lanemyer- thanks for taking the time to write that post.
I do want to learn a little about hockey and Banzai and you are very helpful. I do understand now there’s no conserving energy for offense since players are switching in and out of the game constantly to get rest. Of course you realize most of what you write goes over my head “dump in rate” “dump in recovery rate” etc. But props for not dumbing it down!
Lets go Edmonton gotta take a 3-2 lead tonight!!! Puck drops in 1 hour.
You show one example of McDavid on D missing one assignment. What about the thousands of examples where he does not miss an assignment? Keep in mind his very positive +/- this year and why his is the best hockey player in the world despite the haters on this board............. Folks that don't have him on their team will go to great efforts to try to denigrate McDavid bc he beats you every time, LOL.
The Oil is flowing well, hope they can sustain it. And McD got 2 points last nite, his +/- for the playoffs is 7 and in the top 10, and Evan Bouchard, denigrated in the previous post as well by Mr. Lane, is leading in +/- in the playoffs at 15. Yup he is a lousy defender isn't he Mr. Lane? Er, why are the Oil this deep in the playoffs? Think about that during your criticisms of their players...........................
And another point to the rants against McD. His job is to score and set up others to score. Of course he is not going to be the perfect defender when his job is to push the puck up the ice. That is why he is a CENTER, NOT A DEFENDER.
So Mr. Lane, why don't you give us a negative analysis for all of the players out there of all of the teams that are not in the final 4, and also, why not expound upon the shortcomings of Dallas?
This tread is great! 🍺
no, I showed two examples of his defense directly leading to two goals against. But if I see him complete one notable defensive play, I'll be sure to keep the Cult of Fanboy97s posted. Don't remember seeing any this series, but you can also feel free to keep us posted since you should be way more invested in the outcome of this series. In the interim, how about that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins effort last night? Apparently his coach's fave player. Dominated in all 3 zones. Weird that he didn't earn a mention from anyone other than his coach. It's almost like the Oil honks only seem to care about patchy-bearded guys who are leading the playoffs in least time spent in the defensive zone among all forwards or something.
Also, you're probably familiar with an old-school Canadian guy like former d-man, Dave "Vanilla Paste" Reid - "Leaving the defensive zone before the puck arriving isn't winning hockey". What do you think he's referring to there? ...cause he didn't have the testicular fortitude to name the player outright, because you know, Trudeau apparently banishes those that doth dare speak ill of Our Hero to Newfoundland or one of those weird towns in mid-coastal BC where all the abandoned canneries used to be that are now ghost towns. Nothing quite like Canadian hockey media, eh?
P.S. Your thoughts on Hyman's illegal pick play on Lindell here? You know the one that opened up 15 feet of open ice for Our Hero to wheel through and dish to Leon to pick up one of those vaunted assists?
filthy dirty cheater or fair game since he's been doing this pick expo, and getting away with it, all playoffs long? Also, if fair game, does everyone who is triggered by Red Wings era Mike Babcock's chicanery now accrue PTSD struggle sessions treatment on the Canadian healthcare system's dime, even if they're not actually Canadian? Follow up, is Zachary now in the running to be Henrik Zetterberg 2.0 and crowned as King of all Interference?...and why is the answer, yes?
it's where hockey novices are being indoctrinated into believing that assists, even secondary assists, are weighed equally as goals, somehow. Regardless, Adam Oates, Joe Thornton and Henrik Sedin are all huge fans of the thread, I'm told.
Lets get it done tonight and head off to the Stanley Cup finals....lets go Edmonton!!!
AND IT IS ON TO THE CUP!!! MCDAVID SCORES AND ASSISTS TONITE TO WIN THE FINAL GAME IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MORE TOMORROW WHEN I HAVE TIME.
THE GREATEST PLAYER OF HIS GENERATION, MCDAVID, WILL FINALLY PLAY IN THE STANLEY CUP FINALS!!!!!
BTW, if you watched the TV broadcast, you would have noted the Great One, Yes Wayne Gretzky, acknowlegding that he could not skate anywhere near as fast as McD. Yup the Great One, pointing out McD is BETTER than him.
Congrats to Edmonton and it feels so good to see a Canadian team make it to The Cup finals lets get it done and bring back The Cup back home!!!
Front page ESPN:
"'Talk about awesomeness?' Connor McDavid's 'unbelievable' power-play goal"
with a link to vid (that does not copy over so I can post it).
Current points and goals leaders for the NHL playoffs:
Oh look, the linemates of McDavid have a ton of goals. That is thanks to the Oil strategy this year for the best player in the world who can pass better than anyone else, to make those passes and set them up. This is what McD did this year - sacrifice his own goal scoring to elevate his team. Last year McD showed he could score - 64 goals last year, but Oil did not make it through the 2nd round. So now Hyman scores 54 goals this year, McD passes him the puck, and on to the Cup!
Best player of the world playing a team game for the better of all.
On nhl.com:
McDavid delivers signature moment for Oilers in Game 6
Captain scores 'mind-boggling' goal to help Edmonton advance to Cup Final for 1st time since 2006
EDMONTON — Connor McDavid has had so many "wow" moments in his illustrious career, even those who know him best have lost count.
https://www.nhl.com/news/connor-mcdavid-scores-amazing-goal-to-help-oilers-reach-final
Oilers regular season record against teams the met/will meet in the plyoffs:
Kings - 2-1, won first round in 6 games
Canucks - 0-3, beat them in 7 in second round
Dallas - 1-2, won conference finals in 6
Florida - 0-2
So the Oil has not done so well in regular season against these teams, but are winning the series. They have risen to the occasion. They got into the Cups finals as underdogs. We will see if they can overcome this yet one more time..........
Wow thanks for posting that!