Jordan Eberle Scoring Chances 2010-2011

Your chart has Eberle with and without #14.
Personality disorder?

Nice to see you buying into my Joe Mullen comp that you pooh-poohed last year. :)

Eberle had a fine rookie season.

One question I have is that if the Oilers are trying to return to uptempo fast skilled hockey, can we have players with skating issues? i think it is what keeps Gagner from being a better player and why I also can’t see him playing top centres effectively, especially being smaller. Or wingers.

Smaller players that can’t create space with skating are forced to play the body more, which means playing to a weakness. Poor mobility affects stickhandling – you can’t beat them if you can’t get around or away from them.

Watching the speed and mobility of the Hawks and Canucks, it really is evident to me what a difference good skating means to success in a tough playoff series. And we will have to beat the Hawks and Canucks someday.

There are a few current players that have significant skating issues, and some of the prospects. Good mobility should be the prerequisite for becoming an Oiler, barring some truly exceptional qualities.

I read a post on the other blog which surprisingly mentioned Cogliano. The poster seemed really informed, and mentioned his straight ahead skating is blazing, but he turns really poorly. They felt it’s why he doesn’t PK like he should be able to, or beat people one on one like he should be able to.

Struds, Foster, Vandemeer, Vandevelde, Smac, Brule, Harti. Harti seems mobile, but one backcheck I saw it was shocking how bad his stride is. When the chips are down, what a huge disadvantage if you struggle to keep up or win foot races to the puck. It’s less critical for a 4th liner, but I think still important. Harti is looking promising, but I am always thinking of not just being decent reg season, but being a play off contributor, especially as the rounds get tougher.

Some question Peckham. Effective skating puts enormous pressure on the opponents systems, causes breakdowns. Some players make up for it positionally, but those are usually vets, not rookies. And they likely caused a lot of negative chances as they learned where to be and when.

I think all players should fit the mold, even support players. We like to think of the Oilers as fast, but really there are good or weak skaters on the team. It mirrors the other imbalances.

If we are rebuilding, mobile well rounded players should be the ideal. Lets move away from one and two dimensional players that have big drawbacks or disadvantages like poor skating or small without wheels, or just plain not that good at hockey.

There was talk about Brule moving to the wing during the season – something about moving his feet more. I assumed that he was quick, I guess because of his junior career. It may have to do with his health concerns.

As for Gagner, he isn’t ankling around the ice, but there is something lacking. Maybe explosiveness. I have always thought he isn’t going fast enough, and it limits his ability to use his stickhandling skills. You don’t often see him beat people like Kane or Briere, and he needs to be able to play as a 1-2 C, he needs to be dangerous. If you watch his old line mate Kane, he is so mobile, and gets on other players or into open ice so quickly. He can glide at speed and cover a lot of ice. Maybe he needs to be older? I don’t know if age affects style of play, more reads and positioning.

Maybe I’m confusing skating with Gagner’s style, not finding the right space to be in or go to enough, like Eberle does well. My fear with him is being forced to the perimeter in the play offs. Complementary scorers can really disappear when the going gets heavy and there is no space, even the Sedins seem to have trouble being consistent threats in a tough series.

 I would like to see all top 6 forwards, especially the small guys be drivers of offensive play. For me a line with decided playmakers and finishers can be disrupted more easily than a line with every player being a threat to score that can also pass well. Gretzky and Kurri do not count as an example of how I’m wrong – Semenko went on a goal streak with Gretzky.

 I don’t agree with small players being asked to “play big”. Small players have to be willing to play in the scoring zone, the 20 ft perimeter of the net, where it’s rough. Hitting is not what they should focus on, it’s a weakness. Timely hits and finishing checks yes, but they should have hopefully speed and definitely elusiveness, and play to their strengths. Create space from opposing players.

I was going to say maybe Gagner needs better players with him, but he has had the best for much of his career so far. I think Sam will be a good player, I am not convinced about him being a difference maker. We need the latter. If they draft RNH it will be interesting to see what happens with Sam.