Quick one for fun.
Tampa won last night and it is now 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals. While I know Oil fans are sad we aren’t there (and let’s face it, we weren’t even close to the Av’s) it is refreshing to see the 2 best teams in the finals.
The finals have had some exceptional hockey. The skill on display is tremendous. Probably the biggest surprise to me is how poorly Kuemper (who I am a big fan of) has played but is still within 1 win of a Cup. Last night I’d say he let in 2 soft goals out of 3 and that has to be deflating. Something Oil fans can relate to when your goalie makes great saves but lets in soft goals at bad times. It appears it can be overcome but you need elite D and F to do it. We have half that.
Fun stat from the playoffs. The leading points getter is still Connor McDavid. The leading goal scorer is still Evander Kane. The leader in assists is Leon Draisaitl. Wanting more from our forward group is absolute lunacy, they couldn’t have done a better job.
I highlighted the Canadian players as they have 7 in the top 20. I only mention it because I grew up listening to Don Cherry tell us that Euro’s are soft and can’t succeed in the playoffs like those good ole Canadian boys. 9 out of the top 20 scorers are from Europe despite Euro’s only representing 30% of the NHL. I’m sure Don was impressed when he saw that 4 of the goals last night were from Czechs and Russians with a Russian goalie winning.
Fun Tweet this morning:
Based on who is under contract and RFA's this is what the @EdmontonOilers look like right now for 2022-23
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) June 25, 2022
Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-McLeod-Kassian
Holloway-Shore-Ryan
Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Broberg-Barrie
Smith
Skinner
Expect this to change.
When I see this I think we’re already pretty good. I am fine with that forward group to start. At best, get a guy like Dominik Kubalik on a cheaper deal with shorter term. That’s it for the forwards. Instead of protecting Kass, trade him for picks or cap space! Trading JP is madness.
Use any of the money you want for Kane to get better D and G. I see some glaring problems in the D and G:
Keith is not Top 4 on a Cup contender and takes up way too much cap.
Barrie is on a good contract but should be traded away for a different kind of Defender. He would do well in Seattle or Carolina if TDL does not resign. This should be a win win type trade.
Smith is still our starter. He had ten sub .900 games in the regular season. He also had 6 sub .900 games in the playoffs. More than a third of the games he played this season were sub .900.
We only have 4 draft picks, 1 in the first 100. That is not good as once Holloway and Broberg make the lineup we have very little else in the pipe (especially at D and G).
Here is what our roster looks like for the Young Guns game if you don’t believe me (from Lowetide):
You take out Holloway and Broberg and it gets real thin real fast.
Xavier B is having a heck of a Memorial Cup! Our next Eberle is tracking nicely for the season after this one.
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