GET. A. GOALIE. Post-Game Fan Reaction: Oilers vs Stars

GET. A. GOALIE. Post-Game Fan Reaction: Oilers vs Stars

So, um, there’s been some rumors around oil country lately, coming from outside media, some from the inside media, too, about the Oilers potentially looking at a goalender change, but, you know, not right now. Maybe maybe they’re going to re-evaluate in a month. They want to give them another 30 days to figure things out and see if they really do need to make a change at the position. We’re going to ignore the three-year sample size here and and and the two years in a row losing in the Stanley Cup finals and we’re going to ignore what’s happened so far this season to give these two net minders another 30 days. I think that is perfectly reasonable, Stan. I think Stan Bowman is making a very perfectly rational decision by waiting. Let’s just keep waiting. And you know what? Maybe they’ll play better in December, right? It’s still November. We’re not worried. Oilers in December, right? We said that in October. Hey, once it gets to November, they’re going to figure it out. Well, now maybe when it gets to December, the team will figure it out. And Stam Bowman, you know what? Maybe the goalies are going to play good in December and you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to get an upgrade by Christmas. You don’t have to get an upgrade by the trade deadline. Maybe you re-evaluate and you do the upgrade during the summer and then maybe you know what, maybe there’s nothing to pick in the summer too, right? Maybe there’s no goalies available in the summer. Maybe there’s no free agents you want to go after. So, you’ll just wait till next season. Ah, we’ll address this next season and we’ll just keep doing that cycle over and over and over and over and over. That’s perfectly reasonable, right? Right. Oh boy. I had to take quite a few minutes, quite a bit of time before I hit record tonight because I did want to H listen, I feel everyone right now. The rage that I am currently holding in and I know so many of you want me to just explode. I know you want me to. I just I can’t do it tonight. It’s hockey fights cancer night at the Oilers game. The stories that we saw during the intermissions, um you know, Jack Michaels doing his thing at the end of the second intermission where he’s talking about his wife. It it puts into perspective how small this game is in comparison to real life, right? And that’s the only reason why I’m not screaming and shouting into the microphone. I am frustrated. I’m upset. This is unacceptable by the Oilers. It’s not normal to get blown out 91 and 83 on home ice in the same season. Unless we’re Decade of Darkness Oilers, in which case, you know what? That was pretty normal back in the day. But even stills, even sometimes that team was able to beat like juggernauts like Chicago, right? We had the Sam Gier eight-point night. Uh there were lots of times where the Oilers really did step up against good teams during the decade of darkness, but obviously for the most part, they were awful. Those are awful teams. And this team, I think, is legitimately awful. I think we’re at a situation now where we do have to start talking about, okay, what does the organization need the most? Number one, it’s it’s a goalie. Two goalies optimally. Maybe Ingram can be part of the solution moving forward. I would still keep him down in Bakersfield for the time being. He’s been through a lot. Just let him build his game up, his confidence. Maybe check in with him at the new year, see where he’s at, see if he wants to come up and have a shot here at the NHL level again. But this you this is unacceptable. We can’t keep doing this. We We cannot absolutely cannot keep doing this. It is not worth it to keep watching at this point for so many of us that have been tuning into this team for years and years and years. And this is a team that is supposed to have Stanley Cup aspirations. This team is, as it stands, not a playoff team. They will not be in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, which means the odds of them winning a Stanley Cup, if you believe in in the odds, right? I talked about it in the uh pregame report this morning. Only one team since 1999 that wasn’t in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving went on to win the Stanley Cup and that was the 2019 St. Louis Blues. And it’s funny that we’re talking about the Blues because there’s been a lot of smoke around Jordan Bennington and the Emmonton Oilers. At this point, I don’t care what Stam Bowman does. Stam Bowman has to put his stamp on the team right now. You cannot keep waiting because if you keep waiting, then you’re just going to keep putting off the inevitable the inevitable anyways. Oh, we’ll do it next week. We’ll do it next month. Ah, we’ll do it at the trade deadline. We’ll do it during the summer. We’ll do it at the draft. We’ll do it before training camp opens. Ah, we’ll do it when the season starts. No. Enough. Enough. This it’s unacceptable. And does the team deserve blame, too? Right. I’m not just putting all the blame on the goalies. Most of it’s on the goalies. The team tonight, they actually came out and started strong. They had a breakaway. They had a twoon-one. Couple really good scoring opportunities. Dallas goes down the other way. First shot on goal in the net. Dallas gets a quick power play. Oh, power play goal. Oh no, now it’s three. Not three goals on six shots and then it end up four goals on eight shots on Steuart Skinner. The Edmonton Oilers, take a look at this stat, by the way. Take a look at this stat. You’re all going to love this. And for anyone that’s still defending the goalenders right now, I don’t know. I don’t know what to say to you at this point. I don’t think it’s even worth engaging with fans who are just always defending the goalending. Uh oh boy. Oh, that’s that’s not the right that’s not the right screen. Hold on. Here we go. Oilers 860 team save percentage is their lowest through 25 games since their inaugural NHL season in 1979 1980. Yes, as a team they have a save percentage that was what they had in 7980 after 25 games. And we all know how goending was in the 1980s. A lot of us who are watching right now grew up. You saw the the dynasty Oilers. Love that for you. Love that for you. Some of us were born in a time where we won’t own a house and we’ve never seen the Oilers win a Stanley Cup. If you’ve been lucky enough to watch this team win a Stanley Cup, I’m so happy for you. So happy for you. I don’t mean that as like a negative thing, by the way. I don’t mean that as like a I I you know, I’m mad at you. Mad at the situation. I didn’t choose to be born in 1993 and deal with this crap. I didn’t choose this. Well, okay, I did technically choose this. There was never pressure in my household to cheer for just the Oilers. This is really bad, you guys. Like, this is this is really bad. Um, nobody has the answer. At least at least the leadership group talked to the media after the game right after that 9-1 loss to Colorado. Uh, the media didn’t even ask for the leadership group. A lot of us, including me at the time, thought that the leadership group was kind of ducking the hard questions. Tonight, that wasn’t the case. Uh the media did ask for the leadership group and they did answer questions, but of course, none of them have the answer. And even if they did have the answer or think they do, right? If McDavid did come out and say, “Yeah, goending has been awful and it’s been a big reason why we can’t win games.” Captains don’t do that. They don’t throw their players, their teammates, their brothers under the bus like that. It will never happen. You will never see a player on Edmonton verbally blame the goalending and the coaching staff too. For the most part, Chris Knobblock has protected his goalies. I it it’s time that we stop with this though. We legitimately just can’t keep doing this. The fans know we we know better, right? So many of us that were freaking out during the Yesper Walstead draft when the Oilers had the opportunity of a lifetime to draft the number one ranked goalender at number 20 and they decided to trade down and take Xavier Borggo instead and Minnesota drafted Yesper Walstead. Where’s what’s Walstead up to these days in Minnesota? Shutouts every second night. 940 save percentage. Boy, oh boy. Wouldn’t that be nice? Oh, but he he wouldn’t be able to do that because Edmonton’s defense sucks. Yeah, it has been bad. I I don’t disagree, but what what is your job as a goalie? What do goalies get paid to do? I’m going to let all of you just take a minute. Just it’s a really tough question. What is a goalender paid to do? Are they paid to give up shots, let the let the puck go through them and into the net? Or are they paid to stop the puck? Goal 10 the goal. You’re paid to stop the puck. And I don’t care if you make league minimum. I don’t care if you make $10 million. You’re paid to stop the puck. If you’re if you’re a goalender at the National Hockey League level and this team has not been getting it. They have not been getting the saves. The effort in front of the goalies has not been good enough on the majority of nights this season. How many games I I’m actually gonna ask everyone this too, and this is a legit question. How many games this season do you think the Oilers from beginning to end, played well enough to win, engaged enough, emotional enough? How many games this season out of the 25 that they’ve played do you think Edmonton has been the better team and deserved the the win overall? I can count three games. First game against Calgary, I thought the Oilers played very well for 60 minutes. Uh Stu gave up that absolute stinker in the third period for the tie. They lost in the shootout. Game number two of the season against Vancouver where the Oilers just dominated the Canucks from beginning to end. They won 3-1. That was a game where the score was very flattering to Vancouver because that was an absolute monster in their crease. And then maybe maybe the Washington game. Yes, they lost 74, but I actually thought the Oilers played very well. I thought they controlled play at five on five. Um the analytics backs that up too. Again, they just couldn’t get a save against Washington. Those might be the only three games where I’m like, those are the three games that Emmonton for sure deserve to win. And they lost two of them because of goalending. The Oilers when they get a 900 save percentage are 70 and1. We are not asking for above average goalending. We are not asking for elite goalending. We’re not asking for a VZNA candidate or a VZNA caliber goalie. All we want in Edmonton is a goalie every night that gives us a chance to win. And far too often we don’t get that. The team doesn’t get it. And that probably that has to weigh on players. That has to I play in an NHL 26 video game league. Uh 6v6. It’s a six six on six league. So we do have human controlled goalies in this league. It’s a video game. You’re not actually playing the game physically. But I’m going to tell you all right now, I’ve been on teams where the first two or three shots are are in the back of our net. Even though we’ve played great, we’re out shooting the opponent 7 nothing, and then the other team comes down, scores on their first shot. It is deflating. It is. Some of you are going to laugh at that like analogy, but it’s true. It’s It’s deflating. Absolutely deflating. Uh, and the fans that are paying the hard-earned money to go to these games, like for those of you who paid and you were in the building for the 911 loss to Colorado, you’re in the building for the 8-3 loss tonight. I don’t even know what to say. Y’all deserve some free jerseys. You all deserve $2 beers. Y’all deserve something. Something that the team is currently unable to provide. And if Stan Bowman wants to make his stamp, if he wants to put his stamp on the team, Stan Bowman has the opportunity of a lifetime. Stan Bowman has made some good bets. I like David Tomask. He is not a very offensive player, but I like the depth that he gives them for the fourth line and bottom six. I like what Tomasic brings. Not everyone does, and that’s fine, but I do like Tomasek. Jack Rosik has been amazing. 10 goals on the season. Without Jack Rosik, the Oilers are in the lottery conversation, and they still could be. It’s a good thing their first rounder is top 12 protected. Every Canadian team could be going for Gavin McKenna in uh in April when they do the draft lottery. Oh my god. Oh boy. Maybe that’s Gary Bman’s wet dream right now. All seven Canadian teams bottom of the standings. I’m sure he loves that. I’m sure he loves seeing that. But Stam Bowman, he’s made some good bets. He has helped round out the Bakersfield Condors. The the Oilers prospect cupboard was pretty thin. finding guys like Quinn Hudson from from university free agent signing Samansky from overseas right Tomasek uh Jack Rosik great but he does have some duds Andrew Majapani I was excited when the team signed him and we are at the point with Andrew Majapani where he’s just as much of a ghost as Trent Frederick is Majapani actually started the season off well he was engaged he kind of was physical he was getting in front of the net he had a couple goals early but we I haven’t seen anything for Mapapani lately that justifies him playing in the top six with Leon Dryidle or Conor McDavid. Majapani has been awful and I haven’t even talked about Conor Clattenberg tonight. Scores his first National Hockey League goal. A guy that is not here to produce offense. He’s here to hit bodies, create energy, and maybe fight someone. As a 20-year-old, the fact that the team needs a 20-year-old to come up and give the bottom six energy is a big problem. like that that I think says a lot about where this or like team is at. Chris Knobblock, does he survive till Saturday? That is also another question. Will Chris Knobblock survive till Saturday? Would they would the team dare fire another coach before addressing the goalending? Jay Woodcraftoft was fired for much less. The record that the Oilers had under Jay Woodcraft when he was fired justified it. But the way the team played, the way the team played. Also, there’s a Franklin for everyone. You get a little Franklin cameo tonight. Everyone loves Franklin. We were way too hard on Miko Costkin. Eh, career 96 save percentage. Remember when the media ran Costkin out of town and Costkin played on way worse Oilers teams. This team right now should not be playing like this. They should not be where they are in the standings. Miko Koskinan deserves an apology from everyone at Edmonton Media that helped run him out of town. I’m not going to name names. I could because I know which media guys did it and were part of that. But Steuart Skitter and Calvin Pickard. Ah, they’re good Canadian kids, right? The good Canadian kids. Stew hometown, homegrown, born and raised in Edmonton. Grew up in an Oers fan. Plays for his favorite team. Can’t we can’t run him out of town, though. Oh, well, he he went to the Stanley Cup final two years in a row. Yeah, he lost the starters job two years in a row in the playoffs and had to earn it back. He had to get it back. If Calvin Pickard doesn’t get hurt against Vegas in game one, Stew is not in the conversation here. Sorry, game two. Game two Picker got hurt in Pickard would have been the start of the entire playoff run. It’s like people forget people’s memories are so short with this stuff. Pickard was so unplayable against Vancouver in the 2024 playoffs. Sorry, not Pickard. Stew was so unplayable against Vancouver in the 2024 playoffs that they had to put Pickard in game four to prevent the team from going down three games to one. Tied the game late. Vancouver did. Booard with the game winner. About 40 seconds left in the third. And then yeah, game five Pickard and the team lost 3-2. I think it was a late late game-winning goal. And then they put Stu back in. And credit to Stu, he played good the rest of the way. Fantastic. But again, Stu was also pulled in 2023 three times versus Vegas. How much more of a sample size does this team need? How much more? How big of a sample does this stupid team need? And I know there’s going to be lots of fans being like, “Oh, maybe Dustin Schwarz wasn’t the problem.” Maybe there’s maybe they’re all the problem. Maybe everyone’s the problem. Maybe Schwarz was, but maybe these goalies are also just so bad that it doesn’t matter who the goalie coach is. I don’t know. None of us have the answer. Does Chris Knoblock survive till the weekend? Does Steuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard survive till Saturday? Because if this team keeps rolling out this tandem every single night, they’re not going to make the playoffs. And fans are going to start to turn very, very quickly if they haven’t already. Conor McDavid signed a two-year extension. He did not give them a long-term deal. He signed at two years 12.5 million understanding that the salary cap is about to explode over the next few seasons. The team doesn’t have the salary cap to really work like a big name when it comes to uh upgrade a net this season. I understand that salary cap plays a big big role in this. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care who you give up. I don’t care how many draft picks the team has to give up. Find a way. find a way before we all just lose our minds. Your captain, franchise player, one of the greatest players the NHL has ever seen, gave you an opportunity to show him that you’re serious about winning. This is your chance, Stan. This is this is your chance, Stan Bowman. This is it. This is a pivotal moment of the Conor McDavid tenure. November 25th, 2025. This is a potentially big moment for Stan Bowman. A turning point. Does Stan go out and do something about this or does he just let this season play out and do nothing and waste another year of Conor McDavid and Leon Dryidle? Balls in your court, buddy. Balls in your court, Stan. Figure it out. We’ll have a day after discussion tomorrow where I’ll kind of discuss more specific things about this game. Um, like I said, it’s not all in the goalies. There’s a lot of players that I do want to talk about. The fact that Connor Clattenberg, a 20-year-old, I wouldn’t even call him an enforcer, but a 20-year-old physical forward, bottom six forward, grinder, showed the most life on on a team that’s supposed to have Stanley Cup aspirations. Good for Glattenberg. Hey, I love I love the kid. talked about him a lot in preseason. He show he showed he showed a lot of heart in preseason and and this team needs guys like him. They really do. So for Clattenburg, I know he scored his first goal in a night where the Oilers got absolutely dumpstered, but I hope that he at least enjoyed that moment. He deserves to enjoy that moment. See what they do. We’ll see what they do next, folks. We’ll see you tomorrow for the day after discussion. Tell them that you love them. And as always, fight like a kid. Fight like Ben. Let’s go Oilers. Actually, no. No, not let’s go Oilers. But yes, we’re we’re supporting them, but tonight it’s Let’s Go Stan Bowman. What do you got, Stan?

If Skinner and Pickard are both on the team on Saturday we are going to have SERIOUS problems. #oilers #edmontonoilers #nhl

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