What’s Wrong With The Edmonton Oilers? | SDP

What’s Wrong With The Edmonton Oilers? | SDP

There’s a few this time of year people are always like, “Well, why are you being so negative? Why are you picking the negative stories?” Dude, teams that are supposed to be good that are not are a great story. The Leafs are one of them. The Oilers are another one. And specifically the $10.5 million defenseman by the name of Evan Bousard. Now, here’s the thing. All of the things that Evan Bousard is doing this year are things that he did before. Always done, which is why we have Evan Bousard corner. The qu the the issue though is that the Oilers are not scoring and Evan is not scoring and McDavid is not scoring. It’s scary. And and so when you’re not scoring and your salary has jumped as much as his has, then all of a sudden it’s not cute when you do things like this anymore. Then it’s like, well, hey, you’re making 10 and a half now. Maybe you need to make better defensive choices. So, let’s start. The the Oilers were playing the hapless New York Rangers and somehow imploded. They had a three to one lead. But let’s start with the first goal of the game, uh, which is a Rangers pickoff pass. You see Bousard at the low board there. Uh, and he’s got the puck and he is going to make a cross ice pass to his defense partner. And I I just want you to stop right here. So, he’s somebody on the New York Rangers read that. So th this is where I’m conflicted because it looks awful and it it’s a bad giveaway from Bard. This is a really good read from Brezinski. Yeah, it’s a really good read. Sure. But let’s also say that the easy play is to cycle it down low to your forwards. Yeah. Or not cross ice it or just pass with some frigin oomph. It was a bit of authority, right? It was a bit of a weak pass. It’s soft. So that leads to a breakaway which leads to uh the goal that Steve mentioned, right? That’s Johnny Bridzinski. And I will say this, sometimes his back check uh makes it look like he doesn’t give a damn. Um he actually really got on his horse. He just wasn’t able to catch him. He did. Now, um listen, Oilers could use a goalender, too. We can talk about that at Nauseium. We’ve talked about it before, but uh Buchard, that’s not a great start. and giveaways have been the problem this year. The reason you can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on that is because of not just what’s going to happen later, but what’s happening right now and what’s been happening all season long. So, let’s go uh let’s go fast forward a little bit into the game. Now, the score is tied 3 to2 or sorry, the score is not tied yet. The score is 3 to2, but this is the game tying goal by man on a heater on a mission, Taylor Radish. Okay, Braden Schneider has already scored to make it 3-2. Here is the Bard giveaway on the Taylor Radish Gold. Now, this one makes the last one look horrible. And so, the Rangers kind of initiate a breakout here with 805 left in the third period. And it’s not like the greatest breakout in the world. And the Oilers are able to break it up. You see the Oilers forward break it up at the center ice line. Bard has the puck. He is skating backwards. Has full vision of the ice. Can give it to anybody. Okay. What what play Jesse and Steve does he make next? I mean what play would you make going I mean probably go to your defense partner who I think has more time than he does. He also has time to just hold on to this for a second or two and evaluate. Yes. Um but I would say probably go to his D partner. Actually, you’re wrong. What you should do is throw it up the board and at the person that’s bearing down on you. Oh no. And that’s what he does. And by the way, does not throw it with much power either. The puck doesn’t even leave the ice. Look, it’ll hit 43’s stick, right? Blocks it right there. And the puck doesn’t even leave the zone. So, and like look how unengaged he is, right? And then look at this. You just gave it away. Yeah. Go nuts. And so obviously this leads to um Taylor Radishes I think it was Connor Shuri that blocked it and then Taylor Radish that was able to grab the puck, shoot it, score. That’s a rough giveaway. Now you might like to put Yeah, you probably do want to say Steuart Skinner was bad. He’s bad. He’s bad. Um and and I I think it’s important that we say that. However, we have not focused on Steuart Skinner too much lately because we’ve hit How many times we need to say this guy’s not good enough for this team? At some point it’s not about him anymore. It’s about the management that keeps putting him in that spot. Yeah. Like what do you what do you expect? I expect better moves from their high paid defenseman. Let’s go to overtime. Yes, I meant Skinner. No, I know. I know you did, but that’s that’s you know, uh let’s have a very serious conversation. Uh while wearing this, let’s talk about overtime because this one is the icing on the cake. The first one in the first period. Ah, that happens. Second one in the third period. Uh, that’s not great, man. This one is rocky. Now, let’s run through the play. Rangers with the puck. They’re trying to break out of their zone. They’re doing so successfully. Remember, we are three on three. It is overtime here. And Evan Buchard, let’s just pause it there, Jesse. U because it it’s loading anyway. Um, Evan Buchard is in great position here. You can see him at the top of the ice right near the Rogers logo because it’s Rogers place. Okay, he’s at the top of the ice. He’s got his man covered. We’re good. We’re good. All right. What happens next, though? So, the Rangers do the breakout. Yes, Jesse. No, go ahead. Okay. Rangers do the breakout. Rangers do the breakout. And here’s the thing. They cross the ice. Ranger or Edmonton forward allows the Rangers forward. That would be JT Miller. I I will say who to skate across the ice. Is that Leon? That’s McDavid. No, no, no. Uh uh buddy doing Panic Crossover at the blue light. That’s Leon. That’s awful stuff. And McDavid lets Miller kind of skate by. Yeah, McDavid’s just kind of chilling. That’s bad looking. That’s Yeah, but that’s not his guy. That’s true. But but still, you could you could back check a little. Yeah, he’s crossing into your zone. You can that becomes his guy. Like you could probably try and stick picture stick out. You could, but you probably have faith in Leon to turn this into something. Then you get the puck and now you’re one-on-one with someone, which means you have a breakaway because you’re Conor McDavid. Now JT Miller makes it across the line. It’s clear that Leon’s beat beat. Now stop it here. Leon is beat. Yes. Evan Bousard, who’s a wonderful skater, has the angle on JT Miller. It doesn’t mean he can stop the shot, but he can interrupt it, deflect it, do whatever. What Evan Buchard needs to do is just literally lean into JT Miller. Get some skin on him. That’s it. Try to break this up. Allow Skinner to make a less difficult save. What does Evan Bushard do then? take he takes the pass. Uh Evan Bard backs off JT Miller like Ev like he’s on a two on nothing and JT Miller cuts across. Evan’s not even standing at the top of the crease to interrupt JT Miller coming across Steuart Skinner like nothing. The Oil Tober is one of the craziest phenomenons in hockey. Three years in a row we’ve three years in a row trying to go to the Stanley Cup final for the best team the Western Conference has to offer. Yeah. And this is the third straight Oil Tober. I And he’s at the forefront of all of it. It’s him and Skinner. Like Oil Tober is those two and they’re a a match made in hell. Like just on Halloween no less. Brut. Sorry. They’re a match maiden. Hell, I’m a spooky pigeon. Yeah. Yeah. I It’s um It’s not a great look. And Mark Spectre torched that performance last night on his in his column. How did the Toronto media cause the Edmonton Oilers to I know that. And and you know what? He should This is a guy that you expect a lot more from. My question to you guys is when we sit here on November 30th with our mustaches grown, what will the Oilers story be? Are we going, “Wow, what a turnaround.” Or does this extend into November? And I’m going to ask you the same question about the Leafs in about 20 minutes here. So just Sure. Yeah. So just hang on to that. What is the most likely outcome? I think it’s LMAO. They did it again and they’re fine. They’re fine. And then they get they’re they’re gonna write the ship a little bit. They’re gonna be like kind of mid and then they’re gonna get Zack Heyman back and just go on a stupid run. Jesse, do you agree with that or do you disagree? I tend to agree with that they’ll get it done. Like you have two years of evidence that this is a very good team that’s been to the Stanley Cup final. I’m not too worried about how they play in October. Every October it’s concerning and every o every uh springtime they get it done. Like the Panthers are 55 and one right now. Mhm. And the Oils the Oilers look like Oiltober Oilers. Do any of us think either of those teams is bad? Let’s Let’s stop. Let’s stop. Like both battling injuries. Fine. They’re also just playing in a month they do not care about. They ought to. You ought to. You’re making you play in the NHL. Well, and people are paying to see the game. The tickets aren’t free. And that was at home. Yes, the tickets aren’t free. That’s bad. You do get a point, but that’s bad. I mean, gez, any game that goes to overtime, the Oilers should win, shouldn’t they? Absolutely. It’s a cheat code. It Yes, it is. How’d you lose that? That’s silly. So, do you think Zack Heyman comes back and this team just tore pace and it’s over? Wow. Okay. All right. I I thought I thought Spectre’s com column was really funny cuz throughout it he calls Evan Bushard the elephant. Yeah, cuz somebody said the elephant in the room. He’s talking about how like guys aren’t really directly addressing what went wrong. So he just calls throughout the column the elephant. The elephant. The elephant. And uh he wrote here that um on on Thursday against the Rangers, Buchard Oh. on a on as bad a night as a professional player could possibly have a minus3 debacle on Long Island two weeks ago. Bousard still led all Oilers defenseman with 2419 of ice time. Two nights later, he led the entire team with 2531 of ice time. On Thursday against the Rangers, Buchard made his first egregious error 544 into the game, but he made the next with 8 minutes to play in the third. There he was on the ice with Conor McDavid and dry settle making the wrong read and holding the door open for JC Miller to walk through the slot and win the game untouched. The final game sheet read 2234 of ice time, the most of any Oilers defenseman. Accountability. Sorry, Chris, that’s not accountability. So, he’s questioning whether there needs to be some recourse here for Evan Buchard’s mistakes. He’s unsure if Evan Buchard has had six solid periods yet this season. And he continues to play the most minutes of anybody on this team in terms of defense. Well, I guess overall because I don’t think any forwards probably out. Uh maybe McDavid dry. Yeah, on most teams. Yes. On them. Let’s just say defenseman. I haven’t checked that. Sorry. I probably should have done that. But I don’t disagree that. Hey, is playing Evan Buchard the brakes off of him all the time the best way to show him that either we have a confidence in you or hey you’re doing bad stuff like which side should Chris Knoblock be on? Should be taking away minutes so that you’re punishing him for these mistakes and saying be better or should he just be keep playing him and say we believe in you. So I don’t know which side. I mean I think if if Evan Buchard has 15 points right now and the Oilers have the exact same record and we’re pointing this out. Oilers fans are in my DMs going, “He’s not the problem. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” I think they just go, “Well, what? He’s Evan Bushard, right?” But when No, that’s not how they react. No, that’s not That is not what That is not an Oiler fan. No, no, you Yeah. They go, “Oh my god, he’s so bad.” And then you being from Toronto go, “Oh my god, he’s so bad.” They go, “Fuck you, Toronto piece of [ __ ] I hope you die.” At least in my experience. I think I think you’re you’re you’re betting the reason they haven’t held his minutes back is you’re betting on his talent. Yeah. You’re betting on him to figure it out. Like McDavid. McDavid. What’s Conor McDavid stats right now? Conor McDavid. Conor McDavid. There was a line in there that I thought was like more indicative of what’s going on. Like he’s got 14 and 12. So, um, but for now, the elephant has his teammates dancing around the obvious. their highest paid defenseman is killing them and he could stop any time. That’s the killer. He could literally just the the subtext there would appear to be pull your head out of your ass because every I don’t think you can post that on the sports. No, probably not. No, I never did try. I should. Um, I did post our podcast for several years until they told me not to cuz they hate success or something. I I don’t know. Keep going, Steve. But, um, they every spring we see them turn it on. They need you right now. Yep. Make smart reads. Pass with authority. Bend your freaking knees. These are not things you should have to tell a $10.5 million player, said the giant pigeon. It’s uh the elephant and the pigeon. And listen, in a month we’re in a month. Yeah. We’re talking about this team is on fire and Bard’s got 25 points and and we’ll still have been right. Yeah. because when he turns it on, it’s, you know, mood is very important over the course of a season. Because if you were to, if the Oilers are great in November and you bring up how bad they were in October, people are like, “Come on, man. You’re harsh in our buzz.” But the truth of the matter is, you were asked for a month, you didn’t need to be, and then you turned it on. Thanks for that. Glad I bought a ticket to watch the Edmonton Oilers play hockey with my hard-earned money in October. Right. Knowing maybe Oilers fans ought to know. Don’t buy home game tickets in October. I mean, there’s three years in a row they’ve told there’s a few teams in this league. Yeah, we’re getting to that one next.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake discuss the recent struggles of the Edmonton Oilers and mainly defencemen Evan Bouchard and whether or not they believe they are going to turn things around anytime soon.

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