Oilers Could Have Solved Their Goalie Problems…

Oilers Could Have Solved Their Goalie Problems…

Just so as while we’re playing some songs, wait to come back. We’re watching Noodles and he looks like it’s a wide shot. He’s driving his car. Noodles, what’s up, buddy? That was awesome. Uh, so I don’t know if you guys know, I have a couple Teslas, so I actually have the self-driving, so I hooked it up and I wasn’t sure if you’re going to bring me in on time. I just got into my garage. I just landed from Montreal. So, uh, I am now hands-free, but I was Yeah, I I I I placed the I I I got like the the driving and it’s a self-driving mode. It’s called Mad Max, so it drives you like very aggressively on the highway. I was like in and out. It was driving crazy, but I was on full self-driving mode. I thought you guys were going to bring me in sooner, so I was like, “Okay, all hell’s going to break loose.” But I was listening to Hungry Eyes. I think that was who was that? Bob Staer singing. I don’t know who that was. But with Dallas Akens mixed in. Yeah, exactly. That’s right. Matt Doodles, are you do you always let it self drive you or are you driving? I do. Wow. I I do. It is crazy. Obviously with the snow and stuff like I But the self-driving mode is better driving than myself and anybody else. And honestly, it’s uh it’s a little bit weird on on like highways because it’ll get aggressive. Like the other day on a paid highway here, it was driving 138 and weaving in out of traffic, but I was like, “All right, let’s do it here.” So, is that max like the level you like that’s your max level? And then there’s like Is it like a safe Steve or something like that or Yeah. So, there’s like slow I think it’s called and then the highest one is is Mad Max, but you can do a hurry. you can do like a safe mode like mad max is like it’s it’s weaving in out of traffic. So, I was I was mad maxing it to get home so I could make the hit because I just landed. So, uh I’m excited. Although, I mean, I don’t know how you guys are feeling. I thought it was a pretty good game. They pretty much did everything they could last night except for beat a goalender that could have been drafted by the Oilers. That’s the uh the narrative. He can be drafted by the Oilers. I never heard this story. We didn’t know. Fill us in. Oh, that you said if we were ever going to bet on the Oilers to get shut out, last night would have been the night. Like that’s just the narrative that’s come full circle in that situation. We’ll get to that as we work our way through this thing. But no, you’re not wrong. Like they played really well against Seattle, come away with a shutout victory there. They they put together back-to-back games where they were relatively good at limiting scoring chances, which not getting the win last night would be frustrating for the athletes, I would think. But can you build on that one if you’re the Oilers going up against Seattle again tomorrow? You certainly can because if that’s the template, you’ll take that 99 out of 100 times because I thought Walstead made some great saves. Uh especially on the power play on Heyman there with the right pad. Uh I look at it uh you’ll take that effort, you’ll take that consistency. Um, you know, even the goal against people are going to listen, you you allow one goal in a game, you should win. Um, you know, people were saying again, it’s the better goalie at the other end. I mean, Walstead was fantastic. Uh, I thought McDavid and Dryside had a couple good looks. It’s weird because McDavid looked like he was on video game mode, but he’s still bobbling a lot of pucks for me. It’s It’s really weird. I I’ve seen him more bobble more pucks and make weird decisions with the puck this year than I have in the nine years previous. But um you know, he’s all around it. I I you know, you you look at it. I thought that was Henrik’s I don’t know if the analytics will support it, but I thought Henrik looked all around it, which was good because I think he’s kind of looked older and slower this season. So, there was a lot of positives to draw from, but unfortunately, you leave two two big points on home ice, which you need to start making some hay on home ice here. You got four in a row after last night. So, uh the template’s there, but the result wasn’t there. We talked yesterday setting up the game about, you know, getting make making Walstead work for it, getting, you know, traffic in front, making life a little more difficult on him. I wouldn’t agree that the Oilers really matched that last night, but you know, you played the position. He’s been playing lights out. We had some names of four four shut outs in his last six games. The first time it’s been done in 90 years. The last time it happened, it was Frank Brimick, Tiny Thompson, and Dolly Dawson in 2829. Elite company. But how would you go by like watching him play? What What is the crack in that wall? H how would you I mean going back how would you would would it just be getting more pressure you know and and getting in his grill a lot more is that kind of how you crack the wall I I think you got to get him moving and elevate because he’s got great feet and he’s a big goalender moves well so you know he covers the ice well so what’s happening is is you get in tight and you got to you got to put it under the bar listen he’s not going to have I mean he might have a Hall of Fame career and get shut outs you know, every every three games. But I I would suspect uh hitting the ground like this and running, there is going to be a market reset with him. But he does have a skill set that looks pretty special and looks sustainable. I’m not talking about the shutouts, but I’m talking about sustainable as far as how he covers the ice, how he moves in the net, how big he is. um kind of remind reminded me of Jacob Marstrom, you know, a 6’6 goalender that has good feet. And you know, if you forget Marstrom went from Florida to Vancouver and it took him a bit to settle in, but then for a couple years in a row, he was Vancouver’s MVP. You know, again, this there is going to be a market correction on him. He is going to have a night where there’s some bad bounces. I thought he had a couple favorable bounces last night, you know, that that things, you know, bounce the right way for him instead of the wrong way. That’s going to happen, but he looks like he’s got the makings of a real sound number one goalender. Minnesota’s got two good goalenders there. That G that Gossip is a good player, too. So, um, good on them. But uh again, I saw Oiler fans getting frustrated and and saying, you know, this was a guy that was raided and was uh available to them and they moved past him. Uh I live in Toronto and Tuker Tukar Ras’s name comes up almost daily. So uh you know, it happens, but you got to move on and and again, you hope that they can reset and have the template against Seattle cuz Seattle’s going to be crabby, too. You know, they’re going to want redemption. So, you can’t just show up and think that you’re going to play like you did in Seattle the other day. You got to go and work for it. So, it’s going to be a hard-fought two points tomorrow. Lots of lots of comments about Tukar Rasp, but no love for Justin Pogy, who was the guy that they decided to keep rolling with, right? Yeah, that was I know Pogy was a great junior goal. I’ll give him that. Um, just back to this Wallstead thing for one second because you know in that draft year uh the Oilers were apparently trying to target Kosa who had played here for the Oil Kings, a goalender that was I think just rated behind Walstead. He ends up going earlier and then they trade out of the Walstead pick. The narrative that’s been pushed out from the team and those around the team over the last few years is that they didn’t like his uh mental makeup. I guess maybe some character flaws in his game and that’s why they decided to trade down and draft to Xavier Porco. Um, but there’s also the thought process noodles of like, oh, don’t use first round picks on goalies. Don’t use first round picks on goalies. Uh, where do you come out on that strategy in general for young net minders? I I understand. So, here is my thought process. And, you know, even when I was in management and scouting, a lot of times you have to be patient with goalenders. We’re seeing them now. And and you there’s so many examples of goalenders getting good when they’re 25, 26, 27, 28. The mental makeup, it’s when they become physically and mentally able to handle the position. So if you draft somebody very high at 18, that’s three contracts. How many How patient is a fan base or an organization going to be for seven years when you’re looking at a guy going, “Okay, when is he ready? 23 24 that type of stuff. Now Walstead is 20 what? 23 I believe correct and you know so Minnesota’s had to be patient with him. They you know he’s played a and it’s not like he lit up the AHL this season I believe or last season. I can’t remember. He struggled down there and he had some confidence issues. He was rattled. Yeah. Right. So here here’s the thing I would say you waste I I would say waste that’s the wrong word. You pick the best player available. If a goalender is available in the first round and you think he’s a firstrounder, you take him and and I look at Carrie Price, Mark Andre Flurry, you look at it, there’s first rounders that worked out. Now Mark Andre Flurry was interesting because it took him a few years to settle in in Pittsburgh. His first couple years they were in a rebuild and it was ugly, but he caught up to the team. So my philosophy is you have to be patient, but you still take the best player available. And keep in mind, if we’re talking if you choose in the top five, you better hit. But if you’re choosing 28th, you know, those those picks are a crapshoot. You know, think of all the late first rounders that didn’t work out. I played with a lot of them and I played against them. So, you know, the goalending narrative, if you think there’s a stud available, and by all by all accounts, Walstead when the when the narrative around him was this guy has all the tools, yes, you if you start looking into character flaws and that type of stuff, I’m not privy to that information. But if if if if you got somebody who has all the tools, you you better take them. I’ll give you an example. Nashville took Ascar off at 11. They had Sorrowos and Pekar Renee and they still took a goalie at 11. The the kid looks like he’s going to be a star in the league. I’ve talked to many goalender um you know goalender scouts, goalender coaches in the league, even AGMs because available from Nashville. He wanted out. They they they they weren’t going to they they resigned Soros there and there were a lot of teams that were going to take a flyer on him and you know the the knock on him wasn’t the skill set. It was between the ears. Now, he’s still he’s still growing at the NHL level, but I said to a scout, if he’s available, take him because he might grow into that position and be a superstar where there’s a lot of organizations that go, we like this goalie. We don’t love him. He might be a tandem goalender. This guy at Ascarov in San Jose has an opportunity to be a number one starter. Not many of those guys are out there. It’s it’s more about tandem. Can you get a 40 games out of a guy? So that’s where I if you have separating skill and you you you have got a first round pick, take the goalender because separating skill is what it’s all about in today’s game. I I think a similar story line would be Chicago with Spencer Knight, right? Florida took a used a first round pick on him too and to find his way, right? So he and he’s a fantastic goalender obviously much documented struggles. We we we know he stepped away from the the the game. Uh got some help, but he’s a player. Ask people in Chicago. He’s a player. They’ve found their goalender. Now, if he can keep it on the rails and keep his game in line and and keep his life in line, which he’s talked about, um they’ve got a special one there. And and you know, you talk about the turnarounds of these organizations. San Jose’s got a goalie. Chicago’s got a goalie. That’s that’s really I mean, yes, they’ve got star players. Celbrini and Smith are are stars in in in San Jose. We we see what Baddard’s doing even as recent as last night. He had an unre unreal goal, but you need somebody to stop pucks in the net and then and those organizations have turned because they’ve got somebody they believe in moving forward in net. Noodles, one more quick one for you as you continue to sit in the Tesla here. Uh we were we get people all the time who text in especially after a game like last night. They had a ton of shots last night, but people be like, “Noblock has killed the offensive instincts of these guys.” Are you at all concerned about the others offensively? No, but I I mean, okay, I shouldn’t say no, but I would like to see their players be more consistent. And everyone goes, “Ah, McDavid and dry settle,” but, you know, I’m I’m Heyman’s got to find his game consistently. You know, I he’s still bobbling pucks around the net. Um, you know, R&H is a guy that I expect more. I it’s weird to say this because he hasn’t been with the organization much, but the the loss of Rosik is big because Rosik was another threat out there. He was a guy that would draw attention away from Dry Settle and open space up for him. I talked about Adam Henrique at the start. I’d like to see their bottom six chip in a lot more. Um, you know, Frederick, he looks like a shell of himself. I I I feel bad for him. You know, he’s he’s much maligned right now, but he isn’t a threat every time he’s on the ice. You need guys that are a threat. Yanmark gets chances, but we all know Yanmar is limited offensively. I like what he brings to the table, all the details of his game, but he has to be more of a threat. So, five on five, am I concerned about them a little bit? Uh, I would say a little bit. And a lot of it stems from the back end. They’ve got to get the forwards the puck. Bousard is an excellent outlet pass. They miss Wman advancing the puck. The two right shot defenseman, Regula and Emerson, don’t move the puck that well. They’re very limited. So, what you’re you’re hoping is that Ekhome, who had what how many good looks did he have last night? Three. Yeah. Yeah. But you got to hit the net. Like you’re you’re you’re walking downtown. I know you’re trying to pick a corner on a big goalender. You got to hit the net and force him to make a save. blasting it high and wide. How many times do we see Bushar blasted high and wide yesterday? They’ve got to hit the net, force this goalender or these goalenders to make saves and create some havoc and and at least get the D turning and dealing with the rebound. How many times have you seen it blast off the glass cuz it sounds great and it’s a hard shot, but it goes out and you got to regroup in the the neutral zone. So, to me it stems from the back end. And my concern, I don’t think this is a knoblock thing. It’s more of a players execution thing. if if if you’re getting your shots through and forcing the D and the goalender to deal with it, all of a sudden you get sustained pressure in the offensive zone. So, you know, Majapani had a look pretty good save by Walstead on the blocker there. So, you know, I I look at it and I don’t think it’s the coach stagnant as much as the players and their execution. If they get WMAN back, you get Nurse playing within his skill set. Uh you get EK whose game is starting to come around. Uh, I I think that the guy back on the back end I’m really disappointed in and I think he’s worried about a contract is Kulak. He doesn’t look very good. I think he’s he’s he’s thinking out there and and making decisions that are kind of uncharacteristic of him. He’s always been the steady Eddie and I don’t think he’s found his game yet consistently. So, there’s lots to work on there and lots to build on. So, I I wouldn’t be that upset about things, but there their their game has to find some consistency. The one thing we have seen in the last two games is they the attention to detail is a lot better there defensively and I think that’s something to build on. Two comments before we let you go. One from Bones on the Paris Jewelers inbox on the text line says, “Uh, Noodles kind of looks like a cat burglar right now. You’re in the dark with like a toque on like, okay, so here’s a funny joke. I drive my kids to school every day that I’m home or your daughter. Well, my Tesla does, but I wear a ski mask. I don’t know why. I’d like to mess with the kids. So, I wear a Bellaclava and then when I get to school, I take it off because obviously you don’t want teachers and that pointing it out. But while I’m driving there, I drive with a full bellaclava on. And my son loves it who’s eight. He’s like, “Daddy, I love it.” My daughter is obviously embarrassed of her father, which is fine, but she’s in that stage. But I, you know, I don’t look like a burglar with this tukon, but I right inside that door here is two Bellaclavas that are black. They’re unbelievable. We need next Wednesday the Bellacav. I also got to know, do you ever just ride in the back of the Tesla? No, because this particular one, I have a Model X. It’s not there yet. In the US, I I’ve I’ve flown in like last year in or two years ago in Arizona, they have the self-driving taxis. I just get in the back and they drive me. Came and picked me up at Best Buy, took me back to my hotel. I’ve been in several of those self-driving vehicles. They’re they’re unbelievable. And again, they’re a lot safer than somebody driving on the White Bud right now or the Anthony Hendai. I’ll tell you that. Uh Noodles, good stuff, man. We appreciate the time. Thanks for hopping on right after the flight and uh we’ll catch up next week. Thanks for having me, guys. We’ll try. That’s Jamie Mlennon who took a self-driving car to break into his own house. Nick in the north Sticky Bandits. Sticky batters.

Jamie McLennan was the first guest on today’s show. He came by to share his thoughts on the Oilers game last night which for the most part was not to bad in his opinion. He touched on the brilliance of Jesper Wallstedt and the fact that he could have been an Edmonton Oiler… He finished with some words on whether or not Oilers fans should be worried about the Oilers offence.

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