Oilers rounding into playoff shape

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah, and I mean a four-game win streak. I I think I read something that was like the last time the others won four in a row is uh the Western Conference finals last year. It's better to to start to end the season hot than it is to start hot, I think. As usual, uh, I'm your host FaZe and I'm here with my co-host Greg. Hello, hello. And we're here to talk about the Oilers. And I think for once it's not all doom and gloom at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I know. I can't help but but feel uh vindicated for my takes around the trade deadline, around our last episode of like really feeling like wow, there's some good things on the horizon here. Even though there's been some cra uh like some uh scathing comments about the coach, perhaps, from the captain. It appears like the ship is moving in the right direction. We talked about Paul Coffee and how things have looked different since he's joined. Like we talked about Savoy, obviously, who stepped up with trisidle out.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

And we've talked about the team defense, which is clearly rounding into form as well with Jason Dickinson. So a lot of things trending in the right direction for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, and I mean a four-game win streak. I I think I read something that was like the last time the Oilers won four in a row was uh the Western Conference finals last year. Wow. It's better to start to end the season hot than it is to start hot, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

A hundred percent. The Oilers are always starting slow too.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So Yeah, they didn't start so slow, they'd be in they'd easily be in first in the division. I mean, they still have a chance. I don't know how realistic it is, but would be nuts if they did.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Or or how much it matters really, because we're still unsure of what the first round matchup is gonna be. It could be multiple teams either way, you know?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the standings right now, and I think I think the top three in the Pacific is pretty set at this point. I mean, LA is LA's got 76, so LA is five six points behind Vegas. They do have two games in hand, mind you. San Jose is seven points behind with three games in hand.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

So I mean I guess would you rather play Vegas in the first round or you know, potentially the the wild card?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I think I'd rather play Mammoth than Vegas, to be honest, especially with the coaching change. Like you never know, yeah. I think in general that's you get the bump, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Yeah, I wrote like a Vegas uh series preview article last week. Um so it was definitely just looking into their team. It was right before Cassidy got fired, so yeah, uh it was pre-Tortarella, but they're still controlling play at a at a great rate. Like people are kind of um disappointed in some of their stars' performances. Like people bring up Eichel with half like zero power play goals, yeah. But their power play's still been really good. Yeah. They have like five quality players, five quality options on that top unit. It's like if they could get a save, uh and their defensive structure has been good. So if they could get a save, and they they're definitely a dangerous team.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, like I think I mean, granted, Utah is also like, don't get me wrong, but I think Vegas just with the experience and with some of the top end talent, like Utah doesn't necessarily have top, top end talent like Vegas does, I think. Right. They're they're a good team, they're they're a deep team, and they have the goaltending that Vegas doesn't have, like you said. But but then there's also just having home ice for the next round as well, assuming you do win, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Right. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I definitely think, but the bigger point that I'm trying to make probably is that the Oilers belong in the conversation with um Colorado and Dallas and Minnesota uh as like a legitimate threat to win the Western Conference. Like I don't I think it's disingenuous to try to say it's not the case. Like obviously they've have yet to win the Pacific Division, and the regular seasons are often underwhelming, but there's so much to like about this team right now. There's some young players coming in. Uh it's it's hard, and they've done it obviously the last two seasons winning the Western Conference. I mean, they're more proven than these other teams to an extent. You could say Colorado and Vegas have a cup win under their belt.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

I mean, the Oilers they have everything you would want uh heading into the playoffs. Well, exactly. And I think, yeah, like that's where a team like Anaheim or Minnesota definitely has has that issue of not having been there, but at the same time, like they're good teams. An interesting thing is uh since January one, the Oilers have just one less win than Colorado. Right. Colorado. Because Colorado Colorado's 19 and 12, we're 18 and 13. It's yeah. So I mean, you might be right. And I the Oilers are turning it around, obviously, which is what you need to be coming hot, whereas Colorado's kind of limping in right now. Right. It's not as breezy as their first half. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Six, three, and one, I guess, is not bad for your last half. Now much is a three, five, and two, but they're they're showing signs of their mortality, for sure. For sure. So yeah, I think that for Oilers fans, it's it's like time to be feeling good for sure. The team's given reason for that.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I think so. And I mean, I think I also gotta say, like, I think uh Connor Ingram has been a rev uh like a revelation in terms of I mean his stats are are decent enough, but just watching him play, I think he's he's so calm in the net, I find. Right? Like, so like like you know, last night's game with the shutout and stuff. I don't know if you saw his comment, but he was he was asked about it and he was like, I didn't did I really do anything? Like the team made it so easy on me to to make those saves, and it's like that's that's a good thing to hear, obviously, that there's that support, but yeah, he's he's killing it, in my opinion. And I think that's a huge boost for the team.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Yeah, and it's been a very obviously tumultuous um era of goaltending. Like even going back as far as Mike Smith is like even when the goaltending has actually been pretty good, it's still been tempered with unease, you know. There's a certain, yeah, uh a feeling of impending doom or chaos, at least. Yeah, I mean, obviously, I uh we've been on different sides of our Stuart Skinner opinions and stuff. Yeah, it's it's true that um it it is really nice to have just a calming force in there. Because even a few weeks ago uh people are talking about Jerry and it's like the Rome is in flames again, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Break out the fiddles. Yeah. I mean, yeah, like thank god, thank God Ingram is there, and I think all the team is is m had made the decision. Like Nobloch just straight up said he's the starter for now kind of thing. Um I think that that's important to to that settles that goaltending the controversy that could be arising, right? Like of oh, your higher paid goalie is is is not plain and blah, blah, blah. Now it's like, well, you know what, we've gone past that story. He's the backup, it is what it is, let's move forward. I think so. I do think, you know, for all the criticism Knoblock takes, that was probably a really good decision because you haven't heard too much about like, you know, the controversy anyway of goaltending since then.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

So wins wins always ease the pain. Wins always make everyone a bit happier.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

No, but it's uh you could say it's a chicken or egg, and as the as the team, as Ingram's kind of discovered his form, the team's kind of discovered their defensive form, and they're growing in tandem. So that's that's a good it's a good sign for sure for now. We'll see where it goes. We'll see where it goes. But I mean, that I don't know. At the end of the day, so much has gone right for this team the past several years that we're really kind of splitting hairs. Like, could you get it done with Skinner? It's like, well, you almost did twice. I mean that's as as much proof of concept as you're gonna get without actually doing it. Um will this team like shake off their slow starts? Or yeah, will I mean we've seen Dry Sidal in the past like put up like incredible performances while being injured, like wobbled at times, you know? So it's really they've answered so many questions over the years. It's like obviously they have to do it again. But yeah, but yeah, uh it's I'm definitely I'm feeling so confident. I'm putting it uh Bouchard at the top of my Norris ballot, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

I I I can't get over the idiocy when it comes to to to just trying to denigrate Evan Bouchard for his play this season. Like I can understand if you want to say Werensky is more deserving of the Norris to a certain extent. Like, totally I get it. He's he's up there with him in terms of point production, everything, and he's the leading score on his team. So I get all that. That's fine. But it's like the argument that he's not there's people who are like, ah, I think it was Mike Rupp or something, was like, oh, he's he's not even in my top three. He's maybe in my top five. And it's like the guy's the leading point scorer amongst all defensemen by eight points right now. Like he's and he's he's playing like crazy, he's playing crazy. Like, you know, you take out like what did I have in the oil check article that I wrote since January 1. So since the turn of the new year. Um, obviously, this isn't including last game, though. But he had he's had 49 points in 33 games. That's the third highest behind McDavid and Kucherov. So, you know, even if you want to say defense is also part of being defensiveness, A, he's been good defensively. That's that's not even I'm not even gonna entertain the conversation that he is atrocious defensively. But then you put up those kinds of numbers, and it's like you can't say he's not the best at his position in that sense, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:51

But yeah, he's playing a role on the penalty kill. He's playing top menace against top competition. I think that like part of it and part of it is that I'm thinking about other defensemen who have won the Norris mostly because of their offensive production. Yeah. Eric Carlson on the Sharks comes to mind where the team was wasn't even good. I mean, one of the things you could say about Carlson is that he led his team in points. Yes. I even years ago, I I I wrote what the when uh Bouchard started putting up these points. Can he win the Norris? Is it might be that McDavid and Dreisidel are there, so people are he's not leading this team in points the way that Carlson was. It's somehow it's not as impressive. So it's just like a lot of just refutation and reception and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

But it's also like at the end of the day, okay, yeah. So so Werensky is leading his team and scoring by 15. So yeah, fair enough in that sense. But I mean, you know, here's the thing. His team is uh Columbus, for instance, is plus eight, Minton is plus ten. Bouchard's plus, and I know people don't like plus minus, and I'm not a huge fan of it either, but you know, just one of the things to add to the criteria. Evan Bouchard's a plus 22, Zach Ransky's a plus 12. So, you know, even strength points, Bouchard's at 54, Werensky's at 57. Um, so you know, at even strength, they're they're playing pretty evenly kind of kind of rules, right? So it's that's that's where that that's where I think again, a lot of that gets brought up. And it's like, well, if Orensky is in fact that much more important, like I think he's not even the highest on his team in plus minus. And again, I know plus minus is important for emotions, but like I don't know. If people are gonna just completely ignore, you know, the advanced defensive stats. Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

There's there's no like necessarily right way to measure it. No. I think like for my person, Werensky has a bit more like of a role on the penalty kill, but Bouchard still has one.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

So I it's not that I I'm trying to disparage either candidate. No, that's the that's the conversation that we're in. So I think that like if you want to make a case for someone else, I'm not necessarily gonna say that you're definitely wrong. But yeah, to say he's not even in consideration for the top three or top five is just it's incorrect.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

That's just no, and that's exactly it. I'm just more that that's where the issue is. I think Bouchard at worst should finish second to Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

There's been some impressive seasons. Quinn Hughes is up there for sure, but yeah, but yeah, I I definitely it's but part of it I think that has to be acknowledged a couple things. Uh one is that there's clearly people who don't like Bouchard's game ever since he was uh a prospect in the draft. Um that he's big and it just looks a bit lazy lazadaisical. So it just rubs people the wrong way. And some people just aren't gonna like him. Yeah, that's part of it. The second part of it is um, oh my goodness, don't do this, Greg. Don't forget. The second part of it is it takes years to sometimes build these like reputation candidacies for things. So there is some like some maybe it's unfair or unit's probably fair or unfair. It's like Bouchard has to work a bit to like change this perception about him. So it might take a few years. Granted, he's been to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals and played really well throughout, minus, of course, a few giveaways, but we've been seeing like the highlight reels of Makar's giveaways in response. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

And I'm looking at more stats again right now just to keep stuff. And it's like Evan Bouchard, you know, power play goals against per 60, 735, which is best on the Oilers. Shorthand time on Ace is just shy of 139 over the entire season. Zach Woransky. Zach Woransky is 7.99 power play goals against per 60 and 90 shorthanded minutes this season. So again, it's not I I just it go back to, you know, it's I don't think Rorensky blows him out of the water by any means. I mean our stats on the peep on the power of the Pelican are actually really good too. They're better than both of them, but yeah. But yeah, I think yeah, I do think he deserves the Norris. He's he's leading the score. I think he's been arguably the oil's best player for the majority of the season. Like obviously there's Connor McDavid doing Connor McDavid things.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

But it's not it's not even a story that he's just expected to lead the league in points and anything else.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

But he's got 125 points. Kutrov is right behind him, and everything more recently has been about Kutarov because that crazy streak that Kutarov went on, which is like totally I mean Kutrov got injured or sick the last little while, too.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah. I mean, there's yeah, some just great individual performances by the Oilers, we should say. Which is and just when it comes down to it, just like over the over the years of what this team has done, obviously mine is winning the Stanley Cup. It's like to have uh high-end players is is one thing, but to have the elite talents, which yeah, is it's tough enough to get. But to have those talents like really like lead the team in such a strong way and elevate in the huge moments, like as McDavid and Dre Seidel and Bouchard all have throughout their careers, is like it's it's such a it's such a rare thing, and and that's obviously one of the main reasons that the biggest reason that this team is as good as it is. Not the only reason. Not the only reason. Because it wasn't enough always. Yeah. But with but with a confident team around them with like a pretty good blue line, with a team that's like controlling play and limiting chances against, it's a team that has like a a good penalty kill, they just become so hard they don't beat themselves, and and then you're trapped in the ring with McDavid and Dreisidel and Bouchard, and it's tough. Uh so yeah, obviously anything can happen in the playoffs. So yeah, so but they've yeah, I'm I'm feeling so good about the weapon.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And I mean, we're down the trench here. We've got what, six, seven games left, I think it is. Um yeah, seven games left. And I mean, you look at the schedule, we've got Chicago coming up. That Vegas game is gonna be huge. Um just for home ice. Like, I think we win that. I have to think if you win that and you have that uh five-point like lead over Vegas basically with six with six games to go. I think you've almost guaranteed yourself home ice. So I think that game's huge. And then I mean the San Jose and Kings games are probably less important at this point now than I thought they were gonna be just a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

The pillow the pillow fights division the vote. That was such a I know. I mean, in all seriousness, like the Ducks are definitely an interesting team. Yeah. And like a a young, fun team that is probably gonna be uh a bigger issue in the years ahead. Yeah. Um, and the Knights are they can they can swing with the best of them, I think. So as much as like the regular season performances have not been anything to write home about. Like in our uh Norris discussion, I was about to say, well, uh, how much better of a team are the Oilers than the Blue Jackets? And how oh, lo and behold, the Blue Jackets have more points. Yeah, that's actually crazy. So yeah. Uh but I think that um especially the Oilers and Knights are are better the record shows, which is maybe a controversial thing to say.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

I mean, you know, it's it's something for sure. I mean, the interesting thing is this whole I think this year especially you're getting a lot of the the conversation about the 3-2-1 changing to a 3-2-1 system. Because like, you know, for instance, like the Oilers are one, two. They have the ninth most regulation over team and overtime wins in the league. Right. And yet by points wise, they're 17th. Right. So there's kind of there is that that question, like even in, you know, in in the the pillow fight division, like Anaheim's won 41 games this year, but only 33 have been regulation or overtime. So they have eight shootout wins. Right. And so I mean, I'm not necessarily opposed, you know. I mean, a win's a win is a win. That's fine, but I definitely think so. I'm not I'm not necessarily a huge proponent of changing it. Everyone's playing by the same rules, so it's it's whatever. But I think you look forward to how the playoffs goes and well, there's no shootout in the playoffs. Right. Like, yes, there's no three on three overtime as well, for sure. But it's you know, I think that that does make a difference in terms of playing.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Right. When it comes to the I think it like going to three, two, one is is probably a a reasonable thing to do. I I don't hate it. But, you know, by the same consequence, you could go to like an NBA model and just go wins loss, you know, if you really uh I mean, there's probably lots of ways to fix it. Lots of ways that could work. I mean, i yeah, it's more of an off-season consideration for me. Yeah. You want to be removed from like it's tough, like obviously you feel for the fans, but if if it's you if it's your team that's like getting inconvenienced by it, it's like, oh, you know, you have this big problem with it. And of course, next year, when it's the other way around, you you probably won't say anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Um, so yeah, it's good to it's good to be consistent on these things and not just like when it um happens to you. If you're really interested, if you're really interested in change, like that's the the better time, the more productive time to bring it up is when it's not at your expense.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yeah, oh totally.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, like I mean if you're a mammoth fan, you're maybe a little more about this with the uh you know what you are if you're the mammoth. Here's here's the thing if you're the mammoth, you're happy about your place in the stand-ins. You don't want to be two or three in the central. You want to be in the first wildcard spot and playing the winner.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

The stars in the first round, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

You're playing Anaheim, you know, maybe you have a I think everyone can agree you have a better shot against Anaheim than you do against Dallas and probably against Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

We'll see. So I mean well, playoffs are a beautiful time of the There's always something a little strange happening. Of course, yeah. There's always something a little strange.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

I mean, I guess at this point it really in the West, it really is just that last wildcard spot that's up for grabs, basically. Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

So yeah, the predators and the kings and the jets and the sharks and the kraken, all just kind of going for that one spot. Yeah, exactly. All within two points. You know, and half of those teams we thought were dead in the water. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Winnipeg is the biggest one. I think everyone thought Winnipeg was was done for, and they've just turned it on.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah. Well, they were so good last regular season. And this year, it seemed like for so long the standings were kind of locked, and it was really hard for these young teams to kind of make a move. And it seems like all of them kind of started happening at once. Like Montreal made the playoffs last year, but Anaheim's turned it around this year. And at the same time, but there's been some veteran teams that are like completely f fallen apart this year. The Panthers and the Leafs near the bottom. The Jets at the start of the year were like that. Yeah. So yeah, it's been a, I feel, maybe a really unexpected regular season in some ways.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Well, and I mean Toronto, Florida, and New York being the last three teams in the East. And New Jersey, sorry. Having your last four teams be New Jersey, Maple Leafs, Florida, and the Rangers. I think if you told people at the beginning of the season there'd be these four teams in that, in this some kind of order, at one end of the standings, everyone would be like, oh, those are the top four teams.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Yeah. They're at the bottom. I mean, the devils always find a way to fall apart, seemingly. Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

It's been a weird year in the NHL, I think, is the best, like you said, it's just the best way to describe it. Like imagine if you had put like even a dollar on Buffalo winning the East before the season started. I don't know what the odds would have been on that, but I'm sure you would have made at least a few hundred dollars. Life comes at you fast.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Life comes at you fast. And that that's a a good reminder as we head into the playoff season. All it takes is a bad week and really good week. Bad bounce, and uh a lot can go wrong. I'm remembering now at the start of every playoffs, it seems the Oilers like get blown out the first two games. Half the team is traded on by the end of game two.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Oh, sorry, by the end of game two, by the end of like halfway through the first as soon as the first goal is scored against against the Oilers, every single person on the team needs to be traded.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Yeah. That's the the glory of playoffs, the thin margins between victory and defeat.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

How about do you want to leave it there, FaZe? Well, thanks everyone for listening again to another episode of the Torp. Uh, we will see you for our playoff preview episode. And then uh hopefully we'll have many, many episodes, uh, playoff episodes in the future. Um I'm knocking on wood just in case no one could see or hear that. Uh join us next time anyway, and remember to check us out uh wherever you get your podcast and to check out our articles on the oil rig. All right, thank you.