The Oilers’ Playoff Run is Done, Now What?

Was the recent playoff run shortened because of something going catastrophically wrong? Or was it fate?

There has been a lot of buzz going around the Oilers' dressing room since the season came to an abrupt end last week, so listen along as we talk about that, and more!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:27

I'll just stay on Trital's wings.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Well, Costin, right? Like Clem Costin had a good thing going, left a and no, like I mean someone like FaZe you've made in your career. Like Toronto. I would leave you, FaZe, for four times. Rude. I would never, I would never leave. I can't believe it would take four times as much. I figured just like an extra three dollars, and you'd be like. Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Oil Rig podcast, The Torp. As usual, you you got me, FaZe and Greg here to fortunately, I guess, wrap up the Oiler season. Right, a little autopsy, perhaps. Autopsy, lots of tears, maybe. You know, I'll keep it together, I think. I'll try. Yeah, FaZe, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Did you survive the weekend?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, one of my friends definitely, like an hour after the game was like, How are you doing, bud? Do you want to come over and do you need a friend?

SPEAKER_04 1:23

We can't leave you alone. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So that was a I don't know, man. Surprisingly, actually, though I'm not. I'll say I'm not as heartbroken in a sense. I think the word resignation, I feel like, was almost a better is a better word for kind of the feeling. I don't know how you're feeling.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Well, I don't know. I don't know if I'm gonna measure it. I think I I'm feeling like the eternal optimist over here. Like, yeah, it's tough. I mean, I'm feel I'm thinking a lot of things, just like from the Euler's perspective, is like Yeah. Yeah, it's a tricky situation. I think it's given us maybe a lot of things to think about in terms of the roster, in terms of the coding, in terms of the management. I think like, yeah, there's lots of things to consider. I mean, I have some like duck slots, which I'm sure no one wants to hear.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah, I mean I think yeah, it's probably for the best in so many ways, I think. And I this is obviously for the best in the sense of we're trying to put a copium copium, so much copium. Um they're gonna be running out of reserves. But like I think it's in a sense, like this team has played a lot of hockey and like maybe just having that another break, a a two-month break, instead of less than a week between the season ending and the offseason kicking off. The four nations and the Olympics. Yeah. And I mean, it's just like I think you know, you get into that heartbreak of the first the first one was like disappointing, especially because you were like, Oh, this we came back from 3-0, this is gonna be great, and then you just fall just just shy of it. So it's heartbreaking. You come in the next year, you get back there, and then that time you ran out of gas in the finals at that point. So it's just more that's just even more frustrating. I think in a lot of ways, like having only that two months off from a mental and physical, like physical perspective makes some sense, obviously. But I think even a mental perspective, like how much time do you really have to reset? Like, at least now, like if you're the Oilers, if you're the Oilers players right now, you go off for like a month. Like you don't think about hockey, you go on vacation, you just forget what ice is. And I think for management too, like going back to the offseason thing is I do wonder if there's a lot of like panic in the sense of you don't have enough time to do that post-mortem because you've got the draft starting in like in less than a week, and then free agency a week after not even a week after that kind of thing, right? Right. So you're you're you're dealing with that disappointment, and are you just not thinking straight? Like this way, again, you've got two months to let it ruminate a bit. Ruminate, but like really approach it with a myth. Hopefully, this is what I would hope anyway. With methodical, like, okay, what do we need to do? Setting out an actual strong plan because you have that time, you know. I I think again, like it I would say it's probably better that they got knocked out in the first round this year than if they lost again in the Stanley Cup final. That's that's what I okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

If you had to choose between those two of them, like I mean, I could I I could see it. I think like an interesting maybe theme around the league this year. It's like so long with the flat cap, it's like the flat standings as well. And this year was like a big changing of power in a way. We saw a lot of young teams coming up in both conferences, you know, and the Ducks obviously among them. And I don't think that means that these older teams like the Oilers or Stars or the Panthers are like for sure done next year. But yeah, it's definitely like yeah, I think yeah, it's definitely copium to say that it's better than this or that. Yeah, I mean better is maybe not the right word, but I'm gonna use it. Right. But it's the position we're in, and I think it's like, yeah, it's like what what you do with it going forward, you know what I mean? And like I do think that like this team, especially under Jeff Jackson, Stan Bowman, where wherever you want to draw that line, is like I do think that they need to re-evaluate some things.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

I mean, this is well I mean, I think again that's that's what I wonder about with offseason or not having enough time to evaluate because you go to the Sound Cup final with um you know Holloway and those guys and stuff, and then McLeod and all of it, and then offseason comes and you're like, you know what? We need more veterans, we need to make sure we sign those veterans, and then you end up losing Holloway, Broberg. Yeah, right. So it's like it's like, well, we're so close, so screw screw the future for a little bit. And then the next year you lose again, and it's like, oh, we're old and tired. We need to get young players, also, we need to look to the future to make sure that we're going. So it was like again, obviously, that's just what I'm thinking. But yeah, it's I don't know, and like I think you look at those, the the interviews, like I don't know how many of them you you manage to watch, but yeah. I mean, dry subtle wasn't really mincing words at all. Never does. Yeah, but I think it's always the issue if you go on YouTube or sorry, Twitter or X or whatever you whatever it is, um, and you know, you get the the sound bites that sound worse than they are. Um like I think if you were just go by some of those sound bites, you would think for sure dry settle and McDavid are gone. They're absolutely killed. I will say, I don't know what your thoughts are, but the average team comment I think is getting way blown out of proportion in the sense that people are like thinking it's it's a full-on dig at the roster. Whereas I think what McDavid meant by that, and I feel like from the interviews, like the end-of-season interviews and stuff yesterday, kind of reaffirmed it for me is it's wasn't that the team is average, it's that the team played average. Right. They're playing like an average team with high expectations.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

So and I mean again, I just yeah, go.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

No, no, I mean I I I totally I mean, we talked about it all season, right? Like the not winning three in a row and uh they did it, but actually But yeah, they they definitely like played like an average team. That's a good way of putting it their face. Yeah, I don't think like and I think like Mc McDavid and Dreysidel, like and they keep it real with the post game, especially Dry Sidal has a certain like affinity to like he's able to say things in a way. I mean, there was lots of like the coaching uh comments throughout the season, lots of attention there.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Like Knoblock and his post his postseason presser is like yeah, you know, I probably like uh needed to to play Mc Mc McDavid and Dry Settle less, needed to give the rest of the team, you know, more roles and and you know, a defiant blah blah. And it's like no. Well, yeah, I think you were talking about that in November. But it's like that's what you and I have been talking about. That's what everyone's been talking about for the whole freaking year. It's like when the team was playing everyone the right, like giving everyone a role, playing everyone an equal amount or you know, whatever, not playing them under 10 minutes a game, the oilers were rolling. So again, that's why I don't think it's a huge roster construction issue that everyone's making an upgrade. Yeah. Like, I mean, like I I I I I would be shocked if Knoblock was still here to start next year. I think I think A, like you just look at the disappointment of this year. I I can't I think it's something that you just kind of have to do as a team, even if, you know, like I think, yeah. I guess I I would be shocked if he was still here, or at least if there's not some kind of huge revamp in some way, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

But like Right, right. No, I mean, I agree with you. Like a lot of the coachable metrics, people might call them, like the penalty kill efficiency, like yeah. I mean, just the general vibe, maybe that's like never winning three in a row. It's like never feeling like I think towards the end of the season, we still saw like a bit of growth. We definitely saw like when Coffee came on the bench, yeah, some more defensive improvements and coincides with Murphy and Dickinson as well. But but yeah, like I think that yeah, that that might be an easy target for change. And I agree with you that like a lot of the things is like I mean, this roster, you have so much money tied up into so many guys, like is really like not that much, even though the count's going up, there's like David's new deal is kicking in next season. It's like there's still not a ton of room to make some huge wheels and deals with the roster.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

But I agree with you that like Yeah, you have 16.5 next year in Rome with 15 players signed.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Um yeah, there's a few there's a few free agents that I think I would be interested in bringing back, considering the price point, of course. Murphy and Dickinson, I think I have some time for. I don't know about you on that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

I think I think if you're if I were to prioritize of like the Oilers free agents, it would be Murphy, would be my number one. I think he played really well. I know he's a like he's what 33 now. So, you know, the only issue would be if he's looking for his like last cash-in contract and someone out there is gonna give him like a four-year deal, then maybe not. Right. Unless he's gonna sign four years at two million a year, then okay, sure, spread that out. Like a guy, this guy was making four million dollars this year, like four point four. I I would sign him for a two-year deal at that uh amount again for sure. And so he would be my my priority. I mean, again, Dickinson, also a four point something million, four point two, four point three million dollar player. Uh I have time for it as well. Uh it's it's it's it's I think it would just depend on. I wouldn't want to be giving term too much term to either of these guys. That's the only issue I would have. Right. But like for next year, I would a hundred percent bring them back. Yeah. And then I mean Henrik is, I think, as good as gone. Yeah. Oh, Kapanin, you gotta bring Kapanen back. I don't know what the value's gonna be there, like how much he's gonna be looking for, but I think you've got to bring Kevin back.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Kapanen's interesting because like just based on how hard it's been to f for him to find like a good spot in his career. Yeah, I could see him being like, you know what, I'll just stay on Tri Tidal's wings.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Well, like often, right? Like Clem left to and note like I mean someone like phase you've made in your career. Like totally. I would leave you phase for four times. Oh my god. I would never, I would never leave.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

I can't believe it would take four times as much.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

I figured just like an extra three dollars and you'd be like But yeah, like Hawks and goes and his career kind of went down the the tank, right? Like I think there's something to be said about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Yeah, no, it's definitely even outside of hockey, the NHL is like it's uh something interesting to think about is like the legacy that you can build in a stable situation versus like the short-term bonus of having a bit more money on your contract and maybe going somewhere that's not gonna help you long term, you know. Yeah, Kevin, what a what a year, man. I mean, I think it really just there's some good things about Kavanen, obviously, but I think like a moment of appreciation for Dry Sidal, like it was so good in the series. McDavid was like maybe the worst that I've ever seen him play. Yeah. You know, I mean, it was obviously he he was hurt. Um it was very obvious. Like yeah, some of the there was that one play where like he didn't he had uh had the puck in his own zone. He normally he's turning back, he's looping around, and he just like heats up right across the middle. Like it's like that was a really shocking, shocking moment. And obviously, like hopefully he's gonna be feeling better next year. I think like the results of the series are so much different, obviously, if if he's anywhere close to full house, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

That's exactly it. And that's why everyone's like, again, there's all this noise about roster construction, they're not a good team, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, you know who were our best players in that series in the term and was the not not the big boys necessarily. Like Dry Siddle was really good. But otherwise, like I would say Kapan and Pod Colson, yeah, even like Doc to a certain like like they were the ones carrying the bag. I think you know, Bouchard wasn't good, which is unfortunate. Yeah, that's but like at the end of the day, like they don't think it's the it's the other flip of the coin here where it's dry sided, like the the big boys weren't really pulling their weight, you know. That means that the team around them, I think, was constructed well, but those guys take up like dry saddle McDavid and Dickinson, because Dickinson was also injured, thirty that's $28 million a cap. And your first three centers. Exactly. So if they're not playing up, if they're not at their best, like what team is gonna be able to fight through that? So and I think they did a pretty decent job. Like they lost in six, it's not great.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Right. And as much as like, man, Nick David on the ice, obviously incredible season, but off the ice, an amazing season with a pillow fight division. Yeah. But like the Ducks, man, they're they're young, they're on the rise. I don't think you can like I don't think that it does anyone a service to pretend like they're not a a worthy opponent, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Like Right, yeah, yeah. Like this isn't uh this isn't a well like Anaheim was in the lead of the division for a big chunk of the the season. Right. I think Anaheim beats Vegas. I do think Anaheim beats Vegas. I hope so. I think one time weather like, yeah, we want the team that beat us to win, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

No, well the Ducks, they're like they're young, they're fun. I and I think we said this before going into the series, like they they're more talented than their results show. Like they're still learning how to win, they're still learning how and we kind of saw that right before our eyes. Like all season the penalty kill was not good. And and they locked in, and they locked in, and that's that's huge. Yeah, to under that pressure to come up big like that. Like so they're they're definitely ending.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I feel like we we didn't really c contemplate the uh the Woodcroft factor, and I think that probably did play a huge part. He knows how these guys play how how they what makes them tick and everything. So from the other side, right probably pretty helpful.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

And I mean, I think Woodcroft actually some like dry sidle comments really remind me of Woodcroft, where he was talking about like just building, and this is maybe like my Woodcroft day stuff, like foraging an identity throughout the season. It's like even no matter what you did last year, you like come into a new year, you have to like re-earn that build that cohesion, you know?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, well, and I'm it was like Derek Roy, like after Tippett got fired and Woodcroft brought up got brought on, Derek Roy like made a very pointed comment, right? Of along that line of now I have a role, like everyone's being told do and that you you do play a role. You're not just filling ice until McDavid and Dreisile will get back on. And I think Noblock lost that plot this year extremely hard. Especially, I think there was an interview near the beginning of the year, and he was like, The identity of the team is McDavid and Dreisott. And it's like, no, it's fucking not. Like that's that's not the identity of the team. That's that's those are your best players. These are the guys who do obviously a huge amount of the heavy lifting. Maybe that's the identity of the team, and like, you know, you think they McDavid and Dreisettle. That's fine. The identity of the team that they that you are as a coach is saying is not these are our two best players, that's all that matters. Like that's not an identity. Right. And that's another reason.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

Like, so I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

I don't think you figure back, is my personal thought.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

I might agree with you. Yeah, no, I think that what I would do if I was in charge uh would be a lot of like maybe more so off-ice changes than on-ice changes. I think like for example, keeping Dickinson or someone in that role, I think that's really important to creating like a bigger identity, is having a player who's really gonna like champion that defensive role down the middle. I mean, there I think there's like there's gonna be there's lots of younger players who are gonna be factors next year um that you need to like empower. So part of that is Samansky, part of that is Doc. And those that's gonna give some identity to the bottom six. Part of it's gonna be like seeing if Isaac Howard is gonna be ready for a bigger role, or seeing if Matt Savoy is ready to be at his best all season. Um, so yeah, I mean there there's definitely like some good opportunities there, especially like in the current roster, where I think you could go into next season without a huge amount of roster changes and feel a lot better about where the team is going. Maybe maybe not everyone agrees with that. Goalies, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I think that's the only that's the biggest. It's always been the biggest, it continues to be the biggest, it's super annoying. But that's the one area that I think, yeah, you that's the one area you you can't be bringing back the same necessarily. The rest of the roster, if you can add, if you can tweak great. Um but if you were to run back this exact same roster of players. Right. Skaters. I'm not too disappointed by that. Like I think I think I think you'd obviously at some point during the season you'd want to add in some way, but I think that team would be good enough in the right circumstances to to get to the point where then you can it's not a risk to let them play. You still do well, but then you have the ability to take your time at that point to say, okay, here is the actual issues, right? Like, okay, we do have this gap, we do have that gap, but it's the goalie that's the issue. And yeah, we've the really unfortunate thing is yet again, we've tied ourselves right before it looks like there actually could be goalies available. Like Gustafson is a hundred percent. Oh, I mean, I guess their season's not over yet, but like you gotta think he's shaking loose.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Obviously, he's still Benington, yeah. Benington, Cosa even is an interesting one. Oh, could that would be I mean Toronto is an interesting spot to watch because some of their like yeah, there's like a few goalies that are just gonna be like no longer waiver eligible next season. So I might force people's hands. So Kosa, Hildeby, I think are in that group. Right. I mean, yeah, with their there's the younger goalies like Hofer and Walstead that are kind of like maybe usurping some thrones. Um yeah. Uh and I think like, you know, maybe people can like take their pick of of which one of those options they think is best or whatever. Uh I think I think like we also get focused on the NHL picture. I think maybe there's some interesting answers within the Euler system with Connor Unger.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Or uh John Jansen.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Yeah, I mean he's further away. I'm I'm a fan of his, but I think, yeah, him and Day and Vinny, like people like all three to very varying extents. But like Unger is the one that's like he sh deserves a look. Like next preseason. Yeah. Next preseason, like you definitely want to see him against some NHL shooters and stuff. Like it's it's time to see what you got in a way, you know. So I wouldn't hate if you know, if you have like a Bennington Unger tandem next year, I think that's could be something that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

I mean, I would I would actually say I'd be more comfortable almost going, you know what? If we can just clear Jari and you can't get someone like Gustavson, or you know, I still just praying for Swayman. I know it's absolutely never gonna happen for some reason. I got into my head that when he was in the contract negotiations, and I but like if you're not getting someone like Gustavson like that, I think I would say, you know what, resign Ingram. You can probably get him for like less than $2 million, I'm sure. Right. Maybe around $2 million. And then yeah, you've got Unger, Janssen, Day. Like at that point, I'd rather run that risk and have the money than tying up again in someone like Bennington, where it's could just be another disaster and you're just it's making the same mistake over and over. Right.

unknown 21:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

But like, I mean, you think about I think one of the things is like the Talbot method is almost that's probably the better method to go. Is the guy who is a backup, but like is everyone's acknowledging is on the cusp of being a starter. That's probably the way to go. I I don't know if like Kosa doesn't quite fit into that mold because he's younger and and a lot more well thought of. But like, you know, I I think that I think that's the way to go. Like Talbot was how old when we got him? Twenty eight. Yeah, he was 28. He had just played two seasons as a backup in New York. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think I think I don't know if there is someone like that. Uh there's no one that's like really pushing off in my head, but I mean there definitely is.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Like people were referencing, uh especially like Alex Lyon. Like oh yeah. Because Buffalo's got like an interesting, I mean, that might be another situation to look at for.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Hey, Lion Pekka, uh Uka Pekka, and uh Colton Ellis is pretty young and Devin Levi's still there.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

I mean, some people might have to make some decisions. I mean, there's Z Pietro in the Bruins. He keeps winning the AHL goalie of the year, and no one wants to give him a shot. I think in free agency, like instead of signing you know, Mangiapani or um Arvidson or Skinner right at the start of free agency when it's high dollar, you'll wait till August or September and Jack Roslovic's still sitting there and get him for less money and less term.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, I totally think that that's the approach, is is like you said, like look for those value deals kind of thing. If it's someone who's not a top-of-the-line player, a must-have player.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yeah. Like not overextending yourself in a way like yeah, uh yeah. Lots of and I would say I think like the goaltending one is so interesting because obviously lots of people say in general goaltending is voodoo. Like, you know, you just look around the league and it's like, I don't know. I think maybe people have this conversation with like running backs in in football where where they talk about like, oh, like the running back maybe like sets the ceiling for how good your run game can be, but the offensive line sets the floor of like exactly so. It's like teams like Minnesota, it's like every goal that goes through there seems to play well. I wonder why. Let's trade a first to get them. Yeah. No, and that's probably true. Let's trade Gustafson for Talbot, and that will fix all our goaltending problems. Yeah, that's just throwing shade at the Sens. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like Yeah. And then Buffalo finally they start winning, and all of a sudden it's like Ellis looks good and Lukanen looks good, and Alex Lyons is starting. Yeah, who would have who would have thought? So I even even Ingram, like for the Oilers, like he might be in their capan situation where he might leave money on the table to stay in Edmonton for one reason or another. Like if it's a good situation for him, I could see that. But like, you know, it's not like he was a high heralded free agent signing here, you know. He was like cast off, basically.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah. Well, exactly, right? Like, and that's why I think I think that's why I think you could probably get him on a pretty cheap deal, is right. Anyone's out there clamoring to give him a long-term deal. Or a starting spa. Or a starting position or anything. So you you sign here. Because again, even if we bring someone, even if you do bring you are managing to to dump Jar Jari and bring someone else in, then you have a good tandem. You know you have that that person who you can om you can rely on to a certain extent to be the starter. Um, which would be the difference between him and Pickard. Is Pickard you knew you could he could jump in for for times, but you knew he was never be able to to carry the load like Ingram did at the end of this year, for instance.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Right. No. Pickard was a great, great, you know, addition to the team, filled in a lot of gaps and some lean years for sure, but yeah. I think maybe you should hope for more uh yeah. So even like Ingram and Unger next season might be interesting, low cost. I mean Connors, we have to have only so many Connor we have to have. All Connor. No, I mean we'll see. Yeah, Jari is definitely gonna be an interesting situation there.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

I guess bio's not great by any means. Um is anyone gonna take him? For a price. For a price, yeah. So what is that price? It's probably worth the payment almost. Um a penny what it would be, but yeah, like you buy him out, you save well, you save six hundred thousand this year, one point two next year, and then I mean it's only half a million for the next two years, but like really buying him out, saving you know, you still have a four point seven or four point two million dollar capit, it's probably not worth it. You never know, he could get his game back. I'd rather do that than than having such a minimal savings. No, not at all. No, like maybe on I have game three. Like maybe game three, maybe game three, you could you could point to goaltending, but it that was more not that goaltending was the fault, is that goaltending that was the one game where goaltending really did not cover the mistakes that the players were making. Yeah. Like I don't think I don't think the goaltend if the goaltending wasn't necessarily amazing, but at least it was like the players made some mistakes and it didn't always end up in the back of the net for the other games. That game it was like every mistake was in the back of the net. But that's gonna happen. One bad game in a series is I mean, it's not like Dostel was great really up until Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Right. Well, I mean, I definitely like some people say maybe you need your goalie to steal you a game or two in every series, you know. Maybe that's a valid argument.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah, that's true. And I think that's true, but I don't think, yeah, I don't think you fully put this on the goalies, but yeah. I actually, you know who I blame? I blame rotisserie chicken guy. Yeah, no. That game. I'm at that game. The Oilers just score to tie it up. The place is rocking. We have the puck in the offensive zone, and that happens, and it's a rotisserie chicken. That's not a I don't think it's a quick fix. It's you got chicken all over the ice. So it took like forever. So you just gave Anaheim a free timeout. The crowd is now kind of out of it. Like that guy, I don't he's wearing an Oilers jersey. I don't think he's an Oilers fan. If he is, we don't claim you, we don't need you, you idiot. Because if they do come back and win that game, it's 2-0, and the Oilers haven't played very well. But if you're Anaheim, you're just like, what like what else can we do almost? Right. But it was a huge inflection point. Right? Instead, Anaheim's like, okay, nope, just keep going. Well, well, it doesn't matter if they're ahead, we will always battle back like we have that ability. Like I think that was such a huge momentum turner.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Yeah. So definitely you could point to it before and after, because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

But I mean, but I would say it's it's evidence that a well-used timeout could help. Because if Anaheim had c Anaheim didn't call a timeout there, and it's like, oh, maybe they should have, actually, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah. No, I was thinking about um the guy from Chicago, Bartman, the fan, and how much hate he got. But like I think that was more like an honest mistake. Whereas this was like an intentionally poor decision.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Well, I think in a baseball game, you got you're a fan, you got a baseball point to you, you're kind of like, yeah, I can catch it. Yeah. This is yeah, you're you're absolutely meaning. And that's the thing, like, you shouldn't throw anything on the ice anyway. Obviously, we're not advocating for that. Just want to make it clear. But like, if you're gonna throw something, like people do it, like we I think there was the Alberta beef stuff that was being done. They did it either before the game or you know, like, not when the game is going on.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

So I think the photo is still my favorite, though. Of the guy, like, he is so happy, so he can tell he looks like he thinks everyone's like, he's this guy's awesome, he's so cool that he threw this. And the guy behind him is just like, the fuck is wrong with you? And I'm like, every other fan is the second guy.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Yeah. I can't believe he didn't you throw a duck, you know. Sorry? That he wasn't a duck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Maybe she buyed a duck, too. You just went to like costume. All right.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Clearly, not much thought put into it.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

It definitely was like from up there, you're like, what the hell is all that? Because like it splays over and like I'm in the upper bowl, and you're like, what? Like, what did he throw? Is that nacho? Is this another nachos situation?

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Right. They said nachos on our at least before we got your intrepid reporting. Nacho's. Oh man. Yeah, I don't think I would throw anything on the ice. I guess you're allowed to.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Well, you do that, you're getting banned. You're getting banned for life.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Unless it's a hat trick when you're allowed. Yeah, thank you. Do you imagine instead of a hat instead of a hat, but sometimes the hat trick is total fucking trick?

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Um yeah, so I don't know, Faze. So, like, do we have anything else we want to get to today? I mean, we could should we have a Stan Bowman discussion?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Uh I think with Bowman, like, again, I I talk about this, I don't think it was fully a roster construction issue. And so his job is roster construction. I think it was a coaching issue. And so that's not to say Bowman, like, I think obviously the Jari trade was the biggest misfire of the year, and it was a panic trade. But you know, and I I think I've talked about this before, and I know, like, I think one of the things that was different about this year, too, and it seemed to be both in the Oilers' dressing room, but even in the fan base in Edmonton, just in Oilers writ large, was two years of disappointment. There was no joy in hockey anymore. It's as fans, you could tell it's it's as soon as any mistake happens. This is the worst team that's ever happened. I'm so sick of this. This is awful. Like it's just constantly. Like, I you could feel that in the crowd even during the playoffs. You know, the play is going on, it's a zero-zero game, and a puck hops over a stick like it's wont to do. It doesn't even lead to anything. It maybe barely breaks that, maybe it breaks the momentum, whatever. And just all all around, are you f ⁇ ing kidding me, Boucher? Are you like like just it's constant negativity? And like you can say outside noise doesn't matter. You can say they're getting paid millions of dollars, so it shouldn't, blah, blah, blah. But like when you can feel the energy in the rink. And I think just the general, again, just the general attitude. I I think it's there is something you said about putting it out there. And again, I'm not I'm not blaming this on the fans. It's not what I'm trying to say. But I think you have that in the dressing room as well, it seemed like this gripping the stick. We talk about gripping the sticks too tight when you play hockey. And that's kind of what it felt like for the whole season of just we've been through it twice now. We have to win this year. This is just gonna suck. And it's just, I don't know, it's a it's a sport, it's a game. You have to have fun. You're not gonna win the cup if you're not having fun while you're playing. And I think there was no there was no joy there. And maybe it goes back to again, and if it's we're talking about in the dressing room part, players not having a role. If you're like a third-line player and you're like, I'm just here to to fill up ice time until those guys go back, how are you gonna have fun playing hockey? Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

And I'm just uh gonna get blamed for this and that.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Exactly. So I think I think that's that's another reason why I'm like, you know what, I'm kind of okay with this because we still made the playoffs at least, and at least we have the injury excuse or whatever. Now everyone has another two months to calm down. Two months to not be constantly thinking about the Oilers, like, right? We can you can watch hockey if you want or whatever, but like there's not really gonna be much to talk about after this like upcoming week because there's not gonna your trades aren't really allowed or anything like that. Like oilers-wise, right? It's gonna, you're gonna be able to, everyone, like I said, the players are gonna have to go away, not focus on hockey. The fans are gonna be able to, like, I think the city needs to take a collective breath, whether it's like everyone involved with the oilers, fans, players, management, everyone, the ice crew, everyone just needs a break. Uh and like I think that that could help. I think that mental reset could help. Again, maybe this is copium.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah. I mean, to me, it was really that like kind of constant negativity is like obvious in a couple places. One of them was like with the whole Skinner. And eventually for Jari is like, it's like every time he let in a goal, it's like, see, we can never get it done with this guy. I can't believe he's back. One of my one of my least favorites is when people are like, since you know, Shirelli was here, we've been looking for like a goalie and a top defenseman, and none of these guys have done anything. Like, whack home, Bujar.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

I mean, Smithy Coskin were we're pretty decent.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

If we had Smith Coskin level goal tighting, we'd get we'd have a cop or two. But I think that it's exactly it, though. It's like there's been times where like you're watching the game, it could be like I've seen a double deflection. A double deflection where there's absolutely no way the goalie could stop it because it like deflects one way is going wide and deflects in again. And I've heard people being like, This is why we need a goalie. And I'm like, you could put a sumo rest up covering the entire fucking net in that situation, it would have gone in. Like, so again, whether that's and like I think that and I don't think that's because people are actually like stupid and don't know hockey. I think it's just frustration seeping through. Right. Right. It's it's negativity, it's for some reason losing these past two years has brought back a lot of the feelings of the decade of darkness. It's just a hopelessness. Um that resignation I was talking about before. So I that's why I think take these, take these two months, these extra two months, you know, it it can help.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

I think I think my like most controversial positive take here is is gonna be like about nurse.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Where I think he's like falling into that category as well, or people are like, he's gotta go. Even some people that like I really respect their hockey takes in general. It's like he's just taking so many penalties and just giving so many giveaways, and yeah, it's deflecting off is terrible. If we gotta save money, like he's the one who's gotta go. I'm like, man, he's playing like he's averaging like more than 22 minutes a night in the playoffs. He's playing the shutdown roles, he's like got like under 20% offensive start. He's plus four, yeah. No, yeah. And people are like he's like the best.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

That's what we need from him. But yeah, like I mean, it's all like it goes off of him in a situation where that could happen. Like, that's not a situation where it's him putting a stick or putting him about it. It just happens, but then it's like, of course it's nurse. And if you're saying in a joking way, that's one thing, like how anytime Hyman scored a goal and it was looking to get reviewed, we were like but it's with that. I the one thing I wonder with Nurse, I was just talking to some friends about it yesterday, and it kind of clicked with me about because I think the biggest problem we can all agree is is the contract. If Nurse was making even seven, maybe even seven point five million, I think there's a lot less angst and and whatever on him, right? But I think what I wonder is if there is the possibility if he is considering a move, like if he would be open to being traded. You know, everyone talks about how next year his trade protection um lessens to like the 10 team thing. But that's where I'm like, you know what, we might actually that might make this summer or this year a better opportunity, because with the no movement, he has full control on where he goes. So if he knows that he's likely going to be traded next offseason on his 10-team list, if he has the ability to be told, hey, we have those 10 options, but like you can actually choose which one you go to. Or like you can right, or your agent, if you are lucky that your agent will give permission for him to talk to teams that you want to and see. Like, and then he's in full control, and so if he does want to leave, it's kind of like a free agency kind of thing, at least. Whereas after once his trade protection goes down, like the team might still do him a solid, don't get me wrong. But if the team's I see what you're saying. Right. If the team's like like you can say, yeah, I'm okay with any of these 10 teams, but let's be serious, like you're probably gonna have one or two that you really want to.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

Yeah. Honestly, I maybe I'm just so wrong on this, because I think every year it gets harder for me to justify my opinion. Well, two other people within myself, I still believe it. I think that like if you get rid of nurse, it's virtually no one on the market who can play his role, who's gonna better than he is right now, you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yeah, I think the question is with Wallman can step into that. If Walman can step into that and if we can keep his play out.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Yeah. And like we saw, Wallman and Murphy like didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

And then Well, that's that's a huge reason to keep Murphy. Murphy and Nurse played pretty well together.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Yeah, and like the and we're talking like a shutdown role, not playing with McDavid. And Nurse, like, he's he's big and he skates well enough to shut down some top players, but he's also like obviously he's not Bouchard and people like complain about the icings or the giveaways, but like there's a reason he's moving the puck so much. It's like because you could put him with a CC or a Murphy, you know. Whereas like if you just sign like another, like for example, maybe one of the better possible free agents is Mario Ferraro. It's like uh I don't know if he can, you know, handle the main puck moving duties on a pair with with Murphy, you know. I don't know if that's well it could. But yeah, I I'm really like I'm really pro-Nurse. I think he's done a really great job. I think there's lots of teams in the league who he would improve their team instantly. And I think that if you're trying to save a couple million dollars, there's like people who actually do way less on this team that I would rather get rid of rather than the guy who's like their lead shutdown defenseman.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Well, and I think and we've talked about it before too. Like I always bring up, you know, world juniors when Nurse was an all-star without putting up a point because he was so dominant defensively. And a part of me wonders if you again you bring Murphy back and you put him with Nurse, and unlike it, where it's like, okay, Nurse and Cece are the second pairing, you guys got to be a two-way pairing because you both have shown offensive touches in the past or whatever. So we're gonna rely on you to also move the puck. Whereas you put him with Murphy, and I think this is kind of what happened in the last little while, is we put him with Murphy, and it's like you guys are you're a shutdown pair. You are our shutdown pair. Because we've got Bouchard and Eckholm and Wolman and Emerson who are the the two pairings with an offensive and a defensive guy. You guys, and so like we can put them on, but realistically, you know, if we need to have an absolute stop, like just bunker down shift, it's you guys going over the boards. And I wonder if again that mentality to Nurse, you know, helps him bring back that defensive beast that he was projected to be in any event. And yeah, so maybe that's the cure. Maybe that is it. And which case then you've got to bring Murphy back for sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah, no, I mean Murphy, I think, yeah, did so well. Yeah, it's hard to find players like that, especially kind of at a reasonable cost, you know, like people are out here like sacrificing everything for Brandon Carlo.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:49

You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Like, no, I totally get that. And is Murphy better than Carlo? Like, maybe, you know? I would certainly already make that argument. I think it's comparable. I think they do maybe certain things or similar things well. Uh can play a similar role. So, like, yeah, I think like, anyways, that's my that's my compassion. Like, I'm just I'm I'm still a nurse supporter, and I can't believe like how few people are with me on this, you know. It's like inside of the Oilers fan base or not. It's like I just think that, yeah, I don't know. I think people are just because his like coursey is his relative coursey isn't like yeah, really good. People are like, oh yeah, he's useless. Obviously, the contract being too much is a big part of it. But yeah, he still brings so much to the team. Last year I was saying he was the shift leader of the Oilers in the playoffs, and how many coaching staffs have been through and they still need him. They still need him to be that guy, and they need him to be that guy next year, even if he could trade him for nothing. Lots of people think that would be a huge win, but no, and you're not.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

No, that's the thing is you're not trading him for nothing. This isn't a Jari situation where it's like it's solely to get him off the books. It's it's trading him to get him off the books and trying to still recover some kind of kind of it's it's it's the equivalent of trading Kulak and getting Stazny back, or trading when you let Holloway and Brolberg go and you get Pod Colson and Emerson. It's it's so it's probably again, I guess it depends on your perspective. So you're probably not getting a player of the cali the high caliber that nurse is, the 9.2 player.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

But you're getting a better value. But you're probably getting a better value deal. But like this season, like it's not like there's a huge free agent class. Like, who are you gonna spend all that extra money on that's gonna help you? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Like I mean Day Arnay's available, and Dreysidle brought him up in his post-game or in his postseason.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Vinny Dearnay. Yeah, I'm uh I'm I love Vinny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

He's a free agent, and I could a hundred percent see what him coming back.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

Like well, I don't know. He's gonna be really nice with Stasny, probably, or Wallman.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

Well, I mean, then then you're yeah, the question then is because then the bolt blue line's pretty full at that point. Ek home, Bouche, Walman, nurse. If you do bring back Murphy, I should say Murphy, Emerson, Stasny, Deharnay. That's eight defensemen.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Yeah. I mean, you need a lot. I still have some hope for regular, but yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

I think, I think, yeah. But I mean, you know what? He's he's still young, like he can easily bring it together, but he's definitely no longer that player that I think you're like, you're kind of putting some I think there was some expectation this year that he was gonna be a regular or be very very close to being a regular soon. I think it's now it's like hold on to him, like I think we still have him under contract or whatever. Like, we're not gonna just dump him necessarily, but he doesn't really have a spot. Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

So hopeful he can pan out, but there's no longer any um Well, I mean, for me, he's still producing in the AHL. He missed like whatever, two full seasons. And then the the really tall guys normally like they take a bit longer to develop anyways. Videos. Like you're telling me sure he's 25. He missed two seasons and he's big like that. Like, man, I'm I'm very circling. If I'm on other teams, yeah. I'll throw you a seventh.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

Well, and I don't think I don't think they trade him for a seventh. I I don't think I don't think he is he's a guy that maybe maybe he has to go in and to get rid of Jari. Maybe that's the sweetener or something. But otherwise, like all I'm saying is I don't think the Oilers are I think he was a big thought as being part of the immediate future kind of thing. Right. Around it, but you know what I mean? We've got him, we've got him penciled in in two years down the line, even to be potentially pushing for that second pairing spot with Emerson. Right. And now I think it's like, well, we're gonna hold on to him and hopefully he gets back to it, but he's down the depth chart for the future. He's gonna really if he gets on the team, it's because he's really taken a huge step versus we've kind of penciled it in and he's playing well enough to keep that spot. Like there's a difference there, I think.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

But you know what? People talk about us not having assets.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Maybe, maybe he's that asset that like definitely, I definitely agree that there's especially we talked about like the scarcity of right-hand defensemen, especially big right-hand defensemen. And he's kind of so interesting because like some of his fancy stats are really good, and HL production is like really good, like not defensive defensemen, like, oh whoa, this guy has game.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

So yeah, I'd be just like he was just so unlucky.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

It was the biggest thing. It was yeah, and yeah, just the time missed, and I don't know, just like the profile of like of defensemen taking longer, bigger players taking longer. Yeah, I think to me, if I was working for a front office around the league and we were looking for some kind of answer at right defenseman, and I was making a list of like maybe three or four players that I think we could get at a low cost that might have room to grow, he's might be number one on on the on that list of like, man, it's not gonna cost that much. Yeah, yeah. I for sure. I'm uh maybe I'm just completely off on it, but we'll see if he if he gets a chance to do so with the Oilers. You never know, because he's been yeah, he's maybe he's fallen out of favor. I don't I don't know what the situation is there.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Yeah, it's it'll come down to training camp. But again, you have to remember we have one, two, three, four, we have five of our defensemen under contract already for next year. Um, none of those guys, like those guys all have spots. Like I think Emerson played really well this year and is now certified into the top into a diff that third right spot. And that's regular, that's what regular would be competing for. So that's again, that's what I'm saying. Like he would have to really be putting on a great like performance to be like, okay, we we we have to put him in kind of thing. Because that's Emerson's right now. But well, we know that Knobloch likes if you keep Murphy, then maybe that opens the spot for a regular over Emerson because Emerson's a defensive guy as well. And it's like if we need more punch from the back end, that's where Regula comes in.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

Yeah, I mean Knobloch coached Emerson in the AHL. Yeah. So maybe that might be tied to the decision too, is like if there's a new coach, there's a new chance to kind of there's a power vacuum in the depth chart, you know, like things can get reshuffled a bit. Not that not that Emerson can only be liked by Knobloch, but rather that like those things kind of change the equation.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

No, I get I just think I think Emerson played really well. Like I do think he he took a huge step forward. I was worried after last year that maybe it wasn't gonna pan out, and I was super comfortable with him this year.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

Me less so. Me less so. That's all right. That's all right. Because it seems like his uh ice time in the playoffs, like it's kind of like the it starts the you know, game one or two, and then it's like see, see you never have fun on the bench.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Yeah, like well, he was at like he was at he started off 10 minutes, no, he created 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 14, 14, back to 10 and then 13.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Yeah. I mean, I and to me if you look at the ice, the rest of the defenseman, it's like he's clearly number six. I mean, mind you, it's he's clearly number six. Mind you, it's uh a tough top five to to kind of break in over.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 48:32

I'm just yeah, there's lots of time to figure it out. A lot can change.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Yeah, exactly. So much can change.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

We have a whole offseason.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

I know, I know. Yeah, there's a lot coming up. Like you said, maybe some time to kind of decompress here for a while. I mean, the draft it's not necessarily gonna be a huge spot for the warriors to be in the news. I mean, trades do get made.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Yeah, I mean, we have four we have four picks in this upcoming draft. So it's it's not gonna be I don't think it's gonna be much uh ado for us anyway, barring obviously a trade.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

Yeah. Well, what do you say, Fayez? Do you want to call it there? Yeah, right. I don't think it is a good one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

All right. Well, thanks everyone for uh listening to us. This will probably be the last Torp episode for a little bit, considering the break. We're just talking about having to take a break, so maybe, but maybe something comes up that we want to talk about. But otherwise, yeah, thanks again for listening to us. We'll talk to you soon. And uh remember to check us out, get your podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and to also check out what uh Greg and I are going to be saying in the off season at theoilerrig.ca. I'm sure uh we'll have some plenty more amazing insights like we had today. All right, see you guys.