Who? The canucks?
They clearly have flaws, but their demise is exaggerated imo.
Sedins, kesler, burrows, depth on d and lu is still quality.

The kings are one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the league imo
- hugefemale dog77

no, I was talking about how the Kings offense disappeared in the playoffs all of a sudden, LA will not be the monsters everybody is expecting, I like the Oilers and Canucks over there for 1st this year..

The nucks are still a good team. Top 8 imo.
But regressing and certainly not as good as the previous years.
Id pick them to finish 3rd in the pacific
- hugefemale dog77

Yep sounds about right, they haven't added anything to prove you wrong, but as you said, i think the team isn't as bad as people have tried to claim, all because they lost Schneider...I think the biggest problem was losing Ehrhoff...once he was gone...they were not deadly at all in the playoffs...which is sad to see...but their forward prospects are starting to give me hope, Gaunce, Schroeder, Jensen, Shinkaruk, Horvat, Corrado...certainly won't be a huge drop off once they get experience...

no, I was talking about how the Kings offense disappeared in the playoffs all of a sudden, LA will not be the monsters everybody is expecting, I like the Oilers and Canucks over there for 1st this year..
- French-Connection

no one seems to give the kings credit, they have been proving people wrong that say that...

Yep sounds about right, they haven't added anything to prove you wrong, but as you said, i think the team isn't as bad as people have tried to claim, all because they lost Schneider...I think the biggest problem was losing Ehrhoff...once he was gone...they were not deadly at all in the playoffs...which is sad to see...but their forward prospects are starting to give me hope, Gaunce, Schroeder, Jensen, Shinkaruk, Horvat, Corrado...certainly won't be a huge drop off once they get experience...
- annoyance_101

So you think the Loungo thing is over and done with?

I personally expect fireworks come training camp....

no, I was talking about how the Kings offense disappeared in the playoffs all of a sudden, LA will not be the monsters everybody is expecting, I like the Oilers and Canucks over there for 1st this year..
- French-Connection

St. Loo is one if the best defensive teams in the league.
Made it to the final 4 and lost to the blackhawks who were the very best team in the league.
I thought they played pretty well.

Kopitar, quick, brown, doughty, voynov, richards, carter

I dont see how anyone can consider them anything less than elite

no one seems to give the kings credit, they have been proving people wrong that say that...
- annoyance_101

it was like their time as champs and maybe to dominate was over when Kane scored in OT..I really dont think they are gonna play awesome like most fans think, I always expect the unexpected..the Oilers and Canucks are my picks, with the Oilers just sneaking out on top..but the Canucks going deeper in the playoffs

So you think the Loungo thing is over and done with?

I personally expect fireworks come training camp....
- StargateSG1

Way overblown.

He'll show up to camp and play his asz off.
Even if he wants out he has to if he wants any chance of being moved.

So you think the Loungo thing is over and done with?

I personally expect fireworks come training camp....
- StargateSG1

Cool story bro, until it happens...Why would I worry about that?

If he becomes the starter for the Olympic team, he has that under his belt, where he earned it, and the deadly contract has 1 more year gone...it becomes more of an attraction as years go on...his drop in play hasn't happened as of yet

St. Loo is one if the best defensive teams in the league.
Made it to the final 4 and lost to the blackhawks who were the very best team in the league.
I thought they played pretty well.

Kopitar, quick, brown, doughty, voynov, richards, carter

I dont see how anyone can consider them anything less than elite
- hugefemale dog77

they made one last "run"..coming back in that series vs the Blues with the 4 straight wins..but u could tell from that point on any win was a struggle..they were lucky to beat San Jose really

You can't just look at it by the numbers. Just as Edmonton was getting their legs under them, Dubnyk would let in a softie. Then the momentum is gone. Also do you remember when Edmonton came back from the Colorado game down 4-1? Dubnyk was completely bailed out by the team in that one.
- TomKlassen

Yup, after saving 2-3 shots that should have been goals.

Uhm no actually the puck hit the ref when Taylor Hall tried to dump it in. Then Carter was streaking down the WING, not even down the middle. Dubnyk should have made the save, but he didn't, thus why I said he lets in goals at the worst time.
- TomKlassen

Yup, while keeping the Oilers in most games early on, and saving 2-3 shots that should definitely be goals... But yeah, let's blame Dubnyk... No other goalies ever let in softies from time to time.

they made one last "run"..coming back in that series vs the Blues with the 4 straight wins..but u could tell from that point on any win was a struggle..they were lucky to beat San Jose really
- French-Connection

San Jose should have won that series

So you think the Loungo thing is over and done with?

I personally expect fireworks come training camp....
- StargateSG1

Loungo has been a pro thru all of this. He may be mad, but he won't want to hurt the team, and he is under contract. I think he will have a really good season.

Yup, while keeping the Oilers in most games early on, and saving 2-3 shots that should definitely be goals... But yeah, let's blame Dubnyk... No other goalies ever let in softies from time to time.
- laughs2907

Cherry picking your arguments is not how you win them.

Again, can you point to specific games where Goaltending was bad and it cost them? The San Jose one jumps out at you, but other than that there weren't many...
- Morris

Agreed. This whole Dubnyk thing is blown way out of proportion. It's crazy, and inaccurate.

Cherry picking your arguments is not how you win them.
- TomKlassen

How am I cherry picking anything. He kept the Oilers in most games this season... It's not his fault the Oilers would fall apart late in the games. Unless you want Dubnyk to score goals too, you can't pin this on him. A save in the first is just as important as a save in the 2nd or 3rd... When your team isn't scoring, it's NOT the goalies fault. Morris did a little research on that... You can disagree with facts all you want.

Dubnyk's not doing a poor job just because he can't keep the team's spirits up in games where they're barely mustering 20 shots and allowing 35 (like every game).

It's misplaced aggression to blame Dubnyk for letting in 3 goals when facing 35 shots. Many you feel like the team will never have the confidence they need without an above average, possibily elite goalie that will night in night out put the team on its back but A) I don't think we need that and B) I think we'd go a lot further improving the roster such that we don't need an elite goalie.

If we reach the point where we're allowing 28 shots a night, out-shooting the other team, and losing, then its time to improve goaltending. But the defense sucks, the possession numbers suck, and the effort/maturity sucks, and getting an elite goalie to inspire players doesn't seem like a prudent way to address those problems.
- Morris

Quit talking sense, Morris! Dubnyk was one of the main reasons we didn't make the playoffs...

I'm not saying Dubnyk is great, but he's low priority to upgrade imo. You may believe that teams need to build around a #1 goaltender, but I feel like he's good enough to worry about other things for now.

Again, the suggestion to concentrate on upgrading goaltending because of a softie let in a 6-0 loss or a 6-goal period seems like a misdiagnosis to me.
- Morris

Not great, but pretty (frank)ing good the last 3 seasons playing for a sh1tty defense. With an upgraded D, people will have a hard-on for Dubnyk.

Way overblown.

He'll show up to camp and play his asz off.
Even if he wants out he has to if he wants any chance of being moved.
- hugefemale dog77

Overblown? Wow..
Mismanaged badly, but hardly overblown.
Have you ever checked out from something? Very difficult to get your head back into it, contract or not.

The reason we lose is because we never have the puck and the other team is always shooting it at our net. When we get the puck, we never get it on their net. If you play like this, getting scored on is inevitable.
- Morris

Would it kill Dubnyk to pitch in offensively sometimes? Until he can pot 30-40 goals a season, I blame him for the Oilers not winning.

Would it kill Dubnyk to pitch in offensively sometimes? Until he can pot 30-40 goals a season, I blame him for the Oilers not winning.
- laughs2907

At least try. He never even try's.

Do you think the defense is improved enough to not let that many shots through this year?
- Cheeseballin

Hope so. The defense looks decent now... On paper at least.

EDIT: I posted that in the year 2016

Nope. Pretty much all of them are 3 4 and worse. They need a legit 1 2 guy.
- doon

That's true... We should be better than last season, but still not at a place where I'm comfortable. Do you think Klefbom will see any time with the Oilers this season?

That's true... We should be better than last season, but still not at a place where I'm comfortable. Do you think Klefbom will see any time with the Oilers this season?
- laughs2907

If he comes into camp and dominates, but probably not. A year in the minors would be good for him.

IMO the oilers would have greatly benefited trading Yakupov for Seth Jones straight up, I think that both clubs would have benefited actually...
- annoyance_101

I'll share my opinion on this 8 years down the road.