three times

Holy (frank), that slays me. Honestly the best comeback in site history.

As to the goalies, I think we can both agree there is a balance in what teams need to be successful, but I really do believe (and I think you'd agree) that Mike Smith is not the guy you currently want to base your season on.
- James_Tanner

I aim to please That we can certainly agree on. Smith is on a hot-streak right now and I won't be shocked when he falters and hope if/when that happens Koskinen who has been the more consistent of the two should be able to take his place. Edmonton has limited assets they can use to improve the team right now, I would just prefer them to use those on scoring depth first.

Sean Maloughney: Coyotes Obvious Weaknesses On Full Display With Oilers Victory
- freelancer

Best Tanner troll blog ever. And I see he went for the bait.

I honestly don't think it's defense - there has been a small link to defense and how goalies play, but not as big as you think. I believe the reason for this is that goalie talent reveals itself in high danger save percentage, but most shots are low danger, and those almost always self-correct to the average, meaning anyone with NHL talent stops the same amount of LD shots, and that bad goals are generally random.

So a team like the Oilers is getting the goaltending you expect. (bad goalies)
A team like Toronto is doing much worse than expected (Andersen stats down across the board)
and a team like Phoenix is doing way better than expected. (Is Kuemper legit?)

Goalies are largely unpredictable and have an outsized affect on games.

The two teams currently leading the NHL In save percentage are Dallas and Columbus, two teams doing way, way better than anyone predicted.

You can also look as Sean did to see the Coyotes (and Islanders) dropping as their .940 % wears off.
- James_Tanner

Just curious Jimmy. If the Yotes continue their slide down the standings, miss the playoffs, the Devils wind up with a top 15 pick to go with Bahl and Hall walks is that trade still a slam dunk win for Arizona?

7-8-1 record since the trade went down isn’t a great look.

Just curious Jimmy. If the Yotes continue their slide down the standings, miss the playoffs, the Devils wind up with a top 15 pick to go with Bahl and Hall walks is that trade still a slam dunk win for Arizona?

7-8-1 record since the trade went down isn’t a great look.
- smellmyfinger

I missed you.

Just curious Jimmy. If the Yotes continue their slide down the standings, miss the playoffs, the Devils wind up with a top 15 pick to go with Bahl and Hall walks is that trade still a slam dunk win for Arizona?

7-8-1 record since the trade went down isn’t a great look.
- smellmyfinger

As funny as it is, it is not like it was bad move on GMs part or the trade was bad.

Arizona has struggled simply because Kuemper is hurt and Raanta is made of glass. Im pretty sure he is still hurt. Luckily for Arizona, Kuemper will likely return next week.

But then again, we already knew my original point was strong, because how else to explain a team with arguably the two best players in the world on it struggling to be better than the Coyotes, whose roster is OK at best?

- James_Tanner

...garbage debating at it's finest. You have said repeatedly that the Coyotes have one of the strongest rosters in the league, and now you change your narrative. You don't deserve Sean's politeness on this one.

There is also an obvious correlation between the Oilers goals against (and hence their record) and Leon Draisaitl's willingness to back check. If you go back and look at the games that they lost, while yes he was scoring points, Lazy Leon was not moving his feet in his own end...or in the neutral zone to come back.

I see this as a major problem going forward. Leon drags his carcass around the ice for 40min...then scores two points (and people praise him for a great game) and then he dogs it for the last 10min again. He puts the entire defense corps. under pressure when he floats like he does.

I firmly believe that if Leon Draisaitl puts in a FULL 60min in a game, the Oilers will likely win that game against pretty much anyone.

Kassian, Neal, Archie, are all proving that pretty much anyone can score with McDavid. It's Leon that has to find his own identity on this team.

Sean, this is my favorite blog ever, but I've got some notes.

Oilers still have the 26th best goaltending in the NHL, remain one of the worst managed teams and definitely would add a goalie if they were competent at all.

You should be angry at your favorite team for wasting the primes of two great players, not the guy who pointed it out.

You have pointed out the Oilers record in January, but did you know that during this time they've got a 5v5 save percentage of 92.82% good for 10th in the NHL and (ironically) the exact same as the Coyotes season long total that is good for sixth in the NHL?


The Coyotes have dropped off since Kuemper went down which is obvious since he was rocking the best stats in the league when he was injured.

The Oilers started to do well when they got good goaltending. (No coincidence, but I won't say I told you so).

So I guess the question is: do you think their goaltending from Oct through Dec is real, or do you think their goaltending from Jan 1 to now is real?

Cause if not, all you've done is strengthen my original point.

But then again, we already knew my original point was strong, because how else to explain a team with arguably the two best players in the world on it struggling to be better than the Coyotes, whose roster is OK at best?

Some other notes:

you said this: "One of the reasons the Coyotes have had success this season has been spreading goal scoring through their lineup" which is wrong. The ONLY reason the Coyotes are any good is their goaltending, which I make a point of saying at least twice a week.

(Which as you correctly pointed out, when it went south, so did they).

In fact, they did make good use of their resources, identify this problem and trade for Taylor Hall.

Anyways, while I always appreciate a good jab, I feel like you've only helped me prove my point. I do teach a free class on satire at the Y, Wednesdays at 8PM if you are interested in improving in this field!
- James_Tanner