American Thanksgiving is a very known road marker for a reason.
Hockey Reference has their playoff probability at 7.8% and I think right now that's accurate. The more surprising thing is San Jose has a projected 66.6pts, and Edmonton has 79.9pts. Only 7-ish win difference.
A glimmer of hope for Edmonton is the West might only need about 92pts to get into the playoffs. So a 10 game stretch where they go 8-1-1, it could flip the script, which would put them at 13-12-2 (28pts). Each team kinda gets 1 bad stretch a year. This is Edmonton's, so the room for error is 0.
Then, if it fixes a roster issue, do the Oilers even entertain moving their first round pick?
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
I hope not!
10 Team, 60 Player Roster
G, A, PTS, PPP, PIM, BLKs, Hits, +/-, Shots, W, GAA, SV%, Saves
C- JHughes, Trocheck, RThomas, Zegras, Norris, Bennett, PLD, Stephenson, Danualt
RW- Raymond, Stone, TWilson, Toffoli, KJohnson, Nyqvist, Zary
LW- Keller, Schmaltz, Bunting, Skinner, Barbashev, Duclair
D- QHughes, McAvoy, Doughty, Heiskanen, LHughes, Mintyukov
G- Shesterkin, Demko, Andersen, Kahkonen, Levi, Tarasov, Annunen
Notable Prospects- Nikishin, Kulich, Leonard, Wood, Perreault, Lekkermaki, Ostlund, Othmman, REvans, L-Heureux, Ivanov, Murashov
It will be tough. <understatement
The West is such a gong show, its not out of the question that they could snag a wildcard spot but they need to go on a serious run. I remember a few years ago when St Louis managed to come from dead last in the West around this time, if not later into the season, to make the playoffs and win the Cup.
Are the out of it? No, but they need to start playing better and that starts on top. Both McDavid and Draisaitl are playing so far below their norm its scary. If they can't get it going soon, it's not looking good.
On a side note, if people are thinking it's Ken Holland making the decisions on that team these days, they're sadly mistaken. This is the Jeff Jackson show for now. Holland is probably nothing more than an advisor at this point.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, Brink
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
A team with McDavid and Draisaitl can do it. Problem is both haven't looked good. McDavid seems to be starting to look more normal after his injury but he still has a ways to go and I'm not sure about Drai. A lot of things are working against them. They are stuck in the mud in the standings right now. It's possible, but the will need some teams ahead of them to stub their toes.
I would still be willing to bet on them making the playoffs. They lead the league in shots for per game and are among the leaders in expected goal percentage. Those are two signs of a winning hockey team. They need to play at about a 106 point pace for the rest of the season to get in and that's definitely something they can do.
I would not write them off yet.
I can't remember where exactly they were when they brought in Woodcroft.
They brought him in midseason correct? And worked themselves into a playoff spot.
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They got two tough games to end this road trip, if they win one and lose one. This will just make it that much harder to get in. The thing with the St.Louis comparison is similar to the Oilers this year their goaltending was terrible but they had competent D and Binnington went otherworldly. I think the Oilers are trying to find their version of Binnington and so far nothing internally has taken.
12 Team Keep 5 (2 F, 1 D, 1 G, 1 Any) G,A,PTS,PPP,SOG,HITS,PIMS,W,GAA and Sv%.
F: Kucherov, K.Connor, J. Hughes,, J.Guentzel, A.Svechnikov,
D: Q. Hughes,
G:Bobrovsky
The Oilers fired Tippet on Feb 10, 2022. They were 23-18-3 (49pts) and 5th in the division. They were like 7pts out of a playoff spot, something like that.
They were like 14-5-0 at American Thanksgiving in 2021-22 season, good for 2nd in the West.
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
106 Point Pace is doable for the team on paper in the pre-season. The problem is every game they lose that pace becomes bigger, and also every game they lose it is harder to believe they can actually play at that pace.
I don't really know how they do it unless the goaltending turns around, and I don't really know how the goaltending turns around.
For the sake of my fantasy team (Mcjesus, RNH, Nurse, EKane), I hope they at least make it interesting lol
One day I will quit fantasy hockey, today is not that day.
they need to trade Draisaitl to acquire depth, particularly an upgrade in goal.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, Brink
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."