Edmonton Oilers

[SeaDawg]

Anyone else completely shocked that Yakupov took his first ever shootout attempt in the NHL the other day? I had no idea he had never taken one before. Seems odd to me that the opportunity has never come up, considering he is a skilled player and I would have thought he'd be pretty decent at shootouts. Heck, even if he is never one of the top three choices, you would think that at some point the Oilers would have gone into an extended shootout (beyond three shooters) and at some point you would be picking between Yakupov or Ference (or someone similar) and then you'd have to go with the skilled player, wouldn't you?

I'd really like to know how many times Yakupov was NOT given an opportunity on the shootout. Have the Oilers simply not been involved in many shootouts the last couple of seasons?

[Axeman33]

I wont lie, I was surprised as well but not completely shocked. Not all high skilled players are great at a shootout. Plus, the Oilers had slick little stick handlers/ dipsy-do-ers like Gagner and Eberle who deked like crazy and they normally took most of the shoot outs.

It was nice of Nelson to show a little confidence in letting him take it though and happy he scored as well.

[Savvy1982]

I remeber watching that insanely long shootout with Dallas - and looking at the guys Eakins was putting into the shoout out like Lander rather than letting Yak have a go.

Considering the kid was supposed to have these amazing goal-scoring hands, it seemed like willful punishment of Yak to never let him have a chance.

The Oilers have absolutely ruined him.

I took a garbage trade for Voynov rather than keep Yak any longer - the Oilers have simply destroyed any hope he had of an NHL career to my eyes.

[LawMan]

Anyone else completely shocked that Yakupov took his first ever shootout attempt in the NHL the other day? I had no idea he had never taken one before. Seems odd to me that the opportunity has never come up, considering he is a skilled player and I would have thought he'd be pretty decent at shootouts. Heck, even if he is never one of the top three choices, you would think that at some point the Oilers would have gone into an extended shootout (beyond three shooters) and at some point you would be picking between Yakupov or Ference (or someone similar) and then you'd have to go with the skilled player, wouldn't you?

I'd really like to know how many times Yakupov was NOT given an opportunity on the shootout. Have the Oilers simply not been involved in many shootouts the last couple of seasons?

I was completely stunned by this statement. Seems like a case of the coaches trying to outthink themselves. I read a few blurbs (can't find them at the moment) that said the Coaches may have been influenced by the advanced stats guys to not put Yakupov in the shootout, I'm generally all for advanced stats but this seemed silly to me. It seems to me when you have a highly touted offensive player with great finish your default should be to put him in several shootouts early on. If he goes 0 for 4 of 1 for 5 then maybe you reconsider but I'm amazed he was never even given the opportunity until Saturday night.

[SeaDawg]

Looks like I wasn't alone in being surprised. I really was wondering what the logic was in not using him. Hard to imagine it had to do with advanced stats if he had '0' attempts. I really thought it must have been that either the Oilers haven't had many shootouts (especially extended ones), or the coaches simply didn't trust Yakupov or were somehow trying to punish him. Just seems odd to me that you wouldn't let the kid try to improve his confidence, and not to mention that he is/was a highly-touted goal scorer so you'd think he might actually know a thing or two about scoring in a shootout.

Anyway, the entire situation is just one more thing for me to shake my head over when I think about the Oilers.

[Axeman33]

A lot of it could have just been the fact that Dallas Eakins didn't like Yakupov.

[doulos]

He's producing worse 5v5 now that he is on a line with Roy then he was even earlier in the year. The Oilers did him no favours but a lot of this is on Yakupov as well. I've been a huge supporter but he's just blown it as an NHLer the past 2 seasons and needs to smarten up.

[Axeman33]

Nice come from behind SO victory tonight vs a formidable opponent in Washington. I didn't watch the game but I was checking the box score online. Down 3-1 after the first period I thought they were done early but they battled back to send it to a shootout.

Shootout went like this (nice to see Yakupov get another chance, even if he didnt score this time):

WSH ShootoutGoal - Evgeny Kuznetsov scores
- EDM ShootoutMiss - Nail Yakupov
- WSH ShootoutMiss - Nicklas Backstrom
- EDM ShootoutMiss - Jordan Eberle
- WSH ShootoutMiss - Alex Ovechkin
- EDM ShootoutGoal - Derek Roy scores
- WSH ShootoutMiss - Eric Fehr
- EDM ShootoutGoal - Teddy Purcell scores

[mister_mcgoo]

Wait is that 2 in a row?

[The Comish]

It's nice to win every now and then, even if they light up one of my fantasy league goalies (Holtby)!

[Bomm Bastic]

In anticipation of Thursday night's matchup, on behalf Sabres fans everywhere, I would just like to say,,,

GO OILERS!!!

**This message sponsored by the Committee for Connor McJesus

[LawMan]

In anticipation of Thursday night's matchup, on behalf Sabres fans everywhere, I would just like to say,,,

GO OILERS!!!

**This message sponsored by the Committee for Connor McJesus

Hall is out with a case of "we won two games in a row itis" and I hear he may have given it on to Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle.

Sabres are a lock on Thursday!!!

#dishonour4connor

[metaldude26]

If this is true then it's some of the same bullshit that's going to keep this team from ever competing. http://oilersnation.com/2015/2/15/re...-to-move-petry

Dude wants to re-sign in Edmonton but they haven't even offered a contract! Asinine!

[JimmyCanuck]

If this is true then it's some of the same bullshit that's going to keep this team from ever competing. http://oilersnation.com/2015/2/15/re...-to-move-petry

Dude wants to re-sign in Edmonton but they haven't even offered a contract! Asinine!

Petry is a decent 5/6 dman. Oilers overpay for enough guys (Pouliot/Fayne), there is no need to overpay for Petri too.

[The Comish]

Dude wants to re-sign in Edmonton but they haven't even offered a contract! Asinine!

Agreed. Why would they want to sign a top 4 D that actually wants to play in Edmonton - they have enough trouble enticing FA's to sign!? The Oilers brass is mind-bottling.