Hall didn't have a great game at all...allot of the Oil didn't. Way too many giveaways.
DD held them in for the most part IMO.
Lets call a spade a spade. Hall was horrible tonight outside of the goal, he had little jump and was giving away the puck at an alarming rate but he has been so good as of late that it's hard to complain too much about one stinker. Hemsky was the driving force on that line but it was hard for him to do it on his own.
They came out like a house on fire in the first period but decided to go into a defensive (heh) shell in the second period. Is that coaching or are the players doing this on their own volition? I don't know.
Very doubtful that its coaching. This team hasn't been able to execute a game plan for most of the season.
That aside it was good to see them hang onto the win despite the fact there were more than a few passengers tonight.
Worst game I have seen Hall play this season. He looked tentative most of the game. Amazing he can play that bad and still score.
This team struggles to score or maintain offensive momentum most of the time, why would anybody think they decide to go into shell with a lead? Right now, that is their norm.
p.s. I agree wit the OP, thought Belanger looked like the guy we were hoping for tonight.
Struggling to maintain offensive momentum might have something to do with noticing which players are on the ice, and which aren't.
And the defensive liability thing doesn't even work anymore. Cornet was getting minutes when Colorado was coming on.
If you want offensive momentum, shorten the bench a little bit.
Worst game I have seen Hall play this season. He looked tentative most of the game. Amazing he can play that bad and still score.
It seemed that he was tentative because he was playing hurt similar to Hemsky earlier in the year, that's the only explanation i can come up with because Hall never plays tentative. It's something to be concerned about IMO.
It seemed that he was tentative because he was playing hurt similar to Hemsky earlier in the year, that's the only explanation i can come up with because Hall never plays tentative. It's something to be concerned about IMO.
He was tentative even before he tweaked his ankle on the first hit.
Tough to figure when he looked pretty good the last game prior to the All Star break.
Unfortunately the top 3 on this team are all looking pretty fragile so far.
Weirdly enough, Hemsky seems to be the least fragile of the group right now.
Probably not a good idea to trade that guy.
I have mixed feelings on trading Hemsky. This team isn't exactly a scoring power house and still has major issues with secondary scoring.
It has major issues on the back end as well but all that being said if Hemsky wants to play the market then you have to deal him.
Who could blame him for wanting a change of scenery...aside from 1 season his entire career has been with a team that sucked. Tough to fault him for wanting to see how the other half live.
I have mixed feelings on trading Hemsky. This team isn't exactly a scoring power house and still has major issues with secondary scoring.
It has major issues on the back end as well but all that being said if Hemsky wants to play the market then you have to deal him.
Who could blame him for wanting a change of scenery...aside from 1 season his entire career has been with a team that sucked. Tough to fault him for wanting to see how the other half live.
If we don't get a package like the ones that Principe tweeted for Hemsky then i would rather try to re-sign him on a short term contract and re-visit the situation again in a couple of seasons because there quite simply is no viable replacement for him in this organization. It's certainly not Paajarvi or Omark, Pitlick and Hartikainen aren't even close to being able to handle that reponsibility, that's all i've got.
I still maintain that the biggest problems with this team aren't the D and goaltending, it's lack of secondary scoring and underwhelming veteran play. Hemsky has been a part of the reason why the secondary scoring and veteran play has been underwhelming but with him being assumably healthy right now, he's a huge part of that secondary scoring solution and is the best winger for Hall right now and in the forseeable future.
If we don't get a package like the ones that Principe tweeted for Hemsky then i would rather try to re-sign him on a short term contract and re-visit the situation again in a couple of seasons because there quite simply is no viable replacement for him in this organization. It's certainly not Paajarvi or Omark, Pitlick and Hartikainen aren't even close to being able to handle that reponsibility, that's all i've got.
The problem is that the Oilers have littel control over signing Hemsky ...its all up to Hemsky. He holds all the cards.
As for the players you mentioned...I have little to no confidence that any of them will ever replace Hemsky's offence.
Quote:
I still maintain that the biggest problems with this team aren't the D and goaltending, it's lack of secondary scoring and underwhelming veteran play. Hemsky has been a part of the reason why the secondary scoring and veteran play has been underwhelming but with him being assumably healthy right now, he's a huge part of that secondary scoring solution and is the best winger for Hall right now and in the forseeable future.
Secondary scoring is an issue but the defence is a major problem IMO. Whitney and Barker are too unreliable to depend on and Peckham is just flat out terrible. Petry is improving but still developing.
I have defended Belanger all season and I still maintain he will put together a much better second half. That said despite the fact that the team is middle of the pack for scoring the bottom 9 look very thin in terms of offence.
I still think the defence is more important at this point especially in terms of puck movers.
If we don't get a package like the ones that Principe tweeted for Hemsky then i would rather try to re-sign him on a short term contract and re-visit the situation again in a couple of seasons because there quite simply is no viable replacement for him in this organization. It's certainly not Paajarvi or Omark, Pitlick and Hartikainen aren't even close to being able to handle that reponsibility, that's all i've got.
I still maintain that the biggest problems with this team aren't the D and goaltending, it's lack of secondary scoring and underwhelming veteran play. Hemsky has been a part of the reason why the secondary scoring and veteran play has been underwhelming but with him being assumably healthy right now, he's a huge part of that secondary scoring solution and is the best winger for Hall right now and in the forseeable future.
Get better d-men and your secondary scoring will pick up.
The problem is that the Oilers have littel control over signing Hemsky ...its all up to Hemsky. He holds all the cards.
As for the players you mentioned...I have little to no confidence that any of them will ever replace Hemsky's offence.
Secondary scoring is an issue but the defence is a major problem IMO. Whitney and Barker are too unreliable to depend on and Peckham is just flat out terrible. Petry is improving but still developing.
I have defended Belanger all season and I still maintain he will put together a much better second half. That said despite the fact that the team is middle of the pack for scoring the bottom 9 look very thin in terms of offence.
I still think the defence is more important at this point especially in terms of puck movers.
Well, that's the wildcard. If Hemsky is sick of this place and looking for a one way ticket outta here (in which case, i wouldn't blame him). If that's the case, then Tambellini will be wise to get what he can for him and then immediately have to worry about filling another hole at RW.
The D is of course one of the biggest problems although i think that they have defended decently this season, it's the lack of puckmovers and the inability to get the puck to the speedy forwards at full speed that is the problem.
Tambellini has his work cut out for him, that's for sure.
Yep. You don't miss that much hockey over a few seasons and then just immediately dial it up. The NHL game is just played too competitively for that to occur.
If Renney is still head coach next season then he'd better be prepared to turn the reigns over to Eberle and Hall completely. Horcoff's ice-time munching should be coming to an end.
Good lord you know they play different positions right? Or do you want Eberle and Hall to take faceoffs too?
Well, that's the wildcard. If Hemsky is sick of this place and looking for a one way ticket outta here (in which case, i wouldn't blame him). If that's the case, then Tambellini will be wise to get what he can for him and then immediately have to worry about filling another hole at RW.
The D is of course one of the biggest problems although i think that they have defended decently this season, it's the lack of puckmovers and the inability to get the puck to the speedy forwards at full speed that is the problem. Tambellini has his work cut out for him, that's for sure.
He does indeed.
I wish I had more faith that he has the ability to actually improve the defence and the team in general.
On top of everything we have discussed I think the teams top 9 is still far too soft.
