pfft, most of the guys never played on the same teams. Det has always been light on the bite side, lets be honest.
Gooning it up and toughness aren't always the same thing. You said that Detroit beat teams on skill alone and I pointed out several players who disprove that. Hell, the Red Wings had 55 fighting majors in 1998 alone.
What do you envision as a pure-skill Oilers lineup? And how do you see them getting far in the playoffs?
That won't fly in the playoffs...as the Canucks will attest to, and they're probably the most skilled team in the conference.
Bite isn't limited to Eagers and Hordichuks. You need players who won't back down while playing a skilled game. That's why the Mike Richards of the league are so valuable.
The Canucks lose because their players are hot-headed morons and they've placed a value on being pests rather than assembling a proper supporting cast that is talented and smart.
Talent and goals win the playoffs. It has been this way for some time, and even the teams that are praised for their D or "tough" play wind up getting it done only if the scorers deliver.
The Canucks lose because their players are hot-headed morons and they've placed a value on being pests rather than assembling a proper supporting cast that is talented.
Talent and goals win the playoffs. It has been this way for some time, and even the teams that are praised for their D or "tough" play wind up getting it done only if the scorers deliver.
Great teams have both, we have the elite skill part down pat, we need some upgrades, better goaltending, and toughness to get us to where we all want our team to be.
Apart from bite, we need guys with a certain state of mind.
Guys like Wayne Simmonds, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards etc, have a mental approach where they honestly don't give a **** who you are and what you've done, but only that they are going to play their game in that rink. And in the end, will do everything they need to secure the win.
We need that kind of mental ability with the bite too.
__________________ <-- Credit goes to The Nemesis.
Apart from bite, we need guys with a certain state of mind.
Guys like Wayne Simmonds, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards etc, have a mental approach where they honestly don't give a **** who you are and what you've done, but only that they are going to play their game in that rink. And in the end, will do everything they need to secure the win.
We need that kind of mental ability with the bite too.
Harikanen has that to a degree.
Hall has it too, but he isn't strong enough yet to play that game and needs to be more aware of himself on the ice.
Yakupov actually has a bit of that too ... don't let the 5'11 thing fool you.
We need more nastiness though, we know that. The 06 team had a lot of guys like Stoll, Torres, Moreau, Gator, etc. who could fill those roles we need to build that up.
Apart from bite, we need guys with a certain state of mind.
Guys like Wayne Simmonds, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards etc, have a mental approach where they honestly don't give a **** who you are and what you've done, but only that they are going to play their game in that rink. And in the end, will do everything they need to secure the win.
We need that kind of mental ability with the bite too.
Taylor Hall is going to be one of those guys. This kid doesn't quit and he will be a warrior for us in the playoffs.
Having a Morrow/Landeskog/Lucic type player in our top 6 will go a long way, we also need our gritty bottom 6 guys to score a lot more. With the right coach I think Eager will really shine, he can score, he can be mean, but he needs to be used right. Acquiring a power forward for the top 6 is easier said than done, that was the plight of our organization for many years. The price tag for powerfowards that can score is huge, you really need to draft well and get a little bit lucky.
The Flyers model might be more applicable to the Oilers ... tons of offensive depth, no one special on the blue line really.
Man is that team ever fun to watch. We need to get Laviolette to coach here when ever his tenure in Philly has run out.
... Pronger? IMO there wouldn't be a discussion about who would be winning the Cup this year if that guy was playing. The fact that Philly's still competing is a testament to Holmgrem's wheeling n' dealing of Richards and Carter and the play of Claude freaking Giroux.
But yes - the Flyers have an unreal amount of offensive depth, but I don't know if that's possible to go out and acquire. We may have now 2 lines that can score, as opposed to this year, where we had 0.5-1, on a good day. We don't fit into any mould of a playoff competitor right now (Vancouver, Philly, Pitts, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit, Phoenix, Los Angeles, even Chicago) because we lack an all-star defencemen. Of those teams, we look like Los Angeles or Chicago the most (barely), except Los Angeles has physical toughness and a Vezina-nom goaltender, while Chicago has Duncan Keith and Seabrook and a LOT more bite.
We could either follow a Chicago model, which won't work because we'll still need a Byfuglien and a Ladd, or, unfortunately or fortunately, the Oilers model of the '80s, which was high puck possession, high risk, high reward, kill-every-team-with-offence model. That requires more bite, but it might require more skill as well.
Gooning it up and toughness aren't always the same thing. You said that Detroit beat teams on skill alone and I pointed out several players who disprove that. Hell, the Red Wings had 55 fighting majors in 1998 alone.
What do you envision as a pure-skill Oilers lineup? And how do you see them getting far in the playoffs?
Maybe one year they did, but come on, I think you are going no where with some argument that detriot was actually a really tough team. They weren't, so just don't go there.
Of course they had some toughness, not going to say don't have any. We have Sutton, Jones, Eager ect... We could use a little more, but we don't need 8-9 goons. Det had mostly skill, of course they had some bite to. I am fine with getting more bite, but I don't want to trade skill to get it.
The '08 team I'll give you, they're much closer to the classy and clean Red Wings that we got right now. But there was some serious sandpaper on those earlier Cup teams. Remember the rivalry between them and the Avs? They were vicious.
The '08 team I'll give you, they're much closer to the classy and clean Red Wings that we got right now. But there was some serious sandpaper on those earlier Cup teams.
No, come on your still stretching. There were a lot more fights back then. Look at 97/98 the Wings did not have on guy in the top 30 in PIM. Not one guy!!!! http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.h...Name=penalties It was way differnt back then, Brashear had almost 400 PIM, this year Dorsett had 235 to lead the league.
You are just again, messing with stats, the Wings had bite, yes, but they were at best middle of the road for toughness, at best!!!!!
I just think it is silly to argue that point, but go ahead.
Just to drive it home in 97/98 the top red wing was 48th in PIM, 48th!!!! ya they were a real goon squad
The solution is Hemsky, Gagner and Paajarvi need to go.
We need more guys like Teemu Hartkikanenen. Plater who don't seem like they were breast fed until they were 15. Players who forecheck and players who skate hard every shift. Build the grit around Hall, Yakupov, Eberle and RNH. If you find a Couturier style player, maybe that's Pitlick and develop Hartkinanen you don't even need to go to free agency to do it. From here on out the team needs to draft purely for grit and size, no more skill and flash.
<-- Credit goes to The Nemesis.
