Ban Price trades
Joined: Oct. 2017
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Lines I'd like to see the Oilers run in this series:
L1: Kane - McDavid - Puljujarvi
L2A: Hyman - RNH - Ryan
L2B: Holloway - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
L4: Foegele - McLeod - Kassian
I don't think there's ever been a night where that top line lost the shots battle. Our Large Finnish Son does wonderful on-ice things despite a lack of production and both Connor and Evander are having a postseason to remember. I'm expecting Kadri to get pushed through a mulcher against this line - the hockey world thinks he has 97's number based on one game in Toronto where Connor had to physically wear Naz as a sweater. The opposite is very much the case. The 2A line exists exclusively to shut MacKinnon down as the Hyman-RNH duo ran hot against Mack in the regular season (upwards of 80.00 CF% as per NST, I see >70% quoted on other blogs) while the 2B line is there to bully the third and fourth lines of Bednar's Avalanche, of which I can only see Burakovsky and Compher being an issue. Despite what's coming out of the organization, Holloway should absolutely debut in Denver. He's fresh and he's miles better than most of the names that come after his. Leave Archibald in a ditch outside of Spruce Grove please and thanks. I like the idea of an energy fourth line that can still play hockey. Take two mainstays of the third line and give them Crazy-Eyes-Kassian to round out the group and get the boys going. The Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor line pales in comparison to the younger and faster Oilers.
D1A: Nurse - Barrie
D1B: Kulak - Ceci
D1C: Keith - Bouchard
This thought experiment exists exclusively to reunite the Kulak-Ceci pairing as a means of shutting down (likely) the MacKinnon line but I'm not married to the idea. Kulak absolutely needs more minutes and Keith needs less. I don't care about the draft picks involved, I care that Keith is like a -30 CF% anchor on almost every defenceman Edmonton employs. His pairing may break even or win the shots battle but his WOWY numbers are grotesque. Barrie seems steadier over the past dozen games than he did to close out the season and I think that's worth some reward. Stick it to his former team, maybe rotate Bouchard in there for a shift or two. I think the Oilers need to do a better job of splitting the PP time between Evan and Tyson but given that both men are running with an xGF% above 75%, there isn't much room to complain. Maybe take Keith's minute and a half away from him per night?
G: Smith - Koskinen*
Koskinen is here to fill the role of benchwarmer and I don't think he starts a game in this series. I fully believe it's to save face and I think Skinner gets the call before Koskinen does. The Old Man continues to run hot with his sv% and our heart rates.
Edmonton in 6 baby. I can't see them losing at home.