Monday Mailbag – April 14th

Pull up a chair, stop pretending to work and let’s get to learning. It’s time for our weekly tradition of taking your questions and throwing them out to our writers to get their feedback. If you want to submit a question, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com. Be sure to include your Twitter handle (if you have one) for your 13 seconds of Internet stardom! 

Enjoy…

They care if that feedback impacts the bottom line. Of course they should care, especially as it pertains to game night experience.

Not really, no, and not really, no. Hockey operations has been a mess for years in Edmonton, but Craig MacTavish isn’t going to fix it by worrying about what the fans as a whole like and don’t like.

I think the Oilers are very aware of their season ticket holders opinion. The club does a lot of things during the year to inform them, and does several surveys to get an idea about the prevailing mood. I don’t think they should be concerned about the short term, but at some point (like NOW) patience has to be wearing thin. If—as has been implied by some—the Yakupov selection was in any way influenced by the fans wishes, then that’s a dire situation.

I do think management should listen to fans when it comes to game day experience. The fans pay big bucks to go watch and at least the game-day presentation should be better. Music for instance. As for MacTavish, I doubt Ken Holland makes moves based on what his fans think, and I’d hope MacTavish is the same. I’d say the Oilers don’t listen to the fans/media when you look at what moves they’ve made in recent years.

Wanye: 

Never have I witnessed a company earning 9 figures in revenue annually that looks down its nose at its customers more than the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club. Oilers management treats us with complete disdain at worst and moderate distaste at best. Save for MacT who is actually a gem. But it won’t always be like this.

Jason Strudwick: 

I am sure it bothers them. Even if many fans don’t agree I believe they are doing what they feel is best to create a winner.

Brian Sutherby: 

I’m sure they care and seriously consider feedback that is reasonable. You cannot listen to it all. A sold out barn every night, however, makes things easier to dismiss.

#SmyttyForCaptain worked! You know they see the feedback. Whether they listen is a different story altogether. I say keep it coming, say it loud – they can’t ignore us forever.

Scrivens has a two-year bridge deal to prove he’s the guy. Good arrangement. He hasn’t given me any reason to think he’s not capable of being the No. 1 guy here.

Probably. Both guys have been in the average starter range in terms of their career numbers, and having two guys introduces both an element of internal competition and a fallback option in case of injury/struggles. But neither has been a quality NHL goalie for long enough to be a sure thing, so the possibility of both falling short exists, even if it is unlikely.

The goaltending should be solid for a few seasons. The next item is to find an inner solution for the next time goalies cycle through. It’s not completely clear to me which of the current goalies will be the starter, and that’s a good thing. Competition should allow both goalies to push for better results.

I don’t think experience is an issue. If MacTavish adds some proven vets throughout his lineup the goalie’s job will be easier. I’m not sure either one is a proven 55-game starter, but between the two they should be okay.

Wanye: 

Put it this way – the goaltending of the Edmonton Oilers is no longer the reason we are losing hockey games. This is the first time in 4 or 5 seasons that we can say that.

Jason Strudwick: 

This fall there was one goalie to pin your hopes on, next year there are two. I am not convinced because neither goalie has proven to be a starter in the NHL but I feel comfortable giving them a shot.

Brian Sutherby: 

I like Scrivens a lot. He seems very composed and controlled in the net and has the ability to make that huge save. He appears to be a vocal guy off the ice which can’t hurt this team. I didn’t see anything this year (with hopefully the worst blue line he will ever see in front of him) that would lead me to believe he can’t be the guy they have been looking for.

Ben Scrivens is a saint! To think that he has put up numbers behind the shitacular defence that the Oilers have in front of him is amazing. I’m happy he re-signed. Fasth is very handsome. 

Marincin and Klefbom will stick. You can keep them all, you just can’t have all of them here next season. Trade? Why? Are the Oilers going to go from not having enough real NHL defensemen to having too many in one year? I think not.

Marincin, because Marincin’s been the Oilers’ best left-side defender this season on merit (which says terrifying things about the Oilers’ defence, but that’s a different topic). I think it’s possible for the Oilers to keep all three of their star D prospects; if Klefbom makes the jump halfway through next year, Marincin should be close to the 82-game mark, and if Nurse makes the jump the next season Klefbom should be near that number too. It’s a lot of inexperience, but it’s possible.

I think Martin Marincin should be considered the only lock for next year. If the club can send Oscar Klefbom down, send Nurse to junior, and have Dillon Simpson begin his career in the AHL the team will be better off long term. I do think they will have to deal someone down the line, but wouldn’t hazard a guess as to which player it will be—too many variables.

Marincin to start. MacTavish needs to sign some veterans and if Klefbom beats them out of a job in camp, great, but there is nothing wrong if he plays 20-30 games in AHL next year. I’d give Nurse another year of junior. I don’t see why the Oilers can’t keep all three of them, but if they want to acquire a top-pairing D-man then one of them will likely be part of the package to acquire said asset.

Wanye: 

Nurse stays any number of the rest could get packaged up imho.

Jason Strudwick: 

Marincin. The rest I would put where they can play the most. This back end doesn’t need all the youth breaking into the NHL at the same time. Spread them out. TRADE — are you nuts? I wouldn’t trade one.

Brian Sutherby: 

Marincin – he needs a few cheeseburgers this off-season but I like his size and poise with the puck, and what he did in his 44 games was impressive.  Klefbom is not far behind. I hope they keep Nurse in junior for another year, let him dominate and play World Juniors.

I don’t see why they can’t keep them all, but they sure as funk better not think it’s a good idea to play them all in the show next season. More veterans please. Stop rushing kids into positions they’re not prepared for.

Centre. Defence. Goal

Probably defence is the most important. I’ve seen a lot of teams get by with ‘not much’ up front with a heavy defensive gameplan, but I can’t recall many teams that got by with a weak blue line (the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes excepted). The least important is in net; every year the goalie market seems to be overpopulated and it’s consequently not hard to fix problems there (look at what MacTavish added this season – Bryzgalov, Scrivens, Fasth – at virtually no cost).

I’m going to cheat a little and say “up the middle”, as in G, D and C. The Oilers need foundation pieces at each spot, and right now have only Nuge at center. If Nurse or others can develop into franchise defensemen, and Scrivens can become that for the goalie position, Edmonton will push for a Stanley. The least important position is RW, as it is the position with the most ‘replacement level’ or above options available.

I’d lean towards an elite #1 centre followed closely by a D-man. I’d say wing is the least important of the four, but that doesn’t mean an elite winger can’t have a major impact on your team.

Wanye: 

I think this totally depends on the player. You can build a team around anyone provided they have the talent and more importantly the character to be a franchise player.

Jason Strudwick: 

Wing is the least important. The have the least amount of responsibility on the ice every shift. Goalie/D are the two hardest to play. If you are solid there they can be the foundation for success.

Brian Sutherby: 

Defence for me then Centre. I think if you have a great blue line it makes everyone better. Think about what Pronger did for teams he was on. The Devils with Niedermayer and Stevens. Lidstrom’s impact in Detroit. Are the Bruins really where they are without Chara? Even the Preds, before Suter left, made the playoffs more often than not with a deep blue line and not much else. Start on the back end and build around. Wing is the least important.

I think Centre is most important because they have a lot of responsibility out on the ice. A very close second is Defence. A good defenceman can make a lot of problems go away. I guess my answer is, get better players than what we have now. Thank you.

Better complimentary players in Colorado.

I think there are a few different ways to look at that. For one, a lot has gone right for Colorado this year – I think we’ll see that team’s performance dip in 2014-15. Another comes down to goaltending. Last season, Colorado’s starter had a 0.903 save percentage; this year he’s sitting at 0.927. Last year, Edmonton’s starter had a 0.921 save percentage; this year he’s the third-best goalie for the Hamilton Bulldogs. So last year, the Avs and Oilers were neck-and-neck while Edmonton had great goaltending and Colorado had terrible; in other areas the Avalanche were a better team even then.

For me, people sometimes look at one season as being ‘established level’ of ability. History tells us that three seasons of a certain level—be it player or team—gives us an indication of actual ability. I would suggest Colorado is extremely likely to fall back next season and be one of the major disappointments of 2014-15.

The Avs haven’t missed the playoffs eight years in a row. They missed playoffs in 2007 (with 95 points), made them in 2008, missed in 2009, made them in 2010, then missed in 2011-2013. They’d go from being competitive to brutal and that allowed them to grab Duchene in 2009 and Landeskog in 2011. They also did a great job of drafting different positions and different types of players in the first round. They didn’t draft all skilled wingers with their first pick four out of five years. That has allowed them to have a good mix in their top-six now. 

O’Reilly and Stastny are great two-way players, while Duchene and MacKinnon are very good offensively. They made a great trade when they moved their 2012 pick for Semyon Varlamov. It was a gutsy trade, but it worked out and got them a very good goalie.

Wanye: 

I think Colorado had a much more able management team that got the job done faster while Tambo twiddled his thumbs and Kevin Lowe was busy counting his cup rings. The Oil and the Avs have access to the same salary cap and amateur draft and just flat out beat us in the rebuild.

Jason Strudwick: 

The right combo of picks coming together. All their top guys have different skill sets.

Brian Sutherby: 

Coaching obviously played a big part but they also have great group of young forwards that can really play. They have solid goaltending, something the Oil didn’t have early in the year. The Oilers don’t have a Landeskog in their top 6 that plays a hard nosed style up the middle. The Avs also have a very steady and underrated defenseman in Erik Johnson, a 6’4 230 pound defenseman that has 40 points and plays 23 minutes a night. Don’t see that on the Oilers either. Lastly, Nathan Mackinnon is going to be, or you could say already is an absolute superstar. That kid was incredibly impressive last Tuesday. Adding him to a team that already had more building blocks in place than Edmonton didn’t hurt.

There is no one better at sucking than the Oilers. If we can’t win the Stanley Cup, we always do our best at embarrassing ourselves.

Tomorrow is your last day to sign up for the Nation Charity Playoff Pool. All it’ll cost you is $10 to sign up and have a shot at prizes, Internet superstardom, and bragging rights for life! As always, we’ll be giving a portion of the proceeds to the Inner City Children’s Program. Our goal is to raise as much money as possible, for a great cause, and have some fun while doing it. Head over to nationdrafts.com to sign up and choose wisely, we’ve thrown some wrenches in the mix this year.