Monday Mailbag – “The prettiest goal you’ve ever seen”

It was a tough weekend in OilersNation and the Mailbag is here to help you forget about it. Did they get their asses kicked two games in a row? Nope. Don’t remember it. Never happened. *sigh*

I can’t imagine what was going through his head when he did this. It was a dumb play. Every player at every level knows this is not allowed. It is stiffer than I expected but I do not have an issue with 20 games.

It was somewhat surprising to me, in that the punishment went according to the book (or my understanding of it). The NHL is often more creative on these things, giving fans the feeling that things are somewhat random. The penalty is fine, but they need to be consistent.

I’m not surprised by it. I figured they would give him at least 10 games. I still don’t think there was as much malice to it as other people contend, but the NHL couldn’t just let that slip by. They needed to set a precedent that you can’t just recklessly run into officials, regardless if you claim to not have seen them. And in the CBA there is an automatic 20 game suspension for abuse of an official, and while the NHLs Wheel Of Justice® still has zero consistency, this one seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Expected league to come down hard knowing he would appeal. Appeal likely leads to a reduction and NHL can show officials they had their back and it was the independent arbitrator who lowered the number.

I think it’s going to be reduced on appeal because the critical factor (the factor which increases it from 10 games to 20 games) is intent. Given the hit that Wideman took a moment before and how out of character the incident was, that “intent to injure” portion of the rule is going to get a lot of examination. I don’t blame the NHL for trying to protect its officials — it is a laudable impulse — but I seriously doubt that the player was in anything even approaching his right mind at the moment of the incident.

No problem with it. Keep your hands off the officials.

I was surprised he got 20 games, but I knew it would be a long suspension. The guy absolutely crushed a linesman and his excuse that he didn’t see him was ridiculous. 

It was amazing. The only goals I can think of in the same level would be Ovie scoring from his back and Jagr stick handling though the whole team.

It would be a Gretzky to Kurri, or a Coffey, but I couldn’t choose one. McDavid’s was sweet, but I will tell you Dougie Weight fed some gorgeous passes to Billy Guerin back there a ways.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over Ovechkin’s goal he scored FROM HIS BACK  It certainly wasn’t the prettiest goal, but I hadn’t, and still have yet to see another goal like it. I’ll concede that there definitely was a flukey element to it, but to have the wherewithal and skill to sweep your stick around your head and make enough contact with the puck to send it in the net, WHILE YOU’RE SLIDING ON YOUR BACK, is just insane. Ovi hails from another planet similar to Connor McDavid’s.

Ovechkin from his back against Phoenix.

I’m not going to overthink this and instead I’ll go with the first thing that always pops into my head when I’m asked about best goals: Ales Hemsky scoring after Patrik Stefan missed the empty net.

Difficult to name one. Bobby Orr’s Cup winner against St. Louis was spectacular and memorable. Todd Marchant’s Game 7 goal against Dallas is up there.

My favourite goal from when I was younger was Pavel Bure kicking the puck up from his skates to his stick. The guy could score and he made it look easy. 

Long term winning the Calder does not matter at all. I do think with so many games missed he will be hard pressed to jump over the players who have stayed healthy. He can get back into contention but he will not win it based on games played. I do think he is one of the best players in the league already.

Yes. He needs to post 1.1-1.2 points-per-game and the Oilers have to push up the standings. I do not think he wins it, but he can get into the conversation.

After the Columbus game I 100% think so. I think at this point it’s still Panarin’s to lose (even though he’s 24 and this is his seventh season of professional hockey *wanking motion*), but if McDavid can do what he did against Columbus in even half the games the Oilers have left, he’ll get some votes. I think he’ll get some votes regardless, because as Brownlee said numbers aside he’s the best rookie in the league, and it’s not even close. At the very least it’ll add some much needed intrigue to the Oilers second half of the season.

I doubt it. If you look at winners (non goalies) in the last 20 years all of them played 78 or more games, and most played 82. It is difficult to win playing only 45 games. Panarin already has close to 50 points. He would need to go in a major slump, as would Larkin and Domi, for McDavid to have a realistic chance.

I think he’ll play himself into the conversation. I don’t think he’ll win.

He’ll be in Calder Trophy contention because of the buzz he creates. If he scores at a point-per-game pace for the season he’ll push the issue. Bottom line is it doesn’t matter if he wins the Calder. He’s the best first-year player in the NHL.

Calder or not, Robin nailed it. McDavid is the best rookie. Hands down. End of sentence. Who really cares about a trophy, in the end?

Yes.

I picked them to finish No. 22 overall, and suggest they could push it closer. I will say No. 24 and that will mean progress in the second half.

Unfortunately I do. I think they lost way too much ground when half the team went down due to injuries. I think they’ll hang around in the playoff conversation for a bit, but still fall short. And this being the Pacific Division they’ll simultaneously be five points out of a playoff spot, and two points out of last in the league. It’s going to be great!

What is a lottery position? To me it is not making the playoffs and being in on all three lotteries, so yes they will be in a lottery position, but I don’t see them finishing bottom five in the league.

Well, the lottery these days is for every non-playoff team, but I assume you probably mean a bottom-five position. I’m going to say no. As I write this on Friday afternoon, the Oilers are currently tied for 25th in the league (having played in more games than most of the teams they are currently tied with). I like their chances of finishing the season in 25th overall, just outside the bottom-five.

Oilers won’t make the playoffs, so yes.

I’m excited for the Oilers to win Auston Matthews and watch the world implode. 

Kevin Lowe. I loved the way he would battle all of the ice. He played hard every night and was important to the Oilers cup. He should be up in the rafters.

Charlie Huddy for me. Sublime talent, across the board skills, made the right play, took a hit to make a play, rugged son of a gun who never cheated his team. He was a wonderful player.

I’m going to go with Nuge. There are a lot of people who think he’s expendable, too small, “soft”, not that good at face-offs, etc. But I feel that if the Oilers DO trade him at some point before the start of next season it’s going to be a noticeable loss. At only 22 he’s already established himself as a solid two-way player, which is backed up by the fancy stats. He plays some of the toughest minutes for the Oilers, and this season and last has seen his face-off numbers hover around 45%, which puts him in the same ballpark as players like Henrik Sedin, Sean Couturier and Evgeni Malkin. And his PPG average over his young career is better than fellow 2011 draftees Gabriel Landeskog, Brandon Saad and Johnathon Huberdau, all while playing for absolutely atrocious Oiler teams. Nuge is an incredibly valuable member of the Oilers and I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.

Underrated from inside Edmonton: Ryan Smyth. He was adored, but I think people underestimated how consistent he was and how skilled he was. His work ethic and determination made him successful. 

Underrated from outside Edmonton: Glenn Anderson. Read many articles about how he was support player, but he was incredible at scoring timely, meaningful goals in the playoffs. He was fearless and he wasn’t afraid to stick a guy to create space for himself.

Wow, that’s a tough one. I’m not sure what people think of Shawn Horcoff these days but I know toward the end of his time in Edmonton he was basically getting blamed for everything from the final score to the weather outside the arena. That man was an awfully good hockey player in his prime and even afterward brought a lot to the rink. Kyle Brodziak probably belongs on the list somewhere, too; Steve Tambellini dumped him just as he came into his own. Lots of things make any given player successful but what made those two in particular underrated was brains — not just the defensive things that everyone notices like faceoffs and penalty kill work, but making smart decisions in all three zones, those little understated choices that drive puck possession.

Underrated by whom? Many of the players who aren’t fan favourites are appreciated greatly by their teammates and opponents for what they bring to the table. Charlie Huddy comes to mind for me.

Connor McDavid. He’s better than they said he was.