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Your Friends And Neighbors – ’17-18 NHL Team Previews: Straight Outta Edmonton, Is A Crazy Mofo Named Draise-Cube

By 1902

If the Leafs are going to be the annoying bandwagon team in the East, whose fanbase will be the constant drone of the season as they try and flagellate themselves as publicly as possible, then the Oilers are going to be that in the West. They won their first playoff round in 10 years last year, and probably should have beaten the Ducks in the second round. It won’t take people long to point out that Toews and Kane won a Cup in their third season, and that Crosby was in a Final in his third. The training wheels are off Run CMD and the boys. It’s basically June or bust for them. Unfortunately for them, their dumbass GM may have put too many roadblocks in their way. Or more to the point, behind them on defense.

Edmonton Oilers

’16-’17 Record: 47-26-9  103 points (2nd in Pacific, out in 2nd round to ANA)

Team Stats 5v5: 49.9 CF% (18th)  51.0 SF% (9th)  49.7 SCF% (19th)  8.2 SH% (9th)  .927 SV% (7th)

Special Teams: 22.8 PP% (5th)  80.7 PK% (17th)

Everything Else

Let’s Look At Someone Else’s Cap Situation For Once

By 1568

Some free agent news breaking the past couple days, which is rare for August but hey we’ll take it.

-Today, the Edmonton Oilers signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year, $65 million deal. Drice was coming out of his entry deal, and the Oilers weren’t going to fuck around with a bridge deal, just like they didn’t with Run CMD who starts taking home $12 million a year starting the season after this upcoming one.

And nor should they.

Everything Else

Capital Destruction

By 2745

I guess it says a lot about me that I’ve always enjoyed writing about the failures of teams more than the successes. Well, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word. But the writing is better. It’s a more interesting study. There’s more layers to it, and looking forward from rubble is more interesting than just gushing about triumph. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the triumph from time to time, because otherwise I’m going to set myself on fire on the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Whether it’s the Hawks or elsewhere though, there’s just more to talk about when things go wrong for a team.

All series, I had sat here and really wondered what the Capitals would conclude if they continued to dominate this series but lost anyway. Would the panic of yet another loss, the aging of Ovechkin, the impending cap situation, and whatever other factors cause them to act rashly this summer? Or would they hold the line? Now we’ll find out.
However, it didn’t quite go that way, did it?

Everything Else

Decision Day

By 1550

I’ve seen people in some circles complain that we had to wait nearly a full month into the Stanley Cup Playoffs to get a Game 7. None in the first round and all that. Me? I love it.

Game 7s should be the thing you never want to get to. The “Please Don’t Make Us Do This” level. The absolute last resort. The “We’ve tried everything else and now this is the only way we can reach a conclusion. This is our only path to catharsis.” They should only happen a couple times per spring, to keep them special.

Because if you get a spring full of them… most of them turn out to be pretty disappointing. Rarely do you get November 2nd in Cleveland (and I still would have happily taken an easy, 6-3 Cubs win and been just as happy thank you very much) or Seabrook’s shot tipping off Kronwall’s stick and over Jimmy Howard or… well, we won’t mention that other Game 7 at home.

Everything Else

On The Verge Of History…Hilarious History, Glorious History

By 1258

People, do you realize what we’re on the verge of here? Do you understand? We’re all so swept up in watching the Capitals throw away yet another brilliant team and season that I don’t think the hockey world is paying enough attention to what could happen on the other coast. The Anaheim Ducks are just one more, 60-minute spit-up from blowing their fifth-straight 3-2 lead and losing a Game 7 at home.

FIVE! They’ve done this four times in a row! They’re halfway to their 5th! Do you understand the magnitude here?! On level of sports accomplishments, this is Kerry Wood’s 20 Ks, Jordan’s 55 in the Garden, that one game where Cutler was great behind no offensive line (I forget which one). This is going to be a Picasso, a Rembrandt, a Monet of playoff idiocy.

Everything Else

Looks Like Fun: Weekend Wrap

By 1292

You can see just how weird hockey is with the two narratives going around right now. Let’s follow them.

This weekend, one team came out of the gate roaring in a playoff game. They first 16 shots at the opposing goalie, and only give up five. But the opposing goalie has an answer for everything, and then their own goalie suddenly forgets how his limbs work for just one period. Suddenly, they’re in crisis.

Another team comes out roaring, also at home. They outshoot their opponent 29-14 in the first 40 minutes of their game. And while the opposing goalie was good, they found a way to get one goal in their period of pure dominance, and that’s the difference.

And coming out of those games, the Capitals are doing it all again and are an utter mess, whereas the Predators are sitting in the proverbial catbird seat. And really, the only difference between the two was that Cody McLeod was able to corral a puck in the air and a bounce off the outside of the net, and the Capitals got no such bounce.

Everything Else

That Looks Like Fun: Eastern Conference Game 1s and Previewing West’s Game 2s

By 1160

As much as it’s been built up, even by just me, certainly the first round of Caps-Penguins didn’t disappoint. It was just about as fast as you could hope, close, with the biggest names stepping to the fore. And yes, I mean Nick Bonino, of course.

In truth, the Caps were pretty much all over the Penguins for most of the game, kicking them around in shots and possession, the latter to the tune of a 65% adjusted Corsi-share. The Caps can get push from all three pairings from Carlson, ShattenKevin, Orlov, and even Schmidt. The Pens aren’t short of go even without Letang with Hainsey, Schultz, and Daley but it’s just not the quality of what Washington is rolling. And you don’t want to be in a place where you really have to depend on Schultz and Daley, however good they’ve looked in black and gold.

Everything Else

Life Goes On: Western Conference 2nd Round Preview

By 2490

It won’t for most Hawks fans, as we know that the majority of the fanbase heads over to Wrigley once the Hawks are done (and a few lost and desperate souls head to Comiskey, which they should because the food and beer is so much better), but the NHL playoffs do continue once they’re out of it. And they kick off tomorrow night in the West, before we get to what will be the main event on Thursday in the East. And we don’t have much else to do, so let’s preview both series.

Predators vs. Blues

This is probably too distasteful for most Hawks fans, but I don’t really have any bile for the Predators. I think you all know how I feel about the Blues. Luckily, I think the latter is up against it.

Everything Else

The Playoff Buffet

By 1488

Much like the players themselves, or so it seems, it’s hard for Hawks fans to stay locked in for the last two and a half weeks of the season. We know where the Hawks are finishing, and other than the “IT’S ALIVE!” method of experimenting with his lineup that Quenneville sometimes delves into, there isn’t a lot of drama.

About the only thing left is for the Hawks to figure out who they’ll be opening the playoffs against, and thanks to how the West has shaped up over the past couple weeks, it could be any one of six teams. And if the Wild keep going the way they’re going, it could actually be one of seven.

As of right now, it would be the Blues again, for the third time in four years. But they’re one point behind the Predators for third in the division. And the Preds are only one point behind the Flames, who hold the first wild-card spot. Who themselves are only one point behind the Oilers and Sharks, who are only two points behind the Ducks, and the Wild are only two points ahead of that. So it could any of that.

What should you prefer?

Everything Else

Come In From The Cold, We Come Down From The Wire: Oilers at Hawks Preview/Bocce Ball Tournament

By 1243

 vs. 

RECORDS: Oilers 31-18-9   Hawks 37-15-5

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: WGN in the 606, NHLN below the 49th, Sportsnet above it

YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM AN OIL MAN: Oilers Nation, Copper And Blue

PROJECTED LINEUPS

TEAM ADJUSTED CORSI %: Oilers – 50.8 (13th)  Hawks – 50.5 (15th)

TEAM ADJUSTED xGF%:  Oilers – 49.8 (17th)  Hawks – 48.1 (20th)

POWER PLAY %: Oilers – 20.4 (11th)  Hawks – 19.6 (16th)

PENALTY KILL %: Oilers – 81.4 (15th)  Hawks – 76.8 (27th)

The somehow-controversial (only the NHL could fuck up the concept of a bye week and have it become A THING like this) bye week comes to an end for the Hawks tonight, and they’ll try and buck the trend of teams with a tan getting tolchocked when they go back to work. But the Hawks have usually avoided such pitfalls under Joel Quenneville.