So I just got done tweeting about 90 Day Fiancé.  Steph made me supper, wanted to watch it, I can’t be the asshole who says “thanks!” and then goes downstairs to watch the Sunday nighter/ALCS/Jets and Hurricanes.  So I stayed up and watched it, WOW is that show deadly!!  It was so good, I had to put my favourite clips on Twitter, and now of course on here to share with you:

You’ll have to click that one a few times to see what I was talking about, my apologies.

Just TERRIFIC television!

 

I did manage to watch a bit of the Jets/Canes game though, and I wonder when it’ll be time to notice that the Jets really aren’t playing too well?  They finally showed up for the third, but this just hasn’t been pretty for them.  The win in St. Louis they were outplayed and won thanks to another Jake Allen disaster, the win in their home opener was against the Kings who don’t look good, and then they were outplayed in the first two periods of last night’s game.  I’ll get to the Oilers as I always do, but the Oil MIGHT be catching them at the perfect time.  There is no good time to go into that building, let alone when they have as much talent as they currently have!  But this might be it.  3-2 so no need to get worried about it, but no need for the Jets to change much at the moment either since they’re getting away with it.  Brossoit looked good didn’t he…the asshole…surprised Maurice didn’t save that start for Tuesday, but maybe he’ll go back to him after playing so well.

 

The Hurricanes are no joke though and that team is looking as though they’ve finally arrived.  All that heavy lifting that Ron Francis did for the franchise, and as soon as he’s out the door they arrive.  That’s such a shame.  But that team looks damn good right now.  Think about this too, they had just played in Minny the night before, so really it shouldn’t be much of a shock that the Canes ran out of gas in the 3rd (which was probably said a million times during the 3rd, I didn’t get to watch it with the sound on, too into 90 Day Finace).

 

Speaking of the Canes beating Minny, I know it’s early, and I know it’s kind of an “I told you so”, but they just look bad.  I don’t know what Paul Fenton is going to do there (I’ll get to one thing he might do), but it’s just such a bad situation there.  A lot of no moves, a lot of fat contracts, Carolina put 57 shots on Dubnyk Saturday!  Canes are playing well, but they’re playing THAT well?!

 

Anyone notice that Kyle Palmieri is scoring two goals per game?  The question is: is Palmieri as good as Matthews or that AHLer McDavid?…

 

So on Friday I put out my podcast and in the description for it I said how McDavid vs Matthews is ridiculous.  Well, one of my buddies who is a Leafs fan didn’t like that, didn’t like that I pointed out facts that suggested the Leafs are no better to this point than they were last year.  Context is very much so king these days.  I’m guilty of it all the time.  You see someone say something or hear them say something and you tend to only think of it the way you want to think of it.  Auston Matthews is AWESOME!  And for whatever reason, if you praise one of McDavid or Matthews you’re shitting on the other.  Not what I was doing at all.  But, I’m sorry, Matthews isn’t as good as McDavid and for the media to be making that case is just a little eye rolling.  I know what I sound like when I say that, it’s sounding like a homer Oilers fan.  I get why my opinion on this doesn’t hold as much weight as others.  But I just don’t see how you can look at the two play and think “Matthews is as good as him”.  One thing said to me was that Matthews is a better 200 foot player, but Babcock doesn’t give him tough minutes where McDavid has seen the tough match-ups for the last year.  But the big one is that McDavid creates, and I have NEVER been shy about my belief that snipers aren’t as valuable as playmakers.  And Matthews has that in his game, I’m not saying he doesn’t, but right now people are getting far too horny about him because of the rate he’s scoring goals at.  He’s scored over half his goals from the exact same spot on the ice let alone piling up the assists.  He’s the best sniper in the game right now for my money, which is such an vital piece to have!  But, I don’t think he’s any better at the moment than Stamkos was around the same age, or Ovechkin was around the same age.  And it used to drive me insane when people would compare them to Crosby, because it really wasn’t close.  Those players needed someone to create for them, Sid did the creating.  Matthews is living off being setup right now, on the most talented offensive team in the league, while seeing soft minutes.  McDavid is literally creating all the offence for the Oilers right now while being on a shitty PP and seeing the toughest match-ups each night.  So I’m not saying that it’s ridiculous in that Matthews shouldn’t be even considered a franchise player or anything along those lines, just that while he’s elite he’s not to THAT level.  Both McDavid and Matthews are FUCKING AMAZING PLAYERS!  No Leafs fan should ever take this as any kind of slight against their guy!  And Oilers fans, we need to chill about this because we all sound really thin skinned (which is a huge issue with the Oilers fan base) and should be secure about how incredible “our guy” is.  But for me, I’m not going to apologize for my philosophy on hockey or what I prefer in a player.  It’s apples to oranges as others have pointed out, and I without a doubt agree with that.  But until Matthews starts creating more offence, and seeing all the tough minutes, it really isn’t debatable with McDavid….or the best player in the league Sidney Crosby.  But I don’t get it, because if you say “Matthews is so good man, he’s just like Stamkos was at the same age”, that would be viewed as SUCH high praise.  And then if you say “McDavid is on that same level Sid was on at the same age”, again people would just love that and agree.  And then if you said “Stamkos was great but he just wasn’t Sid”, again about 99% of people would be on board with that.  But right now if you say “Matthews is great but he isn’t McDavid” and it’s go time.

 

Ok, onto the team that McDavid has to prop up all by himself.

 

That was as big of a 2-1 win against a terrible hockey team in October as you’ll ever see.  But they won, and they were better than they were in Boston, and they were better in Boston than they were against Jersey.  So it’s improving, and as I said earlier they just MIGHT be catching the Jets at a good time tomorrow night.  It’d be a massive win.  And a lot of people are talking about the meat grinder of a schedule they’re facing out of the gate here, and I agree.  When the schedule came out I said to my buddy how it was complete horse shit on behalf of the league that they started this way.  Having said that, what a chance to get the confidence sky high.  And really, it can be looked at as a no lose by the team (not the coaches or management).  But if you’re the team, you throw out what your record is after this stretch and simply say “we are 1-0 against non playoff teams, 1-1 against non elite teams.”  Any other win is gravy.  But just get through this stretch at .500.  That’s it.  I don’t think they’re going to, but if they win on Tuesday they’re 2-2 coming home.  Then all you’re expected to do is have a 2-2 home stand, which is doable (especially with two of the teams on the second half of back to backs).

 

But then again, is a respectable run just delaying the inevitable?  I can see pretty clearly what’s wrong with this team, and the head coaches outdated theories on how to fix it aren’t going to work.  The GM’s outdated way to build a team isn’t going to work.  This squad has a ton of talent up front and only one guy can produce because the rest of them are stifled in my opinion.  If you’re going to have a bad blueline these days, make sure they can at least move the puck!  Instead they have a bad blueline that can’t move the puck!  Stud blueline in 2004, it ain’t 2004 anymore!  I’ve brought it up lots by now, but Bear should be up and in the top four.  Bouchard as the number six is awesome, I’d have Garrison paired with him who can move it a lot better than Russell can.  Then you have Klefbom and Nurse, I am to the point where I would move one of them if I had to.  I adore both guys, but I just don’t think they can afford to wait for both guys to realize their potential, it’s go time.  I don’t know what that trade would be.  I’m obviously not suggesting moving them just to move them or giving them away, but I would be willing to move one if it meant a high end puck mover coming in.

 

I will give you a name though that could make a lot of sense, and that’s Jared Spurgeon.  And this could have been brought up by others already, I haven’t heard it but there are a lot of voices in Oiler land right now, tough to keep tabs on all of them.  Anyway, the Wild could end up busting up their team, I know he was a guy that Elliotte Friedman had said the Wild weren’t too happy with after last season, and they don’t have many movable guys.  He fits the money that Sekera being on LTIR free’d up, is a righty, can REALLY move it, so he has big intrigue for me.  Another year left on his deal after this one, I’m pretty sure you would be looking at Ethan Bear going in the deal, also a pick or another prospect, and then they’d still have to shed some money somehow.  Would Russell waive?  Would Peter ever even think of asking his boy to waive?  Probably not, but just something to keep in mind while we’re all looking at Justin Faulk there might be an even better fit out there in Jared Spurgeon.

 

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