triumph_communes

He’s maximizing allowable salary today. Opens room up if he decides to trade today. We won’t be able to take on a high salary rental come trade deadline is the con to this tomfoolery.

If a stat has Zach Bogosian, Casey Nelson and Nathan Beaulieu up high, it's a crappy stat.

So many posters here so adamant about one thing. It's like they've never been wrong before.

Just as a friendly reminder though, Krueger is notorious for keeping lines together through struggles. He values building chemistry through adversity more than shaking things up. This was the overwhelming gripe Oilers fans had, and Krueger is self-aware about the criticism. Don't expect to see much line disco this year at all.

I actually see Rodrigues taking Okposo's spot before Sobotka's spot. I think Sobotka's spot is Thompson's spot for the taking.

Rodrigues played like trash during the pre-season. I understand the history, but he failed tryouts this year. You can't blame the coach for that, you have to blame Rodrigues.

The difference between this situation and McCoy, is that Sobotka doesn't have Singletary behind him ready to go. Krueger wants a defensive minded winger to be with Skinner/Johansson, so that those two can focus more on taking chances. We all know that Sobotka abandons the offensive zone as soon as the puck leaves his teammate's stick, and provides that role. The guys sitting in the ranks at RW are: Thompson (toe drag much?), Rodrigues (played absolutely awful and is a risky player too), Lazar (4th liner at best), and.... nobody! He's trying to form chemistry with a hole in the depth chart. If Rodrigues can get over his stint, or Thompson shows he can be responsible, I'm sure they'll be quick to take Sobotka's spot if he fails to show up. But so far in camp, he hasn't done anything glaring bad yet. Unless we waiver wire, I bet Sobotka starts at 2RW. I wouldn't expect it to last, or god forbid, he performs a miracle and makes Sobotka useful. Trust me, I'm a huge Rodrigues fan, always have been, but he played like TRASH pre-season. He's earned the pine he's sitting on.

Thinking like Murray. The guy who never understood personal relationships and their value.

Lol, Krueger is the only one who sees practices. Vets usually are better listeners and is why coaches like them. He may be doing in practice exactly what he preaches, and Krueger made it clear nobodies past preceded them. He’s going to lose a few games until he figures out Sobotka is a fraud, but he won’t lose the locker room from the get go picking favorites and not favoring what was shown in camp. And the locker room is more important to have.

He’s said they gelled. But he’s also said the lineup isn’t finished until Tuesday. Wait til that practice

Maybe you should stop with the superlatives and recognize that 1) Krueger has mentioned Mittelstadt's spot is in hot water, 2) Rodrigues is on the bubble right now and an extra RW could push Rodrigues back to center, as Rodrigues would immediately be claimed on waivers and wouldn't be worth losing just to trial Sprong and 3) the fact that Reinhart's output is diminished overall when paired with Eichel, who made Pominville make top-10 fancy stat charts last season. Eichel doesn't need a Reinhart to excel, but the other lines sure could use a Reinhart.

I feel like they'd mention it to KO and he'd choose to LTIRetire instead. The concussion just scrambled him.

He doesn't pass. Can't do that in this league unless you're like Skinner

What appears to be the starting line-up: Oloffson-Eichel-Reinhart Skinner-Johansson-Sobotka Vesey-Mittelstadt-Sheary Girgensons-Larsson-Rodrigues Okposo Dahlin-Miller McCabe-Ristolainen Scandella-Jokiharju Glimour IR: Montour will push out Jokiharju, Gilmour stays. Bogosian.... we'll see. Pilut starts in the AHL, but I think he comes up within a month and pushes out Scandella. A Ristolainen trade resolves any jams, though Jokiharju appears to benefit from some AHL time and can pass through waivers unlike anyone else. Only waiver wire pick-up I could foresee is Sprong-- given Botterill's history with the kid, and our pretty bad RW depth. May be the move that kicks Mittelstadt into the AHL for some time. Not really sure Rodrigues' spot is safe at all with that awful pre-season, though I'd much rather see the Okposo demotion be what happens. Not really excited by 2nd line Sobotka, nor Reinhart with Eichel, but I'll give Krueger benefit of the doubt for a little while at least. Glad Oloffson is getting the chance, and Vesey makes 3LW somewhat solid, even if he only shows up every few games. Each line has playmakers, shooters, and some size. Much better wingers than Mittelstadt had last year. If Johansson looks like he did in pre-season at 2C for the rest of the season, I feel really good about the team this year. I thought Thompson earned a spot over every other RW not named Reinhart personally, but he's also the only one who can pass through waivers so maybe that's mostly what it is. Some extra chances for those other RWs to show whether they've got any gas left or not.

The delayed response of the official before he tackles Kane was hilarious. Yes, it was accidental, and you could tell a million things were going through the official's mind as he accidentally took the slash.

Texture is half-way there, but it should be a crime that the Fnatics jersey doesn't have it It's hit or miss really. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't

I really hope you're right, except swap Scandella with Gilmour Doubt you are tho

Allen sucked pretty bad, but he has every game and brings it back for the fourth. He didn't survive the fourth tho lol Zay Jones sucks. Straight up sucks. Easy. Brown and Beasley are the only reason the offense does anything this year. And Knox is good for one clutch play per game. Only reason we're in the games, despite 4 turnovers week after week, is our amazing defense. But if they could've finished on that drive where Allen died, we would've won the game. Really annoying how that whole drive went down. Zay is so bad.

Can someone explain to me why the guy who helmet to helmeted the QB didn't get an ejection? I thought that stuff was flagrant now. Silly we didn't get yardage out of that. Whole game was flag flag flag. No fun league. Brady sucked, and was saved by cheap shots and special teams. Amazing Don't get me wrong, Allen sucked and was killed before he had his chance at heroics. But the reffing was still absurd.

Krueger specifically said history does not precede any of the players. That’s probably why Sobotka is on the 2nd line and Rodrigues is on the outside looking in.

Wilson-Rodrigues-Okposo looks like the 5th line to me. Rodrigues is who they’d keep as an extra for sure Surprised Gilmour didn’t overtake Scandella. Krueger is really challenging my optimism with 2nd line Sobotka. I thought Thompson really earned it.

Joki not going down yet is interesting. Trade?

The belly stripes are weird that they just aren't all the same and the crest isn't stitched the same, but it's not awful. Thanks!

Tage uses his body now. He can be a 4th line asset I think. I think it'd be better than him in the AHL on a top line actually, and it's rare that I say 4th line NHL minutes is better than 1st line AHL.

Didn't see a whole lot, but Dahlin didn't look silly like his first game, and Miller was a great defender. Joki isn't really ready, but can 3rd pair if Risto does get traded.