triumph_communes

They don't even list the actual position he's playing! I'm much more pumped for this season than last year. If you aren't, I don't think you're being rational at all.

Bunch of unrealistic crap here that a new coach can't take into consideration if he's going to expect any of his players to believe when he says there's an 'open competition' in camp.

But he was better than Rodrigues in pre-season, and that's all that counts for tomorrow's roster under a new coach.

No A for Risto or Okposo. Start the speculation! e: Thank god they took it away from Bogosian.

I think the coaching change will be everything we ever wanted. The simpler hockey will be more entertaining than the crap we saw last year, even if we lose. And Johansson is going to be more of a factor in the turnaround than many of the fans currently recognize. Miller's contribution is being underrated as well. We had huge problems with our depth last year that has been addressed quite well I believe. A 2RW pending, and Montour injury probably delaying a Ristolainen trade to acquire that 2RW, but a month from that final roster change is enough.

Who is playing a different position than when he was a bottom 5 player, and is playing with a guy who plays his own game anyway, and a center most fans here have no experience watching at all either. All under a new coach with a simpler system, that may just address that player's main problems in the first place. He played for bad coaches in St Louis too, which mind you, was a team that was DEAD LAST last season until they had a coaching change literally turn the team around into a cup finish. Personally, I see Sobotka's spot, and Rodrigues as the extra, being a quick swap a few games in as whatever the hell was going wrong with Rodrigues in pre-season quells, and Sobotka's real-game flaws become more apparent to the new coach.

Sobotka has been a tire-fire at center, but he hasn't really played winger for us much. Maybe he just isn't quite the drag at wing? Ya'll are so damn negative. It's getting as bad as HFBoards over here all of a sudden

I thought Pilut was on IR and couldn’t go down until cleared? Worded it wrong. Their contracts bring us right up to the cap, which lets us exceed the near entirety of Hubwicks LTIR relief.

Wrong. Those players are not going to stay up. They were only there so that our roster was exceeding the cap for as close as possible to what Hunwicks relief gives us.

The tank only failed because Murray spent all the teams capital on busts and bad egos At least Botterill is going to get Vesey with that 3rd round pick

He’s a center and his part of the ice is red on defense. That’s not really bad

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.