Tag Archives: Eric Gryba

Armchair GM, Bakersfield Condors, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Oilers Set to Make A Roster Move As Roster Freeze Thaws

Tough game for the Edmonton Oilers’ defense as they let the team down one too many times versus Winnipeg. But how about that McDavid/Draisaitl team-up on the shorty and the Puljujarvi goal! AMAZ-BALLS!!

On the other hand, Larsson and Davidson had their worst game as a pairing and the timing couldn’t be better if you can even say that.

Oscar Klefbom is set to return from the IR and with that, an Oilers defenseman is going to have to hit the waiver wire. Which Oilers dman you ask? I’ll go out on a limb and guess.

Eric Gryba

The big bearded grilling machine hasn’t had the best of years since signing his 2-year deal with the Oilers last summer and with the Oilers claiming Brandon Davidson off of waivers this month, Grybs is going to have to find employment elsewhere.

I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for players like Eric Gryba as he still plays that old-school hockey that I grew up watching. It’s too bad Mark Fayne lent him his skates this year though, had he been a bit more agile on the ice, he might’ve made it more of a challenge to sit him.

What might very well happen is a trade though because there’s simply no room for Gryba in Bakersfield. Since Ethan Bear has returned, Mark Fayne was loaned to Florida’s AHL team. I suppose Ryan Mantha or another player could be sent to the ECHL but that’s IF Gryba clears waivers.

Another option is Gryba being loaned out to another team like the aforementioned Mark Fayne. His contract isn’t that bad though at 900k and he’s only 29, so he may very well get claimed too. But now we wait and if he does end up leaving the Oilers, we’ll wish him a fond farewell and remember the good times.

I’m looking forward to Klefbom getting back into the lineup because I can’t remember a time since the ’06 Oilers where the Edmonton had this kind of spine.

McDavid
Nugent-Hopkins
Draisaitl
Letestu

Klefbom/Larsson
Sekera/Benning
Nurse/Russell
Davidson

Talbot

All the players in blue are ones that were brought in by Peter Chiarelli… Yet, he still gets shit on… It’s a glorious thing to look at folks! And something we should feel very lucky to have as Oiler fans.

As for any trade rumors, I think the Oilers are OUT on Mike Hoffman, the price is too high at the moment and with the way that the team is playing, I reckon Chiarelli is happy to wait the Senators out.

Below is a BLH Youtube clip on the Kris Letang rumor. The Oilers aren’t in on him at all. The price for Hoffman is high but Letang’s is right up there too.

Stauffer is saying he thinks a winger is coming, the insiders are saying a defenseman, I’ve heard a goalie… If I were you, I’d just sit back and let all of the noise clear out before making a guess as to what the Oilers are going to do here.

The Oilers have a really key homestand coming up where they play Chicago, Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Winnipeg again. If they can manage 3 wins here, I think we’re in the money Oilers fans!!!

In the meantime…

We’re SO close to 500 subscribers over at our BLH Youtube Channel folks! Please head over and subscribe if you haven’t already!!! We’ve got 2018 NHL draft prospect vids, Oilers compilation clips, radio interviews, hits, goals, whatever you want (more or less)!

Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.

 

Edmonton Oilers, Fancy Stats, G Money

It’s way too early for this dashboard

It’s not enough data!

Normally for a shot metrics dashboard like this, you’d prefer to have at least 10 and preferably 20 games of data.

But I’m showing it to you anyway!

The reason is because, well, it actually does have a few interesting things embedded in it, and I’m going to walk you through what I see. Would be interested to hear if you observe anything else!

So without further ado …

Here is the dashboard, annotated with numbered points of interest (click to embiggen, an explanation of the dashboard is at the end if you haven’t seen it before):


Analysis

So referring to the numbers above, and remembering the caveat about how early as it is, here’s what I see of interest:

  1. Oh what a surprise, the McDavid line tops the board!  The biggest thing to note here is that big discrepancy between McDavid’s blue Corsi line and his purple Danger line. Most players I expect will have those converge over the season. I expect with McDavid that divergence is going to stay.
  2. Mark Fayne only played the one game but hey, it was really good!
  3. I still think the best thing for his development (and the cap situation) is for Jesse P to spend a good chunk of time in the AHL.  But these are nice numbers for a raw rook.
  4. Oscar and Adam aka KlefLar aka AdamBom are giving up an unhealthy edge in shot attempts, but are doing very nicely on the danger aspect.  As I noted in point #1, this is a mild cause for concern, as these two tend to converge over time.  However!  Larsson has shown for the last couple of seasons that he is a better danger suppressor than he is a shot suppressor, so I expect that we may see this ‘poor shot, good danger’ being a persistent effect too. I can live with that!
  5. You can clearly see the recent uptick for Gryba and Nurse – they’ve played two really solid games in a row.
  6. Russell and Sekera started very strongly but have been falling off the pace the last while. This is what a lot of the “Russell warners” suggested was likely to happen.  I don’t think it’s overly indicative either way, and have very much liked both Russell and Sekera’s game so far.  But it’s something to keep an eye on.
  7. Like Nurse and Gryba, Nugey had a rough start to the season, but the last couple of games have been really solid, and against Vancouver I thought Nugey was the best of the Oiler forwards.

The other notable issue is that performance of the team outside of the McDavid line is a significant concern.

Those are the main things I see on this dashboard this early in the season.  There are other things of note (like Pitlick’s shot metrics vs his 20% sh%!, but those are exactly the kinds of things that it really is too early to comment on. I’m more interested in some of the early trends around the key players and prospects).

How about you?  See anything else interesting?

PS. Dashboard Explanation

If you haven’t seen this dashboard (I tweet it out regularly through the season, and will do more of these walkthroughs here at BLH every 20 or so games), here is how to read it:

  1. Every player with even a single game will show up.  Blue background is a forward, yellow is for defensemen.
  2. The list is sorted by raw Corsi differential
  3. The blue/brown trace shows you raw Corsi differential over the course of the season so far. Blue means above breakeven, brown is below.
  4. The purple line shows my Dangerous Fenwick metric, which takes unblocked shots and adjusts them for danger (based on shot type and distance)
  5. Obviously, the farther above the line, the better!
  6. But really what you’re looking for is things like trends, hot and cold streaks, big divergences between raw and danger metrics, and so on
  7. I call it a dashboard because in a single image it gives you a really clear look on how every player on the team is doing over the course of the season, and that’s not easy to do!
  8. Feel free to tweet questions at me @OilersNerdAlert. You can also post questions in the comment section below, but for some reason my comments get eaten on a regular basis, so I might not be able to respond!
Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Game 2: Flames v. Oilers – Tkachuk You!

Game 1 of the 2016/17 NHL season for the Oilers proved to be successful on the scoreboard, I loved seeing the Oilers put up seven versus the Flames and on the whole it was a very entertaining game but there were some pretty glaring issues that need to be shored up if the Oilers are going to make a significant push for the playoffs this spring.

Amongst them:

  • Special Teams
    • What is wrong with this team on the power play? Honestly. It’s not even Jay Woodcroft that we can blame right now because his record is pretty damn good.

      For years the Oilers haven’t been able to get things going on a regular basis on the PP. Last year for a bit when McDavid was healthy it was clipping along at a healthy rate but IIRC I can only remember two coaches really getting something out of the Oilers power play regularly, Ralph Krueger and Todd Nelson…

    • Why is it that the team can get 6 chances with the man advantage but only fire off 3 shots?… Is it shot confidence or did the Flames really shut down the shooting lanes that well?
    • Allowing short-handed goals… There’s nothing more frustrating that allowing one shorty let alone two and Connor McDavid isn’t going to be there every time to bail the team out when this atrocious sin is committed. Calgary’s PK unit is very tenacious and effective albeit but my feelings remain the same.
  • Goaltending
    • Cam Talbot CANNOT make a habit of letting in 4 goals a game. This isn’t the 80s and these aren’t the boys on the bus. He has to make timely saves when required. That Chaisson goal was bloody terrible, right? The Frolik goal shorthanded was no beauty either.
  • Jordan Eberle
    • If he didn’t score that empty netter, I don’t think I would’ve noticed him all game. He was pretty invisible out there, to my eye at least.

      I believe this is a player that could be moved depending on where the Oilers sit come trade deadline time and performances from himself and others on the team. If he’s going to be anonymous during games and only show up from time to time, then what good is he?

      I know… It’s only been one game. Wait ten and then make your call.

GAME 2 – Flaming Redemption or Will Edmonton Take Two?

CALGARY FLAMES EDMONTON OILERS
Gaudreau/Monahan/Versteeg Lucic/McDavid/Eberle
Tkachuk/Bennett/Brouwer Pouliot/Nugent-Hopkins/Kassian
Ferland/Backlund/Frolik Maroon/Draisaitl/Puljujarvi
Bouma/Stajan/Chaisson Pitlick/Letestu/Lander
Giordano/Brodie Klefbom/Larsson
Hamilton/Jokipakka Sekera/Russell
Wideman/Engelland Nurse/Gryba
Elliott Talbot

Three pretty obvious changes for the Oilers are Zack Kassian moving up to the 2nd line, Anton Lander drawing in for Anton Slepyshev, and Eric Gryba coming in for the injured Brandon Davidson (more on that later).

I’m not sure if Sleppy coming out is more on him and his performance in game one than the Oilers wanting to get a guy in that can take some face-offs and help on the PK a bit more, both of those things being areas where Lander is actually quite good at. Don’t ask the guy to score though…

The Flames are countering by taking the cement-footed Nic Grossman out and replacing him with skilled Finn Jyrki Jokipakka. The also decided to pair up their defenceman like a regular NHL team.

WHAT DO I WANT TO SEE?

  • Adam Larsson and Oscar Klefbom continue their dominance on the back-end as one of the NHL’s emerging top pairings.

    Did anybody else expect to see Larsson’s nasty side? He can lay the body if need be and I LOVE THAT!!

  • “Tell Merrill to swing away.”  = More shots on net from Puljujarvi! If you shoot it, goals will come.
  • Kris Russell/’Rej Sekera have another good game. I thought they looked tight in game one and weren’t liabilities at all. Weird what happens when you add NHL defensemen to the roster.
  • Nuge have a big bounce-back game. He was not great last time out at all. Give me more Nugey!
  • A goal from Milan Lucic.
  • Leon Draisaitl NOT peter out in the 3rd period.
  • Somebody fill-in Matt Tkachuk like a Mac truck.

MATT TKACHUK

So a lot of the radio call-in shows are asking today, What should the Oilers do about Matt Tkachuk?

I believe there are three roads to take with regards to a player that has more or less disrespected your team in the manner Tkachuk did on Wednesday night.

  1. Similar to how Darnell Nurse had to answer the bell last year after turning Roman Polak’s face into ground meat, perhaps Matt Tkachuk should have to have a one-on-one meeting with one of the Oilers enforcers.
  2. You start taking liberties with the Flames’ star players. Zack Kassian gives zero f*cks and will do whatever is asked of him. Tyler Pitlick likes a good stiff check. You don’t think Milan Lucic, Pat Maroon, Darnell Nurse, or Eric Gryba will break a stick over some kidneys if the chance arises?

    Tkachuk’s teammates will let him know loud and clear to cut it out if the Oilers start reciprocating the rookie’s actions.

  3. The other method of dealing with these players, and the one you always here in minor hockey, is you simply beat him on the scoresheet.

Look, this is Tkachuk’s MO. He plays on the line and he crosses it from time to time. Should he have to pay for his actions, absolutely! How that punishment is carried out will be determined by the players wearing orange, white, and blue.

I say get it out of the way as early in the game as possible, don’t let him carry on and take advantage of more opportunities.

GAME DAY PREDICTION

I like the Oilers to win this one as well. Had the flames not scored those two shorties, the Oilers would’ve beat them even worse. Will it be a resounding win? I don’t believe so. Johnny Gaudreau is a bloody beast at home and I expect the line match-ups to work very much in Calgary’s favor (Good luck 4th line and 3rd D-pairing). This should be a much closer game that the previous installment of the BOA but then again the Flames are starting Brian Elliott again… Game on Biatches!

Click on the pic and grab a new 16-bit Fighting Looch tee!
Grab a Grinning Finn tee by clicking on the pic!!
Click the pic and grab a 16-bit McDavid tee for the summer!
If you’re a fan of Lowetide, you need this shirt! Click the pic and get yours today!
Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

What the Hell Happened?

1 Comment

Ok, so I’m back in the ROC (The Republic of China aka Taiwan) now and apparently while Little BLH and myself were on the plane Kris Versteeg and the Oilers decided it wasn’t going to work out and off Versteeg went to join the Flames… Say what?!

https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/786024963555794944

If you get on that Twitter thread, Dustin Neilson talks about Versteeg not being tough enough and that’s why he wasn’t signed. I laughed out loud and immediately thought about how that must’ve infuriated some numbers guys.

I was getting stoked to have Versteeg on the team. I thought adding more veterans with playoff success was the right road to go down for this team but apparently, Versteeg wasn’t interested in 12-13 minutes a night and decided to take his show elsewhere. So good riddance and good luck tomorrow night to Versteeg (IF he’s even in the lineup). When you’ve got Maroon, Kassian, Lucic, Pouliot, etc bearing down on you, you’ll know you made the wrong choice.

And to add to the Versteeg news, Eric Gryba was signed to a 2-way deal after I was told he was on his way out of town… Say what what?!!

I mean I watched him (Gryba) in that Jets/Oilers game and he was effective in front of the net but when it came to moving the puck and actually skating… Yikes! Was/is he a better option that Mark Fayne? I can’t answer that. I think they’re both bound for the AHL or other teams. I’ve liked Matt Benning better but I’m not sure if starting him in the NHL is a positive direction to take with him even though there’s a glut of dmen lining up for Bakersfield at the moment. Actually, I expect Chiarelli deal some of those guys out to make room for Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones next season.

TSN CAN TAKE A LONG WALK OFF A SHORT PIER

https://twitter.com/AzorcanGlobal/status/786021731659943937

What kind of poppycock is that? For the first time in how many years, the Oilers’ top four defensemen are actually NHL defensemen!! They’re not starting any rookies in the top 6 on forward and the goaltending is solid IF Talbot can start well and stay healthy. Not only that but…

For the first time in how many MANY years, the Oilers’ top four defensemen are actually NHL defensemen!! They’re not starting any rookies in the top 6 on forward and the goaltending is solid IF Talbot can start well and stay healthy. This is finally starting to resemble a real team folks!

Not only that but…

Second last in the whole league? Brutal! What is that even based on (I haven’t seen the preview show…)? If you’re to ask me, I think they’ll finish a surprising 4th in the West whilst passing Arizona, Vancouver, and Calgary AND picking up the wild card spot.

There was a stat going around about teams going into their new buildings and how they’ve always made the playoffs that year… I’m not sure how far back that goes but this jet lag has me feeling like I’ve got a brutal hangover and I can’t be bothered checking. But if it’s true, that bodes well for the Oilers.

THE OILERS STARTING LINEUP FOR 2016/17

Good ol’ Lance Pitlick eh?

I think the majority of bitching these days is why the Oilers didn’t pick up Teemu Pulkkinen (too slow), PA Parenteau (too slow), and/or Mark McNeil (Stauffer doesn’t have that much pull) and you know what?

I’m f*cking stoked that he didn’t when I think about it.

He’s giving the players within his organization to make their mark. Pitlick has busted his balls to make this team each year he’s had the chance and each year the injury bug has jumped up and bit him. Poor luck I say. But not this year, he’s ready to take Matty Hendricks role and run with it.

Anton Slepyshev has looked very clinical this training camp. He’s using his size and hands to run amok on the opposition when given the opportunity. Not only that, but Slepyshev even got in a scrap! Loving the heart he’s showing and I believe Peter Chiarelli is feeling the same.

I imagine this will be that last chance for these players though. If they can’t make an impact at the NHL level within 20-25 games, surely they’ll be moved on from and maybe for one of those players that everyone was pissing their pants for just a short time ago.

I don’t agree with Jesse Puljujarvi starting the year with the team because he hasn’t really shown much positive despite what Coach McLellan has said about him needing a more structured game. He’s tentative with the puck and panics with it in the defensive zone. A far cry from the prospects tournament in Penticton eh? But how much fault can we lay at the teenager’s feet. His countryman, Patrick Laine, put up goose eggs in the preseason and we were all thinking goalies be getting lit!

I’ve loved the preseasons from Pat Maroon, Benny Pouliot, Adam Larsson, Matt Benning, Drake Caggiula, and Oscar Klefbom. They’ve been aggressive, smart and calculated. If they can carry that over to the regular season, the Oilers could be a team to be reckoned with.

The rest of the roster looked pretty meh… Saw ’em good one day and saw ’em poor another. I think Lucic will need to pull up his socks and really start laying into guys as he looks just a fraction of a second behind McDavid. Eberle is still dusting that puck off before shooting it and we’re going to need to be patient with the Pouliot/Nuge/Draisaitl line I think. Tons of potential there but not guaranteed to work. This is Todd McLellan’s MO though. Stack those top two lines with your best players and ride ’em until they’re raw.

That being said, this roster is on a short leash and as we’ve found out, Chiarelli is NOT afraid to make an unpopular move… Hello Eberle for Simmonds!

Check out Blog Man Ry’s latest vlog and then scroll down and pick up a shirt 😉

Click on the pic and grab a new 16-bit Fighting Looch tee!
Beer League Hero, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Aftershocks… Hold On To Your Hats Oilers Fans

1 Comment

So now that Nail Yakupov has been moved, we’ve gor Kris Russell coming in on a deal rumoured to be in the 1 year $3M range. I was also told that Eric Gryba could very well be let go from his PTO and Mark Fayne might start the year in Bakersfield…

The first two moves don’t surprise me much but that last one with Fayne is a bit of a shocker… The Oilers need RHD don’t they? Has Matt Benning played that well?

Is this how the Oilers defence is set to line up?

Klefbom/Larsson
Russell/Sekera
Nurse/Davidson
Benning

Let me know if I’m missing someone and what your feelings are in the comments below!

Pick up a 16-bit Larsson today!!