chucker: Interesting post.Maybe Stev is “steady”.I still think he’s more effective with less ice, but maybe it simply comes down to who is paired with as your analysis would seem to show.I think it will be safe to say that the D staying intact will likely improve everyone in terms of chemistry and familiarity.The X factor is Khabi.Hopefully there are no holes in the wall.

I completely agree with what you said.. except for I think the ice time part with Staios. I remember an argument towards the end of this season with someone. I had brought up that Staios has been playing way more ice time than he’s used to. I thought it was affecting him too. However, I took a look, and a lot of his best games were where he was eating up big minutes, unbelievably enough. So that’s kind of weird. I don’t quite think he’s “Steady Steve” any more, but I do think that he and Smid make a pretty poor pairing.

Most of us saw a pretty bad Staios last year, but I think some of that can be pinned on some rookie mistake by the other partner. I think Smid will be a rock solid d-man, but for whatever reason, it looks like him and Staios just don’t jive together.

I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Staios moved for a younger option. But at this point, oddly enough he still seems to be the right guy for that top RD. I will take this moment to yet again cry about how the Ducks made a great signing in Boynton, however. That would have been a good replacement for Staios.

As for Khabi, thats a good point, for sure. Lots can change under new coaching staff too, so we could see a boost from our D. Who knows. It’ll definitely be like a completely new team next year even though there are barely any changes. Well, one can hope, anyways.

The comparison to Chicago’s D is interesting. There’s a team with two starters and a lot more fire power than us with a bigger D and and a little bit more experience for their youger players. Nice to think that could be our D soon if they develop as they have to date. If JDD proves to be a great tandem goalie then we can be in a really good position. I’m just reluctant to compare the two teams especially based on the forwards they have vs. ours. Not to say they are not good comparables because they are, but Chicago is four years ahead and drafted a lot higher for many years than we have.

It will be fun to watch these guys play head to head this year. I’ll be at those games for sure.

I am more curious though to see how well Khabbi adapts to the Oiler D compared to the D he has left behind in CHI. This is my quick and dirty comparison of the top 6 D for each team last year – based on both traditional stats and Behindthenet.ca advanced stats. Sorry, no tables tonight!

CHI
Keith +33 25:34 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential 1.00 Corsi 12.7
Seabrook +23 23:19 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .66 Corsi 11.7
Campbell +5 22:34 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .30 Corsi 14.1
Barker -6 18:20 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential -.39 Corsi 9.4
Walker +7 16:37 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .58 Corsi 8.1
Johnson +19 14:08 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential 2.12 Corsi 4.9

EDM
Souray +1 24:50 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .10 Corsi -1.3
Visnovski +6 23:00 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .71 Corsi 5.8
Gilbert +6 21:58 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .23 Corsi -3.5
Grebeshkov +12 21:10 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential .81 Corsi 2.6
Staios -5 19:48 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential -.29 Corsi -11.6
Smid -6 14:57 TOI/G GFON-GAON Differential -.36 Corsi -13.4

As I said, I like our D, but compared to CHI there is a drop. Now given that Roli and Khabbi posted similar sv% last year, with Khabbi playing only half of CHI games, do you think the CHI D is that much better because of Khabbi or was Khabbi better because of the D? My feeling is the latter, and I’m not sure how well Khabbi will fare when he gets to E-town. Further, Chicago’s D was better in 07-08 than the Oiler’s D in 08-09 based on the above-noted factors and Khabbi’s sv% was .909 that year. I am just worried we are going to see a drop in goaltending sv% next year given that Khabbi will face more shots and be expected to play more. It is imperative to me that our goaltending remain on the same level as it was last year.

As an aside, because it has been mentioned, re the team collapsing to the net with Roli and also his second save ability, I would have agreed with that moreso in 07-08 but I thought both areas improved in 08-09. I particularly noticed Roli was able to direct his rebounds to the side more in 08-09 and that was likely a key success factor for him in 08-09 compared to 07-08. I also feel that the breakout was much more improved in 08-09 which was a combination of less collapsing and the play of Visnovski but the forwards were less successful at finishing the chances that were created. We generated more shots in 08-09 compared to 07-08 but our shooting % declined.

Hockey Noob: Racki,Great post!Oliver, I had already asked him the same thing via email, lol…Overall, we’re in pretty decent shape with respect to our defesemen especially with the rumored return of Lubo.Imagine if Lubo and Souray can both stay healthy this year…

For some reason your post got picked up as spam, originally.

But yes, wow, we could be in a lot better shape if both those guys remain healthy (Souray and Lubo). And I honestly can’t stress enough just how good of a pairing Lubo and Grebs are. Looking forward to seeing more of those two guys, in particular. I think that Visnovsky had a lot to do with “Garbagekov” becoming Grebeshkov again. Lubo probably gave him some confidence and maybe some good pointers.