“They all look good in suits,” Craig MacTavish once famously said about one of the Oilers rookie camp rosters. They arrive as young men fulfilling a dream, and together build new dreams around glory and touching that big silver Stanley.
In Edmonton, since 1990, those dreams have either been dashed or made good in a second city. This year’s Oilers are in a tough spot, but the dream isn’t over for 2020. It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it.
THE ATHLETIC!
Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. I am proud to be part of The Athletic. Here are the most recent Oilers stories.
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Replacing Tyler Ennis: Ranking the best left wing and backfill Oilers options
- New Lowetide: Oilers’ Andreas Athanasiou gets a push against ‘Hawks. Is it enough?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers Observations: Analyzing the questions that remain after Game 3 loss
- Jonathan Willis: Through 2 playoff games, here’s what we know about the post-pause Oilers
- Lowetide: How Dave Tippett’s lineup tweaks propelled Oilers to Game 2 win
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: If Game 2 wasn’t Connor McDavid at his best, it was damn near close
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘Just not good enough’: The Oilers have a lot to fix after disastrous Game 1
- Lowetide: Homegrown Oilers players will again take a featured playoff role
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Bang for your buck: Ranking the Oilers based on contract expectations
- Lowetide: Could Oilers’ lack of centre depth mean postseason roster shuffle?
- Daniel Nugent Bowman: What the Oilers should be thinking after watching Chicago in exhibition
- Lowetide: Splitting the Draisaitl line may create hot August nights in Edmonton
- Jonathan Willis: Is Philip Broberg on track to be a top-pairing defenceman?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ productive prospect pipeline a welcome change for playoffs
- New Mark Lazerus and Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Breaking down storylines, scouting reports and X-factors for Blackhawks-Oilers
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers scrimmage: Colby Cave gets Maurice Richard treatment in fitting tribute
- Lowetide: Imagining the city of Edmonton with the Oilers in a deep playoff run
- Lowetide: Ken Holland’s roster construction options over the next five months
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Inside the bubble: Details on where and how NHL players will live in Edmonton
- Lowetide: What should Oilers fans expect from Connor McDavid in the playoffs?
- Lowetide: Dave Tippett’s postseason strategy against the Blackhawks
OILERS 2020 PLAYOFFS
It’s uncertain who will draw in for Ennis but it does appear Athanasiou will get a look on the Draisaitl line for at least part of tonight. I’d run Haas or Nygard, depending on need. Oilers struggling in the dot but Haas is not strong in that area.
OILERS PLAYOFF CORSI FIVE ON FIVE
This is a dream Corsi set and speaks to what is a somewhat baffling 2-1 deficit in the series. The Oilers, from Dave Tippett appear confident, and we should see a desperate club late this afternoon. That doesn’t mean Edmonton will win, as we’ve seen in both the regular season and now the playoffs, the Blachkhawks are a tough matchup for the Oilers.
THE 2020 DRAFT
This is the Bob McKenzie top-16 list and NHLE’s, with my ranking for the players. Men like Mavrik Bourque, Connor Zary and Seth Jarvis are in fact part of my top-20 rankings, and it’s my belief (based on Holland/Wright’s past) the QMJHL and Swedish prospects probably grade out higher than average on the Edmonton list.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we kickstart an incredible weekend of live sports! Steve Lansky from the Inside The Truck podcast will talk Oilers, SC playoffs and Tim Dancy. Matt Iwanyk will join me for Point-Counter Point and talk trees and elimination games in the bubble. Corey Graham, Oil Kings PBP broadcaster, will give us an update on the status of the 2020-21 WHL season. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
Sigh… it’s going to be a long summer… wha? wait
I’m thinking a lot about LT’s article from earlier this week about the coach making changes and being judged on if it results in a win or not.
Its taken a new shine from the one it had around Game 2.
I know some will think this is insane to even consider but I think I’d rather have Byfield than Lafreniere if the Oilers drafted 1st overall.
Lavoie is a pure shooter in the org but, although he’s trending well, we don’t know if he’ll ever “make it” as a top 6 and, even if he does, it won’t be until in to the 2021/22 season, at the earliest.
Maksimov is a potential option there but, of course, he is even less assured of being an NHL player – but, if he does “make it”, he was a great release and an NHL shot.
Nice post and I generally agree.
I am also not overly upset – disappointed but not emotionally charged.
What is more disappointing is the vibe of Oil Country is going to be, well, not great, over the next few months. Reading, posting, listening, responding is likely to be less “fun”
Lets not put more value on on how players played in a 4-game sample in August after a 5-month break than the course of the season (or season). Kris Russell was better than Oscar Klefbom in the last week but Kris Russell is not a better player, for example.
Not officially but it looks like he may have blocked a shot off the foot/ankle nearing the end of game 2.
You point is valid but its not disagreeing with what I said.
I didn’t say I agreed that the Nuge/Drai/Yama line should be broken up but simply that the “McDavid line” wasn’t working and the position that any two wingers can be put there will make it a top 6 line wasn’t proving right – the Oilers were losing with McDavid on the ice at evens. Yes, he himself can play better defensively but the coaching staff (along with management) needs to find him a linemate (or two) that he can play with and win the ice. Shouldn’t be hard but it seems it is.
Very nice post. I was thinking the same thing this morning. Can’t undo this at this point in time, it was also cliche to hand the C to Connor when the team did. That ship has sailed. He leads by example and he tries to outscore his defensive liabilities, but until he plays a complete game in his own zone, those “bad” examples are going to permeate into the rest of the team. I have seen him play excellent in his own zone, when he wants to. I have seen Drai play excellent in his own zone, when he wants to. I cheer like hell for (“love”) these 2, but until they consistently play solid D zone and lead by example, they will not come close to lifting the SC.
The Oilers management, after prematurely giving the C to McD, have been flailing to find the in room leadership a young team needs (needed). They thought that might be Lucic, but umm no. The winter’s are too dry and it makes his skin dry and stuff. The trade for Neal was also an attempt to correct this – he has experience, but I don’t think he is the guy in the room to do this. I don’t know who that person is, but I think finding the appropriate veteran can right this ship and help Connor in a leadership role – he can’t pull this whole team with his offensive gifts (which ARE “other-worldly”) alone.
The coach was not perfect in his choices, but I do not ultimately blame the coach for what happened. I think the players, for the most part, were not able to generate enough intensity both individually and collectively. That is inexcusable given how privileged they all are to play the game of hockey. Why is there no roaring internal flame in some of the players? Hard to say. But I suspect that the team is missing an element of leadership within the locker room. The team has lots of talent, but no real team leader who can rally the forces with well-chosen, inspiring words in the locker room. I base this assessment on the woeful inadequacy of what players say when they are being interviewed by the media. They speak in cliches. They usually have nothing specific or moving to say. They are boring and uninspiring. It’s almost as though they do not want to talk or, by their very nature, are disinclined to talk. They act as though it is not part of their job, even though fans want to hear from them off the ice as well as on the ice.
As I recall, Bobby Orr was never a captain, yet he was an indisputable leader on the ice. I think the Oilers and many other teams today assume that the captain of a team must be the most talented player on the team. This erroneous assumption frequently leads to the creation of a team without an articulate, persuasive leader who can verbally communicate what needs to be communicated behind closed doors and to the media. A team without a head. A well trained body without a well-trained mind. We all love Connor McDavid, and he is definitely a leader on the ice; but he was never meant to be a captain. He was meant to be a Bobby Orr type player, which is no insult. The captain of a team has to be more outspoken and articulate. He has to be able to look other players in the eye in the locker room and say what needs to be said. He needs to be able to call all members of the team to action when action is required. This team needs a Mark Messier.
Also, how many coaches on this board would put offensive all-star Kris Russell out in the last minute of a game when you NEED a goal?
EDIT: My mistake – KRusty did score a lot more goals than other Oilers in this series, they were just in the wrong net, so I guess I see Tip’s logic now.
Yes, Tippett should be looking in the mirror and stating so publicly instead of throwing key players for next year under the bus, namely MK and KY.
Not starting MK in game 1 has more consequence than simply viewing it as “starting Smith instead”. MK is supposed to be the starter here for next year at least. He had the better numbers this year. He should have played game 1, no questions. NOW he is going to be questioning WTF he is doing on this team if his coach views him as #2 to a 38 year old has been.
KY did not get any points, he took at least 1 bad penalty. But he PK’d well and he forechecked like a demon and caused turnovers that led to goals for his team. I didn’t see him ducking out of blocking shots at the point like $3.2M veterans.
But hey coach, pick the low fruit with near-sighted damaging comments and hope for the best next time there is a season…
Nurse is supposed to bring toughness to the D. Did he hit anyone? Did he take out guys in front of the net (without pushing them on top of the G)?
He deflected it wide. It then went off Toews.
People are assigning way too much blame to Bear on that goal.
Larsson, Klefbom, and Nurse generally SUCKED in the whole series. No one consistently covered the front of the net.
So you think Coach Tippet has no responsibility in the performance of the team and the loss?
Give me #%^#$ break.
Koskinen is a bland goalie. Still Kubalik had to snipe his goal.
The Oilers had more scoring chances, but don’t have a single pure shooter on the team.
They put it straight into the crest repeatedly. Especially Nuge. Crawford made a couple of fortunate starfish saves, but on a lot of the rubber he took he only had to hang onto it so no rebound, didn’t move an inch.
How often do we see an Oiler score bar down or top cheddar?
The team’s top players need a checkup from the neck up. Hopefully they had their ‘Islanders’ moment that the previous incarnation had and see what t takes to win in the playoffs. Bloody and bruised.
The main thing they took from playing the 4 time champs was defending like your life depended on it. A big step for a team that played the reg season without a defensive system so the players said.
You can’t outscore sloppy positional play and lost assignments and battles.
Also it should be noted Crawford had far more support than Koski. They defended the key far better, their net front, and forced a lot of perimeter shots. The Oilers did little of that. And when they did force the Hawks to use the point they allowed loads of clean look shots.
Trying hard for the Oilers largely involves starting to run around and force low percentage plays. You could see the patience and strategy in Toews play. 3 Cups worth.
Probably why Tippet was playing Arch and Black Hole er Russell. Because they work the plan, another message sent.
Bear had a rough game, but being boarded that hard might have affected him. Again, no call ona dangerous play. You can’t blame the reffing for losing, but to me it had an effect on the series that they couldn’t overcome.
A call on the two hits from behind might have help change moment. Instead the mentally fragile team has to suck it up, again.
Although, as a player that would piss me off so much motivation wouldn’t be a problem.
Ribs,
Very well said. I was angry, but then took a walk around the block and reassessed.
Yeah, Smith shouldn’t have started, but the team treated game 1 like an exhibition game.
The lack of intensity added with the lack of switching up the key lineups played a role.
Larsson is a key playoff performer. He can rickibox the shit out of players.
We can debate the format, but as others have said, as the upper seed we should have won. But we came up lame.
Still waiting on the 50/50
Clap clap.
There’s a lot of things a coach can do to respond to certain situations in important games. It looked like Tippett was fine with “believing in his guys” and “waiting for the tide to turn”. This can be a deadly strategy in the playoffs. Especially in a shortened round. We needed “Playoff Tippett”, and didn’t get him. It began with Mike Smith starting game one and ended with a bench minor in the final two minutes of a series deciding game. It’s a rough look. He’s gotta wear it, but he seems like the kind of guy who learns from his mistakes and improves upon himself when necessary.
With that said, this years verison of the playoffs has been very strange. There has been a lot of variables that have been added to these initial games. I think some upsets were to be expected and we unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of things. Them’s the breaks.
I am chosing not to get too upset over this. I am glad we got to see them play a few games again. There’s still a lot to like about this team. I am expecting a winning season next year!
Thank you to all commenters on this wonderful website and an even bigger thank you to our host for another year of exceptional insights and stories.
Chris Tanev looks like a hobo.
Interesting that Nurse is getting so much hate today. I thought Klef was much worse this series. The Bear-Nurse pairing was easily the best, although that’s not saying much.
I agree with OP.
Tippett is taking too much flak.
Loading up on one line is a problem when you need two lines to go up against the Toews and Kane lines. Strome isn’t chopped liver, either.
They had a game plan — a sensible one, IMO — and sometimes things don’t work out.
I think Larsson was sorely missed. As LT says, young D will break your heart. Bear is the goods but he lost a key battle on the winner today and deflected the dagger two days ago.
I see lots of people are blaming the coach. There are many reasons why the team lost, starting with the goaltending. Coaching is pretty low on the list of reasons why this team lost. The coach is a convenient target for angry fans, just as it has always been.
There are five young D on ELCs who are easily top pairing D who will surpass that figure in the next couple of seasons.
It is skewing younger all the time.
Just finished watching off the PVR. That sucked.
It is not just you and me that feels this way.
Both Louis Debrusk and Chris Cuthbert just said this same thing, Every square inch in this Vancouver vs. Minnesota game is being contested. A fight. Nastiness. Feels like playoff hockey.
Does anyone know what happened to Larsson?
Only 9 D are scheduled to make $8M+ next season.
Nurse is slated to be paid as the #37D in the league at $5.6M (that will drop some for sure, but still..).
He’s also not being paid $5.6M as a UFA, that’s his last RFA deal.
I’ve generally been a Nurse supporter but he wasn’t great in this series and he will most definitely not be paid like “just a top 4D” next season.
The Oilers have only three top six forwards.
Paying your top two players a huge cap hit is a real issue unless you can find great value in the bottom six, on D or in goal.
Overpaying players like Kassian, Chiasson and Koskinen, and also carrying dead money from buyouts and retained salary in trades absolutely limits solutions.
OriginalPouzar,
Have to disagree here OP. I think he dulled the best spearhead he had.
McDavid may or may not have been able to figure it out away from Nuge but I think you had to leave that Drai line alone. They were winning games for us.
Huge goal for the Wild.
Gerta Rauss,
The cap will make the decision I imagine. Option 1 if salaries are suppressed enough by the lack of generally available cap.
He can improve his goal share by being more attentive to defensive details in his own end. That is another hard lesson that has to be learned.
I look forward to seeing different wingers with McDavid next time there is a season.
+1
Warm Body / McDavid / Warm Body
Sorry but that does not work.
Tippett said he needed more than one line and, frankly, he was right.
In the teams last 20 games, of which McDavid played 13, McDavid had a 47% goal share
In 2020, in which McDavid played 20 games, he had a 50% goal share.
McDavid was not winning the goal share battle. That’s egregious.
Something needed to be done to help McDavid – yes, he has shown that he required help.
Yes, it sucked that Nuge was taken off that line, and maybe it was the fatal decision, but to say that we had two lines without it isn’t really true. The Oilers were losing with McDavid on the ice.
Tippett’s post game re: balance and need to be more than a one line team, made absolutely no sense to me. How is having one line doing very good a detriment? So instead of having one line humming, we had zero. Yeah that’s better!
You have 97 surely you can cobble together some form of a second line. Seriously the lack of Nuge Drai Yamo line was criminal by our coach after what they were doing in the reg season. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!!
The call is coming from inside the house.
I had a lot of respect for Dave Tippett before this series started. I thought he knew what he was doing. But he is showing the same basic and critical mistakes of others that have come before. He is doubling down rather than admitting to making mistakes and learning from them. In his post-game presser the only player he threw under the bus was MK. After not starting him in the series and then calling him out after the series is not a way to build trust and confidence in your “#1 goalie” for this year and the next 2. The coach clearly has no confidence in him and that is going to affect the player this series and moving forward. I don’t expect a lot of confidence for the player next year.. Time to start looking for a new couple of goalies. He also made it sound like the dynamite line was a one-off fluke that should not have really happened if not for injury to McD. Like wow – pull your head out of your ass. I understand he wants balance in the top 6, but he should have shuffled things around before the last 7 minutes of the series. How can the rest of the hockey world see this mistake but not the head coach?
And I don’t even know what to say about Nurse admitting that he (if not the team) could not get up for the play-ins against Chicago but they could get up for an exhibition game against the Flames. This is a major red flag for a lack of synapse capacity. Core schmore.
I haven’t had a chance to look yet tonight, but didn’t we out-shoot and out-chance them? On the series too? Battles must’ve been close. We certainly didn’t win the ones that led to goals against, sure.
Which could also be taken as evidence that goalie might be the place the team could be improved the most. Either our goalie is getting out-played or our luck sucked.
I also don’t want to risk doing too much to the roster on a small sample size of losing when the bigger sample indicates winning. Every player has flaws. But if the mix of flaws you have in your roster can produce positive results, you accept it and continue to improve where you can, incrementally.
Which team do we have… the post-season version, or the rest of 2020?
…a question further confounded by the unusual nature of the bubblicious playoff. I don’t envy Holly.
I think if we look at what we expected this season coming out of training camp, I think from that perspective we’d call this season above the expectation of most fans. A step forward despite not taking advantage of the opportunity they earned.
(I wonder too if Connor was playing hurt these past two games.)
Bear was a rookie NHL player this year. He’s already a legit top 4RD, bordering on a legit top pairing RD and he should be getting better for the next 4-5 years.
Larsson missed a few weeks with a bad back a number of years back. I have seen it mentioned but no evidence whatsoever that he suffers from chronic back issues that effect his game. Aside from that few weeks in the year his farther dies – he missed 2 practices during training camp with a “tight back”.
Where is this evidence that he deals with chronic back issues? Honest question.
Why would have have been shocked to get McDavid – he was hired after the Oilers had won the lottery.
And this is an issue for the future of the team, how? Obviously we look to Benson first, but we’re talking future contributions here. If he ends up being a good contributing winger, and can form a side pairing (if Edmonton ends up with Lafrenière), then Bob’s your uncle.
It’s just a good thing of note in these depressing times.
Tippet had 2 fucking lines
Nuge, Drai, Yamo
Warm body, McDavid, Warm Body.
Like wtf is he talking about? Is this man smoking crack? How are professionals this fucking brain dead stupid.
This post game scrum, Dave Tippett can go fuck himself. What series was this man watching?! This man is on drugs, I’m high as shit on some black dawg concentrate but what even is this Dave Tippett!?! Dave Tippett needs to move on, there’s no hope with this fool. Can’t be a one line team… You weren’t a fucking one line team until you decided to fuck yourself in your own ass with your crackhead brain. Holy fuck.
Dave Tippett couldn’t coach himself into evenly spreading mayonnaise on his sandwich if there was even a shred of possibility he may never get another sandwich was on the line. If pressure is a coming, Dave is already 3 feet in his own shit.
Why wasn’t Kassian ready to go, Dave Tippet doesn’t motivate others past May and before September.
Why was Klefdumb looking like a real sap out there, because Dave Tippett says fuck preparing my players.
Why the fuck was Mike Smith allowed to be in net for 5 goals against in game 1 when clearly after the 2nd goal the entire damn team gave up because they knew there was a bumbling rickety old man between the pipes that couldn’t help himself but to also shit his pants 3 feet deep and have a pool party with Dave.
Newsflash Dave Tippett, you were a 2 line team until you decided that the best line in hockey was apparently never a line at all but perhaps maybe some lines of laced cocaine that all sent us on some God damn trip to Narnia and in Narnia there was magically 2 lines and a damn coach that God damn owned up to something anything but no.apparently you’re burning the bridge to act as a side dish to this alienation August.
There’s a 1 minute left in the season and Archibald and a Russell are on the ice trying to get a goal.. But eh send you death stares at Koski because you fucking put Mike Smith in net game one.
McDavid, Nuge, Drai had over 20pts in 4 games Dave. You weren’t a one line coach. You’re just done.
Imma stop ranting and go shit myself 3 feet deep before i continue my fuck Dave memoirs while becoming an angry old man slowly.
Well, they need both, but yeah, a G is a priority and they need to factor in the expansion draft in their decision making
Expansion draft rules require each team expose a G with at least 1 year left on a contract (or an RFA with an expiring contract)
Koskinen meets this criteria
So if they plan to expose Koskinen, do they sign an established G to a 2 year deal..?(Griess)
Or do they go after a younger goalie and have a succession plan in place when Koskinen leaves (either via expansion of letting him walk in June ’22)
Whatever they decide, it can’t be Mike Smith
A healthy Larsson might’ve helped.
Weird that Hall was the injury prone player at the time of the trade, and Adam’s been the more injury prone player since. If it wasn’t for bad luck…
Lotta talk about “bad bounces” and “Oilers deserved better”. Did they? Compete level was at a November level.
Oilers deserved to win that game but that happens sometimes. Sucks that it happened in an elimination game.
Overall the series was pretty even, I’d say the Oilers were a bit better overall but not so much that it’s a shock they lost. Chicago played well, credit to them for that.
The roster holes are the same as they were before today. Might need to trade a LD for a forward, and we need a strong goalie long term. I don’t think the roster is that far away.
Fine points but Toews walking out front for an easy pot had a very low probability to my eye.
I don’t want to single out 29, that type of play/goal is a team failure.
The goals never come from behind the net, its always the shooter in front that needs to be checked.
Bottom line for me was, Chicago scored this way several times.
Nurse, Bear, Russell were all guilty.
I don’t k how if the Oile scored a goal this way, maybe 1?
Team defence
Lack of positional play, structure And puck support
They had it at the start of the year But not at the end of the year
Bear is good but I’m not sure he’s a top 4 on a great team.
Nurse should have been traded 2 years ago but at least my post history backs me up there.
Russell we know.
Larsson’s bad back has been known since 2017 but not a lot of alternatives.
Klefbom has plateaued and he is very much a good defenceman but he’s a great #3 (or 2 on a good day).
Why is Broggan Rafferty/Bobby Orr not more noticeable in this Dys/Wild tilt? Strange.