If my memory serves me well, Leon Draisaitl goes super nova when Connor McDavid can’t answer the bell due to injury. Cliches roam the streets freely today, fans and media saying the club needs to “dig deep” in order to find wins. I think it’s more likely the big man carries the Oilers to a couple of wins in the next two weeks.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Can defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer help the Oilers?
- DNB: Connor McDavid’s injury only adds to gloom for Oilers
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers’ third line showing promise but not scoring yet
- DNB: Oilers, in early-season disarray, left searching for answers: ‘It’s just unacceptable’
- Lowetide: What we’ve learned about the Oilers in the NHL season’s first week
- Lowetide: How can Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft solve the team’s early issues?
- Lowetide: Why the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL team is set up for 2023-24 success
- DNB: Several Oilers defensive issues remain despite Mattias Ekholm’s return
- Lowetide: How the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor Brown contract could impact roster decisions
- DNB: Stanley Cup-aspiring Oilers have a long way to go after ‘big gut punch’ in season opener
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ opening-night roster is short two foundational pieces
- DNB: Why Raphael Lavoie didn’t make the Oilers and other roster questions ahead of regular-season opener
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Brady Stonehouse signing an important indicator for the future
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ veteran-laden AHL team offers better depth
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: NAS, PHIL (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- At home to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: NYR, CAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-2-0, 12 points in 8 games
- Actual October results: 1-3-0, 2 points in 4 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 1-3-0, 2 points in 4 games
This could go either way. Edmonton’s roster is a good one full stop. The troops could rally around the loss of McDavid and deliver strong results in three games to come in October. The gales of November came early for the 2023-24 Oilers, and the challenge for Jay Woodcroft is monumental.
SUGGESTED LINES AND PAIRINGS
- Foegele-Draisaitl-Hyman
- Holloway-Nuge-Brown
- Kane-McLeod-Ryan
- Janmark-Erne
- Nurse-Ceci
- Ekholm-Broberg
- Kulak-Bouchard
- Desharnais
- Campbell (Skinner)
There isn’t one chance in hell Woodcroft runs this lineup, but he should in my opinion. Holloway would bring speed to the Oilers second line, Foegele has good chem with Leon (as we discussed yesterday). The third line gets to play the soft parade and Janmark can plug and play where required. On defense, Bouchard gets his minutes sliced a little at five-on-five with Broberg being asked to step up. Pure fiction, but this is the way and the light.
SAM GAGNER
What a great story. I don’t know if he makes it back to the NHL but you have to love his devotion to the game. Sam Gagner doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. Chasing Stanley is a powerful force.
KEYS FOR TONIGHT
Here are the skill forwards five-on-five points-60 so far this season:
- Zach Hyman 4.49
- Leon Draisaitl 3.06
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2.73
- Connor McDavid 2.48 (inj)
- Warren Foegele 2.17
- Evander Kane 0.83
- Connor Brown 0.00
Evander Kane and Connor Brown have to contribute. They will be housed on the top two lines, and hopefully one or both breaks loose. Here are expected goals five-on-five for blue:
- Vincent Desharnais 66 percent
- Cody Ceci 63
- Darnell Nurse 60
- Evan Bouchard 51
- Mattias Ekholm 50
- Philip Broberg 49
- Brett Kulak 43
Running the suggested lineup above would be strong but backing off Kulak’s minutes may also help. It’s been a nice early run for Nurse-Ceci.
At noon today, Sports 1440. We’ll preview the Wild game with Daniel Nugent-Bowman from The Athletic, and Sarah McLellan from the Star-Tribune. Paul Jones from Sportsnet radio chats Raptors and we’ll talk Texas Rangers WS berth . You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
KH has really hooped himself this year (can’t call anyone up) and his successor ($3m off the cap next year). Lavoie could not have been worse than #28. If Holland was so desperate to go all-in and make it a cup or bust year, he should have been looking at keeping the puck out of the net rather than Connor Brown being the missing link in an already prolific offense.
Unless a miracle occurs and the light switch flickers on, Kenny’s going to have to fire his second coach mid-season and pray for a dead cat bounce when 97 is healthy.
Doing nothing, even if the team is in the playoffs, they go nowhere with this set of 6/7D.
We have the Rangers, Flames and Stars coming up next. The team could be 2-6-1 by next week. 1-7-1 should get any coach in this league fired.
I really don’t think Woodcroft should be given any more rope. He’s had two playoff runs and two training camps to figure things out. But the team’s problems remain the same as they were when Tippett was fired.
The defense is dismal. The transition game is broken with too big of a gap between the D and the forwards. The PK is bad and even the PP has been under performing. The young guys like McLeod, Holloway and Broberg are not showing progress. The team completely lacks any passion, focus or whatever other word you want to use, and is routinely coming out flat after the intermission.
What exactly has Woodcroft done to earn another game behind an NHL bench? If Holland hadn’t traded for Ekholm at the deadline, the Oilers would’ve had a tough time making the playoffs last season.
Holland is loath to fire coaches in season, so I don’t expect him to pull the trigger. But Jackson is now the guy at the top and he can’t be happy with the direction the team has taken. Katz ain’t getting any younger and he’s got to be pretty pissed as well.
It’s time for a change. It’s time to send a message. Otherwise, it’ll soon be time to start trading players for magic beans.
It will take a McD miracle for him to not get fired. NYR is most likely a scheduled loss. Heritage Classic saves him, given it’s a big marketing event and highly unlikely Kenny fires him after a loss from that, too many excuses to avoid it. At that point, the Stars game is far enough away that McD might be back. If we lose in similar fashion, then that’s when the axe will drop. By this point, if SJ does indeed win a game, we’d have gone from being a cup contender to the worst team in hockey. To not get fired would be a masterclass in how not to run a performance-based business.
PK is running 87% the last four games and 82% the last five. They had one bad game and that was the first one.
PP is running 29% this season and has scored in 5/6 games.
It actually might not be as bad as you think.
Game 1 (Van): PP 1/4, PK 3/6
Game 2 (Van): PP 2/7, PK 1/3
Game 3 (Nash): PP 2/3, PK 1/3
Game 4 (Philly): PP 0/2, PK 0/4
Game 6 (Jets): PP 1/5, PK 1/5
Game 7 (Wild): PP 1/5, PK 0/3
Throwing out their biggest win against Nashville and biggest loss against the Canucks (the outliers): the PP has gone 4/19 = 21% and the PK has gone 2/15 = 87%.
So yes, the PK has been better than last season, but the PP has been anemic by recent standards, and more critically they’ve already had 2 short handed goals go against them by comparison to 7 all of last year. Those two shorties were momentum changers in both games.
They’re 1-4-1 and staring down NYR, Calgary in the Heritage Classic and the Stars … I guess we’ll see.
Do you think the PP will run at 20% and give up a shorty every two contests the rest of the year?
Honest question, not trying to pull a fast one.
If not the law of small sample sizes applies to this stretch of three games…
Honest answer – I don’t know. But we’ve taken the PP success for granted the past couple of years, when typically PP performance is quite variable from year to year for most teams.
Also, I’d like to point out that the law of small sample sizes applies to the PK as well … do you think that the Oilers will continue to kill 87% of their penalties? That would have been the best mark in the league last season.
Yes I think the PK will perform along a top 10 pathway this year. It was a clear area of struggle for 2/3 of last season and I think the coaching staff have identified it as a very quick route to lopping off 12-16 goals against over the season. From the mid-way point last year when Vinny came up and then when Ekholm joined what was a very sad state improved markedly down the stretch. So yes its a small sample size, but the trend is positive and is building on a trend from last season.
I think the PP will revert to at least 30% as well. I don’t take it for granted and neither does the team. But it is very clear that its one thing they’ve found the special sauce for and they’ve repeated it for a few years so I won’t sell them short on it.
Why are we reducing an already small sample size even lower?
When you look through Natural Stat Trick’s page on EDM D, scroll across to on-ice sv% and you’ll see quite the stat for one guy in particular.
Desharnais: 93.8
Broberg: 90.6
Ceci: 90.5
Nurse: 89.4
Kulak: 89.2
Ekholm: 86.4
Bouchard: 80.4 (!!!)
Bouchard is not good at defense, his mark often enjoys a free ride close to the Oilers net.
Easy tips (free stick helps), uncontested shots & walk around break aways.
I see that low sv% stat as more of a high shooting % for attackers he supposed to be suppressing.
This seems solvable. Long term Bouchard should be able to recover. Short term, maybe have him sit a couple games. Play Broberg or Desharnais with Ekholm, whatever works.
Worth noting…Colorado just set an NHL record with their 15th straight road win.
They should be ferocious when they play some games at home.
No, it literally isn’t worth noting.
NHL recirds are literally worth noting…that’s why they keep them.
Cool story.
Noted by the NHL.
https://www.nhl.com/news/colorado-avalanche-new-york-islanders-game-recap-october-24
Context matters.
@NHL_Sid
After allowing 22 goals in 6 games against Vegas, and ranking 18th out of 21 teams in GA/60 in the past two playoffs, you’d think Edmonton would actually attempt to address that in the off-season, rather than doing nothing but signing Connor Brown ahead of a “cup or bust” season.
The Oilers are one of the worst, if not the worst team at drafting and developing talent. I haven’t seen one young player come through in the last 10 or so years and show growth and improvement.
I’m pretty sure 41-year-old Jarrett Stoll is the last person we drafted after first round, in 2002, to score 20 goals.
“If only the Oilers had a stats department”
When they really need social scientists.
What a shock. Technocrats are useless in a crisis.
Team needs a psychologist.
On the brightside, EDM isn’t alone in its defensive struggles as even CAR are getting pumped in the GA column (33 GA in 7 games). I’m sure that both TB (24 in 7) and MIN (25 in 6) are displeased with their defensive play so far, as well.
It’s Cup or bust! Here come the oilers.
1-5
at least Calgary lost. 🙂
Rodrigue with 31 saves in the 5-1 win.
Nothing is insurmountable still. I still think this team can win the Stanley Cup. Unless they let the seeds of doubt and frustration infect their self worth. It is merely a problem to be solved. The only way this season is already over is if the players have the same level of faith in themselves as you all have in them. Fortunately I doubt that is possible.
Are they playing like shit? Yes.
Does that matter tomorrow morning?
Only if they want it to.
Does that matter in April? February? December?
Many of you have made the same mistake; and by “you” I lump you all in with the players, seemingly. Expectations so high that a sliver of self doubt has been torn open. Self inflicted. What everyone needs is the imagination to see this team as what it is, what it has proved itself to be already.
I remain convinced this is a good team.
You probably think I’m insane but let’s talk in March.
While the sentiment behind your words has a lot of truth to it, I take issue with one line in particular:
“Expectations so high that a sliver of self doubt has been torn open. Self inflicted”
Basic NHL defending is not and has never been too high of an expectation an it’s nothing even close to “self-inflicted”.
It’s the same 7 dudes.
Happy to sponge your downvotes. 🥰
So much fault to go around. You sit back and look and try to figure out the next step. No chance Woodcroft gets fired. The defence is unbelievable bad. Although he needs to reevaluate the lines and ice time.The goaltending is average at best. (Aside from Campbell second period tonight) The offence isn’t producing when it needs to consistently. How do you fix it? Im not sure. But clearly it starts with work ethic and focus. Thursday night will be a tell.
By any chance, if by “average at best” did you really mean second worst save percentage in the league?
Just factoring how porous the defense has been. But yes they’ve been poor. It’s also not how many they give up but when. Tonight and Saturday night the 2-2 goals were killers.
Work ethic and focus 100%.
Fixable.
People acting like skill is a currency that’s been completely spent. It isn’t.
This team will get better.
No chance Woodcroft gets fired lol What more do you need to see? Time to send him, his staff, and Holland and his staff packing immediately……
Just checked the standing (just rub salt in the wounds) and found that we are in fact NOT the worst team right now.
San Jose has played 6 games without a win.
and how the hell is Boston STILL doing the last year thing??? 6-0 right now, just like Colorado (spits) and Vegas (super-spits).
Not fair though….San Jose is trying to lose
Haha beauty
Boston is a serious team. So are the others.
Boston went into the season worrying about their centre depth but second round pick Matthew Poitras has stepped into the breach in a big way.
Of course they have an elite D and goaltending.
That was an ugly final 20.
They had four separate skids last year with 1W-4/5L. Not fatal, just don’t make them a habit.
Woody will now drop Ek-Bouch to 2nd pairing duties, you need to put people in positions to succeed and you saw what top skill can do at this juncture. You can go back to this later, no door is closed, but don’t put young people in over their heads. Keep playing him.
He’ll then drop this zone system and go back to what worked last year. A man to man setup is the proper system for this team. Not every team but this team. When they decided to reinvent instead of Polish is beyond me. Coaching own goal.
A skid is fine, don’t make it a habit, long season, it’s about Peaking.
Nuge with a -4, 1 shot. Need more with 5 PPs and no McDavid.
McLeod 1 shot, four for the season and nothing else. He might be Puljujarvi 2.0…
Forgele is playing his best hockey ever. Kane woke up tonight. Brown looked good and Janmark filled in surprisingly well.
PK with a clean sheet.
Brett Kulak might lose his job in the next six weeks.
No.
Bouchard. Needs. To. Sit. For at least 1 game.
I don’t care that it means icing an 11-6 roster for 1 game, it needs to happen. And when he comes back, ease him back with 3rd pairing minutes until he demonstrates the ability to defend at a level befitting professional hockey.
Maybe they could just play him on the PP, and keep him on the bench at 5v5. Run 11-7 all season with Bouchard as the 7th defenseman PP specialist.
Nah, I think he needs to see the game from above for at least one night. Whether it helps him or just sends him a message, he needs it.
Meh, spilt milk happens. Tonight was exactly 1/82 of the season. He’s the 3rd highest scorer on the team, he gets rope.
Woody is tossing him out on first pair comp. That’s hard, it’s the hardest job in the NHL. Tonight he got cooked by a line spitting fire but wasn’t alone, Ekholm got turnstiled in the 2nd, Nuge was doing fly by’s on 3rd and 5th against and was utterly useless with 1 PP shot to his sheet tonight.
Run Bouch 18 next game against 2nd pairing comp and tell him to keep shooting on the PP. He’ll thrive, and then you move them up.
Kulak is playing bad enough that a combo of Vinny, Bro and an AHLer could steal his money. He too will get rope but he’ll need to be careful, this isn’t last season.
Except when one repeatedly spills milk, you have to evaluate the underlying reasons why. In Bouchard’s case, the milk he’s spilling is his repeated, glaring errors on defense.
As for your proposed solution, I have two counters:
1.) on the road, you don’t get primary matchup control so he has to be able to handle shifts against the best
2.) 2nd pairing comp is what he’s already getting (the clear exception being NAS where he saw Forsberg’s line a lot)
What? He got fed by the Kaprizov line all night. That’s their first line.
Bouchard has a 51% GF% at 5v5 in his career and is 55% at All Strengths. He produces more than he gives up.
The teamwide drag black hole you and Godot see doesn’t exist. You can keep yelling it but as the sample size widens I’ll take the bet it tilts further in his favor.
He’s the goods, be patient. Keep playing him he’ll be fine.
Nurse TOI V Hartman, Kaprizov, Zucc: 6:58, 6:18, 5:24
Bouchard TOI V Hartman, Kaprizov, Zucc: 5:16, 3:52, 2:55
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20232024&game=20094
Nurse’s pairing has been, is, and will continue to be the 1st pairing.
And Goals against? The thing that you’re pissed off about?
I believe you’re capable of reading that page yourself but, if you insist:
Bouchard V Hartman: 0 GF 3 GA
Nurse V Hartman: 1GF 1GA
And, once again, attempting to smear your opposition in a discussion as “pissed” or “yelling” or framing their arguments in a negative light is childish. If you don’t want to engage in discussion in a reasoned fashion then say so.
Now, do you plan on addressing any of the other points of yours I responded to or shall I count those as closed issues?
Bouchard already plays 2nd pairing minutes
EDM doesn’t dictate matchups on the road
Scratching him wouldn’t put anyone at risk of being overplayed
To scratch a player isn’t strictly a punishment
I’m not trying to smear you. I just vehemently disagree with your solution. I think its a bad idea for the coach, player and team. I won’t come around to it because I think its the wrong approach that could cause more harm than good.
Its fine to disagree.
I’ve made my case. I think it’ll be the one Woody follows and I bet by year end it will prove to be the right one as Bouch settles into a top pairing role and makes a charge at 100 points which only six other guys have ever done.
Patience.
Alright, I hope to avoid sounding like I’m trying to police speech because that’s not something I aim to do. However, I’d suggest that you not try to assume/attach emotions (“pissed off”, “yelling”, “mad”) to others’ statements and try to frame the opposing view more charitably if that’s simply your intent. Of course, we’re each free to discuss how we like but I don’t believe it contributes to a healthy dialogue when you portray me as being somehow emotionally escalated. Apart from the punctuation I used to emphasise my initial point, I don’t think I’ve given any cause to believe that I’m not within a sound frame of mind.
Having said that, let’s just call it an agree to disagree scenario. I don’t think a hardass approach is wrong in general or in this particular scenario.
Further, to the framing point I made, a coach could just as easily frame a HS differently and not be a hardass. I believe a HS could actually provide a very real benefit as, through my experience in the psychological field, stepping away from situations (whether sport performance-related or otherwise) can often provide exactly the perspective one needs to correct mistakes or errors in approach.
Last year I was huffing mad at Bouch to at the start of the season. He had a rocky go of it having to cover for Murray and then Broberg and just like you I was vehement that he be sat.
But during that time LT urged patience and not getting too tied up on small sample sizes and singular events. He also noted that young dmen need to be played because that’s how they learn. As the games went by the fancies perked up and then he scored a few and got more confident. His play picked up when he didn’t have a raw rookie tied to his ankle. We know how the year ended when he got his shot on the PP.
If Woody didn’t sit him last year during a worse stretch, when he was playing worse comp and wasn’t scoring, I don’t see how or why he would sit him this year when he’s placed Bouch in a more difficult role.
Its difficult to see LT throw in the towel already given his calm last season but the lesson still stands. Shelter him a touch, let him score and encourage him to take the next step.
I think we saw this is Woody’s avail after last game. He tried the angry and stern for a few games. There was a bunch of good last night and then the wheels fell off. There is still lots of good whether its the PK, Jack’s 2nd period, or the pushback after the thunderstorm of goals in the 3rd.
I’m quite sure we’re on the other side of the skid now actually. Patience.
To punish Bouchard you’d intentionally run your team short handed putting everyone else at risk cause they’d have to overplay and also decrease your chance of winning cause you now have your 2nd and 3rd leading scorers sitting?
That’s certainly one way to frame it. Alternatively, you could frame it as: I think Bouchard is suffering on-ice and would benefit from taking in a game from a different perspective before returning into a lessened role. Asserting the least charitable interpretation of an idea as the grounds upon which you’ll engage with it isn’t an indicator of healthy discussion.
As for intentionally running short-handed, sure. If poor cap management is reason enough to “put everyone else at risk” then so is holding a player accountable for his repeated failures is.
Further, they would be scratching 1 of 7 Dmen leaving them with a normal amount of Dmen which leaves none of them at any more risk of being overplayed compared to any normal night.
And lastly, I don’t think that sitting Bouchard in his current form decreases the chance of winning.
Bouchard is playing high event hockey. Yes, tough night, but on a tough night he still scored 1-2-3, nearly outscoring the mistakes and is now 3rd on the team in scoring. I don’t think you bench someone who is putting up that spread even if they are high event. You find a way to relax the high intensity minutes so he has a bit more time and space on the ice to collect himself. This is a young dman with a unique skill set who’s moved from rookie, 3rd pair to now splitting top pair in less than 16 months. The arrows are moving in very good directions.
The lost position battle on Rossi for the 1st was one the coaches need to work with him on. That stick positioning stuff and tie ups are important. The pinches or the fumble behind the net? Spilled milk, they happen every game and in this game they wound up in the net. Ekholm went for a pinch on what turned into Campbell’s save of the year candidate in the 2nd. It happens.
If Janmark had a bit of Drai’s touch we’d be talking about the two pinches Minny botched that sent him in alone and then with a down low 2v1. I do think part of those plays is how passive the Oilers are playing defensively and in transition, the forward backpressure hasn’t been ramped up yet. It will come.
Yes I get it, you’re mad at Holland and want to send him a message. But what message does it send to the other 16 skaters, who’ve all been culpable in this rough start, when you take an already shortened line-up, shorten it further and then tell the to shake this 1-4-1 monkey? When you take the teams best RHD and bench him when you’re in a slump are you sure that will help the team more than hinder it? Are you sure that won’t build resentment amongst your team and your boss if you’re that coach?
Not panicking is a skill. A skill that is in extremely short supply in Edmonton where fans would fire anyone and everyone at least eight times a season if they had the chance to pull the trigger.
Not every situation requires a hard-ass approach. Not every game means you rub a players nose in it. When a guy is doing a lot right and blows a tire you don’t smack him and tell him to take off up stairs. You coach.
“They had four separate skids last year with 1W-4/5L. Not fatal, just don’t make them a habit.”
I am kind of frustrated with posters here refusing to allow this point of view or give it any credence.
The context is important – who were they losing to during those skids?
Because every single team that they’ve lost to so far this season was below them in the standings last season, and they have yet to play any of the better teams in the league.
The whole not showing up for an entire period is a problem that dates back to last year’s playoffs.
That just tells me that you can absorb 4 skids of 1-4/5 and still be one of the best teams in the league by end of year.
“The reports of Oilers’ death are greatly exaggerated.”
Devils, Stars, Caps, Tampa, Canes
Minny, Preds, Blues, Ducks
Jets, Kracken, Isles, Avs, Kings
Flyers, Sens, Habs, Wings, Rags, Avs
There’s some murderers row teams, some bubble teams and some dregs.
Four different times they ran a set very similar to what they are running now and they finished one win out of 1st in the division and the West.
So this is why some of us are saying, hold your fire and let them work it out. It might not be satisfying but based on the last two years its the appropriate way forward.
Dear Seattle… can we have Yamo back? We’ll give you Janmark, Brown, hell we’ll discount Kane for you.
The blog in the morning should be reflecting on how the coach blew it and has now been replaced.
It won’t be that, but it should be.
Six games in. Six, and the season is already on the line.
I don’t think I can name a player that doesn’t look worse from last season to this season.
Woodcroft’s going to go by the weekend and the GM isn’t going to give one shit because he’s in his last season under contract.
Ladies and gentlemen, your Edmonton Oilers.
It’s looking like new coach time. I don’t even think these guys are a playoff team. wtf
Bring up Gagner!
Not sure Gagner is ready to be the next coach ;-p
If I were Katz, heads would roll if Brown plays 10 games. And not because Brown has been terrible, which he has, but because it’s tells you winning is not the top priority of this team, that they are unwilling to make the tough decisions needed to win.
Tough to do, and tough as a PR move with future FAs, but this is serious time and Oil need to get serious with what remains of the McDrai contracts.
Interesting to note that Nuge was on-ice for 2 goals for & 6 goals against at even strength tonight. Bouchard was 2-5.
RNH is not a 2C.
This is known.
Janmark isn’t a top-6 W and yet he managed to be 1-1 on the night. 6 on-ice goals against in a night is flat out unacceptable for any NHL player regardless of their lack of ability to play the role they’re in.
Can’t hide him in the top 6 either, though.
This is also known
RNH should be very, very grateful for Evan Bouchard tonight….
That was last year playoff ugly for RNH
CF 34%
SF 36%
Saw the number 93 alot just before goals against. He’s lost a step along with many others on this team
Bouchard was directly responsible for four of them. It’s not fair to hang those on RNH.
Watch the Erickson Ek goal, again
Ek is a C
RNH is a C
I agree that Bouchard had a large hand in many of them, but Nuge is guilty of his own failures in that. In his case, I’m willing to mark it down as an anomaly because he’s typically much more attentive and capable in his own end but it’s something he had better nip in the bud real fast.
Very nice zone entry on the PP for Pederson, stops up, nifty pass through the legs of the defender to the middle for Bourgault who sets up Lavoie for a one-timer beauty on a quick strike rush.
3 points for each of Bourgault and Pederson and a pair of PP one-timer goals for Lavoie.
5-1 Bako half way through the 3rd.
How does the Kemp/Gleason pairing look so far this season?
Our season is just going to be exactly like Tage Thompson’s, right? Not as good as you remembered for the first 6 games… But then game 7 baby, watch out!
This is still more likely than 1-80-1
I know everyone is going to get themselves into a tizzy dumping on Bouchard, but they aren’t actually keeping Connor Brown at this rate, right? Another 3 mil on the cap next year? Right?
Uhm, wrong and right are the correct answers, I believe.
The oilers are now the free space on the Bingo card.
All woody had to do was to make small tweaks to the already working system when playing a few specific teams. That’s it.
He overplayed his hand, and now the team is already in a state of emergency. He’s probably losing the room as we speak.
So how many games does Woodcroft have left? 3-5? Where’s the Oilers Death March when you need it?
Question is, when they turf Woody, who’s the next sucker to try a kick at the can?
Holland has a history of reclamation projects and problem boys.
My money’s on Queneville.
This should be the lead article on every Oilers blog tomorrow. Cause Woody is done
Maybe they need someone like Tortz – someone who will confront players when they make egregious errors.
They need a roster overhaul.
Tho Tortz is batshit I’d seriously consider it. Nothing else is working. Anymore.
7 GAA and the goalie played good
disarray
this is bad and has the feeling of this is bad
Has a team that suffered three ass kickings in the first six games ever won the Stanl… er, made the playoffs?
I really like what you did there.
I really, really don’t want to go down this route but I don’t see how a coach can last with this level of 1.) failure to impose defensive structure and 2.) failure to maintain accountability.
I thought Broberg had a pretty solid game.
They should play him more than 9 min next time.
I can’t believe Foegele played 13 min and scored 2 goals, drew a penalty, and Janmark played over 17. Lol. I know some of that is special teams. Still.
The words “special” and “team” should never be used in a sentence when referring to the Oil. Just saying.
Bouchard for Cale Makar + Mackinnon.
McLeod for Jack Hughes.
Kane for Vasilevsky.
Boom! Stanley Cup!
Might have to throw in Ernie as a sweetener.
Woody is coaching like Tippett did before he was fired. Coaching scared and not to lose rather than coaching to win. Missing the playoffs this year with this team is a non-starter, so I don’t think Woody gets much more leash. If they are 1-6-1 after Sunday he’s likely done.
Is it possible that Woodcroft thought Janmark scored Foegele‘s goals? Does Woodcroft know who Foegele is?
Poor Warren.
Just checked and Glen Sather is only 80.
If Mick and Keith can do it at 80 . . . why not Sather?
Minnesota broadcast team slamming the Oilers
“worst line changing team in the NHL”
“the Oilers D will beat themselves”
“history of success against talented Oiler teams because structure beats skill (? or talent or something like that)”
“the recipe against the Oilers is get offensive zone time and they WILL break down”
All true. Each and every word.
Woodys training camp was a huge success!
I think point three is the clincher and has been for a long time.
Bang on. They’ve had #1 locked up for years.
American Thanksgiving is 12 games away.
What’s the new boss doing?
Well deserved loss. Again. Can hardly wait for the next coach .. er … I mean next game.
Foegele looked alright in the top 6. That was nice.
Would the Washington Capitals release Todd Nelson from Hershey if he was offered the job?
They passed over him in the summer for their former Hershey coach.
Janmark played 17:42. Good grief.
What a joke.
Ha!
Has anyone done a running count on how many goals caused by Bouchard this year?
The Cult of Hockey will have assessed that.
It’s actually hilarious that the Oilers are still this bad.
Time to bring in Hitchcock.
No. Please don’t go there.
Still?
Revisionist BS. They have been good.
Bad again. Very possible to be good, again.
(It was a joke)
Oh man, has a team ever had 3 TMM penalties in a game? That’s a badly run bench.
What a mess. they weren’t going to live up to all the hype, but they shouldn’t be this bad.
Whats quenville up to?
Woody might not make it to game 10 having 3 to many men penalties is borderline sabotage.
Poor “too many men” Holloway.
Remember when the Oilers won that game? Nashville, I think it was… good times!
I’m jacked.. jacked to the tits!!
“Cocaine is a helluva drug!”
– Rick James
Bouchard is SOOO bad
Broberg? Forearm shiver in the corner?
Why is it that this team seems to have to re-learn defense every. damn. year?
Becauseoilers
BecauseBouchard
This turned into absolutely god awful hockey here…
They quit..in game 6. Twisted the knife in woodrofts back.
Who’s supposed to be the leadership group here anyway? Hard to tell
What a joke this team is. 1-4-1. Worst team in the NHL.
One win. Five losses.
Don’t sugar-coat it.
Too bad is not the Bedard year
Maybe LT should start talking about the draft. I’m genuinely interested in knowing who we’re going to draft first overall.