The Edmonton Oilers meet the New York Rangers tonight, a game that brings history and lore to the forefront. Did you know that the 1984 Oilers, Edmonton’s first Stanley team, had one former Ranger (Pat Conacher)? More famous, the 1994 Rangers team that won Stanley boasted seven former Oilers: Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Beukeboom and Craig MacTavish.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Can the Oilers count on any short-term help from AHL Bakersfield?
- 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 0-0-1)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- 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: 1-4-1, 3 points in 6 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 1-4-1, 3 points in 6 games
Jay Woodcroft doesn’t have many moves to make, and isn’t shuffling Dylan Holloway or Philip Broberg into feature roles. Ken Holland could have waived Adam Erne yesterday and recalled Lane Pederson. So, we’re going to see more of the same tonight. I have zero doubt the Oilers will have hot streaks this season, even ghastly teams can go on a run from time to time. At what point does management do something? The October Crisis cannot bleed into November. As for more on the current roster, I’ve got nothing but the word baffled rolling around in my brain 24-7 with this team. When you are drowning, the normal reaction is to do something. The Oilers are taking a unique approach.
PROSPECTS
I wrote about the Bakersfield Condors here, and there are some very encouraging numbers from men like Xavier Bourgault, Raphael Lavoie and Olivier Rodrigue. If the playoffs become a distant bell for the Oilers, and we don’t know that will happen, I suspect we’ll see some movement on the roster and several recalls. Ben Gleason and Lane Pederson could be in the group, Calvin Pickard too.
Below the AHL, Beau Akey is 2-3-5 in 8 OHL games, Brady Stonehouse 2-1-3 in 8 games in the same league. Nathan Day has an .850 SP in nine games, and that sounds bad. However, he has delivered games with .929 and .923 save percentages recently. I think he might be a better prospect than the draft day numbers implied. Long road. Matt Copponi is 20 and a point-per-game center in Hockey-East. That’s good! Shane Lachane, also 20, is 2-1-3 in four games with Boston University (also Hockey-East).
NOT ALL DEFENSEMEN
Lots of rage about Edmonton’s blue, but some pairings are doing well. Here’s a look at the most common duos.
- Nurse-Ceci: 77 minutes, 4-3 goals (57 pct), 61 pct X-goals
- Ekholm-Bouchard: 59 minutes, 3-6 goals (33 pct), 52 pct X-goals
- Kulak-Broberg: 27 minutes, 1-2 goals (33 pct), 33 pct X-goals
- Kulak-Desharnais: 25 minutes, 0-1 goals, 60 pct X-goals
Jay Woodcroft can run all of these pairings tonight, I hope he plays Broberg with Ekholm and checks down to Kulak-Bouchard. He will run the hell out of Nurse-Ceci and if Bouchard could get out of his own way the Ekhom-Old Man pairing has a nice expected goal percentage. What a weird year.
You should not give up on these Oilers. Connor McDavid can singlehandedly get them into the postseason. The defense and goaltending need to get figured out in a quick hurry and I do think a season outside the playoffs will seal the fate for both 97 and 29 extensions.
At noon today, we hit the ground running on Sports 1440. Bagged Milk from Oilers Nation will help preview tonight’s game (Hall of Fame game!) and we’ll talk TNF and World Series. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
Who could have foreseen that Holland‘s strategy of spending draft picks like a drunken sailor on rentals or signing old forwards until the end of time wouldn’t work? Isn’t that what GMs did in the nineties?
I mean it’s not like you can go out and trade for a Dach or Lehkonen in their prime from other teams.
Why not trade two first round picks for a 33 year old defenseman or sign a struggling goalie on a bad skid to a $25 million dollar contract.
There were many signs that Holland was not an elite GM. The consequences of his old timey GM strategy have come home to roost sooner than expected.
I said this summer that we were getting old on the wings. Staples tracks rush chances and we’re getting killed on those. Rush chances dry up when your team is old and slow.
Geez I can hear Quint from Jaws starting to sing “…farewell and adieu to you fair spanish ladies….”. This is getting ugly.
Akey’s goal at the 2:00 mark.
Let’s do the Alberta thing and Hire Darryl Sutter.
really shades of 2011-2013 here.. yknow, where you don’t EVER commit an entire evening to watching the game… you do other tasks and check in on the game on radio, because you pretty much known you’re going to lose. Kind of pessimistic take but I’m really getting flashbacks here.
Well… we did do Brandon Sutter a solid.
Still I want no talk of Sutter, Babcock or Coach Q around these parts.
Hey, all the way from the Ailier Gauche side of Canada.
Busy night for me. Coached the daughters U-13 team. They played well and man, the improvement level is incredible at this age. Probably my favorite age to coach. Then off to the daughters halloween dance and home to catch the last 5 minutes on 630 CHED. Coming in here, much talk about the much vaunted/discussed/trashed/crapped on defensive scheme brought in by Jay Woodcroft. It has brough a lot into focus for me and reminds me of a tough season I had over 20 years ago.
I was coaching a Bantam (U-15 for all you young pups) “minor” team, which essentially was a development team with mostly first years (I had a quota of 10 out of 17 kids). Would have been great if we played other developmental teams, but because there were none, we were classified as AAA, but it was AAA on paper only and AA at best in reality. I think we only won one league game that season, and in touraments, we never actually won a game, except for a third place finish at a AA tourney we talked ourselves into. In short, we were terrible on the scoreboard, but I had great kids and we didn’t end up in jail (just kidding).
At the end of the year we decided to enter the Abbottsford International Bantam tourney, and were soundly thrashed by teams from San Jose, K of C (with Shawn Belle) from Edmonton, Kelowna, and finally Hollyburn out of North Van. A friend I was getting attached to, made the drive to come see my team play their final game in which we lost 9-1. Season was over and just time to sleep and make the long bus ride home the next day. The boys retreated to their rooms and I sat and had a coffee with my friend in my room. I was kind of embarassed at her seeing that game and really was done at that point. It was then, she said something to me that snapped my head around, and she knew her stuff growing up in a hockey household and having three kids who all played rep.
She told me, “Don’t feel bad. You really don’t have much talent on this team. Nice kids and their character is not tied to results, but there’s not a whole lot to work with there!”
It was nice to realize that I had given it my all, and over 20 years later, some of those kids still come up to me and tell me what a great year that was. It sounds funny now but quite endearing.
Where am I going with this? Jay Woodcroft is a good coach and he really is working his ass off to make this team better, but the reality is, there’s just not enough talent after the first 5-6 guys on the depth chart. I think it’s something others have known for some time, but some of us have been in denial about, especially after being picked as a cup favorite.
Hopefully Woodcroft has a buxom blonde friend to give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, because that sure helped me back then.
Here’s to better days ahead and hopefully soon.
They are playing so freaking passive through the neutral and defensive zone. Drives me crazy.
Team looks brutally overcoached.
“Is this my spot? This is my spot…oh, it wasn’t…ok, it was but I didn’t make the right move that I’m supposed to make when in that spot and that play happens and it ended up badly. Oh well. Back to my spot.”
This team shouldn’t have any coaches. They are chaotic good, they should be winning every game 9-5. They ought to be an anarchical experiment, no systems, just instinct. Always just next man up. Jazz music. If they are going to lose can they not at least lose beautifully? To me this is the worst waste of talent. Skill on the shelf.
Nope. That’s not what I’m saying at all, I’m a systems guy, but micro managing is often a bad idea and to me it looks like that’s part of the issue. I could very well be wrong.
But I bet that sarcasm felt good.
Who said I was being sarcastic?
I was being unserious but not sarcastic.
Very interesting observation. Natural tendency when things aren’t working well, guys don’t seem to be getting it is to pull in the reigns and micro-manage.
I said the same below. Forest and trees, trying to make it overly complex.
I missed most of the second, just started watching when the Rangers scored goal 3. That was a pretty clean look for Panarin, nothing skinner could have done.
Watching the first and third, I thought the Oilers were actually playing ok. Not fantastic or anything but they weren’t horrible. They had looks. They are just hesitating a little on offence. It’s weird with their long ass training camp and skates, they are maybe in an early lull that other teams haven’t hit yet.
The Heritage Classic is going to be a good reset for both the Oilers and the Flames. Big game for both struggling clubs. Winner turns their season around?
I don’t think the Oilers have gotten a bounce off a skate for a goal yet this season. Seems like the other team gets one on the Oilers every game.
Yeah…bounces…that’s it.
Keep begging for attention. 😛
Cmon, that was a great reply!
Oilers look slow and old out there. Brown looks like he should have retired after a terrible knee injury last year. Holland signs a washed up injury prone veteran every year. Last year it was Ryan Murray, before that it was Kyle Turris. Not blaming the goaltending but let’s be honest, the Oilers have one of the worst tandems in the league. Right now the Oilers look like they have a bottom 3rd D core to boot. Minnesota and New York looked so much more skilled than the Oilers it isn’t even close. The Oilers looked completely outmatched again tonight.
Best bottom 6 in eons last season from GF% metrics.
Yamamoto, JP, and Kostin out, Erne and Brown in.
Middling D, No changes on D.
Was KH really banking on repeated career years from 97, 29, 18, 93, and that 28 was the missing link, and that the mostly veteran D would get better, and that the goalering would be better? Yikes.
That’s pretty much what everyone expected – just about every pre-season preview followed that script.
Either everyone, everywhere was wrong about the talent on this team, or something is just rotten about how this team is being run.
By “run” you mean coached, right?
Appears the cat is out of the bag and there is no fixing it. Cross seam passes and shots from the slot are constant. I didn’t see the HDSC in this game but the eye test was a dumpster fire. I really liked Woodcroft in the early goings, but there is no excuse not to replace him tomorrow.
Gerard Gallant should be the target, Bruce Boudreau would also work magic if he wants to go for another run.
Woodcroft isn’t the guy, and the more I watch of this team the more I’m convinced his systems and coaching could generally smell of hot garbage but he comes out smelling like roses because 97 & 29.
Really hoping we can find more of Connor’s best friends to play for the team
And be POHO.
Keep begging for any attention you can get. 😛
Don’t you just hate it when I’m always right?
I’d bet you aren’t even close to “always right” but we all know how that ends.
Especially if there is money on the line.
At this point, you’re Noonien Soong.
Often-Wrong Soong.
Listening to Woodcroft’s postgame, all he refers to after every humiliating loss is that the team wasn’t good enough, and they will work harder and be better. How has that strategy worked for them so far, Jay? The guy sounds shellshocked and ineffective.
Someone should tell him that repeating something over and over won’t will it into existence. Interesting that the Oilers apparently think doing the same thing over and over, which is currently leading to failure, will soon lead to their success.
Not gonna defend the coach here, but he can’t throw the team under the bus in public. He’s facing a conundrum…do you stick to your guns or go back to the system from last year. With each loss the pressure builds due to the expectations. A loss Sunday and the coach might not make it to November.
One thing that is clear. The team is not getting better at executing the system the coach wants them to play.
Does he ever think the coaching should be better?
Does any of the “journos” in Edmonton ask him about deployment?
Does anyone ask why Erne is playing and Lavoie is in California?
Zero accountability from the coach for himself and for his players.
Is Mike Babcock available???
Year 9.
1-6. The defensive system change isn’t working, Jay. Also that’s with the Oilers facing a pretty easy schedule for the start of the season too. Not often you get a stretch of games with Vancouver x2, Philly, Nashville, and the Jets and still manage to lose every game but one.
Connor will play on one leg Sunday playing limited minutes except on the PP.
That would be a huge mistake,
Holland and Woody are on the ropes Connor will bail them out. All the attention will shift from a delusional Woody and a half asleep Sir Holland back onto Connor.
Holland isn’t on the ropes, he’s done at the end of the year regardless of the result. He’ll need to fire Woodcroft if he wants to sail into the sunset without regret.
This is Edmonton the most passionate and hardcore fans in the league. If he doesn’t get this turned around soon as a going away present he’s going to feel heat like he’s never felt before.
The Flames would be licking their chops to get a wounded McDavid in their sights in a game without much structure.
No Rasmus, Tkachuk or Gio the only one left is Kadri and he’s scared shitless of Kane who would of fought for the 3rd game in a row but the Ranger player hightailed it to the bench.
Devin Shore scored his first goal of the season tonight.
He has now outscored the Oilers entire bottom 6.
This is a huge problem.
Oh look. It wants attention again.
It rubs the lotion on its skin,
it does this whenever it’s told..
Oh look…the Oilers bottom 6 is the worst in the league..still.
The next time you add something useful to the conversation will be the first time. But you aren’t here for that anyway, are you?
Looks like both of you jumping up & down for attention.
This was not a better effort than Tuesday vs. Minnesota. They are still playing disconnected in their zone. Teams are looking at the video and are spreading them out in their zone and getting off high quality shots from the slot.
That happened for 8 pre-season games and now 7 regular season games.
This team does not get how to play the system being demanded. How many more games you want to lose?
That’s going to be some classic on Sunday.
I believe it’s called a toilet bowl
Decent period but lots of score affects going on.
Rangers are well balanced. Support pucks well.
No signs of playing a complete gsme yet. Lots of guys simply too slow – Brown at the top of my list
Good news is Flames aren’t good either.
BOOOO !!!!!
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Remember the people who knew when to fire Tippett vs when it actually happened?
Is our children learning?? (Thanks dubya)
I recall about 6-8 weeks between those things.
Reminds me of this site: your comment is “awaiting for approval”.
Nice English.
This team has a talent problem. At the beginning of last season, Mattias Janmark was sent to the AHL, and deservedly so. Tonight, he started the game as our first line right winger.
People keep saying this is the same team as last year. It isn’t. We’ve removed Klim Kostin, Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto and replaced then with Adam Erne, Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark.
Say what you want about Jesse and Kailer, they were both injured last year and not great. But good or bad you noticed them, they had defined identities. Erne, Brown and Janmark are invisible, vanilla and don’t move any needle in any direction.
Something is clearly wrong if Janmark is getting first line minutes. That should never happen. I don’t think losing Yama, Kostin and JP is an issue. Replacing them with inferior players is the problem.
As well as Bjugstad is being missed
As someone who has said this is essentially the same team, this is true. It is a different team. Yamo created chaos that their speed could jump on in the 0 zone, Brown isn’t cutting it. And he’s not scoring. So what was the point?
apparently to get his buddy one more $3M payoff before everyone realizes he’s done.
let’s just get it over, hit his bonus and then send him down.
When was the last time the Oilers had a start like this? Just so I know what to expect.
Never.
Shayne Corson says Hi.
A wag o’ the finger, 10 Hail Mary’s and 25 burpees for mentioning “He Who Shall Not Be Named”.
Get at it!
Take a look at the Pacific standings.
That’s all, that’s it.
It’s like game 6 against Vegas every night.
Teams have studied the Vegas tapes. What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.
They should offer Darryl Sutter more than whatever he is owed by the Flames. He would get them playing winning hockey.
I thought we hired a fancy stats guy how’s that working out?
Trolls always like to come out when it’s darkest
TOI:
Bouchard: 20:17
Broberg: 12:23
The 7D set-up continues to kill Broberg but Bouch was good tonight and deserved his ice.
How come no one is blaming Jeff Jackson.
Painful listening to Jack and Louie trying to dress this one up as a good game.
That should have counted but whatever
“Game management”
After tonight the Oilers will have lost 6 times already.
By the standard I measure them to, they will need to win essentially 20 in a row to get back on pace.
Good gawd…
Oh no it’s ok it’s early.
That was absolutely kicked in.
Good call.
Not that it matters. I wish the Oilers could kick one in.
That’s a bad call – that was a good goal for me.
I guess you’re not a soccer player.
Agreed, he clearly kicked that in.
29 has his pout on. Gliding around, easy to check
Very fortunate not to give up a goal on the PK. Rangers got one cross seam pass after another.
The issue is not the goalies with this team, it’s the way they play in front of the goalies. They get spread out. Look at the Rangers and they pack it in and give you nothing.
How many seasons of the best player of the last 25 years of hockey do we have to waste Jesus Christ
One more.
All of them.
Macklin Celebrini
blender time? cmon woody, let the young dogs run
@BruceMcCurdy
Sitting in end zone behind Oilers net that period watching a clinic. Give Rangers credit for execution, 3 goals on GREAT cross ice passes, & so very nearly a 4th. They are splitting Oilers zone defence like a lobster with those one touch seam passes.
Thank Skinner it’s only 3-0.
This system is a misread of what skill players value most. For skilled players you want to always minimise the time they have to make a play. The longer you wait, the more they can read, and not just for that individual sortie, but for the ones to come. Just like skilled hitters coming through a pitcher the 3rd or 4th time, each 45 second sortie adds to the knowledge for the next one.
A zone system aims to take away space. But it’s very passive on the time it allows the puck to be held. When you play Nashville it’s not that apparent. When you play guys like Kaprizov and Panarin it’s very apparent.
It’s also too passive from a takeoff perspective. Man to man, creates more pressure situations, your teammates are more likely to be in motion and adding to the pressure when a puck is up for grabs. In the zone everyone is very close to standing still, not quite, but you’re doing shuffle cross overs, or maybe leg pushes, lots and lots of lateral movement, very little straight forward motion.
Why Jay thinks this is the correct system for a team that thrives on pace and energy is beyond me. It doesn’t matter that this works for other teams. He isn’t coaching another team, he’s coaching one that is at it heart offensive. Coach to that. They had a very very good thing going last year. They can still go back to that and polish it. No need to play so passively, none at all.
I don’t even know who to be mad at with this defensive system on a goal like Lafreniere’s. Kulak sees him but he’s a way out and I think he’s supposed to stay in his zone. The centre is supposed to be supporting the puck in a box and 1 but I’m not sure how they’re expected to do that with 70 foot east-west passes. Is it the weak side winger? I can’t imagine it because that works leave the center lane for the weak side defenseman.
Someone with access needs to ask how the eff this is supposed to work.
Simple, it works when you play against a team that doesn’t bother to do their homework. Eventually we’ll play against one of those teams. Maybe it’s SJ.
There is clearly a disconnect between what the coaches want and what the players think they want. No way it’s drawn up like this.
Starting to see shades of “the swarm” where the guys just couldn’t figure out what or where or when. Eakins defended it no end and it never worked.
Agreed, this is Eakins level coaching now.
That was an embarrassing period. I think there is enough evidence now to suggest that this is a bad team.
That was obvious after game 1 when they got pasted by the Canucks.
For the last couple of days there were some posters on here trying to foist their delusional thoughts on us.
This coaching staff is completely inept.
Woodcroft is not going to last past next weekend.
Book it.
It’s nearly the exact same team as last year – a great team, currently playing like shit.
I don’t foist delusional anything, but if you think this is an inherently bad team you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.
Revert. Execute. Maybe it takes a different coach to untangle this mess but this is a good hockey team.
My faith in this team is being tested but I guess I don’t like being thought of as delusional or someone who “foists”.
alternatively I might think some of is have a sense of proportionality and are charitable when witnessing a team trying to make a significant change. See no reason until 15–20 games to claim the season is a waste or heaven forbid game 7 could be “must win”. THAT is delusional.
Yep, that first game set the tone and never, ever happens to a decent team. Maybe a coaching change helps, but there are serious issues and the talent and teamwork that’s been building for 3 years has gone ‘poof’. Can’t remember a season-to-season collapse quite like this when the roster is stable, but here they are.
So glad I didn’t spend money on any aspect of the NHL this year (except obligatory donation to this blog ;-))
How is 3 seasons followed by this lol “collapse” in any way comparable when one is a sample size of 246 and the other 7?
If they went 1-5-1 in the middle of February…. Would minds me lost to this extent?
anyway I got patience left.
feel sorry for those who don’t which seems like everyone else
It’s about the way they’re playing, just getting fed their lunch every game. If they were losing because of a combo of bad bounces, excess injuries, adverse reffing (haven’t heard much about that this year, which is a tell) or superlative goaltending (Jonathan Quick shuts them out? really???), maybe we could rationalize. They are B.A.D. and lifeless and they know it. Surprised no jerseys have hit the ice
You’re a patient man Chelios … we’ll see if you continue to be when they’ll be 1-7-1 by next Saturday.
I’m not saying this to rub it in mind you. I bleed Blue and Orange – it hurts my soul to see my team at the bottom of the standings. And maybe I’m being too pessimistic.
But I agree with Ice Sage … it’s the way that they’re losing that you and others are not really acknowledging. They are getting blown out of whole periods … and this dates back to the series against Vegas.
They are getting their show run. By good teams and by mediocre teams. Right now, they are “free spot” on the bingo card. When the opposition scores against us, they make it appear comically easy … like NHL 24 set to easy mode. On the other end, those teams close down shooting lanes and make life miserable for our top players.
The Oilers have good players. Every single player on the roster is a genuine NHL hockey player (except Erne but his impact is negligible). They have more good players than at least 2/3 of the league … that is not in dispute.
But they are not a good team … some want to blame Holland for this, but the job of a GM is to get good players and somehow squeeze them under a cap that has remained flat for several years.
The job of a coaching staff is to put those players into a position to succeed as a team. That’s where things are failing.
Prior to the Ekholm acquisition last year, the Oilers were a pretty mediocre team that was not a sure thing to make the playoffs. I was not impressed with Woodcroft then, and felt they should’ve made a coaching change.
Post-Ekholm, they went on a heater to finish the season, which saved Woodcroft’s job – but they underperformed in the playoffs, and many were not impressed with the job that Woodcroft did against Vegas.
Now this. It’s not ‘systems’ … this team just doesn’t bring a complete effort for 60 minutes. The coaches job is to push those buttons and get everything possible out the roster he’s given. That’s not even close to happening right now.
I’ll say it again … I do not see a reason why Woodcroft should get to coach another game for the Oilers.
I’m not going to say you’re wrong, agree with it. I have said they are playing like shit, I remain hopeful they can turn it around. I agree with Say it ain’t so on Woody not coaching to the team, Vegas is in his head. Each game that passes like this, the result of Woodcroft not adapting, Holland not showing urgency, will pull at my patience. Is it at 1-7-1? I think the skill is there to gel. But it seems to always take a shock to the system. As you elude to with Ekholm last year, Woody before that. What gets this team to start playing scared this year?
Patience?
We’re being asked to be patient? Again?
It’s been 20+ years of patience.
This team is finally supposed to have turned a corner, is considered a contender by the intelligentsia and they play like mutts.
Rage is the only answer.
Nobody asking you to be patient just telling you I am patient.
You can do whatever you want.
The same Game 1 where you scolded us all and exclaimed that goaltending IS NOT a problem after letting in 8 goals?
That Game 1?
Not much to say about that period. We look totally lost on the ice. Third line looks good but no joy. Rest of the lines are a mess. No cohesion at all.
That’s gotta be on the coach, no?
Looks like a team that either tuned out the coach or can’t figure out what the coach wants.
Again, it’s on the coach, right?
Huh, so the Oilers are really really bad.
Their competitive window has been awfully short.
Such awesome pace to this hardcore zone d-system. I love the flatfooted breakouts where the Rags can have three backs before we get three out. Or maybe where the system itself says the Panarin line can cycle for 75 seconds. Who’s liking the zone handoffs when someone does pressure and the centre ends up running around with his head cut off?
Gawd what a silly, goofy, no good idea this is haha. Smart people talking themselves into the dumbest stuff.
Rule 1 – Don’t taking defensive system tips from David Staples.
Damm this team could use a Dougie W and Billy G in their prime right now.
If they give up 5 in the 3rd again, that’s a fire the coach thing, no?
They shut it down last game once they were down by 3 so will be interesting to see the response. NYR will be in on the road here so I predict a respectable 4 2 loss with empty net
Another wasted game incoming.
Get Woodcroft out of there.
I’m sure they’ll figure it out.
Joel Quenneville
Gerard Gallant
And that, my friend, is the correct answer.