Regression is no ordinary word. The Edmonton Oilers won a game last night against the New York Islanders that featured friendly Corsi five-on-five but a 47 percent expected goal share. The road is long, the team will use too much energy getting back in the race and inevitably fall short in the postseason. Right? Well, that’s why they play the games. It was a very nice win for new coach Kris Knoblauch. The pass by Leon on the McDavid goal was majestic.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: What Oilers management must reckon with in roster construction
- New DNB: Edmonton Oilers’ transition of power happening in real-time and the stakes couldn’t be higher
- Lowetide: Are the Oilers suddenly able to develop their own goalies?
- Lowetide: Do the Edmonton Oilers have enough value contracts this season?
- DNB: Edmonton Oilers’ crisis shifts to embarrassment after loss to the Sharks
- Lowetide: What if the Edmonton Oilers end up in the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery?
- Lowetide: 6 ways the Edmonton Oilers can improve in November
- Lowetide: Oilers already leaning on a push from the AHL. Who could be next?
- Lowetide: Can Connor McDavid come from behind to win another Art Ross Trophy?
- Lowetide: Will Edmonton Oilers redeem themselves after baffling October?
- Lowetide: Can the Edmonton Oilers make room for Raphael Lavoie?
- DNB: Oilers rewarded for their season’s most complete game in Heritage Classic win
- Lowetide: Oilers top prospect Xavier Bourgault is spiking in an important area
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers’ injuries already a major story in 2023-24
- 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’
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: DAL, NAS (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-2-0)
- On the road to: VAN, SJS, SEA (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 1-2-0)
- At home to: NYI, SEA (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: TBY, FLA, CAR, WAS (Expected 1-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: ANA, VEG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Actual November results: 2-4-0, 4 points in 6 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 4-9-1, 9 points in 14 games
The club has a pile of games to come over the back half of the month. I keep wondering about the backup goalie situation. Stuart Skinner’s five-on-five save percentage is now .908, that’s No. 33 among goalies with over 200 minutes in the game state so far this season. Jack Campbell is No. 50 of 51 (.879) at five-on-five. In his most recent three games, Skinner owns a .931 SP. I remain convinced he’s going to have a quality NHL career.
THE NUMBERS
There’s lots to unpack from this card. Stuart Skinner had a great game, he was a key part of the victory. The Draisaitl pass to McDavid was breathtaking, and that puck going in is what the captain needed. I thought Zach Hyman was effective again, Evander Kane had a couple of HDSC’s, Sam Gagner had one. Raphael Lavoie had a HDSC too, he drove to the net with authority and made some safe plays. The McLeod line had the puck going in the right direction, I think that trio should stay together.
Defensively, lots of bend but don’t break and Skinner camp up tall when required. One never knows about the dead cat bounce, but on this night the Oilers were enjoyable to watch.
There’s miles to go, folks. Look for Connor McDavid’s five-on-five goal share, sans 29, to improve. That will be a key indicator.
I mentioned yesterday that we may have seen the changing of the guard in real time at the media avail Sunday. Ken Holland said he had discussed the situation with the leadership group. Jeff Jackson said they weren’t consulted. Connor McDavid is speaking out about it and the perception of what happened isn’t sitting well. We all think we can read tea leaves, I’m no different. I suspect Holland was getting the temperature while Jeff Jackson was being proactive. That’s a tell. The Ken Holland era is over.
At noon today, Sports 1440. We’ll go in-depth with Daniel Nugent-Bowman at The Athletic. Daniel has been writing brilliantly and often on the recent Oilers developments. You can find all of his work here. We’ll talk about the McDavid situation, what the club plans to do about the backup goaltender and more. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
GoDot is wrong to pin this loss on Bouchard.
Third pairing of Kulak and Desharnais have goal shares of 29 and 22, respectively. Brutal. Their PDO is really bad (in the 920s), Fenwick decent (50ish). They will regress, but the results have been terrible. I’m not convinced that Desharnais moves the puck well enough. He is -5 playing against weaker comp than Bouchard.
I will never understand what Kulak and Desharnais were doing on the GWG. Kulak may as well have been orbiting Pluto for how far out of the play he was.
Bouchard’s Fenwick is 61. Goal share of 42. PDO 933. He is -4.
Why is Godot criticizing Bouchard for every loss when Desharnais has a worse goal differential against weak comp in fewer minutes? Particularly when that Ekholm and Bouchard pairing was so tremendous last season.
It makes no sense.
Boys getting outworked tonight
Lt, you were the first to sound the NHLe alarm on Holloway (right after Stauffer telegraphed the draft pick).
What does it feel like to see this from a mile away, then writing this article down the track?
https://theathletic.com/5062680/2023/11/15/oilers-dylan-holloway-injury/
I do not think Campbell will ever play another NHL game. He is broken.
I don’t get why they are playing him this much. He is clearly down. Give him some time
At this point why take playing time away from Rodrigue? He’s got more of a future with the organization than Campbell.
I didn’t watch any of the preseason, so was Campbell just incredibly fortunate to have had such a successful preseason run? I’ve watched most of the last 3 Condors games and the guy looks done. 13 GA on 72 shots and more than 50% have been of the ugly variety.
The team has no choice but to buy him out in June. That combined with the Neal buyout and the unforgiveable, inexcusable, yet inevitable $3m Connor Brown bonus money, that’s a solid $6m shaved off the 23-24 cap. Swell Ken, swell.
Seems like multiple things going on but results that poor seems mental.
Its all mental with Campbell. No pressure in preseason, a fresh start. Now, he has all the pressure of fighting for the last gasp of his career.
Broberg carries through the neutral zone, drives wide, beauty set-up for Bourgault driving the net, he’s stopped and Griffith buries the rebound.
Nice play by Broberg but the transition/rush/drive was terrible AHL defence and in slow motion.
Dineen on a PP snipe and Kambeitz on a slot backhand with goals but, in between, a 5th on Campbell and another terrible short side goal where he is looking around wondering how that happened.
I query if this is just day to day cap structuring – save one daily portion of Lavoie’s cap hit and also save a day on the “30 days on the roster” until subject to waivers again.
He may play tomorrow? I mean, who else is playing for the 12th forward? Pederson isn’t playing tonight for the Condors but I think its still injury and I don’t think they’d insert him for Lavoie after having not played at all for weeks.
Anyone they plan on playing for the Oilers tomorrow would, presumably, not play for the Condors tonight.
Gregor postured exactly that today on his show, it’s just for cap space. He expected Lavoie to play tomorrow for the Oilers.
Spector said that they leave Thursday for Tampa so there may be more moves tomorrow to get another body into Edmonton for the road trip.
Yikes, missed most of the first half of the game picking up the wife from the airport and its 4-0 Wranglers (24 shots, 4 goals).
I’ve liked Stu Skinner since junior and pegged him as a starter early on. Not an ideal situation obviously but we have to treat him as the starter until the TDL but not over-use him. Best case scenario is Skinner thrives and Campbell gets his junk together in Bako and comes back to be an elite backup. You still buy him out this summer. I figure Campbell has about a month to get his act together or we need to find a high end backup to support Skinner. Reimer would be good.
Noticied that Hellybuyck, Keumper, Georgiev and Grubauer are all hanging around .890 this season. Samsonov (.870) even worse than Campbell. Playing goal is tough, picking a good one tougher, figuring out which season they will be at the top of their game damn near impossible.
Roloson found his consistency pretty late in his career.
That’s why you need flexibility.
When a GM signs an over 30 goalie to a multi year deal (5 plus) at a high cap hit, it rarely works out.
You can usually get a younger goalie cheaper on a shorter term.
Holland broke his own rule about overpaying for average (or in this case, terrible) goaltending.
Ingram was my pick this summer. I’m not a goal scout savant, but he fit my age and target criteria.
3 years at $1.95m cap.
There’s almost no risk in that deal. Even if he bombs, you can get rid of that contract. Worst case scenario, you put him in the minors and have under a million in dead cap.
I’d be looking for similar players all day long if I were a GM.
This is what was available in 2022. Not a good year to be in the market.
https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/2022/goaltender/ufa/
We rolled the dice on Campbell and we probably have a cup if it worked. It didn’t. I liked Samsanov that summer – and he was good last year – but he’s junk this year. That’s the way it goes with all but the elite guys.
The Oilers had to do something in goal in the summer of 2022. That’s a bad place to be with goalies and I don’t at all like how Woody handled either guy. That’s what got him fired IMHO. Whatever Campbell needed he didn’t get from Woody who clearly liked Stu better even as a raw rookie. Water under the bridge – in Stu we trust – it win or bust with him now and hopefully K is a goalie whisperer. We need one bad.
and Niemo gets stood up with a massive hit as he tried to transition the puck and is down (for a while) and groggy!
Kemp walked, Broberg not able to stay with the man driving the net and no save from Campbell – 26 seconds.
Its got to be awkward for Slyvan Rodrigue to sit idle as the organization clearly doesn’t see his Olivier’s development as any sort of priority. For me, this is trending to be one of the more egregious development paths I’ve seen the org force on a real prospect.
Tonight’s lineup:
Caggiula/Mckegg/Bougault
Erne/Grubbe/Griffith
Savoie/Malone/Petrov
Kambeitz/Berglund/DeJong
Dineen/Wanner
Broberg/Kemp
Niemo/Gleason
Campbell
Really hard to comprehend starting Campbell again???? He is not the answer in Edmonton so play the damn rookie!
Seems like Lavoie going down is a paper transaction. He’ll be back up tomorrow for Seattle.
The help Jack needs needs a respite from starting and a sports psychologist
He’s in his 30’s and nothing has changed for him
It is so misinformed for management to think otherwise at this point
Play Rod and demand Jack sort himself out or he is in breach of his contract as I see it
Not to be mean to Jack, it’s best for him as well
-1 to to the -1
What more do you need to know about this?
Failing hurts. Failing at 5M per is a problem
I could agree if this was business as usual – but the situation with Campbell is certainly not that. They need to figure out ASAP if Campbell can function as a backup. A week or two on the bench will not kill Rodrigue or his development. Give Cambell 5 games straight to see if he can recover. It won’t kill Rodrigue.
At least all of Holloway’s injuries are to different parts of his body and he’s not just continually crushing his shoulder or something.
I’m hoping the vets help him out with some tips on body positioning
Like Bro he’s not protecting himself enough as Bro didn’t at first. I see he’s giving it all to make an impression, but getting hurt sets him back. Players get hurt but he was in a very awkward position when it happened
97 might have some tips on reigning in the speed without losing the pugnaciousness while protecting yourself.
Exactly
Maybe so but, for the current injury, had nothing to do with that, he slipped and crashed in to the boards….
Not how I saw it
Based on my medical knowledge, all his injuries to different body parts should balance themselves out.
God I love a good Simpsons reference.
Holloway is beginning to rival MAP for fragility.
Paging Godot
Pack your shit Bill, the coattails have retired and turns out you’re just another mediocre coach!
https://x.com/carlquintanilla/status/1724567704986595636?s=46&t=eJhhNPA4I32vVTDvo2_ETA
Belichek the GM screwed Belichek the coach with too many poor personnel decisions.
Lavoie to Bakersfield.
Guess is Holloway and Janmark to LTIR. Broberg back after tomorrow’s Condor’s game here for the weekend.
Vinny in last chance Texaco territory.
I think that might be so. Runs good numbers usually, but the skating and puck skills aren’t contender level
Glad you like under achieving person -1
Likely signals Brown is back for Wed.
I’m looking forward to him getting some traction with this re-start.
I think he will get back and hold his own. He was getting there and hard to judge as everything was falling apart at once.
Lavoie has not made much of an impression.
Not to suggest he won’t be able to contribute, but he clearly isn’t up to NHL speed at this point.
It is interesting to reflect on all the consternation we voiced on this blog a few short weeks ago!
I thought he was getting better, but yes, we had a preview, he had a preview. Mission accomplished for now.
He is a big body who hardly was let off the bench.
I don’t understand the logic of bringing up a top 6 AHL forward to play 6 minutes. Give them 13+ till they let you down.
So the team would run 11/6 tomorrow and then 11/7 for the weekend? Intesting.
Janmark isn’t skating that we know of so unless there is someone else they want to bring up (Pederson?) that’s a really forward corps.
I still say Vinnie brings an important element. Not only his physicality but huge personality to the room.
I think the move indicates there was an element among Oilers management who felt Broberg should have played. He didn’t play under Woody, they want him playing under doubleK. As we know, they must find out if they have a defenseman, or they need one.
Broberg seems more a ‘special Coffey flavour’
Jeff Jackson needs to know whether he has to pay four assets for a right shot Ekholm.
There is only one way to find out. Play Broberg.
This probably also speaks to Knob’s strategy of players having clearly defined roles. Lavoie long-term is not a 4th liner, maybe not even a 3rd liner, let alone one where a rookie is required to replace Holloway on a very speedy 3rd line right now. Better to have Lavoie play top AHL minutes against other top AHL competition.
Important win for the team and the new head coach, he obviously haven’t had much time to put his stamp on the team but with knives out around the oilerverse before he’d even coached his first game he will need a couple of early wins to calm the waters.
(Knives out for the Knob has a bit of a Bobbitt ring to it doesn’t it…)
The team overall has looked more focused the last two games, not really playing great but more awareness and attention to detail. Still things to work on ofc. As mentioned still early for the new coach to make much changes, it looked like some tweaks defending through the neutral zone and I also got the feeling they tried to move the puck up ice faster, not considering their options as much instead they just moved north quickly. Lead to a few icings but also the inklings of a faster transition game.
I have no clue how Paul Coffey is as a coach, not sure Paul Coffey knows how Paul Coffey is as a coach, but when I saw him chatting with the D last night all I could hear him say was “just grab the puck and use your supreme skating to move up ice, dangle a couple of guys and score, it’s not that hard, I’ve done it lots of times”
Oh and Draisaitl. Considering how bad the team has played him having 19 points in 14 games is mighty impressive.
Zach Hyman with 8-6-14 and a hat trick away from McLeon in Seattle. Bloody shame he was injured in the playoffs.
KK should back off his PP time for Kane a bit this season. That spot takes a beating with all the stick work and with how much time they spend on the PP.
Share the load.
Considering how bad Draisaitl’s shooting has been, 19 in 14 is impressive. Multiple games this season where I’ve remarked he couldn’t hit the side of a barn that night.
Broberg could be a huge benefactor of a new coach.
If he can dial his passing game in he’s going to do well
Saw a stat today that said he’s our best D at preventing zone entries
Nurse continues to be our worst
Lets not forget that its a bit easier to defend zone entires against Dakota Joshua than Elias Petterson, for example.
There are still some critical trades to make.
Goalie. Though Skinner as expected has bought some time to try out Pickard and do some more shopping.
Good depth player who brings size, speed and the odd goal.
Middle of the pack defensive defenseman
They have bought some time for re-assessment now. Things will get better, including Broberg in minors, but they should be watching and working the phones. These holes could open up again quickly.
Who will be the decision makers?
There are holes Kenny sized. I am not sure that there is much they can do, or should do now
This roster could have beaten the Knights. They don’t have anything much to deal except what’s left of the future. They have a decent group of young forwards in Lavoie Bourgault Holloway (if he can stay healthy) and Mcleod
They need those cheap contracts for a few years being so top heavy and with old farts on term. They added Brown whom if he gets his form back adds to last year’s forward group. If he’s healthy I think he will, he plays a smart game
Ok, they do need a goalie. Unless something has changed a lot, they will be hard pressed to find the right guy
They are running out of players much too quickly. I think they add, but with patience, only to ensure the opportunity presents, rather than desperation.
Funny how folks give Jackson credit for this firing but blames Holland for signing two of Jackson’s clients weeks before and after Jackson gets his new gig. I’m sure that’s a coincidence. What’s the odds that Jeff was nursing an 18 month old grudge that Katz passed on KK for Woody? First chance, cut the throat, brings in his boy.
Ruthless.
But now Paul Coffey is watching over things on the bench. Ken Holland sure took pains to make sure everyone knew Jackson was involved with the Woodcroft axing. Sounded to me more like a power struggle than the handing of the reigns. Might be listening too hard though, but if I was Jackson and I heard those pre and post game comments yesterday I would be a bit nervous. Ask Jerry Krause what happens when you push too hard.
Crazy idea? Jackson is gone this summer if Knoblauch doesn’t take them deep and Coffey reports back the players were pissed at what happened to Woodcroft.
Nah, not likely. Better odds that Coffey moves into the GM Suite after he’s had a chance to work with KK and sniff him out. That way CEO, GM and Coach can all be on the same page. These guys are lucky and dangerous for getting to toy around with such a damn good team.
One other thing. What good came out of the JF Jr Leafs? What innovations or intelligent managerial decisions came from that era? One playoff appearance for the Marlies from 2008 to late 2010. One season after Jackson left the Marlies they started a run of nine straight playoff appearances, winning the division five times.
I think DK wants to know what is going on, why so hard to go higher having the players they do
Well he should blame whoever said hire Holland. Many people could have stabilized the org. What KH isn’t good at is why we’re here
I think you’re right about any power struggles. An outgoing manager has no legs especially when the guy that hired him got bumped out
Well two of Holland UFAs and two resignings are scoring at a point per game and all but Kane hit career highs last year.
Ceci, Kulak and Ekholm have starring roles. Foegele is loved by McDavid.
Holland trusted Woodcroft in the AHL and he’s delivered McLeod, Skinner, Bouchard and Vinny. Broberg is a work in progress and Holloway was coming in before injury.
Campbell was and remains a terrible bet. Goalies will kill ya.
I get folks are sour but this is beyond sour into irrationality. The “History and Record Book” was too far, it wrecked people in the mind.
If the Oilers recover and perform to expectations did it happen in spite of Holland or because of him?
For McCrimmon on this board, it’s 100% because of him!. Does it matter that Nuge, Hyman, Kane and Bouchard may all outscore Eichel individually this year?
Nope, Holland’s a super dummy.
Nobody says he’s terrible. But the roster is flawed and unbalanced, he capped himself out and made next year’s cap worse, and his coach has to run short. He went into a cup or bust year with his net clearly far from a safe bet. If Campbell being Campbell was a surprise to anyone, they weren’t looking at the blatant evidence
His right side D group is very weak. The D group is out of balance. Des can’t skate or pass, Ceci’s best game is only to not screw up. Average boots, inconsistent with the puck. Every player sneaks a good play in at times, a contender needs top half players that push and help attain the goal consistently, and bottom half that can play NHL hockey and fill a role
He has older players on long term deals. He overpays on every deal (mitigating getting a good player) without being able to recoup anything elsewhere, and now he still has a flawed roster and bare cupboards. He went off the board at the draft and it hasn’t worked out
His coach got some players to NHL ready, same couch wouldn’t finish the job in the bigs. The longer that went on the worse it has become as they really need these guys to be filling spots for less cap, and they aren’t settled yet
It will come home to roost for the next guy. Most of this had solutions this summer, he chose to stand pat, and it bit the team hard in the rear, with another slow season jeopardizing start under Woody
Holland isn’t all bad, but bad enough to have stalled the team where it has stalled. They still might win the cup, but because Duo and a healthy Ek
Go back, rewatch the presser. Holland is talking about notifying & talking with the leadership group about Woody.
Jackson is talking about not talking with the leadership group about the hiring of KK.
it caused some confusion but was cleared up later.
I don’t think the leadership group did anything here really. I love the optics but no I don’t think McDavid is running the team. Too complicated.
No I think Jackson did this mostly by his lonesome. He had the leeway and got his guy. But what exactly are Jackson’s qualifications for running a hockey team? That’s why I asked about the Leafs when he was AGM and GM of the Marlies.
Edmontonians seem mighty fascinated by the Big Bright Lights of Southern Ontario. No matter how middling and running on reputation that part of Canada is when it comes to innovation in hockey.
I think it’s curious that every single Jackson client is now playing a starring role on the Oilers
Sam Gagner – double hip surgery to 1st Line
Connor Brown – all the cap muckiness for zero points and an injury so far. But soon to be reincetered and probably 1st line.
Bouchard – love him (I do) or not (everyone who’s discovered the word accountability), point per game.
McDavid – the best.
Everyone is worried about the optics of McDavid. I’m a bit more keen on watching what Jackson has done and if it’s a positive or a negative for the team.
Curious results so far. Need a bigger sample size though.
Am I the only person who feels the firing of Woodcroft is about accountability? Without a doubt, Woody is a good coach, his NHL record proved it.
I was taught that the first 90% of your effort yields 50% of your potential result. The last 10% of your effort yields the other 50% of your potential result. We see this too many nights on the Oilers.
The most obvious case was Bouchard this season. He was directly responsible for 3 of our 9 losses, yet every next game he was back in the top 4 rotation and #1 PP. What message does that send to the players? It says everyone’s job is safe, everyone’s position on the team is safe. We aren’t talking about a bottom six player or the 7th defenseman. WE are talking about the core guys.
Sure there were other offenders. Nobody is worried, there is no desperation, no accountability.
Saw the same thing in the playoffs when Skinner wasn’t getting it done vs Vegas. Maybe he was just tired or worn down but Campbell looked good when he went in after Skinner was pulled. Give him a start. Regardless of the outcome, it sends a message coaches are willing to do whatever it takes to win. Why does Nurse make the same bad reads and giveaways? He is a very good defensman, but he is comfortable. it isn’t a shot at him as a player or person or his character. Its human nature.
Woodcroft didn’t hold the players accountable so Jackson held Woodcroft accountable. Plain and simple. I’m sure Woody will land on his feet in the NHL and will have a long coaching career. Lesson learned and message sent I hope
You don’t understand the type of player Bouchard is. It’s not a surprise, the obsession with defense is wired deep.
Look at Scott Neidermayer and imagine the possibilities.
Time to break the mould and part of the nervous excitement is that Coffey and KK just might let them loose. No more 2-1 crap. Track meets all day everyday. Stu’s only job is stopping the last one. Nothing more, nothing less.
Moreover why does accountability always result in benching? Why is accountability akin to a spanking? Why can’t you have something different? Why always go to the strap?
Are we agreeing that the Bob Nicholson era is over too?
Goes without saying.
He literally lost his job already
Is his burger still on the menu?
Rick Westhead
New: Hockey Canada says a three-member panel has reached a decision on sanctions regarding allegations involving members of the 2018 World Juniors team.
The panel was provided with Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP’s investigative findings.
The panel’s decision is now being appealed. (Hockey Canada declined to say who is hearing the appeal.)
Hockey Canada says it consulted with London, Ont., police to ensure announcing the development would not affect their criminal investigation.
Chris Johnston
@reporterchris
Hockey Canada says the results of an adjudicative panel tasked with “determining whether certain members of the 2018 National Junior Team breached Hockey Canada’s code of conduct” are under appeal.
All players from the 2018 world junior team remain suspended by Hockey Canada.
I guess I don’t totally comprehend what this all means. Was the adjudicative panel set up or appointed by Hockey Canada or some different legal authority? Who are the results being appealed to? Is it the players appealing the decision or Hockey Canada?
Since the entire team is currently under suspension by Hockey Canada, I’m sure the players who had nothing to do with this would like it to be cleared up quickly.
A few more details in this link. Some key information is not being revealed at this time (including who is making the appeal) while the appeal process is playing out.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-adjudicative-panel-investigation-2018-alleged-sexual-assault-1.7028017
Son of a…….
Jason Gregor
@JasonGregor
Dylan Holloway will be “out a while.” I’m told. Unfortunate for him as he had played quite well recently. #Oilers
Hard not to feel bad for the kid.
Dam. We need three more like him. Super high energy, everywhere on the ice causing chaos. Scoring will come.
Well, it’s the next man up and I believe it should be Raphael Lavoie on RW with MacLeod & Foegele to form the third line. This could be the chance Raphie is waiting for. But more than likely we see Brown or Gagner. Don’t see them making a trade because there aren’t any trades out there. So, who do they call up from the farm? XB or PB? Fun times.
I think it will be Ryan – that is who played there after the injury last game and he played with McLeod and Foegele in the playoffs.
I’ve advocated for Lavoie to get more opportunity with skilled player but he isn’t really pressing up with his recent games (he’s been fine but not forcing anything like Holloway was earlier in the year) and I think coach wants to really rely on that line more and more – not sure I see Lavoie getting the push.
Yikes, I think we can just about call time on young Dylan’s NHL career. 4 goals, 10 points and I think this is serious injury #4 or 5.
Feel free.
I’m certainly not going to and I doubt the player, his coaches, his GM nor his teammates will either.
The continuing injuries are indeed concerning, I admit that.
Disappointing that Holloway isn’t able to practice today. Have no idea how the new coach will handle injury updates but I have a feeling he’ll be a bit more “face value” that the last while – likely will find out after practice.
Many will be calling for firings as Brown is about ready to play his 10th game. There was (and is) no doubt he will remain with the team and in the lineup when he’s ready.
Burying a legit NHL player for almost 70 games solely to not have a games played bonus vest would create a massive uproar at the NHLPA (and likely the NHL as well) – its not going to happen and it shouldn’t happen.
Daniel Nugent-Bowman
@DNBsports
Oilers lines and pairings at practice:
RNH-McDavid-Gagner
Kane-Draisaitl-Hyman
Foegele-McLeod-Ryan
Lavoie-Hamblin-Brown
Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais
Skinner
Pickard
No Holloway or Janmark.
Given Knobby is familiar with Brown it would be very surprising if he doesn’t play the season if he can
Given how long Janmark has been out, why can’t they put him on retro LTIR? Only reason I can think of is once you do that you no longer accrue savings that can be used at the deadline, but maybe I’m missing something.
That and they can replace him on an “emergency loan” for free if they don’t have space.
Maybe they can call Broberg up?
All hail Knob! Now bow before your new god!!
A man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson, whose neck was cut during a match.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67419951?at_medium=social&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_format=link&at_link_origin=BBCBreaking&at_campaign_type=owned&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_id=AF2DDFAC-830A-11EE-A7FA-DF2C87A28522&at_bbc_team=editorial
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Its a really oddly written piece to me – I assume the man arrested was the opposition player but it doesn’t actually say that….
I mean, do the officers conducting the investigation just not understand the speed of the game? I’m not sure how you suspect anything criminal went on here. Maybe some version of criminal negligence? That seems like a real stretch.
Assuming this is the player involved, it would set a huge precedent if some criminal conviction were to come from this. No hockey player would risk playing in the UK anymore, full stop.
It is likely that both the nature of the article and the need for the investigation/charges are due to oddities of British law. Doesn’t necessarily mean as much as it would in North America.
The legal systems of almost every English speaking country (including Canada I believe) are based on British law (more accurately English Common Law).
It’s not that odd!
I’ve watched the video numerous times. The hit goes beyond recklessness. Unlike other incidents where a player loses his balance and teeters over, there is no natural way for his skate to come up to head level in this scenario.
It is a truly horrific event that appeared to have some intent. I’m not suggesting he was trying to inflict this type of damage – but there was something strange about the physics involved.
I don’t disagree. I got weak at the knees just watching it and just couldn’t understand why that defender would even twist themself into that position. Reckless indeed.
Does the severity of injury (resulting in death) affect this? Maroon’s step on Kane’s wrist was similarly dangerous and no one even thought twice about that one. There’s a big artery in there and there is potential for serious blood loss.
(I’m no lawyer, not even close)
The player making the hit is a notoriously dirty player as well. The charges likely stem in part from that.
Speaking as a Scot/UK person, the legal system will run it’s course. Heck we sent Duncan Ferguson to jail for headbutting a player on the field – that resulted in Dunc refusing to play for the national team again.
I couldn’t watch more than once, but on first blush it did not look like a hockey play at all. I didn’t feel like one watch was enough to pass judgement, but yeah it looked completely unnatural. At the very least.
I just assumed: low-level league, bizarro plays..
Have you seen the video of the incident? It looked intentional…moreso than even accidentally on purpose.
The article not naming the player would be simply complying with laws on the matter. Him being arrested is likely as part of the investigation process. Investigators have more powers in a formal setting and can compel on the record testimony as opposed to “just having a conversation” It’s unsurprising that this would reach that stage considering it involves a death caused by someone’s actions.
I’m not sure how they can prove intent in this situation, but it looked absolutely intentional. I rewatched the contact portion of the incident numerous times, never the aftermath, and it looks like the player intentionally kicked Johnson high. Him being tried for manslaughter, and due criminal process, innocent until proven guilty, should play out here, it’s warranted imo.
I would call it a cross-check, as oppossed to a “dangerous trip” and I can’t disagree with the fine and Leon is a bit lucky here – it seemed like such a random (and dirty) play:
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
#Oilers Leon Draisaitl was fined $5,000 for his “dangerous trip” against #isle
Bo Horvat last night.
Isles were doing the ‘stick to the back of the knee’ move quite a bit last night – happened to Ekholm a few seconds before the GA and it was done to Draisaitl right before the play he was fined for. I’m sure that had something to do with Draisaitl’s actions.
Draisaitl has to cut that out though. Lack of discipline has been a major problem for the Oilers that has hurt them at the worst times (e.g. Nurse’s 1 game suspension against Vegas). Lead by example, and don’t be a bad example.
I think the NHL has taught Draisaitl that if he doesn’t look after himself, nobody will.
I understand your point, and drai knows better. Control what you can control.
But for today discussion I would suggest that the NHL interpretation of rules and inconsistency of rulings has penalized the Oilers and set a bad example. Also with substantial impact
Last 5 min instigator rule interpreted to balance Pietrangelo suspension
Lucic loss of draft pick
Chiarelli loss of draft pick
ect….
Since forever, in the NHL if you want to be left alone you most often need to learn to intimidate the opposition.
Leon is taking care of business, while the opposition calls him out for smacking them around from time to time; but Draisaitl himself is rarely injured.
The other alternative is for him to get hurt more often after vicious checks etc.
Interesting:
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
#NHL’s Colin Campbell says GMs discussed the idea of changing rule to limit teams from continually looping back and regrouping in 3-on-3 OT.
Potential solutions: Once you cross red or blue line, can’t go back out again. Or a shot clock.
Discussions ongoing, tabled to March.
Seems like a solution in search of a problem to me.
I really hate when leagues change the game rules to try and squash emerging strategies or tactics.
While we’re at it, reverse the trapezoid.
No doubt. Who doesn’t already think that 3on3 OT is so much more exciting than the SO?
this is a good thing. End of the day the NHL is selling an entertainment product. Watching guys continuously turn back and reset is about as boring as it gets.
Hopefully they implement a good idea.
I guess I’m used to watching the Oilers in OT. There was some junk teams out there on offence.
Other leagues seem to be making rule changes to raise the entertainment value. I now the Champions Hockey League made the following changes this season;
Minor penalties dealt the same as major: a team which caused a minor penalty will remain shorthanded even if the opposing team score a goal
Serving delayed penalties: a minor penalty will be served even if a goal is scored while a delayed penalty is pending
Shorthander erases current minor penalty: if a shorthanded team score, the minor penalty against will end
If they do introduce a shot clock, how do you keep the flow of the game going? Maybe like pond hockey where the offending team loses posession immediately and the other team can pick it up without a faceoff?
I’m pretty sure all the defensive hockey geniuses out there will find a way to slow the pace down somehow.
I don’t mind rule changes in service of a specific philosophical direction for the game or safety. It’s rule changes in response to specific tactics and strategies that emerge naturally that bother me. These changes tend to be heavy-handed and short-sighted and you end up playing whack-a-mole with issues that arise. I highly doubt NHL GMs are “game designers” which is a very specific vocation.
If they want to do something useful, extend OT to 10 minutes.
Any updates on Holloway?
Pickard will need to play one of the games next week on the eastern road trip.
Can’t imagine Skinner not getting the division game against Seattle tomorrow but he can’t play them all.
Coach noted after the game that he really wants to keep McLeod and Foegele together and have them build chemistry. He realizes that Foegele has played in the top 6 here and there, and he is an option to fill in, but his strong preference is to keep him with McLeod as a due (paraphrasing).
I agree with all of this. Many of us posited in the off-season that those two formed a strong combo in the playoffs (often with Ryan) and were showing a developing ability to play against the opposition’s best lines.
Foegele is a good option to fill in to the top six here or there, and he has been one of the better and most consistent forwards this season, however, I think most of us would agree that the team needs a strong 3rd line and bottom six to go deep and the team is best serves if he’s on the 3rd line and, hopefully, they can find 4 top 6 wingers nightly.
Coach raved about McLeod’s game last night and I do note they played again, primarily the Whalstrom/Pageau/Lee line and, then, the Horvat/Barzal line.
They’re a great possession line but not exceptional at defending.
I would agree Foegele & MacLeod form a strong pair on the third line. However, I’m not fond of the idea of placing Gagner on the top line with McDavid. I don’t know where they will want to place Connor Brown when he returns to the lineup, that will be interesting to see. But I’m sure Mr. Knoblauch will figure it all out. IMO we should see….
Nuge-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Leon-Brown
Holloway-MacLeod-Foegele
Lavoie- (Janmark / Hamblin)-Ryan
I’d still really like them to find an ideal 4c. This has been going on too long….
I agree that Gagner is not a good or term fit on the first line.
Today they had Brown on the 4th line (and Ryan up on the 3rd line with Holloway not on the ice).
Truth be told, the team could use one more “legit top 6 forward”. There is a chance that Brown gets there in time.
There is a chance Lavoie could be that guy but he’s not really pressing up at this point.
Bourgault is still not ready.
It would be best if the team could “solidify” and they could use the deadline to upgrade at top 6 forwards but, of course, as of now the G and D are also in question.
That last top 6 forward was Holloway. Or e would be first option. He had arrived. Injuries happen at the worst times. I hope he goes slow, gets 100% before jumping back into his game.
Brown is still the last top 6 forward, no?
That’s his history. And I know his first 9 games after major surgery were very underwhelming.
— By all accounts Ken is a terrific man. Worked hard developed a lot of players and executives
— He was 15 years past his expiration date : don’t blame him for pocketing 25mm. Just a long expensive way for Oil to get from OBC to some semblance of merit based hiring.
— 6 D good. No McDrai gooder…Sub 20 minutes each goodest with W.
— No one knows how they will play for rest of year but teams that change coaches early and turn it around to win Cup does happen. (I think like 4 of last 15)
— Everyone just trapped in recency bias: remember what the consensus was at camp?
I sometimes think Dutchy is forgiven on account of him being less horrific than Chia. And he was a clean breath of fresh air instead of expecting to lose every trade.
I recently took a dive into KHs transactions as Oilers GM. It’s not a great body of work. The Kostin and Kulak trades were his best work. Bringing in Kane was good and signing Hyman was solid but there are gaping holes in this lineup that are still wide open. Brown was a high risk-reward move (there were better moves out there). The Campbell term snd dollars was bonkers bad.
i think he’s just better than the previous guy, and that’s not saying much.
Well, it’s his final season. There’s no reason not to allow him to complete his tenure. It’s clear Jeff Jackson is in charge.
If you could give him his walking players and the severance saved some money, there could be a case for cutting him loose. Obv optics matter but there’s also the optics of tolerating underperformance. That can really piss off your performers.
You never know, Woody might have been severely irritated by Dutchy’s slow responsiveness to filling roster gaps.
Holland very much has a “see it how you want to” track record. He has some great moves to some horrible moves but isn’t consistently one or the other. The Oilers definitely could have done better and I agree with LT that his era has likely ended. Jeff Jackson probably has his guy in mind but wants Holland to “take the fall” if this season doesn’t go well or “get a promotion” if it does. This also would seem to be the reason Coffey is a coach now. Either way allows him to bring in his own GM and I suspect we see that this summer.
— It was rich to hear Holland talk about “being in the winning business”
— Look : he did some good : Keith for a year, Koskin, got out of Lucic ok, ekbom Foegele.
— Not going through the bad ones : but he was just meh, which is what he’d been for a decade prior.
— And was an adult and the OBC mostly gone, and a prince of a man.
— Wish it worked out better but he met my low expectations.
RE backup goaltender i have located our guy.
Hes a good sasky boy so it starts off great.
Connor Ingram.
5v5 numbers
0.914 5v5 sv%
GSAA -0.03
0.846 HDsv%
All situations
0.911 sv%
GSAA 1.60
0.810 HDsv%
He makes less than 800k. Ka-ching. can fit in easily by sending pickard down.
now the real question becomes what does arizona want for him.
Savoie+Rodrigue?
Ingram has long been a target on the blog. Pretty sure it was Jaxon who first identified him over a year ago as an emerging/buy-low target.
And a fine target, indeed.
Ingram makes $1.95M, so you’d have to move out salary. Between last year’s playoffs and the start of this year, I’m not convinced Skinner only needs a backup.
woops that is my bad, i looked at the wrong contract on capfriendly.
Why would Phoenix move Ingram? Are they not concerned with the “building” part of rebuilding?
https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1724457211919818756?s=46&t=VKZ79-9hN-xwMNTBjohq7w
interesting look using sportlogic data
Hopefully the big regression comes!
Good win for the team. The road is long however, so a one game at a time approach would be prudent in my opinion.
Yes, Holland’s time is done. I think he was effective for the most part and though he made mistakes, the team improved year after year of his tenure.
The one thing that is rubbing me the wrong way is this narrative that the players were totally blindsided by Woodcroft’s firing. I find that too be utter BS. After a month of losing and only winning 2 games, what did they honestly think was going to happen? McDavid said that Woody hadn’t lost the room. Well they certainly didn’t play like he still had their rapt attention.
Given Mr. Knoblauch’s resemblance to Lloyd Braun, is it safe to say we’re entering the “Serenity Now” portion of this season?
I’m a little worried about the “Insanity Later”…
You’re not giving away out Waterpick..!!!
So they are all in. Brown will be back this week, so cap hell comes next year again. If they fade this year then they move pieces and have his cap hit happen this year, so it doesn’t hurt us as much if we still suck by the deadline (where they can clear cap space and deal off players creating enough space to eat the bonuses this year).
Campbell will be bought out (a painful trend with this team). Who will they keep? All depends on if they make playoffs and a run. It all starts and stops with Leon cap wise in a few years.
Game note, but man Hyman and Draisatl always have terrible underlying numbers together 5v5. So strange. And hope Holloway isn’t out long term. Anyone have word on his status after missing most of the third?
They are running a 6 D-man roster, have 23k in cap space, and in general have zero flexibility to make changes, whether by AHL callup or press box visits, severely impacting a coach’s ability to enforce capability. Never mind actual trade flexibility. All of which are GM firing offenses in my books.
They’re already in cap hell. Next year the lobster realizes it’s boiling.
I’m often asked, “GM, how can you maintain unity in the fox hole when the orders you give can result in your fellow soldiers being wounded or killed?” To me, that’s another example of civilians creating a narrative and not understanding the realities of war.
Our goal as a squad is utimate victory. If some lives (or jobs) need to be sacrificed to accomplish that objective, that is something every man is prepared to do for the good of the unit. Like every general, I mourn the loss of good men but we can’t let these casualties distract us from our objective, the total destruction of our enemies.
It’s just hockey dude.
Ah utilitarians – abandonment of principal is such a convenience with that philosophy.
Until the 3rd, thought I was watching the goddamn 1995 New Jersey Devils. Snore.
The 1995 Stanley Cup winning New Jersey Devils?
…Well that’s a price I’m willing to pay. 😀
Agreed… I enjoy that kind of hockey. Defence wins championships!
The Devils scored 4 or more goals in 10 of their playoff wins.
They had plenty of scoring ability.
That Devils team was employing a version of the trap never seen before. It created big transition chances. Outside of those turnovers, their games were snoozers .
Boring hockey is winning hockey. If you want high event hockey go watch the juniors or pee wee teams play.
Good teams defend their zone first, then use that to get out on transition and score going the other way.
On Knobby’s 1st win:
“I was in the middle of the room, and they turned me around and I saw my wife on the screen. My kids weren’t there, they were already in bed, it’s a two-hour (time) difference, and they just arranged it with three minutes left in the game and made it work.”
I wonder if at some point, someone said “okay McDavid scored, it’s 3-1 with 10 mins left, should we try to set this up with his wife?”
And someone gave them that look we all know.
“Okay, you’re right. Maybe we’ll see what the score is with 3 minutes left”
Heh heh
The Ken Holland era should be over. Hope he enjoyed his $25m. I sure didn’t.
Seconded. Although I did enjoy things calming down and the cray cray locked in Lowe’s closet
I like both these contributors, but this is a really bad take on Holland …. Pete….. Kevin.
I liked the calm that Holland brought to the team, his work on Jesse, Keith and Kane shows me a smart, compassionate hockey man. The team is better than when he got here in so many ways.
Katz runs a $5B very profitable business, don’t worry about the $25M, Holland got for his services.
In Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver they have paid the GM much less and the ticket prices are just as high.
$5B profitable business? Their top line was $1.8B annually, last estimate 2022. And with 8000 employees, are we honestly writing off $25M on a single underperforming employee? …whose performance significantly affects the overall entertainment product’s performance?
i always find it strange when it’s insinuated that the wealthy shouldn’t fret large sums of money. Aren’t we all, at least in principal, believers in meritocracy? Dutchy sure hasn’t been value-for-money…
Now imagine if the Oilers had Jon Cooper and Kelly McCrimmon at coach & GM…
Katz Group owns most of the real estate around Rogers (to bring the value to $5B) and it is clear to me that the more people the Oilers attract to the Ice District the better Katz does. We all saw the insurance claim from the Covid days from the Oilers. An empty Rogers is bad for businesses and Holland has delivered a consistently full building in his tenure.
Jon Cooper and Kelly McCrimmon were and are under contract to another corporation, they are not available to any other team, these two are not an option in this discussion.
Way too early to expect to see anything visibly different under Knoblauch. I would have liked to see MacLeod line get a bit of a push, if for no other reason than to set the tone of spreading out the minutes a bit more. But this was exactly the boring type of game that we’ve had trouble winning for quite a while. Nice start for the new guy.
I did see one minor difference and that was the team attacking in the neutral zone much closer to the opposition blue line, which was causing turnovers.
1-1-3 doesn’t make sense as a neutral zone system and Knoblauch didn’t play it in Hartford, so that will likely be an important change. This team is built for that quick attack closer to the opposing zone.
This is how they played last year. Hurricanes run it too. Watch the 1st periods against Vancouver and Nashville and you’ll see it. Watch the entirety of the Dallas game and you’ll see it.
When you’re confident and feeling it the backpressure is easy to summon cause you’re in the right spots and reading the play correctly. When you’re gripping the stick and thinking about scoring you get too low, you get puck focused. A very fine line
The Oilers looked more like the Oilers last night in their style of play.
McLeod played 15mins how much more should a 3C see playing behind 97 and 29 who were both under 20mins?
Yeah I guess it was pretty spread out. I was just a bit worried about KK’s response to a question about spreading out the icetime. But he did a pretty good job.
one noticable thing was a 1-2-2 formation.
i also feel like he preached hard about centers getting back because i noticed a much more concerted effort by 29, 97, and 91.
It’s the same thing that happened in the games after Woodcroft was hired as well. The Cs were all coming back with purpose. Then they got away from it. Hopefully this time, it sticks.
Nice win. KK seems like a decent guy.
That said, I am pretty sad about the Woody firing. Woody is a great coach and person. First time I have felt sad to see a coach go in a long time.
I will always be grateful to Woody for the Flames series two years ago.
He deserved better.
The sassy on the bench hands on hips waiting to shake Sutter’s hand will live in infamy for a long time. Goodnight sweet prince, and when you take over the Penguins it’ll be with such sweet sorrow.
Penguins?! Do you know something we don’t?
That’s an interesting idea.
Don’t forget how he swung open that gate. Good gord that was a sight to behold. He helped the Oilers bring about the destruction of the Calgary Flames. They haven’t been the same since that Game 1 when the Oil came back from 5-1 to tie it at 6-6. The 4 wins were pure poetry on ice.
Woody was a great player’s coach. He wasn’t an expert tactician though. I don’t see him as a top notch deep-playoff-run coach.
Coffey looked like a coach, could it possibly be? Should we get Broberg up here?
I will express my relief to see him engaged with the D on the bench. My biggest concern of the past 54 h was putting a guy into a job he did not seem to want and did not have a history with, i.e., hiring a temp without a CV for the position (yes, I know and watched him for decades too). – Wouldn’t it be a pleasant surprise if he can help the D! 🙂
The other week, when Charlie Huddy was inducted into the Oilers HOF, he and Coffey did a panel during one of the intermissions, and one thing that stood out to me was Coffey very specifically pointing out that he doesn’t think that defensemen communicate with each on the ice very much.
Perhaps I was looking out for it more last night, given that, but we did repeatedly see a lot of communicating, particularly from Mattias Ekholm.
Last night the team returned to playing winning hockey. They were organised and in control of themselves; instead of what appeared to be going through the motions of implementing some wack new system at the behest of the recently sacked Woody.
Knobby has an on bench seriousness to his persona which makes a change for the better. Most if not all of the great coaches in sport are extremely serious. For example even when the game was well in hand he looked like he was unaffected by a mere win, and was thinking of some future situation that the players(his surrogate children) would face.
Paul Coffey for his part seems wound up as tight as a drum. I hope he can stay sane for the rest of the season.
There is no doubt this is Jeff Jackson’s team. Looking at how quick this moved, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Oil did as well as everyone expected at the start of the year but didn’t win the cup with Woody at the helm, they’d make the change to Knobby anyway akin to Vegas.
Jackson seems decisive and is very obviously putting in his people. Same as it always is.
So long as the right guy for the job is in the right spot, I’m happy. I’ll miss Woody but I don’t think he was the guy to take the next step. I’m not sure Knob is that guy either but I guess we’re about to find out.
The thing I enjoyed about last night’s win is that it was unexceptional.
The Oilers shouldn’t need hero efforts to win a game like that 4-1. And they didn’t.
Skinner’s finally been an NHL goalie the last couple starts. Perhaps people will begin to remember what that looks like. Still need to strengthen the position of course.
They got trapped in the first two periods. Hopefully new coach can get them a system made to break down trap hockey.
Yep – but they stayed patient and played through it. Tide started turning in the third, but they didn’t give the game away in the second like they have all season.
Progress!
KK said he is asking them to play in a way that beats the D set up which is to move the puck fast before there’s mud everywhere. And be aggressive
I think it suits the team, the roster. Connor and Leon are aggressive players. The question is can they execute the plan and take the low percentage plays out of their games, which I think we saw last night as things wore on
I also noticed far more plays to open players in the slot. If the can get some more higher percentage plays (cross seam plays), hard to defend plays (tips deflections screens), and dirty plays like picking defenders in their arsenal, and actually commit to doing it regularly, I think they will be there
Knoblauch coached forwards and PP for Hakstol in Philly, so hopefully he gets it
i am hoping that with Coffey working as a coach he can come up with drills to improve their first pass. The biggest single item separating Nurse from elite dmen is his poor passing. While I’m sure some elite passing is something a person like Bouchard is born with there must be a fair amount that can be taught to improve the long stretch breakouts the oilers rarely use due to lack of skill on the part of the dmen other than Bouch
Thought they were quite flat in the 1st 2 periods. But they played ok D and Skinner played great . PP was great in the 3rd.
Hope Holloway is OK.
Friedman and Marek announced the Holland era was over on their 23 Thoughts podcast on Sunday. People should give it a listen. Knoblauch has been Jackson’s known favorite for a long time apparently. Friedman doesn’t think Jackson was actively wanting to make a change, but when the ship went off the rails, they felt it was necessary to show the players they were willing to act in support.
Still a hella risky move, especially acting on perceived wants and desires that weren’t actually there, but hopefully Jackson’s guy can navigate the treacherous waters management has assigned to him.
O God, Thy Sea Is So Great And My Boat Is So Small
Isn’t this similar to Dubas wanting Keefe so bad in Toronto? and as soon they let Babs go, Dubas put Keefe in and he has done an excellent job.
I think Knoblauch. will do great.
But was Paul Coffey – Jackson’s guy? that’s where I am confused ….
Katz guy
The only guy available on such short notice, who will have no trouble stepping away once they are able to get the guy that Knoblauch wants.
in my view paul is a placeholder until knobby puts in his own d coach in the offseason.
Coffey also provides eyes and ears in the locker room that are 100% loyal to katz/jackson.
I think this could be huge in making personnel decisions in the offseason.
Steve Smith worked for Knoblauch in Hartford and just became promoted to head coach. I wonder if he will replace Coffey this summer when his contract with Hartford is over?
OBC version 3.0 bring it on pass me the Red Wine.
You have to admit Coffey did look like a coach last night.
The funny thing about that is Dubas got in because Babs pointed out to the MLSE that they couldn’t block Dubas from the Avs and then not give him the job in Toronto.
Knoblauch’s in a tough situation, I don’t envy him, and whether he does great or not will largely depend on the players’ reaction to the change. So far everything seems to be going well. I hope that continues. Success heals all wounds, if there are any.
Timing this when there should be some regression to the mean regardless is helpful. They also timed it for when the Oilers were playing their best hockey of the year. Friedman might have Jackson’s back as far as his intent goes, but he sure seemed to cave to panic with a nuclear measure awfully quickly. Not sure that action sends the players good signals or keeps their nerves calm, the pressure low. …This has not been a good start to the Jackson Era IMO.
Thus Team Slick will be taking another rookie coach into the playoffs, who will now not even be armed with the experience Woody has gained over his short tenure.
Maybe it all works out for the best. This is a hella talented group of players when their heads are screwed on right. And maybe Jackson’s right and KK is the second coming and this is an actual upgrade at coach. Who knows, only time will tell.
Sadly we live in Oil Country where nothing ever seems to be smooth-sailing, cake-walking, unicorn parades in lollipop park. I’m hoping for the best… maybe this time it doesn’t turn out like always.
It feels from the outside like other teams have that, but they seldom do (the 80’s Oilers aside).
Vegas rode their #4 goalie to a Cup after missing the playoffs the previous season, and running through 3 coaches in 6 years.
Bednar in Colorado presided over the 2nd worst team of the last 20 years and had never made it out of the 2nd round until winning the Cup in his 6th year as coach.
Tampa won in 2020 (and 21) but missed the playoffs and suffered a shocking 1st round sweep in 2 of the 3 seasons before winning.
St. Louis and Washington prior to that both won the 1st Cups of their ~50 years existences. The Blues had missed the playoffs the prior season.
That’s without even mentioning all the ‘smart’ teams who haven’t won anything in the analytics era.
Not a lot of smooth sailing outside of Oil Country either when you look.