There is concern in Oilers nation today. The worry comes from that sinking feeling that the things needed to win Stanley this spring are out of reach after the deadline.
Perhaps more alarming: those fretting over the opportunity missed at the deadline have varying worries about the roster. Goaltending. Coverage by defense. Foot speed. It takes a worried man to sing a worried song.
I’m sensing this thing could shatter if traction continues to elude the team. The issues are many: Foot speed, coverage, decisions with the puck, feverish goals-against, inability to put the puck in the ocean, and on it goes.
Even options that are available on the roster are not being deployed in productive ways.
I like to think along at home with management. Sometimes I worry. I spent every winter Peter Chiarelli was GM worrying he would trade Ryan Nugent-Hopkins because he used to get the flu in November. I was afraid Chiarelli wouldn’t see what the Nuge was and then send him away. Chiarelli didn’t trade RNH, but of course traded everything else. Le sigh.
I liked Stan Bowman’s deadline and the players need to be given a chance to shine when all are healthy. Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman, Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson should be a solid top-six defense for playoff spring. We need to see them run healthy for 200 five-on-five minutes before deciding it it’s a true north move.
I like Kris Knoblauch’s button-down approach to defense. It worked a long time and now it seems to be a half bubble off plumb. PK too. Have teams adjusted? Have the players stopped listening?
I’ve seen this happen before. There’s a lot of jobs on the line this spring, on and off the ice. Sputtering in March isn’t a massive deal, but the best version of this team should be coming into view soon. So far, nothing on the horizon offers much hope for the kind of consistent performance required to win Stanley.
My friend Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal will join us on the Lowdown today. We’ll talk deadline moves made and not, and about what these team needs most. MLB, NFL free agency and more are part of the show today. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio, Radioplayer Canada, it’s available post-show on apple and spotify, and we tweet it out on X.
Why so many old players? Where’s Punch Imlach?
John Goyens & Daily Faceoff with a review of EDM’s ugly play since 4 nations (starts 19:15).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBBx2Ql6hM8&t=1155s
Summarizing!
Stonehouse picked up an assist but in a losing effort. Peterborough is officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Nicholl also drew an assist.
Day was roughed up for six goals on 37 shots.
O’Reilly and Clattenburg did not dress.
Määttä and Münzenberger were denied soup in a 2-1 loss. Vermont’s season is done and so are M&M’s collegiate careers. The Oilers have until August 15 to sign them.
Ten NAmateurs remain whose seasons continue.
Prospecting takes a break until Frigg’s Day.
Let’s hope both players are signed to ATO’s in the coming days, along with their entry-levels.
This organization sure could use moar size and speed in the very shallow prospect pool, both players do just that.
Munzenburger should be on his way to Bako within a week. I’d even be fine if they gave him an ELC that starts this season and burn the first year.
That is a very shallow pool, indeed. I am big fan of the draft and was playing around with Puckpedia’s draft pick tool last night to see if they could turn the St. Louis 3rd round magic beans into 4.
There is a path. I was able to plug in a 4th, 5th, 7th and 2026 7th from one of the teams with boatloads of late picks to make it work on paper.
It will be interesting to see how they approach this. Hopefully it yields a “nickel” or two.
Määttä led Vermont in assists (18) and points (27). Also led in SH% (17.6).
Münzenberger led in plus/minus (+11), lining up at both LD (earlier) and RD (later) during the season.
Players will commit to system play if they see it benefitting their own production and icetime.
If players start struggling offensively like so many Oiler forwards are now, they start to cheat. Backchecks get a little more shallow. Breakouts start a second or two early. It’s human nature.
This team need an offensive explosion game where the offense comes easy and some guys get off the schneid. Nothing like a blowout win to fix the team and get them onboard with the system again.
The offensive explosion happened against Dallas and they still almost lost the game. I feel the Oilers system has been scouted and, as many have mentioned, Knobber has not adjusted. The Oilers are too easy to play against of late and I think in part it comes to the opposition having a better game plan then we do.
I think it’s a lot about tactics when everyone but one struggles. It’s not like they aren’t all NHL players and there is a lack of talent
Stuck between Knob’s idea for defending, his offensive plan and Coffey saying make plays. Obviously, there is a disconnect larger than illness or whatever , it’s the most veteran team in the league, and they give up the most rush plays in the league, exactly what their starter struggles with
The Oilers play like a team that’s been deflated by soft goals against.
That’s a pretty poor excuse. If these guys get deflated by a soft goal then they have the emotional maturity of a juvenile.
They wouldn’t have got this far in their careers if that was the case.
That’s like suggesting that Mike Tyson’s victims in heavyweight boxing contests also must have the emotional maturity of a juvenile.
You know Mitch “Blood” Green was a literal drug dealer, right?
So in January, when they come back from 2-0 to beat Chicago and Minnesota and 3-0 to beat Colorado and almost come back from 4-1 against Pittsburgh, all on the road by the way, they are mentally tough and never out of it.
Less than 2 months later they are soft, weak, and get deflated by soft goals.
Janmark is sick. “Hopefully he plays tomorrow”. I would presume Kap comes out if he does.
Coach also said “if Skinner is playing he is complimentary of skilled players”. Hmmm, does not really line up with his deployment on the year.
Original plan was for Ek to join on the trip but he’ll stay in Edmonton.
Podz is the placeholder for Janmark
Ya, probably Podz or Kapanen – Jones and Brown can/should be right in that conversation (even Rico if they had another real center option).
One thing that drives me nuts about this management group is; Can they not possibly develop even 3rd or 4th line players on their farm team? This should be among the easiest things to do. I was thrilled that they got a Max Jones. To play on the 4th line! The Oil cant do this through their own farm system? Should be not difficult in my mind to develop checkers/bangers.
should be, but the refrain has been you don’t have to (or: why bother?). These guys are (supposedly) available as FAs by the bushel.
I have heard a lot that Holland loved his NMC. I wondered how other teams did this. I did a bit of a shallow look at my most hated teams. Any player with a NMC somewhere in their contract, I list as having a NMC. Any player with a NTC of some kind, somewhere in their contract, but WITHOUT a NMC in their contract got listed under NTC. It broke down like this:
EDM – 9NMC, 1NTC
Boston – 5NMC, 2NTC
CAR – 4NMC, 7NTC
COL – 5NMC, 9NTC
DAL – 7NMC, 3NTC
FLA – 6NMC, 3NTC
LAK – 3NMC, 9NTC
TOR – 6NMC, 9NTC
VAN – 6NMC, 4NTC
VEG – 4NMC, 7NTC.
So yes. Holland/JJ/Bowman liked their NMC. (it wasn’t just holland, JJ gave 3 of them out to Henrique, Arvidson and Skinner, and Bowman gave one to Drai).
Other teams use NTC more then NMC. And NTC clauses are often only partial.
A full NTC is functionally indistinguishable from an NMC for veteran NHL players who aren’t at risk of being assigned to the minors for the duration of their contract (McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Nuge, Hyman, Kane, Arvidsson, etc.)
I don’t think the clause is a big deal unless it’s being given to non-core players. Which it hasn’t been, in Edmonton’s case.
Unless you are Trouba and the Rangers are threatening to put you on waivers.
I’ve heard Winter and Bowman say they don’t see them as prohibitive. Trouba eventually got dealt. I think it’s a matter of whether the GM has the stomach for tough conversations and if they think having them is damaging to the team. I think it can be short term but not long term if it’s the right call. Players want to win more than anything
Skinner down at the deadline opens another 1M in cap space, if it were needed.
LT: “Have the players stopped listening?”
I do think this is a major factor sadly. Not to say the coach has lost the room or anything, just the systems and work ethic seem to have dissipated over the last 6 weeks.
Funny (at least to me), and not sure why, but whenever I think of this ‘stopped listening’ statement it relates to a movie, one I can’t recall and ‘believe’ someone nailed it here at some time, probably 10+ years ago now. The scene (like Million Dollar Baby, Moneyball, Youngblood, or Happy Gilmore etc.) has the coach asking the athlete to do it 10 ways the players way, and 10 ways their way. It was evident in the scene the coaches way was better. Anyway, small movie rant, but feel this is what ‘may’ be occurring with the team.
Days of Thunder? Robert Duvall to Tom Cruise about his tires.
That’s it… and you were probably the one that told me last time… thanks!
The ups and downs are so interesting. Like Calgary from 1st, to missing playoffs – wasn’t surprising that poeple got sick of Sutter. VCR from 1st to maybe missing the playoffs sure takes the shine off of Tocchet though. From Woody to Knoblach. What happens that these coaches seem soooooo good, then suddenly the bottom seems to fall out.
Who knows what Tocchet said to his team, but to start the year if it wasn’t like what Bowman talked about he made a mistake. They were running so hot last season it was unlikely to happen this season. But what really derailed them was having a loose cannon freaking his teammates out by not having enough self control and not listening to those trying to cool him off
LT, I hear you often talk about Oilers reduced foot speed. Where are your numbers coming from? NHL EDGE has this team at near identical speed (Top Skating Speed; Speed Bursts Over 32 KPH) as last season’s team, relative to rest of NHL.
Today’s lines, per DNB:
Nuge/McDavid/Hyman
Skinner/Drai/Arvidsson
Podz/Henrique/Brown
Jones/Kapanen/Perry
No Janmark
Defence rotating
Skinner
Picks
———————–
Knob not ready to move off Nuge yet, it seems.
Before we get too excited about Janmark – he’s not on the ice at all so this isn’t necessarily trending towards a “healthy” scratch.
I wouldn’t expect Janny would slike in to 2LW if he is playing though so it seems the Skinner bump up is read
I guess it’s more likely that Skinner might score a goal than Janmark. Kapanen is now the right handed Janmark.
I thought Stan Bowman had a pretty decent deadline, considering what he had to work with. The 2nd and Warner might have been an overpay for the Frederic rental, but he definitely made the team better.
The mistakes that set the team back were made last summer. By Jeff Jackson. He DID NOT make this team better.
Frederic is injured, and when he was healthy he was scoring like a mid 4th liner. Lets say he replaces Janmark in the lineup, that means scoring goes down and he doesn’t PK.
I’m not convinced that trade makes the team better. More physical, but not necessarily better.
Then also Bowman lost a decent prospect in Lachance just to save a few hundred grand he didn’t need to because he pulled the trigger a day before he had the pertinent information on Evander Kane.
LaChance? The fellow that informed the team he would not be resigning with the Oilers? That LaChance? Yes totally lost him lol
They owned his rights until August 15, 2027. A smart manager would have held out for something of value.
No, LaChance will become a UFA this August 15, 2025 if not signed – he spent two post-draft years in the USHL and that started a four year clock.
Hart disagrees
https://puckpedia.com/player/shane-lachance
Its rare but sometimes Hart’s information if not 100%. I’m quite confident.
Everyone in the know knew Bowman was going to be the GM when Jackson was signing veterans to 1-3yr team friendly deals.
This is made up.
Since the Coach has himself a large stew of underforming players, I dont think he should spend time worrying about getting Brown or Janmark or Kapanen or name a known quantity veteran player, up to speed.
You basically know what they will bring come playoffs at full effort, you also know shortcomings.
For that reason I think coach needs to play Savoie to see if there is any magic there. He may be a tool available for a playoff roster, let’s find out.
Find out what Jones has got to offer, Fredrick on a scoring line
Do you really have Jeff Skinner figured out? Let’s make sure.
I guess I’m saying I’m not too worried about winning in every game, there is room for experimenting with best playoff roster in mind.
Agree, but sad the things that should have been sorted in September and October are still being sorted now
This team increasingly reminds me of the Thornton San Jose Sharks.
Tons of talented players, frequent deep playoffs runs, constant goalie issues…
Their coach couldn’t get our team over the hump either
There is a difference between a player or a team being not good enough versus a player or team not playing good enough.
Not good enough you need more talent, new players. I believe There is now enough talent available on the roster for all game states.
Not playing good enough is about effort, habits, decision making, and all within a players or a teams control.
Goaltending as absolutely solid average. Then how do you subsidize it? You work on your defensive coverage, you take away lanes, you clear the net, you push shots to the outside.
The answer is not hard to see, but it can be hard to execute. There is no reason team doesn’t pick up there roles and responsibilities by April.
One of the obvious misses at the deadline was the failure to get a forward who can PK. It forces KK to keep guys like Janmark, Henrique and Brown in the lineup when they otherwise deserve to sit.
I’m not convinced the bigger personell issue on the PK isn’t the d-men. For all their warts, Ceci and Deharnais were very good penalty killers, Ceci elite.
I didn’t comment on the effectiveness of the PK – forwards or defense. Read it again.
The Hockey News is reporting that Jarventie is heading to play in Finland next season.
That is very disappointing. I only saw him play the two games but he looked 100% to be an NHL player with health being the only issue.
Wow I wonder if his decision was based on him being slighted?
He’s been injured not slighted.
Slighted? How?
I don’t know the ins and outs but the org seems to have been very patient with him.
The issue after he came back this season, from what coach said, was that he felt an issue in his knee after playing that first game, didn’t say anything, and made it worse playing the next night.
Hmm – very strange. There must be some things we don’t know about.
Maybe after two years of frustration, he just wants to re-set. It might not be the worst idea. It seemed to work (temporarily) for Puljujarvi.
Most guys ultimately want to play in the NHL. Patience might be the play here.
Bourgault is putting up 14 points in 45 games after being traded to near home. So we’re playing with house money on this trade.
What is the core of this team? It is McDavid and Drai. Every other player on this team is expendable and tradeable in effort to improve the team. I think mngt – and many fans – have a list of core players that is much too large. I get the sense that mngt thinks players like Bouchard, Nuge, Hyman and even Nurse are core players and must not be traded. If you’re only willing to trade the bottom two thirds of the roster, it limits your perception of what can be done to improve the team. Colorado knows its core McKinnon and Makar. Everyone else can go. Vegas has never had a single untouchable player. Florida traded Huberdeau. Until this team takes an unemotional approach to trading assets, I’m not sure it can make the tough decisions necessary to create a Stanley Cup roster.
Holland loved his NMC.
I guess JJ did too.
It’s too early to make the call on this management group it’s the first year. Bowman doesn’t seem to see things the same way as Uncle Ken, he’s not emotional based on his comments especially around the offer sheets
And I agree. It’s pro sports, you do what you think you have to to win a championship. If you can’t you eventually get fired. Or traded or bought out. You shouldn’t retire any players but the truly elite or you get Penguined and face years of rebuilding if you ever can
Peter Chiarelli tried to trade the Nuge for Seth Jones but the Preds preferred the big center in Johansson instead.
Forgot about that
It’s easy to forget about trades that never happened.
I wanted Jones for RNH and thought RNH was the superior player to Johansen at the time. I recall that some hockey writer polled nine scouts, and 5/9 preferred Nuge to Johansen.
I’m pretty sure the Preds now agree.
But Johansen had scored 33 goals as a 21-year-old, and that was too tempting for them to resist. (Ironically, he only once scored more than 15 for the Preds.)
And Columbus then traded Jones for Adam Boquist (bust), and the picks that ended up being Cole Sillinger (role player) and David Jiricek (forced his way out of CBJ).
And we, in search of our D-man, instead traded Hall for Larsson.
So in the Jones/Johansen trade, everybody lost.
I really hope Stan gets ahead of his contracts in the future. Nuge is a great guy but I wouldn’t have given him the contract. There was no way the term would work long enough. Complimentary smallish not fast weak 5v5 players shouldn’t get 8 years when older no matter how useful they are
It all starts with goaltending. If the Oilers don’t get above avg and steady goaltending down the stretch they could even miss the playoffs , especially the way the team isn’t scoring. Calgary is only 8 points back with a game in hand. The Oil really should make the playoffs , but it definitely isn’t a given. Skinner will have to be a heck of a lot better once they do get in the playoffs also. Not sure he really can. It’s not like last year where from the big winning streak and into the playoffs he was very good with a few crap games thrown in every now and then, including a few in post season. But the team was scoring a ton last year compared to this. This year he has been very inconsistent all year. It seems he lets in a few back breakers in every loss. Unless the team is scoring over 4 or 5 on those bad nights ( which they aren’t) they lose.
The team is visually a lot slower and until the last few games were way less physical. ( which is a big component of playoff hockey. ( Kane and Frederic will help that)
It seems that Janmark, Nuge, Henrique, Brown and even Hyman ( seems a bit more engaged the last 3-4) have all lost a bit of speed and game. That’s a lot of players performing way under last years levels and especially that entire playoff success 3rd line.
Hey maybe they can get a fountain of youth or at least a lot better push for the playoffs but who knows.
I think they should recall Savoie for the rest of the year and let him play with Drai. Get him PK’ing as well. Even give him a bit of time in Nuge’s position as the bumper on the pp. Nuge has not been good at all of late on the pp.
Very interested to see if Skinner plays tomorrow night. He was better than all the above mentioned forwards in that game in Buffalo. My bet is he sits and Kappanen comes back in, rather than sitting Brown or Janmark.
God forbid if this team missed the playoffs, or they just make it and get bounced round 1.
Would Knoblauch survive this Off Season?
It’s not all on Stu Skinner the whole team to a man needs to buckle down and play the type of hockey that will be successful in the playoffs. They have demonstrated they can play that type of hockey. What’s frustrating is they don’t play that way every night, like some teams do.
No. But he has to be way more consistent. Those weak goals gut the team a lot of nights. Of Course the D has to be better, the forwards have to come back and check better.
But it really starts from the net out
It’s funny they talk about playing in five man units, when in reality they should be playing in a 6 man unit. It’s like the goaltender is on his own LOL.
While the Oil give up too many odd man rushes, they are not giving up many high danger scoring chances otherwise.
Aren’t odd man rushes high danger?
No, odd man rushes are not necessarily High Danger Chances (or High Danger Shots).
Scoring Chances are location weighted shot attempts (Corsi) and are dumb to the presence and location of the passer, shooter and defender(s). You can see the definition and zones at the link below for yourself.
Many odd man rush attempts are actually from the medium danger zone and not the high danger zone.
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/glossary.php?teams
I posted this late yesterday so it may have been missed. I ran the stats per NST by month, for goalies above 350 minutes in Oct (Stu was 393), 500 minutes Nov-Jan (Stu was Nov-539, Dec-540, Jan-532), 275 minutes in Feb (Stu was 317), to look at the starters who have played at least as much as Stu and to also include some a bit below. Then I looked at the High Danger shots against per 60, all strengths, for each goalie.
HDSA/60 faced by Stu:
Oct: 6.11 – 19th out of 21 goalies, i.e. 18 goalies faced more per 60
Nov: 5.01 – 23rd out of 23 goalies
Dec: 6.78 – 15th out of 20 goalies
Jan: 7.44 – 6th out of 20 goalies
Feb: 9.65 – 1st out of 24 goalies, i.e. he faced the most per 60
This is really good. Lot’s of reasons for this I’m sure (injuries, long season, older roster wearing down in the dog days of the season).
If they don’t get this fixed, they will not go anywhere in the playoffs.
Wow.
Coincidence that through November & most of January Oilers the best or near the best record in the NHL?
This is a good team. They’ve made themselves better w recent trades. Now, play as well as you have in recent memory (I’ll take the first 40 against Dallas as an indicator that they know how to do this; I’ll take most of the 60 against Buffalo that whatever flu -influenza or whatever, lots floating around out there- or other kind of low spirits- has not been entirely banished from the locker room).
It’s true that the team is playing poorly and this isn’t only on the goalies since February.
But the goalies also haven’t been good.
Nice numbers.
Skinner’s play and SV% is definitely impacted by the number of rush chances, and the high quality of shots that EDM is surrendering presently.
Also though, on the season he is performing well below expected AND a lot of the goals surrendered have been on expected goals of lesser difficulty (YMMV).
This team with a healthy Ekholm, Frederic and hopefully Kane will be tranformed i believe, Kane especially I feel even if it takes a bit of time for him to get fully up to speed seems to give the entire team a bit of swagger that they don’t have when he’s not in the lineup.
My only real concern for the playoffs is goalering, bad goals deflate this team like an arrow through a helium balloon.
Gregor saying it’s a minor groin tweak for Ekholm.
Know has been saying it’s about injury prevention and ensuring they don’t make it worse.
With a few weeks off here he should be good to go at a hundo P – I would presume.
A healthy & rested Ekholm is important for the playoffs period full stop.
Same injury as 23/24 start of the season. Yes sit him until 100%.
That’s what Stauffer was saying last Saturday on the pre-game, “core issue, like before the 2023-24 season”.
You could tell that Ekholm was not the same the last month or so (even before the 4 Nations). He is critical to the playoff success. Let him heal.
Le sigh.
Periods 1 & 2 vs. Dallas demonstrate that this team can still dominate good teams for long stretches.
They play their best with their backs against the wall because it forces them away from deferring and trying to pass it into the net. They require the fear of god to channel that skill away from the performance and into the result… and quite frankly the Oilers haven’t faced the same levels of adversity as they’ve become accustomed to in recent seasons. At least not the kind that forces them to account for every game.
Its been two seasons of catching up to bad starts and pushing hard and deep into the playoffs.
This season is the longest stretch of coasting they’ve ever been afforded. Now I just worry they’ve atrophied.
I am still confounded as to why Savoie has not been recalled??? With so many forwards playing putrid hockey and deserving of a seat in the PB this is a mystery. I think even Cagguila could contribute more than pylons like Janmark. Savoie will be a regular player next season. Recall him now. When Frederick and Kane are ready KK will have more options to sit struggling players.
A few reasons I think.
Playing time for one. Being the big fish in a small pond gets you more than being a small fish in a big pond.
When a tweener gets called up their play is analyzed for weaknesses and feedback is given. Guessing when Savoie gets sent down he is told what he needs to work on and given a time frame when he will be recalled.
Feedback can be tough. If you tell the player to be more defensive and not allow two on ones against they will follow that instruction as best as they possibly can, to the point of losing all offensive output to comply with the directive.
Fans tend to just notice the big stuff, goals scored for and against. Coaches are looking at very detailed and specific things.
Savoie cannot be integrated properly if Knoblach has to herd his team of lost and underperforming old men.
Prospecticent!
A septet suits up today, including a pair whose seasons–and NAmateur careers–could end today.
That would be Määttä and Münzenberger, whose Catamounts square off against 14th-ranked UMass in a win-or-go-home opening round in the Hockey East confererence. A Vermont loss would end their season–and put UMass through to meet Copponi’s Terriers next round–while an upset win would get them a date with the top team in Div-1 in Boston College. A hard road indeed.
The House of Stone’s junior career is very likely to last only six more games as his Petes are 11 points out of the last playoff spot. A regulation loss would officially eliminate them.
On the flipside, London’s win last night clinched their second consecutive regular season title. However, as related by intrepid reporter Armchair GM, O’Reilly took a spill in period 1 and did not return. It would be a shame if he missed tonight’s game, having put up 15 points (9 + 6) his past seven GP.
Flint hasn’t clinched yet but are 10 points clear of 9th with six games left. They seem destined to finish sixth–7 points back of 5th and 7 ahead of 7th–which would mean a 1st-round matchup with a Kitchener squad that has the second-best record in the O.
London (O’Reilly, Nicholl) @ 4:30 p.m.
Flint (Day, Clattenburg) @ 5 p.m.
Peterborough (Stonehouse) @ 5 p.m.
Vermont (Määttä, Münzenberger) @ 5 p.m.
All times are two times and are also Bulwark time.
Agreed, great deadline in my opinion – OK, fine, solid deadline.
Really like the Walman and Frederick moves – Jones is a tweener I think.
Really think the healthy d-core should be very very good. Add Ekholm to the group and that 6D/7D is championship caliber for sure.
Don’t know how much of an overall impact Frederick will make to the forward group but it should push a player down and a player out and help.
I am fond of the deadline moves too, given the many and varied limitations Bowman had placed on him. KK needs to rediscover his Midas touch to find the right combos. I hope Frederick is back soon to see some of the iterations with him in the lineup.
I read/hear alot about the Oilers “slumping at the wrong time”.
I agree it is more of a slump than a reflection on team as a whole and how I expect the team to play going forward.
With that said, I don’t think this is a “bad time” – if there is any time to slump, February and March seems like a good a time as any – of course, as long as they do come out of it in fairly short order from here.
As long as they make the playoffs. The playoffs is a brand new season.
Not without zero momentum it isn’t.
The team is conserving energy we are a veteran team. In saying that it’s hard to turn the switch on and off. Most of the team is underperforming yet we are fighting for first. I don’t expect this club to be hitting on all Cylinders until late round 1.
I have been saying that all season long (although more along the lines of decreasing wear and tear than saving energy) but, at some point, its time to get back to “playing the right way”, commitment to battle, details, etc. and we haven’t seen that yet and its past time (in my opinion).
We have been playing nice hockey all season with the odd spurt from Pod or now Max jones-Walman. It’s amazing how hunger can carry you in hockey but at the end of the day talent along with intensity conquers all. This team knows what it takes to get to game 7. Unless they get out goalied significantly this team will be in the final again.
For most of the forwards, their brain knows what it takes to get to game 7, but their feet don’t respond in kind. Old and Slow is not a winning formula.
We will continue to be a veteran team with the core we have under contract. There’s not much Bowman could do after Holland gutted the farm and future draft picks. Wallman-Emberson-Frederic are crafty additions. Hopefully not only for us this playoff Kane shows the league he still has the power forward in him for one last contract after next year.
This team, as currently constructed, has enough to win it all. Full stop. Players and coaches seem to have lost the plot though. A coach’s number one currency is ice time. If the coach is frustrated with players who keep giving the puck away in bad spots and at inopportune times, he has to hold them accountable. ALL OF THEM. Not just a man with the unfortunate luck to have gotten on his bad side, named Skinner. Same with pp time. The wrong message is being sent.
First, I’d play Nurse and Walman together again and fade Bouch’s time on ice. His best game in a while was when he played under 20 minutes in Walman’s first game. I’d say to the forwards that I want to see who wants to stay in the lineup by the amount of hustle on forecheck, backcheck, and willingness to work in the dirty areas. The unwilling players will sit next game, regardless of the name on the back of their jersey.
A few guys that should have sat already in place of Skinner are Janmark, Henrique, Arvidsson, Hyman, to name more than a few.
Agree with most of this including the ability of this team, some odd choices by the coaching staff, and the multitude of forwards that deserve a “night off” more than others.
The teams are playing 3D chess against each other.
the better the Oil are playing the easier it is for playoff opponents to counter them.
The team has learned the regular season doesn’t mean diddly squat and I am happy they aren’t busting their nuts every night and saving some energy for the playoffs.
Interesting concept. Are the Oilers playing possum?
The team has been quoted as saying ‘you can’t just flip a switch’ so while i agree there’s some malaise to the seasonal grind (exacerbated by playing so late last year and the general age of the team) I don’t believe they are ‘saving energy’ in the way you mean.
I don’t think the coaches have lost the plot.
This is an attacking hockey team whose primary method of victory needs to be attacking the opponent in an overwhelming way. Trying to turn them into a control team is a mistake, and they aren’t leading the conference as a consequence. Probably won’t win the division either. It’s a wasteful shame.
Only 3 or 4 players are the attacking type, others are pedestrians unsure of their role. A structured type of play is needed that includes 29 and 97.
Too many passengers on a nightly basis.
Funny you should say that. Because there’s a time to attack and there’s a time to manage or control the game. It’s impossible to always be on the attack, as it’s impossible to always have possession of the puck. The Oilers are a possession team first and foremost, if that’s what you mean by attacking hockey than ok. But it’s what they do when they aren’t in possession of the puck that matters most.
I agree with Oates’ take on offensive tactics. Teams that spread out in the O zone make it hard for regular players to produce in his opinion. Pickard today said teams pass a lot more than they used to. For this group they need to play more to the middle and be more aggressive going for shots when they are there, which is how Arvi plays
That doesn’t have to mean one and done. It means setting up plays that attack quickly and also allow puck retrieval. I think then we’d see more from the lessers and also better finishing