Fans and media are raining down blows on the Edmonton Oilers in the aftermath of a rancid game versus the Coloado Avalanche. The gameflow chart at Natural Stat Trick looks like Avs built New York City last night, the skyscrapers are endless.
I haven’t listened to or read any of the media stuff yet, but understand if was a night to hammer the players senseless. I understand, the was a terrible game for all Oilers and the expectation should be a much better effort in the next game.
That said, I don’t believe the criticism should stop at the players. During much of last night’s game, Avalanche forechecking forwards picked off Edmonton passes by the dozen and won back battles 10 at a time.
It’s my belief this Oilers team is playing a system that runs counter to the talent available to coach Kris Knoblach. The long stretch passes to the winger along the wall are just worthless a large percentage of the time. The players use the neutral zone like a 50-50 sortie, even when the Oilers possess the puck. No sir. Pass the damned biscuit! And if you’re of a mind, pass it to a forward in full flight.
Knoblauch has successfully turned a team that should be exciting into the least interesting hockey club in the NHL. Tough to do, but we are here.
Now, what does Stan Bowman do? I don’t see a goalie available for a reasonable price (and cap number) who can be brought in to save the day. I don’t think Bowman can make a big shake up trade because pretty much everyone has a no-movement clause.
Samuel Jonsson is posting incredible numbers in the minors (5 wins, 0 losses, 1.57GAA, .930SP and three shutouts) but his next stop is Bakersfield. By the way, did you know that it would take longer to drive from Fort Wayne to Bakersfield (32 hours) than it would to drive from Bakersfield to Edmonton (25 hours)? It’s a long damn way both times.
I think the Oilers may want to think about bringing Paul Coffey back. This defense looks poor with or without the puck and that’s not good. Coffey is not a tactical genius and some of the decisions made late in the SCF were not high percentage plays, but for me much of that had to do with playing injured blue. If I’m Bowman, I at least think about it.
I also believe Knoblauch should abandon the stretch pass and come out of the zone with a five-man unit. Short, effective passes that allow one of the bullet trains clean air and some daylight. That’s the ticket. If you watch last night, it’s pretty clear the Avalanche forwards are reading the Knoblauch breakouts. That SCF really did a number on Edmonton’s coach.
As for goaltending, maybe the club should trade for Cam Talbot, Nico Daws or Dennis Hildeby, but I don’t think Bowman can guarantee better peformance.
For me, the outlets stink, the gap between defense and forwards is too much, the forward jailbreaks leave the defense (and the puck) vulnerable. The stretch passes are the hockey equivalent of surrender. You’re going to see plenty of blame today on the players, and that’s fine. I think this Oilers team has more problems than on-ice personnel.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: Chicago (Expected 1-0) Actual 1-0
- Road: Blues, Stars (Expected 1-1-0) Actual 0-1-1
- At home to: Avalanche, Blue Jackets (1-0-1) Actual 0-1-0
- On the road to: Flyers, Blue Jackets, Hurricanes (1-2-0)
- On the road to: Sabres, Capitals, Lightning, Panthers (1-2-1)
- At home to: Stars (1-0-0)
- On the road to: Kraken (0-0-1)
- Expected Record: 6-5-3, 15 points in 14 games
- Actual Record 1-1-1, three points in three games
- Season Record: 6-5-4, 16 points in 15 games
29-97-Roslovic: 11:10, 10-7 shots, 0-2 goals, 0-4 HDSC.
Howard-Tomasek-Savoie: 7:15, 0-1 shots, 0-1 goals, 0-1 HDSC
Mangiapane-Nuge-Podkolzn: 4:21, 0-4 shots, 0-2 goals, 0-1 HDSC
Frederic-Henrique-Philp: 3:39, 2-3 shots, 0-1 goals, 2-2 HDSC
The defense and goaltending are listed here. It’s all a nautical disaster.
I can’t get enraged this morning about these Oilers, because I’ve concluded this is not their year. Now, you should take heart, because I’ve picked them to win Stanley the last two seasons and they’ve finished shy. I know the script everyone wants, but can’t endorse it. These Oilers have a tough road ahead, made doubly difficult because the coaching staff isn’t developing youth, have gotten stubborn on outlets and deployment, all the usual things coaches do when they’ve charted a course and want to remain true.
The smartest man in Oilers coaching and management history is Craig MacTavish. He played Jani Rita on a line with defenseman Scott Ferguson because he didn’t trust him. He played Toby Petersen on the power play because he did trust him. He challenged Jeff Petry to a “prove it” season and Petry proved it that season and a baker’s dozen more.
Kris Knoblauch has gotten himself into a pickle, and because of it these Oilers are in a spot of bother. The team can’t fire a coach who has taken them to two straight SCF, but the coach isn’t leading now as he did then. Tough spot. I don’t think now is the time for a trade. Play the kids, put Frederic on IR, split 97-29 and stop with those dadblasted stretch passes.
I don’t think this team is bound for glory, might as well play the kids. Get your goalie in the summer, and reset next fall. It’s a bitter pill. Maybe Knoblauch surprises me, or Bowman pulls a brilliant trade. I don’t see it.
Edmonton Oilers minor-league forwards and their throwback comparables
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6789804/2025/11/09/edmonton-oilers-ahl-forwards-comparables/
Breaking in 4 forwards with less than 80 NHL games combined has been a challenge the coaching staff and players have not met. The return of Janmark, Kapanen and Hyman will be a massive boost to the roster.
Shelter Point being advertised on the boards at Rogers arena and on the digital ads. This, every one of his pet teams killing it and the Oilers playing poorly must make HH and his aliases incredibly happy. Great Whiskey.
Yea, it’s not bad!! I have had 2 of them from the local liquor store in Cook St, Victoria
Ya….saw that.
Awesome.
Question –
The goal and push is the Oilers winning the cup this year, their 3rd visit to the finals.
How many teams have done a 3 peat to the finals in consecutive years? Are we expecting too much of they don’t make it?
It’s difficult to add the “proper” pieces to a team to push over the line, hindsight 20/20, yes, we could have kept Perry, or Kane, but there are lots of teams that add in the off season to give that next piece that were quite good – it’s not easy.
Curious how much panic the GM will have this year with trades or additions (subtraction of draft capital). Do we wait for next year or the one after when we still have McDavid?
Yes, outside of Panthers and Lighting, but you could argue they had good goalies? Maybe not Panthers the first year?
How many seasons do we muse the hindsight excuse. I don’t think it’s a stretch tomargue that Hollaway, Broberg and Mcleod get us over the top last year. Would have had assets to spend that were spent on their replacements as well.
The Avs looked in worse position than the Oilers after winning it a few years ago, yet they still look stronger.
Not winning the Stanley with peak McDavid and Draisaitl is a failure. Nothing can convince me otherwise and McDavid might be past his peak already.
Does Jarventie get called up soon?
He is clearly NHL ready – he’s the best player in almost every game he played.
He just went back to back for the first time this season so, presuming he’s fine and plays Tuesday, it seems the knees are not a reason to hold him back
As I’ve been saying for a few days, I’d be excited to have his called up in the next month or so but then I realized that we can be all but sure that Knob will put him in a position to fair on the 4th line and, well, confidence and energy will be gone within a couple of games on 19 total minutes of ice.
If Janmark is activated tomorrow, a waiver clear assignment would be have had to be started today so Lazar/Philp/Stecher are safe and its Howard or Tomasek (it won’t be Savoie) unless someone magically winds up on IR.
I would personally assign Tomasek. He is not a checker, not fleet of foot and isn’t finishing enough to warrant keeping up. I would rather invest time in the development of Howard and Savoie, thinking of the future benefit to the organization.
Nuge. McDavid. Hyman
Podz. Draisaitl. Roslovic
Howard Henrique. Frederic
Janmark Lazar. Philp
Rotate Savoie and Howard every other game and then play all 4 lines. Keep McDavid and Draisaitl off the penalty kill. Get back to playing Oilers hockey, tighten gaps between Forwards and Defense and things will start turning around
Think you forgot Mangiapane.
I don’t think either Henrique or Frederic are good enough skaters to be centers, and I don’t think Philp is a 3rd line center. I would try Henrique on the top line and have Mangiapane and Nuge on the third line playing against other teams 3rd and 4th lines.
Henrique-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Roslovic
Mangiapane-Nuge-Savoie
Frederic-Philp-Howard/Lazar/Janmark
Suspect in this scenario, Howard ends up being sent down. I really like his skill, when he moves his feet consistently he’s good on the forecheck and backcheck, but the coach doesn’t trust him. I’d rather see Howard than Henrique with McDavid, giving it a few games rather than a few minutes. But I don’t see it happening.
I would not rotate Howard and Savoie at all – Savoie is a key piece on the PK and plays a solid/responsible game that has earned an every day lineup spot.
Its unfortunate that the coach has not given any real opportunity for either in the top 6 with Hyman out given how bad the 5 on 5 scoring has been all over the lineup.
You are also missing Mangiapane in your lineup.
Also, to activate Hyman, at least one more forward needs to be moved out (in addition to Stech or a third forward).
One of the only guys to consistently make passes and push the play forward.. I hope to god those early season whiffs on a cpl of tap-ins (when no one’s hands were awake yet) don’t derail Tomaseks brief NHL career. Be a damned shame because there’s definitely a solid player there.
A few misses like that nixed Yamamoto’s career.
Question for better memory version of “hey remeber that train wreck clearly?”
The shorthanded goal. Was that the power play where the call was delayed and we had puck all ends of ice for around 1 1/2 minutes first?
Cause i was mad they just all stayed out for PP after that happened. Just dawned on me it might honestly have bern exactly that.
Like it’s beyond sensible if that is exactly what happened. No matter how bad they want to win you just gotta know better than letting anyone stay out that long for shifts.
Stated coach’s timeline in Kap “around December 1” for what that’s worth.
Nuge didn’t skate today “for maintenance” – of course, that was the initial ok Arvy as well early last season……
Janmark expected to play tomorrow.
Cap space is not an issue (with Hyman still on LTIR) but they need a roster spot.
Someone needs to be waived, assigned, traded or put on IR (Kap already on IR).
Lazar, Howard, Tomasek or Stech…..?
I’d really like to see Howard get the opportunity to play with skill rather than being sent down, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen. Lazar seems obvious as he’s the one sitting out the most, but Tomasek sat out two games and doesn’t need waivers. They might not want to send down Stecher as of this group he’s the most likely to get claimed.
My guess is Howard, possibly Tomasek.
I don’t get why they traded a 3rd line Centre that is multipurpose for a scoring Winger that is transitioning into a checker. Coach K.K has lost the plot do him and Bowman actually speak about the future together. If this road trip is a disaster “Heads Will Roll”
Sigh, you don’t understand because you ignore every response to this post you make every 4 days.
Resistance is futile
I’ll say it again, soft as butter!
Are they trying to beat Florida every night now? Edmonton has always been successful with short passes to wingers coming deep and then out, but as I recall Florida’s heavy forecheck and clogging of the neutral zone made them revert to the stretch pass, which is killing them now because the team is so good in transition when they have control of the puck and are skating. If they have become obsessed with beating Florida it is handcuffing their best attributes.
The stretch pass is a lazy play borne of desperation that has become the modus operandi for the this team.
Not quite. The stretch pass has been in their “playbook” for a couple of years. They’re doing it more this season and I’m not sure if it’s by design or disinterest.
As LT has noted, they rarely use the middle of the ice on a breakout and don’t support the puck as a 5 man unit coming out. The coaches are really not adjusting the system and the execution is getting worse.
This is on top of very poor d-zone coverage as they play a soft zone and don’t body up on anyone.
This is an extremely fast team that consistently looks slower than the team they’re facing. They lack a consistent forechexk, they don’t move through the neutral zone with speed, they play a very passive game. When you have a fast team, you should be pressuring the other team all over the ice but they don’t.
When the season started I thought the players were disengaged but now I’m starting to think they’re being told to play this way.
If you had a slower team that style makes some sense, but not with this team.
They need to let the players play to their strengths or this team isn’t making the playoffs.
I believe we’ve seen this movie before.
So Bouch has taken a lot of heat recently (deservedly) but Nurse’s numbers are putrid. He has been absolutely terrible so far. We now have 7 healthy defensemen. Time for a game in the press box to get his attention rather than rewarding him with more ice time. Have no idea why coaching staff have allowed this????
I would prefer never to see Nurse play another game as an Edmonton Oiler … I’ve been banging this drum for over two years.
He needs to sit. The fact that the coaching staff continues playing him despite the awful results suggests that they are pleased with his performance, or at the very least, ok with it, which is baffling because how on earth could anyone think that his performance right now is acceptable for an NHL d-man, let alone worthy of the most 5v5 minutes on the blue line.
Don’t we have an analytics department to tell the coach the Nurse is one of the worst defensemen in the NHL?
They never should have extended KK until they saw how he would fare without Coffee and Gulatzan.
It certainly makes you wonder.
I agree, I would’ve waited and seen how Knoblauch performed this season after all the coaching changes in the offseason before signing him to an extension.
Braduated a Canada Scholar at NAIT I could hand pick who I worked with. 1St job was lucky to work w/ Pete (Excavator tree harvestor) develop Chuck blade & Don N. Lab & Shop based skill trades cert pgm (Battery powered Ugrnd mine equip at Weldco Beales owned by Al Owen (Create OSB method), (5 share Oiler owner grp, Coast hotels, etc.
He taught me to know what you start with, what needs to be changed or added.
Chi roster before S bowman replaced Talon w/ his son!
G Niemi 1 cup, Crawford 3
D Hjarlnasson, Keith, Seabrook 3, Justin Buf,Sopel, campbell, Hendry 1
F Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Brouwer, Bickel 3; Bellamy 2
Ladd, Madden, Fraser, versteeg, Burrish, Eager 1
Oilers gm did not build a cup winner!
Bellamy 2 cup was D bolland.
I agree but he did slowly ride one into the ground.
Their are roster issues for sure. They have been discussed here.
Is there a psychological component here.
When McD signed short term, he put MGMT on notice. That’s fine. I wasn’t sure he would even sign in Edmonton. But when Leon was up for his contract, he couldn’t wait to sign for the longest term possible.
Then McD didn’t follow. So when McD went short, did that ruffle feathers with some of the long term committed guys?
I could see teammates thinking; this guy is our ride o die – has been for 10 years. and now he has 1 foot in and 1 foot out. Is he committed? What questions does HE have to only sign a 2 year deal?
When the De Facto Leader of a team or business, shows a slight crack or unsureness about the Corporation or Team; it can have a weird effect on staff / teammates.
Not trying to be Monday Morning Quarterback. More curious if you guys believe that can have an affect, or does it not matter. …………
Probably has some effect but doubtful that is a major issue.
If there is a psychological component it’s more likely the disparity in icetime. Have to think it’s hard to feel and play like a team when 2 forwards get all the icetime and the rest hold down the bench.
Corry Perry at 2.0 Mil and 7 goals looks like a steal.
3 Adam Erne types should of been brought in with the way K.K deploys his troops Erne has more Goals then Tomasek&Savoie with the same number 2 as the Iceman. Like what in tarnations is Bownan & K.k doing.
Perry has a games played bonus structure.
He earned a cool $500K for playing in his 10th game today.
Even so…getting his 7th goal and 11th point still makes him steal.
His goals and assists are nice, but it is more about the intangibles he brings. The leadership and situational awareness. He just knows where to go to score or swing the mood of the game by getting into it with the other team. He is a game-changer in many different ways besides scoring.
Yep…all of this.
Don’t forget about the $1MM in dead cap space (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 games played thresholds up to $1MM) for next season plus an additional up to $1MM depending on team playoff success.
Worth every penny.
And with $33.75 million in cap space next season, those bonuses are a trifle.
So, the money you need to put away or potentially spend is not worth it?
I felt that when we bought him, our boys would learn a lot from him, and I believe they did. Unfortunately, his style and gamesmanship are not part of any of your core players’ DNA.
Yeah a short deal for Perry who scores whenever he gets the chance beats an 8 year to Frederic who showed nothing. Also smart flexible cap management.
That was a intended beat down by the Av’s they never once let up they rubbed the Oilers nose in dogshit. Nothing from Frederic-Nurse maybe Connor needs to drop the gloves even Gretzky got in a couple of scraps. Howard is useless in the line-up with the minutes he’s recieving. Call up Clattenburg if he’s healthy I guarantee he would of taken more than a pound of flesh off the Av’s ass. The whole league just watched the Oilers cower.
How low can you go.
Just a drive by, but ive been suggesting for a couple of years that despite huge skill they play an emotionless, passive, almost flaccid game. The team is so loathe to engage their opponents that any overcommitment will get them in trouble.
They need coaching staff to demand engagement and effort or they loose icetime, it has to start now. Nurse should be Jason Smith not Greg Hawgood BTW
Rick Tocchet would tune in more than a few Oilers.
Is it team leadership ?
Leon and Connor having willed there way to 2 finals in a row and now with the Olympics are mentally as well as physically tired. Yet K.K keeps pounding them because ?
Suspect KK is a very passive type coach that wants ab extremely controlled style of play. Also believe he lacks creativity and flexibility. Is 97 and 29 are not outgoing in your face type of player and coach is not pushing that agenda it doesn’t magically just appear. The macT teams in the playoffs were focused on wearing the opponent down, they tracked hits and forecheck pressures. They wrote it into game plan.KK seems so vanilla. They beed swagger back, they exited some older guys who had it but did not replace it
Like I said they look mentally tired when they showed them whispering to each other on the bench. We’ve all been exhausted with work expectations in our lives regardless of the money these 2 need minutes cut back. K.K needs to either sink or swim Tomasek-Savoie-Howard-Henrique. Also play the pairing on D that deserves the minutes and fire Skinner and Pickard into the Sun
I’m not buying any of this. This team went the SCF twice in a row.
They have a generational player and 29 and not won yet. There are almost out of their window of opportunity. You better start believing it. This is turning into one of the great under achieving stories in sports
It might be reasonable to assume the window slammed shut last night.
The team is a mess…the prospect pipeline is near empty and draft picks are scarce.
Today’s reading is from the book of Hyperbole, verse 24.
Jim Kelly Buffalo Bills. I felt for Marcel Dionne not winning a Cup but the one player I really wished won a Cup was Dale Hawerchuck he was so talented-competitive I actually felt sorry for the Jets when we kept beating them no matter how close they came especially in 1990 when they had us by the balls.
Despite getting their asses kicked last night, the Oilers still are having their best 15 game start in the past three years.
Was Gulutzen more important than we realized? In his first two years, KK did not over play the glimmer twins, have them PK or limit the minutes of the rest of the forward core. Our forwards don’t have good structure or linkage to the D, won’t go to the hard areas of the ice. The personality shift has been remarkable.
i still think things will improve. Hyman and Janmark will return, and the team can play better. If KK won’t play the young talent, then send Howard and Savoie down for seasoning and mental health. This is a failure on KK’s part, but I worry Coffey and Gulutzen carried him far more than we realized.
Don’t think we win the cup this year, but I have faith things can and will get much better
The competition is much more difficult than it was the part three years.
You say obvious shit constantly
Sorry I love the insight.
Watching a Jan 7, 1984 Oilers game against the Whalers on YouTube.
Nearly everything about this game is better to watch.
If this were in HD, it would be perfect.
Gretzky with his 50th into an EN.
I want to watch a team that cares about him getting 50 in 42. And keeps pushing for records knowing it will set them up for other things.
Not to mention a broadcast that actually calls the game, and has some thought to it all.
I don’t think any of this was unpredictable. I thought they were in danger since last season of being old and slow in a hurry. It looked like management foresaw this as well but in the process cut out a lot of the heart and replaced it with youth the coach won’t play and some supposed gtrit on a retirement contract.
Best thing this team could do is sink deep enough that McDavid waives this offseason and they can recoup some assets.
I believe once McDavid didn’t reup for 8 years on a team friendly contract it was over. They needed that breathing space to retool. I believe the McDavid camp knew this and now they can say that they did all they can do and the fanbase will buy it. I hope I’m wrong but I believe the whole thing was disingenuous.
Exactly my thoughts it gave both Connor and Bowman a out. Very gracious thing for Connor to do and it will do nothing but add too his legacy It probably happens this off-season. Bowman can instantly make the whole team better for more than a few years.
A harsh take, but at least plausible.
I hope you’re wrong. I fear you’re not.
It’s only 15 games, and we’ve been to darker places (e.g. 2-9-1 loss to the Sharks). But this has got to be a wakeup call.
I hope so too but I didn’t feel the same way the last two slow starts. Connor and Leon are getting older and attrition, especially considering the length of the last two seasons, will have a say in things.
The last hundred comments have pretty much covered everything I wanted to say, except this. When Paul Maurice resigned the Jets, I thought he’d be perfect for the Oilers. Thus, Knoblauchs hiring disappointed me to no end. And any basic understanding of the Peter Principle strongly suggests he’s been promoted to his very obvious level of incompetence.
Just listen to him with the picture off. His tone is absolutely cringe. In fact, if I were an owner, he’d be out of a job today…not to mention Nurse. He’d be sitting for the next month. And Frederic. That’s a mystery to me.
I’m so pissed off. Maybe unreasonably so, but between the Oilers and those ostriches, I need a workout on a heavy bag today.
I agree, anger at the Oilers and the ridiculous disingenuous outrage over those birds lives. Those same birds that were not pets, that were being raised for slaughter for meat and leather, just to spread misinformation and divide people makes me so angry. I really tried to not say something, but you brought it up. Let’s stick to hockey.
A year ago the Avs didn’t like their goalering and made a wholesale change. We’re still thinking that these guys will get it for some reason
Stockholm Syndrome.
I know people are venting, and rightfully so, but scratching players until they waive their NMC/NTC’s is just inviting a grievance from the NHLPA, and with that brings a whole lot of alienation from players across the league. Sure, the coach can scratch players for a game or a couple based on performance or for discipline, but the team will be challenged if they try to use it as a tactic to force a trade.
It’s also never going to happen, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Agree, and I really shouldn’t be surprised at how much it gets tossed around.
You can make things very uncomfortable if he doesn’t agree to be shopped around. The Rangers are a perfect example. Nobody is going to stay and put up with the possible grief. Just look at Lucic everyone was slapping Holland on the back but I believe he had little to do with the trade as I believe it was the Lucic camp that went to Treliving and pleaded that he would be a good mentor bottom 6 player for the Flames.
Ron Gunville late PP Dir of PA Raiders widow confirmed that he had told her I saidhevwas 1/2 of the basis of all NHL analytics. The Gunville position was mid 70s. Young Ron was legs down tracking with the ball.
Like 68/69 bombers violence (HD SH area) those images (Photographic memory). Each a unique form of analytucs. A. Binary on/off; ball strike, Shot Open net space, closed into goalie.
closed excluded as a B. regression outcome.
that is why in 07/08 I stated each Indv. Pos. (f, D, G) Has individual xAvg perf.
goalies have indv.: hit rate mean by body size, tracking hit rate, & Open SH save%.
yiu called this rickis goalie thing. HD SZh area was rickisbox.
you may remember I entioned discussing this w/ (What turned out to be) K. K. Vallle (On holidays w/ Horcoff) G coach Dallas Stars at dis ey World Animal Kingdom, “Reghr will want this work.”
You know how we would look at the schedule and see the likes of San Jose, or Chicago or Detroit and think … guaranteed win night? Not anymore – all of those teams are improved this season, and there’s no easy win on the schedule anymore.
The Oilers are playing an absolutely gutless brand of hockey; the defensemen back up and surrender the blue line, puck watching instead of taking the body and exacting a toll for entering our zone, and they’re not boxing out the front of the net, or blocking shots from the point. The forwards don’t finish checks on the forecheck and they don’t skate all the way back on the backcheck. The group as a whole skate around at 80% and wave their sticks around ineffectually, and think that they’re competing.
This season is going to be a complete tire fire, so long as KK is coach; he doesn’t have it in him to tear a strip off his underperforming players. Guys like Nurse, who has become an absolute black hole. Frederic and Mangiapane, who were supposed to bring physicality and abrasiveness, but instead seem content to collect their paycheque. Savoie, Howard, Tomacek, Philp … nothing but vanilla out there, they’ve shown precious little to endorse promoting them to a top 6 role. Bouchard … completely disinterested in taking any sort of contact out there … a glorified PP specialist, who can’t be bothered to seal the wall and keep pucks in the offensive zone to extend possession.
So things are going to get worse … a lot worse. And yes … they are going to miss the playoffs. Take a look above us in the standings and ask yourself … which one of those teams are we going to catch?
The end result has to be an absolutely scorched earth rebuild – fire KK and bring in a coach that demands accountability before the end of the season. Bring in a coach that will pressbox Nurse until he waives his NMC. Same thing with Frederic and Mangiapane, if they’re no longer interested in mucking it up. And send out Bouchard – yes, he can play brilliantly in the playoffs, but for half of a season he’s just a complete liability. His lackadaisical play is starting to define the identity of the Oilers.
And get a goalie already. Enough with trying to run a backup quality goalie as a starter, and an career AHLer as your backup.
Yes…more than a few rebuilds are now paying off.
New Jersey, Montreal and Anaheim all lead their divisions and the Blackhawks have arisen from the ashes to make some noise in the Central..currently 1 point behind Winnipeg and leading Detroit 2-1 going into the third period this afternoon while San Jose is 7-2-1 in their last 10 GP.
This prompted an examination of all the rebuilders cap situation for the offseason as OP mentioned all will be well in Oilerland when the cap rises next season:
Offseason Cap Space
Oilers – $17.76 M
Blackhawks – $54.65M
Sharks – $54.4M
Red Wings – $42.69M
Ducks – $40.525M
Canadiens – $27.88M
Mammoth – $27.7 M
Sabres – $21.1M
While some teams need to sign expensive extensions for their free agents, none will have any trouble doing so with the available cap dollars and with their rebuilds nearing completion will be able to be very competitive in the trade and free agent markets.
Many of these teams also have substations draft pick capital they can utilize in trade.
And just like that….
Connor Bedard with a 3 point performance as Chicago drubs Detroit 5-1 to move into a second place tie with Dallas in the Central.
Bedard now leads the scoring race with 25 points although MacKinnon has a game in hand tonight against Vancouver.
The Ducks Leo Carlsson is 2 points back with 2 games in hand.
A Bédard fan may eagerly be checking the schedule to see when the Hawks play the Oilers…
How is LA looking? They were the last team destined for dominance weren’t they?
I’m cheering for ylu to start cheering for the coyotes. Called that one coming 2 years ago for you.
After the “durzi smurzi. Trade make sense look at pipeline fiasco” well before you bailed ship on them completely.
9 goals against and still no emotion. Someone lay a hit, run the goalie, anything to show some type of engagement.
10 5v5 goals against!
They’ve built a team of lambs in a league full of lions. I don’t see a lot courage, either individually or as a group.
In the Leafs game, I watched Scott Laughton get absolutely Kronwalled by Zadorov. Bobby McMann, he of 6 PIMs on the year, had the unfortunate luck of being in the closest proximity to the hit, but he immediately jumped in anyway, knowing full well he was at risk of having his facial features rotated. He managed to survive the ordeal, but he made the point as best he could. It made me wonder what the Oiler response would have been. I would expect a lot of skatelace-gazing, and retreating to the bench, right pronto. Explained away by saying “that’s something we’ll have to clean up”, or that it’s unacceptable. Well, if you have to keep saying something is unacceptable…..it’s kinda acceptable.
Is Darnell Nurse playing to his strengths? Very big, fast, mean, yet playing baby hockey.
What would another team do with him?
Why does his game seem to get worse the more Oilers play this non contact hockey?
I know at his salary he’s supposed to be well rounded. But he is good at some things, not so good at others. He was good when he got paid.
I I look across a league at other teams and it seems to me players similar to nurse play a different style of hockey one that’s more conducive to their strengths
Well, no.
He’s a winger attempting to play defence.
…and a splayed out, starfishing goalie.
It’s kind ironic. What’s killed Nurse was the switch to zone defense. It goes against his strengths of size and mobility and aggressiveness.
He used to thrive on man-on man d zone coverage because it didn’t rely on making quick reads, just his size, speed, reach and preference for pressuring the puck carrier.
But they also had to because teams were exploiting his proclivities to chase the puck carrier in the playoffs like Vegas. He was completely exposed.
Vegas and Florida ran set plays and switches against him design to pull him behind the net or drag him out to the blue line, and leave the slot wide open.
He’s gone from a serviceable but overpriced player to nearly unplayable.
He might thrive on a team if they play a hybrid man-on-man system. I don’t think any teams play the old strick man-on man system system anymore.
So,
he can’t grasp zone D
he can’t play man 2 man bc he needlessly chases.
I doubt he’d grasp a hybrid system
The Avalanche used that exact ‘bait him high’ move and he fell for it pretty easily on one of the goals against last game.
Other teams would’ve sat him in the pressbox until he started to play a more physical brand of hockey.
He epitomizes the current state of the Oilers … soft.
Thanks LT. Excellent post and assessment.
I have not seen any evidence this year that KK knows what to do with this team. From roster and line up decisions to systems. Other than special teams the strategy and deployment have been very poor.
I laughed out loud when I saw the lines for last night. When in the actual F will he figure out this team needs McD and Drai centring their own lines??
putting the rookies altogether on a line?? Pull your head out of your ass Coach.
there also needs to be accountability for effort and ghastly decision making. Softest playing D in the league right now.
You can rightfully blame coaching and the poor systems, but it’s telling when our only good game the last few weeks was when the core decided to scrap the systems and play offense their way, so who’s more to blame, a coach who seems in over his head or a player group who runs coaches out of town too often and seems to have spit the bit on the current one.
My impression is that most people have been generally pleased with Bowman’s GMing. His big moves have been Mangi and Fredric. I didn’t, and still don’t, understand these moves. I don’t understand his plan for this season, unless it was to retool with Savoie, Tomasak and Howard.
Most were pleased with the Mangi signing, I was not. Since his big season with the Flames he has not been that player. He was a 4th line player on the Caps. And that’s what he looks like here. I’m not sure Fredric is even that.
A lot of talent (and speed) has left the Oilers the past 2 seasons and we are seeing that coming home to roost. What’s the plan Stan?
Bowman has done some nice work around the edges of the roster like finding Regula, Emberson, and Podkolzin without expending any assets.
I don’t think anyone was happy with the Frederic contract.
Mangiapane was sort of like the Arvidson contract. At the time, you have a recollection of him being pesky to play against, and you look at the deal and think it doesn’t look too dangerous at 7.2m over 2 years. Then you check his hockey db and hope he can dial back time even though he’s already 29.
So I don’t really think people were celebrating the Mangiapane contract as a GM masterclass in free agency. It was sort of like the Arvidson contract that looked like a reasonable bet at first glance.
In hindsight, there were a lot better ways to spend $7.45m in cap than Mabgiaoane and Frederic. The margin for error in this league is pretty thin and those were not great moves.
People were in fact celebrating it – good contract, pain in the ass player, lack of scoring was a result of his linemates…..
That’s just hockey fandom. Sign Mangiapane and in your mind’s eye, you just signed 2021 Mangiapane. Exciting!
Player | GP | TOI/GP | Pts/60 | xGF% | SCF% | Shots/60
Mangiapane | 16 | 13.7 | 1.09 | 48.7 | 49.5 | 3.55
Frederic | 16 | 12.5 | 0.30 | 44.5 | 41.2 | 4.79
Mangiapane could, and can, be that, if he was deployed appropriately, which is on the 3rd line, not in the top 6.
Stapling him to McDavid over the last few weeks, and in the top 6 the entire time Hyman has been out, and not giving Savoie any opportunity in that role, has been one of the biggest misses of the coaching decisions this season, in my opinion.
Mangiapane, Arvidsson, Frederic, Skinner…etc. They are all used to playing a more normal direct system, where teams attack the net, and then work hard on retrieval or defening if they lose possession, rather than the Oilers possess the puck around the perimeter system. The Oilers just wait on the outside, hoping the team protecting the house makes a mistake, so they can have an easy pass or route to the net, rather than forcing the issue. Most “normal” players cannot play that way. The only time the Oilers really stress an opponent at 5v5 is when they break out fast. Kapanen and Roslovic have a higher level of individual skill than those above guys, so they actually fit in better. Same with Podkolzin (except for his scoring hands), and Podkolzin attempts to get inside the defense and to the net more than most other Oilers.
These Oilers, they sure dont peak too early.
Matt Savoie is supposed to be an offensive player, no?
An upgrade- offensively- on the 6’3 – 204 lb Ryan McLeod.
The Matte Rempe breakdown for Savoie
16 games played
1 goal + 1 assist = 2 points
Matthew will be 22 years old in a few weeks. Offensive dynamos usually announce themselves pretty early.
Try to remind yourself of the viscous defences made by fans for Yakupov, Yamamoto & Puljujarvi.
I plead guilty of consuming SO much COPIUM on Nail Yakupov…learned my lesson though.
If you have to squint, or plead your case , or parse numbers, you are probably in some form of prospect denial.
The speed at which both Yamamoto and Puljujarvi played themselves out of the NHL – should be jarring to any Oiler fan who spent * any * amount of time defending these players.
Savoie and Howard are not muckers and grinders they need to be test driven with skill if they’re not up to it then back to the AHL for more marinating time. Call-up Clattenburg I think he would be a dynamo compared to the unnoticeable Savoie. It looks like Buffalo pulled a fast one on us.
This x100. In Nashville I’ve watched John Hynes do that with Pred’s 1st round forwards (Tolvanen and Tomasino). He’d play them with 4th liners (McCarron and Cole Smith) and everyone wondered why they produced zilch offensively.
They finally figured out it was the coach holding them back and fired him – but it was too late by then for those players.
If you’re not going to put the players in a position to succeed, how can you be upset with the kids when they do nothing? KK is failing the Oilers in a big way right now between lines and systems. This is on him.
Did you watch either of the Condors’ games this weekend like I encouraged?
I mean, you have these strong opinions on Clattenburg but have never seen him play an in-season game.
You keep pimping Savoie’s tires over and over yet the man has done jackshit. He has 1 flukey goal and your questioning my evaluation of a player as Fred Flinestone used to say “That’s a hot one”
How do you evaluate a player you’ve never seen play?
I know what Clattenburg is doing at the AHL level – and I know what he’s not able to do at that level.
I also know that Matt Savoie lead the Oilers forwards in PK TOI (Clattenburg does not PK even in the AHL) and I know that Savoie does not take himself out of position and put his team shorthanded with consistency.
I’m not hear to diss Clattenburg. I like the player (and the person from what I can glean) and I’m not discounting an NHL career but he’s not near close.
‘I’, ‘I’, ‘Im’, ‘I’ve’, ‘I’ ‘Im’, ‘I’,….lololol:)
God you come off as an insufferable school-marm. You make it so damned hard to even get through the comments with your constant need for attention.
The Savoie/Howard situation is actually much worse than JP, Yak and Yamo.
The coach already does not trust these players and he is desperate for offence. Not a good sign.
This is a good point.
Is Yamo out of the NHL or making a comeback in Utah?
Healthy scratch – for the infamous -Liam OBrien.
Suspect Kailer will return ( barring Utah injuries) to the AHL shortly
I have not given up on the season, not even close,
Many say this feels/looks different than the last couple of years when they struggled early and then turned it around and went on a long playoff runs but I would suggest that, if we look back at posts/verbal/commentary during the struggles the last two seasons, they would read/sound very similar to this year,
Maybe this year is different – we don’t know – we’ll find out in due time.
With that said, to the extent this is a regression year – maybe they are a wild card or bubble team and exit in the first round or even miss the playoffs ( sure, it’s not an unreasonable conclusion), that does not mean the “window is closed” and its rebuild time.
With the cap increase (and it might be $3MM more than has been originally states) and McDavid not increasing his cap commitment, there is a lot of cap space this off-season. Yes, lots to get done, but Bowman will have the ability to truly improve important aspects of the team.
A one-off regression year in the middle of a long run of contending is possible.
In any event, I’m far from there but thought I’d state my half glass full view.
I think most would be fine with a one-off regression year, but then it further begs the question of what is the coach doing???
In fact, many good teams do miss the playoffs/exit early after deep playoff runs (e.g., Vegas).
IMO, this year is a gravy year. The Oilers cap situation is poor and they are coming off of two cup losses. The next two years they will have a much better position.
Really too bad Larry Robinson doesn’t actually want to be an HC for any length of time. He’d be the man to call. Defensive knowledge, championship player legacy, clearly an outstanding coach, and would understand superstars.
Give Nurse two options
Waive his NMC
Or eat popcorn the rest of his contract.
What’s galling and perplexing is that Knoblauch is currently chosing option #3.
Play him the most minutes on the team at 5v5. It’s likely the most glaring misuses of ice time in the league right now.
Truly mind boggling!
He’s in the Core.
Nurse should be the first of the core out the door.
His hockey sense is non-existent, he no longer brings any physicality, and he’s just completely oblivious to how much his terrible contract has cost the organization.
He needed to step-up and be a asshole in both Florida series yet he tried to play Jay Bouwmeester style of being Mr.Invisable
Well, he was third on 5 on 5 TOI last night among d-men.
DiPietro and Daws are both in the AHL having cleared waivers – they must be available for a very low cost.
They are both, again, having high end starts to the AHL season and Daws let in 1G (.968) in his one NHL game.
Its impossible to imagine they are worse than Pickard and they both have upside.
Ya, the Oilers have too many goalie in the org for everyone to play but there is no risk here – no-one is claiming Pickard and losing him would be a non-issue at this point – I don’t imagine either of the two noted would perform worse at the NHL level.
100% correct. Absolutely nothing to lose. Picard is cooked and Skinner has used up his chances in Edmonton.
By the time Pickard entered the game the team had given up with the Av’s going full tilt for some reason.
The team gave up after the 1st goal. The coach even said as soon as that 1st goal went in they were totally deflated .
The Coach is loosing the plot before it’s too late load him into a rocket with Skinner and fire their asses into the Sun. I remember our stud 1-C Jason Armott say he just wasn’t into it talking about a hammering at home that just took place. How long did it take our G.M to trade Jason? We have our G.M on a National Saturday night game telling the public not to pick on Skinner. All Bowman did was put a target on Skinner if he can’t get back to his Average Joe .900 mark. Fuk I miss Sather we have 3 more Cups with him at the helm.
Yeah, I’d be looking at DiPietro or the Matthew Murray in Nashville’s system. Both of them posted solid numbers in the AHL last season (save percentages of 0.927 for DiPietro in 40 games and 0.932 for Murray in 43 games), and are posting solid numbers to start the season in the AHL (save percentages of 0.929 for DiPietro and 0.931 for Murray). Both of them are relatively young (DiPietro is 26 and Murray is 27), so there is some upside potential, and as you mentioned, they’ve already cleared waivers, so if they can’t hack it at the NHL level, they can easily be sent down to the AHL. What would Boston or Nashville want in exchange? Would they swap for Pickard, or would a late-round pick get it done?
Of course they can (and should) fire the coach.
They have ample evidence he isn’t going to give them the little extra they need to win it all, and is not learning from his mistakes (such as bad starts to the season).
High end sports leadership is about being ahead of the curve, not on it.
They’ll likely waste another year not firing him, then have to do it the year after.
They’ve run out of years to waste.
It was a very entertaining game last night.
The goalie them in it through two periods as they were outplayed.
They gave up two quick ones in the third to go down but then a relied upon offensive player who had been struggling tied the game and won the game on great team plays with skilled finishes.
Two rookies with their first AHL goals.
The top player on the team showed he’s fully healthy and sealed it worth an empty netter.
Great job by Tomkins, Hutson (2G), Carfagna (first pro goal), Samanski (first AHL goal) and Jarventie (ENG and played both ends of the back to back).
See you Tuesday night!
You had me going with the first couple of lines.
Ha ha me too! I was thinking what game are you watching???
Trent Frederic
16 games
1goal + 0 assists= 1 point
That is impossible . Even started out the year on the top line.
Does he score in practice?
Good thing we locked him up for 8 yrs. Apparently he was quoted as saying “No one wants to fight a guy with only one goal” Seriously???? Call up Josh Brown. At least he is willing to drop the gloves. Team needs a spine transplant. (and a new goalie, new coaching, size, speed……)
His point was, no one on the Avs was going to drop the gloves to fight him because it would not result in it being an advantage for them. He’s not an offensive threat so there’s no benefit to the Avs to take him off the ice for a fighting major. The Avs were winning and out-playing the Oilers without engaging Frederic in a fight. Plus, they don’t have many fighters anyway so from their viewpoint, why bother? That was his point in that there was no incentive for anyone on the Avs to engage him in a fight that could spark the Oilers.
However, that is no excuse for not making it harder on the Avs as the game went on, i.e. to be a pest, get into the crease, muck it up after the whistle, hit everyone that you can catch, i.e. things that Perry & Kane were so good at, especially Perry.
Agree it takes two to tango. You are also correct in that there are other ways to push back physically as in hard hits etc. No Oilers including Freddie showed any interest in engaging. I found this truly disappointing. Fold up the tent and wait for next game. Monday’s game should be interesting
Open ice hits can result in fisticuffs. Call up Clattenburg the kid is a leader fast learner has the speed and hands to keep-up. Orval Tessier once said about his Blackhawks team that got pounded by the Oilers in the Playoffs. “ Our team needs a heart transplant”
He hasn’t shown the speed and hands to keep up at the AHL level. He will, in time, but he’s not near there nor near NHL ready.
Its hard to imagine Clattenburg doing anything more than being (1) behind every player, (2) out of position on every shift looking for hits and (3) taking penalties.
Clattenburg could eventually have an NHL career but that will only be if he’s developed at the proper levels.
You do relize the whole league watched us get lucky and only lose 9-1 without a whimper. This happened on home field twice we were bullied by Florida without a response it’s not in Coach K.K DNA. I’m starting to believe the team is Coaching itself with the 2 ice-hogs getting all the minutes. It all started with the timing of Connor contact extension. Something is not right in Denmark.
What does this have to do with Connor Clattenbrug, as his coach says, “learning to play hockey”?
If you don’t think Chaulk answered the Bat Phone with the message being get that kid ready as soon as possible then your out of the loop. The Oilers are in desperate need of a man of his skills.
I don’t understand your posts – they are just random statement with, seemingly, zero relation to the posts they are responding too….. it’s wild stuff.
This is going to be hard to grasp for an uber-narcissist with main player syndrome but no one is obligated to make you understand anything.
From last night.
Player | TOI | CF% | FF% | xGF% | SCF%
Ekholm | 16.0 | 72.97 | 74.07 | 66.7 | 66.7
Bouchard | 17.3 | 70.0 | 70.0 | 64.5 | 60.9
Walman | 9.6 | 55.0 | 41.7 | 25.2 | 11.1
Kulak | 13.2 | 44.0 | 25.0 | 11.8 | 10.0
Regula | 12.6 | 22.2 | 20.0 | 27.8 | 12.5
Nurse | 14.3 | 13.0 | 14.3 | 17.3 | 7.7
The Oilers have a Darnell Nurse problem.
Darnell Nurse’s game vs Colorado was catastrophic.
In 14 minutes of ice time, the Oilers were out-attempted 20–3 (13% CF), out-chanced 12–1 (7.7% SCF), and lost the expected-goals battle 1.03–0.22 (17% xGF) with him on the ice.
Those are near-record lows — the kind of numbers you see from emergency call-ups, not a $9.25 M defenceman. He wasn’t just beaten; he was a complete possession and chance black hole.
On the season:
Player | GP | TOI/GP | CF% | FF% | xGF% | SCF%
Ekholm | 16 | 17.19 | 55.15 | 56.42 | 54.88 | 53.67
Bouchard | 16 | 17.50 | 54.81 | 57.22 | 54.22 | 52.40
Emberson | 14 | 14.04 | 53.37 | 52.38 | 52.26 | 50.66
Kulak | 16 | 16.38 | 50.24 | 48.83 | 46.87 | 45.60
Walman | 10 | 17.40 | 49.28 | 49.17 | 45.75 | 40.88
Nurse | 16 | 18.64 | 44.48 | 44.19 | 40.09 | 36.93
Regula | 4 | 13.47 | 42.86 | 44.83 | 52.20 | 39.29
Stecher | 6 | 13.29 | 40.30 | 36.17 | 32.63 | 39.29
The top pairing has an 18.76 GF% (3 GF, 13 GA) across more than 200 minutes. Ekholm and Bouchard have been terrible and more of a blight than Nurse.
I’m seeing a lot of nurse bad obviously but like how much is a product of absolutely glaring disregard for players and system.
Nothing generated from disjointed non drai mcdavid lines or line…and you what exactly are those lines again? Do they play around 14 minutes combined starting in oen end?
Quality of teamates effect
Surely add zone starts impact
*it would help.frame context quite a bit fairer*
Like nurse is eating shutdown d minutes (last i saw shittiest distribution in league for regular Defenseman. Add to that not like bouch and ek are stapled to mcdavid almost probably more so than drai i bet, minutewise…
Like who are our bottom 6 who are stuck running a terrible breakout through nuetral zone that relys on stretch passes that are getting picked hard unless mcdavid is essentially carrying it from out blueline again. We signed nurse for his stretch passes surely not the year he was playing more a rover getting dynamic duo minutes with barrie correct?
Like it’s dumb.
Knob i like the post about system and tactics above. It’s pretty solid to suggest knobs maybe spent too much time focusing on trying to design game plan to overcome panthers again.
The breakout, the zone D suppression, the low event cheat for defense if not super unit. The stretch pass thing thwt is just getting crushed. How much is this making the “nurse problem” much worse than it likely should be.
He’s not below replacement level D as this one angle might near clearly suggest
The worst part is apologists with the usual ‘he hasn’t been as bad as so-and-so’ or ‘yep not great but the team has more glaring issues’, etc..
Have we watched the same team? Other than the past game or two where other players have shit the bed more noticeably, Darnell has been abjectly horrible the entire season. His turnovers have become a drinking game with my gf and she noticed something pretty telling the other night. The questions about his hockey IQ are valid because if you notice, the more time and space he has to think and pick what outlet play he’ll try, the higher the percentage he’ll botch the pass with a grenade or simply fire-off another icing in a never ending loop.
He also thinks he’s both a LW and goalie also but just ends up being a very effective screen as he fishtails back into Skinners pads.
Much like Kris Russel, his uniquely selfish and play-killing style would be addition by subtraction if they could ever part ways with that god-awful contract. I hate to even think about a mini re-tooling already, but if they could magically shed the Nurse albatross, they could afford both Kempe AND Tuch this off-season.
I know it sounds goofy but I ran the line-up of:
Draisaitl-McD-Tuch
Kempe-Roslovic-Hyman
Podkolzin-RNH-Savoie
Frederic-Philp-Kapanen
..through AI and it gushed over the odds of a cup and how historically dominant that line-up would be. If he continues to quickly blossom, maybe you could swap Clattenburg in after a Frederic dump and save a little $$.
Howard isnt a great fit so maybe trading him++ gets a goalie thats emotionally stable & not an outright unplayable sieve.
Odd to be in the position they are in their championship arc and be looking forward to next season, but it is what it is.. Wish they’d hired Zito.
Groundhog Day Part 2
” Loading up McDavid and Draisaitl “
Imagine the sheer panic when Jared Bednar was completely caught off guard by the “ loading up of McDavid and Draisaitl “ last night
Keep depriving our wingers with playing with the leagues – unanimous- best passer.
My wife coached my son’s soccer team when he was young. It was regular city league soccer, to mean I’m not trying to brag about anything, it was basic soccer with regular kids, I have a point about the Oilers. He was the most capable player on that team. Partly because he was bigger and more athletic than most of the kids at that age, big advantage
I had to ‘coach’ one game, their last of the season. My boy was trying to do too much and despite chance after chance they weren’t scoring (sound familiar?). He was driving off the wing and they couldn’t stop him, so I asked him to first look to set up someone if they managed to find space, and if not to drive the net and put it upstairs
He proceeded to score five goals and set up some others. My wife was mildly miffed – I ask him to do that she said. Probably not as precisely as I did as she’s not athletic. Sometimes it’s a word from a different person or a simple suggestion that can make a difference in approach and results
I do not see that happening with Connor and Leon, or Bouch. I’ve commented before that while you can’t tell great players how to play, the right coach should guide them to adapt as the league adapts to them, which it always does. Give them some different strategy and have the other players support that. They have become very predictable and default to the same old when under pressure. I hope that person shows up with those words
The breakout is brutal. The whole plan (whatever it is) is clearly a misfit.
Oil need a poor man’s version of the 1997 DRW’s five-man, 200-foot system of play. To this day the most fluid and elegant expression of NHL dominance I’ve ever seen.
I think the 2010 CHI hawks take them in seven, but man that squad in that moment was beauty.
Groundhog Day
Oilers goaltending.
Still, having this conversation in the fall of 2025.
Negligence.
After the game in New Jersey, I decided to watch the games the way I did during the DoD: the next day, in just over an hour, rather than live for three hours. Since then, I’ve seen little to suggest that this was a bad move on my part.
Good plan! May start doing same.
Enough of a sample size now, this has been developing for a long time.
If you are losing say 6-0 nothing what generally happens? The losing team starts getting angry. They don’t like it. The get physical, they rough it up. Basically they make it very uncomfortable for the other team to continue, one way or another.
Oilers show nothing. Nothing. They make it fun for the other team.
The competitive heart of the team is missing.
All the components of a game do not matter if the desire is lost.
Why would NHL players, as a group, behave this way? This is the question.
Mike Rupp says a team takes on the personality of the coach. Add to that they still have enough vanilla players and this is what you get. And the ones that aren’t vanilla seem to have the piss and vinegar coached out of them
Are we one of this those new Sloth species found in the remote area of Madagascar.
I was having flashbacks to when Nate was 9 playing summer hockey in Cole Harbour. He and my son are the same age and came up through the Cole Harbour Wings MHA, but the only time they were on the ice together was during summer hockey because it was all levels. Nate and the few players who could keep up with him just skated circles around everyone else, kind of like last night.
I think the Oilers D never defend the front of the net because they never have to defend it in practice.
And they are surprised in games when opposition forwards drive the middle or go to the net, like most normal hockey teams do.
I would suggest it is impossible for these defensemen to just forget how to play defence. This would suggest a different expectation on the Oilers.
You see it often. Player joins Oilers, plays hockey, slowly this erodes till they play Oilers perimeter hockey. They fit in.
Overview
Kale is a nutritious, leafy green vegetable from the cabbage family, known for its high content of vitamins C and K, fiber, and antioxidants. It can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in various dishes like soups, stews, and stir-fries, and its preparation can make it more tender and less bitter. Popular varieties include curly kale, lacinato (or dinosaur) kale, and red kale. … Bouchard … ?Cale Makar is widely considered one of the best defensemen in the NHL, with many experts calling him the league’s top player at his position. He is praised for his exceptional two-way game, excelling at both offense and defense, which includes his elite skating, physical play, and high hockey IQ. Makar has won multiple prestigious awards, including the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman and a Stanley Cup … Makar
If you know this, and you must play hockey against this player, you have a strategy to limit his impact. Ad teams do when they play McDavid
Totally agree LT and said as much about the system and coaching 3 weeks ago and if you and I can see the flaws in the system you have to know that other teams coaches can see it and develop a counter system to take advantage of it .
I have also wondered if Coffey stood back because KK was adamant that he wanted to implement this flawed system and Coffey saw its pitfalls. This team is so disconnected right now and you have to believe the vets see the problem with the system and are maybe checking out on its implementation . Some thing is going to have to give in the next couple of weeks .System change or assistant coaching change is my bet.