The Edmonton Oilers are a brilliant collection of talent with a fatal flaw: the puck. Now the puck is of no concern if you’re a banker or a broadcaster or a truck driver or a mountie. If you’re a hockey player, the puck needs to be in your possession and protected.
If protecting the puck is important to winning, and it is, then the words one could use today to describe this team are searing. Selfish. Immature. Addled. Stubborn. Opponents don’t have to worry about winning games when the Oilers decide to give it away like motel matches. These are veterans, not rookies. These are silly plays by a silly team.
The Edmonton Oilers need to grow the hell up. They need to decide if gorgeous goals are more important than winning hockey. And they better do it in one damned hurry.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN FEBRUARY
- At home to: TOR (Expected 1-0-0) 0-1-0
- On the road to: CGY (Expected 1-0-0) 0-1-0
- On the road to: ANA, LAK, SJS (Expected 2-1-0) 1-2-0
- Expected Record: 3-2-0, six points in five games
- Actual Record: 1-4-0, two points in five games
- Season Record: 29-24-8, 66 points in 61 games
That was a rancid effort. If I didn’t know better, I’d say to you this morning that this roster is trying to get the coach fired. How can so many hockey players go from spectacular to rancid in a heartbeat? This edition of the Oilers is possibly the most frustrating I’ve ever seen. How can a hockey team be this unpleasant?
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 7:30, 5-5 shots, 2-4 goals, 29X, 4-4 HDSC
- Draisiatl-McDavd-Hyman: 5:13, 1-1 shots, 67X, 1-0 HDSC
- Frederic-Roslovic-Savoie: 4:48, 3-2 shots, 1-0 goals, 26X, 1-1 HDSC
- Savoie-Draisaitl-Roslovic: 4:22, 2-1 shots, 36X, 2-0 HDSC
- Mangiapane-Henrique-Lazar: 4:05, 1-2 shots, 1X, 0-1 HDSC
- Mangiapane-Lazar-Kapanen: 4:05, 0-3 shots, 18X, 0-1 HDSC
I was a little surprised Knoblauch went away from the new Draisaitl line (Roslovic, Savoie) but the rookie got a point anyway on the Trent Frederic (!!) goal. I was thrilled to see Frederic score a goal, and its the kind he should get plenty of over a season.
I’m wondering if the tweak Bob mentioned yesterday is LTIR for Mattias Janmark and a recall of Josh Samanski. Oilers need a third-line center and money is too tight to mention. Makes sense a little.
By the way, Adam Henrique’s five-on-five line since returning to the lineup: zero points, but 1-0 goals and 55 percent expected goals in 34 minutes over three games.
BILLY ASHLEY
One of the best things about the Oilers is watching Connor McDavid, Leon Draisiatl and Evan Bouchard create their magic. It’s glorious. They are such brilliant passers and playmakers, every shift is a dance. All three men have ice in their veins and make high-risk look worthwhile. The problem, I think, is those brilliant plays are too prevalent and allow teams to anticipate. The Flordia Panthers waited with smiles at both blue lines and cashed a bunch.
The second problem is that, after a time, every player on Oilers ice starts thinking they are McDavid, or Bouchard, and then you’re basically an expansion team without the puck. This is not the way to win. You can say to me “they’ll stop doing that in the playoffs” but this team needs to start as they mean to go. Seriously. Starting now. Give the opposition more than one look. That goes for outlet and entry, and needs to happen rfn.
Many years ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers brought up a giant outfielder from Albuquerque (well they say that Santa Fe is less than 90 miles away). Ashley could wallop that baseball to the moon, and he was in fact a big fellow (6.07, 220). Ashely struck out too much, and during one painful season he famously said “I think the pitchers are reading me” which was, and is, hilarious.
That is kind of where the Oilers are now. They’re not reading the room. The opposition knows a one-trick pony when they see one, and are crushing the fancy Dan habits of the Oilers with righteous fury. Good for them, I say. If you are too damn stubborn to help yourself, then you wither. It’s the law of life. The Oilers are cool hand Luke.
- Nurse-Walman: 17:07, 4-11 shots, 1-2 goals, 25X, 2-6 HDSC
- Ekholm-Bouchard: 13:46, 5-5 shots, 1-1 goals, 55X, 3-1 HDSC
- Stastney-Emberson: 13:43, 5-9 shots, 1-1 goals, 40X, 4-4 HDSc
- Connor Ingram 28 of 33, .848SP
Darnell Nurse had a miserable road trip, the online comments are beyond the pale and his play has been poor. I wonder why the coaching staff played the second pair so much more than the other two duos? Nurse played three extra minutes compared to Mattias Ekholm. Is Ekholm injured? Should he be playing? Don’t know. It’s curious.
BAKERSFIELD
Oilers waive Andrew Mangiapane today, plus Alec Regula. The game is afoot! Stan Bowman’s best deadline addition may be Josh Samanski. In terms of attractive trade assets, the Oilers don’t have the horses.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7077599/2026/03/01/edmonton-oilers-trade-deadline-nhl/
I was concerned about waiving Stecher in order to keep Regula. I can understand that Regula had a lot more upside than Stecher, just like Frederic had more long-term potential than Perry. But Stecher, like Perry, is an actual NHL player who gave his all in the Stanley Cup run.
Then again, it doesn’t look like a Cup run is in the cards this year, so maybe it doesn’t matter in the end.
Stecher played well with Nurse and has always had more upside than Regula.
Keeping Stecher would have saved the team from burning assets to find another top 4 D.
Waiving Stecher, Mangiapane, letting Connor Brown go, giving up on Foegele and Arvidsson all seem like poor choices in retrospect. That’s in addition to the poor coaching of the D with the D-F disconnect and trading kulak with negative value attached
Nurse/Stecher were 0-1 goals and 28% expected goals in over 60 minutes this season – they were terrible as a pair and Stecher was terrible this season.
No matter what Stecher has done on Toronto he was a 7D here and was playing like less than that and, for certainty, he could not cover any sort of top 4 position for more than the odd game.
I also cannot agree that he has more upside that Regula, in fact, the complete opposite in my opinion.
What’s your prediction of the “game”?
I think Bowman needs to find a player like Podkolzin. Maybe he’s no longer viewed as a solution but has plenty of talent and future. Someone like Shane Wright.
Me thinks this would be good. Podkolzin types are very valuable. Kinda like Jaroslav Pouzer was. Or the one that got away Anton Slepyshev
Haha, too funny… don’t let our resident know it all that there are many ways to skin cats.🤣🤣🤣
Looks like Connor Murphy is an Oiler.
Ducks win 3-2 in OT to move into 1st place in the Pacific by points percentage.
1 point behind Vegas but with 1 game in hand.
Eric Francis
@EricFrancis
Well this is interesting. Three members of Colorado’s front office, including GM Chris MacFarland, asst GM Kevin McDonald, and assistant to the GM Andrew Cogliano, are all in attendance here in Anaheim for tonight’s Flames game. Craig Conroy here too, just 5 days ahead of the trade deadline. Wondering what they might want to discuss.
Jonathon Huberdeau
Out for the season with an injury.
Kadri would be my guess.
NHL News
@PuckReportNHL
Matthew Schaefer. 20-goal scorer. #Isles
https://x.com/PuckReportNHL/status/2028287813867765804?s=20
(click for video)
Jason Gregor
@JasonGregor
Matthew Schaefer becomes 4th rookie D-man to score 20 goals as he joins:
Dion Phaneuf (20)
Barry Beck (22)
Brian Leetch (23).
Schaefer has 21 games remaining to set a new mark. Outstanding rookie season for him.
Ryan Whitney
@ryanwhitney6
Schaeffer scored again. This is getting outrageous. 20 goals and he doesn’t turn 19 until next season. A true franchise changing superstar 1st overall pick
Schaeffer is a player everyone can cheer for. Terrific hockey player and even better human. Hope he has much success!!
Hindsight is 20/20, but imagine Team Canada with Bouchard and Schaefer. Young D are risky for sure, but Doughty played very well in his sophomore year on 2010 Team Canada.
Power back in and Picard leaks an ugly sweeper from the outside bottom of the circles along the ice – ugly goal to go down 3-2 early in the third.
Flohockey stream with the “technical difficulties” screen.
I didn’t think too much of it, happens almost every game but the Condors now tweet out:
“Someone forgot to pay the power bill in the Inland Empire.”
Yup, Holty notes the power has gone out!
jarventie with a great power rush in to the zone and slides it over to Samanski for the one-time snipe. Gorgeous goal.
2-2-
Gotta get Samanski back on the big team and it would be a great idea to find room for a Jarventie cup ‘o joe.
Once they send Mang down and Regula (if he doesn’t get claimed), they will almost assuredly call up Samanski and Howard and then place Janny on LTIR. That will set their bonus pool reserves and maximize LTIR space.
They will likely send Howard back down – they would have room to call Jarventie up, pre-deadline (i.e. before any acquisitions) but I’m not sure they will prior to Friday.
Maybe after depending on what the org roster looks like.
Solid PP1 puck movement – Marjala and Leppanen play catch and Leppanen wrists one in from distance – Howard with a good net front screen.
1-1
Leppanen is pretty much scoring a goal a game (5 in the last 6 games).
Issac Howard attempts a backhand sauce pass in his own zone from one boards to the other and it gets easily picked off for a breakaway and an early 1-0 deficit.
Truly one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a while…..
Howard’s been watching too many Leon Draisaitl highlights
Baseball style “games back” standings referenced to Wild Card 1 or 3Pacific because WC2 is worse than missing. Don’t be fooled by Jack Michaels telling you we’re only a couple points behind Vegas. We’re in major trouble here.
——outside———
Even though it seems like there’s \something totally wrong with this team, I still can’t see them finishing behind Utah and Seattle.
That might depend on the deadline.
Both Utah ($28.5M) and Seattle ($22 million) have considerable cap space and are eager to add.
Seattle reportedly made a very big offer for Panarin but he didn’t want to play there and went to LA instead.
Both teams are in need of scoring but are in the top 10 defensively.
It’s funny to me how you present Utah and Seattle as threats due to their cap space, and then immediately talk about how they couldn’t even attract a star talent, even when making a big offer.
Panarin reportedly turned down 14 million per season from Seattle.
What’s really funny is you don’t know that Panarin has a NMC and was totally in control of his destination.
Yeah and he chose to turn down the Seattle “$22million in Cap Space” Kraken which is exactly my point.
Just because a team has cap space to sign Panarin like players does not mean they will get Panarin like players.
I guess you haven’t heard of trades then.
Yes, because the team with the most cap space means they always win the trade. There have never been instances of teams with cap space making a big trade and having it blow up in their face, ever.
Utah’s GM drafted Robert Thomas when he was in St. Louis, and Utah has centres drafted in the first round of each of the last two drafts for St. Louis to choose from.
Utah is likely to have Robert Thomas in a couple of days. Whoever finishes 1st in the Pacific will likely play them. 2nd is the place to be in the Pacific.
Utah also has 10 picks in the upcoming draft as well as FOUR recent 1st round picks playing in the minors.
Remember 2006, strange things happen in Olympic years. I doubt if anyone predicted Carolina and Edmonton that year. The Oilers team that played the last 11 games does not make the playoffs
Utah loses.,,still in the first wildcard.
Sharks win…now 3 points out but carrying games in hand on most also still in it.
Summarizing!
Though Nicholl was held soupless in a 4-1 loss, he had a fine game on the dot, winning 11 of 18 draws (61.1%).
Prospecting takes a break until voices carry.
Crosby-less PIT blows out Vegas 5-0 (Silovs with the SO).
As shitty as the Oilers are at times, the path to the WCF out of the Pacific is clear.
The second wildcard team will draw Colorado in the first round.
Is that a clear path?
May as well take them out early.
Considering Boston had a historic regular season record in 2022-2023 and got punted out of the playoffs in the first round, the answer is yes, possibly.
Well, that settles it then.
If Boston couldn’t win, then no powerhouse team ever will.
It’s not just Boston. The Presidents Trophy was first awarded 40 years ago and since then, only 8 teams have won both the presidents trophy and the Stanley cup. The last team to win both was in 2012-2013
Being a power house in the regular season does not guarantee success in the playoffs.
Let’s get real … the Avs would sweep the Oilers in 4. Their team is better in every single way.
If sports were that predictable they would not nearly be as interesting.
The only hope the Oilers would have against the Avs is and Injury to MacK or Makar. You’re delusion if you think this Oilers team can beat a healthy Avs.
And it’s a world where people were called delusional for thinking the St Louis Blues, who were last in the league in January 2019 would make the playoffs, let alone go on to win the Stanley Cup that year, or people were called delusional for thinking the Las Vegas Golden Knights would be anything but dead last in their first season.
The only delusional people are the ones who claim to know the outcome of a sporting event with certainty.
What in the world does the 2nd wild card spot have to do with the path out of the Pacific? Absolutely nothing is the answer.
No it’s not but what does that have to do with the Oulers?
Friedman and others are reporting that Edmonton is only looking for a 2nd pairing D or a #3C at the trade deadline. If that’s the case, the season is lost.
In hindsight, goaltending isn’t as culpable as the team refusing to commit to managing the puck responsibly but good to great goalies can hide a ton of faults. One of Bowman’s failures was aiming too low at goalie targets and panic trading for Jarry. Bowman didn’t have the nerve to wait to see other targets become available.
On teams headed for non-playoff seasons, Helleybuyck, Shesterkin, and Wolf probably aren’t available but we heard the same about Mattias Ekholm before we pried him loose. Bobrovsky and Binnington are being shopped so the only benefit of Jarry is that his $5.375M cap hit could cover a large chunk of the incoming cap for a proven playoff goalie.
Nope 2RD is all that matters.
When they move on from Nurse this summer they can tweak their forward group.
As Rob Brown says, 3C isn’t worth the asset spend because they won’t play a 3C enough minutes to matter.
I agree. They need to get a RD that can succeed playing top 4 minutes.
To afford that RD, one of Nurse or Walman has to be traded, either at the deadline or this summer. That will be a costly trade, given their bloated contracts, but it has to be done.
Nurse and Walman are not a 2nd pairing, and they are waaay to expensive to be playing 3rd pairing minutes.
The time to trade Walman is now … his upcoming extension has a full NMC
His current contract has a full NMC for the year.
The chances that Nurse moves on this off-season seem very very slim.
I’m guessing Darnell isn’t looking to uproot his family with a new born.
Even if he did agree to waive, I’ve got to think there would be maybe 1-2 teams he would waive for and who knows if that team or teams would have any interest and what they Oilers would have to pay to get them to take the contract without retaining a material portion.
It seems HIGHLY unlikely.
Since MacT, we have only had one coach surpass 171 games. TMac. (266). Our longest serving coach in the last 20 years lasted about 3 seasons. Other than him it’s been 2 or less.
We hear a lot about the need for a new coach, and perhaps GM after GM are bad at picking coaches…. (Perhaps the level above is bad at picking GM’s….).
But I want to know what the players learn from having coaches fired into the sun as soon as things get bad, for the entirety of their NHL career. Like have these guys ever had to work towards tuning back into the coach? And by not giving them that opportunity are we losing out on something?
Or maybe the play is to only give 2 year contracts, and to be disciplined to walk away from each coach at the end of that…
Either lean in the the short term nature, or dig in and make the players work their way back. I think you need to be intentional with how you proceeded either way.
And McLellan was here way longer than he should have been. It was obvious very early he hadn’t learned anything from his failures with the Sharks. He shouldn’t have been hired at all based on that track record – but the choice was made.
This era of team has never had an appropriate style coach. That’s on management and ownership.
They keep choosing wrong – always from a flawed and limited process rather than a proper search and choice.
That’s not on any player.
I agree it’s not on the players, it’s on management But not just for their inability to choose the right coach, but also for their inability to stand by their decision. But that’s also on ownership and their ability to choose the right GM, who’s able to make good decisions and then stand by them.
It’s not on players, but I do believe it impacts them. Why do so many of our coaches look so good in year 1, less good in year two and so bad in year 3?
It’s better to cut bait if it’s not working. Figure out what type of coach can guide this group and find them. I think Knoblauch was closer to the mark, but I can’t see how a rookie coach can handle managing a historic player and two other elites that come with their foibles
I’ve elaborated on this before. I’ll try to do a shortened version here:
The coaches go through a cycle – that beginning success is due to the removal of the harms of the previous regime and the roster simply doing what it is capable of, especially offensively.
Then they hit a small wobble, and because the coaches they have chosen believe it can be corrected with “moar D!”, they try that, with a team designed to attack in all zones. These two things don’t mix.
The team stops scoring, gets worse, and starts to ride the rollercoaster. You get 8-1 wins. You get 5-4 losses. You get 3-0 stinkers. You randomly get absolute garbage games in the playoffs when they should be peaking. Getting beat happens. Throwing out absolute stinkers should not.
So the ideal thing to do is fire your coach just before the playoffs to get the new coach bump at the most optimal time.
A long, long history of not doing extensive searches for either GMs or Head Coaches is I think being further compromised by McDavid being potentially involved.
I think (how can this be anything other than speculation) McDavids involvement is of the nature of: “Start delivering a winning gameplan, right now”.
Hard to fault him for any level of involvement. How confident is the GM who can’t say “I got this, you focus on playing”. GM’s job to make that boundary clear.
Of course it’s speculation but having his agent ascend to POHO and junior coach turn up as head coach is one hell of a coincidence.
I always viewed that as GM’s trying to appease him, so he will be happy here, not McDavid demanding it. But again, who knows.also again, what is wrong with these GM’s….
Yes…neither is a good look and I have to think the owner was involved in the Jackson hire.
If your goal is increasing franchise value, he’s succeeding completely.
That wouldn’t be my goal – but I suspect it is the goal of many around this org.
Exactly so.
The hiring of Knob was 100% Jackson and had nothing to do with McDavid who straight up said he didn’t have an active relationship with Knob and had only come across him a couple of times since junior.
It also became known that Jeff Jackson had long been a huge fan of Knob and cited him as a future NHL coach – he had lots of clients go through Eerie and knew Knob well.
Jackson, the POHO, hired his coach.
Agreed. Same goes for the egregiously flawed GM searches (were there any?) and hires
It would be very interesting if somehow there was survey of professional hockey coaches on what they would do if they took over the Oilers bench.
Not reporters who state the obvious like “reduce goals against” but coaches who would state “how” they would reduce goals against.
And if the survey was very similar from several coaches, what is stopping this coaching team from achieving results?
Thankfully the Rasmus Andersson trade has been a complete disaster and the Oil are still in it
This is NOT a Darnell Nurse problem, or a simple roster problem, those would be easy fixes. This a character and style problem, with coaches that are unable to manage it as they feed into the problem itself.
The character, the style, the identity of this team has been offense, done with beautiful precision often. But then they often give up the hard work, the intensity, the determination needed to just win puck battles all over he ice.
We talk about this often. Some call it grit, other get grit mixed up with low talent players who can only fight or hit. Grit or determination is about winning every shift, every battle. All these players grow up with this, then seem to lose it on the Oilers.
It becomes follow the leaders. The leaders here play high skill because they can, and that is there form of intensity. But they can be beat. Extra effort, blocking shots, hits, interruptions, physical play can interfere with skill.
The rest of the Oilers forget who they are and what they bring. They try to copy leaders. They lose thier game. The strongest additions to Oilers rosters have strong personalities that do not cater to Oiler style.
You heard Captain McDavid say “dig in!” and that is the nature of the problem. Too much floating, coasting, waiting for puck to turn over – instead of taking it away.
Nurse is bad because hes not being Nurse. Trade him and he’s immediately better because hes back to regular hockey.
Watch every single team in the NHL play defence in thier own end, they are all different and better than the Oilers.
How is this corrected? Its not simple, its phycological. Not that I know, I can only guess.
Starts with a great coach who understands and recognizes what is going on. Why would Arvidson be a contributor, the do nothing for Oilers, then back to a contributor the next year? Coach must figure it out.
You need a coach who lets leaders run, but corrects critical errors that are contagious.
He corrects players not playing thier game. He asks then to play strengths. He involves all with roles and holds them to it. He has to adapt top six, bottom six to different game plans.
McDavid is so good, overplayed so much, the other players back off. You even seen this in the Olympics where Cooper fell into the same coaching trap.
I rarely contribute to the discussion. But it’s been burning inside me. I think everyone in here has a meaningful contribution and some excellent ideas. And all the comments and what the team has been doing sounds and looks like the famous painting “the scream”. This time I’m sure we’re all right, and top down from the GM to the coaching staff are all absolutely clueless. I will say that the players are least culpable. I mean anyone with a modicum of logic will agree that it takes true leadership, vision, creativity and passion to work through challenging times. And yes this should come from the players but it starts at the top. And these are challenging times. I wish no ill will to anyone but it’s time to fire the GM and/or the coaching staff. I always knew Bowman was not good He arrived with a stench of poor judgment in a most fundamental way. And clearly not extraordinary as a GM. Signing Frederic a shining example. There were other candidates who weren’t even considered. Tell my why they picked this guy? The coach was adequate and not a strategic genius. I mean losing two cups doing the same thing. Not complicated. How come we can all see this and they can’t? And it’s clear the players need/want structure, even if it’s imposed. And no one is imposing anything. Do this in the summer or now? I’d lean to doing it now. Why? This is not a terribly well structured team but the players are good. And I firmly believe that if you have 29 and 97 in your line up, you always have a chance. At least try it. The status quo will not end well. And I’d prefer cheering for a team that is well organized, led by passion and with a fist that is both gentle and firm. Right now there’s isn’t even a fist and worse yet no one is home at the GM or coaching level. Sad state of affairs. And I don’t at all agree it’s a cap issue. That’s a tired old excuse. I’m with all those who want the washed out vet benched or demoted with some fresh faces brought up from the Condors. How could that be any worse? Oh dear, this wouldn’t be happening if Sather was still here….oh wait is he available….or is McTavish?
Among other things, Craig MacTavish is the #1 reason the Oilers are now saddled with Nurse.
He is not the path. At all.
Valid point, and I agree on the McT not being the future. You couldn’t have read my mind and I didn’t say it, but both were tongue in cheek, although having McT behind the bench for the rest of the season – and only for the rest of the season – can’t be any worse, likely better, than the current coaching. On Nurse, maybe I’m too old, but it seemed to me most around here thought he was an inspired pick. He’s aged poorly for sure, and as LT has reminded us multiple times, the contract was a Holland deal and that was because they bridged him away to many times. And, while I dislike his contract, it’s not his fault. Blame the pristine management we have had for, it seems, way too long. And in my view he is a symptom of the extraordinarily bad situation this team finds itself in. I agree with many posters, find a way to fade him and convince him to waive the NTC. Maybe not this year……
Ahh, fair enough.
There are those around here who still see MacTavish with rose-colored glasses and believe he should have a role.
I hated the pick. Hated it more when I was at one of those season ticket holder functions listening to MacTavish explaining it.
A whole bunch of reasons that were not “he’s the best hockey player we could have gotten”.
That’s from the same era when they thought their secret weapon to attract players was a PowerPoint presentation they’d put together. I wish I was joking about that…
This is good, especially the part around the PowerPoint presentation 🙂 And I agree with your retort. You’re right about the rose coloured glasses thing. I disliked when he kept playing Toby Peterson. But even I can’t deny the coaching job he did in 2006. Maybe a part of my brain longs for that stretch of coaching, cause me thinks we ain’t going to get that with the current coach. On a hope and prayer, as they say!
Hey forgot to add. I wasn’t a fan of the pick either. For some reason I’ve never loved Nurse’s game, except for when he gets nasty and at times drops his gloves because he can be a deterrent. That seems to have disappeared.
There is a certain degree of sadomasochism involved in being an Oiler fan!
Part of why I’m not comfortable with how the team is coached is that I don’t see an ability to control the narrative and create the right kind of purpose in the leaders
I think of Leon saying he gets paid to score etc, which isn’t the right way of thinking about things to me. And so we see far too much risk in the top players games, and a cascade of problems that come from that including for guys this experienced, not enough game state awareness, puck management, and gamesmanship
That to me is the core of why they couldn’t get past the panthers twice. Last year the Leafs almost took them out, they looked beatable. Maurice has them at a high level of gamesmanship. Tactical slashes from their captain which seem to be invisible to the refs, or maybe he’s that good at it. And all of the rest of it, getting at the goalies, Tkachuk garbage, the whole group buying into what they had to do to beat the Oilers
The right way for Connor Leon and Bouch to think is that they are paid to win. They get a lot of points and get paid, and the points will come if they are winning and because of elite skill
But it’s about winning, and a lot goes into that beyond points. When the top players get to a point where they are more focused on doing things right, not forcing plays too often, having more patience with the process, doing what they have to do to win their battles and manage the puck, the rest will do the same, and the team will be able to play to it’s potential on paper in any situation
That is what great coaches get from their teams. The 80’s Oilers had one of the best ever at it, and if not for Slats they wouldn’t have become what they did as a team and as players. They have said so. To knit that level of talent together and direct it, and infuse the level of compete and battle into them was remarkable
Getting Messier on the right track, he could have just as easily been a loose cannon skilled nutter as the great leader he became. Helping him direct that intensity and will to dominate the right way was the difference
I hope Connor gets that
Do you think it’s time for the players to tune into their coaches?
I don’t think they are tuning out Knob. Maybe MacLellan at some point and Woody. MacLellan is old school and I remember a video from practice where it’s all bleeped out because he’s yelling profanities at them. Works for a while. I don’t know about Woody, but I found him odd and not like a hockey guy
I was getting at they need someone that connects with them on the next level. More of a strong leader. I imagine they like KK, but the X’s and O’s are a given at this level, still I wouldn’t be surprised if they are getting frustrated with that, KK doesn’t seem like a great tactician, given two finals results
Doesn’t grow on trees, but I think that’s the missing piece. It’s also not a knock on KK, most coaches, or even people in general, don’t have that great leader personality and persona. I see it as a big personality mixed with confidence verging on arrogance, smart, driven and patient, while also liking players and being likeable. Know when to back off, and know when to crack the whip
Strong leaders imprint, and players (and people in general) are drawn to it. I think it also takes pressure off the player leader group to have to do too much in that regard, and gives them direction
Well, if the goal is smart and strategical, while trying to deliver such in a calm manner; with a low intensity, mediocre vibe, I think they are tuned in.
i wrote me post above at the same time. Im driving at overall attitude towards winning similar to what you are driving at. Its not one player or another. Its the performances they seem to bring or not bring.
Follow Connor and Leon – yes, but not emulate what they do. Be the best at what you can bring. (Corey Perry) They are losing the war in the trenches.
These defensemen should be embarrassed, all of them. Worst defending core in the league. Is there any intensity in them?
Yes good post. Perry has that Messier vibe and intensity, certainly missed. Hates to lose at anything on the ice, has the gamesmanship I mentioned. You have to have at least as much as the opponent to win a Cup
This Oilers team is frustrating sure but the roster turnover is also pretty hefty.
New faces everywhere, vets getting flushed everywhere. Walman had a rougher day than Nurse yesterday. Sparkling fancies 2/3 though.. Walman has the yips. Both want to “go right now.” Sparkling fancies but two alike to be good? Then again Walman has been scoring a lot lately. I’d keep running it.
I think there were a LOT of green shots coming out this weekend.
Emberson/Stastney were solid (bad timing brain fart on 4-3 goal). Contributing offense.
Savoie, Roslovic and Frederick are full GO right now. Tough turn of the dice for Pod and Kapanen (gotta stay healthy). this will be fixed by getting rid of Henrique or at the very minimum shifting him to wing.
Today’s moves inject more skill and speed into the forward lineup.
The top line has been ridiculously high event. Some bad luck in there but also some very loose defensive play.
Need to goalies to chop one muffin per game off the line and we’re laughing.
Bouchard is wonderful if not high event at the moment. 92 point pace.
Walman was very poor, could not pass a puck tape to tape from 10 ft away. But I agree, both are very similar.
I think Coffee got mixed up. Its obvious he just coached them to hold possession and join the rush.
It is just as obvious he has not mentioned picking up a man in front of the net, not backing in, pushing to outside.
On the other hand, that is taught in minor hockey so Im not sure why Coffee would have to coach this.
Woodguy
@Woodguy55
WC standings using points % shown as points over/under fake Bettman .500
Central
COL 28
DAL 21
MIN 20
Pacific
VGK 11
ANA 9
EDM 6
Wildcard
UTA 7
SEA 5
Out of playoffs
NSH 3
SJS 2
LAK 2
WPG -3
CGY -3
CHI -5
STL -7
VAN -15
Woodguy
@Woodguy55
EC standings using points % shown as point over/under fake Bettman .500
Atlantic
TBY 23
MTL 15
BUF 15
Metropolitan
CAR 22
PIT 15
NYI 12
Wildcard
DET 15
BOS 13
Out of playoffs
CBJ 8
WSH 8
OTT 6
PHI 5
FLA 4
TOR 4
NJD -1
NYR -7
Vegas pummelled 5-0 by the Penguins (without Crosby) this afternoon as they, as predicted, are having issues on their brutal road eastern road trip.
The Ducks, who entertain the Flames tonight, must be licking their bills.
Do Ducks even have tongues?
This appears to confirm they do, although I wouldn’t say this source is unequivocal
I’m guessing that if larks have tongues, ducks will too.
Do you know how he calculates this?
*For those interested, I posted a photo I took of Celebrini crossing the blueline just before the first goal in response to comments from earlier in the morning.
I am happy that I was able to figure out how post this photo, but I would really like to understand how to do it here properly.
To be clear, this photo is in my photo gallery on my iphone.
I linked it here:
https://lowetide.ca/2026/03/01/wasted-on-the-way/#comment-1409410
I haven’t done it in over a year, but my recollection is you use the `img’ tag. I couldn’t figure out how to do it in the regular input mode, but if you activate the ‘code mode’ button at the bottom of the input screen that’ll get you started. Maybe start by looking up the html ‘<img> tag’.
. . . and I forget but this website either needs the angle brackets <> or the square brackets []. One of them works, but I forget which.
You uploaded the photo to ON, Once posted on the web, you posted a link to the photo here. There is no way to post a photo in the comments. You can only post a link to a photo – AND – not all links work. You need to experiment to find image hosting that will work.
From my experience only public links show as photos in the comments.
I appreciate the feedback daniel & delooper
The confusing part is that I could not post the link to my photo directly on LT, yet both use Disqus and have the same feature in their comment windows.
I think once you have the image hosted someplace, you can just post the link that goes directly to the image file. So it’ll probably end in “.jpg”. Often right clicking the image and going to ‘copy image link’ works, then pasting that directly into your comment.
Like this…?
I usually post my images to a temporary image hosting site. I forget which one, but something like imgbb.com or postimages.org allow you to upload and have it auto-deleted after a week or two.
I didn’t watch last night’s game (thankfully!). The impression I often get with this team is they see the success they expect to have, and then almost all of them let up a bit.
There’s the one-too-many passes issue, but it’s also being a little softer defensively, letting your gaps drift just a bit too far. It’s top to bottom, not just Darnell Nurse, but McDavid, Draisaitl, everyone.
Sounds like a coaching problem.
Mangiapane on waivers.
It’s about time. He won’t’ get claimed and, after he’s assigned, the Oilers will be able to call Samanski up and then place Janmark on LTIR and Samanski will remain a $975K cap player and not $1.41MM.
Issue is the swap will have them apx $150K under the cap and they’ll lose that cap space (that is won’t be able to go over by the entire $1.45MM of Jan’s AAV).
I guess we’ll have to wait until Monday morning before jumping to too many conclusions.
Check that, Regula on waivers as well.
With those two off the roster, they will have cap space to call up both Howard and Samanski to set their LTIR bonus reserves for both and maximize Jan’s LTIR at almost the entire $1.45MM.
This is actually elite cap management if Regula clears.
Thanks OP!
Elite cap management?
Yes, it gets both Samanski and Howard on the roster when they LTIR Janmark which means their cap hits stay at $975K and $950K, respectively, and don’t ballon to $1.41MM and $1.6MM. It also puts them within dollars of the cap which will maximize the LTIR space they get from Janmark.
PuckPedia
@PuckPedia
Today is the first day players can sign Entry Level Deals that start next season (26-27).
It’s also the effective date for the CBA change of the ELC max compensation limits being based on contract year, not draft year, and the new higher maximums in the CBA
Nurse is a goldfish in the worst possible way. Always has been. He’ll be an anchor on team success for so long as he wears the jersey.
Edmonton Oilers
@EdmontonOilers
The #Oilers have placed defenceman Alec Regula & forward Andrew Mangiapane on waivers.
Something’s going on.
Bob Stauffer
@Bob_Stauffer
Theoretically waiving Andrew Mangiapane and Alec Regula could end up being tied to an LTI (Mattias Janmark) move.
The Oiler could recall Josh Samanski and Isaac Howard and “capture” their bonuses in the LTI Capture.
PuckPedia
@PuckPedia
If #LetsGoOilersput Janmark on LTIR with Samanski & Howard in minors, then calling them up later would take up their AAV (cap hit + perf bonuses) of 1.46M & 1.62M. However, if they’re on the NHL roster when Janmark goes on LTIR, they count as their cap hits of 975K & 950K.
Therefore, expect EDM to send the guys on waivers down after clearing waivers so they have room to call up 1 or both of Samanski & Howard. Once up, they can put Janmark on LTIR. Then, after the players sent down play at least 1 AHL game, they could be swapped back
If only we had a hard working smaller stature quick-shoot first former Hobey Baker winner on our team like the habs have. I counted on more than one hand the 2on1’s we tried to unsuccessfully pass in the net. If only we had a shooter. We had so many missed opportunities without even a shot because the San Jose D was playing strictly pass.
We do! We’ve got exactly that player, in the A. Give Stan a call. I’m sure he’d appreciate you helping him out.
But seriously, not having any pro hockey credentials, and pretty wet behind the ears when it comes to player development and deployment, I choose to be curious about things like this. Please take my ribbing with a grain of salt.
How’s that not playing the best player available working out for K.K who’s on the verge of getting sacked?
The difference is the Habs hard working small statured Hobey Baker winner had an immediate impact and don’t say the Oilers haven’t given him the opportunity.
They gave him shit 4th line Clattenburg role-minutes. You make 1 mistake kid and that includes dumping the puck in deep and your ass is back in a seedy motel in Bakersfield by next morning. K.K had the perfect time to try Howard in the Leon spot but he wanted to kickstart Walman instead. Until Howard is traded and given a legit opportunity will never know if we had a DeBrincat-Caulfielf the whole time will we?
Stan may bring Howard back, but I would be shocked if KK will put him in a place to succeed. Coach does not know how to work 3 rookies in because he doesn’t trust them – even moreso now that his job is on the line.
Reality is, it’s a tall order for any coach to work three rookies into a lineup.
I think K.K is afraid of his own shadow. I had hoped Bowman would have hired you know who as head coach but there was enough spewed hatred going around already with the Coffey consulting hire.
His opportunity in Edmonton is still in tow. It’s up to him to make the most of it, as Caufield did with the Habs. Patience is a virtue. He still may not be an NHL player. Can’t see him not getting a good look in Edmonton though, considering they gave up a top prospect to get him.
That’s why you stuck him on the 4th line. Now I understand.
5’8″ 180 lbs cole caufield
5’10” 180 lbs ike howard
A bit different units as far as center of gravity ability to adapt aroumd size differences (a lot of sub 6 footer howard sized skill goes drafted and undrafted college route for a reason so caufield ways of leveraging and finding ways to excel surely a bit more prevalent developed than howards would be to succeed already…like caufield likely has been smaller and shorter than everyone his entire youth obviously).
Draft year production…anything stick out for you?
Gp G A Pts
Caufield: 36 19 17 36
Howard: 35 6 11 17
No?
How about draft plus 1?
Gp G A Pts
Caufield: 31 30 22 52
Howard: 36 8 28 36
No?
Draft plus 2 maybe?
Gp G A Pts
Caufield “i’m rich beeatch”
Howard 37 26 26 52
Hmmm….it maybe a least fair to say one of these young men appears like a goal scoring machine playing against men and not even full grown to their physicality really. Like easily might have been a buck 50 like i was with same type of frame that can now pick up guys like 250 lbs and just carry them like they are little children (i settled in fighting weight around 190-195 so a bit more upper body 6’2 frame but he definitely has more martin st louis trunk that i’m sporting but point same not easy to knock over in fact a lot of cases an advantage and i’ve had many a funny university tale about reverse dwarf tossing some aggressive bully arshole out of house parties or roid monkey bouncers twice my size on their asses to a laughing audience)
So yeah different. Definitely note worthy. But shouldn’t be required past why a 5’8″ little wrecking ball goal machine went 19th overall his draft year…
3 5’8″ guys have been 1st rounders in past 20 years.
Yamamoto
Caufield
Stankhoven
Debrincat (2nd), brayden point (3rd), ardvisson (4th) were steals because of this factor.
Ike howard went 31 for a reason.
In short:
Under 6′ and college route is a terribly oversimplified narrative to jump too far in assumptions with.
So then why trade Sam O’Reilly for Howard If you’re not going to give Isaac a a legit chance to succeed. I bet dollars for doughnuts Tampa will have test driven Sam as centre 4th line by this time next year. As far as I know multi-purpose centres have more value than a Benson in the minors.
Howard played 28 games for the Oilers – your opinion on “1 mistake” and its implications are made up.
He took more minor penalties than he produced points,
Over the last 10 games, the Oilers have scored the most goals in the league and given up the most goals in the league.
I’m not sure the struggling Ike Howard is the answer to the current issues (although I do think he’ll score lots of goals for this team over the next few years – perhaps starting post-deadline this season, not sure though).
Read the blog daily but seldom contribute a comment. But after watching the Oilers post Olympic performances I must truly address KK’s ability to coach and adjust accordingly. Place Nurse on 3 rd pair, make RNH your third line centre, get the GM to add a physical nhl caliber player to clear the front of our net( opposing players gain position and park themselves there… hey Nurse that is your job… clear the opposition out). KK had a great start but other teams have adapted to his plans and he remains stubborn. There is a very qualified and successful coach who will be snapped up quickly when the season ends… Peter DeBoer… he would be a solid replacement.
Q: Who is the most successful NHL coach, currently? Criteria: WIN% in regular season, WIN% in playoffs.
Second Q: Who are the most successful NHL coaches, historically?
These are not rhetorical questions. My hunch is that churn rarely leads to medium or long term success, for coaches or teams. This organization, since MacT, has burned through coaches (& goalies). The impatience of this organization (owner? GMs trading futures for win-now? Offensive talents cheating for highlight reel goals? Fans hollering for new goalie/coach/GM?) is, to my untutored eye, is why it is struggling to find consistency.
Our host often advocates for patience. Keep the powder dry. Not because everything is peachy, but —perhaps— because in his many years of observation he’s seen what frequent fireworks has brought Oilerville?
The long term approach works if you have the right coach early in the core’s careers, like Cooper in Tampa. It took a while to get where they did, the GMs also getting more of the right players
That’s not the Oilers position. The core are all vets heading out of prime. They aren’t learning the NHL anymore, they need to perform like a great NHL team. If it takes a coaching change to get them focused I say do it. I’m not seeing anything inspiring from this HC, just meat and pototates
I’m wondering about this. There is in OIlerville an strong whiff of exceptionalism about having McDrai. For many, it makes everything immediate, urgent, underwritten by the expectation that McDavid *will* win a Cup. If I’m wrong, please tell me. I remember, long before I started watching hockey again, Oilers fans I knew excited about the success he was going to bring the club. He wasn’t called McJesus for nothing.
What happens if the urgency is dialled back? If the focus isn’t on “McDavid MUST win the Cup?” What if we considered, How can this team build on what he brings to the club to create longer term success (whether that’s measured in Cups, regular season WIN%, ticket and merch sales, etc)?
Even in the short term, stability and consistency helps build team culture. This team has seen significant churn in coaches and goalies in the McDavid Era. It’s seen huge churn in the lineup since KK took over. I’m not very knowledgeable about things hockey, but I do know that in life, generally, huge expectations coupled with churn is a recipe for chaos, not success. Unless your accounting for success includes fan and media consternation (and clicks and views and ticket and merch sales). In which case the McDavid Era is over-delivering.
To me it’s about context. The Oilers aren’t in a building mode now, haven’t been in a while. Not every team is in a position to win a Cup, but that’s the point of it all. Pro sports is about winning, you are either building to it or trying to do it in the present
Most teams live on the edge with their fan base and have to push hard to keep them interested. Maybe part of the problem for the Oilers management and owner is that they have the most loyal and engaged fan base in the league, and have sat back too much
When you have Connor and you have a good team, you shouldn’t punt on a season. They are much better than they are playing. If bringing in DeBoer changes the vibe I say do it. Woody got canned for them falling into this same funk
Thanks.
Another hypothetical: What could have been if the organization had more patience with Woody?
Funks and flat trajectories are normal parts of an organization’s (or marriage or friendship or business’s) cycle of development. Is something not being learned when funks are truncated?
(When I get frustrated with the lack of awareness of the obvious in this team’s play I have to remember: these “men” we talk about are often still not much more than very talented, well-paid teenagers playing a game; they’re capacity for self-awareness and learning is limited by, among other things, their brains only becoming fully developed in the latter part of their 20s. Most of us men don’t learn what’s really important in most aspects of our lives until we’re in mid-life. What kind of coach has the patience to help his talent mature? What kind of organization has the patience to support a coach with this patience?)
To some degree that’s happening this year as they transitioned away from the vets (Perry, Arvy, JSkinner), brought up Savoie and started Howard in the NHL when Hyman was out. Bringing in Mangi was supposed to bring some savvy.
So far, it’s not worked as planned but I still see this as a transition year, like what Bowman did the year after Chicago won their 1st cup because Tallon so screwed up the cap. This year was about extending the window.
What KK has struggled with is integrating the kids – and he made it harder on himself by running 97/29 on the same line too long and sticking Howard on the 4th line. When he put Howard w/28 & 22, he created a line with 2 defensive liabilities at forward, again not helping himself.
He’s continuing to make it hard on himself because he panics when the team falls behind, and shuffles the lines constantly. Don’t think the players aren’t frustrated by this, and aren’t talking about this under their breath.
Thanks
An unscientific sample of coaches I consider to be successful (numbers more or less up to date):
Paul Maurice: .500WIN% over 1930 regular season games; .538WIN% over 160 playoff games. Five SCFs in 27 years, .185%. Two Cups
Jon Cooper: .599WIN% over 1019 reg. season games; .569WIN% over 155 playoff games. Four SCFs in 13 seasons, .308%. Two Cups
Joel Quenville: .548WIN% over 1826 regular season games; .538WIN% over 225 playoff games. Three SCFs in 25 seasons, .120%. Three Cups.
Historical:
Scotty Bowman: .654WIN% over 2141 regular season games; .637WIN% over 347 playoff games. 13 SCFs in 30 seasons, .433%. Nine Cups.
For comparison:
Kris Knoblauch: .580WIN% over 212 regular season games. .617WIN% over 47 playoff games. Two SCFs in two seasons, 1.000%. Zero Cups.
I don’t know if any of this means anything. Coaches will get varying results with different teams and different opposition.
But one of the things I noticed in looking at these coach histories is that for every coach, bad years and/or bad playoff seasons are marbled in with the good years and better playoff seasons. I haven’t looked into it, but I’m curious about the long term trend of retaining a coach through tough years, or firing a coach in tough years. Which leads to better WIN% and/or Cups? The Oilers have a history of firing when the going gets tough. That doesn’t appear to have been a recipe for WIN% or Cup success.
And this is why they won’t fire KK until the early playoff exit this year.
I was playing hockey on the outdoor rink with my 5 year old and his friend yesterday. When I play them I’ll try toe drags, stick handle between their legs, no look passes etc. l they’ll pick off the puck and score on me sometimes, but I don’t care because I’m not playing to win, just having some fun. Then it hit me, this seems to be the oilers attitude now. It seems like they’re not respecting their opponents, they’re just out there trying to dangle and having fun, not seriously trying to win games.
I like it. But they don’t look like they’re having much fun after the games. Sour pusses, all of them, after all that fun (& frankly, entertainment for fans who appreciate the comedy [goalie stick goal], the beauty [goals! More goals!], and the tragedy [sleepy starts, late game goals against]).
Maybe they’re trolling us, with these crazy games? Maybe we didn’t get it, when they said hockey was an entertainment business?
Maybe having fun in the wrong word. But it looks like they’re not interested enough to consistently do the hard parts of the game that they need to win. They just want to try stretch passes, pass through legs, stick handle around multiple players, blind drop passes, etc. it seems like a combination of not respecting their opponents and either noting caring enough about winning or not being afraid enough of losing.
Scoring goals is fun. Preventing goals is hard dirty work.
Just like Stuart Skinner was NOT “the” problem with the Oilers, Darnell Nurse is NOT “the” problem with the Oilers.
Skinner did not take up over $9M of cap.
Darnell Nurse is the 10th highest paid defenceman in the league and makes more than 96.06% of defencemen currently on an NHL roster and takes up 9.7% of the available cap space, while Stuart Skinner is the 39th highest paid goalie in the league and makes more than 45.83% of goalies currently on an NHL roster and takes up 2.7% of the available cap space.
Nurse is certainly part of the problem, and honestly, a big part of it.
With Darnell’s new baby maybe this would be a good time for some time away from the team. Could be an opportunity to “healthy scratch” him without causing to much controversy. ( well maybe less controversy)
Podkolzin played 14:10 on no line?
You missing that because of the shat fack panic scramble blendering effect….might be arguement for “saddly can’t hurt considering firing coach. He is losing the script”.
Podz henrique frederic
-> looked decent in anaheim. 1st time this season any sign of a 3rd line hakf decent
-> seemed solid in LA win….
Psnic scramble comnence.
Like this was my biggest problem last night reflecting on anything. I had no idea who was playing with who. I can’t imagine effect that level of mess would feel like in game as a player.
Like over boards…who am i playing with? Look to check….oh shit it’s manispane best not try to dump and deep cycle between like i was starting to do and seemed like gaining traction….for this shift at lesst i guess (or whatever just yeah seems crazy hard to dial in plan)
It’s old school force the players to play the system. Every player I have heard says they don’t like constant juggling. Anybody who has played sports knows that getting familiar with how the players your with think and do things makes it easier to do better. You can develop timing and ways of attacking and defending together
I remain convinced this core needs a coach that can convince them to do things differently with words and leadership. We haven’t had that coach since MacT
I don’t think T Mac was a shrinking violet or man of few words. However. Lost the room fairly quick iirc.
He was HC for 8 seasons, and got a lot out of the players he had
Tmac not MacT
It might be time to shake up the core, wait a minute they can’t. Can they? This core of players talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. As someone else said, the inmates rule the asylum. Many coaches have tried and it works until the players decide to stop listening, and then the coach is gone. That seems to be the thyme. Can’t force these players to do anything. It’s the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friends.
There are lots of ‘good’ coaches and a few great ones. It’s communication that’s the difference, not simply talking to the players and having a good relationship, but leading them, convincing them to take the path that is needed. You can use TOI but it’s better to convince them. Is that coach out there?
Good question???
FriedgeHNIC tweeting that Hiller is out in LA
https://www.nhl.com/kings/news/la-kings-announce-coaching-update
Holland beating us to a new coach
D.J. Smith, 48, in his second full season as Associate Coach of the LA Kings. Smith joined the organization on Feb. 5, 2024, after serving as the Head Coach of the Ottawa Senators for parts of the last five seasons (2019-24).
Matt Greene also promoted to Assistant Coach after working in player development.
Blake and Holland made sure that there was coaching depth in the organization. Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman did not.
The Oilers have no internal option available to take over.
that is true we don’t have an option to take over. I don’t think DJ smith is all that great though. Teams like Pittsburgh with Nelson as assistant, Anaheim with Woodcroft, St Louis with Julien. Those teams i am envious of their depth.
They shall replace Hiller with knob.
If i was coach:
I would go media blackout. No pre or post. There is nothing to reflect on or regret. There is nothing but the next game coming, every minute of that game until final siren and then the next game following that with dice have no memory attached.
As far as any of you are concerened every game is best of 1 series elimination game until i tell you any different.
Nothing but us and your life outside of hockey matters at this moment.
Fans unfortunately don’t exist and no reading any articles about team performance.
None of that matters slightest bit until we are playing 1st game of round 1 series in front of them again. Like we are supposed to be doing.
Get it done as a team.
Spector style questions trying to bait preconstructed narratives with quotes that chickenhawk and single out individuals…i don’t care how well paid they are it wears on anyone in a way it does not help confidence to some degree at a time where there is closing in on zero margin for error here.
Not even the slightest room for second guessing a split second style war room mentality. Doesn’t matter battle won or lost just keep shooting. We will win war or die trying.
Kill everybody. Every second of every shift until we are in.
Spector wears on all of us. Except his cross-dressing and elderly defenders who are wearing thin themselves. He’s terrible.
The NHL would not look fondly at any team shutting out media coverage while those media would very publicly howl in protest.
I think the NHL has rules about media availability for coaches and players.
It does.
There are very, very few hockey players i enjoy listening to. Playing hockey, yes. Putting words together, no.
But, it’s an entertainment business. Watching players fumble and mumble their way through words for things that there are no words for is considered entertaining by some. And it sure fires up the fans, these cliches and the body language. Sells clicks, shares, views, and subscriptions —and tickets!
Nevertheless, it seems cruel to ask this of them. Especially when they are struggling.
ps. I’d much rather hear Darnell Nurse talk about his new baby than his on-ice struggles. The one is news and is joyful. The other is already known to any of us who’ve watched him play, and it is not joyful or entertaining.
Watching and listening is of course optional.
True. And mostly I choose watching. But I wonder about those who choose the painful experience of listening…
I think we know what Henrique is now. A player that makes no mistakes but adds nothing. Like Janmark.
He’s ok as a 13/14 forward but nothing more. Lazar is certainly better in my opinion. Tough to make it happen capwise but that’s the gms job.
The Mendocino article reminded me of the song. Hadn’t heard it in a while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3V2BGQKAk&list=RDHy3V2BGQKAk&start_radio=1
Me too. Thanks for the link. Every few years I go down the Sir Douglas rabbit hole and enjoy the musical gems and the stories.
ps. Down one of those rabbit holes I believe i found a connection to Edmonton.
The McGarrigles
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Cudn4goNo
From what I’ve seen since the start of the year and for many years the top players cheat for offense too much. Cheating is ok all top guys do but there has to be times to role it back.
The top forwards will linger in the ozone after possession is lost hoping for a jam play at the blue line or an errant pass then back to offense. Should be working to get above pucks then if a turnover happens and possession is regained they can attack downhill. (Like the panthers did in the playoffs) The linger leads to odd man rushes against often and huge pressure on the defense with no help. (Nurse backing in)
At the other end in the dzone the top players are always putting themselves in position to jump for offence. They jump on anticipation of possession while possession is still very much in doubt. They seem to jump as if every d man is Bouchard.
( Bouchard is amazingly good at gaining possession of pucks then zone exit passes)
The ready to jump and anticipation leaves opponent players access to pucks that come their way even though the oiler forwards are often in close position but leaning to jump for offence.
( several goals in the last few games)
Very correctable but need commitment from players and coaches. I have no doubt they understand.
I wait for McDavid’s Yzerman moment (& wonder what ever happened to Drai’s early season Selke aspirations). These are, to my mind, the keys to winning —and winning the Cup— for this team. (I am a broken record…)
It’s why guys like Barkov and Kopitar win Cups …commitment to taking care of their end first. And it’s why McDrai has never won anything of consequence … their commitment wavers constantly
I saw the same thing watching the Leafs game last night. The broadcast crew were talking about how Nylander has lead the leagiue in breakaways 2 years running. What I saw was a cherry picker who couldn’t be bothered to defend his end of the ice. That’s why the Leafs are losers … because their top players set a bad precedent for the team to follow.
The one constant with the Oilers, no matter who the GM is, is the continued mismanagement of the salary cap.
It started with Chiarelli giving Lucic 7 years x 6 million. Holland gave Nurse 9.25 x 8 and Campbell 5.5 x 6? Now Bowman has given Frederic 3.8 x 8 and Walman 7 x 7. Combine this with numerous short term overpays, the latest being Mangiapane and Henrique, and you end up with a team that can never build enough depth get over the hump. And you end up with a continuous asset drain of picks and prospects to try and fill the holes.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the Oilers keep trying to plug these holes with veterans based on their past play rather than targeting cheaper, projectible players. For instance, Alex Wennberg was traded for a 2nd round pick at the deadline a few years ago. The Oilers decided to spend a 1st on Henrique instead, based on his past production. Wennberg was already the better player at the time of the trade, and the gap has widened considerably.
And then the continued asset drain to free cap space because of poor signings and trades. Gave up assets to get Jarry. Damn, now we have no flexibility because our goalie budget doubled. Now we cant do anything. This could be why they haven’t traded Mangiapane? Other teams know we are desperate for cap space coming up to the deadline?
Nope. Not one GM in the McDavid era has had much of a clue about cap or asset management. What could have been a dynasty may not join the champions ring even once.
Missed the game last night but it’s nice to hear KK is back to rewarding good play with demotions. This team is running out of time to get a new coach.
Who would you pick as the new coach.
I truely don’t know who but I hope someone in the organisation is doing their due diligence on this one. I’d prefer someone a little more fiery but I don’t know who that is.
His initials are PD
Change is coming this summer unless they crap the bed in the next 5 (i.e. 1-4-0). Even then, the season will be over and at that point it may make more sense to let him finish out the season and fire him once they’ve missed the playoffs.
If it’s true that Hiller is out in LA, they may be grabbing the coach we need
Maybe they are grabbing knob.
More to come.
I would not be excited by what LA has. They’ve trade a lot of assets, Byfield is not the savior that some saw, Kopitar is done, Doughty aging out. Yes, you have Kempe, but their upside is not as good as the Oilers over the next few years.
PD would be the hard target for the Oilers.
I have been a Bowman defender, but if LA hires De Boer, I can’t think of another coach with enough experience and rep to coach this group. It would be a big error in judgement to have kept Knob over a coach like PD. Another end of career guy or green horn obviously won’t work because it hasn’t worked. Or a defense first grump like McLellan who couldn’t take the loaded Sharks to a Cup over many seasons
Granted he didn’t have as good a roster with the Oilers as it is now, still you aren’t going to have success unless a way is found to harness what the top guys do in a better way. You can’t make them become the Lightning. Whatever Knob is trying obviously isn’t working, they can’t do it for more than 20 or 30 games, and the goal share stats are getting worse over time
Here’s your stat of the day.
The oilers 5 highest paid players who have played most of their games have been on for 262 goals against at evens. That’s McDavid, Drai, Nurse, Bouchard and Ekholm.
The equivalent group for Colorado with Makar, Toews, Nate, Necas and Lehkonen are at 134.
Look up any team really. Randomly chose Detroit and they are at 160.
I mean, what are we doing here guys.
Worst in the league with 64 goals against at even? OEL. And he’s our hard target.
Of course, four of those 5 are still outscoring even if they are giving much of it back. Bouchard on for 64/54. Just the one guy that manages to combine the offense of the third line with the defense of the first. Nurse at 43/55 while being the worst PK guy on the team and playing zero PP
I never thought the day would come that I’d prefer Eichel but at 8/13.5, that day has come.
Jeeeeez, interesting stats
I’m guessing a lot of Bouchards goals against were from the start of the year. He’s been excellent for months now however the top guys do leave him hanging out to dry often.
The Oilers are an elite PP and a shambles elsewhere.
They rank 20th in the league in 5V5 GF% at only 48.01
For comparison:
COL 64.68
TBL 57.87
WSH 55.2
UTA 55.06
CAR 54.73
DAL 54.71
Of course COL is a dominant team even though its PP is inexplicably the worst in the league considering the talent available.
https://moneypuck.com/teams.htm
5v5 scoring has been the achilles heel for years. They have tried signing players with solid career 5v5 stats, something is amiss because they can’t do it in Edmonton
The problem isn’t so much the signings it was the usage. Those players got less ice time with the Oilers, virtually no PP time to get in the scoring groove, etc.
True
Jason Gregor
@JasonGregor
Oiler last 10 games:
Scored the most goals in NHL (44).
Allowed the most goals in NHL (46).
Goalies need to make a few more saves, but their skaters need to be much better defensively. And not just one or two. Way too leaky overall.
When there are no consequences for poor play where is the impetus for change?
25 continues to be soft net front yet keeps getting his minutes
Fancy Dans keep trying the high risk plays regardless of game state, but they are making the highlight reels and are winning the scoring race so all must be good
No sane coach would plan for their team to defend like this. The inmates are running the asylum.
So sick of Nurse! He seriously needs to sit a game or 2. Put Regula in. In all seriousness he can’t be any worse. Maybe put him with Walman and Walman may improve a bit playing his normal side.
The coach changing the lines up and dropping Savoie makes no sense at all. But that said Savoie looked great on the 3rd line and they played very well once he was on it.
Henrique just doesn’t drive that 3rd line and once Savoie got on it, he drove it. Someone mentioned Samananski had to be called up before Janmark goes on LTIR. Apparently doing it that way makes all the money and possible bonuses work.
Pretty sure we end up with one of Murphy, OEL, Zub, Schneider, Faulk,or Schenn. Take your pick. Some will cost lots and others ( Schenn ) not.
Looked at Nurse’s buyout and it is ridiculous and not even worth it. My god even his buddies Drai and McD must look at his play and get so frustrated.
We scored 17 goals in 3 games and lost 2. That is ridiculous.
Did anyone see that off side on one of the. Goals last night that they didn’t challenge. Odd
Do you mean the first GA? That was closer than it appeared. Yes, the puck crossed the blue line into the Oiler zone before the Shark player touched up, but the player made it to the blue line the same time Celebrini put his stick on the puck inside the zone. So, I think that’s why they didn’t challenge it.
Ok
I doubt it, puck drop happened very quickly after the goal.
I took a photo of the moment Celebrini crossed the blueline. The linesman is not standing at the blueline and an Oiler is blocking his view.
The puck was also blocked by Celebrini’s blade. Officials miss bigger events than this, there is no way the linseman had a definitive view.
I wish I could share here. I was able to add a link at ON. This was a miss by the officials and a miss by the Oilers staff.
Wow, I figured it out.
*I did this by opening up the link I was able to share in my ON post, then copied & pasted the URL of the posted photo.
Seems overly complex, but I got here…
Fair enough, I took screen shots and it looked like Celebrini’s stick didn’t make contact with the puck as it crossed the blue line, although your image does look like it did. I haven’t seen any camera shots from above the play. Ended up being a difference maker in a 1 goal game so that is unfortunate.
Not even close.
When did celebrini finally touch the puck…..thats what matters
And the linesman sees this, how?
Meanwhile, there is a player right in front of him still skating out of the ozone.
If he is human, there is no way he can judge this. They often can’t make the right call on an icing.
However, the most egregious mistake that was made, was there was no effort made to look at this closely by the coaching staff. That should have been a coach’s challenge.
The puck was dropped less than 20 seconds after the goal, I didn’t see anyone looking at an iPad on the bench.
Good point on the ipad comment. But i do believe linesman can be this good. Even playing really basic house hockey back when i was a kid, this was a thing. Way slower play obviously but the nhl linesmen are also way better.
So in 3 games on the coast Oilers score 17 goals and only win one game. Pretty much tells you all you need to know about this teams commitment to playing defence. Bringing Coffey back has not resulted in any noticeable defensive play and perhaps the opposite. For the record I was a fan of bringing him back……
Terrible management since Chiarelli.
The good thing is the problems seem easily fixable. Just a bit more defensive danger awareness! Take a second, look up, identify danger. Hopefully Coffey can deal with this.
Easily fixable? The Oilers have gone through 3.5 GM’s and 4 coaches since McDavid arrived and nothing much has changed.
Holland was slow and far far from perfect, but he had finally filled the ditch by the end of the 23-24 season. Jeff Jackson promptly redug the ditch on July 1, 2024.
This team and owner will go down in history for wasting the prime years of too many great players and trading for busts
Hutson has been moved down to the third line and Jarventie to the top – Hutson is struggling. Howard has been struggling but was better last night.
A bit player, in and out of the lineup, Matvey Petrov, got this first shootout attempt last night (didn’t score) – interesting choice by Chaulker.
Hutson could be one they try to add as a prospect for sure
In my opinion, Hutson will ceiling out as a tweeter at the NHL level. He’s got some legit skills but given his age, he’s tiers below Howard as a prospect.
If another org attributes real value to him in a trade, pull that trigger.
Very well said especially “This edition of the Oilers is possibly the most frustrating I’ve ever seen”. I had virtually the same sentiment typed out last night but was too frustrated to even send it. I have watched this team since the very beginning in the WHA and it is absolutely the most frustrating edition to watch.
And my wife would say that it is the most frustrating edition of this team to listen to me watching!
Half way through he game Matty tweeted that Ekholm had played the least among the D at 8 minutes – I would think its just load management – this was 3 in 4 days.
Nurse was terrible last night, Walman may have been worse. The vitriol towards Nurse online everywhere is overstated – there is lots to blame him for but he’s betting blames for things that are not his fault – similar to Skinner before he was traded.
Nurse is not waiving in the next 5 days and this team is not better by sitting him in the press box (or moving him to forward) and adding Regula to the lineup.
Nurse and Walman need to be better, be it together or apart – they’ve had success together but are not right now – not at all.
Nobody is deluding themselves that Nurse is going to get traded in the next 5 days. But pitchforks are out for good reason … he sucks. He has for years now. And he’s too expensive to be a third pairing defenseman.
Good organizations find away to get rid of the deadweight. Loser organizations twist their hands about whether this and that play was a specific players fault, and dither themselves into oblivion.
He needs to sit in the press box at least 1 game to send a message. He has been bad. I think it’s Nurse bringing Walman down just like every partner Nurse has had this year. Coffey has his work cut out for him but Nurse needs a night eating popcorn.
He needs to get out of the top 4 and get some easier minutes. Maybe that rights the ship for him.
They need a legitimate #2 RHD with at least one more season of contract term.
Ek-Bouch
Walman-Faulk?
Nurse-Emberson
I would not play nurse with ember. Emberson has been excellent. I believe stashneys ability to recover helps him. Stashney isn’t going to show up on the scoresheet but he’s been quietly good since the break.
Don’t need nurse to F up another pair.
I’d first try him on the right side to allow Walman his strong side then straight to the press box. Gotta be able to make tough decisions to gain respect.
Anyone care to dream what the franchise might look like if 97 was traded? 29 becomes the one true captain, cap space galore, draft picks restored, and maybe a good player or two in return. We said a change of scenery would be good for Skinner, perhaps that reasoning might apply to McDavid. PS, Nurse is part of that trade.
Trade McDavid, Bouchard, Ekholm, Emberson, Mangiapane, and Jarry to the Rangers for Fox, Gavrikov, Schneider, Zibanejad, and Shesterkin.
Cuts my guts out to even type my reply ….BUT….imagine what could we do with a proper roster construction redo….
Give McD his choice of where he wants to go….say Anaheim or SanJose..
and be realistic in who would come back….
Carlson Gauthier, Senneke, ….take any two or those 3. Then go find a hairy ass D man
or 2….
McDavid gets a chance at a cup and a change or scenery of his choice, we move on from Nurse, and we finally have a change at a proper roster construction….
Anaheim has TWO hairy ass defensemen and they are both RH shots…Gudas and Trouba who is enjoying a renaissance in California.
However, I doubt the Ducks would have much interest in this deal.
Perhaps, Carlsson, a first and one of the D.