When Sinatra Sings Against Nelson Riddle’s Strings

No, it isn’t winter, in fact we can’t even see it from here (you’re saying ‘shut up!’ right now and I can hardly blame you) but hockey season and the autumn leaves have found us again. Please read this.

We are closer to the training camp for this year’s Oilers, but will have to go through a few days of coaches and managers ‘saying words’ before we find out the important stuff. Like? Where do 97-29 line up? Is Ike Howard with a top center? And on it goes. I could write the same thing I’ve written for the last two weeks, or we could look back. To September 18, 2015 below. How much of what I wrote then reminds you of this training camp?

We’ve been waiting for weeks and today we’ll see actual lines and pairings, or more accurately pairings and pairings (TMac—that’s Todd McLellan’s nickname apparently—likes pairings up front) as camp starts for real. Hall—McDavid, Nuge—Eberle and Draisaitl—Lander appear to be obvious pairs up front, although I’m going to be interested to see if Benoit Pouliot, Nail Yakupov or Teddy Purcell find a spot somewhere in the ‘set in stone’ group. On defense, it sounds like more of a moving target:

Todd McLellan: “Sekera, Oscar, there are a lot of defensemen who are going to be, there’s a lot of defensemen we aren’t sure of, as far as pairs and finding the combination.”

I think we’ll eventually see Sekera, Oscar, Mark Fayne and Nikita Nikitin as the top four but the Oilers do love Justin Schultz and maybe TMac can unlock him. I think McLellan’s quote above suggests intelligence and the ability to reason. Assessing this Oilers defense begins with sorting, then identifying, what’s worth saving.

Todd McLellan: “We’ll have a break in camp very quick where it becomes somewhat evident what our plans are in terms of splitting up NHL and AHL teams. That doesn’t mean that will be set in stone, there will be players who move from the A group to the B group so they can interact.”

Love the urgency here, suspect that was one of the things that derailed Dallas Eakins in his two seasons. They play a SS home and home with Calgary on Monday, then home Wednesday against the Jets followed by away on Friday in Winnipeg and a game in Saskatoon the following night against the Wild. I think we’ll see the NHL team at home against Calgary and the AHL crew play the road game.

Todd McLellan: “I know my experience with Taylor and Jordan was a good experience. There was a complete buy-in for that whole team. If they as strong leaders can carry that over and convince the players that has to happen, we do have a head start. I believe we can do that.”

Can these kids back check, take a hit to make a play, delay the sortie until help arrives, shorten up those outlet passes because no one has flown the zone? Todd McLellan didn’t sign on for Phonics here, this is a mountain.

One of my favorite things about the game of hockey is the brilliant impact of a tape-to-tape pass on the fly. Danny Gallivan used to use the word “springs!” as “the pass to Cournoyer springs him loose from the pack!” and it’s an apt word to use when the transaction is successful.

The Oilers, dear friends, are not the masters of this domain. I’m not expert so can’t say if it’s because the blue simply can’t estimate the impact of bodies in motion, or the damnable forwards are too lazy to skate a few extra feet, or the pressure of a forecheck is too overwhelming for a young team with some doubt and lost confidence.

It’s such an easy thing to do—or looks easy when done well—but these Oilers have been a tragedy at this one fantastically important thing for a long, long time.

Please, TMac, with your big hockey brain and worth ethic honed on the bald prairie, please call on baby Jesus and Liberace’s candelabra and the ghost of Eddie Shore, do whatever voodoo you have to, but bring back the tape-to-tape and let’s get outta here.

One of the things that gives me confidence about McLellan is that he’s talking about process and learning curve without making it personal. The words bite but in a general manner, they don’t appear specific or intended to coach or send messages through the media.

McLellan: “We still have 70% of last year’s players who were not capable of getting it done. There are some big changes, play-wise and commitment-wise, that have to happen.”

No real way to ignore it, or frame it, the words hang in the air, waiting for a rebuttal no one can produce. This isn’t calling out a single player or pointing to a single faction in the room, it’s stating the facts and starting as you mean to go. I hope we see more old fashioned straight talk from Todd McLellan in the coming days.

Our feature guest today will be Kevin McCurdy and we’ll have updates as things happen around the Oilers. We also have Jasmine Jasudavicius at 12:40. We’re on noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube. See you on the radio!