The morning after a come-from-behind 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets never treats Edmonton Oilers fans well, does it? Apparently, it gets even worse if you have a platform with which you can reach thousands of people with the flip of a switch. Well, it must’ve hit TSN1260 radio jockey Jason Gregor especially hard because he went on the air this morning and threw everything he had but the kitchen sink at the struggling hockey club. It was quite a rant, to be honest, and I’d like to share it with you.
If you’d like to listen to it, I’ll throw a link to it at the bottom!
Hey, I know it’s hard to play a complete 60-minute game, I understand that, the other team’s there and they’re going to play well but to fall apart like they did in the third period, disappointing.
We’ve talked a lot about defensive play and I think that’s fair, but if we’re going to critique, and I’ve done it, “Hey, you’ve got to make a better read. You can’t just suddenly go over and force a guy when there’s no reason to do it and leave the front of the net wide open or the high-slot wide open or have the puck on your stick and not get it out.” Those are legit complaints.
Well, Oh! Hey! How about the forwards? I’m not talking about the guys that have scored goals this year. I’m talking the majority who haven’t! I’m not expecting them to score a lot but they’ve got way too many forwards right now who are missing in action offensively, ok?
Like, you can talk all you want, you can tell me Corsi and Fenwick and Shots For and Expected Goals. WHAT’S EXPECTED GOALS? You know what that is? IT’S NOT REAL! It’s expected, it’s not real. Real goals count infinitely more and they’ve got way too many guys not scoring and it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
You know what? They’re actually at the exact same position last year. I went back and at 12 games last year for the Oilers, which is comparable to eight games this season…
You’ve got way too many guys missing in action and it’s a bunch of players who’ve scored before. Six forwards on this Oilers team who have all had at least one, and in most cases two or three, double-digit goal season and they’re sitting on goose eggs.
I know it’s hard, the hardest thing to do in hockey is score, but that’s what you get paid for. You don’t just get paid to chip it off the glass and get shots on goal and not score, right? Not at all. Not. at. All. At some point, you’ve got to bury it, that’s part of the game. Your job can’t be just to chip out the puck and not get scored on. It can’t be, you’re never going to win. You’re never going to win because the other team is going to have guys that score. Last I checked, nobody ever goes a season without being on for a goal against, okay? Never Happens. So at some point, you’ve got to be able to chip in some offense and you can’t just be on the ice and have your teammates do all of the scoring. At some point you’ve got to chip in.
Like, where’s Dominik Kahun? Hello? Where’s Kahun. Like, he skates fast. Is Dominik Kahun allergic to the front of the net?
Like, Look at the Oilers, where’s Zack Kassian? Hey, the last few games he’s shown up, but you’ve got to bury those chances. In the second period last night, that’s probably the best opportunity we’ve seen consistenly from the third line all year. But they didn’t finish. Kassian had three great chances, didn’t score. James Neal, who’s a 20-goal scorer pretty much “money”, missed it.
Sure if you miss one chance here and there, that’s fine. When everyone’s doing it, it becomes a problem and there are things called timely goals. Right, you get one goal last night in the second period and it’s suddenly 4-2 and the entire make-up of the game changes. You go into the third period and it’s a two goal lead not a one-goal lead… Couldn’t happen and guess what? They fell apart in the third.
You can focus on the timeout here and I’ll say this, Dave Tippett, I can respect what he said. McDavid and Draisaitl had been out for 1:35 when McDavid scored. That’s a pretty long shift and that 1:35, it’s not PP time, it was 5v5… That’s taxing.
So you could’ve called a timeout, that’s a 30-sec rest, but here’s the thing, the reason I would’ve called the timeout is two-fold. I would’ve called it because it gives my guys more rest. Even if I started Turris, Neal, and Kassian, there was what, 1:56 or 1:54 remaining? I’m okay with him actually going to them for 30 seconds because McDavid got back on the ice at 1:50 and considering he’d just been on the ice for 1:35, I understand the reasoning, the guy’s not a robot. Pretty challenging to score and shoot as hard as you can when you’re a little fatigued, that’s just a fact. Then you tack that on~ They were playing around at the faceoff, now that may not have happened coming out of a timeout, but either way it gives you more rest. Maybe they score, maybe they don’t. How often does a team score when you pull the goalie? We know it’s pretty low, so I’m not blaming the loss on that at all.
That’s not what cost them the game. They’re inability to score when they had chances~ Connor Hellebuyck was ripe for the picking last night. The Vezina trophy winner wasn’t on. Adam Larsson snipes one from the high-slot, and by the way, Adam Larsson has two goals 5v5 this year. That is more that Puljujarvi, Kassian, Turris, Kahun, Chiasson, Neal, Archibald, Nygard, Ennis, Khaira, and Shore COMBINED! ADAM-FREAKING-LARSSON! Has more goals than all of them. Like c’mon now. No offense to Adam Larsson, but he’s not Mr. Offense.
Puljujarvi has 25 shots this year but doesn’t have a goal. It’s great that he’s working hard, but at some point it’s a difference. Kassian only has seven shots on goal for goodness sakes and I think most of them have come in the last two games. He’s got to get going.
Here’s the reality, this team is never going to be elite defensively, EVER! And they’re probably never going to be elite offensively, but you’ve got to have at least a pulse from some of your depth guys.
I don’t blame the coach or the GM here because they guys they brought in have track records of scoring. Get to the net, get some garbage goals. Look at Adam Lowry again! How many goals have the other team’s scored that go off legs and stuff? At some point, don’t you look and say, “Hmmm, maybe we should have more guys in front of the net.”
I know it’s a crazy outside the box thought, but don’t you think you could drive to the net? You know what? It’s not hard. It’s. Not. Hard. It just takes a desire and a willingness to do it. Okay? It’s that simple.
I don’t want to hear about blaming the coach and the GM right now. Your players have to play better at some point and you have to have a willingness and a desire as a team to want to do it. Get involved, do something! Get noticed! There’s games where you’re like, “Was this guy even on ths scoresheet other than being on the ice for a goal against.”
It’s just not good enough. It’s. Not. Good enough.
Maybe you can make another lineup change? But it doesn’t matter! None of them have scored! Who are you going to put in now that you’re like, “Hey, you know what? This guy, great. He’s going to score!” Who? Is Joakim Nygard suddenly going to score more? Maybe! But it’s a maybe. Kahun’s on the second line, Puljujarvi’s on the top line, at some point you’ve got to get a damned goal. People were ripping Kassian for not scoring. Hey, at some point, you’ve got to produce. If you’re playing with your top guys, you’ve got to produce.
Kahun’s been there from day one that he got in camp. Now, he started a few days late but once he got on Draisaitl’s line, he’s never left. And he’s not playing poorly, but he’s not scoring! He’s got to do something!
Look at the Oilers, they’re six points back of Toronto already. They’ve only played eight games. Does anybody feel like they’re going to sweep Toronto coming up tomorrow and Saturday? I don’t. So, even if you go .500, now guess what? Ten games into the season you’re still six points behind them. That’s a pretty big gap to make up in a shortened season. Montreal’s played two fewer games, they’re four points ahead of you. Winnipeg’s four points ahead of you and they’ve got a game in hand. What if those teams win those games in hand?
Are you basically saying that early in the year, we’re battling for the fourth and final playoff spot, that’s it? With Vancouver and Calgary?
So, they need to pull they’re socks up and contribute offensively. We can watch tape but at some point it’s a commitment and a desire and a willingness to get to the ugly areas. Can’t just score pretty goals. Watch the highlights. Watch how many goals are pretty. What are we talking, 30/40%? Maybe.
I know the defense has to improve but you can’t snap your fingers and expect them all to be great defensive players. They’re not. So you’re not going to be able to win a lot of shutdown games.
It comes down to hard work and freaking commitment and I don’t think the Oilers have enough of it. Yeah, I’m saying it. I’m questioning their desire. I’m tired of this “Be Patient” garbage. Don’t blame the coach and GM, WORK HARDER! WORK HARDER. END OF DISCUSSION. END. OF. DISCUSSION.
(source)
So, what do you think? Do the Oilers have a commitment problem? Is scoring a goal dependant on how hard a player works or is there more to it? Let us know in the comments below!
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