This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!
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Lowetide.ca
- Ken Holland may be contemplating making a move, but the money is spent and any moves he’ll make now could compromise the deadline plans. We’re into December now, so the roster freezes are going to make trades difficult and the waiver wire doesn’t offer much this time of year.
BLH’s Thoughts: Savage realism from the OG… We may be foreced to witness a colossal season collapse OR a mind-bending 2nd half to the season…
If it makes you feel any better, the Stanley Cup-winning Red Wings of 2008 lost ten out of eleven games from Feb.7th to the 29th of that month and that was right after winning twelve of the previous fifteen. (link)
Holland’s a patient guy and willing to ride the ups and downs. He’s probably one helluva investor with ice-cold blood like that.
Oilersnation
Why have the Oilers struggled so much at 5v5, and how can they fix this?
- Following their historic start, Edmonton has posted a record of 7-8 in their prior 15 games.
- Edmonton’s 5v5 play has indeed declined ever since the hiring of Dave Tippett, according to several key indicators.
- Edmonton’s current power play coach is Glen Gulutzan, who was hired in 18-19 before Tippett’s hiring. After finishing dead-last last in PP% in 17-18, they improved to 9th the following year; the power play had already begun its improvement the season before Tippett.
- One reason for Edmonton’s decline in 5v5 play under Tippett? Edmonton’s depth forwards – an issue that’s seemingly never-ending.
- The forward core doesn’t look dreadful on paper, at least in comparison to the roster in prior years. Ryan and Foegele, in particular, were solid depth players before joining Edmonton and theoretically should’ve improved this team.
- Some of the largest improvements under Tippett have been Nugent-Hopkins and Puljujarvi.
- Whereas RNH primarily played as a center under McLellan and Hitchcock, Tippett has given him much more time on the wing. His defensive results are much better as a winger in comparison to his play as a center.
- Tippett has also given Puljujarvi a lot of opportunities in the top six, opportunities he didn’t have under McLellan and Hitchcock.
- Conversely, every other bottom-six forward has seen a massive decline.
- Personally, although Ken Holland deserves part of the blame as well, I think it’s very valid to have doubts about Dave Tippett’s system and how he deploys the bottom six.
- There’s a variety of options Edmonton could explore if they deploy the “three-headed-dragon” down the middle. The Oilers should give it a shot, because the bottom-six bleeding has to stop.
- There are several finishers Edmonton could realistically target at the deadline for their bottom-six.
- I like Joel Farabee and Zach Sanford; both are top 100 in the league in 5v5 Goals/60 in the past two seasons and play on teams that are relatively low in the standings. Neither should have an extremely lofty asking price.
- Colin Blackwell plays in Seattle and is 86th in the league in 5v5 Goals/60 in the past two seasons.
- Perhaps Dylan Holloway could turn out to be an impact player sooner than we think?
- I think it’s becoming exceedingly evident that coaching appears to be a large issue…
BLH’s Thoughts: They’re 7-9-0 now since that 9-1-0 start and I’m kinda hoping Dave Tippett will bring out the defensive coach we all feared the team was getting when he was hired three years ago.
When Dylan Holloway gets the green light and is recalled to the Oilers, I would definitely try the three-headed dragon approach at that point. Nuge isn’t a line driver as a top-six center, but what about as a third line center?
Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Foegele-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Holloway-RNH-Kassian
Shore-McLeod-SceviourWhat do you think? We’re stuck with Kass and he won’t be sat. So you can’t change that up, plus there’s nobody really to replace Yamamoto on the second line. The team is deeper at LW than RW…
‘Tis a conundrum, if you will, and that leads me to the trade options suggested… Two left wings and a 5’9″ right-shot center… Sigh…
Joel Farabee is not a bottom-six winger and he’s not going to be traded for pennies on the dollar. He’s only 21yrs old and coming off of a 20g season… He’s part of Philly’s future. So scratch that one off your list of hopeful transactions for the Oilers.
I like Sanford. I think he’d be better than most of what Edmonton has in its bottom six right now. He’s a big body that bangs and fights.
Not sure on Blackwell, I’ve not watched enough of him to be able to comment and I do think the team is waiting on Holloway to come in and be an impact player right off the hop. No pressure or anything…
So I learned an interesting fact last night, Ken Holland has NEVER fired a head coach. Ever. While in Detroit, the contracts of Dave Lewis, Scotty Bowman, and Mike Babcock were simply allowed to run their courses and he left during Jeff Blashill’s tenure.
So even though the heat is starting to grow under Dave Tippett, the fact that Ken Holland has never had to hand out a pink slip probably means there’s a better chance than none he rides out this final year in Tippett’s contract and then hires somebody different. And say what you will about Joel Quenneville, I wonder if his name doesn’t start to pop up sooner than later in the rumor mill.
The Daily Goal Horn
- As he (Jeff Gorton) searches for a new GM, he and ownership are not opposed to a rebuild. Brendan Gallagher already went on record that he isn’t crazy about the idea, and other veterans are likely to follow suit… Another name Marek suggested to keep an eye on is Mike Hoffman.
- “I’m still not counting out Lou Lamoriello,” Dreger said on TSN 1200. “I don’t think that he’s going to make this magical blockbuster (trade) that is going to cure everything that ails the New York Islanders, but Lou is also a pretty active GM. He isn’t going to watch the season go up in flames. I’m not sure what, if anything, he’s looking for, but something tells me that he’s going to do something in an effort to salvage this season.”
