From November 23rd until December 11th, the Edmonton Oilers were 7-2-1 but on the last day of that ten game stretch, they lost both Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell to injury.
As a result, everyone, save for Adam Larsson, was moved up a slot in the lineup.
(Didn’t Hitchcock say something about the importance of where players are slotted in the lineup? I feel like this was predicted.)
Against the Winnipeg Jets and the Philadelphia Flyers, the Oilers gutted out three points, an overtime loss in the ‘Peg and an easy win at home to the Flyers. Back to back games might I add.
Looks like the exact time klefbom/russell got injured is when that freefall started… #weird https://t.co/hTVJpVinGu
— Pelle (@HoltzPelle) January 4, 2019
But the adrenaline wasn’t to last. For the next six games, five of them at home against teams who were playing VERY well, the Oilers couldn’t manage a single measly Bettman point.
Now the story that pundits and grumpy Oilers fans are grasping onto for dear life is, if they had better secondary scoring, the team would be better off for it. I’m assuming they think that the Oilers wouldn’t have lost those 6 games as well.
Well, how many goals did they score in the losing streak that lasted from December 16th to New Year’s Eve?
15 goals for in six losses for, 29 against.
Just to put it into a bit of perspective. Let’s look at how many goals they scored during the six games previous to Klefbom and Russell getting hurt.
17 goals in 5 wins and a loss, 11 goals against.
Well that’s a shade over three goals per game, right?
So you’re telling me that when Klefbom and Russell are out of the lineup, the Oilers have trouble not getting scored on? Furthermore, you’re telling me that they should go out and trade for a forward when it’s their defense and goaltending that is leaking?
Put the bottle down son… I think you’ve had enough.
The #Oilers game versus Winnipeg, while far from perfect, was good enough to beat a lot of NHL teams. If they can bring that or better in Arizona, that should mean 2 points. Should…
— Kurt Leavins (@KurtLeavins) January 2, 2019
Did we notice that after Chiarelli went out and upgraded the Oilers defense that the way the team was playing changed too? Another tight game versus a Stanley Cup favorite in Winnipeg and a resounding win over a team the Oilers are competing with for a wild card spot.
Thank God Peter got us those two defensemen because they made a huge difference again tonight. – Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock folling the Arizona win.
Two games, six goals for and five against.
So tell me more about this secondary scoring problem because it shouldn’t even be on the radar.
Now you might want to throw some more statistics at me to show me the long-term effects of having poor scoring depth and some irresponsible cap management. That’s fine but it’s a waste of your time to do that mid-season.
Nobody is questioning that the Oilers need a better D but their depth scoring is atrocious too. The Isles have a bad D but make up for it with depth scoring (8 forwards on pace for 15+ goals). Sabres lack depth scoring but make for it by having a solid D led by Risto + Dahlin
— Jameson Ewasiuk (@JamesonEwasiuk) January 4, 2019
My feeling is that I do not give one flying f*ck who does the scoring (No offense to Jameson here). Seriously. If it’s Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Alex Chiasson only, GOOD! Someone has to put the puck in the net and I’m glad it’s those guys. But if it weren’t those players, someone else would step up.
My concern is if the rest of the team can keep the puck out of the net and it should be yours too if you’re a fan of playoff success because that is a MASSIVE key to success in the post-season. The risk-taking and open play stops once the puck drops in the playoffs. It’s a grind and you need players that can do that effectively.
Defense wins championships. Well, that and stellar goaltending.
All I’m concerned about is the next game and at the end of the season we can all sit down, grab a pint, and see where it all went right or wrong.
King Me!
Good teams have a couple of great pairs in their top-6, right? Looks to me that Edmonton has two GREAT pairs with Chiasson returning tonight in LA.
Ideally, you’d like to compliment those great pairs with another solid NHL-level player or highly touted prospect. Zack Kassian (Who had 5 shots on net vs. ARI) and Tobias Rieder (Not my choice personally) will be the ones responsible for rounding out the top-6.
I’m not concerned about the Lucic-Khaira-Puljujarvi line as much, I think they’re job is to lean on the Kings and really cause them some trouble in the dirty areas. Milan will be in good spirits I’m guessing and JJ and Pulju have formed some chemistry this season. I’d give them the edge over what LA might send onto the ice to face them.
And since when do we give two shits about a team’s 4th line? Oh yeah, Oilers fans… Spooner (most likely), Brodziak, and Rattie form one of the weirdest lines I’ve ever seen since I started this site. I guess it could throw off the Kings or it could get dominated brutally.
One thing is certain, the lines you see posted later today will not be the lines that end the game. Hitch loves him a line blender.
More on Spooner
Do you actually think that Drake Caggiula was going to move the needle for the Oilers this year after that hot start? He and Ryan Spooner have the EXACT same amount of goals 5×5 since the beginning of last season. Fourteen! Caggiula actually has one more goal that Spooner in all situations as well. Twenty.
So it goes back to the intangibles, right? Well since we can’t quantify those, we shouldn’t really be talking about it, should we? Or maybe, just maybe Coach Hitchcock couldn’t stand the poor defense and all the mistakes coming from Caggiula…
Yeah, that’s a guy I’d be using my valuable airtime to be championing if I were a radio host in Edmonton.
Radio Bla Bla
Speaking of radio hosts, when is Jason Gregor going to stop humping this dead horse?
This week Jason Gregor had the audacity to say that Puljujarvi wasn’t even dominating at the AHL level. That goes to show you how ignorant this guy is.
He didn’t watch one minute of Jesse’s games in Bakersfield this year and he’s claiming that?! He should be ashamed. Most pundits have the integrity to know what they’re talking about instead of going on a crusade to run a 20-year-old player out of town.
Did you know that Gregor didn’t even want Puljujarvi if the Oilers were choosing at #3 in the 2016 draft? Check this out from a Reddit AMA from back in 2016,
Peluche99: Hey Jason, Is this year finally ‘the year’ for the Oilers? And who do you think the Oilers draft if they stay at #4?
Gregor: If I’m picking I would take Dubois.
So is he playing the long game here? Using his platform to slowing push Puljujarvi out of town and say he was right all along if the Oilers do trade him?
How about this Sather-like trade proposal from the stick guru himself?
I would trade the fourth pick for Travis Hamonic in a heartbeat, but I suspect the Oilers would have to give up more than the pick to acquire him. (source)
Nice! This would be some gold over at HFBoards…
Do you remember how good Hamonic was last year? Not very…
Funny that Dan Tencer, the head scout for the Saskatoon Blades, called Puljujarvi a potential reclamation project. At 20 years of age… We’re calling him a reclamation project now… You’d think a guy that makes a living projecting hockey players would have a more informed outlook at a player other than “he doesn’t look part of the core of the team.”
Absolutely white hot elephant diarrhea wrapped in moldy cheese and covered in stinky tofu are these opinions.
At the moment, Jesse is playing 13 minutes a night approximately. Isn’t that exactly where you’d want a 20-year-old to be playing at? Nooooo… He’s a reclamation project now. Right…
Over the last three seasons, our big Finn has some interesting 5×5 metrics when it concerns which of the Oilers’ big name centers he’s played with.
McDavid – 385 min TOI, 2.18 pts/60
Draisaitl – 263 min TOI, 1.59 pts/60
RNH – 331 min TOI, 0.9 pts/60
(source)
I’m a huge supporter of Jesse Puljujarvi if you can’t tell and I might be tempted to hop on the fire Chiarelli train 100% if he does trade him. Maybe, just maybe, try him with Connor and Leon for more than 5 seconds…
How Can the Oilers Fix the Forward Depth IF It Needs Fixing?
I won’t sit here and tell you that the scoring on the wings past the second line is adequate. It’s not. I also won’t sit here and tell you that the players that are playing there are playing to their potential either and that’s something I feel like a lot of people are missing here.
Some forwards aren’t scoring right now but that doesn’t mean they won’t score in the future.
According to the lines posted yesterday, Edmonton has Pulju, Milan Lucic, Ty Rattie, and Joe Gambardella/Ryan Spooner slated to play wing in their bottom six. My opinion is that those players have not lost the ability to score, they’re just not doing what’s necessary to twinkle the twine.
The boss says they’ve got to kick it up a gear and I agree. The coach says they have to do more than pass the time on the ice, I agree.
So the answer is better defensive play in their own zone.
Stop the other team from controlling the puck in the defensive zone and start controlling it in the offensive zone. Get pucks on the net, asses in the blue paint, and I guarantee you the ketchup bottle will start to flow!
Give me some proactivity and a little less reactivity please!
But if you’re looking for a few names to tease the palate, here are a few:
- Alexander Wennberg (CBJ) – Same 5×5 shooting percentage as Lucic… ZERO!
- Kevin Labanc (SJ) – Shooting 3.54% (5×5) with two goals to show for it.
- Connor Brown (TOR) – Two goals, 5.13% shooting percentage.
All three players are shooting blanks this year. They’re not scoring and their shooting % is in the toilet. Buy low, sell high.
San Jose has a kid on their AHL club named Francis Perron (AHL All-Star this year) that is having a very good season, he could be due for a call-up if the Sharks were to move Labanc. Toronto might move Brown to bolster their defense for a deep playoff run and we know Brown as one of McDavid’s old linemates in junior, right? Wennberg is another story. He was playing 1st line center for them the other night but he’s not getting it done this year at all.
The Bottom Line Because BLH Said So!
I think that the Oilers are going to fire Chiarelli at season’s end. I won’t shed a tear though. You can see it coming a mile away even if you don’t spend time on Oilers social media. But whatever happens, he must not be allowed to mortgage the future.
At some point between now and February 25th, there’s going to be an audit on the roster and the brass is going to have to come to a conclusion regarding their playoff chances. Whatever that conclusion is, patience with the young players MUST be practiced.
Go the way of Winnipeg and Tampa and if that costs Chiarelli his job, so be it. You can be assured the next guy who comes in will make the most of the amateur work done by Chiarelli’s staff (hopefully) and have the Oilers back in the post-season for 2019-20.
