HE’S BACK PT.1

I’m so so happy to see Adam Larsson back practising with the team. I think I can speak for the majority of us in saying we were all shocked when news came of his father’s passing and that for one day everyone could throw their support behind an Oiler.

I hope that when he plays his first game back in Edmonton he gets the biggest standing ovation Rogers Place has ever seen. The fans owe it to him.

HE’S BACK PT.2

Our favourite Edmonton Oilers vlogger, Ryan Robinson, came out of his self-imposed vlogging hiatus to let us know what he thinks has gone wrong for the Oilers this season.

I’ve really missed Robinson’s vlogs this season because I feel he really brings the fan’s perspective out into the open without slagging others in the process. In this post, I will include the vlog from YouTube (at the bottom) and some commentary of my own on his thoughts.

RUMOURS

According to Andy Strickland, Pat Maroon’s agent and Peter Chiarelli have spoken but it looks like an agreement on a contract won’t be happening and the Oilers will be trading the big winger. Which is probaby a better scenario for the Oilers anyhow, right? They need to bring in some fresh young talent on the wings and Maroon is the asset they are most willing to move to get that player.

Jim Matheson tweeted out yesterday that the Oilers want Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Was he reading my blog or seen one of my tweets recently? Weird. Even Jason Gregor was talking about it on his show yesterday with Jason Strudwick and Lowetide, specifically my proposed offer of Nuge and Klefbom for OEL.

I still think you do it and handle the contract after. He only makes $5.5M this year, so say he wants $7.5M a year for 7 years. Well since you dealt away $10M in Nuge and Klefbom, why not? It’s obvious that the Oilers are fine with JJ Khaira playing center and Ryan Strome can do it too. There, we fixed the problem fans have with RNH being a $6M 3rd line centre AND gave the team the elite PP dman it’s been craving.

Robinson’s vlog starts with him talking about one of the reasons why he stopped making his famous vlogs. He tells us a story about the game vs. Dallas where Cam Talbot got rocked for 5 goals and after the game, his wife, Kelly, posted a lovely picture of the Talbot family on social media. That’s not the issue, the issue came when someone commented on the photo basically telling Cam Talbot’s wife to pass on the message to Cam to get his head out of his ass and concentrate on hockey because his family will always be there for him.

What’s wrong with these fans? I’d be willing to put money on it that this guy isn’t a season ticket holder but a guy who sits on his sofa with a case of Kokanee and a bucket of KFC. Even if he was a season ticket holder, that is atrocious behaviour for a human being let alone a fan.

Pro Tip: When you comment on the socials or are talking about your team in the pubs, the things you say represent other fans as well. Just because you’re behind a keyboard or a smartphone, doesn’t make it okay for you to be an asshole. Be mindful of your language and the words you choose to use to express your opinion and realize just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should.

AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER

The Edmonton Oilers are going to join the Florida Panthers as two teams who have missed the playoffs 11 out of 12 seasons. It’s safe to say that Robinson is right when he says that this year has been an unmitigated disaster.

The main reason: There’s ZERO benefit to a year like this.

What we will be looking for as fans is if Connor McDavid can win the scoring title. Can Puljujarvi show us some of that offence we saw at the World Juniors a few years ago? How many games will Milan Lucic go before he scores a goal? Might Leon Draisaitl end up in the top-ten in scoring despite having a down year (according to some)?

Ultimately I’ll be looking for any signs of life from the team as a whole. There are 26 games left for the Oilers to show me, at least, that they don’t need a heart transplant (thanks, Georges!) and they are a team to be reckoned with. They’ve got quite a few Pacific Division matchups remaining and I want them to be the spoilers for Calgary’s playoff hopes.

RYAN ROBINSON’S FORENSIC AUDIT

Darryl Katz: Teflon

Bob Nicholson: Will he fire Chiarelli and hire Wayne Gretzky?

Peter Chiarelli: Regarding dealing away the younger players in Boston, Would you take years of a productive player or a Stanley Cup ring? When you start to exaggerate and omit facts, it doesn’t leave room for debate which is exactly what fans, “influencers” and sponsored Oilers blogs are doing right now.

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It's fine to talk about how Chiarelli went to Harvard and won a Cup in Boston but you also have to acknowledge that he left that team in shambles because that happened more recently than the other two things.

— Baggedmilk, Oily Boy 🍹 (@jsbmbaggedmilk) February 16, 2018

Robinson goes into a few of the bad trades that Chiarelli made at this point in the vlog. The Reinhart trade and the Eberle trade. Let’s start with Griffin!

I still agree with the rationale behind those two moves. Back in the summer of 2015, the Oilers were desperate for young dmen that could grow with their core of players. And last summer they need to move out salary to protect themselves from a potential offer-sheet to Draisaitl. 

Contrary to popular opinion, the Oilers didn’t lose the Reinhart deal because Barzal has emerged as such a strong player. He’s a fantastic young player and he might even win the scoring title one day. He lost that trade becaues Reinhart turned into nothing! Both as a player and as an asset. He couldn’t establish himself on the Oilers roster and then he was claimed in the expansion draft. Barzal tearing it up just makes the trade look even worse. 

Same goes for the Eberle trade. Ironically, Eberle has been rejuvinated playing with Barzal! But the real problem for Edmonton was that Strome has been horribly mismanaged and remarkably unremarkable for long stretches. 

It took until the other night against Florida, game 55, for the Oilers to finally give Strome a shot on McDavid’s wing. And it took until a few games ago, I think game 52, for them to put him on the left half-wall on the PP for his one-timer.

THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT HE WAS ACQUIRED FOR IN THE OFF-SEASON! He’s got a hard, accurate wrist shot and the Oilers haven’t take advantage of it. Why did it take so long? 

I’d like to also point out that when Chiarelli was hired there was this outcry for a strong possession team, to which he’s built.

Robinson really gets going in his next topic here.

HOW WILL NICHOLSON HANDLE CHIARELLI?

Nicholson has to be very careful in how he handles Chiarelli. Because of what Vegas has done taking everyone’s scraps and rising all the way to the top, I think that has given every manager league-wide a free pass for this season. 

If Nicholson does fire Chiarelli, what he needs to do is hire someone with experience, a good track record, and just like Chiarelli, zero ties to the Oilers old boys club. 

This is interesting because I thought that was what Nicholson did in the first place. Chiarelli has all three of those requisites listed unless you consider being part of Hockey Canada as something.

That’s where I’m a bit concerned. If Chiarelli gets the axe, does he simply dip into his Hockey Canada network and find someone?

TODD MCLELLAN

The thing with Todd is, he didn’t just forget how to coach overnight. He was nominated for coach of the year last season. The problem this year has been some horrendous decision making and a complete refusal to adapt on the fly. 

Early on in the year Todd publicly called out his best players, something that Don Cherry pointed out on Coach’s Corner as a poor choice. I couldn’t agree with that more. Do that behind closed doors but do not embarrass them publicly. As much as I do not like it, this is a different generation of player and they do not respond well to that kind of motivational tactic. 

A lot of people are asking of the players have tuned out the coaches and I think to a degree they have. Do you remember that “special” PP formation they used against the Ducks, the one that Kevin Bieksa commented on during the intermission? Basically, every player picked a corner and one guy stood in front of the net and they just held on to the puck for the majority of the powerplay? I think that was the players’ dig at the coaches.

I have said in the past that perhaps McLellan is not suited to run a team driven by young players because I’m not sure he knows how to ride out the waves that come with young players. He coached the San Jose Sharks for what, a decade? That team was headed by Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, etc. Not 5 or 6 key players under the age of 24.

THE REFUSAL

Secondly, the refusal to break up Connor and Leon for so long did irreperable damage to the Oilers’ season. While several players were struggling with their confidence he just hung them out to dry. 

If I’m the coach and someone is struggling I throw them on McDavid’s wing, just to give them a boost and get them going. And the thing is, McLellan did this in the past. I remember him putting Yakupov and Pouliot on McDavid’s line but this season he’s just continued to beat a dead horse. 

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT TO GET THE PLAYERS READY TO PLAY?

Also, the Oilers are never ready to play. They’ve given up the first shot of the game ten times. I mean, it must be a record but I don’t think anybody would bother tracking such an embarrassing and obscure statistic. They’ve also been scored on first 34 times. It is the coach’s responsibility to have the players ready to play. 

Preach it, brother! Amen! I’m surprised that they haven’t been axed already. But the Oilers are on a 5-game losing streak and you do have to wonder how long that streak goes before somebody is let go.

WHAT KIND OF TEAM DO THE OILERS HAVE?

A lot of people believe the Oilers are a big slow team. I think earlier this year Ray Ferraro said Chiarelli has built the Oilers to win in 2011 not 2018. The thing is the Oilers aren’t really a big slow team. 

Kassian is a great skater. Darnell Nurse is a fantastic skater. Draisaitl is a very powerful skater. Now that Gryba is in the minors they only have two slow guys, Maroon and Lucic. And they have perhaps the fastest player ever to play the game in Connor McDavid. 

Here’s the thing, what moves faster? Connor McDavid or the puck? 

I’ve said this many times before, it doesn’t matter how fast your players are if they don’t play with pace. Last year McLellan did a really good job of having the Oilers play a balance of finesse game but also a very physical game. This year he seems to have completely abandoned giving the players any offensive creativity and he’s in this routine of playing a cycle into the corner, back up to the point, back into the corner, trying to wear the other team down. 

I truly believe that the pundits that were saying the Oilers are slow this year were referring to quickness and not straight away speed. Meaning your Mitch Marner-types who are very agile on their blades. I think that when Drake Caggiula is on his game, he’s one of those players as he’s zippy and he hits anything that moves.

If you still believe that the Oilers aren’t fast enough, I guess I’d ask you what kind of goals are being let in by the Oilers this year? I’d also ask, what aspect of the game do you think the Oilers are slow in?

THE PART OF THE SEASON THAT IS INEXCUSABLE

To have Connor McDavid, the best player on the planet, running a powerplay that is 30th in the league is an absolute disgrace. 

It’s not even so much about the results, it’s about how non-threatening it is. The Oilers pass the puck about wildly around the perimeter and then they get it to Klefbom for the point shot and the problem is he never freakin’ shoots it! And when he does, he shoots it wide of the net because he’s hurt! I’m pretty sure he’s been hurt all year and yet, the coaching staff continually puts him out there squandering endless opportunities and also killing the guys confidence because he can’t get the job done. 

The Oilers could have a threatening powerplay IF players would shoot it. IF Connor, or anybody for that matter, would shoot the puck, regardless of if it goes in or not, that will back the dmen off. They’re looking for that cross-seam pass for the one-timer and the other teams know that so they cut it off and leave the point open because they know two things, either they’re not going to shoot it or they will but there’s no hope of it going in.

THE PK

What the Sam Heck is even going on here? It is the worst home PK of all-time! Of all the terrible teams that have played throughout the years, none of them come close to the travesty that is the Oilers home penalty killing. How many goals do you have to let in from the point before you realize that the L-shape or the diamond or whatever you want to call it doesn’t work. 

It’s not rocket science, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Play a tight box have active sticks, clear lanes so your goalie gets a clear view of the puck. And the reason that the PK is such an achilles heel is that the Oilers have some big strong players who can intimidate the opposition and they’re scared to hit anyone because they know they absolutely can not under any circumstances take a penalty because it will almost certainly end in a goal against. 

Unfortunately, the Czech press is the tactic that is used all over the league to combat how most of the PPs are being run in the league. Watch any team and I’ll bet you’ll see the same tactic used by that team as the Oilers use. The difference is this:

Their players are willing to get in the lane. They’re willing to do what’s necessary to stop a shot. Which leads me to this question, why aren’t the Oilers’ PKers willing to do this?

WHAT SHOULD THEY DO FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?

I don’t really have a problem with them riding out the rest of the year and continuing with the same head coach and GM next season. Look at Colorado, they were absolutely awful last year, kept their coach and GM, they rebounded very nicely. 

But.

ACCOUNTABILITY

I preach accountability on this blog. Someone at some level within the organization needs to pay the price for this absolute miserable failure of a season and Woodcroft and Johnson don’t have a leg to stand on. They have ZERO justification for keeping their jobs. 

Earlier in the year, I reported that Chiarelli wanted to make a change with the assistant coaches but McLellan wouldn’t sign off on it and knowing how Chiarelli hangs onto his head coaches, he’s gone along with it. Well, I think that loyalty has shifted a bit because we haven’t seen improvement in the slightest amount from the special teams coaches.

I predict that Woodcroft and Johnson will be shown the door and at least one of the new assistant coaches will be the new head coach at some point in the next 12 months. Maybe that’s Darryl Sutter or Dave Tippet, Todd Nelson or Sheldon Keefe.

THE PLAYERS

Surprisingly, these are the only ones I have any sympathy for for a few reasons. 

First of all, did you know that the Oilers hit the post more than any team in the league? 

Secondly, the Oilers have lost every single coach’s challenge this season. 

Despite the Oilers having Connor McDavid, the fastest player in the league, the Oilers draw less penalties than any other team. 

Offside calls and goalie interference plays are 50/50 at best. The fact that the Oilers have been on the wrong side every time is awful luck. As for the penalty calls, I think that Connor McDavid’s speed has actually prevented him from drawing calls. Think about it for a second. 

McDavid blasts by the official, he gets hooked, held, or slashed but they’re so far behind at that point they can’t see it. And if they don’t see it, they can’t call it. 

Also, the Oilers have some bigger stronger players, they don’t go down easy. I can’t count the number of times Lucic got hooked or slashed and he didn’t go down. 

Is it not completely unbelievable that there are so many members of the Oilers fanbase that are this ignorant of how bizarre the results are going for Edmonton yet they still ask for Chiarelli’s head as if he’s responsible for these mad stats?

WHEN THINGS AREN’T GOING YOUR WAY…

Can you think of even one game this year that the Oilers won that they didn’t deserve to? 

Exactly! And what happens when you feel like you’re hitting the post all of the time and you know the you need to outplay the opposition in order to have a chance to win and you know you’re probably not going to get your share of calls or challenges and you know that you absolutely cannot take a penalty?

It begins to wear on you mentally. 

Why do you think that the Oilers have had so many games this year like the one against Nashville where they’re outshooting them 29-4 and let in a goal and everything falls apart. 

THE RESULT

The Oilers have completely lost all of their confidence and swagger that they had last year and the thing is, no amount of trades, free agent signings, or firings is going to bring that back. 

I wonder how the mob would react to this comment? I mean let’s say they fire Chiarelli, how many years are they willing to wait for the new GM to turn it around. Oilers Nerd Alert said that GMs should only get 2 years to show progress. I find that to be a tad harsh.

WHAT ABOUT LAST YEAR?

I know a lot of fans believe that last year was an anomaly but I have a hard time believing that when I see all those bizarre statistics surrounding the Oilers. 

So I know it’s hard and frustrating because you invest so much in the team but my advice is take a deep breath… 

I love the truths that Ryan Robinson throws out there. I’m sad that he’s not vlogging as much lately and I’d love to hear him on a regular podcast someday or perhaps his own radio show. He’s got the skills and he analyzes the game very well in my opinion. I guess there’s always next year 🙂