This is a post from Oilers fan Ryan Garner originally published at Hockeybuzz. I contacted Mr.Garner and asked him if it would be okay if I re-posted his article on our site here and he agreed. A big thanks to him!
You can follow Ryan on Twitter @RyGarner. He’s a local lad that works at the Edmonton Journal as the Home/Travel Editor.
Coaching expert Donald S. Cherry diagnosed the Edmonton Oilers in October, three games into their doomed 2017-18 season. This Coach’s Corner segment was broadcast on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017 and Cherry is in top form right from the start — “Do they have pool tables out in Red Deer?” — but the relevant bit arrives at 2:07, when Ron MacLean introduces “a little advice for coaches, first on pulling goaltenders.” Run it until the 2:32 mark, then pause and we’ll discuss.
“Here’s Talbot at the end. He’s so embarrassed
he got pulled he left his mask on the whole time.”
Here’s some background. Coming off a shutout in the Oilers’ season opener, Cam Talbot allowed three goals on seven shots and was yanked by Todd McLellan 32 seconds into the second period. Sounds bad, right? But let’s look at those tallies to determine Talbot’s night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXN3Mik7S5s
Draw your own conclusions, and then return to Don Cherry. Pause it again at the 3:30 mark.
“Nothing bugs them more than when you pull them
during (the game) and then you embarrass them.
They start looking at the bench.”
Talbot went on to post a career-high 3.02 goals against average and career-low .908 save percentage this season. Did Todd McLellan’s early hook contribute? Perhaps. At least I would put more stock in that line of reasoning than any of the sleep deprivation malarkey some have bandied about. Either way, two nights later the Oilers welcomed the Winnipeg Jets to town, losing 5-2. Return to the Cherry video and pause it again at the 4:14 mark.
“Now you want me to comment on that?”
“I would love you to comment on that.”
First of all, watch how surprised Cherry is that they’re even going to the McLellan footage. He’s legitimately stunned, and then very reluctant to comment afterward, but he does. Roll it on and pause again at the 5:22 mark.
“They’re gonna play Ottawa, that right side with
Borowiecki and Phaneuf, it’s gonna be a challenging
night for the superstars in the crosshairs.”
MacLean’s words would prove to be prescient. The Oilers lost to the Senators 6-1 that night, and McLellan was reserved in his postgame comments afterward. Three nights later, desperate for a win to halt a three-game skid, the Oilers hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. Here’s how it played out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mya5qxgNt_I
What game story would you have written after that one? Here are some facts to fill in the pieces.
-Leon Draisaitl missed the second of four games with an injury
-The Oilers outshot the Hurricanes 51-21
-Laurent Brossoit stopped 16 of 21 shots
-Cam Ward stopped 48 of 51 shots
McLellan chose to focus on some individual efforts in his postgame presser, most notably Oscar Klefbom’s performance.
Klefbom had a horrible night and McLellan carved him for it, pinning the loss on a 24-year-old top-pairing defenseman with fewer than 200 regular season games under his belt. Local media folks sharpened their knives during the disastrous first period, took their cues from the head coach in the postgame presser, and launched an all-out attack on the 1-4 Oilers. Here are some of the stories that ran after the 5-3 loss.
Rattled and reeling under a barrage of expectations and hung out to dry by their head coach five games into the season, the young Oilers would go on to miss the playoffs by 17 points. To sum it up, let’s return to coaching expert Don Cherry. Go back and run it again from 4:18 to 4:50.
“I never, ever, ever give the players — I wanted to, in the paper —
but once you do you know that players will say you don’t have their back.”
“How would he fix that? How would Todd…”
“You can’t fix it.”
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I’ll just keep my thoughts on the Chiarelli avail short and sweet.
I was wrong with my previous post regarding what might happen today. That sucks but it happens. I suppose I should know better.
As for what Chiarelli said or didn’t say in his year-end avail, he did what any GM would do in the circumstance he was in. He said a lot without saying anything. Put his lawyer’s training right into practice.
He was unhappy with the players. Fair enough. I don’t necessarily feel like he was throwing them under the bus and saying the bad year was all their fault because he did claim fault for the wings and not getting cover for Sekera as well as saying in so many words that the coaching staff was less than stellar.
Death by 1000 cuts, to me, means that everyone was culpable for the results of the year but if you’re one of those that want to find a way to blame Chiarelli for injuries, deaths in the family, bad PDO or SH%, I suppose that’s on you.
He said that the players told him there wasn’t enough commitment on the ice and that was something that perked my ears a bit.
Why did the players feel the need to cheat on the ice and who was keeping them accountable?
That also dovetails with what McLellan said in his year-end presser when he was talking about how the players might want the coaches to lean on them a bit more. And all of that reminds me of a Connor McDavid story in Bob McKenzie’s book “Hockey Confidential”. Page 126 to be exact.
In minor atom, during a game on the bench, he (McDavid) heard two teammates talking about playing a video game. He Told his dad afterwards, “If other kids aren’t on board, we have to do something about it.”
Connor’s a competitive guy and no doubt his opinion is valued with regards to how this hockey club is constructed going forward. Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky will see to that. One thing that’s for sure, you won’t ever hear a quote like, “It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” from him…
All of that being said, I’m not 100% for sure that Chiarelli, McLellan, the assistant coaches, or even some of the more notable players on the Oilers are safe going into this summer.
Keep an eye on the Oscar Klefbom/Andrej Sekera news is my advice.
Copper and Blue – On Chiarelli’s End Of Season Media Availability – Are you impressed? I sure as hell am not. The lights will be bright and hot this offseason as Chiarelli must improve this team by a solid 20 points next year. Piece of cake, yeah?
Oilersnation – Peter Chiarelli talks disappointing 2017-18 season – After finding out that Chiarelli was going to speak today, all I could think about was how this was probably going to be a waste of everyone’s time because the guy doesn’t ever really say anything of substance.
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What an emotional ending to the 2017-18 NHL season. The Humboldt Broncos tragedy from Friday night will weigh on all of our hearts for years to come. With that being said here are my individual season grades for the 2017-18 Edmonton Oilers.
FORWARDS
Connor McDavid: 82 GP 41 G 67 A 108 PTS +20
What do you say about the best player in the NHL? A lot. The Captain had a bit of a slow start (for his lofty standards) mainly due to a serious illness, during which he lost nearly 20 pounds. It should be added that he DID NOT MISS A GAME over this time. When he finally got healthy he went on an absolute tear. Averaged nearly two points per game during March and April. Also finished with 84 even strength points, the highest NHL total in 20 years! Just imagine what he could’ve done with a good powerplay, we might have seen 1980’s or 90’s type numbers. The fact he added a few new tricks up his sleeve like a deadly quick wrist shot shows that he still will get even better (scary for the rest of the NHL). Trying to find a negative is hard, but 41% on faceoffs can be improved upon. I could really go on forever about our savior. Quite simply, he put the franchise on his back.
Grade: A+++
Leon Draisaitl: 78-25-45-70-(-7)
There was some major inconsistency in Draisaitls season. But you look at the stat line and it’s really what we asked for. Missed 4 games early in the season due to a concussion, and like McDavid (and the entire team really) had a slow start himself. Played the majority of the season at RW with Connor, but they didn’t have the same success as last season. When playing centre he showed the ability to make his wingers better and showed a solid two-way game making many great defensive plays as well. A better powerplay would have also boosted his totals.
Grade: B
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 62-24-24-48-(+10)
McNuge! What a fantastic ending to the season for Nuge. Once put on a line with McDavid he looked like he belonged and then some. He had never played on the wing in the NHL prior to this. Talk of him potentially being traded for a winger to play with McDavid has been silenced, as he produced a point per game pace playing with the Captain. Still gets outmuscled on one on one battles sometimes, and got injured again which happens far too frequently. Those are the only reasons his grade isn’t higher.
Grade: B+
Milan Lucic: 82-10-24-34-(-12)
Oh boy. A tale of two halves for Looch. At the Christmas break, he was on pace to tie a career high in assists and points. Then what happened? Only one goal in almost 50 games. Absolutely inexcusable for a player we count on for much more. Had every opportunity with McDavid, too, along with #1 powerplay time most of the season. Often looked disinterested. Way too careless with the puck. Showed some life in the last game vs Calgary, punching Mike Smith in the head several times and then beating the shit out of Tanner Glass. That’s the only thing that saves him from an F.
Grade: D-
Ryan Strome: 82-13-21-34-(-4)
Here’s one where the boxcar stats pretty much tell the story. Really not a lot to write home about for the player acquired in the Eberle trade. The good: He can shoot the puck. Hit many posts and had lots of near misses. The bad: We need a little more production out of him. 45% faceoffs isn’t great for a 3rd line centre.
Grade: C-
Mike Cammalleri: 51-4-18-22-(-4)
The 35-year-old was acquired to erase the mistake that was Jussi Jokinen, and Cammalleri certainly did so. But that’s about all he did. Had a mini-Lucic goalless drought, but got a couple late in the season to make it a less than respectable total of 4. From all accounts, he is very well liked by the other players, so there’s that. Took away ice time from younger players (especially on the pp), but that’s not his fault.
Grade: C-
Jujhar Khaira: 69-11-10-21-(-7)
A major bright spot in a dismal Oilers season. Jujhar showed what it should mean to be an Edmonton Oiler. From sticking up for teammates, scoring timely goals, and playing any role that is asked of him. Moved from LW to centre and didn’t look out of place. A definite keeper and a locked in part of the future. And he beats the shit out of people.
Grade: B+
Jesse Puljujärvi: 65-12-8-20-(-1)
Ugh. The fact some are starting to compare his development with Yakupov is troubling. Started the season in the AHL. Played very well after being called up, then got saddled with some questionable linemates which hurt his production and confidence. Sat on the bench a lot due to not being trusted by the coaching staff. Barely saw any meaningful powerplay time. He does a lot of things well. Uses his size and good quickness for a big kid to forecheck relentlessly. Also is usually the first man back on the defensive side of things. Can shoot the puck as well. He’s a 5 tool player in terms of talent but needs some better opportunity and talented players to play with to develop into the player envisioned when he was drafted 4th overall. The sky is the limit, but will he get the chance here to break out? Time will tell. He’s only 19, so I’m not giving up. Hopefully, the team doesn’t either.
Grade: C
Drake Caggiula: 67-13-7-20-(-13)
Up and down season for another inconsistent player. At his best, he plays a fast physical game and has some offensive skill to finish off plays. At his worst, he’s invisible unless he misses yet another grade-A chance. Was counted on to improve from last season and ended up having basically the same season. Maybe this is all he is.
Grade: C-
Zack Kassian: 74-7-12-19-(-8)
Very similar numbers to last season, but you wouldn’t know it to watch him. That same edge we saw (especially in the playoffs) wasn’t there for the most part. Still led the team with 92 penalty minutes though. I think it’s more a symptom of the team not being in contention. But this column isn’t about excuses. He must show more next season.
Grade: C-
Anton Slepyshev: 50-6-6-12-(-4)
Another victim of simply not having the kind of linemates where one could expect a lot from him. His agent must have felt the same, as Chiarelli put the word out that the Oilers would be willing to move him mid-season. Slepy can definitely shoot the puck, no doubt about it. He can also skate and play a physical game. Which makes one wonder why the coaching staff didn’t give him much opportunity. Could be KHL bound. Sad if it happens, because he can play in this league.
Grade: C
Ty Rattie: 14-5-4-9-(+1)
What a story. Rattie was called up, put on McDavid’s line, and the rest is history. Smart player who has complimented McDavid and Nuge very well. Below average skater at this level. Sometimes you see glimpses as to why he hasn’t made it as a full-time NHLer yet. Will be an intriguing one to watch if the Oilers choose to bring him back.
Grade: B+
Pontus Aberg: 16-2-6-8-(+1)
Brought in at the trade deadline for Mark Letestu. Aberg is an interesting prospect. Man can he ever skate. Showed some offensive instincts playing with Draisaitl. Unfortunately, he’s been healthy scratched 4 times since coming here. There was the off-ice issue on the Florida road trip, and then recently when McLellan called him out for having a lack of passion. A bit troubling, but at this point, he’s just a prospect so hopefully he learns and grows from it.
Grade: C
Iiro Pakarinen: 40-2-1-3-(+1)
I like Iiro. He’s a very good penalty killer. Won’t provide much offence, but that’s not what he’s here for. Plays a hard game in limited minutes. I don’t know if he’ll be brought back. Good guy.
Grade: C+
DEFENCE
Darnell Nurse: 82-6-20-26-(+15)
Unquestionably the Oilers best defenceman for the first 45-50 games. Had a bit of a dip in play in January and February (along with the rest of the team), but finished strong. His skating is amazing for a guy his size. Physical. An elite shutdown defenceman who can neutralize other teams stars. Can take the puck by himself into the offensive zone. Showed flashes of an improved shot, and has more to give in the future on the offensive side of things in general. Led Oilers defencemen in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, and penalty minutes. An absolute stud. Only 22 years old. The most untradeable member of the Oilers not named McDavid or Draisaitl.
Grade: A-
Oscar Klefbom: 66-5-16-21-(-12)
Brutal year for Klef. He simply wasn’t the same player who emerged in a big way last season becoming our #1 defenceman. Was injured all season, which didn’t help matters either. Made more mental mistakes than I can ever remember seeing from an Oilers defenceman. Often looked like he was actually daydreaming on the ice at times. Was awful on the powerplay where he couldn’t hit the net with a shot, and often bungled simple breakout plays as well. Had a good few games before being finally shut down for surgery. It was a season to forget, and I hope he forgets it. A huge part of the team moving forward. If he doesn’t get traded that is…
Grade: D-
Kris Russell: 78-4-17-21-(-7)
The most polarizing player on the Oilers. Was his usual self this season. Almost always leads the league in blocked shots. 20 points is all you really ask for on the offensive end. He’s prevented more than that on the defensive end. Yes, he could move the puck quicker at times, but really he’s not the problem and helped the team more than he hurt it this season. Was injured many times but always came back being the warrior he is. I’m happy he’s an Oiler.
Grade: B
Matt Benning: 73-6-15-21-(+5)
That’s a very good stat line for Benning, but this is a case where the stats are a bit generous to his overall play. Was counted on to mitigate the loss of Sekera in the first half of the season, but it did not go as planned. Made some pretty bad mental mistakes. The pairing of him and Klefbom can only be described as a disaster. Constantly missed guys on breakout passes, bobbled pucks at the blueline, and blew a lot of coverage in his own end. Having said that, he has a physical (almost nasty) edge to his game at times and could be a solid 3rd pair defenceman in the NHL. But top 4 minutes and powerplay time isn’t ideal. His grade is bumped up because he played above his weight class.
Grade: C-
Adam Larsson: 63-4-9-13-(+10)
Larsson’s story this season is well known. The pairing of him and Nurse was one of the bright spots of the first 1/3 of the season. They locked it down. His play started to dip before the tragic loss of his father. When he came back from that, he was the elite shutdown defenceman we’ve come to know over the last two seasons. Physical. Nasty. He makes it a long night for opposing forwards trying to score on us. A huge part of the future on the right side. Larsson isn’t flashy offensively, but he puts the word “defence” in defenceman. Another stud.
Grade: B+
Yohann Auvitu: 33-3-6-9-(+4)
Solid addition as a spare 7/8 defenceman. Auvitu no doubt has some offensive instincts. Can skate pretty well, makes some solid passes, and a decent shot. Usually is good for one defensive blunder per game, however. Never gained trust from the coaching staff for that reason. I think he deserved to play more than he did (especially with the defence core missing so many games), but also understand why he didn’t.
Grade: C
Andrej Sekera: 36-0-8-8-(-15)
Horrible. Tore his ACL in game 5 of last years round two series with Anaheim. By all accounts had a “successful” surgery and recovery. Practiced with the team for a full month before returning as an extra precaution. And wow did he ever suck. Couldn’t skate which is understandable. But his mental errors just giving the puck right to the other team in prime scoring positions were inexcusable even being on one leg. Didn’t provide much in the way of defensive coverage. Provided next to nothing offensively. A major liability on the powerplay. The “shinpad assassin” gets nearly every shot attempt blocked, and the play often ended in odd-man rushes going the other way. Re-injured the surgically repaired knee late in the season, which makes one wonder about Sekeras future with the Oilers.
Grade: F
Ethan Bear: 18-1-3-4-(-10)
Some highs and lows for the rookie in his first taste of NHL action. It was apparent right away that he can move the puck. Probably already the best one at that on the Oilers. Has great offensive vision and a solid point shot. Looks like he can be the point man on the powerplay. Bear still has work to do in his own end though. Wouldn’t hurt for him to get a little bit faster in the offseason to try and help secure himself a roster spot on opening night. Exciting prospect.
Grade: C+
GOALIES
Cam Talbot: 67 GP 31-31-3 3.02 GAA .908 SVPCT 1 SO
Another player where the overall stats are a little generous in relation to his quality of performance. Cam sucked this year. From allowing goals on the first shot of the game time and time again, failing to make the big save when we needed it, and looking tired and fatigued for the majority of the season. Has developed a really bad habit of dropping to his knees for shots from the slot and beyond, resulting in many many high glove or high blocker attempts become gimme goals. Had a pretty decent finish to the season which saves him from the dreaded F. Simply put, he has to be better for the OIlers to have a chance at the playoffs next season.
Grade: D-
Al Montoya: 9 GP 2-2-2 2.94 GAA .906 SVPCT
Brought in mid-season from Montreal, Montoya basically did his job. He’s not a guy who will challenge Talbot, but he provided some quality starts and came in relief giving the Oilers a chance to win a few games. Not a positionally sound goaltender by any means. Entertaining to watch though. Put Ryan Rishaug in his place which bumps him up a bit in my books.
What a disaster. Was counted on to be the backup after a very strong showing in limited action last season. He failed miserably. This young man did not look like an NHL goaltender. When Talbot got hurt and Brossoit became the starter for a couple weeks, it basically ended our season with no hope of recovering.
Grade: F
COACHING
Todd McLellan put on one of the most disappointing coaching performances in Oilers history this season. The fact people are starting to compare him with Eakins says a lot. Powerplay: Worst in the NHL by far. Penalty KIll: Right near the basement. Got outcoached at home with matchups where he had last change to prevent such outcomes. Line combinations were a disaster as well, constantly going back to McDavid with Draisaitl when it clearly wasn’t working and shredded the depth of a pretty thin lineup to begin with. The defence lacked any kind of structure which we had last season. Often a day late and a dollar short when he needed to pull the plug on Talbot. Never held officials accountable. Never used timeouts when we needed them. The worst timing of goalie pulls for an extra attacker I’ve ever seen. One could have made a case to fire him mid-season when the team appeared to quit on him with 5-0 shutout losses piling up in short succession. Refused to develop younger players even when mandated to do so after the trade deadline. Employs two of the worst assistant coaches in the NHL. Finally trying Nuge with McDavid might save his job, but it won’t save him from the grade I’m giving him.
Grade: F-
GENERAL MANAGER
Peter Chiarelli is not a popular man among Oilers fans. That’s a massive understatement. I’m focusing only on the 2017-18 season for this. Didn’t give the team the best opening roster, having to play 18-year-old Kailer Yamamoto because of the lack of RW depth. Overestimated the ability of the defence to make up for the loss of Andrej Sekera. Waited way too long to find a backup goaltender. Many argue (myself included) that the coaching staff should have been fired in November or December to give the team a chance to turn it around. A couple minor trades were wins with Cammalleri for Jokinen and Aberg for an expiring Letestu contract, but that doesn’t say much. Crucial offseason ahead for the much-maligned Oilers GM and President of Hockey Operations.
Grade: F
Thank you for reading. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the grades, and let’s keep talking on Twitter during the offseason. @DirtbagDonny
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My friend and newest contributor to this Oilers blog, The Dirtbag, made some very interesting and thought-provoking comments on the Twitter machine this morning regarding whether or not the Oilers should fire Todd McLellan at the end of the season or wait until next season.
The suggestion that the Oilers should keep McLellan and give him a “short leash” for 20 games next season is problematic for a few reasons.
What’s the point of that? If the organization has lost confidence in him you cut bait now. Players will also know he’s on borrowed time.
At the 20 game mark, if a team is, say, 7-10-3 or something, you’re out of the playoffs already. That’s a lost season. We can’t have that.
There won’t be the same quality replacement coaches for the team moving forward during the season… The time to hire is after the season.
All three points make perfect sense in my opinion and if you listened to Craig Simpson and Bob Stauffer talking about what changes they thought the Oilers might make this off-season, they both agreed that it’ll probably be a lateral move that takes place instead of a clean sweep of the coaching staff. Meaning the assistant coaches are taking a vacation and new ones are brought in. Craig Simpson cited Mike Babcock having 12 assistant coaches in Detroit during his time there during the segment.
I’ve maintained this year that if something does happen that I don’t think it’ll be McLellan that gets the axe but it’ll be his associate coaches and the Oilers will bring in guys that will be ready to take over for McLellan when his time is up. Kris Knoblauch, Todd Nelson, Davis Payne, or Derek Laxdall. Paul Coffey’s name has been in the mix as well.
OILERS NEWS
Beer League Heroes – What Would You Do if You Were GM? – Imagine next week the Oilers are giving you the chance to become the next general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. What moves would you make? What changes would you institute to ensure that the Oilers would be a playoff team in 2018/19?
Beer League Heroes – Spoiled Fans (I’m Serious) – A certain portion of fans pretty much wanted the NHL to hand over the Stanley Cup once we won the lottery in 2015. It doesn’t work like that. Nothing is handed to you. Yes, we got extremely lucky but that’s not the finish line. That’s the starting gate.
The Cult of Hockey – If Andrej Sekera Isn’t Healthy for Next Season, That Would be Horrid for the Oilers – In a season of bad news, Edmonton Oilers fans were this week given another kick in the shins — or perhaps a knock on the knee would be a better way to put it — with news that Andrej Sekera had “tweaked” his old knee injury and would miss the final two games of the season.
Oilersnation – WWYDW: Jesse Puljujarvi – Where does Puljujarvi fit with the Oilers long-term? What matters now is if he is a long-term solution in the organization, how should the team ensure he reaches his potential?
Oilersnation – The Oilers and their RFAs – The team has four pending restricted free agents and when you consider that none of them are true top-six forwards, it’s highly unlikely that we see all four of them back in Edmonton next September.
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Imagine next week the Oilers are giving you the chance to become the next general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. What moves would you make? What changes would you institute to ensure that the Oilers would be a playoff team in 2018/19? Would you keep the coaching staff? Would you keep the old Oilers that have random positions throughout the organization?
It’s an interesting exercise and one that I haven’t really tackled head on this year but with 2 games left in the season, I think that it’s as good as time as any to pontificate upon before the real changes are made (IF they are made).
AS GM
We need to first determine what went wrong this in 2017/18 and in my opinion, those things are thus:
Health
Special Teams/Coaching
Goaltending
Lack of good puck moving defensemen
No shoot-first wingers
Not enough compete in the bottom 6 (I’m gonna take some flack for this one)
Let’s start at the top, Health.
As GM I can only suggest that players be mindful of the way they live and be honest with any current ailments so that the team can do its best to help the player so that the player can help the team. I think of Klefbom this year, I think of Cam Talbot, and I think of Leon Draisaitl.
This past season players playing through minor injuries or coming back early during recovery backfired for the Oilers and I’d try to do my best to prevent that.
The way to prevent that is to not spend your resources on AHL vets and to do a bit better with the free agent signings during the summer but that doesn’t mean we should be reckless but we should be shrewd.
Going into 2018/19, the Oilers have a shade under $18M (IF the cap goes to $80M) according to capfriendly. Now that’s with 32/50 players under contract and that’s w/o the likes of Darnell Nurse, Drake Caggiula, Matt Benning, Iiro Pakarinen, and Anton Slepyshev signed.
I don’t want to get right into the nitty-gritty during this exercise and so I defer to respected blogger Lowetide for his projections because I believe they are close to actual.
Click here to read Lowetide’s post but be forewarned, it’s behind a paywall at The Athletic.
So that’s $3M to play with IF we don’t make a trade and the thing with a trade now is that we’re sort of back to square one like we were in the summer of ’16. Every GM knows or thinks they know, that we’re behind the 8-ball.
Another thing to consider is what happens at the draft if we win the lottery and get a top-3 pick. That $3M is gonzo if that happens because Dahlin, Svechnikov, Zadina, or Tkachuk will be on the opening day roster.
Now I look at that roster above and I have to ask myself if that is a roster that IF healthy can compete in the Pacific division? Can this team make it past the Anaheims, the San Joses, the LAs, or possibly the Vegas’? Because if we can dominate this division that’s half the battle towards making the playoffs and that’s my bottom line. I don’t care where my team ends up in the standings as long as it is in a playoff spot come April. Now if it is a roster that could boss the Pacific, we can sit on the $3M because with the additions of Kailer Yamamoto, Tyler Benson, Ostap Safin, and possibly Tyler Vesel to our AHL team; there are some players there that could help out in a pinch.
But if I wanted to spend a bit of that $3M, I’d probably look at players like Chris Kunitz, Antoine Vermette, Derek Ryan, or possibly Ales Hemsky or Matt Hendricks. I’d want to fill out that bottom 6 with experience and glue. It’d be less about goals and more about team cohesiveness. I also put emphasis on faceoffs and work ethic hence Vermette and Hendricks.
Addressing special teams and coaching would be a daunting task. I think a lot of the poor special teams is on the coaching staff. In 2017/18 they shit the bed, to put it bluntly. The PK has been less-than-stellar since the season previous and got worse. The PP has the best player on the planet on it and can’t seem to get going. Turrible!
I’d like to keep Todd McLellan because I think he’s a capable coach but I’m not sure if this young squad is the right one for him and vice versa. He’s built his career coaching veteran-laden squads as an assistant under Babcock in Detroit during their golden years and in San Jose. The assistants did more to tell me they’d like to coach elsewhere than in Edmonton, so I’m happy to move on from them.
But this is where things get complicated. Who do you pick to come in and take over?
I know everyone wants offense-first hockey but I don’t think that’s what I’d want. I’d want a coach who preaches defense first and teaches my players how to grind down a team and win the 1-goal games. McDavid is going to get his points, don’t worry about that and he’ll still be as electrifying as ever but my boys had better be on the right side of the puck when it matters. Offense-first hockey hasn’t worked in Edmonton since Gretzky was part of the club.
So my options there are probably Darryl Sutter or Dave Tippett. I’m okay with either and I think I can get them for under the $6M a year that Quenneville makes. Selfishly I’d love to have a more prickly coach just to see how he’d deal with the fishbowl that is Edmonton but I’m not sure how successful the club would be with that kind of coach.
Now, does the team NEED a right-handed cannon for the PP? I mean Matt Benning has a 100+MPH slapshot but I’m not sure about his offensive potential there… Or could we simply get the players to be better net-front presences? I’ve watched Leon Draisaitl’s one-timer from the right-wall look pretty effective this year too.
I still think that Ryan Strome from the left-wall could be useful as a one-time option as well as a healthy Oscar Klefbom on the point and the aforementioned Leon Draisaitl on the right wall. That unit would need a screen (Kassian/Khaira/Caggiula?) and another down low player probably being McDavid.
The 2nd unit would be Nuge’s and that would consist of Benning/Bear on the point, Puljujarvi on the left-wall, Slepyshev as the bumper, Nuge on the right-wall, and Aberg as the down low. Everything would be run through the point shot or Puljujarvi and Slepy/Jesse/Aberg could be fluid with who goes where. They’re all RH’d and all can shoot.
The one thing that absolutely MUST be eradicated from the PP is the feet in quicksand. The Oilers do not move their feet enough on the PP and it makes it so easy to defend against. I want a coaching staff that will hold the players accountable and get rid of this poor habit once and for all and the players who don’t think they’re capable of that, we’ll move on from them.
On to the goaltending. I actually don’t think there’s too much we could do here for the next season. I like the tandem of Talbot and Montoya but they MUST be healthy to start the year because that was the problem this season and it killed the team’s confidence. No messing about. If there’s a lingering issue, it must be dealt with accordingly. I wouldn’t be playing the “will it get worse if he plays with it” game.
I am a bit concerned about the lack of good puck-moving dmen though. The problem being it’ll be very hard to acquire one without moving a core piece (RNH/Klef) or a highly-regarded prospect (Yamamoto/Puljujarvi) and I’m not willing to move on them. I like Chris Wideman, a righty UFA who played for Ottawa the last few years, and I still like Auvitu as long as he has the right partner but with only $3M in cap room, I would not be willing to blow most of that on a puck-moving D right now.
That being said, if Sekera has done his knee in for good, that might make it possible to put him on LTIR and open up some space to bring in someone assuming that we don’t draft somebody like Rasmus Dahlin, Adam Boqvist, or Quinn Hughes.
Otherwise, we have to wait another year in order to be able to trade Kris Russell or Andrej Sekera or else we’ll have to pay another team to take those players. A more severe option would be to buy a player out…
The last two problems from this past season, no shoot-first wingers and a lack of compete in the bottom-6, will have to be addressed internally, by choosing not to re-sign some of those RFAs from above, or by trade.
*What I mean by lack of compete is that this past season I’ve watched the club stop competing altogether at times. It reminded me of the Hall years and pissed me off. I’m a guy that believes if you’re not scoring you’d better be doing something else to affect the game. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to go running around but I do want to see some intensity through the forecheck or an open-ice hit or some scrums at the net. Do something to get the other team off their game. Anaheim are fantastic at it.*
My conundrum with the bottom-6 and the lack of shooters on the wing though is that there were games where Slepyshev and Caggiula were bringing the most jam to the game but nothing was going. So I know they can compete and I really believe that Anton Slepyshev can score in the double-digits the same way Drake Caggiula did this past year but I’m not sure who you’d put them with in order to do that? They’re skilled and bring the sandpaper and they can skate but do they require an elite centre to produce?
The problem is that this team, for the most part, is young and their game is inconsistent. We’re going through the bumps in the road with them right now and those will smooth as time passes on but we should be in win-now mode so are some of these players expendable, right? And the players we want to bring in are more expensive, something the team cannot afford right now… Conundrum.
It sort of brings us to Zack Kassian. I feel like he and Lucic were challenged to play a more skill game this season and that backfired too. I also think that the brutal PK had them being a bit more choosy about how they play too. But that’s not where their bread and butter is. They are power forwards and their mandate would be to play as such. But if that wasn’t something they were interested in, I’d gladly move on from them just from a financial perspective, their contracts are ones that the team could do without but from a team cohesiveness perspective, I want them around.
Edmonton is a blue-collar city and they should be playing a blue-collar game accented with skill.
The team has been handcuffed, for lack of a better term, by Chiarelli but it’s not a bottom-10 team any more than Vegas is the next great NHL dynasty. The Oilers were obliterated by slumps, health, poor coaching/special teams, and a lack of effective depth players to cover said slumps and injuries.
That will all begin to change in 2018/19 as the AHL team starts to populate with draft picks from 2015 and 2016 in my opinion.
Anyways, the exercise is over. I’m sure I’ve glossed over some things and I encourage you to let me know what they are in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
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