January 18th, 2018
(Skip's Sports is a 9-part blogging series that follows the rambling thoughts of a depressed Edmonton Oilers fan)
6th in the Pacific Division, 25th in the league.
After the 46th game of an 82-game season, that is where the Edmonton Oilers currently find themselves sitting. It isn't what many around the Oilers organization expected of the team. Way back in October we saw multiple NHL analysts predicting a fast Edmonton team that would be contending for hockey's ultimate prize: Lord Stanley's Cup.
Instead, the on-ice product has been nothing short of slow and uninspiring. So, how did this happen? What can we attribute to such lacklustre results? There are a million things that any one fan could pinpoint, but I am going to narrow it down to a few select reasons of why the Edmonton Oilers are finding themselves struggling to stay in the playoff race....after being almost a year removed from being one game away from the conference final:
Sputtering Special Teams:
The biggest thing that has kept the Edmonton Oilers from doing well is their horrendous play on both the power play and penalty kill, the latter of which has been a backbreaker all year-long.
As we sit right now, the Oilers rank 20th on the power play and a dismal 31st on the penalty kill. This is not acceptable for a team with Connor McDavid on it.
On the power play we've seen, associate coach, Jay Woodcroft make little to no changes on both units; constantly deploying slow role players like Mark Letestu and Milan Lucic. This type of strategy may have worked marginally last year, but it certainly is not this time around. Woodcroft's stubbornness to tweak the power play has left Oiler fans wanting to deny power plays that come their way.
Then we have the atrocity that is the Edmonton penalty kill, which I mentioned to be dead last in the league. Not only has this been bad, it has been painfully bad to watch. An unorganized mess that leaves opposing players WIDE open for easy goals against. The associate coach in charge of this one, Jim Johnson, is doing an excellent job of getting himself fired come season's end. Not much more can be said this one, other than it needs to be significantly changed in order to yield more desirable results.
Ignoring Roster Holes:
This has been a talking point among the fanbase for quite some time and, while some may argue against it, I tend to think that it raises a few good points.
Oilers general manager, Peter Chiarelli, did not have the offseason that most fans thought he would. Instead of loading up for another long playoff run, we saw him move out Jordan Eberle in a deal that was probably not worth doing. He also signed Kris Russell, a shot-blocking specialist, to an expensive four-year contract. Combine these with the Taylor Hall trade from two summers ago and Pete should have some explaining to do.
The team, as ironic as it might be, are now struggling big-time in finding scoring on the wings. Connor McDavid has to essentially carry both of his line-mates if he wants them to score, and the goals aren't coming from anywhere else. The return for Eberle, a young centerman named Ryan Strome, has been decent thus far but is not coming close to replacing Eberle's production. The two rays of hope that we have on the wings come in the form of Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto, who have both shown glimpses of brilliance during their short tenures with the team.
Chiarelli also ignored to fill Andrej Sekera's absence on the blueline at the start of the season. Instead of finding a veteran d-man to act as a stop-gap until Sekera was healthy enough to return to the lineup, Chiarelli relied on sophomore Matt Benning to do the job. This did not work out and Benning struggled mightily to adjust to his increased responsibilities.
Chiarelli dropped the ball this summer and ignored some glaring roster holes that became very apparent early on into this season.
Bought Into The Hype:
Finally, we have the issue of the Oilers buying into their own hype.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I mentioned the fact that multiple NHL analysts were forecasting the Oilers to be near the top of the league standings before the season had started. It seemed that you couldn't go a minute on Twitter without seeing someone mention how good the Edmonton Oilers were going to be in the 2017/18 season. While this was encouraging to many who follow the team, it did not end up being positive for the team itself.
Early on into the season you could see that something was wrong with the team as a whole. With the exception of Connor McDavid, there was a slower feel to how the Oilers went about playing the game. It was almost as if they bought into the hype and believed that their reputation alone was enough to win games. Obviously, this was not the case.
As the losses started to pile up, so did the team's panic levels. Disbelief dominated post-game locker room comments after blowout losses and this only snowballed things.
At the beginning of the season the team wasn't doing enough and, as they quickly fell in the standings, their knee-jerk reactions resulted in the team doing too much on the ice.
A balance must be found in order to become a successful team. The intense hype messed this team around and we are seeing how now.
Conclusion:
On a positive note, things have been better as of late for the team. They rode into this week's bye-week on a two-game winning streak. Tight wins against a bad Arizona team and a really good Las Vegas team should help the Oilers get back some confidence. Lots of things are going wrong with the Oilers right now, so lets end it with a positive.
They're back in action at Rogers Place this Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, 8pm puck-drop.
Thanks For Reading!
Preston Hodgkinson
(Skip's Sports is a 9-part blogging series that follows the rambling thoughts of a depressed Edmonton Oilers fan)
6th in the Pacific Division, 25th in the league.
After the 46th game of an 82-game season, that is where the Edmonton Oilers currently find themselves sitting. It isn't what many around the Oilers organization expected of the team. Way back in October we saw multiple NHL analysts predicting a fast Edmonton team that would be contending for hockey's ultimate prize: Lord Stanley's Cup.
Instead, the on-ice product has been nothing short of slow and uninspiring. So, how did this happen? What can we attribute to such lacklustre results? There are a million things that any one fan could pinpoint, but I am going to narrow it down to a few select reasons of why the Edmonton Oilers are finding themselves struggling to stay in the playoff race....after being almost a year removed from being one game away from the conference final:
Sputtering Special Teams:
The biggest thing that has kept the Edmonton Oilers from doing well is their horrendous play on both the power play and penalty kill, the latter of which has been a backbreaker all year-long.
As we sit right now, the Oilers rank 20th on the power play and a dismal 31st on the penalty kill. This is not acceptable for a team with Connor McDavid on it.
On the power play we've seen, associate coach, Jay Woodcroft make little to no changes on both units; constantly deploying slow role players like Mark Letestu and Milan Lucic. This type of strategy may have worked marginally last year, but it certainly is not this time around. Woodcroft's stubbornness to tweak the power play has left Oiler fans wanting to deny power plays that come their way.
Then we have the atrocity that is the Edmonton penalty kill, which I mentioned to be dead last in the league. Not only has this been bad, it has been painfully bad to watch. An unorganized mess that leaves opposing players WIDE open for easy goals against. The associate coach in charge of this one, Jim Johnson, is doing an excellent job of getting himself fired come season's end. Not much more can be said this one, other than it needs to be significantly changed in order to yield more desirable results.
Ignoring Roster Holes:
This has been a talking point among the fanbase for quite some time and, while some may argue against it, I tend to think that it raises a few good points.
Oilers general manager, Peter Chiarelli, did not have the offseason that most fans thought he would. Instead of loading up for another long playoff run, we saw him move out Jordan Eberle in a deal that was probably not worth doing. He also signed Kris Russell, a shot-blocking specialist, to an expensive four-year contract. Combine these with the Taylor Hall trade from two summers ago and Pete should have some explaining to do.
The team, as ironic as it might be, are now struggling big-time in finding scoring on the wings. Connor McDavid has to essentially carry both of his line-mates if he wants them to score, and the goals aren't coming from anywhere else. The return for Eberle, a young centerman named Ryan Strome, has been decent thus far but is not coming close to replacing Eberle's production. The two rays of hope that we have on the wings come in the form of Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto, who have both shown glimpses of brilliance during their short tenures with the team.
Chiarelli also ignored to fill Andrej Sekera's absence on the blueline at the start of the season. Instead of finding a veteran d-man to act as a stop-gap until Sekera was healthy enough to return to the lineup, Chiarelli relied on sophomore Matt Benning to do the job. This did not work out and Benning struggled mightily to adjust to his increased responsibilities.
Chiarelli dropped the ball this summer and ignored some glaring roster holes that became very apparent early on into this season.
Bought Into The Hype:
Finally, we have the issue of the Oilers buying into their own hype.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I mentioned the fact that multiple NHL analysts were forecasting the Oilers to be near the top of the league standings before the season had started. It seemed that you couldn't go a minute on Twitter without seeing someone mention how good the Edmonton Oilers were going to be in the 2017/18 season. While this was encouraging to many who follow the team, it did not end up being positive for the team itself.
Early on into the season you could see that something was wrong with the team as a whole. With the exception of Connor McDavid, there was a slower feel to how the Oilers went about playing the game. It was almost as if they bought into the hype and believed that their reputation alone was enough to win games. Obviously, this was not the case.
As the losses started to pile up, so did the team's panic levels. Disbelief dominated post-game locker room comments after blowout losses and this only snowballed things.
At the beginning of the season the team wasn't doing enough and, as they quickly fell in the standings, their knee-jerk reactions resulted in the team doing too much on the ice.
A balance must be found in order to become a successful team. The intense hype messed this team around and we are seeing how now.
Conclusion:
On a positive note, things have been better as of late for the team. They rode into this week's bye-week on a two-game winning streak. Tight wins against a bad Arizona team and a really good Las Vegas team should help the Oilers get back some confidence. Lots of things are going wrong with the Oilers right now, so lets end it with a positive.
They're back in action at Rogers Place this Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, 8pm puck-drop.
Thanks For Reading!
Preston Hodgkinson