On Saturday night, the Oilers fell 2-1 to the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout. Nothing crazy in that result, the team collected a point and had a very strong stretch of play towards the end of the game. That said, Edmonton’s loss was a microcosm of what is wrong with this hockey club, and it shed a light on the key issues for this team moving forward.
Peter Chiarelli has his work cut out for him, no debating that at all. The Jets played a tough game, standing up at the blue line and not letting the Oilers’ skill take over. They battled hard and Edmonton had simply no answer for the first fifty minutes of the game. That is the sign of a weak NHL team that won’t be turning a corner anytime soon.
To me, two things really stood out, Edmonton failed to move the puck up ice and the team lost a lot of battles. The Edmonton Oilers lack competent defenders that can move the puck and they lack forwards that can win a battle along the boards and create some ugly scoring chances.
See, here’s the thing, we have known about these issues for YEARS. Both Chiarelli and Todd McLellan have heard about them, but this is their first year seeing them up close and personal. It’s honestly hard to imagine Edmonton going into the 2016-17 season without some sort of an overhaul from these veteran leaders.
Issue One: Puck Moving D:
In the NHL, transitioning the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone is a major part of the game. For about five years now, the Edmonton Oilers have struggled mightily doing this. On Saturday night, only Andrej Sekera and Brandon Davidson seemed capable of completing this task. That is two defenders out of six, completely unacceptable.
Sekera is a strong all around defender who will no doubt be back next season. He’s part of the solution and should be in the team’s top four. He can move the puck. Ditto for Oscar Klefbom, who is currently out of the lineup but is a top four defender with strong all around ability, including puck moving. Brandon Davidson has Edmonton covered on the third pairing in this regard. That’s half a unit.
If the Oilers ever want to make a push up the standings, then they’ll need to add at least two more competent defenders that can move the puck, Ideally, they are both RHD and they are both top four options. I think at least one player of this build is a given this summer, two might be a stretch.
Bottom line is the Oilers can’t have guys like Justin Schultz hanging onto top four spots. Schultz can’t move the puck and is a liability defensively. Darnell Nurse is wildly inconsistent and not ready for this role yet, while Eric Gryba and Griffin Reinhart REALLY struggle to move the puck up ice.
Sekera, Klefbom and Davidson is a strong start for Edmonton, I really believe that. Darnell Nurse will join this group in due time but the bottom line is that more must be added. Whether it comes from free agency or trade doesn’t really matter, but Edmonton desperately needs some defenders who can move the puck and play in the top four.
This hole has been around for years and it is sinking this roster.
Issue Two: Winning Battles:
The Oilers, overall, have a softer core of forwards. This group doesn’t win enough battles and as a result doesn’t score nearly as many goals as they should. I have no problem with a number of forwards on this roster, but a few of these guys simply don’t win enough battles in tough areas.
Jordan Eberle has a great set of hands and can score, but he doesn’t win nearly enough battles. Lauri Korpikoski doesn’t win many battles either and he isn’t exactly a goal scorer or a strong defensive forward himself. I pick these two out, but there are many examples of Edmonton being light on battlers.
See, teams exploit this. The good teams are tough to beat in battles all over the lineup, not just in the bottom six. All twelve forwards in Chicago bust their ass every single shift, we haven’t seen that ONCE from Edmonton this season. Teams that battle will win, we see it all the time. Until Edmonton is willing to make that sacrifice, then they will be a bottom feeding team.
Part of it comes from leadership too. The good leaders will put a team on their back and win a battle, they’ll lead by example. It’s why I respect Matt Hendricks so much, but he’s the only guy on this roster that currently does it.
You don’t have to get Lucic or Byfuglien, you just need players that will battle hard and that will make life tough on the other team. Right now, Edmonton doesn’t have enough of those players and it is an issue.
Get To Work Pete!:
Peter Chiarelli is going to be a busy man between now and September 2016. This Oilers team is not good enough and he knows it. This group doesn’t play a style of hockey associated with Chiarelli and this roster has a lot of holes that were strengths at Pete’s last stop.
It’s easy to be negative about the Oilers, but anyone who thinks that this roster will not undergo some sort of meaningful change this summer is just clueless, seriously. Chiarelli and McLellan did not come to Edmonton to lose. If I can see these issues clearly, then you and I both know that Peter Chiarelli can see these issues.
I don’t know if the 2016-17 Edmonton Oilers will truly be better than the 2015-16 edition, but I do know one thing. They’ll be better at moving the puck from the back-end and they’ll win more battles.
Good thing too, because these issues are blatantly apparent. Can’t win with these holes, folks.
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