Oilers fans and critics are testy, and understandably so. The team is on pace to finish in 30th place again and has made minimal improvements. The club is likely to win about six to eight more games than last season and be around ten points better than the 2014-15 edition. It’s nothing special, but it is tangible improvement.
A lot of Oilers fans and critics will look at the final standings spot (likely to be between 27th and 30th) and will get angry. Minimal, if any, movement in the standings was not supposed to be the plan this season. Edmonton was supposed to jump up into at least competing for a playoff spot. Clearly, that has not happened.
I’ve seen a lot of anger directed at Head Coach Todd McLellan as of late. It’s fine to question the coach, nothing against that and while I may not agree, everyone has their right to speak their mind. That said, I think it is worthwhile to defend McLellan right now.
So, without further ado, I’d like to go through some of the tweets from people I respect and follow that touched on this topic.
100% goaltending. No improvement in any possession metrics. No special teams improvement. https://t.co/F3Th769DSs
— Cameron Thomson (@ThomsonCam) March 24, 2016
Cam is absolutely bang on that the goaltending is improved and I agree it is the biggest reason why Edmonton’s win and point totals will be improved this season. Cam Talbot has been worlds better than what Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth were last season. I’m confident in saying that Talbot is a legit starter at the NHL level and I’m more than comfortable moving forward with him.
Since the middle of December, he’s been one of the best goalies in the NHL and he’s been stealing games for Edmonton. In the month of January, I think he was the only reason the Oilers won a single game. I also don’t think that is an exaggeration, he was that good and the team was that bad.
The special teams has certainly been underwhelming, but I also think that this is a fixable issue. The Oilers have a ton of talent, but they lack a true point shot and teams can defend them easily because of it. When you don’t have to respect a whole area of the offensive zone, it makes it easier for you to shut down the low areas. Edmonton’s blue-line play on the power play is a huge reason for the unit’s struggles.
It is the only reason? No, there are some system issues here that need to be resolved, but I think it is worth mentioning that other coaches couldn’t exactly unlock this unit either. I expect that the power play will improve next season.
Injuries Are A Factor:
Whether we like to admit it or not, injuries are a factor for this hockey club. If we are going to truly evaluate Todd McLellan, we need to make it clear that he did not have a full top six for a single game this season and that he had to coach over 50 games without his best defender in Oscar Klefbom. It’s also worth mentioning that he’ll have gone about 20 games over the course of the year without Brandon Davidson and Eric Gryba, two steady players.
Missing Jordan Eberle, Klefbom, Connor McDavid, Benoit Pouliot and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for lengthy stretches is tough. The improvements we were hoping for in the possession metrics aren’t there, but McLellan has been using a makeshift lineup essentially since opening night.
Does that excuse the lack of progress? No, it doesn’t, but it is a reason why we haven’t seen a spike in these areas.
Just Not Good Enough:
Elephant in the room, the Edmonton Oilers weren’t good enough from the get-go. The Oilers came into this season with just two proven top-four defenders (Klefbom and Andrej Sekera) and only saw one player (Davidson) emerge from within. They have heavily relied on a rookie (Darnell Nurse) on defense and have had three to four AHL’ers on the blue-line during the season. Tough for anyone to have success here.
Peter Chiarelli did not give Todd McLellan the weapons to go to war with here, and that is a fact. There isn’t a single bonafide top-pairing defender on this roster and the blue-line overall is a porous unit. Edmonton’s bottom-six also struggled for parts of the season and, as we mentioned, key injuries wiped out any ‘depth’ this team thought it had.
Bottom line is, the Oilers entered this season with a bottom ten roster. Expecting McLellan to push this thing forward a good distance simply was unrealistic. I was guilty of this. Hopefully this summer spells a different story out for the Oilers, because without improvements and balance, it will be more of the same in 2016-17.
Final Thoughts:
Has Todd McLellan been perfect in Edmonton? No, he hasn’t and he knows that. He’s overplayed guys like Mark Letestu and Lauri Korpikoski up front and young Nurse on the back end. The special teams have faltered under him too, and that is a massive disappointment if you ask me.
That said, McLellan is a veteran NHL coach who has had success everywhere he has been at every level. Assuming, because his first year in Edmonton was bad, that he isn’t right for this job is a little off base in my opinion. As mentioned above, McLellan was handed an incomplete roster that had no chance to begin with, then had that roster gutted be injury.
This summer, we are likely to see some improvements from the management team in Edmonton. Should McLellan have a competent team next season, then we can truly start to evaluate him as a head coach. If the possession metrics and record are terrible a year from now, then we can turn on the heat.
Right now? McLellan is playing with a roster that has hand prints from MacTavish/Howson all over it. It’s a flawed hockey team and he knows it.
I think I’ll back the veteran coach here. This hockey club needs continuity and Todd McLellan provides that. While the issues raised are valid concerns, I’d like to see him with a complete NHL roster in Edmonton before passing judgement on Todd McLellan, Edmonton Oilers Head Coach.
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