The most famous line from Dallas Eakins’ farewell press conference was a simple one, one that has become a punchline in Edmonton in the last seven days, “Craig’s on it”. When asked about the changes that need to happen and the plan moving forward, this was the response. Plain, simple and bland. The words before “Craig’s on it”? “Don’t worry”. Sorry Dallas, but if Craig is on it, we should worry.
The Edmonton Oilers enter the Christmas break with seven wins, and sit dead last in the NHL. They are worse than they were last year, and that was viewed as a debacle by management, the perfect storm if you will. Well here we are, in a worse position. If last year was the perfect storm, then what the hell is this?
Craig MacTavish took over in the spring of 2013 in a move that was widely met with praise. Steve Tambellini was a terrible GM, and the Oilers hired a guy viewed as a smart hockey guy who was talking about taking risk and being bold. After finishing 30th, 30th, 29th and 24th, many believed that the Oilers would finally turn north, with MacT leading the way.
Since then, Edmonton has gotten worse each and every year. During the 2013-14 season, Edmonton started off terribly, and finished 28th overall in the NHL. This season? Edmonton started out worse, and currently sits 30th in the NHL, having lost 20 of their last 21 games, arguably the worst stretch of hockey in franchise history.
The holes when Craig MacTavish took over are the same holes that currently plague the team. Edmonton still is very weak at center, the Oilers still do not have a top pairing on defense, and Edmonton is still without a starting goaltender. In fact, Edmonton has arguably gotten worse at the center position and in goal.
Craig MacTavish gave away assets for pennies on the dollar, dumping useful pieces in Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky for draft picks that are nothing more than bags of magic beans.
MacT has swung and missed far too often. He failed on multiple goalies, publicly putting pressure on Devan Dubnyk and giving him an AHL-level back up in Jason Labarbera. Ilya Bryzgalov didn’t exactly help, while both Viktor Fasth and Ben Scrivens have proven they can’t handle the load as starters at this level.
His fixes on defense? Mark Fayne is a legit top-four defender, and while he is overpaid, Andrew Ference is a good third-pairing guy, but the others? Phil Larsen, Denis Grebeshkov and Anton Belov are not NHL players, while Nikita Nikitin has imploded in Edmonton, to the point where a buy-out is best case scenario this summer.
Up front? Outside of signing Boyd Gordon, Benoit Pouliot and trading for David Perron, it’s been a tire fire as well. Hemsky and Horcoff, as mentioned, were given away for nothing, while players like Luke Gazdic, Jesse Joensuu, Ryan Jones and Steve Pinizzotto were brought in to fill holes in the bottom six with absolutely no success.
MacT’s biggest blunders? First off was trading Sam Gagner and not signing a replacement, assuming that rookie Leon Draisaitl and AHL’er Mark Arcobello could fill the void. Draisaitl has proven he isn’t ready for the NHL, and has been a non-factor and a liability most nights, while Arcobello hasn’t really had an impact.
The biggest blunder? Firing Ralph Krueger and hiring Dallas Eakins. Krueger had the Oilers doing some good things and moving in a better direction, while Eakins crated the Oilers. Multiple core players regressed under Eakins, who came to Edmonton and tried to re-invent the wheel, a terrible decision.
A rookie coach for a rookie GM running one of the youngest teams in the NHL? What could possibly go wrong for the Oilers in that regard. Oh, that’s right, everything went wrong!
Many say that the Oilers need sweeping changes on their roster, and they absolutely do. The mix must be changed in Edmonton, and it starts with the core. The Oilers have built this team with too many soft, small, skilled players, and don’t have enough toughness, size and grit to compete in the west.
On top of that, Edmonton’s depth lies on the wings, while center, defense and goalie, the three most important positions, lay in shambles, with no depth and no real impact player outside of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. That’s a fundamental issue, and one you simply can’t win with.
One of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle needs to be moved in trade for multiple assets to fill holes, while other deals need to be made too, likely including players like David Perron, Nail Yakupov, Jeff Petry and Justin Schultz.
That is something I totally agree with, and is likely something I will touch on later this week after Christmas. The thing is, those changes can’t just happen, they must be helpful and must improve the team.
Craig MacTavish, and by extension Kevin Lowe and Scott Howson, have proven that they can’t accomplish this in a front office at the NHL level. Kevin Lowe has over seen the fall of this once proud organization, while Scott Howson experienced much failure in Columbus with the Blue Jackets. As for Craig MacTavish? His resume, which I have listed above, doesn’t exactly instill confidence in me, and it shouldn’t in you either.
This management team has proven time and time again that it simply is not fit to build a winner in today’s NHL. This group, year in and year out, has failed to bring balance to the roster, and has left massive holes open each and every October. These holes, every year, are the same holes that we write about and complain about all off-season long.
The players are the massive issue with this organization, they, by the eye, look like they simply don’t care enough to win at this level, and they just aren’t good enough to win at this level. The problem is, you have to have smart people bringing the players in.
The Edmonton Oilers do not have smart people bringing the players in. What do they have? They have the worst management team in North American sports. This isn’t an opinion, this is a fact. Craig’s on it? Well dammit, I’m worried, and you should be too.
If the Oilers are to ever again achieve success, Craig MacTavish must pay the price in the form of his job. Forget Lowe must go, MacT is the man who must be shown the door. Help us Bob Nicholson, you’re our only hope.
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