It was the year everything was supposed to turn in. 2013-14 was the year where fans and national media thought Edmonton would turn around their state of affairs and get into the playoffs, turning the corner in their everlasting rebuild. Instead? The Edmonton Oilers are suffering, in my mind, the worst season in franchise history.
The team has been injured, can’t get consistent goaltending, has given up the most goals in the NHL, and can’t play defense. I’m serious, this team literally does not know how to play defense. They can’t cover their assignments and leak chances against like no one else in the league does.
It’s a team that plays as individuals, and a team that doesn’t seem to care enough to learn to play as a team. The Edmonton Oilers can’t grasp the system, and far too often revert to their selfish junior ways, falling back into old habits far too often.
Up front, its a case of being inconsistent. Some nights, like Tuesday in Florida and Thursday in Tampa, the Oilers bring the pressure and play the game they are capable of. But far too often we see games like last Saturday against Detroit or this Saturday against Philadelphia, where Edmonton can’t get anything going and instead of working hard, they revert to their old bad habits.
The Oilers defense? They far too often miss their assignments and far too often end up pinching at the wrong times. We see Justin Schultz sacrifice his position for a glimmer of hope on offense. Guys like Nick Schultz almost always seemingly find a way to get beat by their assignment.
Anton Belov has improved, but he still isn’t established, while Andrew Ference and Jeff Petry seemingly are the only two trust worthy guys on the blue-line and are trying to do something they simply can’t, carry the entire Oilers defense.
That’s a problem. This team doesn’t have enough NHL defenders and doesn’t have enough players that are buying in and playing to the system of actually playing defense. Far too often the Oilers fail to cover their assignments, and it is both frustrating and honestly a little bit pathetic.
In net? Jason Labarbera has been a terrible signing, and has yet to give the Oilers a solid outing this season. He’s had some chances to do so at key times too. Devan Dubnyk? I stuck up for the guy all summer long, but DD has been largely bad for Edmonton this season. He’s been allowing soft goals and hasn’t been able to make the big save at the right time for Edmonton.
Goaltending is an issue that has cost Edmonton about nine points so far this season, and has been one of the biggest problems the team has been dealing with, along with the average at best defensive play.
That being said, it isn’t just the players that have some blame for what is going on in Edmonton. The coaching staff, management team and owner are all at some fault here too.
It starts at the top. Daryl Katz has the money and there isn’t a doubt the man cares about the team, but sooner or later he needs to make it known that he isn’t pleased with the train wreck HE is in charge of. There hasn’t been any accountability with the old boys club, and part of me wonders if Mr. Katz is more interested in being friends with the old Oilers than winning.
Kevin Lowe needs to go, but I won’t get into it too much. We’ve talked about this in many different articles and touched on it so many times on the radio show. He’s run this team into the ground (Good call Burke!) and needs to pay the price for it finally.
Coaching wise? Steve Smith and Kelly Buchberger, holdovers for many coaching changes, need to go. Neither of these guys are Eakins guys and both are coaching areas of the team that constantly struggle. The system is pretty iffy too right now, and Dallas Eakins needs to address that. If it’s one or two players then fine, but when it’s the whole damn team something deeper is wrong.
The Oilers need changes, but not stupid changes. Firing Dallas Eakins or Craig MacTavish right now would be stupid. The Oilers need some consistency in their organization, something they haven’t had in a long time. Eakins is a guy with a vision and is trying to instill that into his team.
He needs more than 16 games to do that in, and I think he will need more than just this season to achieve success. No matter what, Eakins needs to be kept around for this season, next season and the season after. Get some consistency behind the bench and stay the course with a smart hockey guy.
Craig MacTavish has made some smart moves since taking over. Dumping Horcoff’s salary for a decent depth defender was brilliant, as was signing Boyd Gordon. Adding Perron for Paajarvi and a pick? Awesome call. Snagging Anton Belov and Jesse Joensuu off the scrap heap? Looking good so far. Signing Andrew Ference to replace Ryan Whitney? A bit large on the contract, but good move overall.
MacT has a vision for the roster and sadly will need time to instill it. Steve Tambellini and Kevin Lowe created this mess, and it’s going to take longer than hoped to fix it.
The Oilers need to be careful. They have to make changes, but they need to be smart ones. The team needs a top pairing defender or two, a veteran two-way forward and a power-forward. That’s four pieces on paper, and they need the entire roster to buy-into coach Eakins, which should come with time.
Those pieces won’t be easy to get, they simply won’t be. That said, the answer isn’t tanking and drafting Ekblad, or trading Hall for Luke Schenn. The answer is looking for a bargain, waiting it out and adding when the time is right.
This season is lost playoff wise, but if the Oilers are patient teams will start dumping pieces, and that’s when the change needs to take place. Wait for a team that’s heading into a rebuild to dump off a piece that fits your need, and go get the piece for next season, start building the roster for next year.
For example, when Buffalo has their fire sale towards the deadline, try and pry defender Christian Ehrhoff from them, a guy that is a legit top pairing defender.
The Oilers can’t get desperate. Trading Ladislav Smid to Calgary for futures is a bad idea. The time to deal veterans for picks/prospects has long passed, it’s time to start getting good NHL players and it’s time to start keeping them.
Craig MacTavish, who clearly isn’t happy, has his work cut out for him to fix this team. He has (By my count) four big pieces to get before the team starts competing. It won’t be easy, but if the Oilers use this debacle of a season to their advantage, things will turn around. I hate to say it and preach it this way, but the Oilers need to follow the path that MacTavish has set for them, it’s the only way out of this mess right now.
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