It is November 17th, the Oilers are 6-10-2, last place in the west, and 27th place overall in the NHL. We heard all summer long about how this was an improved hockey club, and how this team would compete for a playoff spot. At the 18 game mark, that all seems to be nothing more than fluff.
Not everything is terrible for the Oilers however. As a team, Edmonton is much improved in all the advanced stat categories, from Corsi to Fenwick, the Oilers have moved from bottom five in the league to around the middle mark in the league, between 13 and 19 in every category. That is marked improvement and something that the organization can point to has a good arrow.
The Oilers, as my friend Lowetide likes to say, are trying to turn north. The advanced stats suggest that the ship is starting to turn, but the important numbers, the wins and losses, suggest that the team is simply stuck in the mud, and is just spinning their tires yet again.
DO SOMETHING!:
While the advanced stats suggest improvement, Edmonton has failed in one major area, filling roster holes. That falls right on GM Craig MacTavish, who is in his second year. Yes, MacT has made a number of moves, but it’s looking like quantity over quality right now. Yes, MacT hit on Fayne, Gordon, Pouliot and considering the price, Scrivens, but he also lost on Ference, the Hemsky trade, and depth moves like Grebeshkov, Gazdic, Belov and to a degree, Fasth. He has yet to add a truly impactful player to the Oiler roster.
This summer, he left three glaring holes open. Number one was the center position. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a legit number one, and Boyd Gordon a solid three or four, but leaving Mark Arcobello and Leon Draisaitl for the last two spots is setting the team up for failure.
MacT also bet and lost on two back-up goalies, and failed to obtain a true starter this off-season for the Oilers. Guess what, this has hurt the team too. Lastly, Edmonton didn’t add a top-pairing defender, which has hindered the team as well. I know guys like Weber don’t grow on trees, but you have to at least go hard after a legit defender to fix a hole that has hurt Edmonton since the spring of 2006 when Pronger was in town.
The Oilers have improved their wing depth, and their Corsi and Fenwick in a big way. They are certainly improved, but have holes that are sinking the ship in a huge way. Something must be done, the team must obtain a player to fill one of these holes, preferably center.
The Oilers claimed that this season was the year for improvement and that the team must compete for a playoff spot. 18 games in, and it certainly doesn’t look like that is even possible. Those holes that were so blatant and yet left open are the reason for the team’s early season demise.
The Oilers owe it to the city, their fans, and their players, to make a move to improve the hockey club, and to make it right now. If this team waits any longer, it won’t matter. Heck, it might not matter a week from now. The Oilers had a golden chance to bring balance to their roster this past summer, but failed to do so. This has set the coach, and the team, up for massive failure.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1260 today, and mentioned that he doesn’t think that management will sit back.
“Yeah, I’d say. I mean, I really don’t think that management is going to sit back and just take this all in if this continues. I mean, I really think last year – described by Craig MacTavish, no less – in an interview with TSN before the season referred to last year’s start to the year as a ‘debacle,’ and I just don’t think that either Craig, nor the rest of ownership and management in Edmonton is going to sit back over the next couple of months and just accept a similar script.
“Now, that’s not to say it’ll be a similar script. There’s still lots of time for this to turn around. But whenever it seems like they’re putting a couple of wins together, it’s followed by a couple of losses and some of the same kind of mistakes being made. So I would definitely say let’s keep an eye on it, for sure. I don’t think people running the Edmonton Oilers want to go through this again.” Transcribed by Nichols on Hockey
An interesting quote, but one suggests that Edmonton may wait until the losing gets to be too much, which is a massive mistake in my mind. By that point, it will be far too little, far too late, and making a move will become pointless.
Craig MacTavish did some good things this summer, adding both Mark Fayne and Benoit Pouliot to the hockey club, but it was not enough to bring balance, and peace, to Oil Country.
The very least he could do is make a move to address one of those holes at this point. Leon Draisaitl is in over his head, Mark Arcobello is in over his head. Go get a center and help this team Craig, you owe it to the guys, to us, and honestly, to yourself.
The time is now, the Edmonton Oilers MUST do something, and fast.
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