The Oilers have just 21 games left in what was expected to be a break out year for a team that was in need of a playoff run. So what went wrong and what can we expect for the rest of the season?. The combination of bad goal tending, poor defensive play and a rookie head coach the Oilers will fall short of the playoffs for the eighth straight year. Here is what to expect for the rest of the season.
Last year the Oilers finished the season with 45 point in a shortened season. That left them with the seventh overall pick and out of the playoffs but it had them heading in the right direction.
Lets start with the defense.
We can talk about the Oilers terrible defense until pigs fly so I am just going to touch on a few things.
The Oil have 153 goals for and 202 goals against in 61 games this season for a -49. In 48 games last year there were 125 goals for and 134 goals against for a -9. We seen some minor changes on the back-end coming into the season but this was the area the Oilers needed to improve in the off-season. GM Craig MacTavish was unable to make a significant signing or trade. When you play in the west and you have no top-tier defencemen then you are going to have trouble keeping the puck out of your end of the ice which is what Edmonton has been experiencing all year.
Adding Andrew Ference, Philip Larsen and Anton Belov would all be nice moves if they were added to a defense that already had a top three or even a top two. Unfortunately for the Oilers just added three bottom four defencemen to the bottom four they already had. This was a big step backwards. Belov had to take some time to adjust to the smaller ice (still adjusting) and a faster game then he was use to in the KHL. Good for us is he will get better, maybe. Trying to use Jeff Petry as your number one guy on the back-end has probably effected his confidence but he will still fit in nicely in a second paring one day.
The rest of the season for the defense should see many of the young players getting more of a chance for a few reasons. The possibility of a roster spot with the Oilers next season an MacT will just be putting them on display for other GM’s to see. As we heard in a press conference earlier this week MacTavish is looking to replenish the Oilers draft picks in the middle rounds. What better way to do this then to move some of these young defenseman that we have so many of yet seem to be going nowhere within the Oilers organization. I think players like Oscar Klefbom, Taylor Fedun and even Philip Larsen could all see an okay return for the Oilers if traded to the right team. I don’t think the Oilers would move all three but moving one in a package to gain draft pick would not be out of the question. Protecting Martin Marincin and getting him lots of ice time will be a something the Oilers coaching staff should be trying to do as well in these last 21 games.
The Oilers and goaltending.
It took the Oilers six seasons of back up and starting chances to finally figure out that Devon Dubnyk was not to be the future goalie that would propel them into the playoffs. As his losing record and average SV% were not enough, Dubnyk came out flat to start the season and with the poor defense of the Oilers. He was never able to bounce back and regain his confidence and now he is a Predator. This was also an area where I hope MacTavish looked to see if an upgraded was available in the off-season.
The signing of Ilya Bryzgalov was better for ‘The Universe’ then it was for the Oilers. I think he is just showing teams he can still be an okay back up if a team needs and I really do not expect him to be an Oiler next year. This was a strange move as he was on nobodies radar. This was a pretty bold move by MacTavish as Bryzgalov could have fell flat on his face. Instead he has come in and played okay. Not well enough to be a number one but okay as a back up back up.
Richard Bachman is a bit of a dark horse. He has played well to this point and could possible be a second option for a back up if Bryzgalov decides not to stick around as there is now no doubt who is number one since MacTavish made the moves to pick up Scrivens who is unproven as a number one in the NHL but is one of the better goalies we have seen here in Edmonton since Dwayne Roloson in the 2006 campaign.
The rest of the season will see starts split between Bryzgalov and Scrivens. Again I think this will be a situation where MacTavish and Oilers management will be shopping Bryzgalov as a possible back up for a playoff contender and hope to get a draft pick back in return. Or maybe he wants to see if they combination can work well enough together to offer both goalies contracts in the off-season. If it does not work then the Oilers should let Bryzgalov go and sign Scrivens all while checking the open market for a number one or for a one ‘A’. Scrivens would then be the one ‘B’.
The Rookie Head Coach
To this point is seems that Dallas Eakins and the ‘swarm’ defense that he has been trying to implement has had very little success. This is mainly due to the lack of ability that Oilers defense possesses. It may have been a better idea to play the systems that was already in place, evaluate what you got and proceed from there but we know that Eakins is a coach who likes things done his way and has the backing of his GM to do so no matter what. There have been some definite positives that have come out of the beginning part of the season with Eakins behind the bench. The Oilers players are probably in the best shape physically that they have been in since they have become pro hockey players. They will know what to expect next year coming into training camp and we can only hope that the Oilers are ready for Dallas Eakins and his coaching style.
The rest of the season. There were a lot of growing pains and as Oilers fans we can expect that there will be more downs then ups through the remainder of the season. Coach Eakins has the support and backing of his GM and after the trouble that the Oilers went through to sign the guy, who many though was the best coach not coaching in the NHL this last off-season, you can be sure he has a long leash to work with. He will be allowed to coach his team they way he has all season and he will be working with MacTavish to find the pieces they need to succeed.
The Wrap Up
In the end Oilers fans there are things you can or should expect over the next two months to finish out the season.
Oilers management and everyone else in the league knows that Oilers need and will address their issues on the back-end. This will happen at the draft or sometime in the off-season I would imagine. No one will be wanting to give up one of their top Dmen if they are trying for a playoff push. The likely hood of a team that just missed out on the playoffs trading that same defencemen in the off-season is far greater. Unless the Oilers are willing to over pay in a trade but as conservative as MacTavish has been I doubt that would happen. Don’t expect to much action from the Oilers at trade deadline other than the UFA’s that need addressing.
We are going to have to suck it up and watch this terrible team for the remainder of the year or we can jump on the bandwagon of a team we know is going to make the playoffs, you know, so we can stop yelling at our television sets and we can start cheering again. Then in the off-season we can see what this Oilers management staff is made of. They got lots of holes to fill to turn this team into a playoff contender and they have a lot of fans that wanted it this year. If there is not significant change and the results are the same next year as they are this year then I am afraid we will see a lot more jerseys hit the ice.
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