Edmonton Oilers “Vanilla” Play Continues

Don’t get me wrong.  I am a huge Oilers fan.  It is just hard to write positive thoughts about this team.  Their mediocre play leaves me bored with the product I am watching, even when they win. 

 

It seems like the Oilers like to play a vanilla system.  They do nothing to create excitement or momentum.  They just go through the motions.  They know that when they play that style they have a roughly 50/50 chance of success.  The problem is that .500 does not get you a place in the playoffs, and fans do not want vanilla.  We want chocolate!  We want butterscotch ripple!  We want rocky road!

 

Here are 4 things the Oilers do that prevent them from being an upper echelon team in the NHL:

 

1. They have gone to a very passive box on the penalty kill.  It doesn’t seem to matter what type of power play the opposition chooses to use, the Oilers penalty kill is not up to the task.  There is little pressure on the puck carrier, and the box collapses in on itself way too easily.  If you looked at the PK last season, it featured great work in the face offs by Stoll and Horcoff, great pressure up high by the checking forwards, really active sticks knocking down passes, tons of shot blocks, and steller goaltending by Matty Garon. 

 

1. The Oilers have no physical element to their game this season.  It has been going downhill for a couple of years now as Raffe Torres lost his testicles, Gator was dealt to Philly, Glencross left for Cowtown, Greene went to LA-LA land, and Moreau seems to have lost his edge.  If you don’t finish your checks it just gives the opposition a really easy night.  We need to get a few more guys on the body.

 

1. Roloson has replaced Garon… again!  MacT has shattered Garon confidence again.  And he is leaning on Rolly.  I have very little confidence in Roloson.  And I think the Oilers players feel much the same.  This team just does not seem to play as well when Rolly is between the pipes. 

 

1. What happened to the forecheck?  It sucks!  It seems to consist of one guy skating near the puck carrier and waving his stick halfheartedly as he does a lazy circle to get back into position defensively.  You have to get in there.  You have to take the body.  You have to win the battles.  And you have to have support when the puck moves to a different area of the ice.

 

One big disappointment for me is the fact that the Oiler’s game tonight is pay per view once again.  So I will not be seeing that one.  I will try to post another blog tomorrow, but it will not be about the game.

Being an Oilers Fan Sucks!

A lot has happened since my last blog post.  The Oilers beat Los Angeles and San Jose, and tonight they lost 2-0 to the Florida Panthers.  Here is the only thing you really need to know about each game.

The Oilers played a great 50 minutes against LA and deserved the win.  The 10 minutes that they didn’t show up for nearly cost them the game.

The Oilers were dominated by the much superior Sharks and somehow managed to hang on for the win.  I enjoyed watching this game.  San Jose REALLY IS THAT GOOD!  Oilers win ugly. 

The Oilers dominate the Panthers on the shot clock, but get shut out.  The Panthers goalie, Anderson, was given much of the credit by the SportsNet crew, but you could take any other NHL goalie and give him the same shots from the same areas of the ice, and the Oilers would probably still be shut out nearly every time.  The Oilers were getting lots of shots, but few scoring chances.

Random thoughts:

What is the deal with Smyd?  Why doesn’t MacT like the kid?   He plays physical, gives you a great second and third effort, breaks out well, shows offensive skills, and doesn’t cough up the puck nearly as much as Grebishkov.  Why is Smyd banished to the press box?  It is just another MacT mystery.  One of many.

I hear a lot of criticism of Erik Cole in Edmonton.  I don’t know how you can fault this guy for the way his season has gone so far.  The only sin he is guilty of is being a physical power forward on the softest team in the NHL.  How can you possibly have success when you are a guy who attacks with speed and drives the net when the rest of your team is coasting and trying to out-talent the opposition?

I heard a rumor that we may not be able to keep Grebishkov next season.  He is likely to command $4million and we do not have room for this under the salary cap.  What?  We will have to pay $4 million for a guy whose last name translates to giveaway?  I say good riddance.  There is an upside to Garbagekov, but to me he is still a fifth of sixth D-man.

Hemsky is completely amazing this season.  He seems to get better with every shift!  The moves he is pulling off are spectacular.  And you can see that as games wear on the opposition D is starting to fear him.  They are backing in, collapsing on their own goal, hoping to contain him somehow.  Great job Ales!

Ethan Moreau, what happened to you?  You have been my favorite player on the Edmonton Oilers for the last 5 years.  But this year your game has completely disappeared.  We are used to seeing you get your team up with your physical play.  But this season you seem to have lost your edge.  You seldom even throw a hit, nevermind anything to get your fans or teammates excited.  Please get back to playing YOUR game.

The last word is about the Oilers system.  The Oilers are still a very easy team to play against.  They have great speed that they do not exploit.  They play soft, rarely ever throwing a big hit.  They do not control the tempo of games, instead playing chess and hoping to out skill, or out luck the opposition.  The worst thing to me is that they give the other team a really good chance to win EVERY NIGHT.  I DO blame MacT.  This guy either needs to go back to a more aggressive system, or he needs to go away.

Oilers Easy on Opposition

Much has been said the past two seasons about the Edmonton Oilers seeming lack of identity.  I, like many Oilers fans, have spent a great deal of time trying to figure it out, and I think I may finally have it.

The Oilers identity can be summed up in one simple word:  Easy.  Much like that one girl in high school (you know the one with the round heels that all us guys wanted to hook up with on a Saturday night), the Oilers are the team that the opposition loves to play.  Not that they are going to be a push over every night, but they will at least give you a chance to beat them if you are willing to do the work.

The Oilers will not come at you with speed and force you to take penalties to contain them.  The Oilers will not play physical and get under your skin.  They will not show heart and determination when you have them down by a goal or two.  They damn sure will not out-coach the opposition.  They will not get the home town crowd behind them with a big hit.  They will give you a chance to beat them every night.

The Oilers play chess.  They sit back and play rope-a-dope waiting for the opposition to let them into the game just like they did in their Stanley Cup Final appearance a couple of years ago.  If you didn’t believe it then, you should have no problem now.  It shouldn’t have worked then, and it doesn’t work now.

The quickest solution I can see to the Oilers problems would be to fire coach Mac-T.  He seems to get out-coached on a regular basis.  He takes players that play physical with other hockey teams and turns them into cream puffs.  He shatters the confidence of players like Joff Lupil and Eric Cole, while stubbornly relying on useless players like Marc Pouliot.  How this guy stays in the lineup while Brodziak cannot is beyond me.

People say we can’t get rid of Mac-T because he is a good coach and we can’t afford to lose him.  I think he is an OK coach at best.  If what we are seeing now is the best game plan he can produce then it is time to see what else is out there.  And if we do end up missing Mac-T in the end, well maybe we will finally get a high draft pick.