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.
Tags: Craig MacTavish, Edmonton Oilers
