Edmonton Oilers

Oilers Offence Continues To Fire Blanks

Just two games into their 2015-16 schedule and it appears as though the Edmonton Oilers have already taken to the teachings of their new head coach. For a second consecutive outing, Todd McLellan’s side managed to hold their own against another Central Division powerhouse.


Unfortunately for them, they once again came away empty-handed for their efforts. After dropping a hard-fought 3-1 decision to the St. Louis Blues in their season opener on Thursday night, Edmonton had no luck solving Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators on Saturday.  Goals from Craig Smith and Filip Forsberg proved to be more than enough, as they cruised to a 2-0 victory to remain undefeated on the year.

Netminder Cam Talbot followed up his stellar debut in St. Louis with another solid showing, blocking 24 of the 26 pucks fired his way. While the shot clock may have been in favour of the Oilers, 31-26, the former New York Rangers backup was called upon to make a number of crucial stops to keep his team in it. Despite having yet to register his first win in Orange and Blue, the 28-year old has been by far and away his team’s best player through two games.

 

McDavid Has Been Held In Check

Connor McDavid was held off the scoresheet for second straight game, as Edmonton’s offence continues to sputter out of the gate. While the box score may show Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as having scored against the Blues on Thursday, thanks again Alex Pietrangelo, the Oilers have yet to have one of their players actually shot a puck into the net. So much for that high-flying offence everyone was hoping for.

Despite playing the Blues and Predators to what was essentially a standstill on the shot clock, 57-55, both Brian Elliott and Rinne had fairly uneventful evenings. After being gifted a power play marker against St. Louis, the Oilers went 0-for-5 on Saturday night and it cost them the hockey game. In order for this team to have any shot of competing with the better teams in the league, they will have to be among the very best on the man advantage.

[Related Article: Power Play Will Be Key To Oilers Season]

Again, it may still be early but to this point the power play has been a rally killer. For the most part, Edmonton’s zone entries have been downright awful and outside of the kid wearing No. 97 on his back, no one seemed overly interested in winning any sort of puck battle. If you cannot enter the offensive zone and are unwilling to retrieve the puck, chances are your power play isn’t going to be overly effective.

Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers

With that said, if not for a terrible giveaway at the Nashville blueline from Andrej Sekera in the dying seconds of period two and a complete brain cramp from Andrew Ference with seven minutes left to play, there is no reason to believe last night’s contest would not have gone into overtime. At this stage of the game, it has to be about small wins and the last two games have been exactly that.

Like every other team in the league, the Oilers make mistakes. To their credit, at least for the time being, they are no longer giving up one point-blank opportunity after another. There is no question part of that is due to the play of their netminder, but it seems to be more than that. While Talbot’s positioning and rebound control have had an immediate impact on this group’s ability to defend, they do seem much calmer in their own skin.

[Related Article: Opening Month Of Season Will Be Critical]

Make no mistake, they still do get caught puck watching and/or overcommitting in certain areas of the ice and but those tendencies are not going to go away overnight. It will take time, but it will come. However, what is rather perplexing is how inept this offence can look. With a talent like Connor McDavid now in place, this group should be stumbling into creating scoring chances and yet nothing. Hopefully, a quick pit stop in Dallas to face the unpredictable Stars is just what the doctor ordered.

Oilers: The Importance Of Todd McLellan

Following what was yet another disastrous campaign in 2014-15, the hammer finally fell on the Edmonton Oilers so-called “Old Boys Club”. While the organization did not completely cut ties with the trio of Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, and Scott Howson, none of the three wield the sort of power they have in years past.

While the internal promotion of Bob Nicholson and addition of Peter Chiarelli to the management team was viewed upon as a major win for the organization, one can make the argument that bringing Todd McLellan on board could prove to be the move that ultimately pays the biggest dividends. As much as the Oilers front office needed a “house cleaning”, this club had little choice but to add an established NHL head coach.

After years of watching an inferior product on the ice and a revolving door behind the bench, they need for some sort stability was painfully obvious. While certain players have shown signs of improvements over the last couple of seasons, the vast majority have shown to be unable and/or unwilling to make the necessary adjustments to help this team win more games and move up the Western Conference standings.

The Dallas Eakins Effect

There is no question that having a better collection of players would have gone a long way in helping the group accomplish said goal but having a different voice leading the way would not have hurt. It is no secret the Dallas Eakins experiment did not go over well with many inside the dressing room and in some cases it actually led to certain players regressing.

(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

Eakins apparent unwillingness to accept his shortcomings as a rookie coach and adjust his approach played a large part in Edmonton’s past two seasons being the debacle they were. On a roster with a bunch of inexperienced kids and a lack of any real impactful veteran players, having a guy behind the bench who gave off the vibe of always being right, was not a good mix.

In his defence, he was put behind the eight-ball from the outset with the lineup that was severely flawed and in desperate need of direction and some tough love. While Eakins had little trouble executing the latter with certain players on his roster, it was nowhere near consistent enough. Add to that his inability to get his message through to his players and the Oilers 36-63-14 mark during his tenure should have surprised no one.

Time For An Experienced Voice

With McLellan and assistants Jim Johnson and Jay Woodcroft now in place, that will no longer be an issue. All three have been behind an NHL bench for years and have spent the past three as a collective unit in San Jose. While the Sharks may have missed the playoffs last season, we are talking about a franchise who had not missed a post-season since 2002-03 and made six straight appearances since the Melville, Saskatchewan native took over the reins in 2008-09.

Have they struggled to get over the hump in the playoffs? Most certainly but this Oilers team is a ways away from having to worry about success in May and June. Let’s not forget Edmonton has fished more pucks out of their own net than any other team in each of the last two seasons and that has to change in order for this group to improve. Yes, the blueline and goaltending hasn’t been anywhere near good enough and the same will likely hold true in 2015-16 but it is an issue with the entire roster.

 

[Related Article: McDavid, McLellan Buys Oilers Another Year]

 

The forwards need to be much better and buy into what this coaching staff is selling. While Eakins tried to instill a system with some sort of structure during his brief stay in the Alberta capital, it was a system that did not fit his personnel and one few seem interested in playing. That won’t happen under McLellan. If players want to do their own thing and not what is best for the team, they will be stapled to his bench. End of discussion.

Sending An Early Message

We saw it during Edmonton’s exhibition schedule when he benched Taylor Hall after he took a selfish slashing penalty early in the third period against the Winnipeg Jets and the 2010 first overall pick did not see the ice again. To his credit, McLellan went out of his way to praise Hall in his post-game comments but made it clear that sort of thing won’t be tolerated. Message delivered and that was the end of it. No need for lecturing or throwing of players under the bus in the media. Turn the page and move on. Tomorrow is a new day.

Make no mistake, 48-year old knew exactly what he was in for when he decided to take the job. God knows the Sharks laid the boots to the Oilers on more than few occasions during his stint in San Jose. There is a ton of work to be done but there is also an absurd amount of talent in this organization and with Connor McDavid now in the mix, it has become almost laughable.

Having said that, it is a very young group which still needs cuddling but also shown how to play the so-called “right way”. The accountability piece has been missing around these parts for some time now…both on the ice and within the management team.  Bob Nicholson and Peter Chiarelli appear ready to hold up their end of the bargain and you can bet Todd McLellan will ensure he does his part and gets his players to realize the commitment they need to make in order to start winning hockey games on a regular basis.