This semester, I took an Operations Analysis class that was taught by a man who had made a considerable amount of money in consulting. He has saved companies millions upon millions of dollars by telling them what was right in front of them all along. In many cases, he knew very little about the fine details of the business or industry, but that didn’t matter. The beauty in his solutions was their simplicity, and adherence to a few core principles and truths.
What Does That Have to do With Hockey?
Of all teams in the NHL, I probably know the least about the Edmonton Oilers. They play their games in a time zone 2 hours from me, and I avoid their players in fantasy hockey at all costs. I know they’re going to be bad, so I feel no need to watch any of their games. It’s been eight seasons since they’ve made the playoffs, and it’s going to be nine once this season is over.
In that time span, they’ve had five coaches and three general managers. 130 skaters and 13 goalies have played a regular season game in these 8+ years. For a comparison, just 88 players have skated for the Detroit Red Wings in that span. And none of that turnover matters.
It doesn’t matter what lines are used or what players GM Craig MacTavish acquires, the Edmonton Oilers will not win. They won’t win because, like the companies that my professor helped, they fail to adhere to a few universal truths of good hockey teams. And until that changes, nothing will change in Edmonton.
What do The Edmonton Oilers Have to Change?
Two events occurred on Friday night that demonstrate exactly what is wrong in Edmonton. After giving up two goals in the first minute of the second period to the Ducks, Viktor Fasth was pulled in favor of Ben Scrivens. When he arrived at the bench, he laid into his teammates.
Knowing Viktor Fasth a little bit, he's very professional in his approach. Seeing him challenge his Oil teammates looked refreshing.
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) December 13, 2014
It apparently takes a lot to get Viktor Fasth fired up, but the pathetic effort from his teammates was enough to do it. Dallas Eakins tried to spin it in a positive direction, but the look in Fasth’s face tells a very different story.
The Oilers are not playing as a team. You cannot expect to play as a group of talented individuals and have success in the NHL. Playing as team is the first principle that the Oilers are violating. Fasth clearly cares, but can you definitively say that about many of the other Oilers players?
The second event further reinforces that point, and drives home another one. With Scrivens now in net, he came out of his crease to make a routine play with the puck. This is what happened.
Getzlaf trucks Scrivens, and none of the Oilers so much as look at him. Another universal principle of hockey is that you protect your goalie. Someone hits him or hacks at him, you go after them. A few years ago, Milan Lucic did something similar to Ryan Miller, and the Sabres did nothing. We all know how successful the Sabres have been in recent years.
Multiple Oilers players should have been all over Getzlaf when that happened. It doesn’t matter that there was a delayed call on Getzlaf and that it might have negated an Oilers power play. Protecting your goalie and having your teammate’s back is infinitely more important than a power play.
Instead of playing with passion and unity, the Edmonton Oilers play for the name on their back and not the crest on the front. They can continue to populate their roster with lottery picks for years, but the results won’t improve unless the Oilers players hold each other accountable, and start playing like a team. I don’t need to watch the games or know every prospect they have to see that truth.
I think the management knows what they are doing. Tanking for the McEichel sweepstakes is the best COA for the franchise. Buffalo will regret having Nolan coach the team this year as he is making his AHL roster too competitive and actually winning games.
I’m not sure this is the case, if Oil wanted to tank they would not have replaced Eakins so soon. MacT puts himself or his puppet in a position where some sort of minor success would be welcomed, yet if they pull out of last place (very easy) they could take themselves out of the McEichel sweepstakes altogether. Considering MacT’s recent press conference, it is a no brainer that if tanking was the plan, Eakins would have stayed. It is quite clear for me that the Oilers are not tanking for the 1st overall. The other reason not to do it is even if you finish last, your chances of winning are still very poor. Quite honestly I don’t believe in the whole tanking thing, it doesn’t make sense from the players’ standpoint, it doesn’t make sense from the coaching standpoint. It could possibly make sense from a GM standpoint, but even a halfwit of a GM would consider the negative repercussions on the entire club that would be associated with pulling such a stunt.
Then again, as far as halfwits go, Lowe might certainly be just that.
To those people saying the Oilers need to bring in different players, or ship one player out in the hopes of getting a nice return for him, you are DEAD wrong.
What the Oilers, and by this I mainly meaning Katz here, HAVE to do, is fire EVERY SINGLE EX OILER IN MANAGEMENT POSITIONS! I don’t care, that means Lowe, MacT (though he has done a good job with the slop he was given), even Messier (I think he is a scout currently or something like that). No more of this “old guard” bullshit. No more of this “Kevin Lowe has 6 cup rings, he knows how to win” bullshit. Kevin Lowe cannot build a winning team, period. If you look at how he got his rings, you will see who really won them. Lowe basically got carried by other great players. Kevin Lowe is a schmuck and does not deserve his lofty paycheck he gets from this team.
why not just say it like it is. Oilers have no hockey people running the show. Old school wont work unless you know how to make it work. Mctavish and Lowe are not Glen or Wayne. Players can not be developed to play at this level, guided by morons.
Every Sabre in the situation with Miller/Lucic tried to get to Lucic.
4 of them are too small to do anything (Lucic had more penalty munges in 2013 than all 4 for them combined), the 5th was blocked out by Chara as he tried to make his way to Lucic.
Not one Oiler even looks towards Getzlaf, find a better example to make your point.
They need a leader, Taylor Hall isn’t it, neither is Nugent-Hopkins… perhaps Eberle can be that guy some day, but if they can make a deal for Mike Richards off of Los Angeles, perhaps sending Yapukov, that’d get this team going in the right direction.
Well Ference is the cap. Although I am uncertain about Ference as a leader, I personally like the idea of a D-man as a captain, and I never thought it wise to have people like Crosby or Ovechkin leading teams. Richards would be interesting.
… maybe if they had 1 more offensive forward…
I am sure the Edmonton fans are not concerned considering if they are going to keep up their stinking they are guaranteed to get 1 of the 2 best Prospects in the last 10 years
I wouldn’t say guaranteed. Might be out of a playoff spot but not out of 28th place. Phoenix is just 5 pts ahead, and we meet tomorrow. Talk about excitement!
McEichle want to stay in the Northeast. Preferably around the great lakes, like the one named Erie.
Edmonton is only 2 time zones behind you. You’re in the Eastern zone, next 1 back is the Central and then Mountain, where Edmonton resides. Other than that, you pretty much summed it up. Edmonton is a wreck, no direction whatsoever. McTavish is lost, Eakins is dillusional and a neat hair freak, the players look like they’re off to the gallows… what a huge expensive mess.
Thanks, didn’t realize that. It’s been fixed.