Tambellini's New Direction for Head Coach

As you all know, MacTavish was fired today. Here is a quote from Steve Tambellini's Live Press Conference on the New Direction:

"I have in my mind the type of coach that I'm looking for. We're going to be... people are going to ask: 'When do you think we're gonna have a coach in place?' and I'm going to say, 'When we get the right guy.' Unfortunately we have a few months to watch of hockey here - to think about potential people and people who will become available [...] we want an aggressive type of play... we want an emotional team... we want a team that is not standing on their heels."

• we have a few months to watch of hockey
• people who will become available
• aggressive type of play
• an emotional team

The last two points sound like the Oilers up until (1) the Stanley Cup playoffs of 05-06 and (2) the trade of Ryan Smyth. Afterwards, guys like Jason Smith followed, and much of what made the Oilers the Oilers was gone. I think Tambellini is trying to go back to those days of Oiler pride without sacrificing the kind of skill team Lowe has built.

Coaching Shortlist

Although I'm a big fan of Pat Quinn myself, extrapolating from what I think are big clues from Tambellini's press conference makes me think of two specific head coach candidates:

• Ted Nolan
• Paul MacLean
  

Ted Nolan has a reputation for coaching emotional, aggressive teams that have accountability and intensity. Tambellini has made it clear that he wants to build a stronger, grittier team and who better than Ted Nolan to craft such a squad? The flipside is that he has also been rumoured to alienated individual players and himself from the GMs and ownership group. With such few coaching stints in the last decade, its hard to evaluate him since the Islanders, his last stop, was also such a flawed NHL franchise - flawed like anything that has to do with Garth Snow.

Pat Quinn is also capable of coaching intense, aggressive teams in an "old school" kind of fashion. But is he a long term solution? I don't think so. His age and coaching style might be at odds with some of the players on this team.

As for Paul MacLean, he has been rumoured a few times as a potential candidate for the Oilers. The current Detroit Red Wings assistant coach is a free agent this summer and has a lot of experience with special teams. When Tambellini spoke of waiting a few months and waiting for certain guys to become available, I think that points to MacLean being on his shortlist.

Also of consideration is Brent Sutter, who has been rumoured extensively and is currently coaching the New Jersey Devils in the playoffs. He's another guy for whom the Oilers would have to wait to become available.

Potential Coach Shortlist (extrapolated from Tambellini)

• Ted Nolan
• Paul MacLean
• Pat Quinn?

Rumoured Names

• Brent Sutter
• Marc Crawford
• Marc Habscheid
  
• Randy Cunneyworth
• Mark Messier
  

I don't support the rumour of Mark Messier becoming head coach based purely on lack of NHL coaching experience. Sure, Kevin Lowe did it. Craig MacTavish did it. But the Oilers and Tambellini are setting the bar high this time and I think Mark Messier would be most useful in an assistant coach position at this point in time.

One thing is clear though ... our next head coach better not be Kelly Buchberger.

Penner the Whipping Boy

The Oilers current forward lineup:

Kotalik - Horcoff - Hemsky
Nilsson - Gagner - Pouliot
O'Sullivan - Cogliano - Pisani
Reddox - Brodziak - Stortini
Penner
Jacques
MacIntyre
Moreau*

A better forward lineup:

Penner - Horcoff - Hemsky
O'Sullivan - Gagner - Kotalik
Jacques - Cogliano - Pisani
Reddox - Brodziak - Stortini

When GM Steve Tambellini acquired two top 6 forwards, his goal in mind was to finally have 4 lines that MacTavish could roll on any given night and produce offensively without being a liability defensively.

What MacTavish has done instead is dismantle his top 3 lines, leaving line 4 as the only line with chemistry and consistency. No, it's not surprise anymore that MacTavish insists on playing players where they don't belong and have no familiarity. Jesus, did MacTavish even watch the videos and realize that Kotalik's points are all scored on the PP? He's not a goddamn 1st line player - Dustin Penner is miles ahead of him in that department.

This is ridiculous. It's no longer any surprise why line 4 is always the best Oilers' line in any game: it's the only line MacTavish hasn't tampered with. Jonathan Willis from OilersNation and Copper and Blue has shown that the Oilers play better with Penner on the 1st line than without him.

And EVEN IF he was too stubborn to put Penner back on the 1st line, he could at least realize that O'Sullivan doesn't belong where he's slotted. It's not like Pisani is an offensive juggernaut or deft playmaker, with respect to his individual abilities.

O'Sullivan is one of the league's leading shot-takers: it's time to put him on a line with Hemsky, not with the forechecking Cogliano/Pisani duo. That spot is reserved for when Moreau returns.

FMNF.

Game Day against the Habs

3-2 Oilers W in a Shootout

FMNF.

Priceless piece by Wanye.

Crapshoot Summary

First Period: Detroit 5 - Edmonton 0

The Oilers skate around like a bunch of headless chickens on skates. They don't anticipate - they react. In no way do they dictate any aspect of the game, as the Red Wings dominate them offensively, defensively, and physically. They win all the battles for loose pucks and almost all their passes are tape to tape and they crash the net at every available opportunity.

On the other side of the ice are the Oilers: who wouldn't know a pass if it hit one of them; flinging pucks into danger zones and turning offensive chances into defensive liability; making blind passes to players who aren't there; passing off what could be clear shots and potential rebounds. Nobody on this team (save Hemsky, Cogliano, and Cole) cuts to the middle - nobody crashes the net. Same old ring around the rosie along the boards in the offensive zone. Nothing doing - nothing happening.

Second Period: Detroit 6 - Edmonton - 0

The Oilers begin to win puck battles and start to take the puck to the middle and crash the net. Still too many fancy passes that don't go to anybody on the same team - if you're going to try to "thread the needle" make sure the pass goes to somebody.

The increased intensity and attention to detail on offensive breakouts means the Oilers show to compete in the second period.

However, the Oilers still give up a goal near the end of the period.

Third Period: No thanks!

I turned it off at this point. It's like watching a slow and gruelling boxing match that is heavily lopsided in favour of a one competitor. The loser is good enough not to get knocked out, but has no weapons of their own to fight back with. As a result, the loser gets pounded and pounded until his own mother wouldn't recognize him. In this case, it's a 60-minute obligation to play through a hockey game where the Oilers never really showed up.

The Summary:

When you react and don't anticipate (or dictate!) the other team will always pick you apart. Doesn't matter if you're playing Detroit, San Jose, Buffalo, Chicago, or Florida. Doesn't matter if your the Oilers, the Rangers, or the Stars. The game plan was non-existent, another reminder that the Oilers under MacTavish will always be a fringe team because their place in the standings reflects their play on the ice - inconsistent and without purpose, without meaning, without intensity.

I don't care if the Oilers lose - but it's the way they've been losing: listlessly; apathetically; sleepwalkingly (is that even a word? It sure describes the Oilers...).

The Oilers play on the fringe - pass it around on the outside without taking it to the net. Without Hemsky or Visnovsky, the Oilers will usually avoid taking it to the middle, hoping that somehow Souray's point shot will aways turn into something - anything! But often that added pressure to the point shot just forces Souray to turn the puck over either directly or as a ill-advised pass to the man along the half-boards or to the other point man who is probably not open at this point in time.

This fringe personality - it's directly a result of playing a 60-minute penalty kill where the Oilers react - and don't anticipate. It's also directly a result of the coaching staff mentality - because with the quality of players we have on this roster, no fricken way we should performing this poorly. Fire MacTavish already.

However, I'm beggining to think that unless the Oilers lose hardcore, the boys on the bus will never be kicked out of town. They're so entrenched in their safe little jobs that poor performance means a promotion to another position within the franchise (aka. Kelly Buchberger, Kevin Lowe, Jeff Truitt is next) and that's probably what's due for Craig MacTavish. Honestly, nothing will change until the day Daryl Katz gets fed up with this administration - but will he ever be?

The Good News

Niklas Kronwall, Pavel Datsyuk, and Ty Conklin are in my pool. It's sad when your favourite team loses and you're already calculating the amount of points you're going to get in your pool because of it ...

3:10 Update ...

So the only Oiler to get a goal is Zachery Stortini...

Disgusting

This is Mike Ricci. The only thing uglier than Mike Ricci, in the entire game of hockey, past, present or future, is this Oilers squad and their poor excuse for what would normally be called puck control. A perfect example was this ridiculously disgusting 9-2 loss to Chicago.

This wasn't a hockey game. This was the Oilers - a highly paid bunch of skilled players parading around on a 60 minute penalty kill with no consistency, intensity, or desire.

The Oilers came off of a 3-0 win against Vancouver, the Northwest division leaders, on Saturday night. Craig MacTavish called it the Oilers best game of the season.

I recommend he get his eyes checked.

Let's keep it in perspective here. The Vancouver Canucks very blatantly went on air and called it their worst game of the season. I think they're right. They have been handing our asses to us so far this season and they will continue to do so the next time we meet them. Roberto Luongo is still injured. Two of the goals against Curtis Sanford were somewhat flukey. The Dustin Penner goal was the result of hard work but easily could have been a routine save 99% of the time. The Robert Nilsson goal was a classic cherry pick and even he admits (TSN) that he had no idea what he was doing back there.

No offense to Bobby Nilsson, but the Canucks passed the puck right to him.

Subtracting those two flukey goals, we're sitting at a 1-0 win without Roberto Luongo in net. What's the score if he's in net? 0-0 going into a shootout?

Furthermore, if we can't outscore the Canucks by more than 1 legitimate goal with the Saviour Luongo himself out of the lineup, there's no way we will win games when we play a team with their #1 goalie in net and playing on top of their game.

We saw that tonight against Chicago.

What's the difference you ask?

Let's see here...

needless panic - sometimes the safe play is the easiest play

wayward passes: if your passes don't go to someone, they're not going anywhere except the other way as an odd-man rush into your own goddamn zone

we're chasing the puck, not playing the man

we're going where the puck is - not where the puck is going to be

the penalty kill continues to be atrocious

no intensity, no desire, no anything

we're not skating - just watching Sam Gagner and Ethan Moreau turn the puck over inside our own blue line makes me sick to my stomach

not challenging passing lanes: we're not only screening Garon and Roloson, we're also letting people pass the puck in circles around us

hitting to hit - not hitting to gain possession of the puck: if you're playing physical without using it as a means to the end (acquiring the puck) you're just wasting energy and time

we're not utilizing our team mates well: guys are chasing their own dump-ins, and their linemates are trailing badly and not providing any puck support whatsoever leading to clumping and odd-man rushes in the opposite direction

and why are guys beating us to loose pucks in our own D-zone?

Trust me. We did not beat the Canucks because we played well nor did we lose to the Blackhawks because of their stellar play. Let's be honest here. The Oilers have no puck control, no puck support, panic more often than they should, and make outlet passes to nobody. We played bad against the Blackhawks and the Canucks played worse on Saturday.

Nor is the team using common sense. MacTavish sat Penner for parts of the third and opted to play Cole on the 1st line again.

Remember? That experiment failed miserably. It's not like it's Penners fault that the Oilers suck. You can't put him back in the pressbox and expect the whole team to haul ass.

The same goes with putting Gagner back on the 2nd line. Last time I checked, people get benched for lack of performance. But no, on this Oilers team, you split up lines that play well in favour of the poster boy Gagner. We had a line which was producing - the Schremp-Cogliano-Pouliot line - remember them? Gagner couldn't keep up with the Cogliano's and Nilsson's if his life depended on it. When MacTavish started playing the kid line against tougher competition this season it became clear which component on that 3-piece line was underperforming: Sam Gagner. Cogliano and Nilsson have both seen time on other lines and performed. Gagner hasn't performed anywhere this season. Bench his ass.

But hey, if we're gonna play like this for the rest of the season, let's just trade away our pending UFAs and sit tight until Jonathan Tavares is ours. Otherwise, fire this whole defunct administration which has no clue when it's time to pull the trigger, starting with Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish.

That is, unless you want to watch more peewee crap like this for the rest of the season, because I'm sick of watching the Craig MacTavish's, Kelly Buchbergers, and Kevin Lowes get promotions for mediocrity.

P.S. I'm sorry I had to do that Oilers, but it had to be said. Fire your coach and move on.
P.P.S. Ales Hemsky, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Ladislav Smid played well tonight, on a night that will go down as the worst game the Oilers played in recent history.



"It was the 125th consecutive regular season game to sell out in Edmonton."

How much longer?

Saint Roloson & Fire MacTavish

The Power of Christ Roloson Compels You

The Oilers always play well against the San Jose Sharks. Okay, I lied, our Edmonton goalies always play well against the San Jose Sharks. The Oilers have become really adept at killing Sharks' winning streaks. Good for Gilbert Brule who played hard enough to draw the penalty for that game-winning powerplay.

Last season, it was the Oilers who snapped a Sharks' winning streak at 11 games in a 2-1 SO victory. This year, it's the Oilers who snapped a Sharks' nine game winning streak. The common thread? Dwayne Roloson was in net. 48 saves on 49 shots plus the SO last year; 41 saves on 43 shots this season.

Now, some credit could be given to MacTavish for his 60 minute penalty kill "keep em to the outside" style but let's be honest here. If Roloson doesn't stand on his head all night -- there's no win.

Hopefully the Oilers come out of this one realising how badly we got outplayed though. Without our stellar goaltending, where would our Oilers be now? We have 3 goalies on the roster and they have all played well with a few bad games here and there. But for the most part, all 3 have looked like legitimate starters at some point. What is a team to do?

The consequence of watching a game like this has converted me from a MacBooster to the Let's Fire MacTavish camp. I am now officially convinced that we have the tools to make this a good team but the coaching staff is inept, whereas before I was waiting on Tambellini to make a move. Roloson is 39 and he's a Saint, but can he do this for the rest of the season? Even Tim Thomas probably couldn't go through 42 games of being outshot 40-something to umpteen. Surely we're not going to keep this 3-headed monster heading into the playoffs, should we qualify for them?

The reliance on goaltending on this team is amazing. How can Oilers fans make fun of the Canucks for relying on Luongo, the Flames for relying on Kiprusoff, or the Stars for relying on Turco? Their reliance on goaltending is imcomparable to ours, because our team can't even get more than 20 shots a lot of games.

To be fair, it is the San Jose Sharks we're talking about and we did outshoot Los Angeles last night and we did play back-to-back games that went to extra time. It's true. But I think it's time to realise that this team needs a new direction.

Fire Craig MacTavish.