Miles Davis and Steve Tambellini

Steve Tambellini is to the Oilers what Miles Davis was to Jazz. Here is Kenny Garrett performing with Miles David during the Jazz "Electric Period."

Change is healthy.

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.

Tambellowe No Mo! Tambellini Calls the Shots

Click here for more.

Where now, Oilers?

So that concludes the season.

Where now, Oilers? What direction does Tambellowe take this team in? What direction should they take it in? What direction will they take it in?

The Other Ales

The Oilers haven't had an Ales not named "Hemsky" since the days of Ales Pisa, who departed to New York and subsequently Europe. Steve Tambellini has finally made his mark as a GM by making two seperate big deals on his first trade deadline. Seen above is Ales Kotalik, one of the new additions to the Edmonton Oilers team.

In comparison to today's deals, his acquisition of Dany Sabourin, Ryan Stone, and Steve MacIntyre were minuscule in influence. I was at first impressed that he could pawn off Mathieu Garon for more than the (at the time) market price of a 7th round pick established by Vancouver's acquisition of Jason LaBarbera. Heck, I didn't think Tambellini had the tenacity in him required to pull off some ballsy trades.

Boy was I wrong.

Sure, he didn't go the the extent of the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames, but boy, did Tambellini ever rip off the Los Angeles Kings in his trade deadline "coming out party." Maybe O'Sullivan is of little value to a team stocked full of young talent - maybe. But Justin Williams is a poor replacement for one of the leading shooters on the Los Angeles team. At age 24, he can still get much, much better. The best part is he plays both C and LW. I expect MacTavish to slot him alongside Horcoff and Hemsky. Further yet, the Oilers gave up pending UFA Erik Cole to get O'Sullivan who is signed for two more years at a contract similar to Robert Nilsson's.

It is now also clear why the Oilers didn't bite on Tuomo Ruutu, Vladimir Sobotka, and Miroslav Satan: with Patrick O'Sullivan in play, the others become secondary concerns. It could be possible that Carolina didn't want to give up on Ruutu (I know the Oilers love him) and it's also possible the Bruins didn't want to give up on Sobotka (who was not involved in deadline trade involving Matt Lashoff for Mark Recchi). With all things considered, the Oilers got the best man available from those four choices.

As for Kotalik, we got fair price for him. Early indications are that Kotalik is nothing like the European stereotype of a winger. In fact, he is often seen driving the net. We have to take it with a grain of salt, of course. He probably is a poor comparable for Erik Cole, I don't imagine he throws hits with the same regularity as the departed American winger. But can he create chances on the revamped 2nd line?

It will be interesting to see whether MacTavish keeps Penner on the Cogliano/Pisani line or whether or not he moves Penner up to 2nd line to play with the newly acquired Kotalik. I don't imagine Nilsson in a checking role, but stranger things have happened (see Liam Reddox).

I will be glad if Kotalik can keep playing his net-crashing style in Edmonton and hopefully it translates well from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. The last experiment (Cole) ended with limited success and hopefully Kotalik will find himself reborn in the Edmonton lineup. He is a rental player as of right now, but if things go right maybe he'll stick around.

Goaltending

One thing I felt that needed to be addressed at the deadline was goaltending and it didn't happen. Maybe the Oilers feel that DesLauriers, Sabourin, or Dubnyk are ready to take over should an injury occur to Dwayne Roloson.

I think this is ill-advised.

In 2005-06 we had Jussi Markkanen bringing in the rear, and he did an amiable job against the Carolina Hurricanes. We can only pray that one of the above have it in them to do the same.

Defense

With the quick recovery of Denis Grebeshkov the Oilers aren't in as dire a situation as would have originally been the case if he hadn't done so. Some may argue the Oilers D-core is too soft and I somewhat agree. But, we do have a couple sandpaper guys waiting in the wings in the form of AHL veteran Bryan Young, top-prospect Theo Peckham, and "give-me-one-more-chance" Mathieu Roy. My hope is that Steve Staios regains his former playoff form.

Now that's a Captain

I take it back, Ethan:

“We didn’t have the urgency to score goals we needed and it was obvious,” said Moreau. “It’s really frustrating. I thought we’d respond better, but we didn’t. It’s not everybody. There were guys who worked really hard, but we didn’t have enough. It wasn’t enough. I’m not going to make excuses. That wasn’t good enough. We need more through our line-up.”

You heard him Tambellini, make it happen.

5 guys who would look good in Oiler uniforms

1. Milan Lucic - I've always been a big Nick Tarnasky fan. Nick Tarnasky was recently traded to Florida in return for Wade Belak, an almost-Oiler. But in this photo, the body language tells of the fear felt by Nick Tarnasky when staring down the Serbian-Canadian hockey player Milan Lucic. This kid does it all: score, assist, hit, fight, and scare.

Steve Tambellini, while you're daydreaming about Ilya Kovalchuk, give a thought to Milan Lucic who would certainly get my vote for Pierre McGuire's monster.

2. David Perron - Watching this guy play during the Edmonton-St.Louis game it was apparent this guy knows how to use his teammates effectively. He may not be the most prolific scorer on any team but he would make a good compliment on any given line. He might be a good pick up and compliment on the LW side for Cogliano/Gagner and he would also fit in well with RWs Cole and/or Pisani.

3. Sami Pahlsson - Takes faceoffs, throws big hits, and frustrates the hell out of opponents. He also laid the big hit on Jarret Stoll that gave him that mighty concussion. He's the Esa Tikkanen of the current NHL and we should get him since Sean Avery is unavailable. And it's not impossible that Sean Avery or Sami Pahlsson would play here - when Jesse Boulerice was an Oiler for a game anything is possible.

4. Colin White - A good stay at home D-man would take away from the question marks regarding Ladislav Smid and Denis Grebeshkov. This would make Jason Strudwick expendable and we could focus on getting guys like Jacques and Peckham into the lineup.

5. Georges Laraque - I shouldn't need to explain this one. We all love Big Georges.

Garon on the Trade Block?

Dwayne Roloson keeps getting starts, even though common sense would indicate that Matheiu Garon should get a chance. Even beyond that, as good as Roloson's performance has been this year, Garon has been (statistically) better in limited ice time for whatever reason. And MacTavish has been slower to yank Roli than he was to yank Garon.

This leads me to my theory as to why the Oilers aren't giving Garon any starts:

Perhaps Mathieu Garon is on the trade block.

This may not be because the Oilers need to deal Garon so much as him being a valuable piece of a bigger deal which will be part of Steve Tambellini's first major deal and the start of his legacy. Perhaps. According to Eklund of hockeybuzz (I know, I know, of all sources to quote...) said that Kevin Pendergast and 2 Oilers scouts were taking in the Atlanta/Toronto game.

Now, Toronto has been a mover and shaker as of late - but what about Atlanta? Could the Oilers be trying to acquire in Ilya Kovalchuk the finisher that the Oilers could never develop in their farm system? How about local product Bryan Little? Tobias Enstrom? Kari Lehtonen?

However, if I were to be safter with my estimates, I'd say the Oilers are after one of the Matt Stajan types.

Or maybe this is all just a gust of hot air - nothing substantial.

We'll have to wait and see.

Jean Shorts and Bagged Milk has wrote a piece on the mismanagement of assets, Mathieu Garon being the most recent in a long line of unfortunate victims.

Go read it.

Who will walk the plank? One for all, and all for one...

Assessment of the Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish Era

Premises:

(1) The Oilers are struggling mightily despite officially arriving at the “Big Market” stage with the purchase by Daryl Katz

(2) The Oilers lack of chemistry or team identity has been blamed on Craig MacTavish

(3) Dustin Penner is not really as bad as MacT says he is, but the rest of the team is not as good as everyone says they are (with the exception of Hemsky, Souray, and Moreau) and certainly not as good as MacT said they were.

Conclusion:

Kevin Lowe and to some degree Steve Tambellini share some of the blame that has been heaped on Craig MacTavish.

The explanation…

Before I get started, let’s get the facts straight:

1) The average tenure for an NHL coach in the modern day is 3.4 years or 2.0 years depending on your source (I have two different sources below that give these two numbers).

2) GMs are always safer than coaches in the firing game.

3) Lindy Ruff has the longest current tenure with a single NHL team entering his 11th year (1997), and Barry Trotz enters his 10th season, for the Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators, respectively.

4) Buffalo made the playoffs 6 out of 10 seasons (not counting 2008-2009) with 1 cup final in 1999 and 3 conference final appearences; Nashville made the playoffs 4 out of 10 seasons (not counting 2008-2009).

5) When Kevin Lowe became GM in 2001, Craig MacTavish has been head coach and is entering his 8th season with the Edmonton Oilers and made the playoffs 3 out of 7 seasons (not counting 2008-2009) with 1 cup final in 2006.

6) Ruff, Trotz, and MacTavish averaged 91.7, 83.78, and 88.57 points in the standings (not counting 2008-2009), respectively.

7) 2007-08 Off-Season: Craig MacTavish says "I want Reasoner back for sure" and Kevin Lowe says "we have a lot of bodies right now so we have to see what unfolds."

8) Both Jarret Stoll and Lubomir Visnovsky have big point shots on the PP; Stoll is right-handed, and Visnovsky is left-handed; Stoll can play center – Visnovsky cannot.

9) According to Behind the Net statistics, Penner is best suited for 1st line and PP duty, so any extra skills will have to be learned (pointed out by Bruce on Lowetide’s comment section).

10) Tambellini has been in office since July 31, 2008 and so far he’s acquired 2 tough guys in 3 months of work.

Implications that the facts have:

1) Most coaches are hired for immediate success, unless you are starting with a blank slate (expansion Nashville) or you are new to the game (Lowe-MacTavish 2000-2002). That being said, sometimes it's time for the coach to pack the bags - and sometimes, it's not.

2) If anyone gets fired, it’s Craig MacTavish and not Kevin Lowe. Not entirely fair, but that’s how the business works.

3) Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz, in terms of coaching tenure, are the closest comparables to Craig MacTavish.

4) Statistically, MacTavish fits in somehere between Ruff and Trotz, though both of them have had more playoff success than him.

5) Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish are from the “Old Boys Club” that won the cup together in Edmonton and in New York. They played together, and now they work together.

6) MacTavish has generally been able to put together competitive teams in the both the pre-lockout and post-lockout eras. However, he has never done poorly enough to get a top 5 draft pick and has never done better than 8th place in the standings. So basically, he’s only proven so far that he has an 8th place ceiling in terms of regular season performance (we’ll ignore the 2005-06 playoff run take for granted that all playoff teams have roughly equal chances to win, though they generally don’t).

7) Kevin Lowe is not always willing to do what’s best for his good buddy.

8) Jarret Stoll is a double-edged sword: kills penalties, plays the point on the PP, and is a reliable defensive center on the 2nd or 3rd lines. Visnovsky may be all that and a bag of chips on the point during the man advantage, but he has performed poorly without Sheldon Souray so far this season.

9) Penner is a complementary player that fits on the top 2 lines. Penner’s closest comparable in terms of position, salary, point production, and playing style is Scott Hartnell. Hartnell though, is a bit edgier, consistent, and contributes on any line he plays. Now Penner scored 2 goals on the 3rd line to start the season but with him playing a checking role the team has consistently been outplayed. I think it’s fair to say that defensive awareness must be taught – and Penner may be okay on the +/- but there’s nothing to suggest he’s a better fit at 3rd line than Erik Cole – who awoke the moment he was placed on the 3rd line against the Vancouver Canucks.
Bottom line: Penner needs to learn to play edgier, and the Oilers need to play him (for now) on the top 2 lines. Surprisingly, this is a common criticism of Rob Schremp in that he can’t fill the checking role that a Liam Reddox, for example, can fill.

10) Steve Tambellini picks up where Kevin Lowe left off – a team of more holes than the off-season hype allowed people to see and more hype than can be helped in 3 months. So that much I can agree with: Tambellini needs some time to leave his mark on the team. But 3 months is a lot of time considering what Lowe did in the 1st 20 minutes of sitting in his GM chair.

List of Major Lowe/Tambellini Transactions By Year:

• 1999-00 Off-Season: Roman Hamrlik for Eric Brewer, Josh Green, 2nd rnd pick (Brad Winchester); Alexei Mikhnov; Brad Winchester; Matthew Lombardi; Scott Ferguson; Domenic Pittis;
• 2000-01 Season: Bill Guerin for Anson Carter, 1st rnd pick, 2nd rnd pick; Chad Kilger for Sergei Zholtok; Dan Lacouture for Sven Butenschon
• 2000-01 Off-Season: Doug Weight, Michel Riesen for Hecht, Reasoner, Horacek; Steve Staios; Ales Hemsky; Doug Lynch; Jussi Markkanen; Ales Pisa; Kari Haakana
• 2001-02 Season: Brown for Allen; Murray, Poti for York, 4th rnd pick (Koltsov)
• 2001-02 Off-Season: Jochen Hecht for 2nd rnd pick (Jeff DesLauriers), 2nd rnd pick (Jarret Stoll); 3rd rnd pick (Potulny) for Dopita; 1st rnd pick (Christopher Higgins) for 1st rnd pick (Jesse Niinimaki), 8th rnd pick (Tomas Micka); Jesse Niinimaki; Jeff DesLauriers; Jarret Stoll; Matt Greene; Mikko Luoma; Glenn Fisher; Dwight Helminen
• 2002-03 Season: Mike Grier for 2nd rnd pick (Tunik), 3rd rnd pick (Zack Stortini); Josh Green for (a bag of pucks)?; Janne Niinimaa, 2nd rnd pick (Tunik) for Brad Isbister, Raffi Torres; Anson Carter, Ales Pisa for Radek Dvorak, Cory Cross
• 2002-03 Off-Season: 1st rnd pick (Zach Parise) for 1st rnd pick (Marc Pouliot), 2nd rnd pick (Jean-Francois Jacques); Jussi Markkanen, 4th rnd pick (Kukumberg) for Brian Leetch (so basically a bag of pucks…); Marc Pouliot; Colin McDonald; Jean-Francois Jacques; Zack Stortini; David Rohlfs; Dragan Umicevic; Kyle Brodziak; Mathieu Roy; Josef Hrabal; Stephen Valiquette; Jamie Wright; Igor Ulanov; Adam Oates
• 2003-04 Season: Mike Comrie for Jeff Woywitka, 1st rnd pick (Rob Schremp), 3rd rnd pick (Danny Syvret); Peter Sarno for Tyler Moss; Stephen Valiquette, Dwight Helminen, 2nd rnd pick (Byers) for Petr Nedved, Jussi Markkanen; Tommy Salo for Tom Gilbert
• 2003-04 Off-Season: Toby Petersen; Todd Harvey; Devan Dubnyk; Rob Schremp; Liam Reddox; Bryan Young; Tyler Spurgeon
• 2004-05 Season (Lockout Season): Jason Chimera, 3rd rnd pick (Ryan) for 2nd rnd pick (Geoff Paukovich), 4th rnd pick (Liam Reddox)
• 2004-05 Off-Season: Eric Brewer, Doug Lynch, Jeff Woywitka for Chris Pronger; Mike York, 4th rnd pick (Montgomery) for Mike Peca; Brad Isbister for 4th rnd pick (Delory); 4th rnd pick (Delory) for Yan Stastny; Andrew Cogliano; Taylor Chorney; Danny Syvret; Robby Dee; Chris Vande Velde; Vyachslav Trukhno
• 2005-06 Season: Alexei Semenov for 5th rnd pick (Bryan Pitton); Jani Rita, Cory Cross for Dick Tarnstrom; Tony Salmelainen for Jaroslav Spacek; 1st rnd pick (Lewis), 3rd rnd pick (Machachek) for Dwayne Roloson; Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny, 2nd rnd pick (Milan Lucic) for Sergei Samsonov; Rem Murray
• 2005-06 Off-Season: Chris Pronger for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, 1st rnd pick (Ross), 1st rnd pick (Jordan Eberle); 4th rnd pick (Forney), 7th rnd pick (Kulda) for 3rd rnd pick (Theo Peckham); 7th rnd pick (Eno) for Jan Hejda; Marty Reasoner; Daniel Tjarnqvist; Petr Sykora; Jeff Petry; Theo Peckham; Bryan Pitton; Cody Wild; Alexander Bumagin
• 2006-07 Season: Ryan Smyth for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O’Marra, 1st rnd pick (Alex Plante); Marc-Andre Bergeron, 3rd rnd pick (Kirill Petrov) for Denis Grebeshkov; Petr Nedved
• 2006-07 Off-Season: Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul for Geoff Sanderson, Joni Pitkanen, 3rd rnd pick (2009); 1st rnd pick (Ross), 2nd rnd pick (Gistedt) for 1st rnd pick (Riley Nash); Sam Gagner; Alex Plante; Riley Nash; Linus Omark; Milan Kytnar; William Quist; Mathieu Garon; Sheldon Souray; Dustin Penner
• 2007-08 Season: Dick Tarnstrom for Curtis Glencross
• 2007-08 Off-Season: Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene for Lubomir Visnovsky; Joni Pitkanen for Erik Cole; Danny Syvret for Ryan Potulny; Raffi Torres for Gilbert Brule; Jason Strudwick; Carl Corazzini; Andrew Perugini; Jordan Eberle; Johan Motin; Philippe Cornet; Teemu Hartikainen; Jordan Bendfeld
• 2008-09 Season: Steve MacIntyre; Jesse Boulerice

Many have pinned the bad Oilers start (though in actuality, we stumbled into a miraculous 4-0 start) to the season on Craig MacTavish.

But I wonder if the fault is entirely his.

We’ve heard the old adages: the coach needs to get the most out of his players. The coach needs to find a way to find chemistry. The coach needs to figure out his goaltenders and give them confidence and make sure they can play up to the competition. They say the team’s identity is the coach’s identity. The team and the coach are one, some say. So, if the team has no identity and no chemistry, the fault is all the coach's to bear.

Bullocks to that, I say.

Whose fault is it that the Oilers are rotating 3 goalies?

Whose fault is it that Pisani was our best option at center because nobody else could prove to win a faceoff better than a 2.5 million dollar checking line RW?

Craig MacTavish only had 3 other options other than Fernando Pisani: Andrew Cogliano, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, and Kyle Brodziak. All 3 are young centerman and none of them are cut out of the same cloth as a Mike Peca, Todd Marchant, Sami Pahlsson, Kris Draper – seasoned veterans who know how to annoy the other team and keep the puck out of their own zone. The Oilers lost both Stoll and Reasoner over the off-season and replaced them with – nothing.

To this day we still have no 3rd line centerman.

To this day we still have 3 goaltenders.

To this day Ladislav Smid and Mathieu Roy are kicking around with semi-concussions and both Steve Staios and Jason Strudwick have come back from very short and shady injury breaks (which may suggest they are playing hurt). One of Smid or Roy have to be traded and another veteran D-man must be brought in (not that the Oilers blogosphere needs more armchair GMs like me anyway).

Theo Peckham played admirably when called up, but he showed what can happen when he’s put on the ice with Crosby and Satan. Simply put, he’s ready to be groomed for duty – not to fill in the veteran D who are supposed to be pulling their weight on the back end.

Consider this – Souray and Visnovsky are our top D pairing. Souray has unquestionably been the more solid of the two, and along with Strudwick and Staios, are the defensive cornerstones of this team. Strudwick was brought in to supplement this team.

Where’s the reinforcements? Has Kevin Lowe or Steve Tambellini addressed the team’s most dire needs?

NO.

Oh I forgot… we have near to 50 contracts (mostly on the farm teams, some committed to guys like Andrew Perugini who could’ve played for us without a contract, as per Glenn Fisher) and can’t afford to sign any free agents without dealing away some roster spots first. How unfortunate.

Now some may argue that Steve Tambellini has already proved more active than Kevin Lowe was in the 2007-08 season but consider also that I never included any transactions that included “tough guys” until 2008-09. I skipped over Rocky Thompson and Ryan Flinn, among others. Why? As much as everyone loves Steve “Big Mac” MacIntyre, the ability to acquire Boulerice to fill his roll has shown how easy his role can be filled. Not that doing his job is easy by any means, but he is definitely not a major cog in the machine. So can Lowe and Tambellini be fairly blamed for not making any moves or acquisitions thus far in his short GM career?

YES.

Kevin Lowe acquired another left-handed PP point specialist for some phantom reason (no offense to Lubomir Visnovsky but he hasn’t exactly lifted our PP out of the basement and our PK stats ventured into the basement without Matt Greene around). He also acquired RW Erik Cole when we already had Hemsky, Gagner (C playing RW) and Fernando Pisani.

Why, have you people all forgotten how you were calling for Craig MacTavish to play Erik Cole on the 1st line to start the season – neglecting the fact that the 1st line RW spot belonged to Ales Hemsky and not to Erik Cole? Craig MacTavish presumably folded under the pressure of his superiors (Katz, Lowe) and to us, the fans – and put Penner on the RW and Cole on the LW. How else could he fit him on the 1st line? How come he could only move these two around?

Because everyone was wetting their pants over the “Kid Line” and how badly they wanted to keep them together to start the season – that’s why. Some pundits called for the “Kid Line” to get split up – I was one of them and many others did too. Going back to the interviews by the Oilers admin and of course this includes Craig MacTavish – the general attitude was that they expected that the “Kid Line” would keep up their production from the previous year and all would be fine and dandy.

That was not the case and the team is in dire straits. Kevin Lowe has left his coach out to dry by not acquiring a 3rd line centerman and by not dealing with the goaltender and defense situations. Better yet, why didn’t he make an attempt to keep the assets he already had in Curtis Glencross and Marty Reasoner? Whatever, bygones are bygones.

But this team is no longer Kevin Lowe’s (or is it?) and it is Steve Tambellini’s. Barring the scenario where this whole Tambellini-is-GM-but-Lowe-yanks-my-chain turns out to being Steve Tambellini acting as the puppet GM running errands at the whim of Kevin Lowe – it is his job to acquire all the right pieces for Craig MacTavish.

The arguments against Craig MacTavish include his:

1) Inability to find consistent regular season success in order to make the playoffs

2) Inability to succeed in both the PK and PP during the same season

3) Tendency to hurt goaltender confidence with his goaltender rotation debacles (Salo, Conklin, Morrison, Garon…)

4) Inability to keep successful offensive coaches long-term (Craig Simpson, Rob Daum) and has instead seen Kelly Buchberger promoted. Whether this is Lowe or MacTavish who recommended this is still questionable.

5) His MacBlender style is infamous.

Seriously. Why is Kelly Buchberger getting promoted for coaching a lackluster Springfield Falcons team and a losing record? Where have we heard something as ridiculous as that before? Oh right, Kevin Lowe getting promoted to President of Hockey Operations for only-God-knows what-the-fuck he did to deserve a raise and promotion. Craig MacTavish is getting a heap of crap for making-do with a team full of holes, and Buchberger and Lowe are getting promoted for things they didn't even do right.

You know what is one of the most telling signs that Steve Tambellini gets no power between Kevin Lowe and Kevin Pendergast? They decided to leave him out of the “Power Triangle” that defines their power sharing. He’s on the “Coaches and Management” page, though. According to the “Power Triangle,” Pendergast is directly accountable to Lowe, who is directly accountable to Patrick LaForge, and then to Katz himself. Steve Tambellini is nowhere in this equation. Could be a simple mistake… but what kind of a hockey team forgets to list its own goddamn GENERAL MANAGER on the management page?

This administrative structure just reeks of inefficiency and I can hardly say I can entirely blame Craig MacTavish.

Kevin Lowe’s most active years on the trade front also coincide with the years that Craig MacTavish has found the most regular season and playoff success, though he only made it past the 1st round that one Cinderella story year.

This also indicates that Lowe’s inability to make changes to the roster has directly coincided with MacTavish’s inability to deliver on the coaching front.

This can mean a few things:

1) Craig MacTavish is the only one who is inept at his job because he can’t work magic with the pieces of the puzzle he’s been given (if you are of the opinion we have all the “right parts” to succeed with the current team) and that the 3-goalie rotation is entirely his fault because he didn’t give Garon the confidence to succeed by playing him in many consecutive games

2) Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini are inept at their jobs (if you find that the acquisition of another RW in Erik Cole problematic in that the problem was never solved… or how about the 3-goalies eating up roster spots… and hovering dangerously near the 50-contract-mark)

3) Both MacTavish and his GM bosses are inept at their jobs

Considering all the evidence I’ve waded through, option #1 is entirely false. This Oilers team in the off-season was all hype and excitement built around Erik Cole and Lubomir Visnosky. Their acquisitions glossed over the fact that Gilbert Brule was not ready to make the team, and the subsequent conclusion that while we received two big name players we didn’t fill the holes for all the other players we lost.

Basically, Craig MacTavish never had a chance.

Unable to keep the fans happy (would the real “Kid Line” please stand up?), unable to keep his bosses happy (turns out Erik Cole can’t play on the LW, who woulda thunkit?), and unable to keep his goalies happy (who wants to share the crease with 2 other guys anyway?). Considering one of DesLauriers and Roloson will have to go eventually, MacTavish might’ve been forced to put them in some games so that the GM could evaluate them or so that other scouts could gauge their usefulness in a potential trade.

If we were to fire Craig MacTavish, I would only agree with it under these circumstances:

1) After Steve Tambellini makes his “first major trade” I would like to see if Craig MacTavish can turn this team around once he has all the “right pieces in play”
2) Take Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini, and the whole shadow administration with you: I’m sick of their shady “Power Triangle” and inability to pull off major trades when this team really needs them to fix something
3) The Oilers hire Pat Quinn and name Don Cherry coach (no, never mind I take it back)

Other than those scenarios, it would not be fair to fire Craig MacTavish for Kevin Lowe’s inadequacies. I’m sorry to say that Brian Burke is looking more and more right about Kevin Lowe every day, and in the world of hockey, it’s the coach that always gets the axe first for someone else’s inadequacies.

Even the legendary Scotty Bowman had a losing record within the first 4 years of coaching. Craig MacTavish is not Scotty Bowman and this Oilers team is nowhere close to the St. Louis Blues 60s expansion team or the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s in skill, speed, or pluck.

Basically, Craig MacTavish never had a chance.

Sources:

http://www.hockeydb.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000-01_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001-02_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002-03_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003-04_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004-05_Edmonton_Oilers_season (NHL Lockout)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005-06_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006-07_Edmonton_Oilers_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007-08_Edmonton_Oilers_season
Mean Coach Tenure Link 1
Mean Coach Tenure Link 2
Lowetide Post on Lowe's Trades Here
http://lowetide.blogspot.com/2008/09/whos-in-control-here.html
Lowetide Comments Section Link Here

Please comment.

"C" Trade Bait

Oilers still need a 3rd line center. Lowetide suggests that it should be a veteran right-handed centerman. At this point in the season with our PK still mediocre, I would suggest any available centerman with experience in a checking role (winning key faceoffs) would be a good pickup.

Steve Begin is a new addition to the list. He's been a healthy scratch in Montreal and doing the math he seems to be the odd-man out right now.

Another new addition is someone we're familiar with: Marty Reasoner. He only signed a one-year deal with Atlanta so he's probably available too, unless Atlanta is serious about making a run at the playoffs this year.

The case is the same with Todd Marchant and Mike Peca, who has one year left on his contract - though they would predictably be in the same price range as Madden and Holik. The reason I like Sami Pahlsson is his relentless forecheck and his crash'n'bang style similar to that of Raffi Torres. He can, however, win faceoffs, which is key.

There's always the Brian Burke factor, but I'm sure Tambellini can get past that whole Lowe vs. Burke thing.

However, I think it's simply not good enough to acquire one for this season. I think Tambellini needs to find the best possible fit, and then resign them for a medium-to-long term deal that ensures we have a centerman on the 3rd line for some time to come. That's why for this particular transaction, I would quality over quantity, though getting your bang-for-buck is still important.

Here's my updated wishlist:

1. John Madden, New Jersey Devils, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 3 million/yr
How much to resign? : 3 - 4 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

2. Scott Nichol, Nashville Predators, Pending UFA, RH
Approx. Salary : 0.750 million/yr
How much to resign? : 0.75 - 1.5 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

3. Mike Peca, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pending UFA, RH
Approx. Salary : 1.3 million/yr
How much to resign? : 1.5 - 2.5 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

4. Steve Begin, Montreal Canadiens, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 1 million/yr
How much to resign? : 1 - 2 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

5. Sami Pahlsson, Anaheim Ducks, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 1.4 million/yr
How much to resign? : 2 - 4 million/yr
Is he worth it : Maybe

6. Marty Reasoner, Atlanta Thrashers, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 1 million/yr
How much to resign? : 1 - 2 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

7. Mark Smith, UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : ?
How much to sign? : 0.5 - 2 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes

8. Bobby Holik, New Jersey Devils, Pending UFA, RH (currently injured)
Approx. Salary : 2.5 million/yr
How much to resign? : 2 - 3 million/yr
Is he worth it : No, but he's a better option than Pouliot

9. Todd Marchant, Anaheim Ducks, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 2.5 million/yr
How much to resign? : 2 - 4 million/yr
Is he worth it : No, but he's a better option than Pouliot

10. Stephane Yelle, Boston Bruins, Pending UFA, LH
Approx. Salary : 0.750 million/yr
How much to resign? : 0.75 - 1.5 million/yr
Is he worth it : Yes