Forgive the wall of text but I am going to state the case as best I can and provide a solution.
Yes we have our best winger on the shelf for multiple months with a lacerated forearm.
Yes we have had 3 other top 9 wingers on the shelf for a few weeks.
Yes our starting goalie has not been good to start the season.
For teams that are supposed to be top 4 contenders with elite level coaching those are just excuses and solvable problems.
Good coaches adjust to the hands they are dealt and the opponents they are playing to formulate a winning game plan, especially when you have 2 nuclear weapons in your arsenal. Case in point, Arizona who on paper should be 0-25. Case in point, Boston who despite massive injuries are leading the league. Case in point, Toronto (yuck) who despite missing their top 3 D and their goaltenders manage to win far more than they lose.
Last season Woody benefited from the additions of Kane, a late season resurgent Keith and Smith, and McDavid / Draisaitl going ballistic. But to his credit, Woody changed the defensive structure to a simpler system that gave zone responsibility vs man on man. He also completely changed our breakout from the long chip and chase to a tight 5 man unit, adapted our forecheck from a wide 2-1-2 to a tighter 2-1-2 and strong D pinch with support from F3.
This all created 5 man support in every area of the ice which results in possession, dangerous shot suppression and creates high danger shots for. It played to the creative strengths of McDavid and Draisaitl. He lowered Nurse, McDavid and Draisaitls minutes, spreading the ice time more evenly resulting in not burning out our 2 superstars by April. He solved our poor first period starts. He adjusted in game early and often. He improved special teams. He denied easy zone entries.
This season, I think Dave Tippet is back wearing a Woody mask. We are back to the exact same long breakout and ineffective forecheck Tippett used. Back to scrambling in our D zone in large part to soft play and lack of awareness and responsibility. Back to shaky goaltending from our starter. Back to poor first period starts. Back to a piss poor PK. Back to elevated minutes for Nurse, McDavid and Draisaitl. Back to being one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Back to piss poor player personnel decisions on all 4 lines. Back to waiting to make in game adjustments until it's far too late to recover. Our D today back right into the zamboni stall. The front of our net is back to being an easy access area for opponents.
Woody ran the worst training camp since Dallas Eakins and according to McDavid, runs soft and slow practices and now even does Novice level skills and drills when in season practice time is pure gold and the team is struggling.
Certainly player personnel has something to do with this and Ken Holland takes his share of the blame however changing the GM today does nothing to change our on ice fortunes as the flat salary cap has jammed the trade market and the Oilers, along with 70% of the other teams are over the cap in LTIR severely limiting trade options. There are going to be no in season saving trades and no Evander Kane's dropping out of the sky to play for near league minimum.
However, right now there are two proven coaches out there that no matter the team insist on structured, balanced play. Quennville and Trotz. Quennville has been cancelled so he is off the table. Trotz is however available and stated he is ready to come back.
When you have a top unrestricted free agent coach who has proven to be able to work with everything from garbage rosters (early Nashville) to elite offensive superstars with egos and track records of putting offence before defence (Ovechkin, Kuznetzov, Backstrom, Carlson), taking them to a cup victory, improving a middle of the road Islander team to a playoff threat (last season was derailed by Covid and a 20 game road trip while their arena was being completed), you simply have to consider that option.
We have right now a rookie coach who poses in front of the camera and talks a good pre and post game presser, but last night was outright fumbling (and even telling a few fibs) through his presser and believing in his own bullshit. Rob Tychkowski was, as usual, the only guy in the media with a set of balls who called him out on it. What did we get? More bullshit about it being a 1 goal game and indirectly piling onto Bouchard for costing the team the game, when it was clear to even the most casual observer that we got speedbagged that entire game, in particular in the coaching department.
We are in the waning years of the contracts of our two megastars and are playing below league average hockey right now. We cannot hitch our ride to a rookie poser when there is a legitimate elite level coaching talent just sitting there waiting to be hired who has the track record of snapping teams into winning positions fast.
Holland made (another) mistake by not in the very least interviewing Trotz to gauge his level of interest before signing onto 3 years of a rookie who ran with near historic levels of performance by McDavid and an injured Draisaitl along with Kane scoring well above his average in the post season.
We have 2.5 years left in this window until LA comes knocking for Draisaitl after Kopitars contract expires and they will offer far more than Edmonton can afford with McDavids contract up the next year. (plus no comparison in terms of lifestyle and weather)
Do you give Woody the chance? Or do you want to actually increase the chances to win now and hire Trotz.
My vote is cut Woody loose and hire Trotz.
You?
