Danny McBride (Nelson) >>>> David Tennant (Eakins)

[moog35]

First off I will start the thread out by saying I'm a fan of the Canucks who is not here to troll (shocking) . I follow the Oilers and Flames more closely than any of the other teams and I must say the last few games have been the best Oilers games I have seen since Krueger left. The whole MacT behind the bench thing was a huge joke so i'm not really counting those as games that Nelson was the coach. Since Nelson has taken the reins behind the bench the Oilers have been playing with more enthusiasm and playing a better team game. Most importantly they have been sticking up for each other and playing more physical which is something that never happened under Eakins. The last thing is its nice to see some emotion shown from the coach, Nelson seems to be doing a lot more talking behind the bench and seems pissed when the camera pans to him after a goal against. Eakins would just stand there and literally do or say nothing. Go Nelson

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[rboomercat90]

I agree. This looks like an entirely different team now under Nelson. The games have been fun to watch. Nelson looks exactly like the type of coach fans were sold that Eakins was. I didn't know what to expect from him. I certainly wasn't in favor of him getting the job on a permanent basis because I wanted a guy with solid experience in the NHL but I am impressed after his first two games without the albatross standing beside him on the bench. I kind of get the feeling already that he's going to become a fan favorite.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Sign him to a four year extension, the last AHL coach we hired turned out great!

Being better than Eakins shouldn't be a measuring stick. If anything this team has gone from horrible starts and decent finishes... To decent starts and horrible finishes.

You can practically set your watch to a blown third period lead now no matter how big it is.

 

[McDrai]

Let's not anoint him as our saviour just yet . I'd like to see what the team can do over the rest of the season but our effort level has definitely improved since Nelson took over as sole coach

 

[doulos]

A shootout win after totally collapsing versus the Kings and an overtime loss after collapsing verses the Flames. Oilers hockey!

Nelson might be a great coach (I suspect he is), but the kind of hockey they played the last 2 games is still incredibly bad.

 

[Replacement*]

A shootout win after totally collapsing versus the Kings and an overtime loss after collapsing verses the Flames. Oilers hockey!

Nelson might be a great coach (I suspect he is), but the kind of hockey they played the last 2 games is still incredibly bad.

It isn't.

Last couple games any commentator, any opponent, most observers is citing the oilers playing much improved hockey.

The way the team has played for the most part has been sound and with a lot more puck support, physical battle, and team play than previously exhibited at anytime this season.

Where the team struggles is with games on line they tighten up and they are more tentative and stop playing the aggressive pressure on puck that Nelson is employing. For instance last night in 3rd Calgary suddenly has all kinds of space. The Oilers had been taking away that space for two full periods.

The reversion of this club is due to learned behavior which takes some time to unlearn. Much of what I'm seeing under Nelson reflects the team moving in a more competitive, and positive direction. They have pts in 3 of the last 5GP. The last couple have games have been good efforts.

 

[guymez]

I agree. This looks like an entirely different team now under Nelson. The games have been fun to watch. Nelson looks exactly like the type of coach fans were sold that Eakins was. I didn't know what to expect from him. I certainly wasn't in favor of him getting the job on a permanent basis because I wanted a guy with solid experience in the NHL but I am impressed after his first two games without the albatross standing beside him on the bench. I kind of get the feeling already that he's going to become a fan favorite.

Teams tend to take on the demeanor of the coach and Nelsons quiet confidence really comes through.

It also appears that Nelson has simplified the message and given the team a direction. Nelson is not without his issues though...some of the minutes he is doling out to certain players are a little baffling.

Although the team will improve (how couldn't it) I still expect the success to be quite limited though...this roster still stinks.

 

[rboomercat90]

Teams tend to take on the demeanor of the coach and Nelsons quiet confidence really comes through.

It also appears that Nelson has simplified the message and given the team a direction. Nelson is not without his issues though...some of the minutes he is doling out to certain players are a little baffling.

Although the team will improve (how couldn't it) I still expect the success to be quite limited though...this roster still stinks.

At least we'll be able to properly evaluate the roster under him now. None of our younger players looked like they even belonged in the NHL under Eakins. Correct decisions can be made from now until the end of the year. I'm still not convinced Mactavish is the right guy to be doing this as his judgement has been awful on a lot of fronts.

Eakins biggest failure as a coach seemed to be as a teacher, his message wasn't getting through to the players and the team and players just went backwards as a result. Not everybody can teach, you need to be a good communicator for that and he wasn't. He came across as arrogant and full of ********. As a fan I found myself tuning him out very early in his tenure. It wouldn't surprise me if the players did too.

 

[moog35]

Sign him to a four year extension, the last AHL coach we hired turned out great!

Being better than Eakins shouldn't be a measuring stick. If anything this team has gone from horrible starts and decent finishes... To decent starts and horrible finishes.

You can practically set your watch to a blown third period lead now no matter how big it is.

At least the games are entertaining though and thats more than you can say about the Eakins coached Oilers.

I'm not saying Nelson is the saviour but he's looked a lot better than Eakins or MacT so far. The roster sucks, the team is going no where this season but at least they are finally sticking up for each other and playing some entertaining hockey.

Hopefully Lowe and MacT will be fired after the season and the new management can make a decision on Nelson. He could actually get some results if given a good roster

 

[guymez]

At least we'll be able to properly evaluate the roster under him now. None of our younger players looked like they even belonged in the NHL under Eakins. Correct decisions can be made from now until the end of the year. I'm still not convinced Mactavish is the right guy to be doing this as his judgement has been awful on a lot of fronts.

Eakins biggest failure as a coach seemed to be as a teacher, his message wasn't getting through to the players and the team and players just went backwards as a result. Not everybody can teach, you need to be a good communicator for that and he wasn't. He came across as arrogant and full of ********. As a fan I found myself tuning him out very early in his tenure. It wouldn't surprise me if the players did too.

I agree and evaluating players correctly is ultra critical at this point in this failed rebuild.

Eakins reminded me of a teacher that used 100 words to explain something when only 10 words were necessary.

Knowing something and being able to communicate the message succinctly can often times be mutually exclusive.

 

[Mr Forever]

Nelson has always been able to get something out of nothing with his rosters in OKC. He was also really good at adapting to his lineups changing due to Edmonton's random, unnecessary roster moves.

 

[doulos]

It isn't.

Last couple games any commentator, any opponent, most observers is citing the oilers playing much improved hockey.

The way the team has played for the most part has been sound and with a lot more puck support, physical battle, and team play than previously exhibited at anytime this season.

Where the team struggles is with games on line they tighten up and they are more tentative and stop playing the aggressive pressure on puck that Nelson is employing. For instance last night in 3rd Calgary suddenly has all kinds of space. The Oilers had been taking away that space for two full periods.

The reversion of this club is due to learned behavior which takes some time to unlearn. Much of what I'm seeing under Nelson reflects the team moving in a more competitive, and positive direction. They have pts in 3 of the last 5GP. The last couple have games have been good efforts.

This is all spin. Collosal collapses in both games like usual but because there is a new coach people think this is somehow different. Until this team starts actually winning games and not blowing leads and looking like a loser I won't be convinced of anything.

Is that cynical and unfair? Sure, okay. We've been fans long enough not to be fooled.

 

[guymez]

This is all spin. Collosal collapses in both games like usual but because there is a new coach people think this is somehow different. Until this team starts actually winning games and not blowing leads and looking like a loser I won't be convinced of anything.

Is that cynical and unfair? Sure, okay. We've been fans long enough not to be fooled.

Indeed. The happy feeling that some posters have over the dismissal of Eakins shouldn't cloud the obvious problem.

If this roster remains unchanged the team will continue to lose more than it wins regardless of the coach.

 

[missinthejets]

This is all spin. Collosal collapses in both games like usual but because there is a new coach people think this is somehow different. Until this team starts actually winning games and not blowing leads and looking like a loser I won't be convinced of anything.

Is that cynical and unfair? Sure, okay. We've been fans long enough not to be fooled.

there are a lot of different ways a team can lose, the way they've been losing lately is a much better way to lose than they were earlier in the year. There is progress in the way they're playing the game and considering where they're coming from that is good.

Eakins destroyed a lot of players confidence, now that he's gone what matters is rebuilding that confidence and actually seeing what is there on this roster. No one is saying a coaching change turns them from joke of the league into a playoff team, but you gotta know what you have before you can make changes and with Eakins I don't think we really know what we have here.

They're still a fragile team, that doesn't turn around over night, the fact that they've been able to get leads is a good start.

 

[Dorian2]

Indeed. The happy feeling that some posters have over the dismissal of Eakins shouldn't cloud the obvious problem.

If this roster remains unchanged the team will continue to lose more than it wins regardless of the coach.

I agree. One thing some may not agree with is that I think the biggest current problem on this roster is the Goalies. Yeah yeah, there have been defensive collapses from the team later in the game. But time and time again I see Scrivens and Fasthe letting in those last minute make or break goals, which usually breaks them.

You and a number of other posters have seen the best and worst of Oiler goal tending. And other tending in the years past like Dryden, Hextall, Fuhr, Ranford, Brodeur, Price, hells....even Luongo and Kiprisoff. Hell, some posters here probably remember watching Gump Worsley play.

One thing about that little list of goalies is that they all were capable of making that big save when needed. They were not without their faults.

But our current duo just cannot seem to make that one extra save to save the game.

I really don't get it.

 

[guymez]

I agree. One thing some may not agree with is that I think the biggest current problem on this roster is the Goalies. Yeah yeah, there have been defensive collapses from the team later in the game. But time and time again I see Scrivens and Fasthe letting in those last minute make or break goals, which usually breaks them.

You and a number of other posters have seen the best and worst of Oiler goal tending. And other tending in the years past like Dryden, Hextall, Fuhr, Ranford, Brodeur, Price, hells....even Luongo and Kiprisoff. Hell, some poster here probably remember watching Gump Worsley play.

One thing about that little list of goalies is that they all were capable of making that big save when needed. They were not without their faults.

But our current duo just cannot seem to make that one extra save to save the game.

I really don't get it.

For sure...the goalie situation has to be fixed. For me though the issue at centre and the lack of top 4 dmen are both big issues as well.

I am just hoping all 3 things get fixed before the end of this season...the order doesnt matter to me because the season is over anyway.
Your point about the goalie being important to team confidence is valid though so if I had to pick something to happen first that would be it.

Perhaps we can agree that it would be inexcusable to go into next season with a remaining hole in any of those areas.

 

[Dorian2]

For sure...the goalie situation has to be fixed. For me though the issue at centre and the lack of top 4 dmen are both big issues as well.

I am just hoping all 3 things get fixed before the end of this season...the order doesnt matter to me because the season is over anyway.
Your point about the goalie being important to team confidence is valid though so if I had to pick something to happen first that would be it.

Perhaps we can agree that it would be inexcusable to go into next season with a remaining hole in any of those areas.

I agree 100%.

 

[doulos]

there are a lot of different ways a team can lose, the way they've been losing lately is a much better way to lose than they were earlier in the year. There is progress in the way they're playing the game and considering where they're coming from that is good.

The bolded part is a really sad state of affairs. The fact that the fanbase is encouraged by a new way of losing games is amazing.

 

[oobga]

Nelson keeps stressing putting intensity in practice. I know it seems simple but that might be the biggest difference between Nelson and Eakins. Eakins loves to talk and talk and talk and thinks he has all the answers. Perron mentioned last year that practice was largely consumed by Eakins talking about his system. We heard players that left the org talk about how shocked they were at the intensity of practice on other teams.

Seems like Eakins biggest failing might have been not holding high effort practices and making players actually practice his system at NHL speed. Lots of talking about what needs to be done and philosophy about chopping wood and carrying water to victory, but low intensity half-arsed practices to go with it to develop all kinds of bad lazy habits. It would totally explain the across the board regression we saw under Eakins that really just kept getting worse as time went on.

 

[Replacement*]

This is all spin. Collosal collapses in both games like usual but because there is a new coach people think this is somehow different. Until this team starts actually winning games and not blowing leads and looking like a loser I won't be convinced of anything.

Is that cynical and unfair? Sure, okay. We've been fans long enough not to be fooled.

The team competed physically, engaged physically, and even initiated physically in both games against hard to play against teams.

The Oilers usually get sand kicked in their face by such teams and bent over for fun. They stood up. That alone was something.

Also saw more focused breakout. way more puck support, short passes and an awareness to go back an RETAIN puck when the breakout isn't right. When you see Taylor Hall twice deciding that he needs to go back instead of rush headlong into a check and give up the puck something is way different.

I'm not inclined to positive comments on this team and I'm usually right about it.

 

[ZJuice]

I noticed the change the first game without Eakins.
Now without MacT on the bench the difference is even bigger.

I am very happy with Nelson so far. I think him putting Schultz out in overtime was a "show me what you've got" more then him thinking Schultz was the best player.
He is a brand new coach and decisions like that should be judged after he has had time to get to know his roster, inside out.

 

[moog35]

Indeed. The happy feeling that some posters have over the dismissal of Eakins shouldn't cloud the obvious problem.

If this roster remains unchanged the team will continue to lose more than it wins regardless of the coach.

Totally agree with this, Im simply saying that the team is playing much better and more inspired hockey under Nelson. The roster is still broken and needs a major overhaul but the purpose of the the thread was to see if people have liked Nelson more than Eakins so far

 

[guymez]

Totally agree with this, Im simply saying that the team is playing much better and more inspired hockey under Nelson. The roster is still broken and needs a major overhaul but the purpose of the the thread was to see if people have liked Nelson more than Eakins so far

Its tough not to like Nelson more than Eakins.

Nelson has done a much better job of communicating and simplifying the game for this team which is nice to see.

I hope he is given a chance next season if he shows well for the last half of this season.


Many posters did not like that Nelson was the replacement but IMO if he is a fit here (by virtue of how much he gets from this BAD hockey team this season) then I think they should run with him next season.

My concern is about Katz. Katz needs to keep his greasy pharmaceutical fingers off of the hockey ops by not trying to steal some thunder by signing a big name coach like Babcock. If Nelson shows well and the team decides to go with a coach like Babcock that would be a mistake.

 

[Tarus]

Immediate improvement with any other coach than Eakins was one of the safest bets out there. It's been blatantly obvious he wasn't cut out for the job since way back last year, when he started throwing players under the bus to excuse his horrible first training camp and disastrous start to the season.

It's actually quite amusing that Mactavish criticized his predecessor for being gun-shy while openly bragging that he was going to be a proactive GM that would fix problems rather than hoping they would just work themselves out, yet he sat on the biggest no-brainer decision a GM could make for over a year. To add on to that, if the rumors are to believed; had to be outright forced into the decision itself, and he probably still doesn't even believe Eakins was the wrong man for the job either

 

[I am the Liquor]

Nelson hasn't completely turned around a team in two games?

Unacceptable.

This place is really hard to bear sometimes.