This is not a Tippet issue, the boys need to solve this themselves. Start right, end right.
I agree professional players motivate themselves. Mark Messier - the best leader in hockey history - agrees and said that it comes from within the room and it’s leaders. We have a group of very quiet leaders.
But more than that, observing practice footage the Oilers release they are going at 1/2 speed much of the time. You play how you practice. TMac ran high intensity practices and IMO should never have been fired by Chiarelli.
Scott Hartnell recently gave a comparison of the pre Torts practices compared to practices Torts ran. Night and day. He said it went to full on short but faster than game speed practices, like a bag skate with pucks and 200 shots per player.
Say what you want about Torts but his teams competed and he had his Columbus teams in the playoffs and won rounds.
Now don’t want Torts here but it all starts with how a team practices. We’ve been a slow starting team under Tip since Day One and this year the slow starts are an ingrained part of this teams culture along with a serious lack of focus and attention to detail.
That starts bleeding into a team in practice and is why if we want to save the season it’s time for Tip to be shown the door now so we don’t miss the playoffs or are the last wildcard and not wait for seasons end, they can go with interim solutions like GG and decide off season.
Last edited: