Kudos to the Coach

[dustrock]

Haven't looked at the stats on this, but I feel like this is the best I've seen the Oilers play 5v5 in years.

 

[PaPaDee]

Despite us losing, I've actually enjoyed watching the games again. We're definitely taking steps forward, it just hasn't translated into wins yet.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Sent Drasitl down after a great camps, sent down nurse, schultz leads team in ice time It's all about wins and as I watch scrubs teams like Arizona and Buffalo get results I once again see us dead freaking last. Hall got off to a bad start.

At this point none of that other stuff matters. This is a mact like visually we are better. It's time to win or get off the pot and like it or not each new regime does not get a 'a few years' to see what they have and start winning.

If our coach was doing a great job this team would be winning some games, unless you feel our talent level is so horrible that his great coaching has moved us to be a 6 win rather than a 1 win team.

Win stinking games and I'll pat you on the back. Lose and it's same old same old.

Given how Nurse and Drai are performing now, wouldn't you say it's better that they were sent down? Motivation is a wonderful thing.

I agree with most of the things you said but coaching isn't costing this team wins. It's simple breakdowns at inopportune times, things we've seen numerous times in previous years. The team isn't good enough to win, that much is a fact. The coaching isn't enough to overcome years of bad habits and losing, at least not yet.

Believe me, I'm just as frustrated as you are that the Oilers are in last. Unfortunately it's always the one crucial mistake that costs them games.

 

[Tarus]

I would have to disagree. We saw this and better under Nelson at the end of last year. McLellan is getting nothing from our bottom 6. Nelson had Lander going and many other bottom 6 guys including the likes of Nuge, Hall, and Yak.

They weren't good under Nelson though. They were playing with no defensive structure or pressure to perform, against teams that consistently wrote them off before games even started. They lost the majority of their games as a result, and frequently put in no-contest efforts against western conference teams that had their opponents snickering afterwards.

The oilers are exposed due to the numerous weak links, overmatched defense, and the significant injuries throughout the roster, but they are competitive in nearly every game they've participated in this year. That's a far cry from what we saw last year under Nelson.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Its the amount of futility on the play. The sum and extent of it, that should be completely shocking. Also, why do you even have a D on the ice if its name is Sekera? He's just standing there watching the line changes and seeing a cute bird in the 3rd row as Hossa blows right by him on the breakaway.

That these guys are not clued in, not thinking on the ice is so completely obvious. Nuge was actually pointing at his stick to Sekera to cover the hawks player jumping off the ice. To his credit Nuge at least knew that play was going to happen. Sekera I half expected to wave his stick back.

Stupid things happen to stupid teams. Another lol moment for the hawks to be sure. With some of the Oilers supposed best players being on the ice and culpable in the GA.

There were definitely a few mistakes made on the play by the Oilers, but the same could be said about the Hawks making mistakes when Toews and Kane played weak, stick-reaching defense (and/or were tired) to let Draisaitl skate down the ice and set-up Hall on a top-tier scoring chance. Lucky for these two superstar players, they had a pressure-tested goalie in Crawford who saved the extra point.

Overall, it's 3-on-3 OT, teams are still figuring it out, and, IIRC, it was also Eberle's first taste of it. The whole concept of the new OT format is to create chaos and mistakes for which coaches can't plan. The Oilers are not alone in their OT mistakes as they have already victimized both Vancouver and Anaheim making poor line changes in OT.

 

[oXo Cube]

The smart, veteran, Blackhawks made virtually the exact same mistake on the Eberle goal.

And that was in the second period, 5 on 5.

 

[Replacement*]

There were definitely a few mistakes made on the play by the Oilers, but the same could be said about the Hawks making mistakes when Toews and Kane played weak, stick-reaching defense (and/or were tired) to let Draisaitl skate down the ice and set-up Hall on a top-tier scoring chance. Lucky for these two superstar players, they had a pressure-tested goalie in Crawford who saved the extra point.

Overall, it's 3-on-3 OT, teams are still figuring it out, and, IIRC, it was also Eberle's first taste of it. The whole concept of the new OT format is to create chaos and mistakes for which coaches can't plan. The Oilers are not alone in their OT mistakes as they have already victimized both Vancouver and Anaheim making poor line changes in OT.

The Hawks played a putrid game. Half the game they didn't even show up. They had the 0-0 lead and looked pretty comfortable with that. 8 shots in the first 32mins by the MIA hawks. So you could just see that this was one of those games for them. Content to just hang around and knew they would come out with points anyway. The Oilers were outworking the Hawks all over the ice. But the Hawks are not a desperate team that need these wins. To half ass it and play some plays too casually is excactly what the 80's Oilers would do. But if you're say the 80's Calgary Flames you're not making a ton of mistakes trying to hang with them.

The Oilers should be eager and that should translate into excellent attention to detail. I think its being overstated how sharp the Oilers have been in all zones. They gave Hossa alone 2 complete breakaways last night. Hawks gave Eberle the one but again they were not taking this game very seriously.

 

[Replacement*]

The smart, veteran, Blackhawks made virtually the exact same mistake on the Eberle goal.

And that was in the second period, 5 on 5.

WEll sure, but as I just stated the Hawks can do that. They can get away with that and laugh about it. Knowing that they will win anyway. The Oilers can't afford to make these kind of mistakes. That is the significant difference.

Unless people are just saying "**** happens" in which I'll still assert it happens a whole lot more here. Still an awful lot of noise in the Oilers game. Work in progress I realize.

 

[Frank the Tank]

The Hawks played a putrid game. Half the game they didn't even show up. They had the 0-0 lead and looked pretty comfortable with that. 8 shots in the first 32mins by the MIA hawks. So you could just see that this was one of those games for them. Content to just hang around and knew they would come out with points anyway. The Oilers were outworking the Hawks all over the ice. But the Hawks are not a desperate team that need these wins. To half ass it and play some plays too casually is excactly what the 80's Oilers would do. But if you're say the 80's Calgary Flames you're not making a ton of mistakes trying to hang with them.

The Oilers should be eager and that should translate into excellent attention to detail. I think its being overstated how sharp the Oilers have been in all zones. They gave Hossa alone 2 complete breakaways last night. Hawks gave Eberle the one but again they were not taking this game very seriously.

I disagree that the Hawks were not taking this game seriously. I think the Hawks played well, especially their top-6, and they were also forced into more mistakes by the Oilers speed and (for once) the Oilers winning some puck battles.

I think I have a different take on the game because living in Chicago I was forced to watch the Hawks broadcast surrounded by Blackhawks fans. The Chicago broadcast teams spent a lot of time impressing on viewers about how serious the players and coaching staff were taking this "Circus Trip" (the circus occupies United Center every November). Remember Chicago is sitting in 5th in the Central and they are nervous about losing too much ground early in the season. They also view this trip as a chance to put points between themselves and any team that has a chance of finishing 4th in the Pacific (should they finish 5th in the Central). While this wasn't 100% force, playoff Blackhawks, it was by no means a poor effort on their part caused by a lack of interest.

 

[Halibut]

Then you literally haven't been watching games.

If we got Babcock we would never to restart the rebuild as his style iof play doesn't work with our players.

Bylsma and his sabres have had quite the easy schedule in comparison.

Our team has more fundamental problems then the rest so McLellan had more to work with.

McLellan was the right pick for the team, saying he isn't cause other teams have more wins is ridiculous.

I'm not necessarily saying McLellan was the wrong pick but I'm saying it sounds really stupid to be giving kudos to the coach that so far has nothing to show for his tenure here. We're in last place and sure you can use missing McDavid as an excuse but we didnt have him last year and we werent any worse in terms of wins at this point in the schedule. I dont get the feeling that they've given up on this year yet which is a huge improvement from the last couple years where Eakins seemed to crush the teams spirit after the first few losses so maybe he deserves some props for that but otherwise we should really be quiet on celebrating our coaching until the team has shown some kind of improvement. I dont think it's an easy overnight fix, and I'm still hopeful that he works out down the line but do we really need to be complimenting a coach with a 6-12-1 record?

 

[Arpeggio]

WEll sure, but as I just stated the Hawks can do that. They can get away with that and laugh about it. Knowing that they will win anyway. The Oilers can't afford to make these kind of mistakes. That is the significant difference.

Unless people are just saying "**** happens" in which I'll still assert it happens a whole lot more here. Still an awful lot of noise in the Oilers game. Work in progress I realize.

Come on man, the Oilers were a miraculous save away from walking away with two points. The only thing that should've been done differently was one of Eberle and RNH staying on the man with the puck while the other changed, but I believe this was Eberle's first 3 on 3 game, and both were gassed.

3 on 3 is a total coin flip. If Hall's shot goes in, then you can't say "they can get away with that and laugh about it". They very nearly didn't.

 

[Dorian2]

The smart, veteran, Blackhawks made virtually the exact same mistake on the Eberle goal.

And that was in the second period, 5 on 5.

Agreed. I think the thing is though, and I've noticed it this year as well, is the small mistakes costing the team dearly. It's my opinion that these small mistakes (sometimes in multiples of 5 or 6 a game), are much more noticeable because the team's playing pretty well the rest of the time. There of course are a number of contributing factors like soft goals against, missed defensive assignments, give aways, etc. But overall I think that the team has the best coach it's had for a while.....a pretty long while at that.

There are also other factors included in specific games that don't need to be mentioned. Anyone who's watched any games so far knows what these are.

 

[Replacement*]

Come on man, the Oilers were a miraculous save away from walking away with two points. The only thing that should've been done differently was one of Eberle and RNH staying on the man with the puck while the other changed, but I believe this was Eberle's first 3 on 3 game, and both were gassed.

3 on 3 is a total coin flip. If Hall's shot goes in, then you can't say "they can get away with that and laugh about it". They very nearly didn't.

Fair enough. But no way was that the Hawks A game for the first 32mins or so. I remember thinking the best team in the league has 8 shots. They hadn't even had a legitmate scoring chance to that point. Sure Oilers were checking reasonably well but Hawks were not focused and not executing. Hawks started to up the tempo and work transition crisply. They played somewhat better in grabbing the 2-0 lead then kind of fell back again. It was a real off night for the Hawks. It happens. They haven't been good on the road this year.

But it really looked to me the hawks were fine with it being a close game for the longest time and figured they'd just pull it out. The Drai goal on a miscue and with Hall losing the puck right onto Drai's stick was the unpredictable moment Hawks didn't expect. Other than that Crawford was shutting **** down and looking very sharp. The band doesn't always play on so well when an excellent soloist is giving a command performance. Good game by the Oilers actually as Crawford was called on a lot and was very good.

 

[yukoner88]

We have lost a lot of one goal games over the past few years

most of the one goal losses last year (especially at the beginning of the season) were shams. The team would be down 3-0 or 4-1 and would get lucky bounces/goals which would make the final scores one goal games, but they were really ass kickings

 

[Oi'll say!]

Hall is producing around the same rate he did the first season under Eakins when he put up 80 points in 75 games. You cant really give credit to the coaching for developing his game. Yakupov improved while playing with McDavid but since he's left he's back to his old self, was actually better under Nelson. Lander has take a step backwards. If you judge the results by the standings Mclellan hasnt had any effect there yet.

Hall's production was actually down in Eakins' first season from where it was the year before, but by only dipping marginally he enjoyed the best season of any Oiler developmentally. He also went from being a resectable plus 5 to a minus 15 in Eakins' first season. Hall's on pace to be a +30 this year, and I don't want to make any advanced stat guys cry but that's a big step fwd again. He's going on the ice against good competition at key times and the Oilers are driving the play. Hall isn't the same player as he was last year, or the year before. Not even close. This team totally sucked and watching the games was actually painful.

The Oilers are still last but the games are fun to watch now. It always feels like the Oilers have a chance to win, even down 2-0 against the Hawks. Last November I felt like they didn't have a chance when they were up 2-0 against anyone (did that even happen?).

 

[kickaction]

Hall's production was actually down in Eakins' first season from where it was the year before, but by only dipping marginally he enjoyed the best season of any Oiler developmentally. He also went from being a resectable plus 5 to a minus 15 in Eakins' first season. Hall's on pace to be a +30 this year, and I don't want to make any advanced stat guys cry but that's a big step fwd again. He's going on the ice against good competition at key times and the Oilers are driving the play. Hall isn't the same player as he was last year, or the year before. Not even close. This team totally sucked and watching the games was actually painful.

The Oilers are still last but the games are fun to watch now. It always feels like the Oilers have a chance to win, even down 2-0 against the Hawks. Last November I felt like they didn't have a chance when they were up 2-0 against anyone (did that even happen?).

Honestly, whenever I watch these games when we're down in the 3rd period, I just sit around trying to guess how long it is before we tie it up because I always have the feeling we will, or that we at least have the chance to.

THAT'S a huge difference from last year.