Oilers lose 7-4 to Arizona Coyotes

[Xelebes]

What's the record for most goals allowed in one season?

We'll beat it by game 16.

446 goals by the 1974-1975 Washington Capitals (5.58 gpg)

The Oilers are on pace to outdo them (5.75 gpg) but not 16 games in.

7.38 - 1919-1920 Quebec City Bulldogs
6.20 - 1943-1944 New York Rangers
5.83 - 1917-1918 Montreal Wanderers

 

[oilz89*]

Eakins systems are so bad that they're genius

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Any particular reason the Oiler brass has been quiet? Just wondering if they're waiting for the Canucks to hang 8 on us.

 

[Quality Oil]

Any particular reason the Oiler brass has been quiet? Just wondering if they're waiting for the Canucks to hang 8 on us.

I think they might have an inkling that if they make themselves available they'll be publicly executed.

 

[TheGuyInTheChair]

I think we need to hear from Ramsay.

He was specifically brought in for (a) experience, (b) the PP, and (c) the defence, where he has a good reputation for improving young players.

The D actually manages to look worse than last year. How much of this is on Ramsay?

It's Ramsay that wants the D to pinch, isn't it?

And there have been a ton of odd man rushes the other way because of that.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I think they might have an inkling that if they make themselves available they'll be publicly executed.

Are you kidding? They're quality public speakers...

Seriously though they need to step into the line of fire. Eakins is bad but there's no way MacT and Lowe should escape blame by letting him hang to twist in the wind.

 

[oil slick]

Have we not reached the tipping point yet when it comes to placing the blame and correcting the situation? By that I mean it's either coach or GM (not giving the players a free pass, but they are on the
GM). Either MacT still believes in Eakins swarm and he failed to bring in the right players (thus sucks at his job and must be fired), OR the right personnel is in place and Eakins is failing as a coach.

It's one or the other. There are no more excuses for MacT. You wanted coaching continuity through the off-season? You got it. You wanted to bring in more players in free agency? You got it. You wanted to bring in a veteran assistant coach? You got it. There are no more excuses. One of these guys has to admit they screwed up, and move on.

Eakins sucks as a coach, and I'd love for him to be canned. But to me, two guys seem to always escape blame. Stu McGreggor and Todd Nelson. Because I get that Eakins might not be developing or using guys properly at the NHL level, but I look at how the Oilers prospects did in the preseason, and I see prospects who have no clue. Outside of top 5 picks and maybe Marincin and Pitlick, I see absolutely nothing. And when you have 20 picks in 2010 and 2011 alone, you need to get something out of it.

As far as I'm concerned, Stu should be canned and the amateur scouting overhauled, and Todd Nelson should be canned. In the meantime, I'd keep our prospects away from the AHL if possible.

 

[Stainsy]

I know many of you are NFL football fans on this board. I am a Niners fan, and let me tell you about suck, on that team, for many seasons as well. After Maruicci was fired, the last coach to get them to the playoffs, the Niners went through Erickson, who was 9-23. Then Nolan, 18-37. The disciplinarian, Singletary who actually got a response the first season ( they needed discipline at first) 18-22 record. With Erickson at the helm, we actually went 2-14 one season. A once proud franchise with five superbowls, and an incredible run in the eighties. Sound familiar?

Fast forward to today. The 49ers have made the playoffs the last three seasons and gone at least to the NFC championships. They lost the Superbowl by a non call. How did Harbaugh go about turning the losing culture around on a once proud franchise?

He didn't throw his players under the bus. He didn't blame the team, or the refs, or anyone else. If there was blame to shoulder, he took it. Secondly, he built relationships with everyone of the players. Even when we took in Randy Moss, he did everything in his power to put Randy in situations he could succeed, and help him help the team. Alex Smith was the franchise QB that was leading this culture of suck. Sound Familiar?

Harbaugh paid special attention to Alex Smith. Everyone in SF was down on the team, and him especially, he had thrown a lot of picks, and made a lot of dumb plays. Harbaugh, I remember on the first game of the season, made a special point of slapping Alex hard on the shoulder pads. Alex smiled. For the first time ever, before a game, Alex was smiling. Every other time I saw him before a game, he looked nervous. Alex went out and won that playoff game against the Saints. The first year Harbaugh was there, he got this team of losers to the NFC Championships. How? By putting his players in situations that they could succeed, and by not throwing them under the bus. By making them all a team, and by encouragement, not discouragement.

There are a lot of similarities between the Oilers today, and the 49ers of 2010. The 2010 Niners were 6-10. No playoffs. The hiring of Harbaugh was really the only significant changes made for 2011, and he got them within two muffed punts of the Superbowl. Not bad, for a coach who really only worked with his players, and got the fun back into the game, helped teach them how to win, and made sure that they didn't go pointing fingers.

This, is what the Oilers need in a coach. MacT, I wish you could read this.

 

[Cowboy19]

#OilersPositives time

Pretty soon the most interesting thread on HF Oil will be up, the draft thread.

We may all be able to cash in on a class action suit against the team for emotional grievances.

Neither Gagner or Dubnyk scored on us tonight.

Still no trade requests.

Eakins expressions look even funnier as his hair thins.

MacT may be forced to send Nurse and Dr. Drai back to Jr thus preserving their ELC's

#OilersPositives

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Any particular reason the Oiler brass has been quiet? Just wondering if they're waiting for the Canucks to hang 8 on us.

what are they gonna say? "we done bad...our team sucks as per usual and our coach doesn't have a clue...but please, fork over thousands of dollars to come watch the Oilers get curb-stomped friday night!"

 

[488fitter]

Scriven's post game is pretty unsettling to me. Not a fan of how he values offense more than defense when suggesting how to win hockey games.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

what are they gonna say? "we done bad...our team sucks as per usual and our coach doesn't have a clue...but please, fork over thousands of dollars to come watch the Oilers get curb-stomped friday night!"

Haha, you know they won't accept blame. They'll just preach patience and keep throwing darts.

These goofs need to step down.

 

[drax0s]

(Not another pity post). Guys, Vancouver fan here in peace. I agree with most of you in that Eakins/ his system are the problems. The Oilers shouldn't be the worst team in the league by any stretch of the imagination.

Having done a bit of reading on Eakins' hyper-aggressive swarm in that Oilersnation article (buddies of mine at work are Oilers fans) the obvious thing is that if you lose board battles, you give up a perfect scoring opportunity. Statistically, being so aggressive with the puck carrier should gain possession most of the time, but it's such a risk. It's like bluffing with all your chips in poker because "statistically most people will fold".

A poor fitting coach is brutal for a team and resulted in several career lows for many of the Nucks last year. Desjardins is a breath of fresh air and we're doing better so far (admittedly with a hand-pass from the gods). For the Oilers to start being dangerous again I think many of you are right. Eakins has to adapt his defensive system or Go.

I'd also love to see you guys make a play for Staal as 1C, giving RNH some sheltering to let him feast on second pairing D-men (mostly because he's in my pool).

Good luck!

 

[Joey Moss]

Just watched the highlights again..

Andrew Ference's shift on that Erat goal was absolutely garbage. How is this guy our captain? He's a ****ing pylon on skates.. does nothing out there and doesn't stick up for teammates.

 

[DreamTheatre]

It was a bad game, but at least Gagner didn’t score all 7 goals.

 

[voxel]

First, the management is so stupid. There was 1 player we needed out of this past draft, and mact should've done everything in his power to have gotten him. We screwed ourselves royally by not having a worst record than florida. All that suffering the whole year to finish 1 point out of the worst 2 records. Drai might become a good player one day but he is a horrible consolation prize for this team.

LOL. Ekblad will not save this franchise nor will McDavid.

Proper development of players and better coaching will.

 

[Replacement*]

Scriven's post game is pretty unsettling to me. Not a fan of how he values offense more than defense when suggesting how to win hockey games.

I posted this as well. It is disturbing but I think for how much the players, including Scrivens are currently confused on this team (by Eakins)

Scrivens; "what, should we hang back like the Phoenix Coyotes"?

Yeah, the team should defend its own goal first. This is the NHL where teams will school you if you don't.

 

[dustrock]

Here's where stats can get a bit crazy.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/pla...am_id=&situation_id=5on5&order_by=fenwick_pct

Team stats sorted by fenwick%age. Oilers are at 16th, middle of the pack.

PDO is at (ha ha ha) 89, as shooting %age is 5.9%, and save %age 83%. You would think, over the course of the season, that the shooting would improve and the goalies would improve, and we'd see more wins.

However, with Eakins at coach, (and I asked Jon Willis this), is it possible his systems are also responsible for the poor shooting and save percentage?

 

[rboomercat90]

Its all about corsi and possession numbers Replacement... everyone knows that. (That too is sarcasm.)

I wish Lowe and MacTavish had never watched Moneyball... $$%%#% Brad Pitt.

p.s. I won't throw a jersey on the ice - for the sake of the players, but I may mail it back to the organization. Just to be nice, I will include a note saying that they can replace it when - and only when, they fire Eakins and make something of this team. That, or exchange it for a different teams jersey - and I am only half kidding about that.

I don't know why everybody keeps bringing up Moneyball when they talk about Oilers and analytics. The whole concept of Moneyball was to find hidden gems that you could play for CHEAP. The Oiers have used analytics in an entirely different manner. They've taken their findings and given mediocre players over market contracts. It's completely ridiculous.

 

[Rolo]

As a "hockey fan" who appreciates all the young talent the Oilers have, and the history of the franchise, it's sad to see the lack of progression over the years. I actually hate Dallas Eakins, and I'm not even a Oilers fan. He should be fired NOW.

 

[SomeDudeOTI]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 488fitter View Post
Scriven's post game is pretty unsettling to me. Not a fan of how he values offense more than defense when suggesting how to win hockey games.

I posted this as well. It is disturbing but I think for how much the players, including Scrivens are currently confused on this team (by Eakins)

Scrivens; "what, should we hang back like the Phoenix Coyotes"?

Yeah, the team should defend its own goal first. This is the NHL where teams will school you if you don't.

This.

They need to forget offense and develop a mentality of "you're NOT going to score on us". There is enough talent on this team to win games with opportunistic scoring off of breakouts and turnovers, they need to focus on GA. I'd even be ok with some variety of trap... and I hate the trap.

The other problem right now is roster management/pairings/TOI... what eakins has been doing with the d-men is mind boggling.

 

[Homesick]

Have we not reached the tipping point yet when it comes to placing the blame and correcting the situation? By that I mean it's either coach or GM (not giving the players a free pass, but they are on the
GM). Either MacT still believes in Eakins swarm and he failed to bring in the right players (thus sucks at his job and must be fired), OR the right personnel is in place and Eakins is failing as a coach.

It's one or the other. There are no more excuses for MacT. You wanted coaching continuity through the off-season? You got it. You wanted to bring in more players in free agency? You got it. You wanted to bring in a veteran assistant coach? You got it. There are no more excuses. One of these guys has to admit they screwed up, and move on.

I think MacT will be accountable when the day comes to fire Eakins. He still takes the blame for the Smith/Conklin screw up in the SCF.
I think the Ramsey hiring was a sign that he wanted a back up plan

 

[rboomercat90]

Any particular reason the Oiler brass has been quiet? Just wondering if they're waiting for the Canucks to hang 8 on us.

They're desperatley waiting for this team to win its first game so Mactavish can come out and tell us "everything is going to be all right now. The team is getting better and Dallas and I see plenty of improvement. Other GM's I've talked to have told me we're on the right path and to stay the course."

 

[Master Lok]

I think we need to hear from Ramsay.

He was specifically brought in for (a) experience, (b) the PP, and (c) the defence, where he has a good reputation for improving young players.

The D actually manages to look worse than last year. How much of this is on Ramsay?

Agreed, I wondered the same myself.

Some of the coaching decisions on the defensive lineup has really baffled me
a) sending Marincin down to the AHL
b) keeping Nurse here
c) benching Jeff Petry in favour of Brad Hunt / Darnell Nurse.
d) putting Nikitin on the first pairing with Fayne.

Who's ideas are these?

 

[rboomercat90]

It was a bad game, but at least Gagner didn’t score all 7 goals.

You forgot to add #oiler positives after your post.