The Panther
Registered User
I think Woodcroft and Manson partially fell victim to being "young" coaches. Had they (esp. Woody) been older and more NHL experienced, they might not be fired now. This is what I mean:
After the Oilers' loss to Vegas last spring, the whole fanbase and media seemed to feel it was the end of the world, and big changes in the team's system were needed. (I personally didn't understand this and thought it was crazy overreaction --- the Oilers had had a great season and were winning the Vegas series halfway though game 5 before a series of events quickly turned it in Vegas's favor and it was suddenly over.) Anyway, Woodcroft and Manson, so I think, felt pressured into coming up with a new defensive system, so they desperately tried to implement a zone defence in training camp.
We pause here to note that Dave Manson's wife died in the off-season, a no-doubt overwhelming blow to him and his family. I can imagine that the combined pressure of having to implement a new defensive system for a Cup-favored team while everyone was walking on eggshells around Manson probably didn't lead to a great implementation.
Then, add on the apparently easy-going pre-season Woodcroft seemed to favor (i.e., team wasn't really to go) and the injuries / neutered play of the team's best forward (McDavid) and best defenceman (Eckholm) to start the year, and you've got an unprepared, injured team, anxious and under pressure, trying to use a new system they don't really understand, to start the season.
The result we saw.
I do think that the club would have recovered under Woodcroft anyway, and would probably be back to a playoff spot by now (or close to it) even if he hadn't been fired, but obviously the turnaround has been so unprecedented and stark that Knoblauch and Coffey must be doing some little things very right.
For his part, Coffey apparently ordered the dressing-room changed around so that the all of the defensemen were sitting together. They can now chat before and during games. This seems to have had a good effect. Coffey is also a very 'positive' guy who builds up the Ds' collective confidence, and doesn't dwell on their mistakes. He has encouraged the D to always try first to make purposeful plays and passes when getting the puck out, rather than just whipping it out or sending it down the ice. The Oilers are now playing a zone defense, but now they seem to know how to do it. It's one thing to decide to do a new system, but it's quite another thing to communicate it to players so that they understand it.
Knoblach has made some line combinations work (like Draisaitl, McLeod, Foegele) that nobody else had really tried or experimented with. He has also managed / limited the ice-time of the superstar forwards better. But I personally think the biggest thing he has done is with the penalty-kill. The PK had been up and down under Woodcroft / Manson, and was frustratingly inconsistent. There were a few designated players who always were on it, but the cast of PK players was always shifting, and thus PK-ers were often out there with new teammates, not knowing what each was going to do. Knoblauch seemed to immediately say "to hell with that", and went back to a more traditional thing where specific combinations of specifically designated players go out and kill the penalties. This has had an amazing effect.
After the Oilers' loss to Vegas last spring, the whole fanbase and media seemed to feel it was the end of the world, and big changes in the team's system were needed. (I personally didn't understand this and thought it was crazy overreaction --- the Oilers had had a great season and were winning the Vegas series halfway though game 5 before a series of events quickly turned it in Vegas's favor and it was suddenly over.) Anyway, Woodcroft and Manson, so I think, felt pressured into coming up with a new defensive system, so they desperately tried to implement a zone defence in training camp.
We pause here to note that Dave Manson's wife died in the off-season, a no-doubt overwhelming blow to him and his family. I can imagine that the combined pressure of having to implement a new defensive system for a Cup-favored team while everyone was walking on eggshells around Manson probably didn't lead to a great implementation.
Then, add on the apparently easy-going pre-season Woodcroft seemed to favor (i.e., team wasn't really to go) and the injuries / neutered play of the team's best forward (McDavid) and best defenceman (Eckholm) to start the year, and you've got an unprepared, injured team, anxious and under pressure, trying to use a new system they don't really understand, to start the season.
The result we saw.
I do think that the club would have recovered under Woodcroft anyway, and would probably be back to a playoff spot by now (or close to it) even if he hadn't been fired, but obviously the turnaround has been so unprecedented and stark that Knoblauch and Coffey must be doing some little things very right.
For his part, Coffey apparently ordered the dressing-room changed around so that the all of the defensemen were sitting together. They can now chat before and during games. This seems to have had a good effect. Coffey is also a very 'positive' guy who builds up the Ds' collective confidence, and doesn't dwell on their mistakes. He has encouraged the D to always try first to make purposeful plays and passes when getting the puck out, rather than just whipping it out or sending it down the ice. The Oilers are now playing a zone defense, but now they seem to know how to do it. It's one thing to decide to do a new system, but it's quite another thing to communicate it to players so that they understand it.
Knoblach has made some line combinations work (like Draisaitl, McLeod, Foegele) that nobody else had really tried or experimented with. He has also managed / limited the ice-time of the superstar forwards better. But I personally think the biggest thing he has done is with the penalty-kill. The PK had been up and down under Woodcroft / Manson, and was frustratingly inconsistent. There were a few designated players who always were on it, but the cast of PK players was always shifting, and thus PK-ers were often out there with new teammates, not knowing what each was going to do. Knoblauch seemed to immediately say "to hell with that", and went back to a more traditional thing where specific combinations of specifically designated players go out and kill the penalties. This has had an amazing effect.
