Player Discussion Todd McLellan

[Up the Irons]

i said earlier that if this team is 1-4 or even 0-3, then a coaching needed to happen immediately to save the season.

2-2 is not bad so TMac gets some rope.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

If you look at his play and stats while playing top 6 minutes last season you’ll see that they are actually quite good. He was regularly benched and demoted after his strongest games last season with zero logical explanation. To say that he’s gotten more than he deserves at every point so far in his NHL career is stupidity.

I actually looked at his ice-time with our top 6 centers last year (McDavid, Drai, and Nuge); while Nuge played some 3rd line center last year he's certainly of 2nd line center caliber as a player. I consider any time with any of those 3 centers to be top 6 ice time and last year at 5 on 5 Pulju had 456~ mins with atleast one of those 3 and 359~ mins without a single of those 3, so he actually was getting the equivalent of top 6 ice-time more often than not based on the quality of center he was lining up next to, the 3rd wheel at LW I don't think much changed the relative quality of the line given who we had on last years roster (aside from when RNH himself was lining up there).

In looking at his GF% which is the most important stat IMO in determining the effectiveness of a line when Pulju was with McDavid there was a good bump to McDavid's GF% (+5.7%), a massive negative to Drai's GF% (-12.6%), and a modest bump to RNH's GF% (+3.52%). All the samples are fairly small given McLellan had the blender going, so each should be taken with more than a few grains of salt.

In context to points per 60 stats and analytics in general I've waxed and waned on how much weight I put on them over the years, IMO I consider them to be secondary to the eye test at this point, I've seen a few too many false positives like posters raving about how dominant Martin Marincin was based on his analytics or more recently Benning or for a forward example Pouliot. Also with respect to Pulju his ice-time varied game to game quite a bit and I think that's largely, because it was rather obvious which nights he was on or off his game and by shrinking his numbers when he was off it creates an inflated sense of the player he is when looking at points per 60, whereas more veteran regular top 6 players are more likely to play through a rough night and would hurt their numbers accordingly. The fact of the matter is some teams have embraced analytics very heavily like Florida when the fired Gallant or Arizona when they promoted Chayka or even us with Eakins chasing corsi for% and unlike baseball when Billy Beane took his team to new heights from following the numbers the same just hasn't been true for the NHL. Analytics has it's place, but the old fashioned eye test seems to best that in direct comparison, the teams that have prospered more so than others have generally been teams with some mixture of the two.


Regardless of my opinions on the Pulju of the prior two years, I believe this years version of Pulju is ready for the same top 6 push that his more fervent supporters believe he was ready for from the word go. This being a new season I'd rather talk more so with the future in mind than re-hashing old stuff too strenuously. I just get a little tired of seeing certain patterns over and over, where every year I see fans saying fire a coach cause they aren't playing a certain young player enough, when nearly every coach would of made a fairly similar decision. Like people were adamant Yak should be in the slot as the triggerman on the 1st unit PP, how many coaches did he go through? Did any of them see Yak that way and deploy him like this fanbase wanted, how many people talked about MacT unjustly suppressing Schremp how was his NHL career after us, or how about Montreal with Galchenyuk where it was constantly argued that it was only mean old Therrien holding him back, only for Julien to come in and treat him exactly the same way.McLellan has failings as a coach, but many give him hate for the wrong reasons like handling of young players when many veteran coaches handle them in a similar manner, instead of the right reasons like special teams or ability to make mid-game adjustments.

 

[VainGretzky]

O creativity other than McDavid , his coaching instruction north south dump and chase ,keep cycling and hope for opening and we wonder why no secondary scoring he neuters every line but McDavids , and always have Lucic as extra attacker to kill the play. I remember a couple of times late last season when he did not uses Lucic as the extra man they actually scored . This team needs a coach that understands offence

 

[Tyrolean]

O creativity other than McDavid , his coaching instruction north south dump and chase ,keep cycling and hope for opening and we wonder why no secondary scoring he neuters every line but McDavids , and always have Lucic as extra attacker to kill the play. I remember a couple of times late last season when he did not uses Lucic as the extra man the actually scored . This team needs a coach that understands offence

For the millionth time, Lucic needs to go. Not the worst player but he is for what we pay him. Definitely a 4th liner or pb material.

 

[redgrant]

This Nashville game is more representative of mcelllans oilers rather than the fluke victory vs Winnipeg and win vs bottom dweller rangers.

McLellan has gotta go. Honestly I wish we lost vs rangers and jets to make it an easy decision. Now he's going to linger around longer and we will waste another full year.

 

[snipes]

Taking Bouchard off the PP for Klefbom was so stupid.

Especially considering we subsequently won the draw and Bouchard would have been in a perfect position for a one timer.

 

[Burnoutboi]

Taking Bouchard off the PP for Klefbom was so stupid.

Especially considering we subsequently won the draw and Bouchard would have been in a perfect position for a one timer.

To be honest, I was surprised Todd even thought of putting Bouchard on the 1st PP unit.

 

[oil85]

Taking Bouchard off the PP for Klefbom was so stupid.

Especially considering we subsequently won the draw and Bouchard would have been in a perfect position for a one timer.

Actually if I remember it correctly Bouchard had a hard time settling down the puck and making passes. Preds have a great PK so caused a lot of pressure at the point on him so he wasn't very effective even letting off shots. But yes Klefbom wasn't that much better.

 

[frag2]

Taking Bouchard off the PP for Klefbom was so stupid.

Especially considering we subsequently won the draw and Bouchard would have been in a perfect position for a one timer.

Klefbom is garbage on the PP. not only is he LHD, whcih is stupid given the forwards are all LH, he struggles with decision making and holding the line.

Hes basically Eberle at the back. Takes forever to decide if he should shoot. And when he shoots, it’s never a one timer

 

[SupremeTeam16]

This Nashville game is more representative of mcelllans oilers rather than the fluke victory vs Winnipeg and win vs bottom dweller rangers.

McLellan has gotta go. Honestly I wish we lost vs rangers and jets to make it an easy decision. Now he's going to linger around longer and we will waste another full year.

I agree. I don't think McLellan's Oilers will ever be anything more then a middling team, burst of decent play separated by long stretches of bad hockey and by keeping him we're throwing away another year. This team needs a fundamental change in the way it plays and for that to happen we need a coaching change.

 

[FlameChampion]

I just think we need a coaching change at this point. TM cant adapt, cant motivate and I don’t think his system is effective. Also what players have improved since hes been here ?

I think there has to be a change and see how our players react to a new coach (especially younger ones).

Problem is he should of been let go last year. Its harder to pick up a coach mid year. I didn’t like the Gulutzan hire as I suspect that he will be named coach if TM is fired. While hes a new voice I am not sure hes much of an upgrade.

 

[The Queen of the Sea]

It was desperation hockey against Preds for McLellan and I see no reason why the desperation wouldn't continue. Having Nugent-Hopkins playig for 27 minutes, McDavid for the usual 24+, Drai for 23+, Klefbom more than half an hour... 6th game of the season, 6th start for the number one goalie.

When the coach is afraid to have a similar awful beginning of the season as he had last year (3-6-1, 7pts in 10 games in October) and forces himself to overload his most important players, it's just a huge red flag for me. It not only affects the core, but the other players as well.

Hard to imagine the amount of pressure on TMac (and on Chiarelli as well) at this moment. Given the lack of offensive wingers, shutdown center and overall quality of the defence, it's not an easy hand to play with.

Add to this the current tactics not matching with the player material, odd special teams choices and overall stubbornness and it starts to seem pretty disastrous.

My point being maybe that if your Head Coach is this desperate and under such a pressure, it's difficult to see the players not being affected by the mentality. A hard place to shine for the players, except for McDavid.

I'm sorry for the amount of pessimism in these words. It's been time to replace TMac for a while already.

 

[oobga]

It was desperation hockey against Preds for McLellan and I see no reason why the desperation wouldn't continue. Having Nugent-Hopkins playig for 27 minutes, McDavid for the usual 24+, Drai for 23+, Klefbom more than half an hour... 6th game of the season, 6th start for the number one goalie.

When the coach is afraid to have a similar awful beginning of the season as he had last year (3-6-1, 7pts in 10 games in October) and forces himself to overload his most important players, it's just a huge red flag for me. It not only affects the core, but the other players as well.

Hard to imagine the amount of pressure on TMac (and on Chiarelli as well) at this moment. Given the lack of offensive wingers, shutdown center and overall quality of the defence, it's not an easy hand to play with.

Add to this the current tactics not matching with the player material, odd special teams choices and overall stubbornness and it starts to seem pretty disastrous.

My point being maybe that if your Head Coach is this desperate and under such a pressure, it's difficult to see the players not being affected by the mentality. A hard place to shine for the players, except for McDavid.

I'm sorry for the amount of pessimism in these words. It's been time to replace TMac for a while already.

We're seeing prime McLellan right now for sure. Guy has always run his top guys into the ground and never been able to get anything out of his depth. But this is to the absolute extreme now. We're gonna end up getting our best guys injured at this rate and even if McLellan is fired, the next guy will have zero chance to salvage the season.

 

[Studz]

We're seeing prime McLellan right now for sure. Guy has always run his top guys into the ground and never been able to get anything out of his depth. But this is to the absolute extreme now. We're gonna end up getting our best guys injured at this rate and even if McLellan is fired, the next guy will have zero chance to salvage the season.

Couldn't agree more. McLellan as a coach is awful. His solution is to play McDavid 30 minutes a night and we still can't win.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Couldn't agree more. McLellan as a coach is awful. His solution is to play McDavid 30 minutes a night and we still can't win.

I hate the blender BS. It’s gotta stop. He is gonna burn out McDavid

 

[I am the Liquor]

I hate the blender BS. It’s gotta stop. He is gonna burn out McDavid

Or he will pick up an injury. Care to guess what the team will look like without McDavid?

 

[Soundwave]

The RNH-McDavid-Drai line always kinda makes me laugh when it's out there, it's as if Todd is going "I don't give a f***".

He's gonna play McDavid and Klefbom to death at this rate though, though I think Connor doesn't mind it, it's not great roster management.

Todd clearly is playing for the now (as in week to week), he's fighting for his job.

 

[ujju2]

I don't have very many issues with McLellan this season. The only two major ones are overplaying top players (McDavid's line, Klefbom etc) and overplaying Talbot (Koskinen needs to play soon). The power play would be an issue, except I don't generally like to criticize what's working, and though it's a small sample size, the PP has been productive.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Or he will pick up an injury. Care to guess what the team will look like without McDavid?

It will look like a shot at that Jack Hughes kid 1st overall.

 

[Jamin]

Surely there has to be a better breakout system then ringing it around the boards?

Seems like half the time we get stuck in d zone because the other team pinched along boards and kept it in

 

[Echodek]

Personally, I'd like to see what Quenville could get out of this lineup, but I doubt that McLennan gets removed after the start to the season that we've had.

The unfortunate part is, is that if we do start to slide in the standings and there may need to be a change in the head coaching position, Quenville is more than likely already off the table.

 

[Mr Positive]

Personally, I'd like to see what Quenville could get out of this lineup, but I doubt that McLennan gets removed after the start to the season that we've had.

The unfortunate part is, is that if we do start to slide in the standings and there may need to be a change in the head coaching position, Quenville is more than likely already off the table.

For sure, in this case and with the hope for trades, we're in a paralyzed spot right now. We have to make due with what we have, and imo what we have is pretty good. Considering that our problems are not all coaching related, I'd also say that maybe Quenneville wouldn't do any better.

The time to ditch a coach is while your team is doing bad, and failing that, early in the offseason.

 

[CycloneSweep]

For sure, in this case and with the hope for trades, we're in a paralyzed spot right now. We have to make due with what we have, and imo what we have is pretty good. Considering that our problems are not all coaching related, I'd also say that maybe Quenneville wouldn't do any better.

The time to ditch a coach is while your team is doing bad, and failing that, early in the offseason.

I feel like Quenneville takes a couple month break to see what teams coaching positions break loose. A guy like that isn't going to just go to any team imo

 

[Mr Positive]

I feel like Quenneville takes a couple month break to see what teams coaching positions break loose. A guy like that isn't going to just go to any team imo

I doubt he'd try and guess which high profile teams will be looking for a coach in a few months or longer though.

There are some teams loaded with talent that would consider adding him today, and every day that goes by would build that desire.

Florida is a huge one imo. Lots of talent. Really young.

The St.Louis fanbase is probably seething for their management to add Quenneville now.

There's probably a couple other desirable spots

 

[Senor Catface]

It was desperation hockey against Preds for McLellan and I see no reason why the desperation wouldn't continue. Having Nugent-Hopkins playig for 27 minutes, McDavid for the usual 24+, Drai for 23+, Klefbom more than half an hour... 6th game of the season, 6th start for the number one goalie.

When the coach is afraid to have a similar awful beginning of the season as he had last year (3-6-1, 7pts in 10 games in October) and forces himself to overload his most important players, it's just a huge red flag for me. It not only affects the core, but the other players as well.

Hard to imagine the amount of pressure on TMac (and on Chiarelli as well) at this moment. Given the lack of offensive wingers, shutdown center and overall quality of the defence, it's not an easy hand to play with.

Add to this the current tactics not matching with the player material, odd special teams choices and overall stubbornness and it starts to seem pretty disastrous.

My point being maybe that if your Head Coach is this desperate and under such a pressure, it's difficult to see the players not being affected by the mentality. A hard place to shine for the players, except for McDavid.

I'm sorry for the amount of pessimism in these words. It's been time to replace TMac for a while already.