I don't believe it will. Defensive issues have plagued the Oilers long before McDavid and Draisatl were even playing juniors. Really, they're the only thing separating this team from drafting first overall again.
Trotz is the best coach in the league, Tippett wouldn't be able to sniff his jockstrap. There's a reason this clown has a sub .500 record in the playoffs. And then there's the GMs... One team decided to do some due diligence when hiring into a position of importance and the other decided to hire their buddy from Hockey Canada because it was the easy way out. Can you guess who's who?
Needless to say, this is bullshit. Year after year of lazy hires, bad trades, even worse signings... It's easy to have this view because your team isn't run so damn poorly. Put the execs from the Lightning on the Oilers and this thread wouldn't even exist.
You can hire the best coach in the league but if your top players don’t listen it would make no difference. All the Islander teams were of good character and listened to their coaches regardless of the outcome. These two McDrai are too comfortable and play like they own the team. Never seen anything like it.
Brossoit was a little shaky at first, but he's settled in nicely and his play is visibly improving from game to game. He's now less of a backup goalie than sort of a co-goalie with Lehner. Yeah, hindsight being 20/20, Brossoit was a steal.
But Tippett isn't a top coach and he never has been. Go look at his playoff record. Lots of first round exits and losses to teams that his teams should've beaten.
Need a Torts or Babcock to come in with full authority to do whatever they want and lay down the wood, including benching or even locking out players for long periods of time. At the very least, psychoanalysts in the Edmonton area will see a boom in business. But that's just one side of the Oilers' rubic cube -- their personnel decisions have been awful too, and that franchise is not likely to get all its sides into the same colors for probably three or four years with any coach, and even that's assuming that they cashier their GM before this year's TDL and hire somebody with a long-term plan instead of just making repeated plug-the-holes hires.
As dives go I can only give it a 2/10.Oilers need a heavier goalie who doesn't fall from push
Oilers need a heavier goalie who doesn't fall from push
And yet when Eberle went to the Islanders he became much better...
Tippett's last playoff loss to a clearly inferior squad was 15 years ago, not counting his Oilers tenure.
Why are we excluding the last two years, exactly? Anyone who watched that Hawks series can't seriously think "Wow Dave Tippett is a great coach as the Blackhawks continue to employ the same successful tactics without any adjustments", right?
BS. He's actually a very good coach. Before Trotz the Islanders would have loved to have had a Tippett coaching their team. He had winning seasons every year with the Stars. Winning seasons most years with the Yotes and winning seasons with the Oilers. If they aren't listening to a coach with that much success what makes you think they will listen to a Torts?
If you're trying to blame the two best players in the league for a team's problems, you're trying too hard and looking in the wrong places. You are right they could stand to be better, but that doesn't fix the Edmonton Oilers. It sure would be great if they were better on defense, but that's not going to win them a cup when they've got Smith and Koskinen in the net. Trying to blame McDavid and Drai for the Oilers demonstrates a woeful misunderstanding of how hockey teams work, even if you might be right about their shortcomings.
Because the Oilers stars are running the show, not Tippett.
When Eberle left the Islanders this year based on your definition of success (scoring lots of goals and points) he became a better player once he left the Isles, but just like McDavid he plays for a team that likes to lose.
He's sub .500 in the playoffs. Has only been past the first round 3 times. If he was such a good coach why was he unemployed for two years? He very much represents an era of hockey that no longer exists. Lol the Kraken didn't even want him to be their coach, he was a "senior adviser". Dave Tippett is another recycling bin coach that gets tossed around like Lindy Ruff or Todd McLellan. Do you ever notice that most coaches the Oilers turf don't tend to have success anywhere else?
Of course, most of us were screaming at Tippett not to start Mike Smith in game 1, but you know, smartest guy in the room and all that.
He became a more rounded player when he left the Oilers. I don't think that's even open for discussion.
