Fire Knoblauch

[McTonyBrar]

Of Course! Lets fire the coach who helped coach his team to the Finals twice! Wonderful idea!

Get lost Kevin Lowe. Dumbest thread ever on this website

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Keep in mind KK never really had a say in his coaching staff. One does wonder if that changes this off-season.

Heck, who knows how long Coffey wants to coach for in the first place

Gulutzan’s contract is up at the end of the season as well.

 

[Oilhawks]

Gulutzan’s contract is up at the end of the season as well.

Maybe they can get a guy that will fill in for when KK decides to be an empty suit like he has been these two Finals.

 

[Oilhawks]

 

[bellagiobob]

Been outcoached this series no doubt, but to still want a young coach fired that has taken his team to the SC finals in each of his first two years despite grade C level goaltending is laughable. Swap goalies we win this series. Thats on the GM, not the coach.

 

[Oilhawks]

Been outcoached this series no doubt, but to still want a young coach fired that has taken his team to the SC finals in each of his first two years despite grade C level goaltending is laughable. Swap goalies we win this series. Thats on the GM, not the coach.

The goaltending is totally on the GM (mostly Jackson who tied Bowman's hands, they needed the cap and assets to get Blackwood), but Knob seems to love Skinner, so I doubt he said much about it

Too bad they didn't have the balls to bring in Bowman and Quenneville, they probably get past this shit even with Stuart Shitter in net.

For one, Q wouldn't wait so f***ing long to pull the iceberg of a goalie

 

[BudBundy]

I’ll be watching the end of the game but, barring a miracle, I think I’m going to take a bit of a break from posting here. I’m just a bit too sad to come up with much anymore. Thank you all for the past year of humour, insights and camaraderie.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Been outcoached this series no doubt, but to still want a young coach fired that has taken his team to the SC finals in each of his first two years despite grade C level goaltending is laughable. Swap goalies we win this series. Thats on the GM, not the coach.

Yeah I don't know how anyone watches this and puts the blame on Knoblauch instead of on Ken Holland/Jeff Jackson and to a lesser extent, Stan Bowman. Zito built one of the deepest teams in the NHL loaded with prime aged/young talent, with almost no inefficient, middle class salary veterans. Their one really bad contract ended up working out anyway in Bobrovsky. Meanwhile the Oilers surrounded McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard tons of these trash 2.5-4 million dollar >30 year old players that most contending teams are trying to get rid of, not acquire. And that's before we get into the goaltending situation.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

I think he’s a good coach who didn’t coach a great series

That said I don’t think this team is in a better position this series with another coach, the Panthers are in a class of their own

 

[oilers4life5]

Knob made inexcusable decisions in the final.

 

[bellagiobob]

With some further thought, I think that KK should be given a purple heart for getting us to the SC Final two years in a row with the way below league average goaltending we had. That was a bloody miracle.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

KK did a lot of good.

But the complete lack of GAF in games 5 and 6 should result in some questions for a lot of people.

 

[oobga]

IMO the issue was more about the players than the head coach in the finals. I feel like Knob should get credit for making the finals against really good teams in spite of the lineup he was given. No starting goalie that is an endless pain in the rear, and the energy he has had to spend 2 playoffs in a row, trying to figure out how to make Nurse not a liability. Plus his most consistent winger was old man Perry, which will always be insane.

One thing that is inexcusable though is special teams. We looked like a team that was easily scouted and figured out through the playoffs. Throughout the year honestly. Florida had our PKers on strings. Our PP was only good when pucks were bouncing and we were forced to create something in chaos that was not part of what we usually try to do and practice. We badly need some new ideas and the current guys we have are very clearly out of them.

 

[MessierII]

IMO the issue was more about the players than the head coach in the finals. I feel like Knob should get credit for making the finals against really good teams in spite of the lineup he was given. No starting goalie that is an endless pain in the rear, and the energy he has had to spend 2 playoffs in a row, trying to figure out how to make Nurse not a liability. Plus his most consistent winger was old man Perry, which will always be insane.

One thing that is inexcusable though is special teams. We looked like a team that was easily scouted and figured out through the playoffs. Throughout the year honestly. Florida had our PKers on strings. Our PP was only good when pucks were bouncing and we were forced to create something in chaos that was not part of what we usually try to do and practice. We badly need some new ideas and the current guys we have are very clearly out of them.

Our PP more or less lost us the finals

 

[oobga]

Our PP more or less lost us the finals

Yeah, we got some PP chances in very key moments in multiple games, and just took a dump on the ice.

 

[MessierII]

Yeah, we got some PP chances in very key moments in multiple games, and just took a dump on the ice.

It made Florida comfortable playing on the edge too. They had no fear of taking a penalty.

 

[oobga]

It made Florida comfortable playing on the edge too. They had no fear of taking a penalty.

And the reverse for us. Our PK getting completely owned with ease early in multiple games had us playing scared from game 2 on. Although, we still managed to take stupid penalties anyways just to keep reenforcing the fear.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

67.1% PK success rate in the playoffs.

Finger is being pointed at the wrong coach.

 

[oobga]

67.1% PK success rate in the playoffs.

Finger is being pointed at the wrong coach.

Best PP ever a few years ago. Best PK ever last playoffs.

The crappy thing about 1 year miracles like this, it seems to have lead to extreme complacency with the coaches that took the credit. Complacency is death when everyone has easy to access digital recordings of how you did what you did.

 

[Oilhawks]

67.1% PK success rate in the playoffs.

Finger is being pointed at the wrong coach.

I always found it interesting that head coaches get absolved of special teams when they suck, but seem to get praised when they’re good. Yeah, they don’t coach them, but they generally decide who will.

Maybe he finds a better PK coach next season.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Don't think we fire the coaches but they need to alter our systems to beat Florida.

The sag at our blueline is a systemic thing, and it killed us. It worked against other teams, but their gaps dominated us. We had to fight to get it out, through the neutral zone, and dump and recover it; Florida just had to get the neutral zone.

The dynamic/active/reactive/flow systems, or whatever they are calling it now, has got to go as well. Stick a fork in it. It's a liability against Florida and we lost that series on the PP game 2.

Our PK got absolutely hosed, but we just need faster players again lol.

 

[bellagiobob]

I always found it interesting that head coaches get absolved of special teams when they suck, but seem to get praised when they’re good. Yeah, they don’t coach them, but they generally decide who will.

Maybe he finds a better PK coach next season.

That’s the crazy thing, the guy coaching PK had them at a historic level during last years playoffs, so clearly knows what he’s doing. I don’t think you can just get blind luck for 20+ straight games. So maybe he lost his magic touch, or maybe the personnel we had this year just wasn’t as effective. It’s a real head scratcher.

 

[Oilhawks]

Of Course! Lets fire the coach who helped coach his team to the Finals twice! Wonderful idea!

Get lost Kevin Lowe. Dumbest thread ever on this website

Great driveby from a poster that got too pissy from others calling out the absolute nonsense he took out of context to sound like some sort of insiderrrrr

Anyways, how do you feel about it now that it's two Finals losses with the coach looking like he ran out of answers?

 

[Oilhawks]

That’s the crazy thing, the guy coaching PK had them at a historic level during last years playoffs, so clearly knows what he’s doing. I don’t think you can just get blind luck for 20+ straight games. So maybe he lost his magic touch, or maybe the personnel we had this year just wasn’t as effective. It’s a real head scratcher.

Or maybe it's both, unless you really think McLeod was the greatest PKer of all time. The other 3 "big" losses weren't really regular roster players until late (Broberg, Holloway) or didn't really PK (Foegele)

Maybe you give Stuart another chance, but I wouldn't shed any tears to see him go

Bowman should give Knob full autonomy on the assistants so he can bring in his own guys and see how it goes. I suspect GG is gone anyhow and simply a new voice on the PP may spur it. PK likely improves even with a law of averages. And maybe the coaches decide to train some new bodies on it rather than hoping the guys that sucked this year (that will return) are the way to go.

 

[russ99]

There has to be real concerns if Knoblauch is the guy going forward.

Sure we got to two Cup finals, but anyone paying attention saw the cracks during the regular season.

Poor deployment and ice time decisions, either lines etched in stone or turning to a constant line blender, lack of adaptation, always turning to McDrai which wears them down and limits the contributions of other players, whatever the heck that was with Jeff Skinner, allowing a lot of bad hockey habits all season (in all three zones) in the service of the system, and had no answers when the Panthers shut down our one exit/breakout trick. There was no room for young players to get a shot. IMO trusting Skinner too much was a big problem. And let’s be honest, he’s not getting the core out of their comfort zone or they outright refuse to change this overpassing nonsense that throws away high value shot chances with open looks to make another pretty dish. There was a big leadership gap in the finals and that starts with coaching.

At least change out the assistants. Our special teams were putrid all year and during the postseason. And Coffey needs to go back to his dealership and bring in someone who can get through to the group that it’s not OK to push forward so much that you constantly allow odd man breaks and open looks. The Oilers didn’t defend as team. They flailed around in our end to block shots and get rebounds more out of desperation. And please find a new and capable goalie coach.

Also, he’s not Bowman’s guy, and that will always be over his head.

So the key is does he learn from all of this, or double down on his way, like Woodcroft did.