Fire Knoblauch

[russ99]

Chiarelli, Holland, Bowman, all products of the exact same process and rationale, which makes me wonder if Katz is the guy making these calls.

Yeah also wondering if the team philosophy comes from Katz as well. 80s Oilers style, all ahead full and let Skinner let in cheapos.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yeah also wondering if the team philosophy comes from Katz as well. 80s Oilers style, all ahead full and let Skinner let in cheapos.

They've not cared about goaltending or defense once in this era. Or rather the one time they actually decided to go get a decent defenseman instead of these usual halfassed measures it worked out for them. The Oilers philosophy is "Do as little work as possible and hope it all works out".

 

[Seth92]

Either do it after the season with lots of candidates or sometime next season after another tailspin, with a problem finding a good replacement, pick your poison.

There was already conflict between Bowman and Knoblauch this season. I can't see why they wouldn't make a change, other than wait until McDavid is signed before dismissing his junior coach with some grace.

We can't go into next season with the same coach, much the same roster and same problems, something has to be done.

Ideally we need a total 360 in coaching philosophy. Cohesion, simple repeatable smart habits, build the team concept from the back as selling out for McDrai out of desparation isn't sustainable, more physicality and real accountability.

A Bruins-like team mentality with McDavid and Draisaitl at the top and capable goaltending would be a really tough out.

Oilers Management at the thought of doing anything close to the bolded part: sorry best we can do is draft really tall people with absolutely no NHL prospects at all using our remaining picks, ignore the need for a good D man, and we need a goalie? We got Campbell! I mean Skinner! Just let him get in the zone!

 

[PinSeeker]

There are probably 10+ things to blame before the coach.

This. Not anywhere near the "Fire Coach" level

 

[Salvaged Ship]

I get there are other more pressing problems but watching him, not only his decisions but his personality and demeanor, I do not see him as the guy. He just stands there looking dumb, bored. Zero emotion, no passion. The coach is reflecting the play of this team right now. Can you picture him firing up the team, getting in someone’s ass when needed, holding players accountable, getting on the refs? I don’t see it, and many times I think it’s what is needed. We can discuss him getting fired until the cows come home and it likely won’t make a difference. Jackson, Bowman, and Knoblauch are leading the titanic for the foreseeable future

 

[Little Fury]

I get there are other more pressing problems but watching him, not only his decisions but his personality and demeanor, I do not see him as the guy. He just stands there looking dumb, bored. Zero emotion, no passion. The coach is reflecting the play of this team right now. Can you picture him firing up the team, getting in someone’s ass when needed, holding players accountable, getting on the refs? I don’t see it, and many times I think it’s what is needed. We can discuss him getting fired until the cows come home and it likely won’t make a difference. Jackson, Bowman, and Knoblauch are leading the titanic for the foreseeable future

You know who does all that stuff? John Tortorella and he sucks.

 

[Salvaged Ship]

You know who does all that stuff? John Tortorella and he sucks.

There are other options besides Tortorella and lets face it, Torts won a Stanley Cup and has over 700 NHL wins. Knoblauch couldn’t carry the guys jockstrap, and I hate Torts.

 

[Little Fury]

There are other options besides Tortorella and lets face it, Torts won a Stanley Cup and has over 700 NHL wins. Knoblauch couldn’t carry the guys jockstrap, and I hate Torts.

I personally don't think any of that stuff matters at all, at least not when you've been given the cards he has been dealt. Which is not to say he's making the most of what he has but it's an odd thing to get hung up on IMO.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I said it a few months back, but coaches seem to have about a 130 game life span before they start taking stupid pills and forget what got them to where they are or the team starts tuning out. At least Jackson didn’t sign him to 3+ years, it was just the balance of last season, this season, and next so he’d be getting a free years worth of salary.

 

[Jarvi]

I have disagreed with plenty of Knobs decisions, that said, I wonder who is actually making some of these decisions. For example, was he telling management he didn't see much of a future in any of the guys we lost this offseason, which led to their departures? Is he why we barely gave Savoie a shot? Or are these JJ/Bowman decisions solely?

Minute allocation makes no sense. All of Ekholm, McDavid, and Draisaitl averaged more mpg than last year despite the narrative that we underperformed this year because guys were taking it easy to save for playoffs. How are we taking it easy when we overplay our best players? This also cripples your depth. When guys are used to 15+ minutes a night, and you give them 12 with shit deployment, that's how 50pt fwds become 25pt guys.

The powerplay being 11th overall is mind boggling considering the horses we have. Why was it practically never switched up? Bouchard has had many games he earned a demotion, and we had Dmen like Kulak playing great in the beginning of the year, Klingberg coming in midway who has ran PP's in the past, Walman at the TDL who has ran PP's, Ekholm who can atleast play it responsibly and has a shot, or even a 5fwd unit.
Nuge as well, showed nothing basically all year and is glued there. We had options to switch that look with various different player types, right or left handed. Nope, just keep going back to the dry well that is RNH. Maybe this is also due in part to the next point.

He possibly also seems too easily swayed by the superstars in regards to lines. Like Arvy and Podz being glued to Drai despite no production for large stretches. Skinner not getting a shot with davo til like game 78. Sometimes the team needs to look at the ice differently, and get a little pissed off. Different linemates can achieve that, even if the star doesn't want it.

Oddly enough, he somehow also managed to curate zero chemistry on this roster by throwing the lines in the blender constantly and panicking into loading up McDrai too often for my liking.

I get the impression Knob is a bit of a lame duck, like he was coaching scared all year.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Never change HFOil.
So predictable.

Great insight. Now go back to lurking.

Coach Knoblauch is a great coach. You have had bad GM's, an owner who doesn't have deep pockets, and a soft team. Fast, yes. Two superstars, yes. But if you look at teams that have won, depth and great goaltending is the factor. The Oilers have neither. KK can't make chicken soup out of chicken soup.

Knoblauch being a bad coach and Holland-BowJack ruining this roster can both be true statements.

And what in the f*** are you talking about Katz not having deep pockets? Did you forget which team you cheer for and come to this board by mistake?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Coach Knoblauch is a great coach. You have had bad GM's, an owner who doesn't have deep pockets, and a soft team. Fast, yes. Two superstars, yes. But if you look at teams that have won, depth and great goaltending is the factor. The Oilers have neither. KK can't make chicken soup out of chicken soup.

Great coach? He’s not the worst, that title goes to Dallas Eakins but he’s far from “great”.

Bad GM’s. That checks out.

Team is soft with poor goaltending and depth. Ok fine.

An owner who doesn’t have deep pockets? Tell me you know nothing about the Oilers without telling me you know nothing about the Oilers.

Also you mean you can’t make chicken soup out chicken shit. That’s an old Howie Meeker quote. And you did it wrong.

Hustle off back to your own board now wherever it may be and thanks for the visit.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Knob is also too much of a p***y to demote Nuge from the first Unit. He's f***ing useless out there and should've been taken off PP1 by at least February.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Coach Knoblauch is a great coach. You have had bad GM's, an owner who doesn't have deep pockets, and a soft team. Fast, yes. Two superstars, yes. But if you look at teams that have won, depth and great goaltending is the factor. The Oilers have neither. KK can't make chicken soup out of chicken soup.

I wonder what your other 5 posts look like. Well not really.

 

[MoontoScott]

Great insight. Now go back to lurking.



Knoblauch being a bad coach and Holland-BowJack ruining this roster can both be true statements.

And what in the f*** are you talking about Katz not having deep pockets? Did you forget which team you cheer for and come to this board by mistake?

I wish I had pockets as shallow as Katz. What's a few billion here and there. He's an extremely rich man. Forbe's (usually reliable estimates) says north of 5 Billion.

 

[KCC]

He's being exposed a bit this year, but last I checked, he's not the one who went all-in on an AHL goaltending tandem. That would be the front office.

But he should use common sense and at least have started pickard. At the very least he would have kept the games closer. The fact that he went back to that plug skinner for game 2 and hasn’t decided for game 3 shows you how out of touch he is.

 

[MoontoScott]

Knob is also too much of a p***y to demote Nuge from the first Unit. He's f***ing useless out there and should've been taken off PP1 by at least February.

It's probably time for the Oilers to move on from Nuge but his contract is pretty rich.

This summer will be an interesting one.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I am ambivalent about letting Knobby go. I honestly could care less anymore. I don't care if they have to fire the coach every 2 weeks now whereas I used to be firmly in the "give a coach 3 full years" camp. Because with these players whatever the coach is preaching that they buy into they lose after 12-15 months anyway and it's back to the Coaches R Us store.

So fire Knobby, yeah sure whatever. Dont fire Knobby, yeah sure whatever. Just f***ing win but I do think Knobby has his hands tied with this group and how shitty some key players are playing, despite a few head scratching moves he is making and they are the same moves every single other head coach before him seem to default to.

I am more in the Fire Jackson, Bowman, Gretzky, the pro scouting staff, the amateur scouting staff who was here with Holland, the goalie coach (ESPECIALLY the goalie coach), the player development staff, the Condors coaching staff, the Cap Manager Bill Scott, and the analytics guys because nothing they do works.

Clean slate. (Yes Keith, I know I know Katz is the problem but that isnt changing anytime soon) Create a Dept of Hockey Excellence under which comes a goalie DEPARTMENT not a single goalie coach from the U of f***ing A, Player Development, Player Procurement and Retention, and it flows from the NHL to the AHL to the ECHL. Along with that Analytics, Cap Management, and Scouting all report to the GM, the POHO is the guy who has final say on draft picks and trades. In this fashion there is a sober second thought before trades and picks are made and if a POHO fires a GM then he better fire himself because he approved every single move.

All the business departments goes to a Business Manager which I think they do now, who reports to the Team President, so the POHO and GM focus on hockey and only hockey.

In any case they need to revamp how they find, procure, select, develop and nurture players at the pro and amateur level and do not hire a GM that gives it all away on bad gambles.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Firing the coach yet again is absolving too many other people on the team both on and off the ice. The way this org is run they’ll can him and call it mission accomplished.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I get there are other more pressing problems but watching him, not only his decisions but his personality and demeanor, I do not see him as the guy. He just stands there looking dumb, bored. Zero emotion, no passion. The coach is reflecting the play of this team right now. Can you picture him firing up the team, getting in someone’s ass when needed, holding players accountable, getting on the refs? I don’t see it, and many times I think it’s what is needed. We can discuss him getting fired until the cows come home and it likely won’t make a difference. Jackson, Bowman, and Knoblauch are leading the titanic for the foreseeable future

Al Arbour didn't need to do any hijinx on the bench. he had the team and they trusted him and vice versa. You don't have to have a certain personality to be a head coach. What coaches do takes place in the room or in practice. We have precious little view on that.

We'll see what adjustments take place for games 3, 4. Difficulty is Ekholm is a key part of this lineup and D. After McDrai he's the clubs most valuable player. One could say he's indispensable.

One other problem in this series is the Kings have 3yrs of film to break down on how they were beat by the Oilers. They also have the anger and purpose that comes from that. Maybe after going to finals last playoffs team thought it was gonna be easier. Thats natural and happens to a lot of clubs. Its hard to play every series like your life depends on it and the Oilers have played a ton of hockey the last 3 seasons. As much as any club in the league. It wears you down. Kings have had 3 seasons of getting beat in first round and several before that of missing playoffs. They've had lots of rest.

 

[Drivesaitl]

It's probably time for the Oilers to move on from Nuge but his contract is pretty rich.

This summer will be an interesting one.

It won't happen. Too many fans specifically of him. Org figures he's the one career Oiler goldenchild and it doesn't matter what he does. Or how little. The trouble is he seems to realize this.

In this series Danault is telling him what hard play looks like. he doesn't even see it.

 

[Oilhawks]

But he should use common sense and at least have started pickard. At the very least he would have kept the games closer. The fact that he went back to that plug skinner for game 2 and hasn’t decided for game 3 shows you how out of touch he is.

It's either that, or the rumoured "I let the goalie coach decide" which basically confirms he's as much of a milquetoast as he appears to be in public.

 

[The Panther]

We can't go into next season with the same coach...

We are definitely going into next season with the same head coach. You might as well just accept it now.

 

[MoontoScott]

It won't happen. Too many fans specifically of him. Org figures he's the one career Oiler goldenchild and it doesn't matter what he does. Or how little. The trouble is he seems to realize this.

In this series Danault is telling him what hard play looks like. he doesn't even see it.

Yes, you're right. He's a golden boy and a management favorite (like Stu is) so I don't anticipate him leaving.

He looks a bit disinterested in hockey these days.

Apart from Mc-D and Drai, the only forwards I would want back are ---Hyman (off year but still produces something) Perry (1 year deal would be o.k--the best Oiler forward at age 40 after Mc-Drai).

Many of the others have a year or more left on their deals and you can't buy them all out so I don't see a whole bunch of change in the off-season. Hopefully Savoie and Philp will draw in to start the transition.

That said, this series is far from over. The Kings aren't a great hockey team and fortunes can change quickly. Hard to see however when you look at an aging team like the Copper and Blue.

Knob will almost certainly be back.

 

[rboomercat90]

I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect Knoblach to be fired this off season but I would expect some changes to his staff. The special teams took a huge step backwards this year. The power play especially and no personnel changes were made to it. Gulutzan has been here a long time, maybe it’s time for him to move on. The pk has struggled too but I’m not as quick to point the finger at Stuart for that. He lost players that excelled in that role and many of the ones he still has are older and a shell of themselves. I wouldn’t really care if they moved on from him but Gulutzan is the one I’m more concerned about.