Fire Knoblauch

[joestevens29]

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.

We lost a lot of personnel from last year. Ceci, Desharanis, Broberg, McLeod, Foegele, Ryan all played a lot for us last year on the PK.

I'd also add I have no idea just how healthy Ekholm is, but he hasn't looked the same. Not sure if it's due to lingering injury, not up to game speed, taken a step back or a combo of everything

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Are there people who seriously think this team has a Stanley Cup caliber supporting cast? Knoblauch got great value out of some trash bin players and had to work with the oldest roster in the league with some of the worst players in the league at least relative to dollar value like Arvidsson and Henrique. There might be a few coaches out there like Cooper who are better, but their teams aren't gonna let them go. Fix the actual issues with the team: the depth players, rather than go after the guy who took out a lot of perceived favourites on the way to two Finals.

 

[BeliveauFan4ever]

Followed your club closely through the playoffs.

Was concerned about goaltending and there were some unfortunate goals against, but when Hyman went down, well, concern became an F bomb. He was playing so well and in retrospect, the PP was not the same without him. Big guy, hard to deal with in puck battles, and a nose for the net. Horrible break.

There are other issues to look at that have been brought to light in this thread but I think Hyman was sorely missed.

Hope your management pulls the right levers over the summer or at the TDL.

Florida has a great club. Oilers needed all resources, all hands on deck, to complete the mission. They did not have them.

All the best to your club, going forward.

 

[6ix]

As an outsider that watched every oiler playoff game, I’ve never seen a coach panic and immediately resort to playing McDavid and Draisaitl together as much as this guy. A monkey can coach and do the same. Granted, Oilers don’t have much on the wings, but when you’re playing a team like Florida it plays to their advantage because they can focus the barkov line and top d pairing against McDrai. You could see they were fatigued. I really want to see Mcdavid win a cup and check off the last box in his hockey career.

 

[Oilhawks]

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.

Nailed it with the bolded. This is exactly where coaching has to come into play.

Also the fact that he’s not Bowman’s guy is going to be a thing at some point unless he can get them all the way.

This isn’t patient Ken Holland either, if they have a slow start or some bad “fragile team” stretches, I could see Bowman pulling the trigger on a firing pretty quickly

 

[Little Fury]

As an outsider that watched every oiler playoff game, I’ve never seen a coach panic and immediately resort to playing McDavid and Draisaitl together as much as this guy. A monkey can coach and do the same. Granted, Oilers don’t have much on the wings, but when you’re playing a team like Florida it plays to their advantage because they can focus the barkov line and top d pairing against McDrai. You could see they were fatigued. I really want to see Mcdavid win a cup and check off the last box in his hockey career.

McDrai absolutely crushed Florida on ice together but couldn't finish and couldn't get a save. The did much worse when playing on their own lines, which speaks to the poor depth.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

McDrai absolutely crushed Florida on ice together but couldn't finish and couldn't get a save. The did much worse when playing on their own lines, which speaks to the poor depth.

"they crushed it everywhere except the scoreboard" isn't the compliment you want it to be. They were suspect defensively as a duo... again.

 

[Little Fury]

"they crushed it everywhere except the scoreboard" isn't the compliment you want it to be. They were suspect defensively as a duo... again.

"Suspect defensively" but dominated every metric, how does that work?

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

"Suspect defensively" but dominated every metric, how does that work?

Go look at their work on GA#2 last game. Neither were in a good position to prevent the goal from happening.

We've known for years that putting McDrai together just doesn't work. It's not a cheat code anymore. They'll too often defer to each other and not shoot at the net.

Pretty sure Draisatl didn't even have a shot attempt last night.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

As an outsider that watched every oiler playoff game, I’ve never seen a coach panic and immediately resort to playing McDavid and Draisaitl together as much as this guy. A monkey can coach and do the same. Granted, Oilers don’t have much on the wings, but when you’re playing a team like Florida it plays to their advantage because they can focus the barkov line and top d pairing against McDrai. You could see they were fatigued. I really want to see Mcdavid win a cup and check off the last box in his hockey career.

therein lies the problem....no Hyman and busted up RNH
Oilers down 1 and a half top-6 players

the Panthers, meanwhile, had Brad freaking Marchand playing on the 3rd line

 

[oXo Cube]

How dare the coach put his best offensive players out on the ice together a lot when his team plays 4 games in a row where they're down multiple goals by the 1st intermission.

That's definitely not something every team in the league does with regularity.

 

[Little Fury]

Go look at their work on GA#2 last game. Neither were in a good position to prevent the goal from happening.

Me: they were good overall throughout the series
You: ah but have you considered this single cherry picked example?

I get that McDavid took the wrong guy, but that play starts with a terrible giveaway by Bouchard at the ozone blueline and ends with a terrible effort by Skinner. Failure has many fathers.

We've known for years that putting McDrai together just doesn't work. It's not a cheat code anymore. They'll too often defer to each other and not shoot at the net.

Again, this is not supported by the numbers. The Oilers put up more shots when McDrai are on the ice together than when they are apart, including high danger chances.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Me: they were good overall throughout the series
You: ah but have you considered this single cherry picked example?

I get that McDavid took the wrong guy, but that play starts with a terrible giveaway by Bouchard at the ozone blueline and ends with a terrible effort by Skinner. Failure has many fathers.



Again, this is not supported by the numbers. The Oilers put up more shots when McDrai are on the ice together than when they are apart, including high danger chances.

And yet Draisatl had how many shot attempts in this game?

There’s a reason why the fanbase frowns every time they’re stapled together.

 

[6ix]

McDrai absolutely crushed Florida on ice together but couldn't finish and couldn't get a save. The did much worse when playing on their own lines, which speaks to the poor depth.

From what I saw in this series, oilers had some good starts when they were centering their own lines, but Florida was always able to get that first goal. Then immediately the next shift McDrai were stapled back together and getting outscored. But all in all Florida was just too deep so even if they did centre their own lines the end result would of been the same likely.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Lol so fans are trying to decode Connor's post interview and they've deciphered that McDavid sounds salty towards coaching with his "banging our heads against the wall over and over" comment. I don't think thats the real intention of his words, but

Kris Knoblauch is a genius. In 2015, McDavid's last year with Eerie, they won the OHL championship but lost in the memorial cup. Then McDavid got drafted a month later and everyone said Eerie and Knoblauch won't even make the playoffs without McDavid

2016 (first year without Connor)? With a roster not fit for OHL playoffs, he won OHL coach of the year, made it to the finals, again, and was appointed head coach for Team Canada U17

2017? He won the OHL championship AND the memorial cup. With Alex Debrincat and Dylan Strome as his top 2 stars . No other OHL coach could've done what he did, after McDavid left

His first 2 seasons with Edmonton, back to back finals. That's no fluke, that's excellent preparation, experience and most importantly, high hockey IQ.

This Oilers team wasn't even supposed to make it last round 1. No one had us going far, flawed roster, oldest team in the league and the worst goaltending duo of all 16 playoff teams. Yet did it again, to the finals. He's the best thing to happen to Edmonton since the 2015 draft

Mcdavid has no one to look at but himself

 

[BlackDogg]

I didn't see him do much other than stare. But maybe that's just the camera angle.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Lol so fans are trying to decode Connor's post interview and they've deciphered that McDavid sounds salty towards coaching with his "banging our heads against the wall over and over" comment. I don't think thats the real intention of his words, but

Kris Knoblauch is a genius. In 2015, McDavid's last year with Eerie, they won the OHL championship but lost in the memorial cup. Then McDavid got drafted a month later and everyone said Eerie and Knoblauch won't even make the playoffs without McDavid

2016 (first year without Connor)? With a roster not fit for OHL playoffs, he won OHL coach of the year, made it to the finals, again, and was appointed head coach for Team Canada U17

2017? He won the OHL championship AND the memorial cup. With Alex Debrincat and Dylan Strome as his top 2 stars . No other OHL coach could've done what he did, after McDavid left

His first 2 seasons with Edmonton, back to back finals. That's no fluke, that's excellent preparation, experience and most importantly, high hockey IQ.

This Oilers team wasn't even supposed to make it last round 1. No one had us going far, flawed roster, oldest team in the league and the worst goaltending duo of all 16 playoff teams. Yet did it again, to the finals. He's the best thing to happen to Edmonton since the 2015 draft

Mcdavid has no one to look at but himself

Moral of the story. We need to trade McDavid for Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat.

 

[Oilhawks]

Moral of the story. We need to trade McDavid for Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat.

Knob would probably play DeBrincat on the 4th line like Arvidsson and Dylan Strome would get the J Skinner treatment of being a 'non-person' / enemy of the state

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Did not like his plan of playing a couple shifts with one set of lines and then changing the top 6 to the nuclear option especially with how good they came out of the gate. The second they loaded up 29/97 they got scored on and a few shifts later goal #2 went in on the same line with 97 at primary fault for overpursuit on the back check.

He should have waited it out with the lines he started with. 97/29 were not good defensively this series especially when playing together.

KK caught the Tippett syndrome and it cost him.

I’m not sure Bowman comes back with him. I think a lot will depend on what 97 says in his exit interview in the coming days.

 

[Oilhawks]

Did not like his plan of playing a couple shifts with one set of lines and then changing the top 6 to the nuclear option especially with how good they came out of the gate. The second they loaded up 29/97 they got scored on and a few shifts later goal #2 went in on the same line with 97 at primary fault for overpursuit on the back check.

He should have waited it out with the lines he started with. 97/29 were not good defensively this series especially when playing together.

KK caught the Tippett syndrome and it cost him.

I’m not sure Bowman comes back with him. I think a lot will depend on what 97 says in his exit interview in the coming days.

Yup, and with the bolded, they are rarely good defensively as a pairing, too much cheating for offense.

He should know better by now, especially as a self-proclaimed "advanced stats guy"

I don't think he goes (yet), even if just for optics, but will have a very short leash, short enough that it would surprise a lot of fans (if it came to it).

 

[bellagiobob]

Did not like his plan of playing a couple shifts with one set of lines and then changing the top 6 to the nuclear option especially with how good they came out of the gate. The second they loaded up 29/97 they got scored on and a few shifts later goal #2 went in on the same line with 97 at primary fault for overpursuit on the back check.

He should have waited it out with the lines he started with. 97/29 were not good defensively this series especially when playing together.

KK caught the Tippett syndrome and it cost him.

I’m not sure Bowman comes back with him. I think a lot will depend on what 97 says in his exit interview in the coming days.

I would generally say there is zero chance he doesn't come back. But it's the Oilers, their management stupidity knows no bounds, so who knows. Give him a better goalie and he's likely already a two time SC winning coach. But of course we didn't, and he isn't, and that's why there is a discussion. I find that we give coaches too much credit when we win and too much blame when we lose. I know you are a former coach, not sure what your % thought is, but in general I've always gone by the 80% players, 20% players success/blame ratio, percentages differing slightly based on circumstances.

 

[Pucklington]

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone with these insane posts.

I didn't realize the Oilers got bounced in the 1st round...

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Lol so fans are trying to decode Connor's post interview and they've deciphered that McDavid sounds salty towards coaching with his "banging our heads against the wall over and over" comment. I don't think thats the real intention of his words, but

Kris Knoblauch is a genius. In 2015, McDavid's last year with Eerie, they won the OHL championship but lost in the memorial cup. Then McDavid got drafted a month later and everyone said Eerie and Knoblauch won't even make the playoffs without McDavid

2016 (first year without Connor)? With a roster not fit for OHL playoffs, he won OHL coach of the year, made it to the finals, again, and was appointed head coach for Team Canada U17

2017? He won the OHL championship AND the memorial cup. With Alex Debrincat and Dylan Strome as his top 2 stars . No other OHL coach could've done what he did, after McDavid left

His first 2 seasons with Edmonton, back to back finals. That's no fluke, that's excellent preparation, experience and most importantly, high hockey IQ.

This Oilers team wasn't even supposed to make it last round 1. No one had us going far, flawed roster, oldest team in the league and the worst goaltending duo of all 16 playoff teams. Yet did it again, to the finals. He's the best thing to happen to Edmonton since the 2015 draft

Mcdavid has no one to look at but himself

Agreed, but have you considered it was directed at Coffey? A lot of knowledgeable people have been giving him heat, Curlock should carry weight here. I would like to see Knob pick his own coaches.

 

[Elvs]

Are there people who seriously think this team has a Stanley Cup caliber supporting cast? Knoblauch got great value out of some trash bin players and had to work with the oldest roster in the league with some of the worst players in the league at least relative to dollar value like Arvidsson and Henrique. There might be a few coaches out there like Cooper who are better, but their teams aren't gonna let them go. Fix the actual issues with the team: the depth players, rather than go after the guy who took out a lot of perceived favourites on the way to two Finals.

I read the same excuses every year. There's never enough forward depth. Apparently not even when you bring in Arvidsson (nearly a PPG in 15 games last year, just shy of 60 points the year before), Henrique (the Ducks all time leader in shooting %) and Skinner (over a PPG just two seasons ago).

Then there's also Hyman (50+ goals and 70+ points a year ago) and Nugent-Hopkins (100+ points two seasons ago)...

On paper Edmonton should have plenty of depth, but on the ice its been a different story. At some point you gotta ask yourself why. Sure, these players are all on the wrong side of 30, but maybe something with how Edmonton are using some of these players also has something to do with it?