Where is the FIRE??!!

[brentashton]

The only good move this organization has made since the game 7 loss to Florida was the Draisaitl extension. Every thing else has been a disaster. Everything.

I heard they switched to Canadian grown orange slices in the room, back in Feb. must count for something.

 

[brentashton]

Been all downhill since Carney.

Agreed.

 

[BlackDogg]

You cannot have a silent coach, the next one will be mute at this rate. I wish we had someone with some passion to match Drai's.

 

[rboomercat90]

I heard they switched to Canadian grown orange slices in the room, back in Feb. must count for something.

I heard somewhere they also invested in genuine Saskatchewan seal skin slippers for all the players to wear in the dressing room in between periods. That puts us up to 3 good things. Maybe they’re not as bad as they seem.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Man watching the Blues come out with a fire in their belly puts the “effort” of this team to shame. If they aren’t shot out of a cannon tomorrow something is deeply wrong.

 

[FlameChampion]

I think they have been like this the majority of the last few years. Team constantly needs to have their backs against the wall before they generate any type of intensity. Luckily in previous years, they have been able to find it at points. We will see what we get tomorrow.

 

[McFlash97]

Whos providing the fire when McDrai sits on the bench ?

Ryan Softin Hopkins ?
Kasperi not-happenin ?
Victor Arshitson ?
Skinner ?
Nurse ?
Emberson ?
Bouchard ?

It aint happening man. Were done.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

A- we don’t have the personnel to play like that
B- we don’t have the capability to play like that
C- we aren’t built to play like that
And
D- we aren’t coached to play like that.

We are coached, built and wired to play an emotionless robotic positional game and rely on our two nuclear weapons to win the day.

Not sure that’s a winning formula.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Also we don’t do any of this God forbid.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

They’ve adopted the persona of their no hit no character no passion coach. They are “even keeling” it to death but they don’t have the speed, talent and special teams to be so robotic this year.

These brutal breakdowns and poor standard of habits have been an issue for 5+ years imo. The coach isn't teaching anyone not to box-out

This year the roster sucks, so everything looks worse, but the issues are the same: too many defensively inept skilled players paired with weak D and bad goaltending (A 10 year issue). It's also game 84 and we are dressing 3 players who haven't even played with the team, so the cluster f*** on ice is definitely related to that, but the coach doesn't have other options. This is a roster issue as before we traded for Podz we had two gritty forwards on a 23 man roster. A healthy Frederic who has played our system does not make the defensive mistakes he has made, but we need him and Kane because even at 50% they are the best options

The last time we looked exactly like we do now....... was before we acquired Ekholm. Jackson took this roster back to those days, and then we lost Ekholm. Literally back to square one imo.

 

[Soundwave]

This is one reason I wouldn't necessarily be opposed with replacing Knoblaugh with Tocchet.

I think they're about the same in their defensive strategies, Tocchet is just far more firey and has a much bigger personality. He'd staple Bouchard's ass to the bench and teach him a lesson pretty quickly about some of the stupidity in his game.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Or,

If you watch the blues/Jets series, it's clear our roster could not come close to matching the physicality. Our roster isn't fast or big enough to play these teams, so when the roster is super soft, it's not the coaches fault when the team plays soft imo

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

This is one reason I wouldn't necessarily be opposed with replacing Knoblaugh with Tocchet.

I think they're about the same in their defensive strategies, Tocchet is just far more firey and has a much bigger personality. He'd staple Bouchard's ass to the bench and teach him a lesson pretty quickly about some of the stupidity in his game.

Same. Tocchet is a different class of coach. I'm not even partial to Knob, but when he had the horses last year he always managed to put them in the right place, he really had a golden touch. This year he has tried everything and found absolutely nothing. We are back to a McDrai one line team ffs, that's the bellwether on roster depth.

 

[brentashton]

Man watching the Blues come out with a fire in their belly puts the “effort” of this team to shame. If they aren’t shot out of a cannon tomorrow something is deeply wrong.

And if they aren’t, then the cannon will come in handy for what has to happen next.

 

[Fishy McScales]

McLeod Holloway and Foegle did not score much last playoffs, but they sure wore out the defenceman chasing them down constantly .

Yeah individually they're not much of a loss from last year (although not matching Holloway is looking like a huge mistake), but losing all of them adds up.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Simply put we just have a garbage roster........

You can't lose the speed we lost and replace it with the garbage we replace it with (Arvy, SKinner)

Hyman regression
Nuge regression
S. SKinner regression (yikes he was already bad)
Henrique regression
Bouchard regression

You could argue Ekholm also

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

They don't seem to have the speed and they don't seem to have the crispness they had last year on their passes.

Sure, blame the goaltending, but the Oilers a team that has been driven by its ability to produce goals. Both even strength and on special teams. And it just isn't happening.

They aren’t attacking the net either outside of McDavid and Hyman. Playing an outside game.

 

[Seth92]

Also we don’t do any of this God forbid.

I made this point before last game. No fight in Knob it is insane to see the choices he made. Must love hearing the crowd chant Skinnnerrr and We Want Skinnnerrr that must be great. No yelling at the refs? Even though the crowd chanted refs suck? Like enter a barn that is fully 100% hostile and will eat you alive and you get eaten alive I expect nothing less from that shell of an NHL coach.

 

[Canovin]

Simply put we just have a garbage roster........

You can't lose the speed we lost and replace it with the garbage we replace it with (Arvy, SKinner)

Hyman regression
Nuge regression
S. SKinner regression (yikes he was already bad)
Henrique regression
Bouchard regression

You could argue Ekholm also

Roster isn't garbage lol. The deployment set by the coach makes it garbage.

 

[oobga]

This has been a tough series to watch so far. The Kings seem to have created an entire team identity that revolves around beating us. Outside of 1 period of McDrai going hard, we look like we are ready to throw the towel in and let them have it.

Whole season this team has looked like sad sacks still feeling sorry for themselves about the game 7 loss. Aside from Drai who probably feels like he was robbed of his chance to contribute in the finals because of injury, so he has a different perspective of how those finals went. For pretty much everyone else, we went the whole season without ever really getting it together.

 

[Jay Harris]

They aren’t attacking the net either outside of McDavid and Hyman. Playing an outside game.

Absolutely part of the issue...they need to go to those difficult place and pay the price.
But it disrupts the goaltender [who I believe is VERY beatable] and collapses the defense in thus creating room in high slot and on points.
It also adds extra wear and tear on the defensemen.

 

[Lacaar]

They aren’t attacking the net either outside of McDavid and Hyman. Playing an outside game.

They look like the Rebels attacking the death start in Return of the Jedi.

"It's a trap!"

Everybody pull out!

Getting my May the 4th game ready

In all seriousness yes. The Oilers do look un-inspired. You can definitely tell one team wants it.. the other thinks they deserve it.

I don't think Knoblauch is a bad coach. But he has made some poor decisions no doubt. Last year everything he touched turned to gold. This year everything he does turns to shit. I don't blame him though. The shelf life for a coach for this team is 1.5 years. It's just how the Oilers are. New coach.. massive improvement. After 1.5 years a swoon so bad the coach gets shit canned. I hope they buck this trend but I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose this series and start poor next season. Knoblauch fired. Miraculous "We're back baby!" season.