Your views on Dallas Eakins so far - Part II

[TheBrew]

No surprise at all that the best this club has ever looked is playing in front of professor scrivens who barks out cover orders. Interesting that when the players are listening to scrivens in own zone they withstand better.

I'm starting to wonder if Scrivens understands what ever the hell Eakins system is and telling the players where they should be.

 

[Replacement*]

I'm starting to wonder if Scrivens understands what ever the hell Eakins system is and telling the players where they should be.

I've noted it primarily since Scrivens second game here. What you see in Scrivens verse is more coverage and less of D vacating the paint.

Eakins system is easy for teams to stretch and exploit as we see. Scrivens is simply telling people in front of him where/who the open guy is. So better realtime coverage. But kind of exemplifies how much constant holes there are in Eakins chasing design.

 

[Cloned]

I've noted it primarily since Scrivens second game here. What you see in Scrivens verse is more coverage and less of D vacating the paint.

Eakins system is easy for teams to stretch and exploit as we see. Scrivens is simply telling people in front of him where the open guy is. So better realtime coverage. But kind of exemplifies how much constant holes their are in Eakins chasing design.

There was one point in the Islanders game where we gave the puck away in the defensive zone (ugh #1), then EVERYONE collapsed to the front of the net (ugh #2) leaving the Islander with the puck all alone with tons of time (ugh #3) to make a pass to another Islander who, despite all the Oilers collapsing to the front of the net, was WIDE OPEN to make a shot in the slot (ugh #4).

Eakins - ugh #5.

 

[Replacement*]

There was one point in the Islanders game where we gave the puck away in the defensive zone (ugh #1), then EVERYONE collapsed to the front of the net (ugh #2) leaving the Islander with the puck all alone with tons of time (ugh #3) to make a pass to another Islander who, despite all the Oilers collapsing to the front of the net, was WIDE OPEN to make a shot in the slot (ugh #4).

Eakins - ugh #5.

Given a choice of seeing this team collapse to the net and vacating the net(which we've seen a lot of) I prefer the former. Which has its problems as well but with more potential to stay in the game..

Maybe Eakins watching Team Latvia.

 

[Cloned]

Given a choice of seeing this team collapse to the net and vacating the net(which we've seen a lot of) I prefer the former. Which has its problems as well but with more potential to stay in the game..

Maybe Eakins watching Team Latvia.

Hey I don't mind a collapse system, but if you're going to do it and leave the guy in the perimeter wide open to make a play, then at least make sure the guy in the slot is covered, since that's where you've collapsed to.

 

[Up the Irons]

here's a thought. one would have to think that a vet like Smyttie or Ference, guys who have been around a helluva lot more than Eakins, would go over his head to management if things were really as bad as it looks. if this guy is completely lost, and hasn't got a clue, isn't it the job of guys like that to do something?

same for Bucky and Smith. say what you want about them, but they had long, stellar careers with top calibre coaches. I'd have to think they would say something. so if they haven't....

 

[Replacement*]

Hey I don't mind a collapse system, but if you're going to do it and leave the guy in the perimeter wide open to make a play, then at least make sure the guy in the slot is covered, since that's where you've collapsed to.

You're expecting this bunch to cover passing lanes?

That would require imagination

They barely detect trailers walking home free into the slot.

I'm jk around a bit. kind of.

 

[Oi'll say!]

Hey I don't mind a collapse system, but if you're going to do it and leave the guy in the perimeter wide open to make a play, then at least make sure the guy in the slot is covered, since that's where you've collapsed to.

I think it's comical how bad some Oilers are at covering guys in the crease. It's like they are trying to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room.

 

[McOvechking]

As best I can tell, Eakins hasn't had control of the room since day 1. This team just does not give a ****.

 

[alphahelix]

The only time I have ever wanted a coaching change was when we had Pat Quinn. And now. Instead we have had dozens of coaching changes to no effect. If Eakins stays, the assistants all need to go for guys with tons of experience. Otherwise, he has to go.

 

[Tarus]

The only time I have ever wanted a coaching change was when we had Pat Quinn. And now. Instead we have had dozens of coaching changes to no effect. If Eakins stays, the assistants all need to go for guys with tons of experience. Otherwise, he has to go.

Not sure why removing the assistants would prop up Eakins into a competent coach, they aren't the ones dictating the systems play, assignments, and team tactics.

They are there to help Eakins execute his plan, and this year has been a demonstration that Eakin's plan is sh**.

 

[oilphan]

Once again Eakins proving that he is a total moron. Ryan Smyth getting 18 minutes, and Pitlick getting 10. Are we not using this stretch to see if (amongst other things) Pitlick is ready for the prime time? Keeping him cold on the bench while our geriatric father figure is playing huge minutes along with Hall and Gags is a complete waste.

He is clearly just trying to save his job, and is doing a horrible job at it. Too bad there is nothing Eakins could do to get fired.

 

[Aerchon]

Once again Eakins proving that he is a total moron. Ryan Smyth getting 18 minutes, and Pitlick getting 10. Are we not using this stretch to see if (amongst other things) Pitlick is ready for the prime time? Keeping him cold on the bench while our geriatric father figure is playing huge minutes along with Hall and Gags is a complete waste.

He is clearly just trying to save his job, and is doing a horrible job at it. Too bad there is nothing Eakins could do to get fired.

Agree.

I thought Eakins did some good things in the previous game, benching the PP was a great move... and then he goes and intentionally gasses his top line.

The questions is no longer if Eakins is an idiot, it is how big of an idiot.

 

[Musashi]

Once again Eakins proving that he is a total moron. Ryan Smyth getting 18 minutes, and Pitlick getting 10. Are we not using this stretch to see if (amongst other things) Pitlick is ready for the prime time? Keeping him cold on the bench while our geriatric father figure is playing huge minutes along with Hall and Gags is a complete waste.

He is clearly just trying to save his job, and is doing a horrible job at it. Too bad there is nothing Eakins could do to get fired.

Smyth will be playing on every PP until he gets that record so his minutes are going to be up there when we get 7 opportunities on the powerplay.

 

[russ99]

I love all the "buy in" talk yesterday (from someone as esteemed as Bob McKenzie, no less - how did they pull that off?) then the enormous egg we laid vs. Buffalo.

We're in 2nd from last place. Why doesn't Eakins get it that this over-emphasis on defense isn't working with this group and take the chains off the offense and adjust the "stand-around power play"?

 

[oilphan]

Interesting defensive strategy last night. Have a defenceman stay in our own zone the entire game. My 6 year old's coach employs the same strategy.

 

[sepHF]

Eakins had no choice but to roll Hall, Perron, Gagner, Smyth and RNH all night... who else was he supposed to use?

Pitlick was playing very tentative and it was his first game back, let him get comfortable before feeding him lots of minutes.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

The games we win it has nothing to do with Eakins. It's all to do with goalie playing great and the Oilers managing to pull off a few goals.

Things I've noticed...

How had it taken almost an entire season for Eakins to tell Schultz to shoot more on the pp, or even tell him to shoot. He was shooting last year, why change up the damn game plan? We weren't tough last year but we could make them pay for laying us out on the power play. Teams were afraid of our power play cause it was amazing. Our penalty kill was also great and we were scoring short handed goals.

Turn to this year and we barely managed shots on goal, often had more short handed chances against on the power play then chances for. Our penalty kill was scary as crap and the only thing that got it to be great was the addition of Hendricks who is a god like penalty killer. Our system on the power play is often awful. It's been clear since day one that we have problems keeping the puck in at the line so why in God's name is there only ever one guy there. Have someone else at the line so we have shots from both sides and have someone crash the net and people rotating around. We can't score goals when we have all four of us standing at the net trying to shoot it past a goalie, 3 of us and 4 of them, it doesn't work.

Line combinations.... I just... I don't.
First example...
Hall - RNH - Yak.. They had great pressure often were in the o zone so the defensive lapses were covered and looked good. Changed it.
Perron - Arcobello - Hemsky
That line looked good... Didn't last long.
Perron - Anyone - Eberle. The two of them had great chemistry, nope screw that.
Hendricks - Gordon - Jones
That was a good third line that did lots of hard work and looked great. Nope replace Jones for a struggling Joensuu and demote the hard working Jones.

He loves to play people out of position. Smyth is put to center, Perron is on his off wing, Yak is on his off wing, when Eberle was playing the other game he was on the left wing so Lander could be right, Lander is a center who has played left and right wing so far. Fraser got pushed up to play on the top pairing. It's hard for people to play at a high level when they aren't in their best spot.
We have two top 6 Left wingers in Hall and Perron, why can't we accept that and work with that.

All and all Eakins is not an NHL coach and the sooner we deal with that the better.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

I love all the "buy in" talk yesterday (from someone as esteemed as Bob McKenzie, no less - how did they pull that off?) then the enormous egg we laid vs. Buffalo.

We're in 2nd from last place. Why doesn't Eakins get it that this over-emphasis on defense isn't working with this group and take the chains off the offense and adjust the "stand-around power play"?

You nailed it with this post

 

[Oi'll say!]

I love all the "buy in" talk yesterday (from someone as esteemed as Bob McKenzie, no less - how did they pull that off?) then the enormous egg we laid vs. Buffalo.

We're in 2nd from last place. Why doesn't Eakins get it that this over-emphasis on defense isn't working with this group and take the chains off the offense and adjust the "stand-around power play"?

I was thinking about that bs today while I was driving.

I love how Eakins points to the one guy on the roster who doesn't suck and says "he's playing my system" lol.

Reminds me of back in the day when Tom Wilkinson was the veteran qb and the young kid named Warren Moon was growing into an elite quarterback in the league. When people asked Wilkie about the role he played in helping Moon reach that level Wilkie would say "I never taught the kid to throw the ball 50 yards or to run that fast"

Only difference is that Eakins would be taking the credit for it.

 

[Replacement*]

Eakins had no choice but to roll Hall, Perron, Gagner, Smyth and RNH all night... who else was he supposed to use?

Pitlick was playing very tentative and it was his first game back, let him get comfortable before feeding him lots of minutes.

I don't completely buy it.

The Oilers have been healthy as horses this year for the most part. So we get a couple guys dropping and suddenly theres no stopgaps? Why do we even have an AHL club then? We call up guys like Smac? That's ****ing org fail.

Top line got thrown out for 27mins last night. Which is about 7mins longer than most forwards can be effective in a 60min game. But worse still Eakins grossly overplayed that line in the first giving them 10mins. That's every other friggen shift. In the 1st period! You're not getting quality shifts out there because you don't have fresh legs. To make matters worse the line was obviously looking spent after 1st due to having around 5 shifts too many and Eakins had to take the reins off in the 2nd. In the 3rd he went back to the 1st line a lot and they were dead stupid. Making fatigue mistakes and generally looking lousy.

While all this is going on Boyd Gordon is getting 4-5min periods. This is ****ed up game management.

What Eakins is doing with toi may work at AHL level, it may even work in the 1980's (which this club is perennially stuck in) but doesn't work in the highed paced high calibre NHL now. You need fresh legs, fresh shifts or you lose the battles and the game gets away from you.

The lines were screwed up as well. Because of that a guy like Gaz doesn't even hit the ice. 2mins. If he's playing with Smyth he can do up to ten.

Final thought. Why is Jones even on this hockey club anymore. Not trying to be cruel but its over. This guy is taking up a roster spot at this point.

 

[nexttothemoon]

When Eakins played RNH 28 minutes in his first game of the season after he came back from his injury/surgery recovery... that was a pretty telling sign that the coach is an idiot. He played RNH 25+ minutes in his next 2 games as well.

Ok... you can make an argument that he wanted to "push" the young #1C to see how fit he was and see what he had... but 28 minutes in his 1st game back? I don't see the logic in that.

Eakins is a lot of talk and very little results. His ice-time management and "systems" leave a lot to be desired... but most of all I can excuse a lot but actual game performances and results are what matters and bottom line is he simply isn't getting them when the goalies look anything other than superb in a game.

 

[Valic]

I still think he's horrible.

 

[rboomercat90]

^^^^ He is horrible. When he decides he wants to be creative it blows up in his face more than any other coach I've ever seen. He tried being creative in the Buffalo game with his allotted ice-time. We saw a lot of that during the first month of the season. This guy isn't going to out coach anybody and while that doesn't matter much anymore this year we hope it'll matter again next year. The Sabres game should have been an eye opener for Mactavish just how terrible his coach is. I'd hate to see this team waste another season next year because coaching is putting us behind the eight ball again.

 

[OiledUp]

I don't completely buy it.

The Oilers have been healthy as horses this year for the most part. So we get a couple guys dropping and suddenly theres no stopgaps? Why do we even have an AHL club then? We call up guys like Smac? That's ****ing org fail.

Top line got thrown out for 27mins last night. Which is about 7mins longer than most forwards can be effective in a 60min game. But worse still Eakins grossly overplayed that line in the first giving them 10mins. That's every other friggen shift. In the 1st period! You're not getting quality shifts out there because you don't have fresh legs. To make matters worse the line was obviously looking spent after 1st due to having around 5 shifts too many and Eakins had to take the reins off in the 2nd. In the 3rd he went back to the 1st line a lot and they were dead stupid. Making fatigue mistakes and generally looking lousy.

While all this is going on Boyd Gordon is getting 4-5min periods. This is ****ed up game management.

What Eakins is doing with toi may work at AHL level, it may even work in the 1980's (which this club is perennially stuck in) but doesn't work in the highed paced high calibre NHL now. You need fresh legs, fresh shifts or you lose the battles and the game gets away from you.

The lines were screwed up as well. Because of that a guy like Gaz doesn't even hit the ice. 2mins. If he's playing with Smyth he can do up to ten.

Final thought. Why is Jones even on this hockey club anymore. Not trying to be cruel but its over. This guy is taking up a roster spot at this point.

I thought it was stupid when he overplayed RNH early in the season when we still had a bit to play for. Right now when the season is over I don't mind him running Hall into the ground just to see what he's got and also show Hall that if he has the stamina to do it he'll be given loads of ice time. Might give him an extra incentive to work his ass off in the summer.
So as a bit of a test I don't mind it. Now if he thinks playing your best player til he spits blood is a road to success in the NHL down the line, then he's an idiot.