If problems were people, the Edmonton Oilers would be China. Two losses into the season the puck possession statistics are horrendous, the powerplay has given up as many goals as it’s scored, the Taylor Hall at center experiment was a horrible failure, and Devan Dubnyk couldn’t stop a greased pig from running into a dishwasher. Who takes the brunt of it? Who suffers for the sins of an entire roster? Ryan Smyth, who will be a healthy scratch this evening as the Oilers play host to the 0-2 New Jersey Devils.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ return meant that someone was going to be bumped from the lineup, and convention wisdom told us that the decision was largely going to be based on whether Dallas Eakins decided to keep Hall at center or move him back to the wing. Nugent-Hopkins is slated to center the top line tonight, flanked by Hall and Jordan Eberle. That meant another left winger would most likely sit out tonight’s contest. Well, Jesse Joensuu is day-to-day with a sore back, solving that little conundrum, right? Wrong.
It turns out Smyth is the odd man out tonight, as the 37-year-old veteran is deemed expendable by the bench boss and left to languish in the press box. Ryan Hamilton will get his first start of the season, playing on the third line with Mark Arcobello and Nail Yakupov. Make no mistake, Smyth has been terrible through the first two games, and in a world where NHL head coaches can get the ax three games into a season nothing should surprise us, but the decision still comes as a bit of a head scratcher.
Smyth turned the puck over like he was playing hot potato on Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets. And he spent the majority of the night hemmed in his own end on Saturday, battered by a relentless Vancouver attack that came as continuously as waves crashing against a rocky shore. It’s clear that he wasn’t a good fit playing on a line with speedsters like Hall and (comparatively speaking) Hemsky. At this point Smyth is better suited for yeoman’s work than first-line flash, grinding it out and going to the net.
I’ll accept that Smyth isn’t the player he once was, not by a long shot, but I still think he can provide valuable minutes in the right situation. However, making him a healthy scratch three games into the season doesn’t bode well for Smyth, and his troubles are compounded by the fact that he’s being replaced by Eakins’ pet project. Maybe the coach is making the right call and we’ll all see the world through Hamilton-colored glasses tomorrow morning, but I have my doubts.
Even more perplexing than the decision to sit Smyth is Eakins’ explanation for it, stating that he could have sat any of five different players. "The reason its Ryan is that I knew that he would handle it professionally. I knew he wouldn’t have a lip . . . Sometimes being a good leader and a good teammate goes against you." So that’s how personnel decisions are made in Edmonton these days? Let’s see, we have five players and we have to take one of them out of the lineup. Here are some of the factors (and accompanying questions) that might go into the decision.
Who gives us the best chance to win?
Who might be limited by injury?
Who matches up best against the opponent?
Who would benefit from spending a game in the press box?
Who is best suited for specific roles in the lineup?
Positionally, who is most expendable?
Who needs a “change of scenery?”
Who has performed the best/worst recently?
Who needs a fire lit under their ass?
Whose presence in the lineup would be most detrimental to the team?
Each question is acceptable to ask when trying to decide which of the five players should sit the game out as a healthy scratch. Instead of thinking of recent performance, positional need, benefit to the player, benefit to the team, or win probability, Eakins asked himself this question:
Which professional hockey player will accept it and pout the least if I make him a healthy scratch tonight?
Clearly, if this is how personnel decisions are being made the Oilers are in for a very, very long season. Eakins came into Edmonton with a reputation for being a no nonsense straight-talker, so I’m assuming that he’s telling the truth. However, in this instance I really wish he would have lied to us. He could have told us that it was a gut decision, or having Smyth out gives the team the best chance to win, or any other number of reasons and we could have gone about our business. However, according to Eakins, guys like Arcobello, Gazdic, Brown and Acton are playing tonight because they would have pouted otherwise.
Does Eakins really think that Arcobello, Gazdic, Brown or Acton feel entitled to start this evening? Come on coach, I was born on a Tuesday morning but it wasn’t last Tuesday morning. I know that Eakins was trying to compliment Smyth in a strange way, but if this is acceptable thinking, reasoning or justification for a personnel decision I hate to think of where the Oilers could be headed this season. Two games down, 80 to go. On and off the ice, the problems just keep piling up.
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