An utterly pathetic display devoid of even a shred of pride, professionalism or intestinal fortitude. – Robin Brownlee
That was Brownlee’s assessment of the Edmonton Oilers after Saturday night’s 5-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, and it’s hard to argue. It was one of the most memorably ugly losses during a seven-year stretch that has been punctuated by them, and the second blowout defeat of the season before a national audience on Hockey Night in Canada. I know we were all missing NHL hockey this time a year ago during the lockout, but the extended offseason was much easier to endure than the current nightmare the Oilers are putting their fans through.
In many ways, the Oilers’ season mirrors their most recent performance. On most nights, the team’s best scoring chances have come in the first 10 minutes of the game. When they aren’t rewarded with any early goal, they lie down in the open grave, place a couple silver dollars over their eyes, and wait for the opposition to start heaping dirt on top of them. It’s gotten so bad in Edmonton that backup goaltenders around the league have games against the Oilers circled on their calendars, and probably count down the days like a child waiting for Santa’s impending arrival.
Forget about the P-word, that dream was dead nearly two weeks ago. The Oilers are currently four points out of 14th in the Western Conference. In all honesty, 82 points in 82 games would qualify as a bad season for any team. Currently, the Oilers would have to go on a seven-game winning streak to have as many points (22) as games played by that point. Just to highlight how bad it’s been early on, the Oilers have already had two five-game losing streaks in the first 15 games of the season. That’s remarkable.
I would contrast the Oilers’ weekend to that of the Calgary Flames, but it would just compile your already stifling depression and add some glee to the lives of Flames fans. Nobody wants that, so I’ll simply point a few areas the team could address moving forward. These moves might not make the team competitive, but it should keep them from continuing down this path as the laughingstock and punching bag of the Western Conference.
Get healthy
First and foremost, this team needs to ice a complete roster. Considering the team’s compete level on Saturday I’m not sure if it would have made any difference against the Red Wings, but it would be nice to see each of the organization’s top four left wingers (Hall, Perron, Smyth, Joensuu) back in the lineup. Of course, a healthy blueline and starting goaltender would help as well, but given Justin Schultz’s defensive ineptitude, Anton Belov’s habit for horrible pinches, and Devan Dubnyk’s somewhat rocky start, I’m not sure if having any of those three players in the lineup would be a significant upgrade.
Compete for your ice
This applies to both a player’s individual ice-time, as well as areas on the ice itself. Jordan Eberle has only deserved a fraction of the 20-plus minutes of ice he’s been averaging during the last five games. He doesn’t have a single point during that span, and hasn’t competed for loose pucks or second chances with any type of consistency. The absence of high-compete players like Hall and Perron becomes even more noticeable when watching a player like Eberle, who waits for scoring opportunities rather than working for them. If I have to choose any of the “big four” to move out he’s the one.
Eberle exemplified the lack of effort, but he was one of more than a dozen Oilers who failed to battle on Saturday night. I’m not sure if they don’t know how to compete at an NHL level or they’re just unwilling to do it, because the team looked completely disjointed for most of the night. The Red Wings aren’t a big, physical team, but they kept the Oilers to the perimeter all night and held them to low-percentage shots, making it look easy for Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek en route to the first shutout of his career.
Figure out a defensive system that works
You can add Dallas Eakins’ implementation of the swarm defensive system to his list of mistakes through the first 15 games of the season. I would add the Yakupov benching, Hall at center experiment, Smyth on the first line, Jones demotion and Yakupov at left wing to the list, but I don’t want to pile on the rookie head coach. The tendency for the Oilers to bunch around the puck extended into the offensive zone as well, resulting in a number of terrible pinches and lack of puck support.
One side effect of all the swarming and pinching was a huge number of odd-man rushes, which are difficult to defend when you have substandard defensive defensemen and goaltending to begin with. Eakins has abandoned the swarm (hockey’s equivalent of the NFL’s blitz defense) because NHL players read and react much more quickly than AHL players. However, after eliminating the swarm the Oilers moved to more of a prevent defense, which the Red Wings took advantage of with their excellent puck possession and cycling offense.
The Oilers have had two days to digest the loss to Detroit, and that came on the heels of a three-day layoff following last Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, so it’s impossible to predict how they’ll look tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. One thing’s for certain though, it’s going to be hard to look any worse than they did against the Wings.
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