Tonight could mark the beginning of a new era for the Edmonton Oilers. We will get to the Woodcroft stuff in a moment but first I wanted to quickly talk about some other news that dropped this morning.
Once again, tensions are high between the Oilers players and the members of the media and honestly, it's great to see the players finally clapping back at these guys. Yesterday Mark Spector put out an article. To sum it up Spector once again preached the narrative that blame should not fall on Tippett, a coach who was only able to win a single playoff game during his tenure with the team, and instead once again blames Draisaitl and McDavid for apparently not carrying the team enough.
Here are just a couple of snippets:
"Connor McDavid uses his surreal speed to fly the zone and scorer highlight-reel goals, but not often enough to prevent chances in his own zone. He’s great with the puck, but without it McDavid -- who has spoken of his need to defend better, and has made strides -- still couldn’t carry Sid Crosby’s equipment bag."
"Leon Draisaitl could be the best all-around player on this team. Quite possibly the facto captain. But when a team has wild swings like the Oilers have had -- win six, lose seven, lose six, win four -- it appears rudderless."
"The passengers: Kailer Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, Barrie, Zack Kassian. Deadweight here for new coach Jay Woodcroft to figure out."
Now as a writer, Spector has every right to criticize the team. But going out of his way to insult McDavid, imply he shouldn't be the captain, and calling some of the best young players on the team "dead weight" takes things a step too far.
Spector, Gregor, Matheson, Jones and more; these guys continuously herald the GM and coach (their bosses) while talking about what a problem the elite players are. McDavid and Draisaitl are not the problem here. Take a look at a some of these stats courtesy of Jonathan Willis:
This is normally @Woodguy55's game, but here are the Oilers at 5v5 over three years of Holland/Tippett:
— Jonathan Willis (@JonathanWillis) February 11, 2022
with McDavid: 54 GF%
with Draisaitl: 55 GF%
with both: 56 GF%
with neither: 37 GF%
It was these individuals who helped push the narrative that Taylor Hall was a cancer that pushed him out the door and they are doing it once again. We are starting to see the players finally say enough.
McDavid asking if he can speak with Spector. pic.twitter.com/jA4Bbqd2dg
— Woz (@itsWozzz) February 11, 2022
*chef’s kiss* https://t.co/G320Sdz2K0 pic.twitter.com/TCN4qc1PLy
— âœŒï¸ (@oilygifs) February 11, 2022
These were both from the post practice press availability. You can bet that McDavid wasn't asking Spector about the weather. McDavid is a quiet leader and we don't often see him blow up but it's great to know that behind the scenes the captain is doing whatever he can to protect and stand up for the guys in the room.
Enough about this garbage. Let's talk hockey.
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Tonight we will see Jay Woodcroft's first game as head coach for the Edmonton Oilers. Woodcroft will hopefully bring the same structure he brought to the Condors to the big club and the players will be eager to buy in to a new system that will help them win. Here will be the first lines structured by Woodcroft:
Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi Kane-Draisaitl-Yamamoto Foegele-RNH-Ryan Benson-McLeod-Shore
Nurse-Bouchard Lagesson-Ceci Niemelainen-Barrie
Smith
Overall I like the small shakeups Woodcroft is starting with. The new head coach returns to the top line of Hyman McDavid and Puljujarvi that was successful earlier in the season while bumping Kane down to play with Draisaitl. Kane had some success early with McDavid but I wonder if the slightly slower more north and south style of Draisaitl will suit him better. Both of the top six lines should be forechecking heavy and be aggressive at both ends of the ice.
On the third line we have Foegele alongside RNH and Ryan which I expect will get a heavy load of defensive faceoffs. Having Ryan with RNH gives the Oilers a right hand faceoff man for draws in the Oilers end. I don't know how much scoring ability this line will produce but it's something to try.
Lastly Tyler Benson gets the nod from his AHL head coach. Benson was used heavily in all situations from the PP to the PK. I doubt we see Benson on the PP but I will be curious to see if Benson gets the nod early on the penalty kill. I still believe there is an NHL player in Benson and now the forward at least has a coach that believes in him.
The defensive pairings are worrysome just because of the lack of true NHL veteran presence. With Keith out the Oilers will be icing three rookie defenders in Lagesson, Niemelainen and Bouchard who have all played fewer than a full season of NHL hockey. The good news is all three of these players are familiar both with Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson who is the new defensive coach.
In net Smith does get the start which isn't too surprising. Koskinen will not be ready until after the Oilers next road trip which means Skinner will get at least one start in San Jose or in LA. Hopefully he puts in a strong performance tonight but if he does struggle early I wonder if we will see Woodcroft yank him; something Tippett never did.
Also if the Oilers get down early, we might actually see a head coach call a time out to settle his players and restructure them. Wouldn't that be something?
The Islanders are the worst team in the NHL in scoring but they are the third best team in preventing goals against. Hopefully the Oilers get an adrenaline boost from the new coach and go out there early with something to prove. Looking forward to seeing what happens.