Oh those Oilers. You just can’t seem to get a handle on them. On paper they should be completely helpless against the top teams in the West and yet against St Louis they were competitive and the game was close. They still lost but it was a bounce or two away from being a completely different story. Then they go out against a Kings team that is fighting for its Playoff life and they get completely dominated at home. It’s frustrating that they can look competent one night and so utterly pathetic the next.
Though I guess that’s a lesson in both youth and the trouble in relying on so many AHL caliber players at this time of year. The consistency is just not going to be there. It’s asking a lot of such an inexperienced lineup to match will and skill with rosters who know what it takes to win and who are loaded with talent, but playing in Chicago should be a huge adrenaline rush for some of these guys. The atmosphere there has been unreal in recent years.
When I was still in High School the Blackhawks were among the worst franchises in the NHL. They were considered a joke. Not unlike the Penguins of roughly the same era and the Oilers of today. This rebuild is not where anyone envisioned it would be but there’s still hope, even if it feels distant. As the saying goes, it’s always darkest before the dawn.
The Oilers have some defensemen emerging (slowly) and maybe with a few key additions they can turn things around. Klefbom has been developing nicely and Nurse looks like a real player. Add in a Boychuk and if Justin Schultz just figured out this whole “defense… thing then maybe that’s two pairs you are comfortable with going forward.
There’s just so much uncertainty as far as defense goes. Would Chicago be where they are today if Duncan Keith doesn’t emerge from 2nd Round pick to Norris Trophy winner? Would Pittsburgh have been the same if Kris Letang doesn’t outperform his 3rd round selection? The Oilers need some good stories on their defense. Maybe Martin Marincin proves to be a fulltime NHLer, but they need impact players on the backend.
The team can add all the high end forwards they want, they have a few already, but without a defense that can get them the puck at full speed or join them in the offensive zone the Oilers’ top line will still always just be 3 Oilers vs 5 Opponents. They need a top pairing that can match their creativity and put them in good opportunities to use their skills.
It seems as if the Oilers could go from weak depth at C to potentially strong depth at C almost overnight if they pick in the top 2 of the draft this summer. Assuming they keep Roy the depth chart for next year could be something like this:
RNH Roy Gordon McEichel Draisaitl Lander
RNH, Roy, and Gordon are all establish NHL talents. Lander was proving to be capable in the bottom 6 in Nelson’s system. McEichel are obvious talents who will no doubt become top 6 NHL players and Leon Draisaitl is currently tearing the WHL a new one. It isn’t an overly experienced depth chart, but it’s significantly better than what had been there before.
Now if only the depth on Defense could start to match that.
LINEUP
Anton Lander, Tyler Pitlick, and Nikita Nikitin were skating in some capacity again this past week and that’s *mostly* good for the Oilers. It sound like Lander is still another week or so away from game action but the team will be better off for it when he returns. The 4th line of Hendricks sandwiched between 2 AHLers just isn’t getting much done out there. Fraser and Hamilton just don’t look like NHL players. I’m not convinced Tyler Pitlick was much of a player before he got hurt, but he does have NHL speed and was willing to hit. If you cant bring offense then you need to bring those things to the table and he does. As for Nikitin, I would have him back, flip Ference to the right side, and send Oesterle back down but I think the Oilers want to see more young defensemen not named Martin Marincin so who knows what will happen when he comes back.
Pouliot RNH Eberle Purcell Roy Yakupov Gazdic Gordon Klinkhammer Fraser Hendricks Hamilton
Klefbom Schultz Marincin Fayne Ference Oesterle
Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Sustained Attack. The Oilers had significant problems getting past the Kings until they let their foot off the gas. The Roy/Yak line had the most success all night sustaining any kind of pressure, even when the rest of the team was hemmed in their own end. The Oilers need more than 1 line creating scoring chances against these deep teams. The RNH line in particular needs to step up, and I’m saying that fully aware that Eberle is playing his little heart out right now. There was a penalty kill where RNH spent more time in the offensive zone by himself than I think his line had done at Even Strength. More of that, please.
2) Bounce Back. While the Oilers couldn’t get out of their own zone, Ben Scrivens couldn’t make a stop to save his soul. He finished with a .828 save percentage. All of the goals were either 5v5 or shorthanded so we can’t even blame it on the Power Play. Nobody can win with performances in net like that and he needs to bounce back. I don’t care how the goalies do it, they just need to stop the puck. Ben Scrivens has battled the puck all season long and I can honestly say I didn’t see that coming. I was Pro-Scrivens before they got him and relatively happy with his play all last season. The ONLY goal where you can’t really blame him in the last game was on the 2nd goal which leads me to key number 3.
3) A Quick Study. If there’s one thing that you can say about Oscar Klefbom it’s that his abs are super human. If there’s a SECOND thing you could say about him it’s that he’s proven to be a fast learner. It’s how he adapted to playing in Men’s league play in Europe so quickly. It’s how he rocketed up the depth chart in OKC so quickly once he arrived in North America. And we can only hope that the video session he had with Nelson after he played the 2v1 against Kopitar so bizarrely is all it takes for him to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player turn his back to the forwards and screen his own goalie in response to a 2 on 1 coming his way. He didn’t take the shooter. He didn’t take the passing lane. He essentially gave up. What a weird play. It was his most “Rookie… moment in the NHL for sure.
Puck drops tonight at 6:38 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Tank On!
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