The other day in Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts he touched on the frustration level of Edmonton’s Head Coach and the injury to RNH. Here’s what he said:
4. You could almost hear a league-wide groan when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left Tuesday night’s game in Arizona after taking a Connor Murphy hit. Don’t know if his future is in the Alberta capital or elsewhere, but it certainly complicates matters if he finishes the season injured. I’d keep him, but it’s not only the Oilers who recognize his value.5. Coach Todd McLellan’s exasperation with his forwards grows on a game-by-game basis. At this point, I assume the only untouchables up-front are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took a shoulder to the head. It’s a penalty that gets called whenever an Oiler player does it to someone else, but there was no call on that play against the offending player. As a result of the hit Nuge left the game with only 9 minutes played. The Oilers didn’t skate yesterday and Nuge wasn’t on the ice initially for the pre-game skate. I don’t know if RNH will play tonight or not.
I’m of the mind that RNH is one of the pieces on the Oilers you don’t move first. Eberle is the most valuable player I’m willing to move first, if only because he’s a winger. I have a strong bias towards keeping C’s. Very strong.
In any event, Friedman does a good job of framing the Nuge situation as one where all parties of a potential trade recognize RNH is a valuable player/asset. The Oilers cant afford to lose an RNH trade. It cannot happen. He’s looked good in his return, even as his minutes have been limited.
As for the frustration of the Coach, I’ve seen it too. I’ve written about it here and on Twitter. At some point that frustration makes people say and do ridiculous things. I thought the absolute peak was when McLellan blasted his team for losing a game after they dominated possession, shots, and chances by a large margin. It happens.
At this point, could you blame McLellan for being frustrated? He came over as a coach with a winning tradition, with a history of making the playoffs, and his team is likely to finish in 30th place. At the same time, he’s had his best 3 centers for only a fraction of the season, he has 1 defenseman in the lineup that *should* be in the top 4. He’s out 4 regular defenders and a few non-regulars as well. His best defenseman had to have a chunk of meat removed from his foot because the treatment for his staph infection wasn’t working.
McLellan hasn’t been able to work with all the tools he was promised even one time this year.
Is that frustrating? Damn rights it’s frustrating.
As long as the Oilers don’t do anything overly stupid (I don’t think they will but I have Shell-Shock from the MacT/Tambellini regimes) then this too shall pass.
LINEUP
Who knows? Do you care? RNH looks out.
Hall Draisaitl Kassian Maroon McDavid Eberle Korpikoski Letestu Yakupov Cracknell Hendricks Pakarinen
Sekera Fayne Reinhart Oesterle Nurse Clendening
Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Chance. In the last game both McDavid and Hall were in on a multitude of primo scoring chances. McDavid picked up 2 assists, but he could have had 5 points. Hall, who’s in the midst of a serious scoring slump, had several point blank opportunities. The reason why I’m not in the middle of a full blown meltdown about Hall – He’s getting his opportunities. I’m more willing to believe there is an actual curse on this team than I am to believing Hall has lost his scoring ability. If he stopped creating chances I would be worried. That’s not the issue. He’s getting them, they just arent going in. I’m not panicking. That said, both he and McDavid’s mates need to start converting. Maroon needs a bounce-back game in a big way. Tonight’s as good a time as any to bear down around the net.
2) Oesterle in Overdrive. Jordan Oesterle played more than 27 minutes in the last game, during which he was 69% CF 5v5. He has quickly become one of this team’s most used defenders. While he’s not perfect, he is at the very least looking like a quality 7 to start next year in Edmonton. He can play both sides of the ice, isn’t afraid of the puck, and can slide along the blueline enough to open different shooting lanes on the PP. He is versatile enough and capable enough to play in this league. Before anyone starts getting grandiose ideas, let’s just say the Oilers need established D men on the right side. However, there’s no denying that Oesterle is opening eyes right now.
3) Donskoi. The Shark rookie winger is acquitting himself nicely on his team this year. He’s averaging just 14:10 per game and only 1:24 on the PP but he’s producing quite well. He has 11-23-34 on the season and 8-17-25 have come from 5v5. He’s 4th on the Sharks in Points per 60 minutes with 1.81 P/60. He’s an older rookie at 23 with lots of experience in the Finnish league where last year he was the highest scoring player on Karpat by 12 points. He’s young and doesn’t have North American experience, but he’s a lot further down the path than most rookies. He could be a quality 2nd liner for them for years to come. That’s not a backhanded compliment because the Sharks top line is outstanding.
Puck drops tonight at 8:30PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Game On!
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