THE PRESS CONFERENCE
MacTavish is no fool, that much I can say with absolute certainty. He may do things in his tenure that I disagree with from time to time but he is not an idiot. He could see that the air in Edmonton was charged with a very negative energy, and understandably so. The Oilers have been Shut Out for 3 straight home games and haven’t won at Rexall since the Devils came to town in Game 3 of the season. Actually, since that win the Oilers have scored just 2 goals on home ice. With well over a month of constant futility at home AND on the road the fans and scribes have been left with very few positives to write about and so MacTavish stood up before the press and jumped on a hand grenade that was destined for his Coaching Staff and players.
It would only be a matter of time before the type of media speculation and pressure that was so easily directed at 20 year old Nail Yakupov was directed at new rookie coach Dallas Eakins and ultimately the rest of the team. The theme of the Press Conference was “support…. MacTavish has identified 8-9 players as his “Core… and he wants to support them. He also identifies Coaching as something that is not a problem and Coaching Turnover as a factor in what has created this mess, so he gives his vote of confidence to Eakins.
What that means is that the Periphery players are in danger of being moved out. Obviously we can extrapolate that MacT viewed Smid as someone who was on the periphery of that Core group of players. Who are they? Who on this team makes up that 8-9 players? Well let’s assume for a moment that he means current NHL players so we can leave out Nurse and Klefbom. If that’s the case then I have Hall, Eberle, RNH, Yakupov, Perron, Gagner, Petry, and Justin Schultz. Your list may vary. These are the core players that even now in the worst start the Oilers have had in recent memory MacTavish is dead set against moving.
What is he willing to move? Well his draft picks are in play, that’s for sure. Specifically he had this to say, “I don't view another first round draft choice to be what we need going into the latter part of this year or next year." That is an interesting statement to me because he specifically mentions this year’s draft and next. Those two picks are not of an equal value. This year’s 2014 1st round pick may well turn out to be in the top 5 and have a very real chance of winning the lottery. Next year’s pick is less valuable but based on Edmonton’s track record is still of good value to potential suitors.
The Oilers have announced to the 29 other teams that those picks are available, which one goes out will depend on what’s coming back.
RADIO
I was invited to the Lowedown with Lowetide show on TSN 1260AM here in Edmonton this morning. Feel free to give it a listen. You can probably start at the 23:30 mark (but the whole show is great).
LINEUPS
File this one under “Bizarre Coaching Choices… but Eakins is apparently scratching Arcobello in favour of Acton. I understand that the Sharks are a heavy team but I still have a tough time wrapping my head around this one. Arcobello is a little man who has played his heart out and looked competent next to NHL players. Acton is the Assistant Coach’s son. Does it really come down to that? Jultz is still nursing what the Coach is calling “A Chronic Groin Problem…, so that’s not great.
UPDATE
#Oilers recall defenceman Oscar Klefbom from @OKCBarons, assign forward Mark Arcobello. pic.twitter.com/bJ2DoZ1QJ6
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 15, 2013
Well now we know why Arco was scratched, but why the moves now?
Hall RNH Eberle Yak Gagner Hemsky Smyth Gordon Perron Joensuu Acton Gazdic
Ference Petry Belov Larsen Potter N. Schultz
Dubnyk
The Sharks are a solid club but they haven’t been playing as well as they could have been of late but winning their last 2 games. San Jose is getting strong offensive contributions from Pavelski, Thornton, Couture, Marleau, and Hertl who are all above, at, or near a point per game pace 19 games into their season. The Oilers will have their hands full tonight for sure.
Marleau Couture Kennedy Hertl Thronton Wingels Nieto Pavelski Havlat Sheppard Desjardins McCarthy
Vlasic Boyle Stuart Braun Hannan Demers
Stalock
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Break The Shutout. 3 straight home games of being shut out has taken the fans right out of the game. The Oilers need to score one in the first 5-10 minutes of the game just to get it out of the way and the crowd back on their side.
2) Power Play Reset. The club was 0-6 against the Stars including a painful 5v3 that basely mustered a chance. Eakins had Perron on the point and Yakupov on the bench for that opportunity to score and I think it was a mistake. The Coach needs to get the right guys out there and the players need to move a lot more. They were static out there.
3) Go To The Net. It’s that thing behind the guy wearing all the pads. It’s where you want to put that little black disk, in the event that you forgot. The forwards have been kicking out to the walls instead of in towards the net. It’s no wonder they cant score any goals.
Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain time on TSN. Game On!
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