EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0There are some constants that have been established in Edmonton, over the arc of a competitive window that has lasted for most of a decade.<\/p>\n
They are cemented in Edmonton\u2019s culture, some good, some not so good. And the solution has always been the same: Fire the coach.<\/p>\n
But after this much time, whether we like them or not, we should recognize exactly what these forces are and shape them accordingly, as the end of the Connor McDavid window rises on the horizon.<\/p>\n
One: The Oilers possess an elite ability to score, aided by the best power play in the National Hockey League. It\u2019s an inherent advantage, and must be leveraged.<\/p>\n
Two: That offence will get you to the playoffs every year. How far they go after that, however, is dictated by the Oilers\u2019 collective ability to keep pucks out of their own net. Offence is your strong suit, sure. Defence wins championships.<\/p>\n
Three: There is an issue of inclusivity that has existed for years in Edmonton\u2019s dressing room. The fourth line can not be asked to play the same way the first line does \u2014\u00a0or vice versa \u2014\u00a0but the entire roster has to be made to feel like it is part of the process. The depth guys cannot simply be spectators, just as the top guys can not be asked to provide every element a team needs to succeed.<\/p>\n
Four: Management has panicked in its fevered search for goaltending, undermining the confidence of players, coaches, fans and media. Can Stan Bowman and Jeff Jackson \u2014\u00a0who have presided over an ever-diminishing asset for two seasons now \u2014\u00a0finish the job here?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start there, as the Oilers fire yet another coach in Kris Knoblauch, an act that happens every second season in Northern Alberta, like someone changing the air filter in their lawn mower.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (the front office) are definitely part to blame for where we are today. I don’t think that we’re trying to hide from that,\u201d Oilers general manager Bowman said on Wednesday, in announcing the poorly kept secret that Knoblauch had been fired after just 233 games \u2014\u00a0and two Stanley Cup Finals \u2014\u00a0as coach. \u201cWe had players who didn’t perform to the level they should. We had players that I brought in that didn’t perform to the level that we expected them to \u2014\u00a0so that’s on myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s blame to be had by all of us, myself included.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, as we wait for the Vegas Golden Knights to give up their swing at the playground \u2014\u00a0even though they\u2019ve no intention of playing on it anymore \u2014\u00a0to allow Bowman to interview Bruce Cassidy, it becomes clear what qualities will be required from the 10th coach in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins\u2019 NHL career.<\/p>\n
He must, first and foremost, crack the code of allowing Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard their offensive flair, but demand that it is flexed within the context of a team game.<\/p>\n
No more backhand passes through three sticks at the top of the offensive zone by Draisaitl, or Bouchard toe-dragging defenders while the last man back, when nursing a 3-2 lead with eight minutes to play.<\/p>\n
And just because McDavid stands up on the bench and looks over his shoulder, it does not always mean he gets the nod from his coach. Other guys want to play too.<\/p>\n
Bowman, who really had no strong opinion on how Knoblauch became the one to lose his job when so many others performed so poorly last season, knows he needs more buy-in from his leaders when it comes to a defensive posture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would help, there’s no question,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is that fine line. They do things that no one else can do, and there is an element of risk to that. Calibrating that (properly) is the Midas Touch: How can you not take away from what they can do that no one else can do? But, there are elements of their game (last season) that, at times, wasn’t a strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that (buy-in) would help, without a doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among other transactions last season, Bowman provided Knoblauch with a seven-point player on an eight-year contract in Trent Frederic, a free-agent acquisition who never meshed in Anderew Mangiapane, and the GM topped off his handiwork with the Tristan Jarry trade, a debacle in its purest form.<\/p>\n
On the ice, McDavid termed the regular season \u201cmonotonous,\u201d and despite having two top-10 NHL scorers and the highest-scoring defenceman, Edmonton defended its way to a goals differential of plus-13, which was\u00a014th-best in the NHL despite being the league\u2019s seventh-highest scoring team.<\/p>\n
Defence and goaltending. It has to be the focus in Edmonton, and Bowman must now find a coach who can make that demand stick with these high-end players.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the coaches aren’t on the ice. The players are on the ice doing it,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cHow can you \u2026 hold them accountable, or enforce that to a greater degree? Whether the word is compliance, or you get more consistent performance?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they’ve shown they can do it, but they don’t always do it, then the question is, \u2018Well, how can we get there?\u2019\u201d Bowman asked. \u201cCan you find a coach that can get the most out of those guys?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s what we’re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re looking everywhere, here in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Everywhere but the mirror.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0There are some constants that have been established in Edmonton, over the arc of a competitive window…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-670943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}