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Oilers » Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)

Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11) [message #826663 is a reply to message #826659 ]	Mon, 06 November 2023 16:46

Kr55
Messages: 9963
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton

6 Cups

Adam wrote on Mon, 06 November 2023 14:25

Oscargasm wrote on Mon, 06 November 2023 11:35

Woodcroft isn’t THE problem…

#MUSTWin

I was talking with mightyreasoner about this on the weekend. While I don't think Woodcroft is the biggest problem, I don't think he's showing that well right now, and I probably won't shed a lot of tears for him if he gets axed.

He came in and made some bold moves originally. He seemed to trust the bottom six more than his predecessors, and they rewarded him by actually producing. The regular season coaching he did, from the point where it looked like they were dead in the water in early February, until the start of the playoffs was the most inspired we've seen from him.

Then, it was like all McLellan's teaching kicked in. He failed to adjust in the post-season and struggled to get past the Kings. McDavid & Draisaitl went to another level against the Flames and pretty much crushed them on their own, and then against Colorado, he just seemed to have no answers. We saw virtually no changes to the strategy to try to protect the weak goaltending, or to insulate a Duncan Keith on his last legs. Despite McDavid and Draisaitl finishing #1 and #2 in scoring despite missing the fourth round, the team dropped four straight to the Avs.

Last year, he never seemed to rekindle what he'd had previously. He started to show a real fear about playing young players in important situations. He still got a lot more out of the depth than we'd had in prior years, but at even strength, there were clearly some serious issues with the team that were covered up only because our special teams were really good. We knew all year though that we had sub-par goaltending and 5v5 wasn't that strong, and so when those issues sunk us in the playoffs (where again we saw no adaptation from Woodcroft to the strategies other teams were employing), it wasn't a huge shock.

Ultimately, Woody has a decent winning percentage, and he's been overall better than Tippett or McLellan. I appreciate that he's much MUCH less likely to throw his players under the bus game in, game out than the previous two.

I think he made a mistake of talking up his defensive scheme coming in to the year - and that's blown up in his face. He currently has the defence playing bottom third of the league hockey, the depth as non-factors on the positive side for the entire year, and despite McDavid and Draisaitl, one of the lowest scoring teams. He's also failed to build any positivity behind either goalie. While that isn't entirely on him by any extent, when things are this bad, coaches get fired.

The biggest argument to me for not firing Woodcroft is really just that the guy in the seat above him doesn't deserve to get another shot at picking the right coach.

That's the fun about following this team. You have all these various degrees of not great in every spot except your top 2 centers, it's hard to focus on what change could improve the team the most.

Maybe we need some kind of rating system from 1-10. 1 is the position is current in a state of pure trash and needs fixing ASAP. 5, it's mediocre but could still win a cup with them by having enough strength in other areas. 10 is McDavid/Drai tier.

Just a simple trial

Forward group:
Top 6: 8 (6 if McDavid is injured and keeps playing like he has been. Even when McDavid is on, the wingers are pretty useless at playmaking, so stacked top line seems like it's going to keep being inevitable, leaving a weak 2nd line)
Bottom 6: 4 (lots of meh)

D group
LHD: 6 (Probably close to 8 if last year Ekholm comes back)
RHD: 4 (Need an upgrade on Ceci or Desharnais)

Goaltending: 2 (Skinner might still have something in him if we could ever get his confidence back)

Coaching: 5 (Got spanked by Cassidy, but McDrai can still overcome that, as long as there isn't a complete disaster happening in our end. Not really feeling that Woody actually brings much to the table these days, but maybe he learns to adjust)

GM: 1 (We all know exactly why)

Amateur scouting: 1
Pro scouting: 1
New people in for both of those, so maybe early to judge, but recent history is pretty awful.

Ownership: 2 (willing to spend to cap bonus point, but endlessly making the org stuck with terrible management)

Personally, I vote firing Holland before anything else.

[Updated on: Mon, 06 November 2023 16:51]

"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013

"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015

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Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: OilFans on Mon, 06 November 2023 02:00
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: CrusaderPi on Mon, 06 November 2023 08:53
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Skoobz on Mon, 06 November 2023 10:27
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: RDOilerfan on Mon, 06 November 2023 10:52
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Oscargasm on Mon, 06 November 2023 11:35
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: tardigrade81 on Mon, 06 November 2023 11:52
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Skoobz on Mon, 06 November 2023 12:46
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: CrusaderPi on Mon, 06 November 2023 13:14
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Skoobz on Mon, 06 November 2023 14:24
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Skoobz on Mon, 06 November 2023 14:25
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: stemhovlichski on Mon, 06 November 2023 18:46
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Adam on Mon, 06 November 2023 14:25
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: Kr55 on Mon, 06 November 2023 16:46
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: inverno76 on Mon, 06 November 2023 20:04
Re: Pregame: Edmonton @ Vancouver (Game #11)	By: nullterm on Mon, 06 November 2023 18:11

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