So many questionable coaching calls that made me wanna throw my sofa at the TV.
This was my biggest take on the situation as well. IMO this team with a few small tweaks could take a major step forward next year. One of those tweaks should be the ****canning of Renney.
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Belanger and Horcoff taking face-offs at the end of the game when the team needs a point most.
Barker, Sutton and Peckham getting minutes.
Ryan Smyth showing us how old and soft he is now.
Hemsky having his worst season ever.
Belanger and Horcoff taking face-offs at the end of the game when the team needs a point most.
Barker, Sutton and Peckham getting minutes.
Ryan Smyth showing us how old and soft he is now.
Hemsky having his worst season ever.
So putting out RNH and his 37% face-off rate would've changed that?
To me it was their inability to play 5-on-5. 4-on-4 they looked better as they could use their speed, but 5-on-5 they seemed to get stuck in the neutral zone or lose it on the dump.
When your forward that gets more ice time than any other forward sets a blistering pace of 13 goals and 21 assists and that same player gets the 2nd most pp ice time of any forward (only 2 minutes behind the leader) and scores 1 pp goal in his last 60 games and when that player is below 50% on the dot and one of the worst in the league in plus minus thus bleeding even strength goals against....then you have a good part of your answer.
Not enough protection on Taylor Hall. I think he should have a personal bodyguard on the ice at all times.
I thought Corey Potter played a major role in our January blow up. He can't protect the offensive blue line. When I thought he couldn't get any worse, he stomped on Taylor Hall's face. I actually think trying to jump over him was stupid. He was attempting to jump over two people at a low speed. A more intelligent person would have just fell on top of them. If you can't calculate your jump, don't jump. And if he did calculate him jump and missed, well then he's a ****ing dumbass.
Ryan Jones got robbed day in day out for the first 3rd of the season (and a few more on other occasions). He was just a machine pumping out goaltender highlights left and right.
Hemsky also needs better linemates. He can play keepaway in the offensive zone and make some beauty dangles, but when there's no support or anyone to pass to you can;t really expect him to score. (**** the Hemsky haters)
I don't know what's up with Gagner. Does he wanna be a great player or does he wanna be a superstar? He should make up his mind, but he had an acceptable season anyway.
Smyth: i crey evry time ;_;
Horcoff...... i've said what I wanted to say in a bunch of other posts.
Goalies:
Khabby decided to die about 1/3 into the season. Dubby started to realize that Khabby is dead 2/3 into the season. That missing third in the middle, we had absolutely nothing.
Honestly if the NHL didn't allow more clutching/grabbing back for the last 20-30 games (seemingly a test run for the playoffs) ... the Oilers probably would've played themselves out of the top 3.
The PP was a huge part of our offence this year, and when the refs stopped calling anything, basically teams could just clutch and grab our kids to death without getting burned for it. Throw in the injury to Hall and basically our whole offence ground to a halt by the season's end.
Look at the standings....Its not like we were way down there all by ourselves....We could have easily finished a few spots higher if they would have got a couple bounces their way. Im not complaining...Ill take Yak!
Yeah, and we stopped getting PP's. I remember several games where we got zero. One against Toronto (lawl their last home game win before dropping 10 in a row or whatever).... One against Anaheim, another against Anaheim they got 1 PP I thinks. Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
I know the injury excuse is getting old but we did miss 2 of our best players for 20 games each and I don't believe they overlapped much either, that's almost half the sched missing at least one of our top 3. Combine that with our horrible depth, and it's a recipe for disaster
The talent is there with the younger players, but the experience, secondary scoring and veterans weren't up to par - especially at even strength.
Also, terrible defense and inconsistent goaltending.
This is it exactly.
Renney sheltered the kids beautifully. Too bad the veterans on the team were subpar especially 5x5...that really hurt the team because Renney had no other options to throw out there when it came to sheltering the kids.
The defence/goaltending and top 6 grit also needs serious upgrades...not Renneys fault at all.
Hall, Eberle and RNH are still young. The way the vets played, those kids had to carry the team and they weren't ready to do that consistently yet.
It's sad when you say that the veterans didn't pull their weight, but that was definitely the case this season. Too many of them are accustomed to losing and just collapsed when the going got tough.
I also think some of the vets weren't completely on board with Renney's philosophy. Hemsky is one of those vets in my mind... he's had some miserable seasons under Renney. I don't think that's a coincidence.
Our powerplay was a lot better in terms of percetages, but they had a lot less opportunities than they did a year ago. Having Paajarvi out of the lineup as often as they did probably hurt them in this regard. He may not score a tonne, but he really seems to draw a lot of penalties (Hall too) when he's in the lineup. They also had long streatches where they weren't getting adequate goaltending.
But the one thing that probably was the biggest reason is what Taylor Hall and Shawn Horcoff mentioned on garbage bag day, and that was how players seemed to give up in the 3rd period if they were down in the 2nd intermission. The fact that they were outscored 86-62 in 3rd periods this year (and dead even 143-143 in the first two) supports that claim. I don't know how you fix that, but I don't know if "getting bigger in the top 6" will do it. I'm not saying I wouldn't mind a Milan Lucic in the group, I just don't know if size and/or physicality equals competativeness. In fact, I think Ben Eager, who happens to be one of our biggest and nastiest players was one of the worst offenders in that area. Taylor Hall didn't take a single shift off all season, I don't think. And say what you want about Smyth maybe getting worn down over the course of the year, I think he was there in spirit and try every step of the way.
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Our powerplay was a lot better in terms of percetages, but they had a lot less opportunities than they did a year ago. They also had long streatches where they weren't getting adequate goaltending.
But the one thing that probably was the biggest reason is what Taylor Hall and Shawn Horcoff mentioned on garbage bag day, and that was how players seemed to give up in the 3rd period if they were down in the 2nd intermission. The fact that they were outscored 86-62 in 3rd periods this year (and dead even 143-143 in the first two) supports that claim. I don't know how you fix that, but I don't know if "getting bigger in the top 6" will do it. I'm not saying I wouldn't mind a Milan Lucic in the group, I just don't know if size and/or physicality equals competativeness. In fact, I think Ben Eager, who happens to be one of our biggest and nastiest players was one of the worst offenders in that area.
Didn't get to watch too many Oiler games, but did they play their top two lines too much in the first two periods burning them out in the 3rd? Wouldn't surprise me if this contributed.
Didn't get to watch too many Oiler games, but did they play their top two lines too much in the first two periods burning them out in the 3rd? Wouldn't surprise me if this contributed.
It was a combination of factors but mostly it was the veterans giving up in the third mixed with the mistakes of youth. And being coached into trying to protect leads in the third instead of extending them.
The Oilers were 4-24-4 when trailing after 2 this year. They were 24-3-2 when leading after 2.
Holding a lead didn't seem to be the problem. They were simply just incapable of overcoming adversity and apparently incredibly fragile mentally. Those are traits usually found in inexperienced players/teams.
I think, more than anything, they need to bring in players (big or small) who are simply unwilling to accept losing. I remember Paajarvi talking about how Lander hated losing more than anyone he's ever known, and we all know Hall's drive is unquestionable. If they can add one marquis player with those qualities, I think it'll go a long way in spreading that mentality throughout the team a lot moreso than depth players with the same trait.
