[News] Oilers fire Tippett. Jay Woodcroft to be named HC

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Let's see, strong systems coaches that have been turfed: McLellan, Hitchcock, Tippett

Let's see, good goaltenders that struggled in Edmonton and found success elsewhere: Dubnyk, Talbot (who is still doing quite well elsewhere, might I add). I seem to remember the fans running him out of town following one down year after several strong years. The team's struggles were all the fault of the goaltenders, but it turns out that narrative is not and has never been true.

So I have to say, I'm calling this out as bull####. This is a systematic issue with the organization over the years of not holding the young stars more accountable for their defensive development and leadership roles in creating a strong team play. It also has a LOT to do with some horrible GMs who continuously provide little to no quality support for the stars so they feel like they have to abandon the team game plan and play an individual offensive game in order to give the team a chance to win. If there was a lesson on how to NOT build a team around two superstars, this would be in a textbook.

The culture of the franchise has enabled these poor behaviors, and you can see it in any metric you want to look at over the years. Now it has become so engrained in who they are as pros that it would take a seismic shift in their careers (like getting traded) before they decide to make a change. That's not going to happen with the culture in Edmonton and so they will continue to languish.

Spector's piece the other day was bang on, but instead of others chiming in and noting where he was correct and maybe quibbling over a few minor points, he's currently being chastised and vilified by the fans and other media members. Again, this is a cultural issue surrounding the Oilers. Nobody is ever allowed to assess accurately and provide meaningful critique, so this will continue. Change only comes from being uncomfortable, and everyone is too comfy.

In short, it's time you realized something that everyone else here and around the league has realized.

Edmonton. Is. No. Good.

Oilers actually traded a one-dimensional entitled allegedly toxic first overall captain for a stay at home hard-nosed team-oriented defenceman. One for one. So, as stupid as they are, and as lackluster as that trade was, it looked like they got the overall direction somewhat correct. They also genuinely hired strong defensive minded coaches. Yet here they are some years later.

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Why would McDavid being top 60 in GA/60 be concerning?

It's better than Stamkos, Huberdeau, Point, Kadri, the big three in Toronto etc.

Expecting McDavid to be a player that doesn't exist is kind of nuts to me. I get blaming management, but blaming players for not being demi-gods never makes sense.

I don't think Stamkos, Kadri or Huberdeau make good comparables because they are elite point producers. Point, sure. I'll give you that one. Connor McDavid is like Brayden Point... You know, without any winning or playoff success. And with a worse contract.

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Let's see, strong systems coaches that have been turfed: McLellan, Hitchcock, Tippett

Let's see, good goaltenders that struggled in Edmonton and found success elsewhere: Dubnyk, Talbot (who is still doing quite well elsewhere, might I add). I seem to remember the fans running him out of town following one down year after several strong years. The team's struggles were all the fault of the goaltenders, but it turns out that narrative is not and has never been true.

So I have to say, I'm calling this out as bull####. This is a systematic issue with the organization over the years of not holding the young stars more accountable for their defensive development and leadership roles in creating a strong team play. It also has a LOT to do with some horrible GMs who continuously provide little to no quality support for the stars so they feel like they have to abandon the team game plan and play an individual offensive game in order to give the team a chance to win. If there was a lesson on how to NOT build a team around two superstars, this would be in a textbook.

The culture of the franchise has enabled these poor behaviors, and you can see it in any metric you want to look at over the years. Now it has become so engrained in who they are as pros that it would take a seismic shift in their careers (like getting traded) before they decide to make a change. That's not going to happen with the culture in Edmonton and so they will continue to languish.

Spector's piece the other day was bang on, but instead of others chiming in and noting where he was correct and maybe quibbling over a few minor points, he's currently being chastised and vilified by the fans and other media members. Again, this is a cultural issue surrounding the Oilers. Nobody is ever allowed to assess accurately and provide meaningful critique, so this will continue. Change only comes from being uncomfortable, and everyone is too comfy.

In short, it's time you realized something that everyone else here and around the league has realized.

Edmonton. Is. No. Good.

Nurse can’t even answer a softball question that hard hitting muck raking journalist Ryan Rishaug about “where his game is at.”

He’s now mentoring their younger defensemen. The tradition of unaccountable arrogance continues.

[Chonger]

Originally Posted by getbak

Remember when people were worried that they were going to get competent management because they hired Cup-winner Peter Chiarelli?



Remember when people were worried that they were going to get competent management because they fired Chiarelli and hired multiple-Cup-winner Ken Holland?







Good times.

Cant wait till Holland gets outed for Jim Benning

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Chonger

Cant wait till Holland gets outed for Jim Benning

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

They need someone who knows about winning. Brian Burke would be a good fit. Or Jay Feaster.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Looking at last night's game, did anything change under Woodcroft? He still leaned on the same players and gave them more ice time than they probably should have had. It's going to be the same thing in short order, because the Oilers only have two quality players that can score. The coach will have no option but to use the same tactics that failed with the four guys before him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Pointman

They need someone who knows about winning. Brian Burke would be a good fit. Or Jay Feaster.

Stan Bowman.

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by TheSquatch

Ordinarily I won't feed a troll, but there was a great example of just what I'm talking about. It's not "narrative", it's obvious to anyone with eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB3-4CJMuTI

Watch from about 6:10 on here, this is dead typical McDavid own-zone play. He doesn't skate hard enough to catch Karlsson (71) who drives play into the corner chasing the dump in. He drifts off and makes... lazy incidental contact with McNabb (3) who has already gotten the puck back to Karlsson who gets it to Smith (19) for the goal. McDavid does nothing. No effort to keep up, no effort to contain the puck, no effort to stick with any player - no defensive awareness or care at all. And this is off the face-off - he's fresh. It's hilarious.

Never his fault though, I get hit, he's the greatest. I hope like hell the narrative in Edmonton stays like this and he's never held accountable for the plays he fails to make, the effort he doesn't put in, the things he refuses to learn or adjust to. Because as long as that doesn't happen, Edmonton will not win, and that's just fine with me.

Not a new take or anything. I have thought for a while the 25 minute nights and two minute shifts are starting to catch up with McDavid, especially now that normal travel is back and a full season. Last year you can over play your stats because travel is lighter and shortened season. To truly maximize his best tools you need him taking short and fast shifts where he’s flying all over the ice. I think that it used to be more that way but over the years the shifts are getting longer and he’s getting caught tired or floating out there because you can’t go all out for two minutes straight.

I think of MacKinnon in the 2019 series. He was taking appropriate shifts but the minute he hit the ice everyone started to back off because he was flying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Stan Bowman.

#CultureChange

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

I'm sorry that your team sucks.

I am not.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[powderjunkie]

IMO a key takeaway from EDM's continued failures should be how impressive Crosby and PIT's feats really were...it's hard to say that their supporting cast [from cup #1] was any better than what EDM has had at their disposal.

PIT: 5-1-2-1-2-20-29*-30-20-23-8
- highest pick in 11 years prior to Whitney was 16OA in 1991)
vs.
EDM: 1-1-1-7-3-1-4-22-10-8
- counting 11 years back from Hall: 10-22-6/15/21-17*-25-14-22-15-13-17-13 (7 picks higher than PIT's best pre-build pick)

*traded away.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Major Major

I don't think Stamkos, Kadri or Huberdeau make good comparables because they are elite point producers. Point, sure. I'll give you that one. Connor McDavid is like Brayden Point... You know, without any winning or playoff success. And with a worse contract.

It’s funny because Kadri isn’t even the 1C on his team and neither is Huberdeau of course (who has an elite 2 way C on his team named Barkov).

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

IMO a key takeaway from EDM's continued failures should be how impressive Crosby and PIT's feats really were...it's hard to say that their supporting cast [from cup #1] was any better than what EDM has had at their disposal.

PIT: 5-1-2-1-2-20-29*-30-20-23-8
- highest pick in 11 years prior to Whitney was 16OA in 1991)
vs.
EDM: 1-1-1-7-3-1-4-22-10-8
- counting 11 years back from Hall: 10-22-6/15/21-17*-25-14-22-15-13-17-13 (7 picks higher than PIT's best pre-build pick)

*traded away.

They did have goaltending and Letang. And Schultz LOL.

[krynski]

Tippett was the "5th" ranked HC to start the season, according to The Hockey Writers' Colton Pankiw:

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-top-10-coaches/

If they can not succeed with a "5th ranked" HC, I wonder how it will go under a new coach long term.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by krynski

Tippett was the "5th" ranked HC to start the season, according to The Hockey Writers' Colton Pankiw:

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-top-10-coaches/

If they can not succeed with a "5th ranked" HC, I wonder how it will go under a new coach long term.

man the Flames would be doing so much better if we had a top 10 coach (or top 10 LW for that matter). oh well

[drewtastic]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Looking at last night's game, did anything change under Woodcroft? He still leaned on the same players and gave them more ice time than they probably should have had. It's going to be the same thing in short order, because the Oilers only have two quality players that can score. The coach will have no option but to use the same tactics that failed with the four guys before him.

To be fair, he gave his middle lines more time than has been the case overall this season (Ryan & Yamamoto especially) and the Fun Twins’ time was way closer to 20 minutes than 30 minutes…

Was this due to PK time/other assignments? Or is he actually trying to, like, you know, involve all his forwards more…?

(Either way, I give it two more games, tops.)

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

They did have goaltending and Letang. And Schultz LOL.

Yup, though of course MAF was one of their 1sts. EDM thought they had a goalie in Dubnyk (and they did), but they mismanaged the team so badly that they turned him into nothing at all.


Letang freed them up to trade Whitney for Kunitz, which could have been considered a bit of a reverse Hallarsson deal at the time.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by Pointman

They need someone who knows about winning. Brian Burke would be a good fit. Or Jay Feaster.

Brian Burke hates the Oilers, they can back up a brinks truck to Burke's house and he would yell at them " GTFO my lawn!"

[FlamesAddiction]

A good coach can only do so much. They might be the best coach in the world, but if the players and leaders on the team refuse to buy in and are essentially uncoachable, it doesn't matter.

Maybe Woodcroft is the Oiler whisperer that they have been looking for and he can get through to them, but I think the failure of the previous coaches show that the x's and o's don't matter for the Oilers.

I almost feel sorry for Woodcroft. This could be a career killer for him. I wonder if Gulutzan was the original guy they were going to promote, and he was like thanks but no. One more HC failure for him and he will never get another chance.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Brian Burke hates the Oilers, they can back up a brinks truck to Burke's house and he would yell at them " GTFO my lawn!"

Especially hates Lowe.