Edmonton Oilers are Beating a Dead Horse Not Caring About +/-. Blame the Old Boys!

[Parture]

I could guarantee the Oilers make the playoffs if I was given a temporary contract as General Manager for the rest of this season. The "Chiarelli surcharge" has destroyed the Oilers.

Edmonton vs Detroit (lowest ranked team in the NHL)

Projected lines...

RNH - McDavid - Puljujarvi
Khaira - Draisaitl - Chiasson
Lucic - Brodziak - Kassian
Spooner - Cave - Yamamoto

Nurse - Larsson
Russell - Benning
Manning - Petrovic

Switching Talbot and Koskinen when one is not playing well seems to work. Hopefully, it gets the better out of them. It rewards the goalie with more games if he is performing.

I don't mind punishing Draisaitl, by not putting him on the line with McD, because of his laziness defensively that cost Oilers last game. Once he gets his act together he can rejoin McDavid. Out of desperation I would put Draisaitl, McD and RNH on the top line together. That would be something to see at least for a few games. The other 3 lines can focus on better defense.

I would not play Spooner since he is on waivers and because he sucks. His +/- every year is so bad. I would have kept Rattie to replace Spooner.

I agree with Nurse and Larsson together because last season they were +25 combined. Do not deviate from this. They were an impregnable wall. Larsson could not play with Caleb Jones (-9 in 17 games) because Jones made so many mistakes. Caleb cost the Oilers so many games. That was a very costly error by Chiarelli. And there was no reason to bring him up in the first place. His stats didn't warrant it in Bakersfield.

Manning and Petrovic should be allocated very few minutes. If you were going to acquire these players you might have instead put Bouchard on the 2nd line with Klefbom for an offensive 2nd line pairing, and Russell and Benning on the 3rd pairing. Russell and Benning should never play the 2nd pairing. That's too much pressure for them. They play great together as a 3rd pairing.

Switching RNH and Draisaitl with McD is a good strategy when Draisaitl is in lazy mode. There is no denying that Chiasson has good size and produces with McD so I can't understand why they put Puljujarvi on with McD. Puljujarvi is a hopeless case: he's long, lanky and clutzy. He is not coordinated. Everything is happening too fast for him to process. He needs to be traded.

Prioritize what must be done. Get rid of these players first because they are costing the Oilers the most (someone has to make up for them)....

Brodziak -13 (old man)
Puljujarvi -12 (clutzy)
Lucic -9 (demented sasquatch)

The lines should be as follows (do not play Brodziak ever, his slowness, like Letestu, has cost Oilers too many games)...

RNH - McD - Chiasson
Rieder - Draisaitl - Rattie
Kassian - Khaira - Yamamoto
Lucic - Cave - Puljujarvi

The players that are costing the Oilers most should be put on the 4th line and given very few minutes. When they do get some ice time they have to fight 110%.

Nurse - Larsson
Klefbom - Bouchard
Russell - Benning

Yes, it is true, Bouchard is not ready, but he is needed on the power play with Klefbom, McD, Draisaitl, and RNH. Front load this this line!

[Parture]

Detroit's 1st goal - Russell was backing up way too much, practically standing in the goalie crease instead of taking his man at the blue line. Anyone could do what he did.

Detroit's 2nd goal - RNH turned over the puck. This is why RNH has a lowsy +/- career of -37. Only one person needed to cover the player handling the puck. RNH was caught flat footed and should have been covering the other player.

Petrovic was in on the play and didn't cover the rushing Detroit player on the other side. He was behind the play. Petrovic has not had a positive +/- year in 4 seasons and has 2 assists, no goals, in the last 31 games. In 5 years he has a total of 5 goals. Remind me why he is on the Oilers? A defenseman is suppose to be between the opposing player and our goalie, not on one end Petrovic and Koskinen on the other, and the Detroit player sandwiched in between.

The only line that works is Draisaitl, McD, and Chiasson, but Ken Hitchcock for some unknown reason dismantled them. For starters, stop doing that. Dummy! Hitchcock is showing he is no better than Todd McLellan. Todd must be laughing his ass off watching Ken change all the lines around in a chaotic frenzy because that is what he use to do in panic mode. Faith is having confidence in what works even when it is not working. Trust that Draisaitl, McD and Chiasson will work together.

Detroit's 3rd goal - Manning did not take his man, and Koskinen let an easy one in. Manning is -29 in the last 4 years with 4 points in the last 34 games. Not sure why he is on the team. He is the bottom of the barrel type player.

With 30 seconds left Oilers did not pull the goalie, down by one goal.

[Parture]

Peter Chiarelli just got fired from the guy who hired him, Bob Nicholson. Nicholson should have been fired as well. But who hired Nicholson? If it was primarily Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish then they should have been fired as well. The old boys are so entrenched why would they be willing to give up their multi-million dollar salaries? Ultimately it comes down to Darryl Allan Katz who needs to fire the lot. It all works out in the end. If Darryl A. Katz is not willing to get rid of the source of the problem, his profit margins drop, and that's fine by me. If he was smart he would hire me temporarily on contract as manager to lead the team to the playoffs. These are not hard decisions. They only become hard when you are married to the problem.

"We have to find out answers of how we can make this team better to make the playoffs but I emphasize again, we're not going to give away the future," Nicholson said.
Edmonton has three former NHL general managers working in its front office. Oilers vice chair and alternate governor Kevin Lowe was the GM from June 9, 2000 to July 31, 2008; MacTavish, the senior vice president of hockey operations, was GM from April 15, 2013 to April 24, 2015; and Scott Howson, the vice president player development, was GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets from June 15, 2007 to Feb. 12, 2013.

That's the answer, get rid of MacTavish, Lowe and Howson. They are the old boys who failed at their job as managers. Columbus under Howson failed to make the playoffs every season. He should be fired with MacT and Lowe. They are all incompetent. Their numbers speak for themselves.

https://www.nhl.com/news/edmonton-fi...li/c-304163754

How do we get rid of Milan Lucic, Kyle Brodziak, Jesse Puljujarvi, Alexander Petrovic, Tobias Rieder, Brandon Manning, Zack Kassian, and Colby Cave in this order? This is the most important thing right now.

The lesson is in the draft don't always pick the best pick by consensus.

[Parture]

Blow Up the Team!

First Line

Who does better with Draisaitl and McD? Is it Chiasson or Rattie? Rattie will generate more points, but Chiasson has a better +/-. Therefore, the 1st line should be Draisaitl, McD, Chiasson. It is important never to change this line up to build chemistry, and the same goes for the rest of the lines.

Second Line

Oilers need to find better wingers to support RNH.

Third Line

Khaira plays better on the left than at center. To the right is Rattie. Find a decent 3rd line centerman.

Fourth Line

Oilers need to find a whole new 4th line.

Draisaitl - McD - Chiasson
??? - RNH - ???
Khaira - ??? - Rattie
??? - ??? - ???

To fill these spots, Oilers need to get rid of and/or trade for Brodziak, Lucic, Pulju, Rieder, Petrovic, Manning, Kassian, and Cave (trading these 8 players can be done!). Take the cap space generated from moving these players to fill these roles needed.

Defense

Emphasize to not get hurt. We cannot afford the defensemen to get injured. Better to back off a play if you think you will get hurt.

Nurse - Larsson (strong wall, +25 together last season, I still believe in them)
Klefbom - Bouchard (offensive defensemen)
Russell - Benning (limit their minutes, takes the pressure off; they do not belong on the 2nd line)

[Parture]

I just learned something today. Draisaitl purposefully plays lowsy when he centers his own line without McDavid. Therefore, I believe the solution is create at least 3 lines with McD, Draisaitl and RNH as their own centermen to produce a constant attack, no matter the line.

Oilers are 3 games behind the wild card. That means Oilers have to win 3 games and the teams currently in the wild card have to lose 3 games. This means Oilers have to go on a winning streak of at least 6 games to get into the wild card. Not likely! Don't think Oilers can make the playoffs, but they can start building for next year.

??? - McD - Chiasson
??? - Draisaitl - ???
Khaira - RNH - Rattie
??? - ??? - ???

Nurse - Larsson
Klefbom - Bouchard
Russell - Benning
??? - ???

Make lots of trades to fill these spots.

[Parture]

Nicholson hired Chiarelli a few days after he got fired from Boston and a couple days after McDavid was picked. This was not a comprehensive investigative search for a manager to get different perspectives from prospective coaches interviewed.

Nicholson is the problem.

[Parture]

Oilers need 4 full waves instead of front loading the top line.

??? - McD - Chiasson
??? - Draisaitl - ???
Khaira - RNH - Rattie
??? - ??? - ???

Nurse - Larsson
Klefbom - Bouchard
Russell - Benning
??? - ???

[Parture]

Most of what Oilers offer are weak players acquired by Peter Chiarelli with lousy +/-, e.g. Rieder -64 career. In his 6 NHL seasons, he has never had a positive +/-. You may get the perception he is getting better because the last two seasons he was almost positive. That's more wishful thinking than anything.

Latest lines...

Lucic (-9) - McD - Rattie
Rieder - Draisaitl - Chiasson
Khaira - RNH - Kassian (-6)
Cave - Brodziak (-13) - Pulju (-12)

Miraculously, we are going to resurrect Lucic. Not! Oilers need to play with the top 3 centermen on their own lines to create a constant source of attack. However, the one change I would make is get rid of Brodziak because he is killing the Oilers. Coby Cave also plays center. Brad Malone was recalled so put him on the 4th line with Cave and Pulju. Even better recall Patrick Russell (right wing) instead of Malone since Patrick has the best +/- on the Condors of +18. This is the kind of number Oilers need to acquire more of. At least give Patrick some respect by achieving +18. Besides...the 7 games Malone played for the Oilers, he generated no points. Nothing to get excited about.

Brodziak is soon to be 35 years old (slow), his career +/- is -51, and worst on the team at -13. He is not getting better any time soon, at least until he is resurrected. We rightly got rid of Letestu for the same reason.

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Russell
Manning - Benning
Gravel - Petrovic (-7)
Sekera

It looks like Gravel, Petrovic, and Manning are competing for the 6th slot on defense. That spurs healthy competition. Oilers do need to acquire a top quality defenseman or put Bouchard in the lineup.

Nurse - Larsson (impenetrable wall at the blue line)
Klefbom - Bouchard (offensive pairing, also good for power plays)
Russell - Benning (dependable 3rd pairing)

Russell should not be on the 2nd pairing. Anticipate he will be slowing down soon to be 32 years old.

Oilers are only two games back of the wild card. That means Oilers need to win 2 games and Colorado lose 2 games. And Oilers are going to prove it by having 3 lines instead of 1 line like Colorada front loaded with Rantanen, MacKinnon and Landeskog.

[Parture]

Philadelphia 5 Oilers 4

The lines for this game...

Lucic – McD – Rattie
Rieder – Draisaitl – Chiasson
Khaira – RNH – Kassian
Cave – Brodziak – Pulju


Russell – Nurse
Gravel – Larsson
Manning – Benning

Having 3 top centermen is going to be the key to success, because what it does is generate sufficient offense by supporting each line, giving each line an opportunity for success with a strong centerman. The only problem is that Pulju and Brodziak are having troubles playing a two-way game. Puljujarvi and Brodziak are at -12 each. Limit their ice-time.

The priority should be to trade Lucic, Pulju and Brodziak and find replacements.

[Parture]

Oilers vs. Canadians

Lucic - McD - Rattie
Rieder - Draisaitl - Chiasson
Khaira - RNH - Kassian
Malone - Brodziak - Pulju

This is a good setup because it spreads out the attack.

Nurse - Larsson (watch their +/- improve significantly now they are playing together)
Russell - Benning
Manning - Gravel (limit their minutes)

I still don't understand why they put Malone on the ice and not Patrick Russell? Russell has a +21 far exceeding any player on Bakersfield. Ken Hitchcock is not incentivizing players.