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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Oilers vs. Blackhawks

Oilers lost the last game against Montreal because Koskinen let in some easy ones.

Latest lines...

Lucic - McDavid - Rattie
Rieder - Draisaitl - Chiasson
Khaira - Nugent-Hopkins - Kassian
Malone - Brodziak - Puljujarvi

Are you kidding me? Malone has a career of -29. He should not be in the NHL.

Putting Lucic with McD is going to backfire!

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Russell
Gravel - Benning

This defense is the best we can do until we replace Gravel with Bouchard.

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Bouchard
Russell - Benning

Put Lucic on the 4th line and get rid of Brodziak (-12)….

Benson - McD - Rattie
Rieder - Draisaitl - Chiasson
Khaira - RNH - Kassian
Lucic - Brodziak - Pulju (-12)

Lucic could be useful if he played like Craig Simpson standing in front of the net, screening the goalie the the whole game.

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Blackhawks 6 Oilers 2

Oilers are definitely not making the playoffs this year even though they are still miraculously only 2 games back after losing tonight. The players know the team is not good enough. The team needs to be blown up! Bob Nicholson last year in an interview said, "I will not blow the team up!" That's exactly what he should have done was blow the team up! He is still not willing to blow the team up showing Nicholson needs to be let go.

The players are exhausted by their failures, or rather, the failings of Peter Chiarelli and Bob Nicholson for hiring him. Because Bob Nicholson is not being fired, along with Peter Chiarelli whom he hired, the players don't want to play for this group of management (old boys club of MacTavish and Lowe). Not until Nicholson is fired, along with MacTavish and Lowe, will the Oilers have a future. The aura of having them around for so many years is bringing the Oilers down.

The goalies are not that bad, but they are getting beat badly because the defense perpetually sucks. Once Connor and Draisaitl, in the run for the scoring title, get their two points on the night they take it easy. It's exhausting to try to get that 3rd point. Nobody else on the team can contribute besides McD and Draisaitl.

The solution is obvious: get rid of everyone who is showing extremely negative +/-. Puljujarvi is now -13, Brodziak is -12, and Lucic is -9. Get rid of these players for starters. By the way Lucic did nothing all night, again, as usual. He is slowing McDavid down. Bench Lucic, Brodziak and Pulju. Anyone can do better than them. It's amazing how incompetent the Oilers management is that they can't see how long, lanky and uncoordinated Pulju is, how slow and old Brodziak is, and what a demented sasquatch Lucic is. What does Lucic care? He is getting paid $6 million a year for 7 years. He has other interests than hockey.

After being up 2-1 Oilers gave up 5 unanswered goals.

Heads will roll!

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Latest lines...

Rieder - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - Nugent-Hopkins - Chiasson
Malone - Brodziak - Kassian
Cave - Khaira - Puljujarvi

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Russell
Gravel - Benning
Manning - Petrovic

During the break Ken Hitchcock sought out advice about what to do with the Oilers. One of the things given was not to keep changing the lines. But that exactly what he did, changing them up all over the place. Funny.

Lucic does not belong on the 2nd line. He is a 4th liner at best as a brawler. The lines should be...

RNH - McDavid - Draisaitl
Rieder - Khaira - Chiasson
Malone - Cave - Kassian
Lucic - Brodziak - Puljujarvi

If nothing is working for the Oilers at least support the top 3 players vying for the Art Ross Trophy by placing them on the same line. This is the one thing the coaches have never tried.

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Oilers vs Wild

So much for 3 lines centered by the top 3 players; at least we know Oilers don't play well that strategy. Old man Brodziak is finally out of the line-up. I have been calling for this since he was first acquired. I predict the Oilers do really well tonight because Brodziak (-12) is out!

Rieder - McDavid - Draisaitl
Lucic - RNH - Chiasson
Rattie - Khaira - Pulju
Cave - Malone - Kassian

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Russell
Manning - Benning

Gravel, Petrovic, and Manning are all the same to me.

Basically this is as good as the Oilers can get, and no injuries, until they start making some traders.

I think the Oilers should throw a hail Mary and do this...

RNH - McD - Draisaitl (this is like having a free power play ever few minutes)
Rattie - Khaira - Chiasson
Rieder - Malone - Kassian
Lucic (-9) - Cave - Pulju (-13)

We got rid of the -12 player Brodziak. Yea!!!

While it may look like Ken Hitchcock cares about +/- now for the first time in his career by getting rid of Brodziak, he still doesn't understand that Lucic has to go to the bottom line (not the 2nd line), along with Pulju (not the 3rd), and severely limit their minutes. Numbers matter!