Let’s get this Draisait/Tychkowski business out of the way first.
No doubt you’ve probably already heard about the little post-game tete-a-tete between the reigning NHL MVP and Post Media writer Rob Tychkowski, a man noted for his own sarcastic nature. But If you haven’t heard it, check it out below.
Correct answer from Leon https://t.co/KVH4VwI11e
— Ray Ferraro (@rayferraro21) March 4, 2021
So, now that you’ve had a moment to digest that, I can give you my thoughts.
I get that both men have a job to do and that was an especially testy time. We also know that Coach Tippett has been giving some short answers lately in his pressers and I wonder if the temperature had just gotten too hot with these losses and the players not really giving great responses to the questions asked lately.
That said, the journalist is the one with the power to dictate how his portion of the avail will go. Tychkowski first asked a pretty vanilla question and got an appropriate response, I feel. Not satisfied and I assume feeling slighted for some reason, his ego took over and he decided to get a little testier with his next question that was obviously akin to him jabbing his finger into Draisaitl’s chest and demanding a proper answer… Well, in response Leon gave him a finger of his own and sent him on his way.
The big mistake Tychkowski made was allowing Leon to have the final word because he took the chance to make the veteran Oilers beat writer look like a complete asshole and in my opinion, rightfully so.
It was an immature question to ask at that time. Tychkowski knows it, but he also knows that whatever the answer returned, he could turn that into clicks and views. Also, the spotlight is on him today… So congratulations to his ego. Job well done.
I hope that more Oilers come out and give it back to the journalists in that city. It’s been a while, on the other hand, I’d love to hear the journos make these avails a bit harder for the Oilers coaches and GM.
Let’s make these post-gamers moderately interesting, at least.
Moving on to the losses.
I’m just going to go in point form here because it’s past me bedtime and I want to have this posted whilst I slumber.
- I don’t think Toronto is this good nor do I think the Oilers are this bad. For the love of Christ, the Maple Leafs lost to the Senators when Ottawa was playing like dog shit.
- There were times in all three games where Edmonton really took it to the Buds and all Toronto could do was sit there and watch it all happen before their eyes and hope they didn’t let a goal in. Which they didn’t.
- That tells me there’s not some galactic divide in the talent between these two clubs and how different would this game have been if the Oilers would’ve had a more skilled physical presence in the lineup? If injuries don’t befell the team by the end of this month, we’re sure to find out.
- Besides, there’s not another team in the division with the playing personnel to replicate what the Leafs have. So I’m not worried about the rest of the division.
- Edmonton didn’t adapt from the first game last weekend to the one last night and made the Leafs’ job way to easy. The big question should be, why didn’t Tippett or Playfair change things up?
- This 3-game demolishing was an outstanding learning experience for the club, the coaching staff, and Connor McDavid.
- We found out how Connor can be stopped and how Dave Tippett needs to learn to adapt. This is twice now that he’s been outcoached and failed to change up his game plan from the first game to the final game in the series.
- Did you catch Dave Tippett questioning his team’s compete after the game? I wonder where his compete was?
- Where’s all the support for having four puck-movers in the lineup every night on Edmonton’s blue line?
- Collectively over the three games, Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones might’ve been Edmonton’s worst d-men and Ironically, Adam Larsson was the team’s best. So, don’t tell me there’s no such thing as a sophomore slump because Bear and Jones are right in the middle of one.
- It wouldn’t shock me one bit if one or both were traded. Analytics be damned.
- The absence of William Lagesson was certainly felt against Toronto. The Maple Leafs skilled players toyed with the Oilers’ skilled defenders.
- Not that it was all bad, I can say that some of the passes out of Edmonton’s zone were prettier than normal.
- Last night’s game was missing the physicality of Alex Chiasson and Patrick Russell as well. Joakim Nygard was okay (I guess), but the bottom-six wasn’t nearly as effective as in previous evenings.
- Does anybody know what Puljujarvi did to earn himself an extended rest last night? 10 minutes of TOI… Tyler Ennis had 15 and I didn’t even really notice him all night long.
- I’m not pissed at the goaltending. I knew from last season that the success of the netminders on this team is directly correlated to how well the skaters play defense in front of them. If the blueliners and forwards don’t crack down in their own end, they leave Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith very little help.
- I know Jim Matheson brought up Zach Hyman and Adam Lowry (both UFAs this summer) on Twitter after the game and I think they would be outstanding additions to this Edmonton team. Maybe Holland would have to bite the bullet to bring them in though…
- The Oilers haven’t had a player like Hyman since Ryan Smyth retired and don’t even ask me when they had a Lowry-type, but if they found a way to add those two and a no.1 goalie before next season, I’m thinking that would be a big help going forward if just from a compete and character point-of-view.
The Oilers are 10-5-0 in their last 15 and I know for a fact that every GM, coach, player, and fan would take four of those stretches this year with no questions asked. So, maybe we should look at the bigger picture here. Things aren’t as bad nor are they as good as the media says…
Don’t forget, it was just a week ago when Mark Spector and Bob Stauffer were singing the praises of this team’s amazing depth and all the scoring it was doing… Now I won’t be surprised if they spend this week talking about roster moves and what happened to it all…
Point being, this season is going to be a roller coaster in almost every facet. So, don’t get caught up in a few losses or a stretch of wins and definitely don’t be making any proclamations you’d stake your mortgage on… Just buckle up and enjoy the ride.
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