Edmonton Oilers Talk: “…a roster shakeup seems like a more logical next step.” Says Leavins

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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The Athletic

Fire the coach? Make a trade? Exploring how the Oilers can get back on track

The Oilers can make plenty of excuses if they want. Some, if not all, have their merits. They lost every regular left-handed defenceman for a spell due to injuries. They ran into a tough stretch with COVID-19 absences. Their presumptive No. 1 goaltender heading into the season has made five starts in 32 games.
To be clear, canning Tippett doesn’t appear to be under consideration. I haven’t heard it, anyway.
But the Oilers also have a 1-7 record in the playoffs and a minus-10 goal differential this season under his (Tippett’s) watch. The team seems to be getting worse, which is a huge problem given all the money and long-term contracts handed out in the offseason.
Tippett is in the final season of his contract, too, which makes a potential firing easier. Should there be a change, Holland could look outside the organization, but the in-house candidates would be highlighted by two-time NHL coach Glen Gulutzan and AHL bench boss Jay Woodcroft, a former big-league assistant.
One thing working in Tippett’s favour: Coaches typically get the benefit of a trade to spark the team before being handed a pink slip.
The blue line needs to be augmented, but it’s hard to see how that’ll happen. Six of the seven regular defencemen are under contract for next season.
They need at least one upgrade at top-nine forward and maybe two, and that was before Nugent-Hopkins got hurt.

BLH’s Thoughts: So here’s another pundit bringing up a job-saving trade for a guy that has a contract expiring in the summer… Would it make a lot of sense to alter the team’s plan for somebody who might not be coming back next year?

Reid Wilkins was saying in one of the post-gamers over the weekend that the Oilers need a defensemen and TWO forwards…

In addition to a goaltender, that mountain might be too steep to climb for Ken Holland unless he plans on unloading some serious assets like Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, Broberg, Bouchard, and Bourgault.

Moving that kind of talent would be daft… I’ll just say that.

The most cost-effective move if things don’t improve is a coaching change. It’s that simple. What happened in the past happened in the past. Those teams didn’t have the kind of talent and depth that this one does.

The Cult of Hockey

The Edmonton Oilers slide down the standings requires some context: 9 Things

It is fair to assume that not everyone connected to the Oilers organization was enamoured with the Dmitri Samorukov benching. There were cap reasons for Samorukov being in that spot to begin with. But the short fuse with the rookie (who, to be clear, was certainly not good that night) seems to speak to a bigger concern with this staff when it comes to the kids. More on that to come.
Injuries and COVID have been factors beyond the coaching staff’s control. The Defence was plundered. At one point the entire left side was out. The intended “starting 6” has only been back together the last 2 games. Does anybody know what they really have until this group gets fully back up and running?
Yes, Mike Smith’s health is a going concern. And if they can’t count on him to start 2 out of every 3 games, it’s a problem.
…the staff can’t avoid their fair share of blame. Part of the issue I see is the confluence of Dave Tippett and Jim Playfair being in their contract years and the consensus within the organization to “win now”. These 2 coaches are hard-wired to prefer veterans.
Another part of the problem in this rather frayed environment right now is all of the losing that came before the current administration… Ken Holland and Dave Tippett have only been on the job for 160 games. That’s about 2 “normal” seasons worth of games, and in highly unusual times and circumstances. Over that time the club has played at a 97-point pace. In a normal year that is a Top-14 result. That’s a playoff team. Not great, no. But surely not a fire-able offence, either.
I do not get the sense from the people I talk to that Dave has lost the room. That would be a whole different pickle.
In fact, a roster shakeup seems like a more logical next step. Because while we might not all agree on the “what”, something needs to give.

BLH’s Thoughts: So we’ve got our THIRD pundit calling for a trade… Pretty original. That said, it’ll set up articles for the week…

When Tippett was out due to COVID and Gulutzan and Playfair were coaching, there was a definite change in work rate and tenacity with the team’s weakest roster since the H.O.P.E days. When he returned, the lackluster starts and easy to compete against on-ice attitude came back too… If that doesn’t speak to a team that doesn’t have faith in its coach, I don’t know what does.

The Daily Goal Horn

“Ben Chiarot is going to be a very popular player on the teams that will make the playoffs,” Pierre LeBrun said on RDS. “According to my information, the Florida Panthers are interested in Ben Chiarot on their roster for the March 21 deadline.”
“Toffoli has two years left under contract after this one and he hardly fits in the guaranteed-to-be-traded category like, say, pending unrestricted free agent Ben Chiarot,” Engels wrote. “He’s a player who helps get you to the playoffs and helps get you through them, so you have to think teams making a push for the playoffs—and Cup contenders—will be interested.”
“Chris Drury has been looking for a forward to play top 9 or top six for weeks, if not months,” Darren Dreger said on TSN OverDrive. “Nothing is happening. That may speak to the parity, and we are a long way from who is a playoff team and who isn’t.”