ON Blogger Ponders, “Would it be an upgrade to bring in Mike Babcock? Torts?”

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The Hockey Writers

5 Troubling Stats From Oilers’ 5 Game Losing Streak

Edmonton has surrendered the first goal in 14 of its last 17 games, going back to Nov. 5, which is two moreover that stretch than the next closest team, the Arizona Coyotes, who sit at the very bottom of the overall NHL standings.
The Oilers have not held the lead for even as much as a single second during their losing streak. Over those 300 minutes of hockey, Edmonton has been tied for 44:01 (15 percent of the time) and trailed for 255:59 (85 percent).
In the last four games, Draisatil has gone without a point three times, while McDavid has been pointless twice. In two of those games (against Carolina and Los Angeles), both players failed to record a goal or an assist.
In the last four games, Edmonton has just five goals total and scored more than one goal only once. This after the Oilers had scored at least twice in 21 of their first 22 games.
Edmonton has since gone 2/14 (14.3 percent) with the man-advantage and a ghastly 6/12 (50 percent) on the PK in losing four in a row at Rogers Place. After being scored on while shorthanded in only six of their first 22 outings, the Oilers have allowed at least one power-play goal in four consecutive games.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, I know it’s shocking to find this out, but when a team is mired in a 5-game losing streak, they tend not to produce at the rate of a team on a 5-game winning streak. In fact, more often than not, on the stat sheets they’ll look like like a lottery team…

So none of that information above should be a shock to anybody.

Oilersnation

Random Thoughts: The Losing Streak, Firing Dave Tippett, Brendan Perlini, and more

But as much as the lack of goal-scoring is undoubtedly an issue, the bigger problem I have is that the Oilers aren’t playing with any passion or grit in their game…
…something needs to change immediately before the Oilers piss away all of the goodwill they built for themselves with the 9-1 start to the year.
…even if Tippett does get fired, who would Holland choose as the replacement? While I think that Jay Woodcroft probably deserves a look based on his work down on the farm, I just wouldn’t bet against Holland going back to the well and bringing in a guy that’s been recycled and spit out at least a time or two at the NHL level. Would it be an upgrade to bring in Mike Babcock? Torts? Some other variation of the same 10 names we’ve seen over and over again?
Brendan Perlini hit the waiver wire Tuesday morning to clear space for Devin Shore… seeing his name on the waiver wire was almost a little bit sad because of the high hopes we had for the guy after he lit up the pre-season like the second coming of Ty Rattie.

BLH’s Thoughts: For what it’s worth, the goodwill of that 9-1-0 start has already been pissed away considering the team has gone from first in the conference to clinging to a wildcard spot in a matter of a weeks.

To put it in perspective, should the Oilers lose to Toronto on Tuesday and Vegas, Winnipeg, and/or San Jose beat their opponents, the Oilers could drop to tenth in the Western Conference… Maybe instead of getting jacked up to go to the Winter Olympics in China, the boys should take the time to recover from Tippett’s early season whippings…

Tell ya what, the Oilers “give a shit” meter has been much higher against the better teams than the shite ones. So I don’t know what games baggedmilk has been watching recently, but the only thing missing from Edmonton’s last three performances has been the goals and in my mind, once the IR becomes a little less congested, a full roster with that kind of effort will be rewarded with goals.

Are we sure Woodcroft is the next great coach to graduate out of the AHL? Do you get that Jon Cooper feel from him? Bakersfield isn’t hitting it out of the park this year either but considering their starting goalie, their best dmen are in Edmonton and the fact that only their AHL vets are scoring, I suppose one could understand the struggles.

I reckon when Holland decides on his next bench boss, he’ll be looking for candidates that have coached a team to the Cup final or won an NHL championship. I still have a feeling Joel Quenneville’s name will come up when the time comes but Mike Babcock and John Tortorella have Cups on their resume’s too…

The Daily Goal Horn

“In addition to Strome, there is a defenseman on this club who’s in the final year of his contract in Calvin de Haan,” Pagnotta said. “For teams looking to shore up their blueline and bring in somebody that can stabilize that backend, Calvin de Haan is going to be a player that a lot of teams are going to be looking at closer to that deadline.”
Apparently, the Stars are looking to move 2020 playoff hero Anton Khudobin instead. That will keep Holtby with the young, Jake Oettinger.
Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek noted Toffoli, Gallagher, Mike Hoffman, and Ben Chariot as all top candidates to be traded by Montreal.