Edmonton Oilers fire head coach Eakins

[theboxbreaker96]

I think that the whole management is flawed starting from the top. Eakins was flawed from the beginning with bad goalies and weak defense.

I don't see where trading Hall, Ebs, RNH would help this team. They really need to build around them as they are all top players. I think Yakupov will have a hard time playing up to his potential in Edm. If they trade a young guy it should be him.

With that said I would love for the Pens to trade for Yakupov. What do you EDM fans think it would take for that to happen?

[RGM81]

I think that the whole management is flawed starting from the top. Eakins was flawed from the beginning with bad goalies and weak defense.

I don't see where trading Hall, Ebs, RNH would help this team. They really need to build around them as they are all top players. I think Yakupov will have a hard time playing up to his potential in Edm. If they trade a young guy it should be him.

With that said I would love for the Pens to trade for Yakupov. What do you EDM fans think it would take for that to happen?

The two bolded parts there - the latter is what you do to address the former. In order to get you gotta give. Those three guys, all first round picks, are guys that can bring back a solid return. At a minimum you aim to get a legit #1 goalie...you're not going to get a Quick, a Price, or a Rask, but maybe you get a Kuemper or a Jake Allen, someone that can legitimately play the majority of your team's games and give you an opportunity to win more often than not. At present, Scrivens and Fasth aren't up to snuff. So you deal from a position of strength to address a position of weakness. Maybe packaging two of those guys does get you a real top ten goalie.

A team in this position has to do something drastic. You can't tinker around the edges and expect significant change.

[30ranfordfan]

That's pretty much it.

Everyone points at the Oilers and scream "defense" and "goaltending" as the things they lack. I don't think it's quite that simple (the group of forwards, specifically their centres, are deeply flawed... but I digress).

I was one that had supported the idea of letting Dubnyk be the #1 guy, and two years ago he looked "okay". Not great, but not bad. Certainly not a disaster. Yes... it was the lockout shortened season... but his GAA & SV% were both decent. Then last year hit, and he fell apart (along with Labarbera) and the Oilers have had 6 different guys start games for them last year. This wasn't due to injury... this was due to the pace they signed, traded, and cut goalies last year. Two of them (Fasth & Scrivens) came back this year, but I can't imagine last very long.

But how well can your goalies do, when your defense corps is a joke?? The answer is "not very well".

I look at the Oilers Blue Line (TOI) from their recent game against Arizona (that went to OT):

Schultz: 23:03 (20:38EV)
Ference: 22:50 (18:54EV)
Hunt: 22:19 (19:49EV)
Petry: 22:08 (18:36EV)
Fayne: 19:18 (14:16EV)
Davidson: 18:23 (14:05EV)

Look at that group. There is one guy that I *MIGHT* be comfortable giving "first pairing" minutes to. That's Jeff Petry... and I'm only comfortable with that, if the other guy paired with him is far and away better. If he's the parter for a guy like Ryan Suter, that's great. Heck - I wouldn't have a problem with Petry and a guy like Phaneuf being at the top of the chart.

Fayne & Schultz would be an okay 2nd Pairing in my mind... though I'm even skeptical of that. If the Oilers had two dmen that instantly moved everyone else down the depth charts... one of these guys with Petry would make for a good 2nd pair.

Ference, as a 3rd pairing guy, is fine IMO. Anything more (in more than a short time span) and you're asking too much out of him.

Davidson & Hunt shouldn't be on an NHL roster, and anyone who's watch the Oilers this year knows that.

They do have Martin Marcinian, Oscar Klefboom, & Darnell Nurse in the pipeline (why Marcinian is in the minors right now... in favor of Davidson or Hunt is beyond me). Nikitia Nikkianen is a disaster (but currently injured) and should be bought out a the end of the year. Turns out paying 4.5 million for Columbus' 7th dman was a bad idea. Keith Aulie is also hanging around the big club right now, but I would assume when he's sent to the minors again.... there will be no takers.

So the Oilers actually have 3 decent guys moving along (Marcinian, Klefboom, Nurse) that I can see being part of an effective NHL blueline in the near future. They might even have a couple of other pieces kicking around to augment them. The problem is they lack anyone to LEAD that blueline. Someone to be the guy back there for the short and even medium term. I'm talking about a guy that is in the top 10-15 dmen in the league (preferably top 5) that can anchor your back end for 3-5 years.

How do you get that top end dman?? You find a team that already has one (or two) that feels they can afford to move him for the right package... and you know that the right package is going to cost you at least one of those forwards.


Hypothetically speaking..... the Oilers end up with the 1st overall pick again this year. They have the ability to select McDavid. If the decision is made to move forward thinking that McDavid is your "top line centre" (even if he isn't right away) and the Draisitle is the 2nd liner (again, even if he isn't right away) then RNH is not a guy you can move. Would RNH + Eberle get you Weber + Something else (preferably another NHL caliber center... with a contract of 3 years and he's between 27-30) ?? IMO it probably does not, but that's the kind of deal they have to start thinking about.


Fix the blueline, and I think the goaltending instantly becomes a bit better.... and if they went out and signed a real one, that might be a good idea too.

The two bolded parts there - the latter is what you do to address the former. In order to get you gotta give. Those three guys, all first round picks, are guys that can bring back a solid return. At a minimum you aim to get a legit #1 goalie...you're not going to get a Quick, a Price, or a Rask, but maybe you get a Kuemper or a Jake Allen, someone that can legitimately play the majority of your team's games and give you an opportunity to win more often than not. At present, Scrivens and Fasth aren't up to snuff. So you deal from a position of strength to address a position of weakness. Maybe packaging two of those guys does get you a real top ten goalie.

A team in this position has to do something drastic. You can't tinker around the edges and expect significant change.

[notoriousrob101]

Edmonton needs another young forward like a hole in the head (McDavid/Eichel). If/when they get the top pick it better be used to make a smart trade along with Eberle/Yakupov. If the Canucks can turn it around the next season then Edmonton should be able to, especially since they have some good trait bait. As mentioned before management in Edmonton needs to leave.