Oilers!

[Devlin]

Habs. They are the cure for all ills in other teams.

[30ranfordfan]

4 wins in a row.... 2 points out of a playoff spot.

[30ranfordfan]

Back to being awful. Dave Tippett now looking for work.

[mooneyes]

So I gather the Oiler's are an inconsistent team?
Sometimes their 2 all-world offensive players get on a roll and carry an average group to some wins, and other times, they can't. Go figure.
They need much better role players including veterans like the Penguins provided for Crosby and Malkin. Plus a goalie who can steal some games. Holland got them...Evander Kane.
Fire the coach!

[30ranfordfan]

So I gather the Oiler's are an inconsistent team?
Sometimes their 2 all-world offensive players get on a roll and carry an average group to some wins, and other times, they can't. Go figure.
They need much better role players including veterans like the Penguins provided for Crosby and Malkin. Plus a goalie who can steal some games. Holland got them...Evander Kane.
Fire the coach!

Kane has 4 points in 5 games. He's playing physical. He cost nothing. He also pushed 10 other guys down on the depth chat, and they should be able to run with RNH as their 3C going forward. I will criticize Holland for a lot, but signing Kane wasn't a bad move.

They've changed over roll players annually - but it doesn't seem to matter who is making the moves, this team can't get it right.

Two straight summers they've gone into the offseason looking to make a goalie move... it's been obvious since year one of Smith & Koskinen that the combo isn't good enough. Two straight summers that Plan A didn't work out (Jacob Markstrom, and then Darcy Kuemper) and two straight summers were they didn't have a Play B - so they just stuck with the status quo.

When they lost that play in series to Chicago - that should have been enough to get Tippett fired.... but they had an okay regular season, and I suppose the bubble meant any post season failures needed to be taken with a grain of salt. How often the coaching carousel has turned in Edmonton over the last decade also likely bought him a lot of slack.

Last season? They were good in the regular season, and (as we all remember) flopped in the playoffs. If they didn't make it out of the first round this year, he was a goner (and I suspect Woodcroft was always in the plans for a promotion).

Tippett has been mediocre, at best. His only strategy seems to be having the two best players in the world drag them to victories. This season is quickly going down the gutter, and that can't happen.

The same goalie tandem & a weaker defense than they had last year are bigger problems than the coach.... but there's no way the Oilers are going to deal for a pair of (improved) depth forwards, a pair of top-4 dmen, and a goalie during the season. Giving him the axe, and hoping that lights a fire under the players - aside from Evander Kane & a single trade - it's the only impact move they have to make.

With the coaching change, I have to assume a panic buy for a goalie is coming next. I welcome it. Trade the 1st. Trade a top prospect. Trade multiple prospects. Trade a young roster player. If they can bring in an (affordable) star goalie for the medium term, just get it over with and do it. Failing that - trade Koskinen and a pick (and/or prospect) and make a lateral move, just for the sake of doing something.

[30ranfordfan]

Brad Malone signs with the big club! #depth