My choice for the next transition coach

Now hear me out. It’s a crazy idea and I’m just a Joe Blow with hopes and dreams for a team I love like the rest of you. No inside info here. 

The Oilers need a name that we know can get the best out of players. He’s vocal, he’s demanding, he expects hard work and grit. He knows how to win with marginal players and this current team isn’t marginal. 

Katz would sign off on this move 100%.  Ken Holland is more than familiar with him due to Team Canada connections. He was an integral part of the Oilers dynasty back in the day. 

That man? Craig MacTavish. 

He came back to the franchise as an assistant coach back in 1999-00, before he took over the reigns as the head coach in 2000-01. His last season was with the Oilers in 2008-09. The team was 38-35-9 for 88 points that year. Missing the playoffs in the last 3 seasons before he was fired April 15, 2009 with one year remaining on his deal. It was his 10th year coaching the fabled Oilers. He was a good coach and I enjoyed they way he ran the bench. MacT was always working with a limited roster due to money restraints from the Oilers Entertainment Group, so he was always working with a disadvantage. 

We all remember the cup run of 2006. But my reasons for wanting him as the next transitional coach isn’t because of that cup run, but it obviously helps. MacT was tough as nails. He expected the best out of his players and if he didn’t get it, they rode the pine. It was as simple as that. Play the system or don’t play at all. 

MacT was a breed of his own. He was an old school person but seemed to adapt to the newer NHL style, no matter what it was. He understood that he needed to adapt accordingly to the team(s) they faced. Play wide open, or play the trap. He did what was in the teams best interest to win games with the limited skill he had to deploy. If he had a better roster in those years, he could have done better then just the 2006 run and also what the stats for that 10 years suggest. 

He coached a few different versions of Team Canada and did pretty well. His last kick at the bucket was the 2019 Spengler cup where he lead the team to a gold medal. 

His year in the KHL wasn’t very good. Not sure the reasons for his departure, but his coach style simply didn’t translate well over there. 

If the Oilers fire Tippett soon, Craig MacTavish is the guy I would look at to finish off this season before a search for a new permanent coach takes place. He’s the most logical choice right now. He would be my go to guy so they don’t have to disturb the good things happening in Bakersfield. 

MacT is the stop gap. What do you think? 

The Edmonton Oilers were going to announce a signing...

 Collective eye roll...

AHL player Brad Malone. Not a joke.

Believe #LetsGoOilers are signing 32 y/o F Brad Malone to NHL contract. He’s currently on AHL deal with Bakersfield, with 19 points in 22 games.

His last NHL deal was with Oilers in 19-20, and last played NHL games in 18-19 (16 games with Oilers).https://t.co/n5GLOZYqlQ

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) January 21, 2022

In a season where disaster moves have plagued the Oilers, today after a 6-0 loss to the Panthers, this is the move that GM Ken Holland wants to make?

Bold move Ken. Bold move.

Malone hasn't played in the NHL since 2018-19. All time NHL stats are 199 GP, 13 G, 17 A, 30 P and 198 PM. What in the actual H E double hockey sticks is going on here? What will Malone bring to the team that will fix this mess? Absolutely nothing. 

At first when I seen the tweet, I thought it was a joke. I mean, it has to be right? But then the Oilers media picked up on it.

Malone tested positive for COVID...so he won't be signed for now...tough break for him.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) January 21, 2022

My understanding is, there won't be a Brad Malone signing at this time. Bakersfield has had some major COVID issues, that may prevent him from being available. I believe they had interest in bringing him in for bottom 6.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 21, 2022

Why sign Malone when Seth Griffith is lighting it up in Bakersfield? Copper Marody is crushing it too for the Condors. If this season is a bad dream, please wake us all up.

This tweet sums it up for me and I'm sure all of us.

If Brad Malone is the answer. I don't want to know the question.

— Oilers fans- "we are all pissy" (@heavyd12) January 21, 2022

Guess we can kill the Carey Price rumours

News filtered out today that Montreal Canadians netminder Carey Price won’t be back from injury anytime soon. 

After undergoing a substance abuse program before the season started, his progress on returning from injury has been slow at best. Most had figured after his offseason surgery that he would be ready for action sooner rather than later. But that’s not the case. 

Montreal Canadiens Vice President of communications Chantal Machabee today broke the bad news. 

Arpon Basu had the quote from her today. 

So there we have it Oiler fans. The chances of him starting rehab all over again and playing this year for any team except the Habs, is almost nil. 

Even with this heartbreaking news, it won’t stop fans from constantly bringing his name up over and over again. 

Hopefully we can all agree, it’s time to move on from this pipe dream. 

Finally the leaders of the team step up

Over a month ago before this skid turned into a train wreck, I had hoped the Oilers leadership group would hold a team meeting and work this out on their own. It was needed, and today, that meeting happened before practice. 

Entire practice after a few warmup drills have been battle drills. 1on1 2on1 2v2 - over and over. Pretty intense battles happening, Nurse setting a physical tone.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

The Oilers spent today going over battle drills. 2 on 1, 2 on 2 and 1 on 1. They made a conscious effort to really battle hard. At one point Koekkoek got a hard shoulder in on Sceviour and tempers boiled over. Sceviour smashed his stick over the boards in frustration. Which is good. This is exactly what the team needs today to move forward out of this slump. 

Oilers with some classic one on ones today. Nurse and McDavid had a great battle in one of the first run throughs. Both ended up on the ice after a good physical battle.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

Coach Tippett had this to say, "That's not something that I design, that's something that they design and that's the way they want it. To me, that's good leadership."

McDavid and Nurse battled hard against each other, then Draisaitl and Keith matched the intensity. It paved the way for the rest of the players and set the tone. 

Despite all the rage for firing coaches and trading for goalies, this is a very, very good sign for fans of the Oilers. All I can say, it’s about damn time! 

Koekkoek dropped a hard shoulder into Sceviour. Went over to apologize. Sceviour frustrated. Lots of battles and collisions so far today. pic.twitter.com/keF1dNX4We

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

***This is a must listen from Perlini. 

"Any team I've been on, when we've gone through streaks like this, usually the way out of it is practices like that & competing hard."

Perlini speaks following today's #Oilers skate. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/DM69gKps4U

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 17, 2022

The Kane saga takes a left turn

Tim Peel reported a bit ago that former Sharks forward Evander Kane will be signing with the Edmonton Oilers in mere hours. 

EDIT: David Pagnotta tweet was from a fake account. I own that mistake and deleted it. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

NEW EDIT: The real David Pagnotta tweets this. 

The words from Kane’s agent. 

What in the actual hell is going on? Your guess is as good as anyone’s right now. 

Stay tuned for more developments as they happen. 

Former Referee Tim Peel, new hockey insider?

This just came in. Former referee Tim Peel tweeted this. True? Could be. Guess we will find out shortly. 

Crazy times to be an Oilers fan this year. 

One thing this Oilers team doesn’t have

Accountably. 

I’ve been waiting for someone on this hockey club to stand up and be accountable this year. Nobody has. Not one. 

Character drives a team. The great leaders like Messier didn’t put up with nonsense. If he was terrible, he owned it. He wasn’t afraid to step up to a microphone and admit when he could be better. He was also never afraid to let the boys have it if they weren’t pulling their weight. I know players like McDavid, well this isn’t their strong suit. But right now, it would be a good time to have him or Draisaitl or Nurse or whomever, step up, own what’s going on and rectify some of the damage that’s been done. 

Coach Tippett came out and said that goalie Mikko Koskinen wasn’t very good last game. Let’s be honest, he was horrible. Justified words from the coach? Yes, it was. However, Koskinen had his own reply. 

”It’s not nice being thrown under the bus. I have to be better but at the same time we scored 7 goals in my last 6 losses. I can’t score goals.” 

Shots fired. 

While I’ll agree with Koskinen on his observation, he should have just owned his own failures. That’s more respectable than saying what he said. 

As of right now the leaders on the current Oilers are McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Nugent-Hopkins and Keith. Tippett has said Keith finds himself more comfortable on the team and in recent weeks he’s become more of a leader in the dressing room and on the bench. Awesome. However, public accountability goes a long way to ease the pain the Oilers fans are currently feeling. Would we feel better if McDavid said, “I haven’t been playing to the level I know I can play. I know I can be better. I know as the captain it’s my job to help carry this team to get out of this slump. I called a players only meeting and we are going to sort this out.” At least if this was said, we would all be a little less pissed off right now. 

Speaking of players only meetings. It’s about time one is called. I figured when they went on the first skid that one would have been called then. But alas, there wasn’t that we know of. 

So what now? 

Smith is back and will start tonight vs the Leafs. McDavid, Ryan and Barrie are out and have been placed in Covid protocol. Nugent-Hopkins is still out as well. 

Tonight will be a tough game, and even more so without these 4 guys. 

🔁 #Oilers roster moves 🔁

🔸McDavid, Ryan & Barrie have been placed in COVID protocol

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 5, 2022