The Daily Faceoff Show: What can change for the Edmonton Oilers under Jay Woodcroft?
The biggest news yesterday was the Edmonton Oilers firing head coach Dave Tippett after a tumultuous season in Northern Alberta. The club promoted their AHL coach, Jay Woodcroft, on an interim basis through the rest of the season.
Woodcroft is no stranger to the NHL. He coached over 1000 NHL games as a video coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and later an assistant with the San Jose Sharks and the Oilers themselves.
On Friday’s The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna dove into what could be different this time around.
Seravalli: “Big picture, what changes would you like to see with the Edmonton Oilers? I thought Ken Holland’s press conference was incredibly honest in that he seemed to be waffling. Was it the coach? Was it the roster construction? He didn’t seem to be sure, but at least let’s make a change and try to get a different result. And the big change that the Oilers would need to see is not just in net with better goaltending, but it’s also chicken and the egg. They need better defensive zone play as well.
McKenna: “Whenever a team is struggling, it’s a combination of things: coaching, goaltending, systems, effort — it’s been lacking at times out of the Oilers. There’s two things that I think they really lack. There’s always so many rush chances against. Part of that is because they’ve been so passive in the neutral zone under Dave Tippett, and I think you have to look at teams like Carolina and the Rangers — teams who forecheck hard in the neutral zone, who have tight gaps, and they skate. They work in the neutral zone. Not just the defencemen, you need your forwards to work hard as hard to be able to contain that rush coming against you so you don’t get caught flat-footed, so you don’t have Tyson Barrie getting turnstiled. You have to have a chance to accept the rush.
“Even offensively for the Oilers, they’ve relied so heavily on their powerplay. They’ve been trying to do it with shots from the point and you’ve got some of the greatest talents in the world: McDavid, and Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins is no slouch either. You can look around teams in the league how to fix this. Look at Calgary. Look how they go low-to-high in front of the net. They find those slot areas. You’ve got skill with that team. Funneling pucks from the point doesn’t work for the Oilers. Get the puck down low, possess it, try to make those plays in tight. Use those hands and that speed.”
You can listen to the full show below.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.