The 2010-11 NHL season got off with a bang for the Oilers with an incredible 4-0 opening night win over provincial rivals Calgary Flames. They then followed that up with a 3-2 win over Florida.
The fans were happy, some way too happy and thus started the unrealistic expectations of a playoff season. So wrong that was on many levels. They forgot the meaning of season of rebuild that the Oilers are presently in and started to sound like Canuck fans, completely out of touch. On que the Oilers appeared to sense this raising voice of unrealistic expectations and promptly went on a 6 game losing streak which was far more of a realistic result for the young team.
The low point of this skid was the home game against the Sharks, to say it bluntly we got our asses handed to us, got pushed around like boys playing against men with very little push back by the Oilers. That game was probably the best thing to happen to this team, a good ass kicking appeared to have woke them up as it was a different team the next two games. In the next game against the Flames the Oil were down 4-1 late in the second, then a big goal by Eberle late in the 2nd. The oilers came out with determination in the third, tied the but failed to close the deal in OT or the SO but gained a lot of confidence in the process. Two nights later in Columbus a much better effort throughout the game but with the same result, a SO loss. The highlite of the game was Hall finally getting his first goal, a great hard working, go to the net defection goal. Not highlite reel goal material but the monkey was lifted from his back.
But in saying that there was much for the Oiler faithful to be happy about in those 6 loses, the last two losses being in shot outs. There was many signs of great things to come from the new kids, such promise, such hope for the future. This year is a learning process for the young Oilers and as with life the Oilers learnt more from those losses than they did from those first two wins.
Then came the last game of October against the Stanley Cup champs, the Chicago Blackhawks on the second night of back to back road games. What a start for the Oilers, they came out with speed and confidence which lead to Hall getting his second goal to start the scoring. At the end of the game the came away with a 7-4 win with all 4 lines contributing, key players getting thier first goal of the year and others having multiple point night. What a great way to end the month, 3 games in a week where they showed heart, determination and played hard.
The month of October and the first 9 games also showed a few problems with the Oilers that will have to be addressed soon. Mainly the issue seems to be on defence where many times they appeared very disorganized, out of position and just a lot of bad give aways. I see this improving as they get used to the new system of Coach Renney and to each other.
Below is my review of some different parts of the Oiler machine;
Oiler Management
- PLUS - no humiliating bad PR episodes like we had with Souray in September. re: training camp and whom they send down to the AHL to play on the Caps farm team in Hersey, PA. Another PLUS for management was at the time of this post they put JDD on waivers, which he promptly cleared and s was assigned to OKC. Finally the Oilers have only 2 goalies which opens a spot on the rooster for an defenseman or forward. I also agree that they kept the guy as back up, Dubnyk shows great promise as the Oiler goalie of the future.
Coaching Staff
- EVEN - Showing great patience with the kids and giving them the opportunity to learn in the real world of the NHL. The special team coaching needs a lot of work and has been the biggest issue facing this team so far. Perhaps it is the new systems, the lack of skill on defence or both but it clearly reflects on the coaching staff.
Oiler Veterans
- EVEN - Some veterans have been good, some have not. Hemsky, Horcoff, Smid, Whitney and now old timer Gagne have been solid. Horcoff has shown good leadership as the new Oiler captain but I would to see him be a bit more aggressive in leading this team on and off the ice. Smid and Whitney have been good on defence, playing a bit mean and hard but still suffering from some bad give aways and poor positional play, primarily on the PK. Hemsky has been quietly scoring and Gagne as well setting up some great scoring chances. Cogs, Burle deserve an honourable mention, they have been playing hard, coming close on many occasions while playing with Hall and MPS. On the minus side is Penner, Gilbert and Stortini as well as a couple of the new guys in town (Jones, Foster, Fraser, Vandemeer) I give a pass to the new guys, new city, new system and seem to be coming around but Penner on most nights seems to be skating in sand, slow, not aggressive and now where near to how he was playing last year. Gilbert has been guilty of many bad give aways and bad positional play which have led to goals. Zack has also not been playing with his solid style that we saw the past couple of years but does appear to be coming around.
Oiler Rookies - "The Kids"
- PLUS PLUS - Well what can you say about the kids but holy crap are they good! First you have Eberle with that amazing first goal in the first game and then ending up as the NHL rookie point leader for October. He plays hard every night, gets a chance our two every game, plays smart without the puck as well. MPS has been solid as well with 2goals and 4 assists. On defence we have Peckham who has been playing very hard, shows no fear and will be a feared defenceman as he learns the game. Them we have our #1 pick, Taylor Hall. Much has been writing and said about him, much of it to me was completely unrealistic expectations and completely out of touch comments like sending him back to Windsor, insane, crazy thoughts. He finally shut up his critics by scoring in Columbus and then again in Chicago. But more important to me is and was his play before he scored. In the 4-2 loss at home to the Wild he blew many people away. He had many great rushes, going around Wild veterans like they were standing still. Hall has been aggressive on the puck, creating many chances for his linemates and has played well without the puck. There has been much made by some media types of Horcoff so called calling out Hall for taking long shifts. Just garbage to me and if that is all you got then shut up as it is nothing. What I see there is exactly what this team desperately needed, a player that wants to win every night, every shift and is willing to do what it takes. You can see as he gets older and better he will become one of those rare players that will grab the team by the short hairs and lead them by just going out and getting the job done, he will be the face and leader of the Oilers soon and keeping him up with the team is the only logical thing to do. The only thing left I can say about the Oilers rookies is, watch out NHL! we are going to blow you away before you know it!
Oiler Goaltending
- PLUS - 8 of the first 9 games have been played by a healthy and determined Khabibulan and he was key to our first two wins and despite the 6 losses was solid in net. In those losses he didn't get much help from the defence or rest of the team. he faced way too many shots every night and didn't get much assistance in tight from the defence. I get a sense he wants to show the Oiler faithful he is better than what happened in Phoenix and so far he has. He has been playing so well I would like to buy him a beer! Dubnyk has played one game and that was in Columbus. In that game he showed why he was picked by Oiler management as the main back up and it is the right choice. He has potential and I am confident he will soon be our #1 goalie.
Team Oilers
- PLUS - I give the team a whole a plus ranking. We once again see the effort that is the trade mark of Oiler hockey and we now see the promise of the future with the "kids" and the new attitude. As I said before it will be more down than up this year but it will be one of the most exciting and entertaining years of Oiler hockey in a long time as we have the hope and promise of a very exciting future.
NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!
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