Arm Chair Bench Bosses Know All

Well, the Edmonton Oilers home opener could have gone better. On Tuesday night the Oilers dropped a 6-3 game to the San Jose Sharks and it was clear and evident why they did. Youth, lack of discipline, nerves, and a spotty defensive line contributed to last night’s loss, but let me tell you, no one knows the woes of the Oilers like the fans in the stands.

Being at the game, I was privy to the conversations of the extremely drunk spectators lounging behind me. There’s nothing better than drunk fans who think they know best. I’ve been guilty of this behaviour, and I hope someone went home and took me to task with their friends or significant others for the stupid things that came out of my mouth. So, here’s me taking these six fine gentlemen to task.

1) “Man, they beat us 5-on-5 man. Flat out beat us 5-on-5”

Well, that's only partly true. 3 goals were scored while San Jose had a man advantage, including the first two of the game.  One of these was also a 2 man advantage. Half of the goals were scored 5-on-5. Sure, they beat us 5-on-5, but they also got a pretty hefty leg up with some special team help. The moral of the story is that last night saw the failure of our 5-on-5 game and the failure of our usually decent penalty kill. San Jose’s power play was 3 for 6. Meanwhile, our power play was 2 for 6 on the night. Not horrible, but not spectacular.

2) “Dude, it was all Dubnyk's fault. Guy will never be a starter.”

How about we not blame the guy who had no defence playing in front of him? None, in the first period. Let's not kid ourselves. Dubnyk has to be better if he is going to be our number one guy. He just has to be. You can’t have 18 shots on goal and let 6 of them in. A save percentage of 65% just isn’t good enough. But to blame the complete failure of the first period on Dubnyk isn't fair to him and it lets some of the real culprits off the hook.

As much as we love ‘em, the young guns were nervous last night. Passes weren’t working, we couldn’t get a decent rush going past the blue line (on our side of the ice, no less), and there were some blatant missteps that, let’s be honest, rookies make. And the veterans didn’t play much better, especially since the guys taking the penalties last night were not exactly spring chickens. So yes, let’s give Dubnyk a bit of a hard time, but don’t for one moment think that it is entirely his fault.

3) “Edmonton has a coaching problem.”

This is my favourite critique from last night. “We need a better coach.” “Why can’t we get a guy who has actually coached some hockey, not that European stuff across the pond?” “Coaching is the issue.”

Sure, Ralph Kruger might not have a storied history behind an NHL bench, but the guy was our assistant coach for two years and was head coach of the Swiss National team for 12 World Championships, three Olympics, and moved the country up eight spots in the IIHF world rankings. He’s got some game.

And, let’s also remember that he’s had these guys for a seriously reduced training camp, no preseason games to determine line chemistry, and only two NHL games. Let’s not jump to conclusions and hit panic mode just two games into the season, okay? Yes, every game counts, and yes, a 6-3 loss sucks, but we’re not hitting the end of the universe yet.

 

Thursday sees the Oilers back at Rexall Place against reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Kings. Should be a pretty good matchup. The Kings are returning from the off season with their Stanley Cup team still basically intact. It’ll be interesting to see if they really are that good, or if 2011-2012 was just a fluke.