Oil Spill

By: Mike Rifkin

On Thursday the Edmonton Oilers fired head coach Dave Tippett. The Oilers returned from the All- Star Break with back to back losses to the Vegas Golden Knights and the Chicago Blackhawks. Edmonton was outscored 8-1 in those two games. Tippett was 95-62-14 as the Oilers head coach and 1-7 in the playoffs. Edmonton currently sits in fifth place in the Pacific Division, six points out of third place in the division and five points out of the second wild card spot. Edmonton started the season 16-5-0 and are 7-13-3 since. Tippett will be replaced by Jay Woodcroft who coaches the American Hockey League affiliate in Bakersfield. 

The Oilers have two of the five best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatil. Both have won Hart Trophies and both are in the top three in the Art Ross race right now. After the firing of Tippett, McDavid is now on his fourth coach in seven seasons and Draisaitl is on his sixth coach in eight seasons.  In the McDavid /  Draisaitl era the Oilers have only advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs once and that was the 2016-17 season. 

Dave Tippett was the fall guy, but a lot of the Oilers problems start with Hall of Fame General Manager Ken Holland. Holland was very busy last offseason. He signed Zach Hyman from the Maple Leafs to a seven year 38.5 million dollar contract with an average annual value of 5.5 million dollars per season.  Holland also traded for former Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe winner Duncan Keith. Keith who is 38 years old has two years left on his contract at 5.538 million dollar AAV. Duncan Keith is a future Hall of Famer for sure but for the Oilers to take that whole contract is bad business. Holland re-signed former first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a eight year 41 million dollar contract with an AAV of 5.125 million dollars. Nugent -Hopkins has 33 points in 37 games this season but only six goals. They also re-signed defenseman Darnell Nurse to a eight year 74 million dollar contract that kicks in next season. Nurse had a career high 16 goals last season, this season Nurse has four goals and 19 points in 37 games. My issue here is not with these players they are very good but if you add McDavid (15.3), Draisaitl (10.4), Nurse (6.9), Keith (6.8), Hyman (6.7) and Nugent -Hopkins (6.3) they take up 52.4 % of the Oilers salary cap. 

But the real reason I will never take Edmonton as a serious Stanley Cup contender is their goaltending. Mikko Koskinen has a record of 16-8-2 with a Goals Against Average of 3.15 and a save percentage of .900. Mike Smith who has been out most of the season with injuries has a 2-4-1 record with a 3.83 Goals Against Average and a .890 save percentage. Smith will also turn 40 in March. They have to figure a way to upgrade that position and they have seen multiple goalies on the market at times. 

Hockey fans would love to see McDavid make a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ken Holland has to figure a way to make this happen otherwise McDavid could potentially ask out of Edmonton.