The Edmonton Situation

The Edmonton Oilers hold a proud hockey history and fans in this part of Alberta still love their team, but this year has been nothing short of a horror show! All looked promising at the end of last saw season when former GM Steve Tambellini was given the the chop and was succeeded by head coach Craig Mactavish, who in turn appointed young Toronto Marlies coach Dallas Eakins as the new coach of the Oilers. A new era seemed to be born and many experts expected bug things.

Tragically we are STILL waiting for the results to come and even with no less than three 1st overall picks, their play just isn't coming together. So far Edmonton are 14th and last in the Western Conference, they have only 11 wins and a whopping 18 loss! Depressingly this over 17 goals more than the Nashville Predators but they have three more wins. But the real question here is what is cause of this continuing slide?

The answer is not an easy one, continuing injuries haven't helped their cause, in particular new goalie Ilya Brzgalov who joined only a month ago is already sidelined. The slow development of whiz kid Nail Yakupov has been a concern as this season he sits only 11 points, but Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are at last beginning to show a glimmer of promise and they could well become a mainstay of this franchise.

David Perron's good form has been one of the few high points and he looks to have rediscovered his scoring touch. But the real concern has been the lack of motivation and it appears Dallas Eakins has failed to inspire this team. This guy is a good young coach but  with a team of this sort they should be at least pushing for the playoffs. I have no doubt that one day he will make a name for himself, but sadly it will not be in Alberta!

Good luck boys, let's hope stuff improves, though one bonus is you may yet again get a first overall pick at the 2014 draft!