The Oilers Biggest Priority Right Now Is… | Jamie McLennan’s Thoughts

The Oilers Biggest Priority Right Now Is… | Jamie McLennan’s Thoughts

And what a day to join us, Noodles. Another spanking at home for the Edmonton Oilers. Just when they beat an injury riddled Florida Panthers team on the road, you thought maybe there were some positive signs, but I think disaster is a fair way to describe last night’s hockey game, isn’t it? Absolutely. That was a mess. And you know, I I obviously the fan base will be frustrated again today. I didn’t realize you’re right. You added up the third loss at home where uh they gave up four I believe to Calgary that opening uh you know battle of Alberta type of thing. But yeah, just not good enough, you know. I And it’s interesting. I always watch um different feeds. So last night I was watching the Dallas Stars feed and some of the things Daryl I I you know I love Jack Michaels and Louie and and a lot of times I’ll watch that feed but I was watching the Victory Plus feed and Daryl Ray had some comments about the team that were just hilarious and outrageous. He’s like this this is he goes the defense he said something about the defensive structure is non-existent. He goes I’ve never seen that. Non-existent. And you know, to me, it comes back to one word. I know they’re tired. I know they played a bunch of games on the road, and there there’s uh so many excuses, built-in excuses. But where’s the word one word, pride, you know, you have to take some pride in your game when if you don’t have it that night, you certainly can work hard in the defensive zone. And I know Dallas was excellent last night. They deserve a lot of credit. They’re the best team in the NHL on the road. But that was, you know, I’m going to steal. I I work with a guy named Jeff O’Neal and OD Dog had a a comment about the Leafs and their game uh the other night against the Montreal Canadians where they they lost. He said it looked like NHL alumni versus firemen skating out there, you know, B, you know, one of those pickup games. That’s what it was last night. It was it was embarrassing. Uh McDavid, you know, good on him for talking to the media. He didn’t have any answers. I thought Leon was more candid, just said, “We need to be better.” All of that type of stuff. But, you know, the excuse train can’t come out. You got to find a way to play better in front of your goalending, but your goalending was no good either. So, it’s it’s uh I’m not going to lay it at their feet, but that was just an absolute asskicking on home ice. Again, they’ve got to find a solution. Yes, practice has to come up uh, you know, come at the right time here, but the coaches too have to earn some of this. That team looks disorganized. It’s look, it looks like they don’t know what they’re doing in their own zone. And to me, that’s systematic play and attention to detail. And at some point, you would think Chris Knobblock would blow a gasket and he just stands back there and and he, you know, it’s at some point I had that with Joel Quinnville early on in his career. very poised, just kind of stood there and then by year three or four he was yelling and screaming and try, you know, basically driving some of the points home. So, everybody’s got to wear that last night and it was another ugly one in Edmonton. So, and it’s it’s every game it’s something different. I mean, goending, defensive structure, as you mentioned, I think a lot of fans, you know, griping about just the general lack of enthusiasm. Um yeah, and Knobblock mentioned postgame he said, you know, and I’m paraphrasing, but lots of things to do. Can’t do them all at once and we’ll have to prioritize. Um and and you mentioned the excuses slashraasons, travel, all that. I mean, whatever. What would you say is priority number one right now? And is that more of an X’s and O’s or SLroster management thing or is that just, you know, getting your head and your heart into the game right now? Well, I think it’s getting your head and heart to start, you know, thinking that you can’t just put the the the jersey on and it’s going to come to you. You got to dig in. And that there’s that I came back to the one word again, pride. Take some pride in your game. And I think that’s where where Drytto was going with his comments after saying, you know, it’s not good enough. And he was guilty of it, too. You look at the I believe it was the eighth goal. He’s behind the net. The puck just fumbles away. the the seventh and eighth goals. You look at it from a structural standpoint, Kelvin Pickard gets his his stick skated through by number 75 and by number 25. Both of them, he’s trying to make the save and and his stick gets knocked out or turned because the defenseman just skates through it. That’s just a lack of awareness. So, I think it starts with having some pride and and work ethic in your game and then you can work to the structure. But that just looked like a disorganized mess last night and it was embarrassed. Embarrassing and they should be embarrassed because that wasn’t good enough. And that’s right from the star players right to the fourth line guys. Jamie McClennon with us on the show this morning on the firehouse subs hotline noodles. This this whole you know not block said it. We played it in the last hour. Uh you know they are giving up a number of chances. What was the scoring chances last night? They gave up over 34 34 being natural static all situations scoring chances 3421. high dangers 19 to 10. So I mean they are hemorrhaging chances against right now. I said this morning the goalenders aren’t helping them in any fashion but they’re also not being helped in front. So how do you the chicken and egg thing noodles? How much of this is on goalending? How much of it is on the way that the team’s playing in front of them right now? Well, I’ll start with the way that the team’s playing in front of them. You can’t really judge how the goalies are playing because they’re being hung out. So if the team plays better and you’re still getting stinky goals against, then you look at the goalending and say that’s a problem. McDavid tried to lump it all in and saying goalending is about team effort. I don’t disagree with that, but at some point you need it to mask and and you know, I’ll give you an example like Steuart Skinner. Glenn Gulletson is an unbelievable coach and he knew how to pick apart that team because he helped coach them the last couple years. So the power play goes three for four. Well, yeah, because he’s able to he knows how they’re going to defend. So he calls the timeout. Yeah, it’s a five on three, but have we seen that play where Robertson stands on the back door and they just shoot it off the skates? Doesn’t that look like Zack Heyman used to do that? I mean, these are these are Glenn Gooson was a master surgical last night with knowing how to coach against this team. That’s why I I’m not absolving the coaches in all of this, too. Yeah, I don’t think they’ve had a great start to the season. I really don’t. I think the attention to detail with this group is not very good. And other coaches are picking up on that and saying, “Okay, this is how we get to the Edmonton Oilers. They’re soft in front of their net. Nobody pays the price. Um, you know, it’s all stick check, stick check, stick check. The the forwards don’t manage the puck that well in danger zones. So, you can pressure them. They’ll turn it over and make them play in their own zone.” So, I I look at this. There’s the goalending can be a lot better. Stu Skinnard got exposed again on on his lateral movement. Um, you know, I know it’s a a twoon-one goal, Bastion’s goal, but like you need a save. You need some of these saves in that first period. You know, they’re lucky they they had to disallow because that would have been five spot in that first period. So, at the end of the day, everyone’s got to be better. tough for me to judge the goalending when the play in front of them is is awful. But they do go hand in hand because confidence helps the team, you know, the confidence in the goalending helps the team play and settle down in front. But right now, that was a mess last night. And when it comes getting back to the emotion part of it all, and I know that the fans like when things aren’t going well, Knobblock’s demeanor certainly doesn’t help because it really mirrors how the team kind of plays. Um, but how much of that falls on we’ve we’ve talked about the leadership core on like the the from the players like how much do they just need to get that going themselves? They they’ve been playing all their lives. They’re professionals. They get paid lots of money. You can’t expect a coach to go in there and and yell and berate you to get you going. So, how much does that just fall on the leadership group here in a sense to take this, you know, on their own and kind of find some emotion there? Because a coach, you know, you do X’s and O’s. you do have to kind of, you know, and we do talk about teams kind of taking the demeanor of the coach, but that only goes so far, right? I mean, you do need your leadership core and your your big guys on the ice to actually demonstrate that and lead by example in that area. It’s hard to do when you’re not playing your game. So, I’ll give you an example. McDavid and Drytle weren’t playing their game last night. You know, looked out of sorts. So, the leaders, you know, nurse, same thing. So you look at that leadership group in the dresser room and you say, “Okay, those are the guys who are going to speak up, who are going to batten down the hatches, and they were the most guilty out of all of them.” So it was it’s hard to be a leader when you’re just trying to focus on your own game. I’ve I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen great leaders where if they’re struggling, they’re pretty quiet because they’re just trying to sort out their game first and then try and help the group. But it does fall on leadership. leadership in the dress room. You know, Chris Knobblock isn’t a cheerleader. It’s not his job to go in and rahrh the guys. His job is to have answers. That’s the problem, though. There’s no answers. There’s no adjustments. There’s it’s it’s go out and play, you know, and and I think last night is is was just a disaster. It was like the 9-1 game. They were just outclassed. But the problem is is you got to take a look at this. If you’re Stan Bowman and say, “Okay, these are two good teams. the two top teams have come in in the Western Conference and really handed us the business. So, where is your team at? That’s, you know, if those are measuring stick games, they’re not even close. That’s that’s what you have to focus on. And yes, the the the situation of it all, whether it’s timing, whether it’s just bad games and it happens to to fall on those particular nights, but you know, everyone talked about, hey, grueling road schedule, let’s get home. you know, that first game off of road trip, whether you like it or not, whether it’s a a fable or not, we saw an effort that just wasn’t acceptable. And yes, you’re 52 and one at home and you’ve got to find a way. I believe you play six or seven now at home this after this Seattle, but you have to be better. I think it starts with effort. But again, coaching, details, leadership group, goalending, you know, all of it. They got an F last night and you got to find a way to rectify it in a hurry. When you say rectify in a hurry, that’s kind of where I wanted to go next. Like whether it be uh a waiver claim, a callup, a trade, a coach, people are just thinking that there needs to be some sort of change to inject life into the group to, you know, kind of fire them back up again. Do you think something like that happens or is it just a matter of get a couple practices in and try to figure it out on your own? I think it’s going to be both because, you know, if Stan Bowman picks up the phone today and goes, “Hey, I’m want to trade for a goalender. I want to trade for X, Y, and Z.” A lot of managers are saying, “No problem.” But the asking price is probably going to be through the roof because you’re you’re dealing from a position of of weakness, we’ll call it. They’ve got to find a way to get their game going. And then you want to deal from a position of strength. Uh it’s no secret in the National Hockey League that, you know, Edmonton would probably be looking for a goalender. Edmonton would probably be looking for defensive help. I’m not, you know, I’m not sure what’s going on. I think, you know, Regula has has really struggled. He reminds me of that the big defenseman. Is it Dejardan? Dear Dear, I said that in the group chat. I was just like, yeah, just Yeah, but limited. And and this is the this is the difference. You know, you have to understand your game at the National Hockey League level. This guy’s trying to make passes and he’s chopping the puck up and throwing the big piece up to the next player. And it’s like you make one play or chip it off the glass and and learn to fight another time. Emerson and Regula, I can’t figure out the between the two of them because they’ve been so bad. But then you you look at it and you know, people want to blame Buchard. You know, Buchard I I think has been fine. I think Ekcom has really struggled and looks his age right now. So, at the end of the day, they’ve got to worry about it in house and get some practices under, get some pride in your game. And that I come back to that word again. You know, you get blown out once on home ice. Leon said it’s a slap in the face. It it’s it’s a good lesson. Don’t let it happen again. Will they let it happen again on a measuring stick game where you think Dallas isn’t pissed? They’ve they’ve that team, the core of them have lost two years in a row to that team. They want to come in and send a message. So, the Oilers look disorganized. Dallas looked like they wanted some vengeance and they got it last night and they embarrassed the Oilers on home ice. Noodles, one more for you before we let you go. And that is uh I think I saw Nick Ciprio saying that the Oilers and Jordan Bennington like they they would be looking at Jordan Bennington. Um is Bennington a guy that you try to somehow make work? like is he something that fixes what’s going on here? Well, I think it’s even a lateral move could be viewed as a win. Jordan Bennington, if you put him in the net last night, he’s still giving up. Name a number. It doesn’t matter. The team has to play better in front of him. But I think there’s enough sample size to realize that, you know, um Stu is a goalender, that he’s a he’s a good NHL goalender, but he’s I I think that position is stagnant. And I mean by like both of those guys are good goalenders. They’re good guys. I’m sure they’re loved in the room. I thought in Tampa, Calvin Pickard was playing for his Oilers life and the team looked like like they wanted to play for him. Uh Calvin’s a very very uh popular guy in that dressing room. He had 22 wins last year, seven in the playoffs. You know, certainly had a great season for them last year. This year doesn’t look like he’s it looks like his game’s falling off. Stu is getting exposed as well. And it’s not even it’s the the play in front of him stinks, but it it’s the way that he’s moving in the net. You know, it’s side to side. It it’s shades of Mike Smith ending up on his stomach every every play side to side. And you know, to me, if you’re looking at a new goalender, you have to look at a new goalender that plays a different style. That’s the difference. And I’ve talked about this for before from the technicality point, uh, you know, Dustin, where guys have a clean butterfly. Yeah. You know, Stu doesn’t have a clean butterfly. He doesn’t move side to side very well. You know, when when you talk to goender coaches throughout the league and they say, you know, Skinner’s a a good positional goalender, but he doesn’t have good depth. he doesn’t have good feet and he doesn’t have great hands. You’re like, well, those are the things you kind of need to have a good, you know, be a good goalender in the league. So, you know, right now it’s easy to pile on Steuart Skinner. But at the end of the day, I think, you know, there’s enough sample size to if you are going to make a move. You start looking at guys around the league and say we need somebody different in the net, a different style of play, and then the team has to play better in front of them. Again, I’m not absolving the team in front of them. They have hung the goalenders out to dry. They need to play better, more connected hockey and then we can judge how good these goenders are. But right now, the goalending hasn’t been good because the players in front of them are are exposing them and and it’s just awful play. And they’ve I come back to that one word again. You got to have some pride in your play. Play with some pride. And and you know, they look disorganized. That’s the scary part. Very disorganized in front of them. Like they don’t know what they’re doing in the defensive zone. And that’s very scary when you’re 25 games into the season. Noodles, before we let you go, I don’t want to gloss over this. Are you in Vegas this morning? I am. And look at you getting up an hour. It’s like 6:20 in the morning there. Noodles, we love you, buddy. The commitment to the show. You’ve been working out or something. What’s going on? Why are you up? No. No. What happened was I took the late flight. So, the best part about having, you know, high high-speed Wi-Fi is I watched the the the game on the plane last night. On the plane. Yeah. got got in, set my alarm, and was up. Uh I I mean, I went to bed at 11:00 or well, we’ll call it 11:30 Vegas time. Yeah. So, not too bad, but I knew I had to be up, so I set my alarm and I’m good to go. Going to go work out. What a guy. All right, man. We appreciate it. Have a good call tonight and we’ll catch up next week. You bet. Thanks for having me, guys. There you go. That’s Jamie McClennon. He’s in Vegas. The sends are there. So, he’s in there. 11:30 Vegas time is what in the east? I mean, I can’t even do the math off the top of my head. Look, look, let’s just say Noodles is probably a tired boy. You’re like, uh, hey, what do you work out? Well, no, but he’s going to work out. I was like, maybe he’s up. He’s got his gym routine, so he’s always up early. Who sets alarms in Vegas, right? Like this guy. We had to. Remember when we went and did the shows down there? That was a mistake. Well, I set an alarm. You didn’t even go to sleep. Well,

Jamie McLennan was the first guest on today’s show. He touched on last night’s butt kicking, and the lack of pride the Oilers currently have. Addressed what the biggest priority for this team is right now. And touched on whether or not the Oilers goaltending or defence is the biggest issue.

What are your thoughts? What do you think the Oilers biggest priority is right now? Drop a comment down below as we read every single one. #oilers #nhl #hockey #yeg #yegsports #nhlhockeyislife #nhlteams #hockey #connormcdavid #mcdavid