The team then came out with a better effort against the St. Louis Blues and although they failed to show up for the first period, being outshot 19-4, they played a solid last 40 minutes and lost 1-0 with the Blues scoring with under 6 minutes to go.

They followed up that decent performance with another debacle last night against the Calgary Flames. The game was a joke and it was the 9th straight victory for the Flames over the Oilers in the Battle of Alberta. The Battle of Alberta has been hardly a battle the last several years and has become a game where those Flame’s players who are having scoring problems break out of slumps.

The Oilers, for the most part, seem to be playing good for a game and then bad for 1 or 2 before the compete level shows up again for a game. So where does the team go from here for the remainder of the season?

This team started the season with the goal of playing meaningful games in March and April and here we are, a week before the All-Star break, and chance of playing meaningful games in March and April have all but evaporated. Unless of course meaningful meant fighting to stay out of 30th place but seeing how they played last night, they appear to have a good shot at a 3rd straight last place finish.

We know that a rebuild takes some time…in fact the Pittsburgh Penguins had the first or second pick for 4 straight years in order to build their championship team. Chicago Blackhawks also had some top picks for many years to build their championship team. But I don’t ever remember those teams lacking the compete level that many on this Oiler team has shown.

It is now assumed that the Oilers will become sellers over the next month before the trade deadline. Selling deadwood for value is going to be tough to do.

An even bigger question is who is going to be doing the selling? Is Steve Tambellini going to be the man in charge of any deals? Tambellini is out of a contract at the end of the season and you would think that if he was going to return as the GM of the team, he would have received a contract extension by now. If he isn’t going to return, then why would you let him be in charge of doing deals for a future he won’t be involved in? The team ownership and high level executives (Darryl Katz and Kevin Lowe) need to make a decision by the end of the All-Star break. If Tambellini is sticking around, then give him a contract extension and let him go to work swinging some deals to get rid of deadwood and get some draft picks in return. If he isn’t going to be around, then you better fire him now and get a GM in place who can start putting his stamp on the team with trade deadline deals.

The coaching staff is also out of contracts at the end of the season but not renewing their status is expected until the GM position is solidified. The GM is the man who hires and fires the coaches and each GM has their own favourite coaches and style of coaches and if Steve Tambellini doesn’t have his contract renewed you don’t want to saddle a new GM with old coaches who may not fit his philosophy.

The Oilers need to decide NOW the direction they are going with the GM and get on with the job of continuing the rebuild. Get rid of the deadwood and heartless players who are taking up positions on the bench and either bring up some kids who want to play and learn the game or bring in players with real heart. Ryan Smyth is a good example of this and while age is catching up to his play, his heart is always in the game. As a youngster, Taylor Hall also shows the kind of heart and desire needed to be successful. We need more of that passion and less of the Hemsky style of passion (or lack thereof).

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I read Robert Tychkowski’s article at Slam Sports and I think he nailed the major problem with the Oilers right on. Offense! That’s not to say there is nothing wrong on the defensive side of the puck, clearly there are. The Oilers currently have given up the second most number of goals with only the Toronto Maple Leafs have given up more. Their goaltending has been shaky at times but that is to be expected with 2 rookie goaltenders between the pipes. The defense can look like a great group some games and then then next game look like raw rookies with their abysmal play and brutal giveaways.

As the article stated, even the best goaltenders in the league would be losing games in net with the Oilers because they just don’t score enough to offset even the best goals against average. The Oilers still need to keep the puck out of the net more. Let’s compare the Oilers and Flames to make this point. The Edmonton Oilers are averaging 2.42 goals for per game and sit in 28th place in this stat. The Calgary Flames are averaging 2.46 goals for per game and sit 27th. The offense is pretty equal right? Granted the Oilers have been well below that for the last 30 games. Washington leads this stat with an average of 3.93 goals per game.

Let’s take a look at the other end. The Oilers have a 3.33 Goals against average which is 29th in the league. The Flames have a goals against average of 2.44 which is good enough for 7th in the league. The difference? .89 GAA which is worth 23 additional points and 17 spots in the standings. So while a good offense can overcome a weak defense, strong defensive play can make up for weak offense too. For interest Chicago leads this stat with a 2.25 GAA. Washington actually sits 20th with a 2.80 GAA.

This proves to me one thing. You need one of your 2 sides of the ice to be great if you are going to be successful. Teams like Washington know how to put the puck in the net better than keeping it out and they are successful with it. The New Jersey Devils do it the other way as they are second in GAA but 21st in goals for. The Oilers are 28th in goals for and 29th in goals against.

Since the Oilers have 2 young goalies to develop and lots of deadwood on the forward lines, I agree with Robert that the offensive side of things is where the team needs to concentrate. Get some offense and give your young goalies a chance to develop. They always say the best defense is an effective offense and the Oilers just don’t have that. They spend too much time in their own zone and not enough in the offensive zone. It is tough to win games when you are defending all night…and not doing that well either.

The goal for Steve Tambellini for the next 18 days is to get rid of the deadwood for what ever he can get because in the long run this team will benefit even if it is just by freeing up cap room. Then this team needs to make sure they have their collective brains in gear for the draft and make sure there are no Jason Bonsignore picks in the future. The focus needs to be offense because as Washington are proving and the glory day Oilers proved, offense is fun to watch and more often than not will win you games no matter how bad the defensive side of things.

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