I’m not one to light into the coaching and I’m certainly not Dustin Penner’s biggest defender but I honestly don’t know what to make of the decisions in the final eight minutes tonight. Here’s the shift chart:
Horcoff and Hemsky? Three shifts. Fine, makes sense.
Cole? Four shifts. He’s been hot lately, alright.
Gagner and Nilsson? Three shifts. Seems about right.
Penner? One shift? Uhh…
Cogliano? One shift?
Moreau? Four shifts.
Pisani? Four shifts.
The ratio of shifts for Penner/Cogliano and Moreau/Pisani seems a little off there. Pisani’s been out since god knows when and is presumably still injured (it’s the Oiler way). Moreau simply isn’t a goal scorer. I don’t know the particular sins for which Penner and Cogliano were atoning tonight but I have a hard time understanding what possible justification there could be for sitting them while pouring the minutes onto Moreau and Pisani down the stretch.
At some point, it would be interesting to hear MacT’s explanation as to how there isn’t a double standard applied to Ethan Moreau. He hasn’t scored in ten games, which isn’t that surprising, given the type of player he is. He’s taken a simply spectacular streak of penalties - 44 minutes in the last several games, several of which have been taken 100+ feet from the Oilers net and several of which have been undisciplined. (The really impressive part about tonight is that Moreau managed to sneak his four shifts into seven minutes; he was in the penalty box until 13:10). Not only is MacT not cracking the whip on him (publicly anyway) but he’s continuing to put him into situations in which Moreau has no claim, in terms of talent or skill, over other players on the team and probably has less of entitlement. If he doesn’t merit it on skill and he’s been doing things that hurt the team, how can it possibly be justified?
This isn’t necessarily what’s sinking the Oilers at the moment - on talent, they’re probably not a playoff team - but I can’t explain it and I can usually see a hockey reason for MacT’s decisions. MacT gave a lot of credit to Columbus tonight and they deserve that credit. Columbus played very well in the portion of the game I watched. I talked to Matt from Battle of Alberta and he mentioned that the Jackets played very well the other night. The Jackets seem to be pretty legitimate. With that said, the decisions about who goes on the ice to try and steal a point in a bad situation are pretty difficult to fathom.
I was thinking of writing a post almost exactly like this. I am completely fucking baffled why Pisani and Moreau got two of the last three shifts.
Oilers did not generate a single shot on net at evens with Pisani on the ice tonight. Not even one.
Of all the shit that went wrong in this game, those personnel choices in the dying minutes made me the angriest. It was just flat-out fucking stupid.
That’s the thing isn’t it Bruce. Not only is it normally a bad decision to put these guys out there at the end of the game, it was particularly bad tonight since the two of them were playing poorly. Truly baffling.
Over at ON I’ve seen Dennis give a few wraps for the MSM guys not being critical enough. I think it might be interesting to see if they’d be willing to ask (1) MacT about seeming favouritism toward Moreau or (2) Moreau about how the penalties he takes away from the play influence the younger players/help the team win.
That’s not the first time MacT’s stapled Penner to the bench in the last few minutes and I’ve gone insane. But it’s the first time where it wasn’t my favouritism partially driving the insanity; last night Penner actually was a player, making hits (he always takes them, which makes me wonder why he’s “soft”) and setting up the best scoring chance the Oilers had with a great skill pass out front.
Normally I’m a MacT supporter, but last night may have turned me the other way. He’s a smart coach, but last night was one of the times where I think his issues with personnel may have cost the team a point, and against the worst possible opponent.
I don’t know that it cost them a point - everyone sucked last night - but I don’t know that he maximized their chances of getting one either.
Good stuff Ty.
You know where I stand on MacT - there is something wrong here and this is another example. The Jackets are a legitimate team but the Oilers played poorly. Once again.
Two more bad penalties for Moreau and no repercussions. Indeed it seems that he is being rewarded?
I don’t get it. This club needs smart coaching decisions to get into the top eight but MacT seems to be allowing personal feelings (?) to get in the way of this.
I don’t understand it. I’m at a loss.
I noticed Penner was MIA at the end of the game but I didn’t realize it was this bad. He’s had his share off bad nights but last night was one of them. Parking Penner on the bench for the last 8 minutes is beyond me. If it was for someone who was playing an excellent game I could see it, but Moreau and Pisani were not those guys. Yet another baffling coaching decision.
Ryan Batty You mean last night wasn’t one of them, right? I thought Penner was Oilers best forward last night. For sure he was the only one with a positive Fenwick or Corsi number, whereas Moreau was Dead Fucking Last among forwards in both metrics. The decision to give him two of the last three shifts was atrocious, even without factoring the dumbass penalty he had just taken 200 feet from our net which cost us 2 of the last 8 minutes. Yet MacT chooses to sit Penner? I don’t like to say the coach is insane, but this was close.
All that said, Moreau and Pisani & Co. actually did generate a scoring opportunity in the dying seconds, the First of the game for both players according to Dennis. Unsurprisingly, Ethan flubbed it. He now has Zero goals in the last Eleven games. But let’s double shift him in the fying seconds.
Ferfuxskaes, I’m still totally fucking pissed the next morning. Not good.
Moreau has been putting up PIM at an NHL record pace over the past 7 games. Maybe MacT just wanted to give him another opportunity.
Maybe the Oil are just trying to up Moreau’s value before a trade? That’s what I like to tell myself.
This really isn’t a surprising trend - MacTavish has been loading the minutes on to Moreau from day one, and while I personally think Moreau’s on-ice offensive/defensive contributions have been good for the player he is (considering opposition, linemates, etc.), there’s no doubt that he’s been treated far better than he deserves by the coach.
I like MacTavish as a coach, but not here, not anymore. He made some batty decisions last season (Tarnstrom, Hejda, etc.) but this year is worse. Far worse.
@ Bruce
Yeah I meant wasn’t not was.
Penner’s game wasn’t great but out of a bad bunch he was the probably the best. The genius sitting beside me at the game last night must have seen what ever Mac T did though because according to him Penner can’t play at all and we need more guys with Moreau’s level of effort. I think the 300 level is getting dumber game by game.
MacT’s issue with Dustin Penner has been going on all season, and it’s baffling.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Penner is pulled from the powerplay or from the top line.
It didn’t just cost the Oilers this game. It cost them against Calgary, when MacT put Cole/Hemsky/Horcoff out in the last minute, and not one of them could figure out their defensive assignment, which led to Calgary’s goal. There’s one sure point, gone, because of the coach.
It cost them against Tampa, when again MacT had Cole and Hemsky out at the same time, and they screwed up a play, simply because they don’t know how to play together, and Tampa scored.
And now this . . . . I can see why even the biggest MacLovin fans are up in arms.
I agree with the gist of your post, but aren’t you stretching the point here a little with this particular sample of shift chart?
First we have Moreau coming onto the ice from the penalty box (and I completely agree that the penalties he’s been taking are a big problem), and it looks like he gets to the bench in favor of Ales pretty quickly. Maybe it could have been faster; I don’t remember the situation. But it seems a bit harsh to count that as a shift for the purposes of evaluating bench decisions.
Then after a Horcoff-Hemsky-Penner shift, followed by Cole-Gagner-Nilsson, Moreau and Pisani come on and the whistle blows before they finish the change. Maybe it would have been better to put the top line out again right away, but maybe not, and either way, after the whistle that’s what they do, though with Cole instead of Penner.
Then it’s top line, then kid line. Only in the last three minutes do I think the shifts really become inexplicable, and even then, the only truly baffling move, for me, is putting Moreau out as the extra forward. You can also complain about Fernando in at the end instead of Penner or Cogs, and I would agree, especially given the performances in that game, but I don’t think it’s an indefensible move.
Why?
Because he’s fat and doesn’t display effort. It’s a personal war that is killing the team. It’s not surprising and I’m not all that upset by this last night. I expect it.
I expect Penner to be the goat every time there’s no effort from the team. He’s going to be sent to the fourth line, he’s going to be removed from the power play and he’s going to get stapled to the bench.
All the while, Moreau will keep getting the fifth most ES time on this team, even though he’s not a top nine player.
I said it at LT’s joint last week - either Penner goes or the coach goes - they aren’t starting the season together next year.
I blame Pouliot.
Seriously, I’d like 27 a lot more if he was making less and didn’t cost the picks but he is what he is and what he is happens to be a guy that can help us.
You put his big ass in front of the net on the PP and you play him PVP. Game-after-game I log the scoring chances using the same criterion and the guy seemingly always comes up aces.
That’s not a mistake.
The MSM are loathe to go after Lowe over his moves so I doubt they’ll take MacT to task over his love of 18.
Bruce: I’m shocked that it’s happening but I really don’t go as nuts over the losses anymore. Last night I watched the final 10 min of the third period sat at the comp and logging in chances during the commerical breaks. I still want the team to win but maybe it’s like I said over at LT’s place: I’m just beaten down and I no longer have expectations.
Of course the sub-conscious calls me a liar.
To wit.
Last night I had a dream that MacT and I had a meeting about my scoring chance work and while we were enjoying a beer at a nice establishment, 18 walked in and said, “Mac, you gotta take me out for the next game.”
Honest to God.
So, I’m just losing it on the inside but it hasn’t hit the outside yet!:)
Dennis, I think I know where you’re coming from. Through the course of this season, I find myself not rooting for the team anymore - I’m rooting for individual players [Horcoff, Penner, Hemsky, Grebs, Gilbert, Brodziak, and lately Reddox] and just hating on other individuals [the coach, Moreau] actually enjoying the ability to chastise them.
I think you’ve just resigned yourself to the fact that you are rooting for a loser without major changes on the horizon.
Coach, what does the “pb” stand for?
For some odd reason, I always imagine it’s Coach Peanut Butter.
Moreau is currently 3rd in the NHL in minor penalties…. fuck I’m sick of his shit.
hm. I’ve always thought it was pretty obvious, and I think LT pointed it out before. It’s hockey related. It was my earliest version of a comp.
Tyler, I did use the weaselword “may”. I doubt they’d have come back even if it had been Horcoff, Hemsky, Smyth, Samsonov, Pronger, and Spacek from 2006 on the ice, but there’s not putting your best foot forward, and putting your foot right in it.
Last night, MacT’s foot finished the game smelling like poo.
Coach: I’m not going to get what I want because MacT might get canned and that’s fine with me but it’s nothing something I’m looking forward to.
The guy I wanted gone was Lowe. For all the lies and missteps and the hubris.
But he’s eating breakfast eight days a week now, glad-handing for public money for the new building.
Once again, he’s untouchable.
Tambellini? he’s not even worth dicussing; though I will, of course.
he’s in edm because he was passed over for the GM job in Van more times than a fat missus at a Miss World Pagent. But he used to work with Lowe on all the Intl. teams so he gets to come in and be a puppet and that gives him enough time to throw out a resume to go and get a real job somewhere else.
I mean, seriously, that’s no way a guy would deal netminding depth for Ryan Stone and a 4th round pick when the remaining back-up’s a kid who couldn’t even tear up the A, right? If he did make that deal, then Van was right not to give him the big chair and if he didn’t, that makes more sense because it’s Lowe stepping in front of the figurehead.