Edmonton Oilers Appear To Be Moving On From Head Coach & Goaltender
The Edmonton Oilers are at a crossroads with their season. One road leads to certain failure and the other leads to the unknown. It seems like the team may be taking the second option as Jay Woodcroft's leash is suddenly very short.
Oilers Considering Firing Woodcroft
Sportsnet Analyst Mark Spector reported today that the Oilers have laid everything out in the open and all options can be taken seriously. This includes drastic measures, such as finding a new head coach.
"A playoff miss is very much in the cards, and as such, everything is on the table in Edmonton. That includes firing head coach Jay Woodcroft, whose non-competitive, lackadaisical team looks exactly like the one that got Dave Tippett fired, and Todd McLellan before him."
Spector is right on the money here. The question remains though, will the Oilers fire Woodcroft? It is hard to blame the poor goaltending on him. One could point to defensive structures and all that, but at the end of the day, both goalies have been terrible. In fact, they've been so bad that the Oilers are also considering moving on from Jack Campbell, who still has three years left on his contract after this one.
Soup Is Not On
Campbell's struggles this season have been truly special. His 1-4 record is obviously bad, but nothing too out of the ordinary. His goals-against-average and save percentage tell a much worse version of the same story. Among goaltenders that have played at least four games, Campbell's 4.5 GAA is only better than two other goalies. One of them is Mackenzie Blackwood, who has started the majority of San Jose's games and has been arguably their best player despite his 4.78 GAA. That's how bad that team is.
Using the same parameters, Campbell's save percentage ranks 56th in the league. Quite simply, he is not an option at the NHL level anymore. At the very least, he is not an option in the NHL right now. Spector noted this in his reporting.
"No player has said it specifically, but this reporter senses that these professional players know what they see, and have turned the page on any hopes that Campbell can help an NHL team anymore."
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 5 | 331 ANSWERS Edmonton Oilers Appear To Be Moving On From Head Coach & Goaltender What would you do if you were GM of the Oilers? | ||
| Blow it up | 53 | 16 % |
| Fire the coaches | 78 | 23.6 % |
| Trade for a goalie | 147 | 44.4 % |
| Double down | 53 | 16 % |
| List of polls | ||
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