JR Ewing Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 As per the title, you can't really argue with what's happened since Kris Knoblauch and Paul Coffey took over the team, and at 31 games, we're well past the dead coach bounce. Oilers under Jay Woodcroft Record: 3-9-1, Pts: 7 (31st), PTS%: GF/GP: 26th, 30th, Differential: 31st PP: 9th, PK: 30th Oilers under Kris Knoblauch Record: 25-6-0, Pts: 50 (2nd to COL, who have 1 more point and have played 5 more games), PTS%: 1st GF/GP: 3rd, GA/GP: 2ND, Differential: 1st PP: 4th, PK: 1st Kris Noblauch -Moved the lineup away from the 11 forward/7 defense lineup of Woodcroft. Jay's lineup meant that McDavid and Draisaitl played too many minutes at the expense of depth players, who sat around for long stretches and were cold by the time they got in. Having 7 defensemen also meant #7 (often Philip Broberg) sitting around for long stretches, and by the time he saw ice, he was almost paralyzed by fear of making a mistake and not getting another shift, and he was mostly reactive instead of proactive. -Going back to the 12/6 came along with McDavid being taken off the penalty kill. Knoblauch has talked about the importance for every player on the roster to have an opportunity to impact the game each night, and those players have responded, with a huge swing on the PK, going from 30th to 1st since Nov 13th. Team chemistry improved tremendously. -He looked at his forwards and identified a group whose defensive instincts weren't nearly as pronounced as their offensive awareness. He changed them from man-to-man coverage to zone. There's nothing wrong with man-to-man, but it does require players with strong defensive tendencies, and that isn't this core group of forwards' game. Knoblauch instituted changes in the team's defensive structure, going from this DZ system, with MILES of open ice in the middle: to an easy-to-play Box+1 shown in this short clip: He also changed their neutral zone setup from a 2-1-2, which allowed a lot of space and speed to the opposition, to a 1-2-2. The result is the group denying entry and space much more often, as shown in this short clip: Paul Coffey -Told his defensemen to prioritize making plays and passes rather hard-rims and off-the-glass-and-out. Even when you're tired, don't just dump it out. -Didn't think the defensemen were communicating very well, so had them sit together in the dressing room. The result has been them, as a group, talking shop constantly, talking about ways to improve, coming up with non-verbal ways to communicate. Matthias Ekholm, product of a noted defense factory in Nashvhille, said that the Preds always did the same thing and found it to be extremely beneficial. TLDR - They're not doing it with blowouts, or riding a hot PP, or with any smoke and mirrors. The team stopped trying to be the smartest guys in the room, and have instead settled for traditional defending and chance against reduction. They will go through tough times again this season, and face struggle, but they're playing a system which is easy to play and reproduce, and has brought strong results. -Forgive the typos. I never was much of an editor. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegx.ca Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Any team that wins 16+ games in a row is doing everything right for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegx.ca Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Picking up Perry already paying off... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegx.ca Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Uh...seriously though looks like Perry is doing good there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegx.ca Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I like Stetcher he definitely improves their D...but still not enough considering all the adds Vegas/Peg/Dallas/Vancouver/etc all made... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 37 minutes ago, thegx.ca said: I like Stetcher he definitely improves their D...but still not enough considering all the adds Vegas/Peg/Dallas/Vancouver/etc all made... Agreed. Kelly McCrimmon is the smartest, craftiest, most creative and devious General Manager currently at work in the NHL, and he had a strong deadline. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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