Coach Knoblauch nearly admits Oilers have changed their play style for one reason
Photo credit: Walter Tychnowicz - Imagn Images
In a recent interview, Oilers' head coach Kris Knoblauch spoke about his team's strategy to shut-down the opposition.
Head coach shifts blame from goal to whole team
When you look at these nights where you're giving up a lot of goals and you're thinking it's on goaltending; but we're not making the game easy for him.
When you have many holes in your game, every time you plug one, another springs a leak. Edmonton's game-plan has plenty of holes in it this season, unfortunately.
And no, it hasn't been easy on the goaltending, true enough. Except, Kris Knoblauch's strategy to protect his goalie has placed the spotlight squarely on it.
When your strategy emphasizes neutral-zone coverage to trap offenders and slow down the game because you don't have confidence in your goaltender, it essentially takes away from your team's strengths.
McDavid and Draisaitl have been turned into over-paid checkers and penalty killers this season, a style that detracts from their elite offense. Given they are the best in the league at scoring points, they've held their won. The rest of the offense, however, hasn't.
Last season, Edmonton had secondary scoring, a strong blueline that punished opposing players, the ability to roll-out four lines, and a power play that was best in the NHL. Over the last two years, that was the team's identity.
They dominated every aspect of the game and reached two consecutive Finals as a result.
When recently asked about the Oilers' identity this year, Kris Knoblauch replied the following:
Obviously, Connor and Leon are the identity of our team. When you think of the Edmonton Oilers, those are the two names that pop out.
That was ten days ago. If you ask the coach that same question today, I wonder what his answer would be? Really, what is the Oilers' identity Kris?
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