Fantasy Take: Oilers Fire Tippett

Michael Clifford

2022-02-10

The Edmonton Oilers did what all bad teams do: blame the coach.

Dave Tippett was fired as coach of the Oilers on Thursday morning with Jay Woodcroft taking over in his place. The Oilers are, ostensibly, in their Cup window and have looked nothing short of average-to-bad for three months now. Whether the problem is actually with Tippett or with a team built by someone who thinks Duncan Keith is a top-4 defenceman in the year 2022, well, we probably have our answer. But, coaches are the ones that lose their jobs so here we are.

As for Woodcroft, many Oilers writers that I respect seem to have respect for him:

That is just one guy, yes, but that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment. These are writers who've followed this team through some very dark days, so seeing them excited about a hire actually tells me much more about him than 10 000 words from The Athletic ever could.

It is a matter of what, exactly, can be done with this roster. Both Keith and Cody Ceci aren't really number-3 and number-4 defencemen for Cup-contending teams, but it's all they have to work with. Beyond just this season, if the general manager keeps dropping the chili pot whenever he walks into the room, it doesn't matter who is behind the bench.

📢 advertisement:

As for immediate turnarounds, it's the power play that needs as much help as possible. Since Christmas, the Oilers PP is worse than the Islanders, Sabres, and Canadiens. It should not be worse than those three teams for any reasonable stretch of time. If he can make big changes there, maybe we see some fantasy value rebounds over the final 30-or-so games? That's a big if.

For now, this could be a step in the right direction and give the team a short-term boost. But all the people making the (usually bad) decisions are still in place and that's all that really matters for the future of this team.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Oct 07 - 17:10 FLA vs CHI
Oct 07 - 20:10 NYR vs PIT
Oct 07 - 22:10 L.A vs COL

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
GABRIEL VILARDI WPG
YEGOR CHINAKHOV CBJ
JOE VELENO MTL
BRANDON SUGDEN WSH
KIRILL MARCHENKO CBJ

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ANTHONY STOLARZ TOR
PHILIPP GRUBAUER SEA
ILYA SOROKIN NYI
JOEL HOFER STL
SAMUEL ERSSON PHI

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency ANA Players
19.8 TREVOR ZEGRAS MASON MCTAVISH SAM COLANGELO
19.5 ALEX KILLORN CUTTER GAUTHIER LEO CARLSSON
16.2 FRANK VATRANO TROY TERRY RYAN STROME

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Washington Capitals Preview with Dan Holmi of Locked on Caps

Dan Holmi is here to report on the Washington Capitals. Jesse and Victor interview Dan about returning pros Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael, Ryan Leonard, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun, Rasmus Sandin, Logan Thompson, and Charlie Lindgren. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down Garin Bjorklund.  […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Stefan Rosner on the New York Islanders

Stefan Rosner is here to report on the New York Islanders. Jesse and Victor interview Stefan Rosner about returning pros Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom, JG Pageau, Maxim Tsyplakov, Calum Ritchie, Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, Alexander Romanov, Scott Perunovich, and Ilya Sorokin. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: