Well the Edmonton Oilers announced that they had "relieved" goaltending coach Fred Chabot of his duties on Monday, proving to everyone that has ever been a fan of their club, the "old boys club" is alive and well. I don't know if this was a warning to Eakins or if it was just to shake things up or if it was because he was just that bad of a coach?
I highly doubt that he was that bad of a coach that he was the one that needed to be let go. I mean you could throw a ball in any direction in that dressing room and in that coaches office and hit any number of people who should have left before Chabot.
I know that the goalies reflect his work and it partly lays on their shoulders when their positional coach gets let go, but if your goalie is facing shots in the high 30's to 40's on any given night and your team loses 5,6 or 7 to 2, is it really the goalie coaches fault?
There is an old saying, "the goalie only has to make the first save". And to a point that is true, but they sometimes also have to make the second or third save too. But it is the d-mans job to try and clear any rebound out or keep the shots to the outside so the goalie can have a clear look at a long shot obviously giving him the advantage.
When your d-men don't do this, shots come from in close. Meaning more chances for goals meaning more losses. This area of direction is on the coaching staff's shoulders. The head coach and his assistants. Not the goalie coach.
I know that the coaching staff has a very large and difficult lump of clay they are trying to mold into actual NHL caliber d-men, but you would think by now some of their teachings would have sunk in a bit and the mold would be taking shape, at least a little.
Don't get me wrong here, the goalies are not the greatest either. Both came to Edmonton after being back up goalies in other organizations, which is better suited for them I think for a couple more years. I know that to make the NHL, even as a back up, is difficult and you have to be good. You also have to maintain that level of play to give your team a chance, and these two just haven't shown that a lot this season. They have had some good play and held the team in a few games here and there, but then they stumble a bit and seem to hit the reset button on their play. This is where their goaltending coach comes in. He is the one who is supposed to pick apart their play and show them the good, the bad and the ugly in what they have done. I thought that they were making improvements, slowly, and after each loss the next game they played, they wouldn't make the same mistakes and get a little bit better. But like anything, when you focus on something for so long to try and fix it, you neglect other areas.
The Oilers seemed to think that this coaches style of teaching or whatever wasn't working.
Thus relieving him of his duties and replacing him with a younger person who hasn't seen the NHL level of play in his career and seems better fitted to teaching junior players their craft. Which may be exactly what the Oilers need.
I just can't for the life of me figure out why the goalie coach? Was he that one piece of the machine that wasn't fitting or working? Was he that bad of a coach you thought he should go first?
If you asked any Oilers fan before this happened, what coach do you think needs to be replaced? They probably would have started naming off the head coach and his assistants. Or they possibly would have started at the top and named Kevin Lowe or Craig MacTavish as people to get rid of. So you see, the goalie coach, as much of a coach as he is on the team like the rest of them, seemed a little insignificant when it came to replacement.
I think that the Oilers brass should maybe wake up a bit and see where the real issues lay. All they need is to look in the reflection of a mirror and see themselves. The 80's are gone and there isn't a dynasty in Edmonton anymore. Stop trying to build one with a team of first overall draft picks.
There are coaches out there available for hire who have worked in the NHL with some pretty decent talent, young talent, and won. Dan Bylsma's name comes to mind. He is currently without a job. Who knows. Maybe they already approached him about a position. Maybe he said "hell no" and hung up. I have no idea.
But this ship is sinking and sinking fast. All the Oilers did was jettison a goalie coach to safety in one of their life rafts so he doesn't have to deal with the upset crowds at home games and watch in person how far behind this team really is.
This club is taking one step forward and two steps back. Not the kind of dance you want to be doing in your 7th year of a re-build.
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Until next time.
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