Not Buying In and Knowing Your Role

For a couple of years now (and more prominantly since the dismissal), there has been more and more talk about the players not buying into the system of Craig MacTavish. The fact that this isn't at all worrisome to Oiler fans (in fact this is one of the reasons people point to that he should have been fired), makes me wonder about the future of this hockey team.

It was evident from day 1 of the 08-09 system that the team wasn't buying in. We know this because we've got about 75 days worth of post game audio where the players and coaches lamented on the fact that the team wasn't doing what it was supposed to be doing.

Now call me crazy, but shouldn't the players at least attempt to do what they are supposed to do before they write off the whole thing as pointless? I mean I could understand if the players were executing and things weren't going well to question what the coaching staff was having them do... but that clearly wasn't the case. Not once all year could you say that the team executed the game plan over a span of more than a game or two at a time.

I obviously don't know what went on behind closed doors... but there were complaints about things being too complicated and that the team was reactive in all of their game plans, rather than proactive. Seems like a load to me. The Oilers didn't do anything on the ice that looked remotely complicated. Their forecheck was pretty standard, their defensive zone coverage was pretty standard and so was their breakout. There was nothing in any of that which makes me think things were too complicated. As for being reactive, I'd like to hope so. The Oilers weren't a good enough team to dictate the pace to anyone else in the Western conference and being reactive gave them a fallback plan to work with. It's been the same way since 2005-06 though... so this isn't something new, and it shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed this team. The Oilers absolutely need to play to the weaknesses of every team they face. This is exactly how St. Louis and Columbus play as well.

Ales Hemsky had a very famous quote just before the wheels fell off the hockey team. Something along the lines of wanting to be the go to guy and the guy to carry the team. This also provided more fodder for the firing of MacTavish, but I'm curious as to where he thinks he can help?

Oddly enough, it coincided with his removal from the shootout lineup. I think one would have to be naive to think that didn't hurt his pride a bit, and was at least partially responsible for his comments. The problem is, he's been dreadful at shootous. He simply doesn't score enough. I know common knowledge is your most skilled guys should shoot, but I don't think that should be the case. The top shooters in the shootout are rarely the guys you'd expect, and some of the biggest names in the sport have struggled badly in the shootout. This aspect above almost all others is completely about execution and counting numbers. You simply need to score and Hemsky just doesn't do it enough.

The problem ends up being, how do you give Hemsky more responsibility and a bigger role? There aren't many options. He plays the most on the PP and the puck has deferred to him on the half boards for 4 years now (which IMO, is the biggest thing wrong with the Oilers PP). You can probably play him more minutes here, but that's about the extent of it. He already matches up against the other teams best players most of the time, and he also plays with the best linemates on the team. In terms of extending his ES time, he doesn't do well at all away from Horcoff and/or Penner. He gives up more goals and scores less. Double shifting him is just going to end up burning him out more and not provide any results (based on our current roster).

I'm just not sure where Hemsky thinks he can do more to help the team. It all leads back to being more about the shootouts than anything else. With the apparant attitudes of the players, it's no wonder this team was in such disarray last year. The only way the coaching change fixes this is if the players themselves buy into whatever is said from day 1. It needs to be a concious choice to listen, much like last year it was a concious decision to ignore.