Subscribe
Follow Us
It's been a nightmare start to the campaign in Oil Country, with the Edmonton Oilers shockingly sitting in 31st place after a 1-4-1 start. But despite the team's glaring struggles, coach Jay Woodcroft defended their systems on Thursday.
“I think it gets magnified by the fact that our record is what our record is right now,” he said on Wednesday about the team's defensive structure. “Any time you go do something new and you're working through something, there's growing pains. Can we be better? Yeah, we can. And we don't make any excuses for it.”
The Oilers changed from man-to-man coverage to zone defense ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, a tactic that clearly has not been working in the early going. They've given up 4.5 goals per game, which also ranks second last in the National Hockey League.
Oilers being undone by defense, goaltending
Edmonton was expected to be a Stanley Cup contender, but poor team defense and brutal goaltending has been the downfall in the early going. Still, Woodcroft stands behind his systems.
“I think through (the first) five games, we gave up one defensive-zone goal,” he explained. “[On Tuesday] it wasn't good enough. Part of that's on us, part of that's a credit to the other team that did some unique things, some good things, and their top players found a way to break it.
The Oilers were most recently shelled 7-4 by the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, again finding it impossible to keep the puck out of their own net. Edmonton has been outscored 17-27 through their first six contests, and it seems obvious that something needs to change. But Woodcroft might not see it that way.
“The first goal was off a rush where a player floated one, we missed it, a guy tipped it in. Second goal was off a breakout turnover. I think we gave up three power-play goals that night, so that's five. Gave up a faceoff goal, that's six. We gave up a forecheck goal where we didn't work above someone, that's seven.”
It'll be intriguing to see if this team can turn things around once Connor McDavid is healthy, or if the defensive play ends up costing this core a precious season.
