The Oilers returned to play last night with a road loss to the Blues, and Dave Tippett returned to doing what Dave Tippett does best
After winning their last two games before the break, the Oilers have returned to losing, and are now 2-7 in their last nine. Even worse is the fact that their only two wins in that stretch happened with Dave Tippett out due to Covid, and the assistants taking over coaching duties. Last night was an absolute masterclass in ineptitude from Tippett and he once again showed how much he’s holding this team back.
Defenseman Dmitri Samorukov made his NHL debut last night, and in classic Tippett fashion, he played less than three minutes the entire game. Not only that but he also decided to have Evan Bouchard, the Oilers’ best healthy defenseman, play with him, which led to him playing less minutes than every other defenseman. Instead of Bouchard, Duncan Keith led the team in ice time and was, as per usual, mediocre at best. I won’t get into him too much here, but I think Tyler Yaremchuk summed up my thoughts pretty well.
A lot of people like to say that coaching doesn’t really matter, but that’s simply not the case. The Vancouver Canucks were off to a more than lackluster start this year but since firing Travis Green and bringing in Bruce Boudreau, they’re 7-0. There are plenty of good coaches out there, Oilers assistant and special teams coach Glen Gulutzan could be one of them, but Dave Tippett just isn’t that guy. Sooner or later ownership will have to realize that Tippett is part of the problem, but until then, the Oilers are stuck with a coach that has failed to help them in any way.
The Morning Skate 