There aren't many smiling faces in Edmonton these days. (Photo credit: nunymare / Foter / CC BY-SA)
No matter how generous the odds get, you’d be wise to avoid betting on the Edmonton Oilers for a while.
The Oilers were pounded 7-1 at home Saturday by the Chicago Blackhawks, then fell 3-2 Tuesday in Dallas (when they were +160 underdogs to the 9-9-3-1 Stars). They’ve lost seven straight games, and seven in a row on home ice.
Edmonton is 27th in goals for, 29th in goals against. The Oilers’ upcoming schedule is at Nashville, at St. Louis, then games against the Jets and Coyotes before home-and-home series with the Sharks and Ducks.
Worse, there doesn’t seem to be anything ownership is prepared to do about it, according to Robert Tychowski’s column in Monday’s Edmonton Sun:
“Owner Daryl Katz doesn’t look like he has the stomach to make the hard decision and the Tier 1 fans don’t look like they’ll ever have the stomach to make the owner accountable, so a managerial change seems highly unlikely.
Firing the coach one year and 21 games into a four-year contract and replacing him with the sixth coach in seven years would make the organization look even more ridiculous than it already does.
And how does Craig MacTavish possibly stand up at a news conference and say “I’m firing the guy I fired Ralph Krueger for and replacing him with the third coach of my two-year tenure because I think you should be able to win with Leon Draisaitl and Mark Arcobello as two of your top three centres, Justin Schultz and Nikita Nikitin as top four defencemen and Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth in net.”
The Oilers also don’t have many assets to trade, so don’t expect any blockbuster deals to suddenly turn things around.
Coach Dallas Eakins is frustrated. Star forward Taylor Hall is frustrated. And the fans… well, you be the judge:
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