Craig Button on the Oilers problems - "Its starts with the coach."

[Axeman33]

As an Oilers fan, it's hard to argue with his reasoning.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/201...nsider-button/

Eakins “is largely responsible for the team under-performing,” Button says.

Former Flames GM Craig Button, now an NHL insider on TSN hockey, ripped in to the job done by Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins, saying the rookie head coach is largely responsible for Edmonton under-performing this season.

Button talked with radio host Bob Stauffer of the Oilers on Friday after Edmonton’s 6-to-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Stauffer brought up a constant refrain from Oilers fans that the team’s young guns aren’t improving, and brought up Nail Yakupov, who is said to be on his way out of Edmonton.

“It’s been an incredibly difficult year for Nail,” Stauffer said. “Nail has brought some of it upon himself. Something appears lost in translation. Maybe (previous coach) Ralph Krueger molly coddled Nail too much last year (when Yakupov led the team in goal scoring as a rookie). I don’t know. Maybe there’s tough love this year.”

Rather than critique Yakupov, Button immediately raised serious questions about Eakins, saying the team’s poor play isn’t just on the players, but is mainly on Eakins.

“The bottom line is, and Al McNeil, a long time player, a long time coach, he always said this, ‘If a coach is getting a team to play to its capabilities, and the team doesn’t have success, then that’s on management to get better players in there. If a team isn’t playing to its capabilities, it starts with the coach.’

“This team, in my view, does not play to its capabilities. It’s interesting that you use the term, ‘lost in translation’ with Yakupov. I think there’s a lot of things lost in translation and not just with Yakupov. ‘That’s the coach’s job.

“The coach’s job is to get players to play to their ability, to play to their strengths and to play to their capabilities, and to weave it within the framework of a team. And that’s your job. And I don’t think anybody can say that there’s been progress in that young group.

“How does a guy like Nail Yakupov go from a real dynamic rookie to where he’s at this year? Call it ‘growing pains?’ It’s a two-way street. We know that, Bob. You can look at it and say, ‘Was it tough love? Was he molly coddled?’ And, yes, Nail Yakupov has to take responsibility, but the responsibility doesn’t lie solely in that area, and when you start to look at it that it’s effected so many other players, there’s only one place to start and that starts with the coach… He hasn’t helped this team play to its capabilities. I don’t care what he says. I don’t care how he wants to frame it. That’s how I view it. He’s largely responsible for this team under-performing.”

Stauffer brought up some selfish play, including some from veteran winger Ryan Smyth for being out too long on a few power play shifts. Stauffer also brought up that Nugent-Hopkins has followed Eakins’ work-out plan religiously and has put on nine pounds but hasn’t played well since the Olympic break.

“I am going to tell you right now, that is under the coach’s domain. If he doesn’t want Ryan Smyth to have a 1:40 shift, he can stop it immediately. Bottom line is, you have an enabler here,” Button responded.

“Number two, is Dallas the head coach or the strength coach. It’s great, ‘Oh, he puts on nine pounds of muscle.’ You got to be able to carry nine pounds. You got to be able to move with nine pounds. The game is about strength, it’s not about weight…. You have to make sure that when you ask players to making significant changes in terms of carrying weight, that they’re capable of carrying it while being as quick as they once were. The bottom line, the last time I looked at it, Dallas was wasn’t the strength coach. Maybe that’s the problem, too, is he wants to be too many things that he isn’t.

“The bottom line is that’s a physiologist’s job, not a guy who is not a physiologist.”

Stauffer defended Eakins, saying Smyth hadn’t been taken off the power play but the second time he did it, he was benched for a shift or two.

My take?

In a full season, a coach should be able to make his mark on a team. I see little or no evidence that the Oilers have improved under Eakins. There continues to be constant mistakes, especially in the defensive zone.

This is a group of strong attacking players who grew up with the puck on their stick, but who lack knowledge and awareness of what to do when they don’t have the puck. They’re constantly failing to shoulder check, failing to backcheck hard enough, getting caught too low in the offensive zone, over-aggressively over committing to the d-zone corners and not protecting the slot, making lazy turns instead of stops and starts in the defensive zone, failing to stay on the right side of the man in the d-zone, and being slow to cover their man on defence because they’re puck-watching.

These problems have existed on the team for years, but they’re not getting any better this year.

Sam Gagner, David Perron, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, they all make these mistakes, and the worrying thing is that Eberle, RNH and Hall are making more of these kinds of mistakes this year compared to last year. They are doing this despite being a year more experienced. Eberle and RNH looked like they were getting it as NHL defenders under Ralph Krueger, but that’s not the case this year.

If Button’s heated rhetoric resonates with Oilers fans — and I suspect it will — this will be why.

[Dobber]

Yep. Of course it starts with the coach.

But let's give all new coaches 20 games (at LEAST) to get their system in place. The Oilers started out 4-14-2, and have been 20-22-7 since then. Let's forgive Dallas the first 20. To me, that's a bit of progress. Not as much as we hoped, but it's some. With goaltending in place and a full year under this system, the next step would be 90 points. And let's not forget - the West have four teams that are practically slam-dunk wins when they play one of the other 10 teams.

[Shiva Blaster]

I was not a fan of the Eakens hiring at all.......with the ridiculous coaching carousel that's been going on here in Edmonton, and how poorly things went with our last rookie coach, the smart and sensible move would have been to bring in an established/experienced NHL coach that could provide some long(er) term stability. Firing one rookie coach only to hire another was just silly IMO, I don't care how highly Eakens was regarded.

That said, the Oilers have no choice but to stick with Eakens.......they CAN NOT make another coaching change in the near future, they have already made too many changes there recently with zero results. The coach is not the root problem here, it's a combination of not having the proper mix of players, and not having the right culture yet. As mentioned by Dobber, it takes time for any new coach to implement their system and put their fingerprints on a team.........look how long it took AV to make changes in NY, they are just now starting to play his system effectively. That said, Eakens has made his fair share of mistakes this year IMO.....I'm not a fan of a lot of the tactical decisions he makes, and I feel like he gets out-coached on most nights. I'm also not a big fan of his attitude/body language behind the bench, in interviews, etc. He comes off as really negative and smug a lot of the time, and I don't see him doing a whole lot to energize or motivate this team. There is never an excuse for lack of effort, and there has just been too many games this year when the Oilers just did not show up ready to play.......ie. getting embarrassed every time we played on HNIC this year. If you can't get your players pumped up and ready to play a Saturday night game in front of a national audience, I think there's an issue there. Obviously a lot of that is on the players, but a big part of the coach's job is to make sure his team is fired up and ready to play every night, and that hasn't been the case.

Something about Eakens just rubs me the wrong way, and I have to wonder if that's the case with the players too, and if they are already starting to tune him out a little bit. Whatever the case is, it's still early and the Oilers have no choice but to ride with Eakens for at least next year and hope that things improve.......with the instability of the coaching situation here and all the losing, it's hard enough to attract FA's. Another coaching change isn't going to help that one bit.

[Axeman33]

They only gave Krueger 48 games.

[kovalchuk17]

they shouldve kept ralph krueger. although hindsight is 20/20, the grass isnt always greener on the other side. look how valuable a commodity krueger is now yet he still doesnt have a NHL job.

[Loch]

they shouldve kept ralph krueger. although hindsight is 20/20, the grass isnt always greener on the other side. look how valuable a commodity krueger is now yet he still doesnt have a NHL job.

Krueger is, however, now chairman of Southampton FC... so it isn't like he's out of work entirely.

[Reuben]

I'm willing to give Eakins another year - just in case he DOES know what he's doing. And, as said above, another coaching change would be a disaster.

But when Vancouver fans - where it's been a completed gongshow all season long - are saying 'hey, it could be worse. We coulda grabbed Eakins instead of Torts", you know it's been bad for Edmonton.

[agentzero]

Button is awful... It's why he doesn't work in hockey anymore..

“The bottom line is, and Al McNeil, a long time player, a long time coach, he always said this, ‘If a coach is getting a team to play to its capabilities, and the team doesn’t have success, then that’s on management to get better players in there. If a team isn’t playing to its capabilities, it starts with the coach.’

This is similar to lines of thinking such as if the team is under-performing, since you can't trade/change 20 players, you change coaches.. and so Edmonton has, seemingly, done this almost every year since I can remember...

Thing is, I disagree with Button. This team does not have the right personnel to win. Eakings preaches hard work and responsibility, but a lot of these guys just either don't have the work ethic, don't have the maturity or plain and simple, don't have the physical skills and hockey skills necessary to lift this team up in the standings. This team needs WAY better defence, checking forwards in their primes that are not 4th line or AHL calibre, quality top-6 forwards that don't take a shift or a night off... and of course, quality goaltending..

This team needs new personnel but that takes time. Drafting a bunch of kids and hoping they all pan out to grow together and be superstars is a weak strategy. You need solid vets to insulate them. Edmonton does not have solid vets. They traded one of their best defensive defensemen to CGY to sign a more capable goaltender, but that didn't last and being more capable than Dubnyk proved a relatively easy thing to do..

This team needs better management. Bye bye Lowe, Mac T and that whole former Oiler crew. Bring in some no-nonsense management with a sharp eye, stern decision-making ability and patience and overhaul the upstairs.

Over the years, the coaches changed, the players changed, but the results were the same? The constant is Kevin Lowe. I would fire him before I fired Eakins. Eakins asked his players to come to work in the morning and they whined.. Shows you what kind of room you got there... and that's the room Eakins inherited. Yeah... Fire Eakins and bring on the next poor schmuck...

No, fire Lowe.

[MXHockey]

Button is awful... It's why he doesn't work in hockey anymore..

“The bottom line is, and Al McNeil, a long time player, a long time coach, he always said this, ‘If a coach is getting a team to play to its capabilities, and the team doesn’t have success, then that’s on management to get better players in there. If a team isn’t playing to its capabilities, it starts with the coach.’

This is similar to lines of thinking such as if the team is under-performing, since you can't trade/change 20 players, you change coaches.. and so Edmonton has, seemingly, done this almost every year since I can remember...

Thing is, I disagree with Button. This team does not have the right personnel to win. Eakings preaches hard work and responsibility, but a lot of these guys just either don't have the work ethic, don't have the maturity or plain and simple, don't have the physical skills and hockey skills necessary to lift this team up in the standings. This team needs WAY better defence, checking forwards in their primes that are not 4th line or AHL calibre, quality top-6 forwards that don't take a shift or a night off... and of course, quality goaltending..

This team needs new personnel but that takes time. Drafting a bunch of kids and hoping they all pan out to grow together and be superstars is a weak strategy. You need solid vets to insulate them. Edmonton does not have solid vets. They traded one of their best defensive defensemen to CGY to sign a more capable goaltender, but that didn't last and being more capable than Dubnyk proved a relatively easy thing to do..

This team needs better management. Bye bye Lowe, Mac T and that whole former Oiler crew. Bring in some no-nonsense management with a sharp eye, stern decision-making ability and patience and overhaul the upstairs.

Over the years, the coaches changed, the players changed, but the results were the same? The constant is Kevin Lowe. I would fire him before I fired Eakins. Eakins asked his players to come to work in the morning and they whined.. Shows you what kind of room you got there... and that's the room Eakins inherited. Yeah... Fire Eakins and bring on the next poor schmuck...

No, fire Lowe.

Well said +1..........

[davidgoodburn]

The Oilers have been through 4 coaches in 5 or 6 years and the results are always the same. Weak defender, poor goaltending and a lottery selection. Eakins maybe a good coach maybe not but you can't make gold with a pile of shit. At some point we all have point at the players and realize no coach can get more out of that group. Go the PHI route and actually trade some of your core players to improve your locker room and the accountability in it. Don't continually make excuses, blame the coach, cycle out 4th liners and expect a change. Hensley said it best it time for the kids I realize they are the leaders of the team and take it to the playoffs.

[Big Ev]

Trade proposal: Spezza for Eakins

[The Hockey Hitman]

LOL @ people saying Oilers fans need to be "patient

What the heck have they been doing all these years?!! Lowe/MacTavish/Eakins all need to go IMO.

[havanablast21]

LOL @ people saying Oilers fans need to be "patient

What the heck have they been doing all these years?!! Lowe/MacTavish/Eakins all need to go IMO.

+1 for me!

[Spec7ral]

Pot calling the kettle black... They are BOTH bums.

[agentzero]

Pot calling the kettle black... They are BOTH bums.

LMAO.

Button is useless, but I don't think Eakins is.. He's having trouble getting buy-in from his players, but every coach has had trouble getting that with this group. I agree it's time to trade away some problem personnel for some productive, diligent and dedicated vets. Especially on defense.. The atmosphere just reeks of entitlement in that room, to me.

I think if the character of the players being drafted in there is questionable, then that falls on the management that scouted, interviewed and selected that character.. It falls on them. Character is a judgment call and if the judgment isn't working.. time for new judgment.