Monday Mailbag – January 18th, 2016

It’s that wonderful time again. That time when you have all the things you’ve always wanted to know about the NHL, and about life, answered by our panel of bloggers life coaches. I like to think of us as a much cheaper alternative to a college education. As always, this feature depends on you guys so I need you to submit your questions. If you have something you’d like to know you can always email me, or DM me on Twitter. With that out of the way, it’s time to learn something. Enjoy.

Not sure the NHL can learn anything specific from other sports because no other sport is really that similar, although continuing to look at ways to increase scoring makes sense. The desire to make sensible changes is what matters.

Great question, don’t have an answer—mostly because hockey is somewhat unique to other major NA sports. I will say a 2-1 game has appeal for me, nothing wrong with a good defense and goaltending.

I have to pass on this one; I only follow hockey.

Last years’ NFL season was pretty terrible top to bottom. I’ll let Drew Magary lay out all the reasons.

Pitchers are once again becoming the dominant force in baseball and, Blue Jays smashing all those dingers aside, scoring in the MLB is down to historic lows. 

Both of these leagues are looking into, or have already implemented new rules to try and keep up with the ever changing nature of their respective sports. You have to think the NHL will come up with a bunch of new rules and ideas to try to increase scoring in the near future too.

The NFL and NBA changed rules to enhance scoring. The NHL refuses to properly enforce obstruction or goalie equipment size and that has hurt them, but even when they put in new rules, they usually screw it up. The offside review only hinders offence. They only review goals to be called off due to a missed offside. How many times do the linesmen blow down an offside that wasn’t? I’m guessing it happens as often as missed offside calls, yet once the whistle is blown there is no chance to score so this rule only limits offence.

The only lesson I want the NHL to learn from other major sports is that they don’t have to change every five minutes to have a quality product. Baseball takes forever, has infrequent action, and has regular season OT that can last indefinitely. They haven’t bent over backwards to prevent extra time lasting longer than five minutes. Scoring in soccer is such a rare occasion that fans at the games have to stab each other in the stands just to stay awake. They don’t care. Basketball is presumably a game played by humans. I’m not sure. There seems to be lots of points but they don’t give a squat about basic rules like travelling. The NHL wont even allow a linesman to determine offsides without a challenge from the coach now so I don’t see the NHL abandoning rules. Don’t go to other sports to find a solution for hockey, there’s no need to do that until all the easy changes are exhausted anyway. Who cares what baseball does in response to the shift if we can’t even reduce goalie equipment to safe but reasonable coverage?

An issue few bring up is the speed of all the players in the NHL. They cover so much space quickly it doesn’t give anyone a chance on offence. Go back 10 or 20 years, there was so much more time and space compared to today. Maybe we should ask the players to go slower when defending.

I think the NHL could learn something from soccer and the NFL in the sense that they should allow pucks to be kicked in the net. Does that work?

Some players are naturally inclined to respond and the Oilers don’t have enough of those. Teammates and coaches can encourage a pack mentality and even insist on it, but it really starts with the individual player.

The hit on Hall was loud and it certainly stood him up, but I can’t see a foul on the play. Mark Fayne could have gone over and said pardon, but the Oilers have lost games (Minnesota Wild, Dumba hit) by a goal previously with the exact scenario. As for the Hendricks hit on Ekblad, that was an illegal hit and the reaction was predictable. I don’t think the Oilers would have quietly gone to the bench had that hit been on one of their players. Your opinion may not match mine.

Todd McLellan fielded very similar questions after the game. He noted that Hall got up and was fine after the hit–something that can’t be said about Ekblad, who was hammered in the numbers. He also noted that the Oilers played hard, physical hockey against Florida’s star players after the hit on Hall. He said the response was “excellent” and “great”. So if you’re looking for the coach to do something to change the response, you’re probably looking for a different coach. As for McDavid, this isn’t going to be popular but I honestly don’t get what kind of response is expected. He tried and almost managed to beat Philly’s D to the net, went off-balance and crashed awkwardly into the boards. This wasn’t some nefarious plot on the part of Brandon Manning to break his shoulder and going out and beating the stuffing out of him doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.

Todd McLellan did address this already, and had no problem with the way his team responded. And personally while I do agree that team toughness is needed, especially on an Oilers roster that has been fairly limp in that regard for seasons on end now, I think a lot of people are going overboard with this, and it’s more a case of optics than anything else. 

Taylor Hall got absolutely creamed by Gundbranson, and obviously the Oilers want to try to prevent that from happening. Less than a handful of shifts later Matt Hendricks took a healthy (and fully illegal) run at Panthers’ star Aaron Ekblad. To me that more than meets the criteria of eye for an eye. What do you think is going to send more of a message: that Hendricks hit, or Mark Fayne half heartedly face washing a guy after a clean hit? I choose the first one. 

If the Oilers win that game 5-0 is this nearly as much of an issue? I personally don’t think so. But they’re on another downward slide, and people are looking for answers, and right now the Wheel Of Blame® has fallen on “lack of team toughness” for the umpteenth time.

Lack of players who are willing to do it. Gryba will do it, but you need more and it isn’t about fighting for me. It has to become a team mentality where they stand up for each other, but also for themselves. The latter doesn’t happen often enough either.

Hall got hit with a clean hit. The team responded with multiple fights, a dirty hit on Ekblad, and they controlled the puck all night. I’m not sure what was missing from their response. I have no answer to give here about the problem with their response. There was no problem. As for it maybe not happening enough, Chiarelli wants a meaner team. That stuff will get here when the Oilers have a roster with more than 3 chippy players.

First off, there was no reason for a reaction on McDavid hit. It was an accident. Same goes for the Hall hit. It was a clean hit. It wasn’t even that hard a hit. I understand what Hendricks was trying to do by running Ekblad but that was a dirty hit from behind. With Ekblad out the Panthers lost to both the Flames and Canucks ( teams the Oilers are trying to catch in standings). Against Arizona while he was serving his suspension the team gives up 3 power play goals. He is an important killer for the Oilers. 

It was an expensive price he and the Oilers paid for getting back at the Panthers for a clean hit on Hall. Do you still think it was worth it?

There are times when going back at a player is important but the “cost” must make sense. With both 23 and 44 in the lineup the Oilers will have the ability to be aggressive and have the other team come after them. Always a better position to be in.

Actually, I think it’s dumb when guys have to fight after laying a clean hit. I think the Oilers did the right thing in that they stepped up their physicality and took runs at the Panthers’ best players. I mean, I wouldn’t recommend hitting guys from behind, like Hendricks did, but the intention was good. 

Yes, I am. There are enough holes up front that Kassian could very well stay if he plays well and flies straight, but I’m in the wait-and-see camp for now.

Very surprised. I think Peter Chiarelli did it because he wants a Peter Chiarelli team—soon!

Yes and yes. Four games isn’t a lot of time, but the Oilers’ eagerness to get him up in Edmonton suggests they want to get as long a look as they can at the player before making a decision this summer.

I am incredibly surprised. I figured he would need at least a month’s worth of time in the AHL to get his legs back under him. This quote from Condors coach Gerry Fleming seems to back up my hypothesis. This feels like a combination of what Baggedmilk calls the Chiarelli News Cycle® (Oilers on another losing skid an McDavid still weeks away? HEY LOOK OVER HERE!) mixed with a clear need to shake up the roster, especially the bottom six. It seems more like a panic move than a strategic one, to me. 

However I can fully see a scenario in which he sticks with the club for the remainder of the season. Luke Gazdic is literally just taking up a roster spot at this point, so at the very least Kassian could fill that role with ease. Iiro The Hero has provided basically nothing in his call-up. And while Anton Lander has been good defensively and on the draw he has provided exactly zero offence so far, and I could see a scenario in which he tries to find his touch back in the AHL. Basically Kassian isn’t swimming upstream too badly in terms of competing for a roster spot. If he can get his conditioning up to par and not be a liability on (or off) the ice I think he’ll easily stick with the team for the remainder of the year.

I was surprised. I thought he’d play a few more games in AHL and keep playing during the NHL all-star break. I guess the Oilers could send him down and expose him to waivers to avoid a ten-day break. He might be sent back down and play three games to keep playing during AS break.

I had Kassian pegged as coming back by the game versus Calgary, but I also assumed McDavid would return from injury on that day too. So, what the heck do I know? He’s an NHL player and even without the proper conditioning I’m sure it was evident to some degree. He also can’t possibly be worse than all of Pakarinen, Lander, or Klinkhammer. He is almost certainly better than at least one of them.

I was surprised. He conditioning can’t be very good with so much time off. His skating looks good and he is moving well on the ice, but he does looked winded earlier than other skaters. That can be worked on though. It is up to him if he stays all year. He will need to be consistently involved in games, something he has been able to do in the past.

I couldn’t believe it. For a guy that hadn’t played a game in months I was expecting him to get more time to get up to game shape. On the North x NorthGretz podcast, we all too guesses as to when he would get called up and I went with February 2nd. I think Kassian has played fairly well since being recalled, and I’m excited to see him when he gets up to speed. 

No, not really. Injuries have been a big secret with all teams since the “lower” and “upper” body stuff was employed.

Yes. I am torn on it, because fans have a right to know but in the case of Klefbom it is serious enough (staph infections can be extremely serious) that it moves from a hockey injury to something far more impactful. In a case of that kind, giving the young man time to come to grips, talk to family, get treatment underway and become confident in recovery, would seem to be reasonable.

I think the Oilers’ current administration takes more care to control what gets out than the previous management did.

Not at all. There was a time not that long ago when Gilbert Brule basically fell off the face of the earth. Months went by with absolutely no update on what his injury was or when he would be returning. Much later we found out he was dealing with mental health issues, but the Oilers never said a thing about it. And how many times have we seen a guy clearly break his foot blocking a shot, but teams only refer to it as a “lower body injury”? I think this was more a case of the Oilers not knowing the extent of the staph infection, and hoping it would clear up quickly. The league as a hole is fairly secretive with their injuries and this is no exception.

Chiarelli likes to keep things quiet. It takes more work to get info, which is okay.

Definitely more secretive. They are very quiet and very conservative thus far. It’s a change. In some ways a nice one, in others a frustrating one. I don’t really get the secrecy with a Staph infection. It’s not exactly something another team can target when he returns. I wonder how much of it is just exercising control over the media in general. That’s neither here nor there.

I am not sure. I think it is a joke how much teams are not telling the truth about their players. From now on just say player X is hurt instead of saying it is upper or lower body. At the end of the day I really don’t care what the injury is. Just tell me when he will be back.

I kind of like it. I like that the GM of the Edmonton Oilers isn’t running his mouth about everything like MacT would have. Would I like him to spill the beans on everything? Of course, but for now I’m enjoying the change of pace. 

Too early to tell.

I think Reinhart remains a very interesting prospect and look forward to seeing him after the deadline. I think Peter Chiarelli wanted a more immediate return, but that is separate from what kind of player he will become. The trade short term did not cover the bet, miles too early to make the call on this player.

Yes, I think it looks worse now than it did in the summer. Reinhart is a nice guy to have in the system now and was when the Oilers acquired him, though as I wrote at the time the price was too dear for my taste. Two things have changed since the deal, and both have made it a worse trade for Edmonton. First, Reinhart couldn’t hold on to an NHL job. He got the first crack out of the box and didn’t deliver enough; now the Oilers are cycling through other options. Second, Edmonton’s future on left defence looks more crowded than it previously did, with the coaches falling head-over-heels for Darnell Nurse and Brandon Davidson surpassing expectation. Obviously there’s story left to be written here, but right now the trade doesn’t seem like a particularly good one.

It is WAY too early to even remotely judge that trade. Reinhart has played 20 NHL games, combined with 70 AHL games for less than 100 games at the pro level. Compare that with Mathew Barzal, who went from a decent mid-first round pick choice, to a CAN’T MISS PROSPECT the second the Oilers traded away the pick that was used to draft him. Barzal has played 0 NHL games, so in that regard he has had less impact on an NHL team than Reinhart has. 

And I don’t necessarily think Reinhart has been passed on the depth chart. The Oilers brought up Brad Hunt to basically be a power play specialist. They brought up Nikitin to see if ANYONE was willing to give up even the idea of a draft pick for him (and for all his flaws he was one of the only guys in Bako with legit NHL experience). LaLeggia, Osterle, Musil, etc, guys in a similar place in their careers as Reinhart haven’t been called up yet. He’s still fully in the mix of young Oiler D-men looking to take that next step. 

To me this feels like the Oilers being patient for once. They obviously don’t feel that Reinhart is ready for full time NHL duty at the moment, and the more he plays in the AHL, the better it will be for his development in the long run, theoretically.

A bit too soon. I didn’t like giving up the second rounder with the first. I could see giving up one, although I would have preferred they got an experienced D-man. I understood the theory of why they got him. They felt he would be much closer to contributing in 2016/2017, when the team should be better, than the draft pick would have been. I don’t mind him playing a lot of minutes in the AHL and still maturing. The Oilers don’t need more youth on the blueline right now so having him in AHL this year doesn’t mean trade is a bust just yet. But Reinhart needs to put in a lot of work this summer and get stronger, which should improve his skating.

First off, I don’t know if he’s any lower on the depth chart than he was before. It’s pretty clear that the Oilers don’t want Ference but have no choices there. They also don’t appear to be fans of Mark Fayne either. With Reinhart they aren’t making him learn in the NHL but they’ve opted for heavy duty in the AHL. If this team is still playing Griffin in the AHL next season then it’s time to talk about busts. Right now, they have an asset who is not waiver eligible and could benefit from increased playing time. Second, Reinhart probably was not the player they wanted to walk away from the Draft weekend with. He was the second choice. He was very probably the wrong choice given that he’s yet another LHD for a team that would have Klefbom, Sekera, and Nurse for the long term. Early returns suggest they might have been better off keeping the picks. Still too early to say for certain though.

Hard to say that right now, but Griff needs to keep working at his game. I’ve said it before and will continue to say that Reinhart needs more snap to his game. Quicker plays and stronger physically.

Griffin Reinhart is 21 years old. I think there’s still time for him to figure it out before we can call him a bust, but the clock is ticking.