Monday Mailbag – Coach Q?

Welcome, friends, to a holiday Monday edition of the Mailbag. As always, I’ve taken five of your questions that need answers from our panel of heroes and experts, drawing from them the answers that you need to better live your lives. This feature depends on you and if you have a question you can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. 

I thought they played well in TB and WSH despite losing. The lack of finishing off good chances was the biggest concern for me. They should have been leading 2-0 after the first, but didn’t finish and then they looked tired in the final 40 minutes.

Not good enough. Needed 2-2. Can’t lose to the Florida Panthers. Thought they might build off the Tampa game but it didn’t happen.

They were gassed and I think by the end we were seeing that they may not have the horses. Actual depth means when one is slumping another is there. There were a few people scoring early and now I don’t know where everyone went.

The unfortunate reality of being a top-heavy team, relying so heavily on McDavid, Draisaitl, and Klefbom, is how easy the team gets burnt out. The losses in Washington and Tampa were tough but the team played pretty well and they were just totally burnt by the time they got to Florida. That’s going to be reality with this team all year. They’re going to struggle on tough road trips because of the non-existent depth.

I agree that it looked like they ran out of gas, especially their higher end players. That’s a concern for me because at times Todd McLellan is forced to overplay guys like McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Klefbom, and Larsson if he wants to win games. That’s not a shot at Todd either, it just speaks to how top-heavy this team is. So that’s a concern for me. Their special teams were also awful. The top powerplay unit wasn’t generating any sort of sustained pressure and their penalty kill looked more like the PK we were seeing a year ago.

They played a lot of games. .500 would have been preferable especially when you get a backup goalie, but the Capitals are still really good. Tampa Bay is up there too. Florida was winnable but I don’t think they deserved it.

I didn’t like how we almost lost all of the games. However I did like how we fought until the end of the game against every team even when we were down. Our special teams were very inconsistent, which is bad, but when our powerplay was good, it was REALLY good, which shows a huge positive.

They looked completely gassed by the time they got to Florida. I’m not making excuses at all, but they looked tired and that caused errors in their execution.

I don’t see them acquiring a proven goalie during the season, so I’d just wait until the summer when you can sign one and not give up an asset for a goalie who is likely unproven. Also after goalie Bob there isn’t many other great goalies.

Waiting is the thing to do but it has nothing to do with the “crop” you speak of. How much real quality is there? Outside of Bobrovsky, who is priced out of Edmonton’ ability to pay, who do you see? I don’t see much. Look at the age of the proven guys on the list.

I think getting attached to goalies is a bad move and teams should always be looking to upgrade. Always. I don’t know about waiting for anything. If you can upgrade then you should do it.

Goalies are voodoo. I don’t think either Talbot or Koskinen are going to be given an extension mid-season so wait and see which one is better, bring them back, and then grab another guy on the cheap in free agency. I don’t like the idea of throwing a bunch of cash at Sergei Bobrvosky.

I’m not that impressed with the crop of UFA goalies. Sergei Bobrovsky is going to command way too much money for the Oilers, Semyon Varlamov isn’t a huge upgrade over Talbot, I really don’t like Mike Smith at all, and Jimmy Howard’s best days are behind him. The only name that catches my eye is Keith Kinkaid. I think he’s ready to be a ‘1A’ type of guy, he just needs a solid backup as well. I would stay with Talbot though and get him signed to an extension whenever he wants. I think something like four or five years at somewhere around $5 million would be fair.

I’d wait for sure. I’m not ready to commit to Talbot based on his last season and this year’s start. I doubt the Oilers would be in on Bobrovsky. Other than Bob, Talbot, and Varlamov, there’s not much in free agency. I’d explore the trade market.

I think yes. My gut is telling me to stick with Talbot, and that he’s going to bounce back strong. If this is the case, then we’d be safe to make our decision on goaltending in the summer. HOWEVER, if we’re 40 games into the season, hovering around .500 and still aren’t seeing bright spots from our goalies, then we might have to think about making a move at the deadline or sooner.

I just checked out the list and I don’t know if anyone on it would be the solution. Bobrovsky would be nice for sure but he’ll also get some huge smoke in free agency.

I don’t think Quenneville is in a rush to jump back into things. He will be able to pick where he goes. I’d guess a legit Cup contender who comes up short could make a change. If Tampa doesn’t get to the Cup Finals…they could look at it and they would be very attractive for Quenneville. Now if the Oilers losing skid continues then I do think they’d be more interested.

Every team should have interest in Joel. He’s a proven commodity. He’s not going to do anything right now, so if you’re talking about potentially making a call this coming off-season, sure. He’ll be able to pick and choose then.

They just lost their fourth game in a row and the last two haven’t been against great teams. The team has sent Yamo and Jesse away because winning with them didn’t seem likely to the coach. If this team isn’t at least intrigued by JQ then there are problems.

The GM is a bigger issue than the coach.

Nope. He’s won his Cups and he’s one of the best coaches in NHL history, but there’s no way the Oilers will be able to convince their owner to fire Todd McLellan and start paying TWO high-end coaches at once. On top of that, I believe you have to give Todd McLellan this entire season. He’s your guy and you should stick with him. Also, one of the knocks on McLellan is how he handles young players and anyone who says Quenville has a significantly better track record of developing young players is blowing smoke.

Of course. You have to at least consider it and if you think it brings you closer to a championship then you make the move, even with a good start. How many Joel Quenneville’s become available? You have to consider all your options. I don’t think a good start has taken all the heat off Todd McLellan.

I’m torn about this. I do like Todd McLellan (however the recent gossip of the things Iiro Pakarinen said about him makes me like him a bit less), but Joel Quenneville is a hard opportunity to pass up. I think Coach Q is going to sit back and wait a bit for the right offer. This could buy us some time to see how McLellan handles this team moving forward and may give us an opportunity to pounce if things aren’t working out here.

Wouldn’t it be great if the Oilers brought in Joel Quenneville as some kind of advisor to Paul Coffey or something? I think that’s the way we can get him in here. We’ll just have to work on convincing Todd it’s a good idea, which will be tricky.

Caleb Jones. Not for this year, but I think he will help the blueline in the future.

Benson, Hebig and Marody up front. Caleb Jones on the back end.

I think a player like Hebig is nothing but found money. He was a stud to finish his CHL career. He is showing no signs of slowing down and the team would be insane to put any limits on him. He’s got 12 points in 11 games as a rookie pro. I love it. Obviously now you’re watching Yamo and Jesse, but before they arrived the other kids were impressing.

I’ve been really jazzed about that whole kid line of Marody, Benson, and Hebig, but another guy going completely under the radar is William Lagesson, a Swedish defender who’s perfoming well in his first season in North America.

Tyler Benson. The 20-year-old Edmonton product has 12 points in 11 games to start his first pro season and there’s no denying his offensive instincts. He thinks the game at an NHL level. NHL Prospect Expert Simon Boisvert said last week that Benson is the type of player who “is more built for the NHL than the AHL” simply because he exceeds when he is playing with skill. That’s high praise. The biggest thing with Benson is that he’s healthy as well. I talked to him last season and one of the things he mentioned is that he’s finally going to have two consecutive summers of being healthy, which he’s never had thus far in his career. He talked about how much that would help his development and I think we’re seeing it pay off this year.

Tyler Benson. It’s awesome to see him have success after a bunch of injuries since being drafted. The Oilers desperately need to develop scoring options from within. It’s also nice to see the AHL affiliate finally play young prospects and not AHL veterans.

Cooper Marody is a hard guy not to be interested in right now. He’s shown flashes of brightness at the NHL level and certainly looks confident in Bakersfield.

I like the way Hebig, Benson, Marody, and Caleb Jones have looked so far. I don’t think any of them are ready for primetime but I’ll definitely be watching how the rest of their season plays out.

The man who posted it made a horribly childish decision. Lost his job because of it. Players didn’t say anything cringe-worthy for me, just a conversation that shouldn’t have been made public.

Stupid move by the Uber driver. I think pretty much everybody — including the driver — has agreed on that over the last week. Let’s move on.

I think it’s not at all shocking that people talk about their bosses in unflattering terms. I thought it was cool to see their insights into their own team’s performance though.

It looked terrible on everyone. The players looked like dicks, the Sens look like an even bigger joke somehow, and the Uber driver looks like an impossibly big opportunistic tool. The winners, of course, are those watching through the glass enjoying the Good Content that came from it.

Everyone complains about their bosses/workplace and everyone would change their tones if they thought they were being recorded. The players need to be smarter when they’re in public, but also, I don’t blame them for thinking an Uber drive in Arizona wouldn’t care (but they probably shouldn’t have told him either). End of the day, they need to remember they are public figures and should zip it when they are in public, it’s unfortunate this had to happen. The biggest thing in my opinion though: that Uber driver is a POS. To record them and not say anything is one issue, in my opinion, it’s another thing to get salty about a tip (which isn’t mandatory in an Uber) and then SEEK OUT members of the Ottawa media to make this a story. The guy is a real POS.

I thought it was entertaining. The video was bad for everyone involved, but I also couldn’t look away. Everyone’s been in the same position, letting off steam about work or life. It’s unfortunate the Uber driver released the video, but it was very interesting to hear players speak candidly.

The whole situation sucks. I feel for the Sens coaching staff, and I feel for the players, and I feel for the fans. It’s no secret that everyone has conversations similar to this about their superiors, and it’s no secret that superiors have similar conversations like that about their players. I hope they are all able to push it aside and move on with their lives. Maybe they can have an open and honest conversation about what they can do to better their relationship and move on.

I felt bad for the players, to be honest. People vent all the time but it doesn’t usually end up on video and released to the public.

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