One thing I can guarantee is that the Edmonton Oilers coaching staff will be prepared for their opponent. The same goes for Joel Quenneville and the Anaheim Ducks. They’ve likely been holed up in their offices since the moment the regular season ended, balancing their approach between tweaks made specifically for the matchup and improvements made internally.

It’s more about us than it is about them.

I’d bet the Calgary Flames’ next three first-round picks those words have been spoken on both sides.
In college and junior hockey it’s normal to have a week to prepare for the first round of the playoffs. I’ve spent that entire week breaking down every conceivable potential weakness in an opponent only for that weakness to be magically cured 10 minutes into the first period of game one. That’s frustrating.

So while the Oilers and Ducks need to know who they’re playing and what their tendencies are, the bottom line is they need to play to their strengths and execute when the lights shine brightest.

For Edmonton, that starts without the puck. For me, there are only two systems: attacking and defending. Defend as fast as you can in all three zones so you get to the attack, the fun stuff.

Let’s start in the defensive zone.

Edmonton’s D-Zone Retrievals & Breakout

As a coach, it’s tempting to deliver every shred of information imaginable. If it’s in my brain as a potential solution, I should share it with the players, right? I’ll always remember Tom Renney reflecting on training camp 75 years ago when he talked about the players drinking through a firehose. What an incredible line. I’ve tried to keep that in mind in my own coaching career when I find myself getting sick of hearing my own voice.

With that in mind, here are three tight D-zone concepts that cover a lot of ground for the Oilers. Only three, no firehose. Just focus, boys.

Get five back in the picture
Be predictable
Go north right now

The Oilers, like every team on planet Earth and beyond, need to bring numbers back to the d-zone in order to break out as quickly as possible. The most important habit the coaches will be preaching is coming back and stopping. Watch how often there are 5 in the picture, and even then there are chances for breakdowns. But without those habits, there’s no chance when the forechecking pressure intensifies in the playoffs.

Predictability might seem counterintuitive, but that’s why defencemen like Mattias Ekholm are so valuable. Sure, the other team might know what he’s going to do, but it’s more valuable for your own team to know what you’re going to do. Ty Emberson is a good example of this too. He’s predictable with the puck.

The fun thing with the Oilers is to watch the creativity that comes after those habits are dialled in — the players come back deep, they stop, and then they use their skill to solve problems. Skill players want to play with skill. They don’t want to shoot it away or rim the puck all the time (except Ekholm, dude just wants to get it moving quick, I love it), so as long as they’re coming back and stopping, I’m sure the coaches are fine with short support passes to exit the zone with possession.

Anaheim’s offensive zone forecheck

Barring a change of heart, it looks like Anaheim loves to forecheck in the offensive zone with two players hard. Watch how often two forwards are below the goal line – which works. It’s a tiring way to play, but the Ducks are young, fast, and eager, plus the Oilers have had trouble against the heavy forechecking Florida Panthers for two years. Why would Quenneville change that? Because he is smart, that’s why. Let’s see what happens in game one.

To forecheck or not to forecheck – what would you do if you were facing the Oilers? The Ducks also reload hard. When the puck switches sides behind the net, the first forward, the F1, on the original side or the strong side, skates hard through the zone to get above the puck while the F2 on the weak side defends at the puck. So while a slower team might not be able to maintain that 2-1-2, the Ducks’ ability to reload should make their forecheck sustainable.

This is the bulk of the series for me. If Edmonton can move the puck north quickly and spend time in the offensive zone, then they’ll win. It’s a taller order than it might seem on the surface though, because the skilled Ducks are probably hearing about the importance of forechecking and finishing their checks in the offensive zone. They have skill that can take over a game too, and they probably believe (because their coaches believe) that if they check hard and earn the puck back, they can go on the attack.

This is going to be awesome.

I love offence, I love the attack. But I love it even more when that attack is a result of good defending. With that in mind, here are some position specific concepts with for the Oilers heading into the series. Let’s start in the offensive zone and work our way back.

Defence

Offensive blue line
- Provide offence & creativity
- Prevent exits, support on exits with surfs
Neutral Zone
- No D to D passes, don’t dust it off, go north
- Protect the blue line, prevent zone entries
D-Zone
- First, defend: kill plays early, support your partner
- Then, attack: do what you do best, play to your strengths

Forwards

Offensive zone play (OZP)
- Designate players to stop at the net (hello Colton Dach)
- Reload through the zone when the D are active
- First touch escapes: get the puck and move
D-Zone (neutral zone is the same, this is getting too long, the guys are falling asleep)
- Defend first: centre slow and low to support D (Henrique is predictable, that’s why he’s in the lineup)
- Then attack: send one winger into the neutral zone slash support

Goalie (hopefully singular)

Stay focused, track the puck around traffic, read the play
Stay even, and for crying out loud have fun young man!

Line matchups

If Draisaitl is in, I’d focus on zone starts rather than line matchups. Connor’s line and whoever Dach is playing with start in the offensive zone, Dickinson or Henrique / Samanski start in the D-zone, along with Leon as long as he promises not to get kicked out of the faceoff circle.

Nurse and Murphy need to shoulder the load against Leo Carlsson’s line, sharing some of that load with Ekholm and Bouchard.

Favourite player in the series: Jackson Lacombe. Watch how poised he is, how smoothly he moves the puck. He’s a young Miro Heiskanen.

My lines if Knoblauch asks:
22 97 18 OZ
92 29 28 DZ/OZ
93 16 42 DZ/matchup
34 19 10 OZ

2 14 Anywhere
25 5 matchup
96 49 OZ

Ingram

THE SAUCE PLAYOFF WATCH PARTIES WITH RYDER AND LISA

Edmonton, it’s time to dust off your best game fits—playoff season is here. And for every away game, The Sauce is taking over Greta Bar YEG as the official playoff headquarters. There ain’t no party like a Nation playoff party. Expect food and drink specials you can’t beat, t-shirt tosses, giveaways, games, and a few surprises we’ve been saving just for the Nation Citizens. Whether you’re coming for the game, the atmosphere, or just to get a little saucy with the crew, this is where you want to be when the team hits the road. Secure your table by texting Greta’s hotline at 1-587-418-8507.

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