November 11, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

The Edmonton Oilers dropped a 3-2 game to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in what many people were dubbing “the toilet bowl game”. If you’re new to the term “toilet bowl game”, a toilet bowl game is the final game of a tournament that features the worst teams facing off against each other. The Oilers once again outshot their opponents 41-18, but found themselves losing another hockey game. Staurt Skinner gave up three goals on eighteen shots whereas his counterpart, Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, gave up two goals on 41 shots. 

With Jack Campbell being put on waivers and sent to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, the fate of the Oilers net relies heavily on Skinner. Calvin Pickard was recalled from Bakersfield to backup Skinner after Campbell was sent down, but I don’t expect him to see a lot of action with Jay Woodcroft’s job on the line. To make matters worse, the defensive lapses that have plagued this team are still rearing their ugly head.

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If the defensive lapses aren’t bad enough, this team’s bread and butter isn’t working either. The powerplay is sputtering. The seam passes this team usually makes in their sleep aren’t getting through. Once again to make matters worse, Leon Draisaitl’s once automatic one-timer from the impossible angle is not finding the net. Draisaitl works extremely hard on perfecting his pinpoint accuracy on his one-timer. It’s just not there right now, which has me wondering what’s wrong. Connor McDavid normally puts defenders at his mercy with his raw speed and agility, and you’re seeing him being content with shooting from the perimeter instead of exploding by his check this season. 

I think there is more wrong than just their collective confidence being shot. I think they are both playing hurt. McDavid missed two games prior to the Heritage Classic, but was brought back for the big spectacle. I don’t know if he was truly healthy, or if he was just good enough to skate. Let’s face it, McDavid and Draisaitl are the engines that make this team go and right now those engines are sputtering. You can run those engines and risk blowing them completely, or you can get those engines into the mechanic shop and have them fixed. Tough decisions are coming soon. Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson have to be feeling the heat, but they shouldn’t be the only people in the organization feeling the pressure to start getting some results.

To make matters worse, free agent acquisition Connor Brown hasn’t gotten off to a good start in Edmonton. When he was in the lineup, he had trouble keeping up with the play and contributing in a meaningful way. Bringing him in was betting on him regaining his twenty-goal form he had prior to his injury, but so far he hasn’t shown to be that player with the Oilers. Now that the situation is what it is, the decision to keep him here will become a focal point moving forward. 

It is a deep concern that this team is struggling to score goals. A lot of the offence has come from the defence so far this year, which I think has contributed to some of the defensive problems. Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse are putting pucks in the opposition’s net, but also they are nullifying a lot of the good they are doing by allowing goals against from poor reads or ill-advised pinches. Cody Ceci has been an area of concern as well with several bad pinches.  Jay Woodcroft may have jumped the shark trying to change too much at the start of the year. A lot of the defensive breakdowns have originated at the far team’s blue line or the neutral zone, which has caused chaos in our own end and countless odd man rushes. Combine that with the forwards not being able to light the lamp, and it illuminates why this team’s record is where it is.

GM Ken Holland brought in Jack Campbell to take over as the starting goaltender, and that experiment hasn’t panned out. Campbell hasn’t been the only Oilers goaltender that has struggled mightily this year. Skinner is a shell of last year’s version of himself, and needs his goalie coach to help pull him out of it. With the struggles of the Oilers netminders, questions of the goaltender coach Dustin Schwartz are rightfully swirling. 

Related: Deep Dive: Dustin Schwartz

Campbell was sent down because the team knew he would clear waivers. Skinner had a worse save percentage at the time of Campbell being sent down, and it dropped again after Thursday night’s game against the Sharks. Skinner’s game appears to be coming around, but he has been outdone by his counterpart at the other end of the rink in back to back games. Skinner has looked like he’s in a sophmore slump since the start of the preseason, but maybe it’s carry over from last year’s playoffs which saw him pulled in a third of his playoff starts. 

The team needs to find a way to acquire a goalie to help Skinner. Calvin Pickard can be used in the short term, but I think this team needs some long-term coverage and I don’t expect Campbell to find his game soon after allowing four goals on twenty shots.

The Oilers play the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night, and at this point Woodcroft will be at the helm. As much as the fanbase wants people fired and things blown up, I think Thursday night was rock bottom. Everyone in the organization needs to be better and everyone needs to be part of the solution. I would be a hypocrite if I thought it was all on the general manager that this team is in the funk they are in because I believed this team as constructed was a legitimate Stanley Cup Contender in the summer. Have the Campbell or Brown experiments worked out? No, but in spite of that I believe there is still enough talent in that dressing room that they should not be in the position they are in today. 

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Is it all on the coaching staff? I think Woodcroft might have overreacted to last spring’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, but professional hockey players should be able to easily adjust from playing man defence to zone. Honestly, I think the major problem this team is facing is the two superstars that drive the bus are playing hurt. For anyone who has seen the movie “The Program”, there is a scene where the coach asks a player “are you injured or are you hurt?”. The player responds with “I don’t know what that means”, and the coach says “well, if you are injured, you can’t play anymore; but if you are hurt, you can.” I think that’s the main problem plaguing this team right now. Unfortunately you can fire the GM, the coaching staff, the goalie coach, the stick boy, and every concession worker; but until McDavid and Draisaitl get their health back, this team will have a hard time winning on a consistent basis.