How does Craig MacTavish, ex-Oilers coach and an ace penalty-killer, see Game 1 collapse?
Fitting that the Edmonton Oilers' media availability Thursday was at the Dallas dining salon Rotisserie 2 … feature item on the menu, roasted penalty kill.
Article content
Article content
Yeah, food for thought — how the Oilers found themselves on a spit in Game 1.
Article content
On the mourning after the day before, we're left to digest how they could get burned for three Stars PP goals on three shots in the third period, over a span of just under six minutes, to choke on a 6-3 loss after thoroughly dominating Dallas 5-on-5 for the first 40 minutes.
Article content
The Oilers, after going 11 straight games without giving up a power-play goal in last spring's playoff run — Vancouver's Elias Lindholm, 17:35 of Period 2 in Game 3 in the second round to Florida's Evan Rodrigues, 12:26 of Period 3 in Game 2 in the finals — have now given up 14 goals on 37 tries over 12 games this year
Article content
'Wow that's good playing,' laughed Craig MacTavish, the former Oiler head coach and ace NHL penalty-killer, who has seen the foibles of the penalty kill from both sides.
Article content
'Somebody told me years ago … the greatest comment I've heard in the game, that you're never as good as you think you are and you're never as bad as you think you are. It's very true.'
Article content
'Last year, they stayed on a roll, now they're on a roll the other way and have to get off it. You're torn between a tactical adjustment and staying with what you've done in the past and hope they don't find those little holes that they found in Game 1,' said MacTavish.
Article content
Last year, the Oilers were so suffocatingly good killing penalties, it didn't matter that they took 70 over their 25 games. They killed off 66 of them. They demoralized Los Angeles, Dallas and Florida, with only Vancouver breaking through with three in their series. This spring, the Oilers are suffering.
Article content
Article content
'I remember when I was coaching, I would be saying, 'Stay out of the box.' Every time I addressed it, we would take a bunch. Finally, I stopped mentioning it. It was counterproductive,' said MacTavish, who got the Oilers to Game 7 of the finals in 2006 against Carolina.
Article content
MacTavish absolutely knows that people on the penalty kill are 'really subjected to the bounce and the puck luck … nobody kills at the rate the Oilers did last year where they were obviously fortunate in the bounces and this year it's the opposite.'
Article content
'For me, there was nothing really technically that the Oilers did wrong in defending. Wasn't like they didn't win draws or couldn't get the puck out. When they analyze it today, I don't think there's too many tactical adjustments to make with the exception of getting Skinner to see it better.'
Article content
'They miss (Mattias) Ekholm on the penalty kill. He's one of the best in the league, if not at the top,' said MacTavish.
Article content
Yes we know your goalie has to be your best penalty-killer, so you can probably dig in on Stuart Skinner, who has now given up eight power-play goals on 23 power-play shots in his four losses this playoff season, with two in L.A. in Round 1, one in Edmonton to the Golden Knights, one now in Dallas to the Stars.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
How does life change after your name is called at NHL Draft: A breakdown
The National Hockey League entry draft always is an educated gamble for franchises looking to expand their prospect pools, as well as an important career checkpoint for players who intend to go pro. Article content It also has been seen as the league's well-attended annual conference, but this draft, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, will be different. Article content Instead of teams sending the usual complement of about 20 scouts, coaches and support staff, some organizations will be represented by as few as two people; one each from their communications and player development departments. Article content The remainder of each staff will monitor and participate in the draft from their own markets, following in the footsteps of the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Article content The NHL was forced into this decentralized format by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fresh off that experience, team executives voted 26-6 to return to a decentralized event in 2025, citing cost savings and augmented privacy surrounding their hockey operations. Article content Article content However, the excitement generated by the glitzy 2024 centralized event, held in the Sphere in Las Vegas, apparently has given some executives second thoughts and the 2025 draft may be an outlier, rather than a trendsetter. Article content 'Prospects will be seated in the Peacock Theatre similar to the way they were situated last year in the Sphere,' NHL senior manager of event communications Dave Keon Jr. said in an email. 'Once they are selected, they will walk to the stage and meet the commissioner as in the past. Article content Article content 'After that, they will meet the team that selected them virtually as well as do rights-holder interviews backstage. Once the prospect is finished with the rights-holders, he will head to the media avail with media on site. The PR staff from the team may also make the prospect available to media not in attendance via Zoom.' Article content Back in the day, public relations director Bill Tuele was the first point of contact for Edmonton Oilers draft picks. Article content 'We had 10 or 12 jerseys under the table and a box full of name bars with sticky backs, most of whom would never be drafted, at least not by us, but you had to have them in case strange things happened,' Tuele said. '(Chief scout Barry Fraser or GM Glen Sather) would tell me who was going to be drafted and I would ask him the obvious question: 'is he here?' Barry would say 'yeah he's here,' and there would be this surreptitious pointing to where he was so I could pre-identify where I had to go to get him. Article content 'Once (commissioner Gary Bettman) or whomever announced the pick, the kid would go through the normal family stuff and walk down to the floor. I would introduce myself, say congratulations, take his jacket, and we would walk toward the podium on the stage, at which point I would give either Barry or Slats the sweater. The player puts on the sweater and hat, poses for the NHL (photographer) and our guy, and then the photogs would have to scurry, because instead of walking off to do a brief interview with (TSN's) James Duthie or whoever, they didn't have that in my day.
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
How does life change after your name is called at NHL Draft: A breakdown
The whirlwind that occurs after a player is selected in the NHL Draft ahead of this year's selections, starting Friday in L.A. Ben Danford, bottom right, heads to the podium after being selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. AP Photo The National Hockey League entry draft always is an educated gamble for franchises looking to expand their prospect pools, as well as an important career checkpoint for players who intend to go pro. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account It also has been seen as the league's well-attended annual conference, but this draft, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, will be different. Instead of teams sending the usual complement of about 20 scouts, coaches and support staff, some organizations will be represented by as few as two people; one each from their communications and player development departments. The remainder of each staff will monitor and participate in the draft from their own markets, following in the footsteps of the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. The NHL was forced into this decentralized format by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fresh off that experience, team executives voted 26-6 to return to a decentralized event in 2025, citing cost savings and augmented privacy surrounding their hockey operations. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. However, the excitement generated by the glitzy 2024 centralized event, held in the Sphere in Las Vegas, apparently has given some executives second thoughts and the 2025 draft may be an outlier, rather than a trendsetter. What happens after a player hears his name called? 'Prospects will be seated in the Peacock Theatre similar to the way they were situated last year in the Sphere,' NHL senior manager of event communications Dave Keon Jr. said in an email. 'Once they are selected, they will walk to the stage and meet the commissioner as in the past. 'After that, they will meet the team that selected them virtually as well as do rights-holder interviews backstage. Once the prospect is finished with the rights-holders, he will head to the media avail with media on site. The PR staff from the team may also make the prospect available to media not in attendance via Zoom.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Back in the day, public relations director Bill Tuele was the first point of contact for Edmonton Oilers draft picks. 'We had 10 or 12 jerseys under the table and a box full of name bars with sticky backs, most of whom would never be drafted, at least not by us, but you had to have them in case strange things happened,' Tuele said. '(Chief scout Barry Fraser or GM Glen Sather) would tell me who was going to be drafted and I would ask him the obvious question: 'is he here?' Barry would say 'yeah he's here,' and there would be this surreptitious pointing to where he was so I could pre-identify where I had to go to get him. 'Once (commissioner Gary Bettman) or whomever announced the pick, the kid would go through the normal family stuff and walk down to the floor. I would introduce myself, say congratulations, take his jacket, and we would walk toward the podium on the stage, at which point I would give either Barry or Slats the sweater. The player puts on the sweater and hat, poses for the NHL (photographer) and our guy, and then the photogs would have to scurry, because instead of walking off to do a brief interview with (TSN's) James Duthie or whoever, they didn't have that in my day. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We had to go into what they called the tunnel to go through this extraordinary experience. They would do a portrait with our guy, then the NHL photog, then there would be a dozen photo booths with hockey card companies. The major ones were O Pee Chee, Upper Deck and Topps but there were all sorts of others. They would invariably be asked for a pose that didn't make sense, put the hockey stick on your shoulders, that kind of thing. That would generally take 20 to 25 minutes. 'Then we would walk into the (media) scrum. He would finish that, his family and friends would be waiting in the next area. There would be lots of congratulations, hugging and kissing. Then I would take the kid to the draft table and introduce him to every single person, which was hilarious because he wouldn't remember anyone. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'From there, he would go to our suite. Every team would have a suite or box with refreshments. There would be (Oilers employees) in the box. They could watch the rest of the draft there with or without their families. After that, there was little contact for the rest of that day. 'But after the draft, the Oilers always had a (social) function and it was usually on a boat.' How much contact does a drafted player have with the team from that point? Many of the players chosen on the weekend will attend player development camps almost immediately and Nashville's plan is pretty typical. The Predators' camp runs June 29 to July 5 and opens with physicals and a team dinner. The first on-ice sessions go the following day and all sessions are open to the public. The camp culminates in an intra-squad game. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The purpose of the camp is to educate and direct players in their pro development and conditioning programs,' according to the team website. 'The training itinerary features a variety of on- and off-ice testing, dry-land activities and workouts, on-ice fundamentals work, video sessions, media and nutrition education and team-building activities. 'The prospects will also receive instruction on training principles such as sport-specific power and strength enhancement, flexibility and off-ice conditioning.' Bill Guerin was drafted fifth overall by New Jersey in 1989, a time when there was little contact with the team after the weekend. 'There were no player development guys back then,' said Guerin, now the GM of Minnesota. 'So I say I'm going to Boston College, they're like, 'OK, great.' I don't hear from them for two years. You know, I'm sure they were watching me, but they weren't sticking around after the game to say hi. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'After the last game of my sophomore year, we went out and partied. I woke up Sunday morning because our dorm room phone rang and it was (Devils GM) Lou Lamoriello. I thought somebody was joking. I thought you know, crank calling me. But it was Lou. He said we want to bring you to New Jersey and talk about you turning pro. 'So that's just kind of the way it was. They left me alone, and I think they were just watching me from afar, but there wasn't the type of hands-on stuff that we do today.' What are the financial rewards of being drafted? That obviously depends on draft position, as the top players will have a good argument to sign for the maximum contract allowed by the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NHL Players Association. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For 2025, a high first-rounder looking to turn pro immediately could sign a three-year, entry-level contract with an average annual value of $975,000 US. The signing bonus can't exceed 10% of the contract value and the performance bonuses can't exceed $3.5-million annually. How many rounds are there and how many players will be chosen by each of the 32 teams? It's a seven-round draft, meaning 224 players will be selected — the first 32 on Friday night, the remainder on Saturday afternoon and evening. The New York Islanders currently hold the No. 1 pick and GM Mathieu Darche has said more than once that he intends to hold onto it. San Jose holds the No. 2 selection. The Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers currently own the 224th and final selection. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Colorado Avalanche have the fewest picks with just two, followed by St. Louis with three, Edmonton and Minnesota each with four. The Montreal Canadiens have the most picks at 12, while the Pittsburgh Penguins currently hold 11. The NHL will bring in the top 50 prospects, as determined by the final Central Scouting rankings. About 20 of them are scheduled to walk the red carpet prior to the first round on Friday. All other prospects are welcome to attend the event. William Horcoff, the 24th-ranked North American skater according to Central Scouting, will be on hand, along with several members of his family, including his father Shawn, who was a fourth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1998 and now assistant GM with the Detroit Red Wings. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'You know, it's funny because I tell my son the draft is great, but it really doesn't mean anything,' Shawn Horcoff said. 'It's hard to say that to a kid, right? But it's the truth because it doesn't matter where you get drafted, the work is just beginning. Having played and now working in it, you realize that it takes time to make it to the NHL, it takes time to develop once you get there and really become the player that you want to be. 'The draft is definitely the start and it's exciting, but by no means are there any guarantees with it.' Who will be the first overall pick? The consensus No. 1 choice is Erie Otters defenceman Matthew Schaefer, followed by Saginaw Spirit centre Michael Misa. They are listed as the top two players in the final Central Scouting rankings. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Defenceman Matthew Schaefer, right, and forward Michael Misa, NHL Central Scouting's top two North American draft prospects, share the podium to address reporters at the league's annual combine at Buffalo's downtown Harborcenter facility, Friday, June 6, 2025. Photo by John Wawrow / AP Photo Scouts watch games in person and online and file player reports all year long. In-house experts on mental performance, strength and conditioning, and skating contribute opinions. Information also is gathered from physical testing and player interviews at the pre-draft combine. 'There was some sort of combine (in 1998), but it was not even close to the same as it is now,' Horcoff recalled. 'Everyone got together at a hotel at the Toronto airport. I do remember doing interviews with teams, but I don't think I did any testing. There was Boston and New Jersey, and I think it was seven teams. 'Now you get 20 minutes per player. I do remember mine being a little bit longer back then. You do get a sense of what kind of people they are. And you can take a look at their build, but it's hard to really gain too much in 20 minutes.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Back in the day, teams would invite prospects to their respective markets for in-person interviews in the weeks leading up to the draft. Eventually, teams started conducting those interviews in the draft city. 'Some of the clubs were ahead of others and would interview 25 guys, let's say, but key in on the five guys on either side of where their draft pick was,' long-time scout Archie Henderson said. 'We would ask a kid to tell a joke early in the interview. Any joke, didn't matter, just to kind of relax the kids because in those days a lot of the kids were not really prepped. 'As time went on, the kids became more and more polished because agents would prep them for those interviews. So you'd ask a kid a question and 20 teams would have already been interviewing him. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'They did not have a scouting combine per se where they were testing kids. A lot of that was done by bringing those 10 or 12 kids into your own city. The GM would get an opportunity to take each one of them out for dinner or lunch or whatever, get to know them. At the scouting combine now, kids go in and they're doing all kinds of testing. It's a totally different world now.' Each scouting staff will hold final draft meetings in the days leading up to the event and generate prioritized lists. Central Scouting also publishes its final rankings. Guerin said he hands responsibility for the draft to his director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett. 'I trust my guys. Judd Brackett is a really smart guy. He knows what he's doing. He's a professional. He's an expert in that field. I am not. So I listen to him. That's his day. We go by what he says on that day,' Guerin said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I'll give you an example. Last year we traded up to get Zeev Buium, who we took at number 12. He fell quite a bit in the draft and when he got to 12, Judd Brackett said 'Billy, call Philly right now and offer them our third to move up one spot.' I'm like, really? He goes, yes. And I said OK. 'And we did it. And that's how we got Buium. That's just kind of how I operate.' How have drafts changed over the years? The draft was first held in 1963, when it was called the Amateur Draft, and has been staged 62 times; 51 of them in June, five in July, two each in May and April, one in August and one in October, the latter because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It began as a telephone draft that would go on until the last team passed. In 1974, the Washington Capitals drafted an NHL-record 25 players. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The draft became a one-day, in-person marathon with as many as 12 rounds, then dropped to 11 then nine and finally went to seven in 2005. It has been a two-day affair every year since 2007. 'The NHL draft has been an extremely exciting time for hockey players getting an opportunity to live out their dream,' said Henderson, who was drafted in the 10th round by Washington in 1977. 'Most of them never (play), but it's the dream.' Generally speaking, between 40% and 50% of drafted players each year wind up eventually playing at least one game in the NHL. 'I can tell you there were years where I sat at a draft table — not in charge of a draft, but very involved in a draft — where we would get to the final round and there would be kids sitting with their mom and dad and their agent who had promised the kid that he would be drafted and we'd get into the last round, and that kid would be sobbing,' Henderson said. 'And I would see scouts go up, make sure they knew who the kid was, come back and draft the kid. I never did that, nor did any of the teams that I was on do that, but I saw that happen. Now, as a sympathy draft, you can think whatever you want, that would have made that kid's day. 'I always thought the other way. What about the kid who was at work that night in the bakery and didn't get drafted? That was one of the things that always bothered me. But there are still, or were, kids who leave those arenas undrafted. And that's got to be devastating.' dbarnes@ Toronto Raptors Sunshine Girls Celebrity Canada Sunshine Girls
National Post
2 hours ago
- National Post
F1: The Movie mixes ho-hum character development with some fist-pumping race action
Formula One racing is, depending on your vantage, either an exciting, adrenaline-fuelled sporting event that brings together humans and machines at the pinnacle of performance perfection or a bloody waste of time. F1: The Movie can be seen in the same way. Article content Consider the second point of view. It's a race of some 300 kilometres — roughly the distance from Calgary to Edmonton, and featuring similar speeds as the more lunatic drivers on Highway 2. And yet where do you end up? Exactly where you began, minus several tires and a lot of high-octane gasoline. Talk about spinning your wheels. Article content Article content Article content But get into it — and a lot of people do, through television and in person — and it can be a fist-pumping chase for glory as drivers battle to the finish line. And like any other sport it has its heroes, names like Schumacher, Senna and Lauda. Article content To be fair, I only know those last two from the excellent Senna documentary and the biopic Rush with Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth. Which brings us back to F1: The Movie, which is fully fictional, with a script from Ehren Kruger and director Jospeh Kosinski, and production by Jerry Bruckheimer — the same team behind the equally spirited Top Gun: Maverick. Article content Brad Pitt — almost identical in age to Top Gun's Tom Cruise — plays Sonny Hayes, a washed-up driver with a bad crash in his past, and an almost zen-like devotion to the sport. He doesn't drive to win. He wins (or, more often, loses) to drive. Article content But his old buddy Ruben (Javier Bardem, suave as ever) thinks Sonny has what it takes to carry his scrappy racing team to victory. And so, over the objections of most of his colleagues — including one who is the nearest thing the film has to a villain — he recruits Sonny for the season, pairing him with the much younger Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) in a mentor/mentee relationship that threatens to drive Joshua round the bend. Article content Article content At least Joshua's mom likes the look of Sonny, which I think is true of a lot of moms these days. The film sets up the two protagonists as standing on either side of a generation gap wider than six lanes of traffic. Joshua has a social media manager and worries about endorsements and his image. Sonny, whose loose, ambling gait evokes a sentient futon, couldn't care less about likes and hits. Article content Article content Joshua works out religiously, tracking his reps like a novitiate counting Hail Marys. Sonny runs on the same tracks where he races, presumably to get a feel for the road. He also has not one but two eccentricities: a pair of tennis balls he likes to toss around, and a deck of cards from which he draws before each race, pocketing the pick without peeking at it. Honestly, one of those quirks would suffice, much in the way that race cars don't need two spoilers. Article content If you're starting to sense some by-the-book character development, you're not far off. We've seen this kind of macho matchup before, and Sonny's burgeoning romance with the team's female head technician (Kerry Condon) isn't so much a question of will-they-won't-they but they-will-but-when. Though given that the movie runs a staggering two hours and 36 minutes from bumper to bumper, that still provides some tension.
