Oilers coach Knoblauch backtracks on recent major decision
Photo credit: The Athletic
After the Oilers lost their historic 16 game win streak, head coach Kris Knoblauch didn't wait to put the lines in the blender. There's been several changes to the likes recently, but none more important than the defence pairings. After being consistent all year, Knoblauch changed every defence pairing for the last two games. It didn't go so well, and now he's walking back the decision to the previous pairings.
For the previous two games, Knoblauch juggled the entire defence parings, putting Nurse with Desharnais, Ekholm with Ceci, and Kulak with Bouchard. After having such stability with the pairings throughout this season, the defence clearly struggled with the adjustment. In his time as the Oilers coach Knoblauch has rarely pushed the wrong buttons, but this was clearly a misfire - especially breaking up the best defence pairing in the league in Bouchard and Ekholm. It's great now that he's seen the mistake, and quickly rectified it.
Tonight against Detroit, Knoblauch has confirmed the Oilers will roll with their regular defence pairings.
Hopefully with reuniting these defence pairings, the Oilers can get back in the win column and lock down their defence which was more shaky in the last two games than we've seen this season.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 13 | 392 ANSWERS Oilers coach Knoblauch backtracks on recent major decision Was it a mistake to switch up the defence pairings? | ||
| Yes, keep them steady | 192 | 49 % |
| No, have to experiment | 174 | 44.4 % |
| See Results | 26 | 6.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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