TSN’s Craig Button has never been afraid to speak his thoughts, and he did just that when talking about the Edmonton Oilers this morning.
The Oilers fell to the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 last night, marking the second time in two weeks they’ve been shutout. The offensive struggles are a big part of the reason the Oilers have been slow out of the gates through 19 games, managing a record of just 9-8-2.
Offence isn’t the only concern, either, as their blue line and goaltending have left plenty to be desired. All of the issues going on resulted in Button torching the Oilers this morning, suggesting they simply don’t have enough talent.
“The reason their expected goals are so high and their actual goals are so low is because they don’t have enough talent,” Button said. “They rely on obviously [Connor] McDavid and [Leon] Draisaitl to carry a big significant part of it, and they do, but after that, they have real struggles. On the blue line, when they make a mistake, it becomes something that goes in their net, and the goaltending hasn’t been very good.”
Button didn’t go as far as counting the Oilers out when it comes to winning the Stanley Cup, but he did suggest that the front office needs to make a move to help them get on track.
“Now you look at a team that went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last year, had so much going for themselves. They’re a weaker team. They’re a lesser team. Now, it’s incumbent. It’s all on management here to go and make significant moves to improve this team. We know the top end is outstanding, but after that, real problems.”
The Oilers front office seemingly agrees with Button, as they claimed forward Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the St. Louis Blues this afternoon. By no means will Kapanen fix all their issues, but he could provide some secondary scoring to help compensate for struggling players such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman.
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