WATCH ABOVE: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish expresses his frustration saying “he’s pissed off” with the current situation of the team
EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish, in a testy, defensive news conference Friday, tossed the boys under the bus and doubled down on head coach Dallas Eakins.
MacTavish has been feeling the heat from fans and media with the team at the bottom of the NHL standings (6-15-5) in the throes of an 11-game losing streak. The franchise record for longest winless streak is 14, which dates back to 1993.
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The Oilers have not been in the playoffs since 2006. Since then, fans have endured multiple coaching changes and failed rebuilding plans. MacTavish said the team has not progressed as fast as he
expected, but said he won’t deviate from his long-term plan to draft and develop talent.
“As painful as this process is, we feel that it’s a necessary step to get us to the next level,” he said.
VIDEO GALLERY: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish news conference highlights
Asked if the plan is not just behind schedule, but the wrong plan or the right plan executed by the wrong people, MacTavish retored:
“Is it time to punt out the core of these players at 23 and 24 years old as they’re developing?”
“I’ve switched out 14 or 15 players in the 18 months that I’ve been on the job, and what I think I have now is a group that is capable of growth.”
MacTavish said everyone is “under scrutiny” from the front office to the dressing room, but defended his first hire, second-year coach Dallas Eakins. He suggested Eakins isn’t going anywhere.
“Those coaches were all delivering the same message and we need a higher level of execution [by the players].”
Eakins has been criticized for giving some players too much rope, doing too much X’s and O’s analysis and not enough yelling. MacTavish has been around the Oilers for much of the last, lost decade, as a coach or in another front office capacity, but lashed out when a reporter tried to tie him to it its failings.
MacTavish has been criticized for leaving Eakins with little to work with at centre after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins while saddling him with subpar goalies in Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth.
WATCH: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish has been getting roasted by fans, and today’s news conference didn’t help much. Emily Mertz explains.
Fans have also focused their vitriol on owner Daryl Katz, who came of age cheering for MacTavish, Oilers hockey operations president Kevin Lowe, and other players during the team’s glory years in the 1980s.
WATCH: Oilers GM Craig MacTavish addressed the team’s 11-game losing streak Friday, but revealed he’s not changing the game plan. Kevin Karius reports.
Katz is too close to his old buddies and won’t pull the trigger to fix the front office, say critics. MacTavish said no one is more upset about the Oilers’ plight than the man in charge.
“I would characterize the owner as upset. He’s like a lot of our fans times 10,” he said.
Earlier this week, team captain Andrew Ference sounded off, as well, saying: “To come here and have to try to convince guys that they should be happy to play in the NHL and be excited and have some pride and not mope around. It’s a joke. It shouldn’t happen,” he said.
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The Oilers next play the San Jose Sharks at home on Sunday.
With files from Global Edmonton
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