COFFEY MAKER
Hall of famer has the tough task of getting the Oilers’ defence corps to play winning hockey
Everything starts from the back end, said Paul Coffey.
The Hall of Fame defenceman is sitting in the stands of what used to be Maple Leaf Gardens (“the best arena in the NHL,” said Coffey), having just returned from his new job in Edmonton as the Oilers skills development coach. But he’s not talking about his new gig. Well, not really. Ask Coffey what he’s trying to achieve with an Oilers defence that doesn’t have a single player ranked among the top 60 in scoring and he instead turns the conversation over to Rod Langway.
“Even though he was a defensive player — it all started with him,” said Coffey. “Rod Langway led the Washington Capitals up the ice.”
It’s Coffey’s way of saying that you don’t have to skate or handle the puck like he did to become a better puck-moving defenceman.
That was the thing that got that confused when the Oilers hired Coffey two weeks ago to help fix their defence. He isn’t trying to turn Adam Larsson into Erik Karlsson or Darnell Nurse into Brent Burns. He’s just trying to get them thinking like those players.
“From a fan point of view, who are you paying to see? You’re paying to see the guys who make plays,” Coffey said. “People for the most part watch golf because of Tiger Woods. Even now, people watch hockey when the Oilers are playing for Connor McDavid. Anyone can make plays. But you’ve got to want to. You’ve got to be hard on yourself to make plays.
“The key is not just getting Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid the puck, but getting it to them when they want it. Don’t just pass it to them to give it to them. If they’re not ready for it, or if they’re not in stride, then they’re going to get checked as soon as they get it. That’s not getting them the puck.”
Can that be taught? Maybe not, said Coffey. But you can certainly encourage it.
“You can’t make mistakes unless you’re trying to make plays,” he said. “Do you want a defenceman who wraps the puck around the boards every time he gets it and doesn’t make mistakes, but then comes off the ice and
(exhales) says I didn’t get scored on that shift? Me sitting in the crowd paying $200 for a ticket, I want guys to make plays.”
The trouble is that while the Oilers have the most talented offensive player in the world in McDavid and another in Draisaitl, who has 46 points in 48 games this season, the team appears to lack a defenceman with similar skills.
There’s no one on this defence that resembles a Paul Coffey. There might not even be someone close to a Charlie Huddy.
Nurse is the team’s top-scoring defenceman with 18 points in 52 games. Combined, Edmonton’s top four — Nurse, Kris Russell, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson — has recorded only four more points than Dallas’ John Klingberg. In other words, Coffey has his work cut out for him.
And yet, there’s reason to believe Edmonton’s personnel has room to grow.
Nurse, who is 23, scored 12 goals and 41 points for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when the Oilers drafted him seventh overall. Before the defensive-minded Ken Hitchcock got him — twice — Russell had 61 points in 72 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Even Larsson, who has been pigeonholed as a stay-athome defenceman during his time in the NHL, showed far more offensive potential when representing Sweden at the world juniors.
Not every player is able to translate his junior game to the NHL. But Coffey is a firm believer that if the skills were there in the past, then there’s no reason they can’t show up again.
“Every team wants that guy, but here’s what happens a lot of times,” Coffey said. “A guy will be a goal scorer in junior, a point-producing defencemen with good skills, a good passer, good instincts, can jump up in plays. And as soon as he gets to the big leagues, it gets taken away from him. You have to play within your talents. Whatever your talents allow you to do.
“They are all good players and they’re only going to get better. That’s what we’re all hoping from an organization standpoint.”
Coffey wouldn’t go into detail about what he worked on with the Oilers during his visit last week. But after the disappointing season that Edmonton has had so far, it’s safe to say confidence building was a big part of it. After all, he believes in this group. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have taken a job that requires him flying from Toronto to Edmonton on a weekly basis.
It’s just a matter of getting them to believe in themselves.
“If you develop them properly and improve their skillset, what’s going to happen is you’re going to win,” he said, “You’re not just developing them fundamentally, you’re developing their minds.
You’re making them feel good about themselves. That’s the key.”