Eakins defends Hall, addresses Oilers culture questions

Dallas Eakins spoke with the media on Tuesday morning.

On if the Oilers are coachable:

“They are. They’re a very coachable group. It was brought to my attention late last night about some things swirling around Taylor that really ate at me. And if you want to talk directly about Taylor, it goes back to our conversation just here a few minutes ago. You’ve looked at the coach. You’ve looked at the manager. And now someone’s trying to find it on a player. And when you talk about the Edmonton Oilers, who’s the first name that comes up? Well, Taylor Hall. He’s a dynamic piece here. And my experience has been a short one with Taylor. But what I see from this young man is an amazing amount of growth in a year. And I don’t know who Taylor was before I got here, but I know who he is now compared to when I came in last year. And he’s maturing. He’s going to continue to mature. And as he grows into a fine young man, he’s going to turn into a great, great hockey player. And that’s the thing we all forget here. And I was guilty of it too. You forget that the guy is 21. Or Taylor’s 23. Or this guy’s 19. You forget it. Because they’re pulling on the jersey and they’re going on that ice and you expect them to play like guys that are 28 and 29 years old. And it’s just not there yet.

“As for the culture of the room? I think a lot of it has been overstepped with the feeding frenzy on the losses. With losses comes great frustration. And you can hold it together for quite a long time. You can bend, bend, bend, and then eventually something splinters. If there isn’t frustration in the room, and a little bit of a divide when you haven’t won a game in whatever it was – 10 or 12 games – I’d be worried. If they’re all in there singing Kumbaya and, ‘Hey, everything is great, let’s stick together.’ That’s fine through five or six, but for me, there has to be a divide and there needs to be frustration and there needs to be some raised voices and maybe even some bloodshed sometimes. That’s how it goes. And that’s the thing that a lot of people don’t understand. Unless you’re in that room, especially at this level – what goes on in that dressing room, it’s a sacred spot.

“So for me, I think a lot of this is people swirling. It’s, ‘Okay, this organization is in a bad place. There’s been lots of losses. Let’s point our finger at this now.’

“But I like that there was frustration in our room. Like, yeah! There better be frustration when you’ve lost that many. You don’t want the frustration at four or five games. But when you got to where we got, there needed to be something said and that’s part of the growth. It’s no different than sitting at the dinner table with your brothers and sisters when you’re growing up. There’s going to be some bloodshed sometimes and you’re going to love each other the next day. And that’s how great, great families are bonded together. A lot is through arguing, fighting, getting over it, and your love becomes deeper. And that’s what’s happening to this group. And I’m still hopeful that all of this mess that we – that I left here yesterday, is somehow going to pay off for these young men and this organization moving forward.”

Source: Eakins presser/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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