The Centre of Attention

The center of attention, back for the winter
I'm interesting, the best thing since wrestling 

Taylor Hall being moved to centre, given the Oilers recent history of player development, would normally have a fan like myself in the hospital after choking on cereal after reading the news in the morning.  This year, however, there's not much to be concerned about.

Tom Renney is a smart coach.  So was Craig MacTavish.  The difference is in how they handle players, player mistakes, and their own.  MacT, for all his good qualities, was a quirky coach.  Toby Peterson on the first line power play is probably the best example of our dearly departed coach losing his marbles and not correcting the mistake.  Whether it's out of genuine mental error or spite for the skilled players denied power play time, we can't know.

We also couldn't know how he'd handle Hall at centre.  Would he shelter him with skilled players like Hemsky and Penner?  Would he stick him on the third or fourth line with low ice time so he wouldn't have opportunity to make mistakes?  Would he call him out in the media?  Would he shuffle Hall between centre and left wing constantly?  There's no way to tell.

Pat Quinn, if he would have bothered putting a rookie left wing at centre at all, would have a leash so short that Hall would likely be back on the left wing as soon as he got within earshot of Quinn's booming voice.  That's an exaggeration, but it testifies to the nature of Pat's coaching style.

Tom Renney is patient and calm.  He's afforded the luxury of this risky (for the team's record) move by virtue of not having to worry about the record.  But, as he's shown with Andrew Cogliano, he's also patient by nature.  We've seen some dividends with Cog's play, and by most metrics, Taylor Hall is a better player than Cogliano.  His combination of smarts, co-ordination, and size is hard to beat in and of itself.  Throw in pitbull-like tenacity, and Hall has a good chance of making the transition a la a certain former Oiler you may remember.

They even kind of look alike.  The eyebrows, the eyes, the big smiles.  They have somewhat similar playing styles, though Hall has as much of Glenn Anderson in him as he does of the Moose.

Taylor Hall celebrates the Oilers 4th goal against the Leafs on Dec. 2, 2010.

Just a few short weeks after being blown out in four of five games by scores like 8-2, the Oilers defeat the Maple Leafs 5-0.

Typical of this season, the Oil were outshot 33-19, but for once that shot total wasn't as bad as it looks.  The Leafs were either desperate or just stopped caring, because they shot from anywhere.  They arguably still had more chances than the Oilers, but not by a 1.5 : 1 ratio.

There are several reasons this win is impressive, more impressive than the come-from-behind victory against Montreal the night before.  It's the Oilers' 3rd game in 4 nights, second in a row, and it is against arguably equal competition.  We were without our best player and our goalie was coming back from a groin injury.  Having Khabibulin in net makes for three different goalies in three straight games - on the road to boot.

The laughable Leafs are equal competition to the Oilers.  Both teams were tied with 20 points apiece.  The Leafs were in a bad mental space on a long losing streak, the Oilers were tired and had the perfect excuse to take a game off (as Oilers teams since 2006 have been prone to doing).  They could have said "we've done enough, we're tired, nobody will be mad if we lose."  True, they were outplayed, especially in the first, but they didn't quit.  This is another feature new to the Oilers collective psyche.

What really makes this game significant is that we're starting to see some consistency from the kids.  Hall has 4 goals and 1 helper in 5 games, and is +7 over 7 games.  Eberle has six points in that same 5-game span, and has his first goal since October 29, and is +6 over 7 games.  Even Pajaarvi, who has had a much rougher transition from the SEL than I imagined, got his first point in a month and played effectively.  We can expect more from the three come mid-late January.  With half a season under their belts, especially with the minutes Hall and Eberle have been getting, the rookies should increase production.  We'll worry about sophomore slumps next year.

As significant as this game is for the Oilers, it's much more meaningful to Leafs fans.  They were demolished by a bad, tired, young Oilers squad that is missing its best player.  The Leafs haven't had a proper rebuild in ages, and Brian Burke's bold moves have not only not brought them out of the basement, he has basically crippled their ability to start a rebuild.  Two first round picks might not have been an overpayment for Phil Kessel if Toronto was in the playoffs.  They're not.  Last year they were the second-worst team in the league and handed the second overall pick to the Bruins.  Seguin is within spitting distance of Stamkos.  This year the Leafs look likely to contend for bottom three in the league, likely handing the Bruins a chance at Couturier, Nugent-Hopkins, or Larsson.

This season the Leafs are effectively in a rebuild, they're the youngest team in the league.  However, Leafs fans don't get to soothe the pain of 5-0 (or 8-2) losses with the knowledge that they have some of the best young talent in the league developing right in front of their eyes.  The Leafs faithful have Kadri and little else.  Kessel peaked early, Phaneuf isn't getting any better and the rest of their lineup are more or less interchangeable plugs.  And like last year, the Leafs fans are watching their team tank and they don't even get the conciliation of a high draft pick for their pain.