"It's our inability to kill a penalty and our inability to score a goal on the power play when we have the chances that cost us."
--Ethan Moreau, on the Oilers troubles.
"We have to do a much better job killing penalties and our power play has to be better. We contribute our loss to special teams and that's about it. That's why guys get paid a lot of money, is to kill penalties, that's their job. We're not executing well enough. We have some of our best players, veteran players on the penalty kill and the power play and we're not executing like we should. It's unfortunate because we're wasting some really good efforts."
--More from Moreau on the Oilers.
Notice there isn't a single word from Moreau on the bad penalties that certain Oilers are taking. Nary a mention of a player that has nine offensive zone penalties (out of eleven) this season, many of them committed on the goalie-side of the slot. Not a single mention of the worst veteran penalty killer on the team bleeding goals at a rookie-like rate.
Just like last season, the captain has stepped to the microphone and pointed fingers around the room.
I've been calling for a new captain for awhile now - going on a year. I've also received resistance from those that feel it would "embarrass" the player. He's not able to lead by example on the ice. He's blaming teammates and not mentioning his own problems. Given his on-ice performance this year, it's time for him to go. If he can't be moved and the owner refuses to pay him to play in the AHL, given his abilities to shiv all of his teammates when given the chance, he should be stripped of the C. Since he's used the media to repeatedly stab his teammates in the back, he should be demoted in front of the media.