Bowman on having to deal with offer sheets for Broberg and Holloway and how they altered his early tenure as GM of the Oilers:
“Yeah, normally the month of August is really slow. By then, you’ve signed your players, and your arbitrations are done, and nothing happens. It was early in August when that happened, and we almost went into trade deadline mode for that week. We were having meetings every day analyzing different options, so it was a different summer from that perspective. It was a challenge. Yeah, it was unusual, and those things don’t happen very often. To get two of them like that was challenging. But I was really pleased. I got to know my staff really well, too. I think they did a great job in that. I was just getting used to the group I was working with, and I’ve got to give credit to them – to our front office staff and the scouts – they did a great job.
“In reference to your question, we talked a lot about our team and what we wanted. I think speed is something that’s important. We’ve got the fastest player in the game, but just one player doesn’t make your team fast. You’ve got to be able to have more than just one guy, and it’s not always just about someone who can be fast in a speed-timed event. I think it’s someone who can process the game quickly, like Kris said, so you can move the puck quickly, and you can make fast decisions. If you have enough skill to do that, your team can play fast.
“We have tried to add some guys who are good skaters as well. I think Kapanen gives us that look. He came in in November to give us a different look, and then Walman’s a great skater as well. We were aware of the need to have speed, but you don’t have to have every player be lightning fast. Corey Perry is not a fast skater, but he thinks the game quickly. He makes so many plays that when you watch him out there, he still can play fast even though he’s not a fast skater.”
Knoblauch on the team’s play through the first two series and what he thinks could be the key to defeating Dallas in the Western Conference Final:
“Well, a lot of credit to our players. Going into the playoffs, I think there were a lot of question marks about what our team would be like. We just had so many injuries. Leon and Connor had missed significant time leading up to the playoffs. Hyman, Frederic, Kane, and numerous defencemen, it was just that we weren’t sure exactly what everyone would bring.
“As a coach, you’re always thinking about who’s best to play with who in situations, whether it’s a defensive role or a scoring role, left wing, right wing, and we had a lot of unknowns. But one of the things that was good about that is that throughout the regular season, our lines fluctuated quite a bit trying to find the perfect match. And we did a lot in January, probably more than we should have, but it gave us a good idea of what specific lines could provide. That has paid off in the playoffs right now with certain lines that we put together.
“But at the trade deadline, we also wanted players who could move around the lineup, whether that’s with Walman playing the left or right sides. Trent Frederic, is he going to be a left winger, center, or right winger? So for me as a coach, having a lot of players like that gives us a lot of flexibility on what we’re going to do. At the start of the playoffs, everyone was starting to come back and most of them by game one. A few of them came in after that, but we still had to put it together. I think the guys did a good job of accepting their roles and playing their game.
“Ultimately, we had two great opponents, difficult opponents, and we had to dig in and battle. Of course, it doesn’t get any easier now with Dallas. I think special teams are so important at this point of the year. The teams, everyone’s good right now. There are no weak teams right now. And usually, the difference is a power play or power-play goal. I think especially with the way Dallas has been playing right now, their special teams are really good, and we’ll have to really step up in that area.”
Knoblauch on the Oilers power play through two series so far:
“The power plays, obviously, they fluctuate going up and down. If you have 100 power-play opportunities, you pretty much know how good you are in the game and how well it’s going. But suppose it’s just a short period of a few games, and certainly at this time of the year on the power play, we haven’t gotten very many where if we could score one or two more times, whether it’s hitting the net or the goalie not making a save or something like that, that percentage really fluctuates. Right now, 25% is still a pretty good power play. It’s probably a bit down from what this team is usually accustomed to, but it won’t get any easier. Their penalty kill doesn’t give up very much. Oettinger has been really good in that area. But going forward in this series, if we’re going to have success, we ought to find ways to score goals.”
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