On The Fly (cont.)

Oil's not well

The underachieving Oilers are turning up the heat on coach Craig MacTavish. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Memo to the fan sitting near the bench in Dallas who was giving the business to Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish last weekend: MacT pulls out tongues. He did it to Harvey the Hound, the Calgary Flames mascot. And he can do it to you, too, pal.

Certainly MacTavish and assistant coach Charlie Huddy felt like doing just that as they confronted their ticket-buying nemesis after watching their team stumble in the third period of a 4-3 loss to the inconsistent Stars. These are parlous times in Edmonton, which has not made the anticipated step forward.

Since a listless 2-1 loss last week to a Los Angeles Kings team that had been hammered the previous night by Calgary, the heat is on the offensively challenged Oilers. Defenseman Sheldon Souray leads the team with eight goals (four on the power play), one more than Ales Hemsky, the only high-end forward having a respectable season for the Oilers.

There were high expectations based largely on the off-season addition of Erik Cole and the maturity of the line of Andrew Cogliano, Robert Nilsson and Sam Gagner. Cole (seven points in 23 games) has been a shadow of his old Carolina crease-crashing self while the three youngsters, who showed great promise with a combined 41 goals last season, are muddling along at about the same pace with just 10 goals a little more than a quarter of the way into the season.

Apparently new owner Daryl Katz is in no rush to fire his widely respected coach, but clearly Edmonton clearly needs some kind of spark. If president Kevin Lowe and GM Steve Tambellini can't shake up the roster, MacTavish, who has taken the team to the playoffs in four of his seven seasons, could be in trouble.

The Norris chase

Like a heavyweight champion, you probably have to knock him out to take his crown, but Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom will be in tough to win his seventh Norris Trophy in eight seasons next June.

Lidstrom has been his usual efficient self (15 points, +6), but for the first two months, the NHL's best defenseman has been Nashville's Shea Weber, who has 10 goals, 13 assists and is +12. Weber is a better defender than his contemporary, Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, and he is every bit as tough as the Flames' more heralded young blueliner.

Others worthy of Norris consideration include Anaheim's Chris Pronger, Boston's Zdeno Chara, Montreal's Andrei Markov and, yes, Vancouver's Mathias Ohlund. Rebounding Rob Blake and Dan Boyle also have been strong in San Jose.

If Weber played in a better hockey market, he would be all the rage, just like his general manager. There was a legitimate fuss about Brian Burke leaving Anaheim to run the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Predators' GM David Poile, operating with pinchpenny budgets, routinely has made chicken salad out of his strained situation. Nashville is one of only seven teams to have qualified for the playoffs the past four seasons.