Oilers send a message with a healthy scratch to veteran forward after bad play.
The Edmonton Oilers are playing against the Calgary Flames for their last game before the Olympic break, and Coach Knoblauch is making a point with Trent Frederic.
Many Oilers fans criticized Frederic for not following the unwritten rules when he skated past Leafs’ defenseman Brandon Carlo after he hit McDavid, leaving the captain shaken. Frederic was expected to be tough for the Oilers, but he ignored McDavid who was down on the ice. It was hard to watch.
Oilers send a message to Trent Frederic with a healthy scratch against Calgary Flames.
In tonight’s game against Calgary, Frederic will not be playing and Curtis Lazar will take his place. After Frederic’s poor performance yesterday, it looks like the coaches want to send a warning.
When Andrew Mangiapane stays in the game while Frederic doesn’t, it shows things have really gone wrong.
Last night in the first period against Toronto, Frederic played okay for a bit. But he didn’t defend his captain and only got physical when there was just one minute left and the game was already lost. Fans were shocked by how he played.
Honestly, Lazar has been much better than Frederic all season, and he makes over $3 million less. Lazar has performed well whenever he was on the ice, showing he is the most reliable player on the fourth line. He definitely deserves to play more than Frederic.
Coach Knoblauch’s message about being responsible and earning playing time directed at younger players isn’t working well when a player like Frederic keeps getting chances but doesn’t improve.
In 55 games this season, Frederic has only scored 2 goals and has a total of 3 points with a minus 13 rating. He doesn’t kill penalties, isn’t physical, and can’t score. This isn’t new, but his contract looks really bad.
If he can’t even do the basic things to support his teammates, he won’t earn respect in the locker room either.
Frederic needs to figure out how to be effective in Edmonton, but right now all he’s gotten is another night in the press box to think about his poor performance.
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