BLOG: Oilers split things up at Thursday's practice

EDMONTON, AB - The Oilers mixed it up on Tuesday at practice, taking advantage of both the fact they have a world class facility available to them with two sheets of ice at their disposal while also having a coaching staff with a breadth of experience and familiarity.
At Rogers Place main ice, the forwards worked through a pace heavy practice with the focus centred around moving with the puck on their stick, while the defenders went to the Downtown Community Arena where they had a heavy empasis on puck movement and stick checking.
"I thought we had a good day today. I thought it was, as I said, a lot of puck touches," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said about the dual sessions. "We worked on our puck confidence and by splitting them up, we're able to work at the same time on different ice surfaces, working on completely different things that are apropos to each position."

The addiitonal space and time playing with the puck was welcomed by the players who went through the paces this afternoon.
"I don't think midseason we've got the opportunity to do it before, but training camp, you kind of do that kind of stuff sometimes," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said about the session. "I do think it's good to just kind of get back to the basics a little bit, work on your skills, touch the puck a lot, and leave the ice feeling good."
The Oilers are currently stuck in a middle with a large group of NHL teams that also continue to search for the consistency that can separate themselves from the pack. There are only four points separating the eighth best team in the NHL and the 21st ranked team prior to Thursday night's games.

Edmonton has been trying a little bit of everything to get all cylinders firing at once, and today's practice was no different. The split sessions were a long time in the making for the Oilers coaching staff, but with three separate on-ice periods ahead of Saturday's game against the Western Conference leading Vegas Golden Knights, Thursday was the day to implement it.
"That's something that we planned out going back to our preseason. Planning on trying to find some time for our players to get individual puck touches and to get some position work for each position, including the goaltenders as well," Woodcroft said. "And with the way this week was structured coming back from Florida - we had a team practice on Tuesday and a skate yesterday. We decided it was a good way to mix it up with tomorrow's practice being more towards team structure."
With two sheets of ice and one head coach, Woodcroft found himself wandering between the two rinks, keeping his eye on how the Oilers were taking to the tutelage of his assistant coaches.

"I think the way today was structured, it's important to give your assistant coaches voices as well. I think it's healthy for players to hear different voices," Woodcroft said about turning over the reins to his staff.
Woodcroft is lucky to have a depth of experience to draw on from his coaching staff. He had his long-time right-hand man in Dave Manson leading the backend, while former NHL head coach Glen Gulutzan managed the forwards. Woodcroft was also quick to give credit to his other associates, but having a variety of voices allowed the Oilers to tailor their sessions around specific, goal-oriented results.
"We have a really good staff and what I think we do in that situation is we try and plan out what our players need, plan out some skill specific things that will help our team concept," Woodcroft said. "The forwards obviously worked on a little bit of, as I said, puck touches and some things around the net. Our defencemen had a completely different practice on the other side."
All things considered, the practice was very well received by the players who skated on Thursday.
"I think just talking with a few of the players that were out there on both sheets, it was a welcome thing," Woodcroft said after practice. "Let them leave the rink feeling good about their skills and then come fresh tomorrow for a team practice where we'll work on parts of our structure."