Nilsson deserves heat; Lowe behind the bench?

Robert Nilsson’s been given plenty of rope to show he’s capable of being as consistent as he is talented, but the enigmatic Edmonton Oilers forward has run out of slack with embattled coach Craig MacTavish.

After benching Nilsson for the third period of Friday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks for what he deemed indifferent play, MacTavish was to-the-point when asked about planting No. 12’s backside on the pine.

“A non-competer. No competitiveness,” MacTavish said. “We try and coddle the competitiveness out of him, but he just didn’t have any again tonight. I’ve had enough and seen enough of it.”

As prolific as Nilsson was last spring with Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano as the team roared down the stretch, he’s been a big disappointment with 4-6-10 and a minus-8 rating as the 14-14-3 Oilers prepare to take on Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes tonight.

While some fans might explain Nilsson’s poor performance as a sophomore slump, that’s letting him off the hook. Nilsson’s played 155 NHL games over parts of four seasons and he’s three weeks away from his 24th birthday, so he’s hardly in the same category as Gagner, 19, and Cogliano, 21.

With the team struggling and MacTavish under the gun, the question now is simple: What do the Oilers do with Nilsson? Sit him out, again? Send him to the minors? Demote him to the fourth line? Trade him?

I’m not sure what, if anything, GM Steve Tambellini could get for Nilsson on the trade market because his value is definitely down. But if I was sitting in the chair occupied by Tambellini, a trade is the option I’d be looking at once the Christmas roster freeze is lifted.
 
THE LOWE DOWN?

With frustrated fans calling for MacTavish to be fired, one juicy rumour, courtesy of Ottawa Sun scribe Bruce Garrioch, is that president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe could step behind the bench. The key choice of words, of course, is “could.”

Well, yes, it’s true Lowe could step behind the bench.

And I could become prime minister. Likely? Nothing I’ve heard from people in-the-know leads me to believe that’s in the cards.

Lowe stepped back from the day-to-day grind by bringing in Tambellini. I can’t see him taking two steps ahead by jumping back behind the bench. Truth be told, Lowe only spent the 1999-2000 season as head coach because he wanted the experience on the way to becoming GM. He’s a manager, not a coach.
 
WHILE I’M AT IT

MacTavish’s inclination to change up his lines is downright baffling at times. He finally gets results by putting Dustin Penner, Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky back together, then he breaks them up. What’s that? You don’t think that frustrates the players to no end?

Speaking of questionable line combinations, why did it take MacTavish 30 games to get Erik Cole into his top-six forwards on right wing, where he’s more comfortable?