I haven't been following interviews and stuff that much this season, but did Oates ever elaborate on why he never tried Erat at RW? I know the handedness thing, but Fehr got a bunch of tries on LW, and Erat has been a career RW-er and a pretty productive and all around good one. A lot of his play in Nashville was based on him cutting to the center and making plays from there. I mean, you get a guy your GM gave up a bluechipper for and don't give him one game in an environment similar to one he succeeded in? There has to be something there, on the surface it just sounds like putrid coaching. A couple years ago we'd have been dying for an Ovechkin - Backstrom - Erat line, like a poor man's version of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Hossa. Why not try that once? Or if Ovechkin is untouchable in his RW spot (despite all his goals coming from the left of the ice) Laich-Backstrom-Erat? Laich-Grabovski-Erat? Chimera Grabovski-Erat? I mean, not one try for any of them? Maybe I'm asking this because deep down I don't want to believe that a team I've been a fan of for quite a while is being coached by a completely and utterly rigid imbecile who has total control of the GM, since that thought is beyond depressing.