GDT: Craig MacTavish vs. HF Oil | End of Season Presser | 2:00 PM | Streamed

[The Bored Man]

Amazing bump. People have such goldfish memories around here. Lowe and MacT deserve all of the hate they are still getting and more.

If we didn't get McDavid, we'd have been listening to this idiot make excuses for the next decade.

Bingo.

It's hard to understate how bad things were two months ago. Try to watch this presser after Chiarelli's yesterday.

 

[Crabapple]

Bingo.

It's hard to understate how bad things were two months ago. Try to watch this presser after Chiarelli's yesterday.

It's still strange to me watching an Oilers presser and not feeling immediate anger

 

[CupofOil]

It's hard to believe that this was only a bit more than 2 months ago. It feels like an eternity since I've hated everything about the organization.

Amazing that it went from this which was likely the lowest point in the history of the organization to potentially the best thing to ever happen to the organization only 5 days later.

Unfortunately the #2 is still sitting in the bowl and has yet to be flushed.

 

[Asher]

It's hard to believe that this was only a bit more than 2 months ago. It feels like an eternity since I've hated everything about the organization.

Amazing that it went from this which was likely the lowest point in the history of the organization to potentially the best thing to ever happen to the organization only 5 days later.

Unfortunately the #2 is still sitting in the bowl and has yet to be flushed.

It wouldn't be my pick for the low point of the organization but seeing the manager of a team that's been as bad for as long as the Oilers have say he's basically writing off next year too before it even begins is something I will never forget. My guess is MacT now wishes he'd said that differently.

 

[Aerrol]

I agree that it's wonderful to look back at how bad things were not long ago, but can we also take a second to appreciate, again, just how awesome this GDT this? Spot on and hilarious.

 

[CupofOil]

It wouldn't be my pick for the low point of the organization but seeing the manager of a team that's been as bad for as long as the Oilers have say he's basically writing off next year too before it even begins is something I will never forget. My guess is MacT now wishes he'd said that differently.

I consider it a low point because it was the culmination of a 9th straight year of missing the playoffs, no organizational progress for the 6th straight season and a seemingly untouchable GM who looked like he was throwing in the towel plus the fact that it seemed like they were missing out on 2 generational talents.

I just remember this being the point where I literally lost all hope and even though there was a lot of hilarity in the thread, the rest of the fanbase seemed to feel the same way, even the normally optimistic ones.

Just makes us appreciate what has happened since even more and hopefully what's to come.

 

[The Bored Man]

I agree that it's wonderful to look back at how bad things were not long ago, but can we also take a second to appreciate, again, just how awesome this GDT this? Spot on and hilarious.

Aw, shucks.

It wouldn't have been possible without Craig, Kevin, and Dallas.

 

[Tyjo]

I really really am happy that I don't have to see macT talk on the podium and constantly adjust the microphone anymore. He touches that more than I touch myself.

 

[Asher]

Aw, shucks.

It wouldn't have been possible without Craig, Kevin, and Dallas.

Damn it, you're on fire these days!

 

[K1984]

It wouldn't be my pick for the low point of the organization but seeing the manager of a team that's been as bad for as long as the Oilers have say he's basically writing off next year too before it even begins is something I will never forget. My guess is MacT now wishes he'd said that differently.

I hate to give credit to the Flames for anything, but even when their roster looked like a joke on paper the organizational expectation was that they would play hard, and they would play the system right, or they wouldn't play. And then they overachieved.

When MacT dropped the "development year" line I lost all hope. The idiot just didn't understand that if you set the expectation that it is ok to be bad, the team will be bad. How can you hold anyone accountable if we're just "developing?" How the hell are you supposed to build buy in and drive results when the standard has already been set to not achieve anything?

Thank god that we won the lottery, and thank god Nicholson came in and cleaned house. The Oilers under MacT and Lowe were literally a textbook case of how to run an abysmal organization.

 

[Narnia]

I hate to give credit to the Flames for anything, but even when their roster looked like a joke on paper the organizational expectation was that they would play hard, and they would play the system right, or they wouldn't play. And then they overachieved.

When MacT dropped the "development year" line I lost all hope. The idiot just didn't understand that if you set the expectation that it is ok to be bad, the team will be bad. How can you hold anyone accountable if we're just "developing?" How the hell are you supposed to build buy in and drive results when the standard has already been set to not achieve anything?

Thank god that we won the lottery, and thank god Nicholson came in and cleaned house. The Oilers under MacT and Lowe were literally a textbook case of how to run an abysmal organization.

Those changes were going to happen even if the Oilers didn't win the lottery.

 

[Up the Irons]

I consider it a low point because it was the culmination of a 9th straight year of missing the playoffs, no organizational progress for the 6th straight season and a seemingly untouchable GM who looked like he was throwing in the towel plus the fact that it seemed like they were missing out on 2 generational talents.

I just remember this being the point where I literally lost all hope and even though there was a lot of hilarity in the thread, the rest of the fanbase seemed to feel the same way, even the normally optimistic ones.

Just makes us appreciate what has happened since even more and hopefully what's to come.

I hate to give credit to the Flames for anything, but even when their roster looked like a joke on paper the organizational expectation was that they would play hard, and they would play the system right, or they wouldn't play. And then they overachieved.

When MacT dropped the "development year" line I lost all hope. The idiot just didn't understand that if you set the expectation that it is ok to be bad, the team will be bad. How can you hold anyone accountable if we're just "developing?" How the hell are you supposed to build buy in and drive results when the standard has already been set to not achieve anything?

Thank god that we won the lottery, and thank god Nicholson came in and cleaned house. The Oilers under MacT and Lowe were literally a textbook case of how to run an abysmal organization.

same here. It seems many of us point to that moment as THE precise moment when we, as a fanbase, had thrown in the towel. There was literally not a shred of hope left in waiting for anything to materialize under that management team. And, at the time, we all believed they would NEVER be removed from power.

Let that presser and the 'development year' quote live in infamy in the annals of Oiler lore.

 

[K1984]

Those changes were going to happen even if the Oilers didn't win the lottery.

I agree, but I still thank God we won the lottery as well.

 

[K1984]

same here. It seems many of us point to that moment as THE precise moment when we, as a fanbase, had thrown in the towel. There was literally not a shred of hope left in waiting for anything to materialize under that management team. And, at the time, we all believed they would NEVER be removed from power.

Let that presser and the 'development year' quote live in infamy in the annals of Oiler lore.

I would have always been an Oiler fan and watched the games, but my god another season of what we've seen over the last several years would have almost been too much.

I think that Chiarelli's comments regarding culture, expectations, and results are telling. To achieve anything you have to start with the bare minimum, and that's a strong culture.

 

[Narnia]

I agree, but I still thank God we won the lottery as well.

Me, too.

 

[Up the Irons]

Those changes were going to happen even if the Oilers didn't win the lottery.

Looking back, I think so too (not so much at the time), because Bob seems to have a better read on the fanbase then Lowe/Mact, nor is he at war with said fanbase or basic common sense, and he isn't so invested in 'the plan', as they were. they were so determined to see it thru that things were snowballing on them. It's like they went mad. Seriously, there were times it appeared as tho they'd fallen off the deep end (Nikitin a 2nd pairing D?).

The 'development year' quote may have been Bob's final straw, too.

 

[redgrant]

Looking back, I think so too (not so much at the time), because Bob seems to have a better read on the fanbase then Lowe/Mact, nor is he at war with said fanbase or basic common sense, and he isn't so invested in 'the plan', as they were. they were so determined to see it thru that things were snowballing on them. It's like they went mad. Seriously, there were times it appeared as tho they'd fallen off the deep end (Nikitin a 2nd pairing D?).

The 'development year' quote may have been Bob's final straw, too.

Bingo....with the majority of the city mad as hell that theyre financing a billionaires arena telling the people HEY WERE GONNA SUCK AGAIN was MacTs death wish.

 

[McShogun99]

Those changes were going to happen even if the Oilers didn't win the lottery.

Yeah, it's not like the second they won the lottery they gave Chia and Mcllelan a cal.

 

[T-Funk]

Yeah, it's not like the second they won the lottery they gave Chia and Mcllelan a cal.

...well Chia was fired just a couple days before the lotto and it sure seemed like MacT wasn't going anywhere until the day after the draft win.

 

[guymez]

...well Chia was fired just a couple days before the lotto and it sure seemed like MacT wasn't going anywhere until the day after the draft win.

Nicholson had been running his audit for a long time prior to the draft lottery.
I think that there is almost no chance that he made the decision to fire MacT in the space of 24-48 hours.
His ass was on the line for the hockey Ops side of things...you can bet he had a detailed plan on what he was going to do and who he was going to target for the GM position. He knew MacT was out the door...he just needed one of his potential target GM's to become available before he could execute everything.

I would suggest to you that Chiarelli's availability had virtually everything to do with the timing of MacT's firing.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Looking back at this thread now, when MacT said development year... everyone was like this...

 

[NewBoysClub97*]

Mac T looked like he was hung over that press conference. Not dressed great and not sounding great lol. What a change from then...

 

[Bangers]

I would say this was the lowest point for me as well, because it appeared that nothing was going to change.

A lottery win and a complete change in management make me happy to have been wrong.

 

[RattsSSV]

It definitely ranks up there for low points and is probably the winner for the managerial side, but doesn't compete with seeing your stars being sold due to the owners mismanagement of his other brands.

 

[rboomercat90]

Ic

Nicholson had been running his audit for a long time prior to the draft lottery.
I think that there is almost no chance that he made the decision to fire MacT in the space of 24-48 hours.
His ass was on the line for the hockey Ops side of things...you can bet he had a detailed plan on what he was going to do and who he was going to target for the GM position. He knew MacT was out the door...he just needed one of his potential target GM's to become available before he could execute everything.

I would suggest to you that Chiarelli's availability had virtually everything to do with the timing of MacT's firing.

Judging by the events of December, I have a strong suspicion that's when Nicholson made the decision Mactavish needed to be fired. Mac T's April 13 press conference where he talked about next year being another development year was likely the final nail in his coffin. The organization has been getting by with selling some kind of hope for next season for years. That stupid comment zapped all the hope out of the fan base. Gotta figure that's as big of a sin as there is in the front office.

The question to me is whether the lottery win sped up Katz' decision to allow it to happen. Nicholson's promotion was only made public less than 48 hours after the lottery win. I'm not so sure it happens as quickly without it but I'm sure it was in the works.