Shanahanigans
Registered User
- Jun 16, 2011
- 2,306
- 1,794
I know the thread title sounds ridiculous seeing as how its three games in, but hear me out. First of all, I'm not a conspiracy theorist in any definition of the word, but some of the decisions made in the last few months have been incredibly dumb and incredibly baffling.
1) Signing Nikitin for 2 years, 4.5 mill. Nikitin was a healthy scratch in Columbus quite a few times last year, yet the Oilers signed him to 2nd pairing money and thrust him on the top pair.
2) trading Gagner WITHOUT having a centre lined up. We were already paper thin at centre. Gagner needed to go, I don't think anyone disputes that. But trading one of your top two centres without having another centre is beyond idiotic. Our centre depth for tonight is Arco-Leon-Gordon-Acton. Gagner has a ton of deficiencies in his game, but is still a much better NHL centre than any of those guys.
3) having 35 guys up till the end of preseason. All teams are down to 22-25 players in their final preseason games, and use those games to prep for the season. The sad thing is, we don't even have 35 NHL level players, we barely have 20. Whats the point of having a guy like Khaira in the final preseason game when everyone knows those guys won't make team? Thst just ensured the team had no preparation to start the team.
4) sending Marincin down. This guy was one of our best dmen last year, and nobody who watched the Oilers would dispute that. His preseason wasn't flashy, it was efficient. By all statistical and analytical measures, he also vastly outplayed all our left side Dmen. And even if he didn't outplayed Ference/Nikitin/klefbom- are you telling me the Oilers thought that Brad Freaking Hunt was a better NHL option?
5) Scratching Petry- scratching him last night when he was our best dman for two games was not only beyond stupid, it also put things in motion. Petry is on a one year deal. He is a good to 4 dman, and even those who don't like him know it was incredibly dumb to scratch him. Elliotte Friedman wrote in his 30 thoughts this morning that when you scratch a dman like that, its probably time to part ways. He listed Detroit or Anaheim as possible destinations. Not having Petry would destroy our already brutal back end, and I can't help but think that scratching him was a precursor to him bring traded in a few months time.
With all these decisions and more, I really cannot believe that a management and coaching staff soul be this stupid. Either we are stuck with the worst coaching and management combo in the history of sports, or they are intentionally trying to tank for McDavid. Either way, I'm pretty sure we are all sick of these guys, whatever they are trying to do with this team.
1) Signing Nikitin for 2 years, 4.5 mill. Nikitin was a healthy scratch in Columbus quite a few times last year, yet the Oilers signed him to 2nd pairing money and thrust him on the top pair.
2) trading Gagner WITHOUT having a centre lined up. We were already paper thin at centre. Gagner needed to go, I don't think anyone disputes that. But trading one of your top two centres without having another centre is beyond idiotic. Our centre depth for tonight is Arco-Leon-Gordon-Acton. Gagner has a ton of deficiencies in his game, but is still a much better NHL centre than any of those guys.
3) having 35 guys up till the end of preseason. All teams are down to 22-25 players in their final preseason games, and use those games to prep for the season. The sad thing is, we don't even have 35 NHL level players, we barely have 20. Whats the point of having a guy like Khaira in the final preseason game when everyone knows those guys won't make team? Thst just ensured the team had no preparation to start the team.
4) sending Marincin down. This guy was one of our best dmen last year, and nobody who watched the Oilers would dispute that. His preseason wasn't flashy, it was efficient. By all statistical and analytical measures, he also vastly outplayed all our left side Dmen. And even if he didn't outplayed Ference/Nikitin/klefbom- are you telling me the Oilers thought that Brad Freaking Hunt was a better NHL option?
5) Scratching Petry- scratching him last night when he was our best dman for two games was not only beyond stupid, it also put things in motion. Petry is on a one year deal. He is a good to 4 dman, and even those who don't like him know it was incredibly dumb to scratch him. Elliotte Friedman wrote in his 30 thoughts this morning that when you scratch a dman like that, its probably time to part ways. He listed Detroit or Anaheim as possible destinations. Not having Petry would destroy our already brutal back end, and I can't help but think that scratching him was a precursor to him bring traded in a few months time.
With all these decisions and more, I really cannot believe that a management and coaching staff soul be this stupid. Either we are stuck with the worst coaching and management combo in the history of sports, or they are intentionally trying to tank for McDavid. Either way, I'm pretty sure we are all sick of these guys, whatever they are trying to do with this team.
