Are the oilers just a poorly built team?

Angry Little Elf

My wife came back
Apr 9, 2012
8,419
7,555
Victoria B.C.
This tweet came out of Edmonton today. What is going on with the oilers?

Is it just a losing culture? Seems like everyone who leaves Edmonton has a nice little career, such as Dubnyk, Petry, Hall and Eberle. Yakupov is the exception
 
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Frankie Blueberries

Allergic to draft picks
Jan 27, 2016
9,094
10,545
McLellan is a goner if they don't start winning games very soon - that much is obvious.
It is pretty sad as they could have a stacked blue line if they had a competent GM. If you reverse those Hall, 16th overall, and Eberle trades - you could easily have two top pairing dmen (see the Jones for Johansen trade for a good blueprint of what the Hall trade should have been). I feel for Oilers fans, Chia is irreparably destroying the team's future with his idiotic trades.
 

Tkachuky

Registered User
Dec 30, 2009
5,280
2,883
In the Dome
Of course they are. Outside of McDavid and Draisatl, they are lacking talent wise. Don’t get me wrong, some of the prospects are looking promising but the team overall does not have depth. I have no idea how they will fix things.

On the other hand, it’s still very early.... I would hold any panic until 10-15 games in.
 
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Conor McDavitt

Registered User
Oct 17, 2017
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McLellan is a goner if they don't start winning games very soon - that much is obvious.
It is pretty sad as they could have a stacked blue line if they had a competent GM. If you reverse those Hall, 16th overall, and Eberle trades - you could easily have two top pairing dmen (see the Jones for Johansen trade for a good blueprint of what the Hall trade should have been). I feel for Oilers fans, Chia is irreparably destroying the team's future with his idiotic trades.
Well the bigger issue is those trades were 2 years ago, which means management has been watching the same team for 2 years with the same weaknesses and has done zero. That is the core problem.
 

WesMcCauley

Registered User
Apr 24, 2015
8,616
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Something weird about all of it... So many of their former players have gone on to different teams and been effective in their respective roles. They maybe slot in better on those teams but still, thats kind of the GM and coaches job to work out. Something is not right with that franchise, been problems for a long time now.
With that said, they have only played 2 games so far. Watch them light up my Rangers tomorrow
 

MikeGrier99

Registered User
May 20, 2017
850
880
The Oilers are a poorly run organization. Ever since Katz has taken over, this team has been a complete disaster. The front office is the worst in the game, somehow MacT and Lowe still have jobs despite overseeing the worst stretch of hockey played in NHL history. They're going to have to blow it up and start over, but this time from scratch. Howson, Lowe, MacT, Nicholson, and Chiarelli need to be permanently separated from the organization.
 

GodEmperor

Registered User
Oct 12, 2017
2,919
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Their PP and PK say it all.

No way should both of those be the worst in the league when you have McDavid, RNH, Drai, Nurse, Klef, Larsson and Sekera.
 
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hotcabbagesoup

why u guys want Celebrini, he played like a weenie
Feb 18, 2009
10,093
13,667
Reno, Nevada
They play in a very very tough division. The Sharks, Kings, Ducks will hit you and hit you hard. They will dump the puck in, turn your d-men around and crunch them, and get the puck back and pepper you with shots. The Knights, Flames and Canucks have youth and speed to burn. There might not be an absolutely dominant opposing player in that division, but those teams will try to find every weakness you have. You can't have holes when you're in the Pacific.
 

Deficient Mode

Registered User
Mar 25, 2011
60,348
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Given 3+ years, any GM should be able to find the complementary players to surround the best player in the world to become a top tier contender. Chiarelli has failed miserably.

Their roster talent is also better than they're performing, though. Can't say their special teams coaching or McLellan have been anything other than bad the past year.
 

tucker3434

HFBoards Sponsor
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Apr 7, 2007
19,792
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Atlanta, GA
I don’t know much about the coaching. McLellan has been good in the past. But Chia has got to go. They’d be better off if they had made no moves at all.
 

Gold Standard

Registered User
Sep 7, 2018
2,385
2,285
the weekend is going to be bonkers if the Oilers don't pull out a win tomorrow.

I'm not really a big Oilers fan, but I do hate to see McDavid go through this nonsense. He deserves much better. although, I find it hard to feel too bad for him, he's pulling down 12,5 mil a year and has a hot girlfriend. I'll gladly trade places with him.
 

Emerz

#1 PLD Fanboy
Jun 5, 2013
10,115
9,244
Nova Scotia
Very poorly built, look at their forwards other than McDavid, Draisaitl and RNH who else is supposed to do the scoring? Rattie, Yamomoto, Lucic, Pulju, Rieder, Kassian, Khaira, Caggiula... not much potential for offense there.
 
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EchoesoftheEighties

HF Oil's Unofficial Shitposter
Jan 30, 2006
28,765
8,874
Edmonton
It absolutely should be tense. We have the best player in the NHL and were dog shit last year and are trending to be dog shit this year.

Prospects come here to die, no development happens and almost everyone who leaves experiences more success afterwards. The glaring holes in the team were not addressed and it's a joke how poorly the entire organization is run. Outside of one fluke cup run and the 2017 season where almost everyone over performed the team has been trash for over a decade.

Figure it out.
 

Luminiferous

Registered User
Oct 11, 2018
667
525
I am not sure what pains me more. Seeing them toil in mediocrity or them grabbing another unwarrented top draft pick. It should never have got to this point. Way more pathetic than the Sens. Simply because this mismanagement has nothing to do with a garbage owner and a lack of funds.

I never thought I would see a team mismanaged as badly as the mid 2000 Leafs... this takes the cake.

Absolutely inane and unrealistic, but the team should just be punted out of the league. What a god damn disgrace.
 

WilliamNylander

Papi's home
Jul 26, 2012
12,896
2,607
They have some nice pieces. Obviously McDavid. Nurse looks good, Bouchard will be a real player. But I think they are still a few pieces away.

IMO I would rebuild around McDavid-Nurse and the kids. Move Drai/Talbot/Puljujarvi for picks, tank out 1-2 years and try to land some big UFAs.
 

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