Are the oilers just a poorly built team?

[EchoesoftheEighties]

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.

Debateable. Katz isn't cheap like Melnyk and did get us the new arena we badly needed but he's a massive jock sniffer of the 80's Oilers. Lowe, MacT and co. all still have positions with the organization in some capacity.

 

[Cup or Bust]

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

Posting something that idiotic is a bigger disgrace.

 

[Number 57]

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.

Let's be honest, Subban was traded for Weber at the exact same time as the Hall/Larsson trade. I mean Larsson and Subban are 2 youngish right-handed dman but Subban is cleary the better of the two. And if you ask Montreal fans, who they would rather have between Hall and Weber, Hall would win in a landslide.

It's puzzling to me how Hall wasn't traded for Subban. I think both EDM and MTL would be in much better shape now.

I think the GMs didn't do their job properly, or it's possible Montreal didn't want to trade for yet another winger when they were lacking centers and defensemen.

But then again, they ended up trading Sergachyev for Drouin, who ends up on LW.... same position as Hall.

Imagine Montreal would have both Hall and Sergachyev right now instead of Drouin and Weber. And the Oilers would have Subban, not to mention Barzal had they kept the draft pick.

 

[Martin Skoula]

What are they good at? I mean, what is their identity? They're not really heavy, they're not at all fast outside of McDavid, they won't burn you on the PP, they don't really play a puck-dominant possession game..

 

[Coffey]

What are they good at? I mean, what is their identity? They're not really heavy, they're not at all fast outside of McDavid, they won't burn you on the PP, they don't really play a puck-dominant possession game..

They hit a lot. Most likely because they don't have the puck.

 

[TOGuy14]

You can’t win with just one superstar surrounded by mainly useless pieces, even if the star is arguably the best player in the league

 

[sufferer]

One must imagine McSisyphus happy.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

it looks more like someone actively tried to take the team apart than build it into something good. They're a bad team. That said, with McDavid and Draisaitl and a few other pieces, they should be able to turn things around. Their entire management is garbage though, they need to get rid of a lot of people

 

[Future GOAT]

A hot seat as it should be. Not much patience to be had at the moment.

Pretty much this.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

They dont have a talent problem, they have a coach problem.

Its painfully obvious that McLellan is flat out garbage and is the #1 issue on the team. He sould've been fired the second last season ended.

The fact that he somehow is still employed makes me think the OBC is alive and well up there (unfortunately)

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

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

You can add Schultz to that list as well.

 

[HBK27]

How is this even a question? Of course they're built poorly. They got a generational center for nothing and they've done nothing with him.

Not only a generational center, but a bunch of other #1 or high picks and a maxed out cap and they don't look like playoff contenders at this point.

Everyone knows the Hall trade was awful, but an overlooked part of it was that Hall really wanted to be there. For as much crap as Edmonton has to deal with whether or not players want to play there (whether it's exaggerated or not), Hall is from Alberta, had already been through the lean years and was really looking forward to being part of the turnaround.

 

[Ainec]

they can't draft and keep supporting pieces

 

[Gurglesons]

Does this apply to the Leafs and Nylander?

What does this even mean?

And I am a Penguins fan.

Judging by Dubas’s history he should be fine if he decides to move Nylander. Not to mention the Leafs have at minimum four or five other players that can put up 30-50 pts in their top nine.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

time for an oil change

 

[The Winter Soldier]

A coaching change is badly needed. They need someone that will allow them to play with more creativity. Sort of like what happened in Boston. When Julien was replaced by Cassidy. It's amazing to me McDavid scored 107 pts in that system they employ.

 

[Lilou]

It wasn't long ago when kevin lowe said "Any GM in the league would trade their rosters for ours".

 

[Brian McDavid]

We are the Cleveland Browns.

I have been a fan (and season ticket holder) for 20+ years. If they miss playoffs and don't fire BOTH Chia and TM, I am switching allegiances. Katz doesn't get another penny from me. Absolutely no accountability in this horse***t franchise.

 

[Captain Mountain]

People like to dunk on Bergevin (for good reason), but Chiarelli is just as much of a dinosaur and has done less with more to start with.

McDavid is the best player in the world, Draisaitl is an excellent 2C, Klefbom is a good D-man, Nurse and Larsson are good complementary D-men and Talbot can be a capable goalie, but they just don't have the talent to really support McDavid the way basically any other top forward is supported.

I don't think McLennan was every great, but their inability to develop anybody that wasn't a first rounder (mostly lottery) properly and the terrible scouting has been so longstanding that they need to actually purge the front office and catch up with the rest of the league.

 

[780il]

You can’t win with just one superstar surrounded by mainly useless pieces, even if the star is by far the best player in the league

Fixed it for you

 

[Dustin]

I think it's more than that. They have lost on some trades, and some of their signings haven't been ideal either.

That being said there's still plenty of time for them to turn everything around this season and beyond.

 

[780il]

Absolutely yes. Chia has ruined what would have been a future dynasty with his shitty trades and garbage asset management. When will we get competent gm's or coaches? It feels like never.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Scotty Bowman couldn't coach the Oilers to the Playoffs. Except for a few pieces, that team is slow, not very skilled, their blueline is terrible, and if Talbot isn't super human they don't win.

Firing T-Mac is irrelevant, its slapping a kids bandage on a sucking chest wound and hoping that the power of jesus will save the patient.

The funny thing is if Oiler fans thing T-Mac is bad, Gulutzan is the next guy to step in and he's even worse.

The Oilers need to fire their management into space and get to the task of trying to seriously rebuild.

 

[Deficient Mode]

People like to dunk on Bergevin (for good reason), but Chiarelli is just as much of a dinosaur and has done less with more to start with.

McDavid is the best player in the world, Draisaitl is an excellent 2C, Klefbom is a good D-man, Nurse and Larsson are good complementary D-men and Talbot can be a capable goalie, but they just don't have the talent to really support McDavid the way basically any other top forward is supported.

I don't think McLennan was every great, but their inability to develop anybody that wasn't a first rounder (mostly lottery) properly and the terrible scouting has been so longstanding that they need to actually purge the front office and catch up with the rest of the league.

Bergevin is terrible but he has succeeded much better than Chiarelli at finding supporting pieces: both GMs have made terrible signings of depth defensemen, but Bergevin has done much much better at finding depth forwards and backup goalies.

 

[BAM]

Could've had Hall, McDavid, LD, Eberle, Barzal, Puju as a top 6 but instead all they have is McDavid, a guy who gets paid 8.5 million that can't drive his own line or is inconsistent in LD and Puju..oh and Larsson and Reinhart for Hall and Barzal.