Are the oilers just a poorly built team?

[The Burdened]

that seems like cherry picking evidence.

Not cherry picking anything. The core of that Boston team was literally constructed by Mike O'Connell & Jeff Gorton. Jeff Gorton contributed more to that Bruins Cup team than Chiarelli & Gorton was only on the interim GM for like 4 months.

here's better breakdown

By my estimation, the only 2 super impressive things he gets credit for are David Pastrnak & the Kessel to Toronto trade (which he then completely undid). He has made 5 franchise changing trades, and has come out on the losing end of 4 of them (I know it may be disingenuous to call the Wheeler trade franchise changing for the B's, but it sure was for the Jets)

The man has literally given Winnipeg their captain, Dallas their best player, NJ their best player, & NYI their best player.

 

[Bleedred]

I was told the Hall for Larsson trade was ''Fair'' for ''Both teams'' and that it ''Made sense'' and even a couple of highly brain fried people tried to argue that the Oilers didn't even lose this trade because they made the playoffs in the first year of it and the Devils didn't.

My how times have changed.

 

[CartographerNo611]

if the Oilers are still this bad in 7 years I don't think any Oiler fan would disagree with you, or care. I'd guess he'd be traded away before then actually. He is signed, and committed to the Oilers, but there is a limit to everything and he has power in this situation.

They shipped Pronger out, their only stud D in the 2000s. This is the rebuild after a failed rebuild after another failed rebuild where they literally just swapped Hemsky, Horcoft, and Gagner with Hall, Yakupov, and Pääjärvi which was swapped for McDavid (lucky as heck with that one) and Draisaitl. Notice one thing, not one single defenseman. In a market where free agents dont line up to play you need D that you draft/develop.

Jones
Hedman
Karlsson
Subban
Josi
Carlsson
Rielly
Trouba


All d-man drafted by a team who made decent runs in the playoffs during the Oilers rebuild where they bounced out the first round a couple of times. Unless its a Mcdavid, you build from the back end out. Heck a Slavin would be a lot better the a Nugent Hopkins right now...

 

[trick9]

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.

Is this a joke?

They play in a terrible division and still somehow manage to miss the Playoffs with all those top picks.

 

[Skolman]

The problem is we haven't had a competent front office in 15+ years, crazy

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

McDavid will eventually get sick of this nonsense... he will want a winning culture. He will be looking to come home like JT in 7 years...

Edmonton is his home

 

[Skolman]

McDavid will eventually get sick of this nonsense... he will want a winning culture. He will be looking to come home like JT in 7 years...

Some Leafs fans are incredibly painful, way to contribute absolutely nothing of value.

 

[Jason316]

I was told the Hall for Larsson trade was ''Fair'' for ''Both teams'' and that it ''Made sense'' and even a couple of highly brain fried people tried to argue that the Oilers didn't even lose this trade because they made the playoffs in the first year of it and the Devils didn't.

My how times have changed.

It was Hall or McDavid. Hall wanted the captaincy and had lost the room

 

[Soundwave]

They shipped Pronger out, their only stud D in the 2000s. This is the rebuild after a failed rebuild after another failed rebuild where they literally just swapped Hemsky, Horcoft, and Gagner with Hall, Yakupov, and Pääjärvi which was swapped for McDavid (lucky as heck with that one) and Draisaitl. Notice one thing, not one single defenseman. In a market where free agents dont line up to play you need D that you draft/develop.

Jones
Hedman
Karlsson
Subban
Josi
Carlsson
Rielly
Trouba


All d-man drafted by a team who made decent runs in the playoffs during the Oilers rebuild where they bounced out the first round a couple of times. Unless its a Mcdavid, you build from the back end out. Heck a Slavin would be a lot better the a Nugent Hopkins right now...

They have spent multiple top picks on defencemen

Adam Larsson (basically no.1 overall in 2010 via Taylor Hall)
Oscar Klefbom (1st round, 2011 draft)
Darnell Nurse (no.7 1st round, 2014 draft)
Griffin Reinhart (effectively no.16th, 1st round 2015 draft)
Evan Bouchard (1st round, 10th overall 2018 draft)

All 1st round picks.

On top of that they got Justin Schultz for free which was basically like getting a free 1st rounder.

That isn't the problem. They've spent more on D in the 1st than Pittsburgh + Toronto combined.

If anything I think your theory is wrong, the teams that have done the whole "tank" thing and come out of it have largely used their 1st rounders on elite forwards.

If you're going to do the whole scorched earth rebuild thing you need to come out of it with a multi-line high octane offence, as Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington are. The teams that have struggled like Edmonton, Buffalo, and Florida and been up and down don't have the high octane offense overall.

If you're gonna go young -- you better be f***ing talented. That seems to be the more operative key.

 

[Bleedred]

It was Hall or McDavid. Hall wanted the captaincy and had lost the room

It's still terrible value.

Hall is worth more than Adam Larsson.

 

[Brobust]

I was told the Hall for Larsson trade was ''Fair'' for ''Both teams'' and that it ''Made sense'' and even a couple of highly brain fried people tried to argue that the Oilers didn't even lose this trade because they made the playoffs in the first year of it and the Devils didn't.

My how times have changed.

You mean all the Edmonton media and the majority of the Oilers fanbase?

 

[belair]

Dubnyk had a vezina nomination. Petry is a solid 3-4 defenceman. Furthermore, they didn’t leave in free agency, they were traded for scraps because the oilers gave up on them.

Dubnyk was also immediately traded from Nashville, cleared waivers in Montreal, toiled in Arizona until finally settling in his current role. Petry was poorly handled by the previous GM, who was convince Justin Schultz was the second coming of Paul Coffey. I don't think you'll see any Oiler fan happy that he was traded for what he returned. My point being, mentioning all of these players is revisionist history. Hockey players earn more money as their careers progress. Basic inflation. Even ignoring the fact that its highly unlikely any of these players suddenly peak in the same situation in Edmonton--the Oilers were destined to be a cap franchise the moment they drafted Connor McDavid.

This is why it's so simplistic to focus on the 'talent leaving the organization'. The Oilers needed to clear significant salary immediately on top of altering the clearly flawed product that was the 2015 Edmonton Oilers hockey team. It was a team that was routinely mocked by its peers as a 'junior hockey team' and had a core group that knew nothing about defending in the NHL--even though some of these guys were well into their second contracts.

 

[Soundwave]

You mean all the Edmonton media and the majority of the Oilers fanbase?

The Hall-Larsson trade thread on the Oilers board is still up on the site, I'm pretty sure the immediate reactions from most Oilers fans was negative.

Of course things are going to sway a bit when the team has a 103 point season and goes to the second round the following season while Hall struggles his first year in NJ.

 

[Mr Hockey]

haven't read the thread...

I think they need a coaching change to find out where this team is at, imo

 

[Brobust]

It was Hall or McDavid. Hall wanted the captaincy and had lost the room

Didn't Hall mentor McDavid when he was a rookie and express shock and anger that he was traded?

 

[BlueDream]

It’s tough to badly lose multiple trades and still be good (Hall, Eberle, Reinhart). They screwed up, those were pretty major.

McLellan is going to get the axe this season but it’s not going to help because it’s not his fault at all.

 

[PinSeeker]

It’s tough to badly lose multiple trades and still be good (Hall, Eberle, Reinhart). They screwed up, those were pretty major.

McLellan is going to get the axe this season but it’s not going to help because it’s not his fault at all.

Well I'd say it's partly his fault, say 30 percent, and 70 on Chia imo.

 

[Bleedred]

You mean all the Edmonton media and the majority of the Oilers fanbase?

It was mostly Edmonton fans and media saying this.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

The biggest head scratcher for me is that they were obviously awful last season yet Chia really did nothing to improve this season. I realize its difficult to pull off trades but gotta do something..... Just anything!

I imagine Chia is gun shy to pull off some big trades but hes gotta do something or he will be fired before he gets that chance

 

[belair]

It’s tough to badly lose multiple trades and still be good (Hall, Eberle, Reinhart). They screwed up, those were pretty major.

McLellan is going to get the axe this season but it’s not going to help because it’s not his fault at all.

What's not his fault?

A team with Connor McDavid on it scored 31 goals on the PP last year---ALL YEAR. He responded in the opening two games of this season with a top unit of FIVE left handed shots.

Teams with less talent manage to look better than his products.

 

[780il]

It was mostly Edmonton fans and media saying this.

I hated it from the moment it was announced. I remember I was chilling with a couple friends and I read the tweet. The next three words that came out of all our mouths were "What the f***"

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

The biggest head scratcher for me is that they were obviously awful last season yet Chia really did nothing to improve this season. I realize its difficult to pull off trades but gotta do something..... Just anything!

I imagine Chia is gun shy to pull off some big trades but hes gotta do something or he will be fired before he gets that chance

He couldn't really do much, with the cap problems and the lack of assets that other teams would be interested in. If he would have been willing to dump his first round pick or one of Draisaitl or Nurse or RNH that would have been something.

 

[Brobust]

What's not his fault?

A team with Connor McDavid on it scored 31 goals on the PP last year---ALL YEAR. He responded in the opening two games of this season with a top unit of FIVE left handed shots.

Teams with less talent manage to look better than his products.

Toronto's PP unit uses 4 left shots. Working fine so far.

 

[belair]

Toronto's PP unit uses 4 left shots. Working fine so far.

FIVE left shots. Meaning zero right shots. Seriously, watch an Oilers game. It's astonishing. You always know where the puck is going.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

In the past 9ish years, Oilers have had 7 different head coaches.... Mac T, Quinn, Renney, Krueger, Eakins, Nelson and MacLellan

I realize coaches are always the one to get blame, but cmon there is something else going on here.. Cant ALWAYS blame the coaches... Especially that many