News Article: Belanger thoughts on the oilers.

[Replacement*]

Buddy seriously whenever you comment its always hatred against the oilers. Seriously why do you even post on this board? It's not like your even a fan

Not hatred, but learned cynicism.

Been an Oiler fan since 72. Seen a lot better Oiler teams than this. The Oilers are the worst team in the NHL last 7yrs. If the org was different my comments would be too.

You don't stop being a fan of a team you've followed your whole life just because they currently suck. But you do tend to have the perspective and be realistic about it.

 

[Jumptheshark]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/32426/young-talented-oilers-still-not-ready

As much as I disliked Belanger, thoughts on his comments regarding the oilers?

atleast he was not as mean as some of the former oilers have been

 

[belair]

Remember when Eric Belanger was the new veteran presence who was going to help these same kids get this team back into the Stanley Cup playoffs?

Funny stuff.

It's unbelievable how much of an utter failure this guy was as a hockey player in Edmonton.

 

[Gambl0r83*]

Theres a touch of reality there.

Theres nothing in Belangers comments that seem unfair, or inaccurate.

LoL! My sort-of bait worked. I feel like I know you. Had a feeling there was a chance you would quote my post on this topic b/c I pointed out that he mentioned all the popular 'inadequacies' as an attack, and I knew you would see it as fact. Heck, most people would
But the fact that you actually quoted me and the response was almost verbatim from what I anticipated, is pure awesome

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Belanger wasn't used properly here either just like Gordon isn't now. This isn't a team that even values veterans to any degree. With Eakins wetting his pants at the prospect of playing guys like Hall and RNH 27mins night(overkill) theres not a lot of ES left after penalty kills and such. A guy like Gordon had multiple nights where he just wasn't getting big minutes. On a team that was getting scored on like crazy. Think about that.

sigh

I agree his services would have been best used in the crapper handing out cologne and breathe mints. I'll go out on a limb and suggest his prognosticating/analyst abilities are on par with his performance here in Edmonton.

You really have to wonder why Belanger was being used as the expert opinion in this article. I know it is espn but this has to be digging the bottom of the barrel. I guess big Georges was booked for a meeting with the Gumblys at the time.

Let me get this straight. You get a former employee that was fired to give his unbiased opinion of the team that sent his ass packing to Siberia......... Seems legit to me.

 

[flashy]

I agree with a lot of what he's saying. If you take a step back and just look at his comments without factoring in how he played here, you can see some good points.

Renney had it right with how he was using the kids. Shield them, match ups, ect. Throwing them 1st line minutes is very risky. We are reaping the rewards of Taylor Hall but Nuge (who still had his best season under Renney) and Yak are still question marks.

Some people can get thrown to the dogs and come out better, some don't react quiet as well and need guidance. At this point the bed has been made so its up to the players themselves with some guidance from Eakins to set them on the right path.

 

[Mr Positive]

those are boring comments imo. It's pretty much exactly what we've heard already a thousand times over

 

[Hockey Nightmare]

Belanger scored 4 goals in 104 regular season games with this team. I don't care how he was "used", that's a bad stat.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Buddy seriously whenever you comment its always hatred against the oilers. Seriously why do you even post on this board? It's not like your even a fan

Spot on.

 

[Digger12]

In Belanger's 1st season as an Oiler after they showed how much they didn't value him by throwing a 3 yr, 5.25 million dollar contract in his direction, and they did give him plenty of ice time, right up until the 3/4 mark of the season he was getting the same amount of ice he was used to in LA and Minnesota, around 13-17 minutes/night, sometimes even more than that.

He repaid that show of faith by somehow managing to not score a goal until a full 2 months into the season, and his 2nd goal by the end of fricking JANUARY. It wasn't until the last 20 games of the season where he saw his ice time sharply cut, and he's lucky it didn't happen sooner. IMO he had plenty of time to help give the kids some veteran guidance, and to be fair in some ways he did in some of his defensive work and his excellent work in faceoffs.

But when a guy getting that much ice is so completely pathetic in generating secondary offense, and other key veterans like Horcoff and Hemsky are underproducing as well, what else was left to the Oilers but to give the kids some extra at-bats? They were producing offense, and at that stage weren't bleeding goals against.

That being said, Belanger isn't wrong in saying that the young guys have suffered from carrying too much of the load, but it's not like the Oilers didn't have veterans here (Hemsky, Horcoff, Belanger, Smyth, Penner in Hall's rookie year) to show them the way...the real failure was that these veterans either weren't willing or weren't capable of taking the pressure off the kids. That's a blame that can be shared by both the players in question and the management team that brought them here.

I don't really have a problem with Belanger's comments per se, but it would've been nice if he'd at least conceded the point that his inability to live up to the faith the Oilers placed in him played at least a small part in what the kids had to deal with...and it's not like the Oilers were asking him to be anything more than what he had been in the past.

It just comes across as a bit disingenuous to me.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

I'm fail to see how the kids would have had any less pressure leading the team if Belanger was a 30 point center on the 3rd line. It's not even relevant.
He was taking about veteran presence in a scoring role. Like how Kane and Toews have Hossa and Sharp. Or how Galchenyuk has Pacioretty & Plekanec, Tarasenko has Oshie, Backes, ect.

 

[thadd]

I more or less agree.

You know... LD should be going back to the CHL, but I really have a feeling that he's going to be playing in Edmonton this season. We really have to pray that Acro and Lander have done something in the off-season to get their game up to another level... otherwise we really risk rushing and awesome prospect.

 

[tempest2i]

Someone sounds salty about the 1st overall picks getting more ice time.

I have no doubt Eric would have preferred Nuge getting 10 minutes a night, playing on the third line behind Horcoff and himself.

 

[Dorian2]

Good article.

I know there are a couple of Belanger Boo er's on this forum, but they should listen to what he said, shove it in between a few lines, and in the end has a very good understanding of what we. on occasion, forget while watching this team get thumped for the umteanth time.

Experience counts in hockey, and this is the first time in a while they've actually had some. (Although Hork's and Smytty etc.... should all get a mention as well.)

Belanger was pretty right on the money with allot of what he said.

 

[mactforcoach]

Meh, nothing everyone doesn't know already. Just some more fluff to fill in the off season blues. Belanger never dumped on the Oilers or the city when he left, and he's right about the situation here. MacT is trying to fix things in spite of what some folks believe.

I said last year that this team wouldn't make the playoffs this season and I stand by it. Gonna be at least another year and then it will be a first round exit. After that....

 

[Dorian2]

Meh, nothing everyone doesn't know already. Just some more fluff to fill in the off season blues. Belanger never dumped on the Oilers or the city when he left, and he's right about the situation here. MacT is trying to fix things in spite of what some folks believe.

I said last year that this team wouldn't make the playoffs this season and I stand by it. Gonna be at least another year and then it will be a first round exit. After that....

I guess I can assume you are in the age category who got to watch the 79 and on Oilers.

I do agree that they won't make the playoffs, but with the mix of ages and NHL experience they have now, it's not beyond hope.

Hall in particular tried to carry the team on his shoulders last year. Pretty young guy for such a role. But now Hall, Ebs, Nuge, Yaks, Schultz and Petry have played a few seasons in the league, with Schultz and Yaks closing in quickly, and Perron entering his Prime. And we still have young prospects like Drai etc. And the D is getting there too with Nurse, Klefbom, and Marincin knocking loudly on the door, and more experienced players picked up this year to help balance out the young guys.

Sorry for rambling, but I think the Oiler's will surprise a few people.

 

[oilinblood]

Lol that's rich, a former "veteran" saying that youngsters are thrust into a leadership role too early. Maybe if our veterans actually did ther job, they wouldn't have to produce every night.

Good riddance.

Lol, dude, if you read the article he was alluding to the youngsters should have been further down the depth chart. He was saying there should be veteran equivalent players to mentor and insulate the youth. Belanger isnt a top line scorer, hes not a goal machine, and he was never a point producer...so he wasnt the type of veteran he says the organization needed.

I will point out he states the realities of trying to get those key top end experienced players. It will be rare for all thirty teams to see those types of players available/moved...and the slimmest, most rare chance that a player even gives the most northern city a second thought.

Everything he said was bang on. The oilers try to get the solutions to put someone of rnh, or halls ilk...but more veteran...and guess what...those players are wanted by all 30 teams. Keep dreaming.

 

[Philly85*]

I agree his services would have been best used in the crapper handing out cologne and breathe mints. I'll go out on a limb and suggest his prognosticating/analyst abilities are on par with his performance here in Edmonton.

You really have to wonder why Belanger was being used as the expert opinion in this article. I know it is espn but this has to be digging the bottom of the barrel. I guess big Georges was booked for a meeting with the Gumblys at the time.

Let me get this straight. You get a former employee that was fired to give his unbiased opinion of the team that sent his ass packing to Siberia......... Seems legit to me.

that is the first thing I've read on the boards in a long time that actually made me ****ing lol.

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

Fair and obvious comments from Belanger.

Once he starts working for RDS, I hope he stops talking about his experience with the Oilers.

 

[Spawn]

Nothing he says isn't true.

But I wonder if Belanger recognizes the irony of his statements in the light of the fact that he was brought in to be the veteran player that he was describing in that interview.

He couldn't have been a more disinterested, lackluster veteran for the Oilers if he tried.

 

[Moose Coleman]

Belanger wasn't used properly here either just like Gordon isn't now. This isn't a team that even values veterans to any degree.

Gordon is doing what Belanger was brought in to do. And he's succeeding in that role.

With Eakins wetting his pants at the prospect of playing guys like Hall and RNH 27mins night(overkill) theres not a lot of ES left after penalty kills and such.

Hall and RNH played 27+ once, 25 or more three or four times, a couple of those being OT games. Your comment makes no sense in light of reality.

A guy like Gordon had multiple nights where he just wasn't getting big minutes. On a team that was getting scored on like crazy. Think about that.

Gordon's a third liner who was getting third line minutes in a highly specialized role (ninth in both ES and total TOI). You don't play a guy like that in the top 6 and feed him o-zone starts when you have a slew of offensive players for that role. How much more do you expect him to get?

That said, given the centre situation, I'm coming around on the idea of using him a bit more in a two-way role, perhaps with Purcell and Pouliot as wingers.

Hall-Nuge-Eberle
Perron-Drai-Yak
Purcell-Gordon-Pouliot
Hendricks-Lander-Jonesuu

 

[McShogun99]

I more or less agree.

You know... LD should be going back to the CHL, but I really have a feeling that he's going to be playing in Edmonton this season. We really have to pray that Acro and Lander have done something in the off-season to get their game up to another level... otherwise we really risk rushing and awesome prospect.

In the last 10 years not many top 3 picks with NHL size got sent back to junior. Only way LD is going back is if he flat out blows in training camp or has a miserable 9 game stint. It's pretty much a lock that the top 3 this year will play on the NHL this season.

 

[Beerfish]

Gordon is doing what Belanger was brought in to do. And he's succeeding in that role.

Belanger 16 points in 78 game -13 good face off numbers
Gordon 21 points in 74 games -15 good face off numbers.

Gordon had 0 goals in his last 32 games.
Gordon had 4 goals in his 1st 6 games, not much after that.

They are doing a very similar job.
Gordon cannot generate offense at all. He will get pretty good ice time however as he is the only guy on the team that can win a faceoff on a consistent basis.

 

[backhandsauce]

Belanger 16 points in 78 game -13 good face off numbers
Gordon 21 points in 74 games -15 good face off numbers.

Gordon had 0 goals in his last 32 games.
Gordon had 4 goals in his 1st 6 games, not much after that.

They are doing a very similar job.
Gordon cannot generate offense at all. He will get pretty good ice time however as he is the only guy on the team that can win a faceoff on a consistent basis.

To me Gordon is one of our most important players. He is miles better than Belanger in every category. I expect a solid year from Gordon and Hendricks. They are two true professionals unlike The Belanger triangle.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Gordon is doing what Belanger was brought in to do. And he's succeeding in that role.



Hall and RNH played 27+ once, 25 or more three or four times, a couple of those being OT games. Your comment makes no sense in light of reality.



Gordon's a third liner who was getting third line minutes in a highly specialized role (ninth in both ES and total TOI). You don't play a guy like that in the top 6 and feed him o-zone starts when you have a slew of offensive players for that role. How much more do you expect him to get?

That said, given the centre situation, I'm coming around on the idea of using him a bit more in a two-way role, perhaps with Purcell and Pouliot as wingers.

Hall-Nuge-Eberle
Perron-Drai-Yak
Purcell-Gordon-Pouliot
Hendricks-Lander-Jonesuu

Once again,to the post you quoted, this is a case of a poster not providing ANY evidence for his opinion, especially with the TOI argument. It's really hard to take those comments seriously because there's plenty of words but no substance.

You nailed it on the head with the Gordon's third line minutes.