BOOOOOO Edmonton Oilers, BOOOOO Oilers.

[rickysusedsht]

in the after game interview Ebs was given the chance to come clean and say....hey that shorty was on me my bad i should have stayed with my man. but what does he say...nothing of the sort leader? ha what a joke.I think Hall,Ebs,Rnh are all gone that leaves Mcd to run this team without any of the issues from the others.trade them for a top D or someone real close.A 3rd line vet center and a hard working vet winger .i really think there days here are over that effort saturday was the worst i think i have ever seen a pro team put in. they should be ashamed of them selves and i hope the next team they go to the vets put them in there place .I didnt see a whole lot of guys out there who really want to be an oiler.....sickening!

 

[Replacement*]

Time for me to slog up an name from the past and take all sorts of abuse for revisiting this one player.

Shawn Horcoff, as most of you know I ranted against him mightily for years and I still think he was, other than Shayne Corson the worst caption the oilers have ever had.

His level of caring about winning and attitude in general is showing up full force in our younger (now getting older) players.

Be in good shape, don't care a great deal about losing, do only the part of the game that you do well, do not sacrifice mind or body to go to that next level, collect your money.

Eberle right now is the offensive version of Horcoff. Whereas Eberle can't or won't be a checker or give that extra effort, Horcoff played defense always bailed out of the ozone early and other than gifted pp time never bothered to take a chance to create a scoring play.

The team has morphed into a bunch of Horcoffs, collect the cheque, don't get too upset at losing, don't bother to become a more complete player.

Horcoff was big in the NHLPA as a team rep with that attitude and yeah, that's the vet the young players got to hear as their first *leader* mouthpiece.

They also got a masters level course from Horc in how to explain away losses in 10 easy ways and just rotate that manure in post game interviews. To think that the Oilers org worried more about the kind of influence a competitor like Souray would have.

 

[Frank the Tank]

We've been told numerous times by management and coaching that the players are being evaluated this season in regards to all aspects of their games. The evaluation is pretty much done and the report cards will come in this summer in the form of who Chiarelli ships out and who he retains.

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop to define potential trade partners. Chiarelli will be watching to see where we pick for the 2016 draft, which pretenders once again flop in the playoffs, will expansion occur and what are the exact protection rules defined by the NHL/NHLPA, and what is the final 2016-17 salary cap level.

 

[oljimmy]

I think you might be watching the wrong sport if you think one player can make that big a difference to a team's fortunes.

Marcel Dionne, Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin are just a few players who never led their teams anywhere. They must be overrated slugs too.

Nash took the Blue Jackets to the playoffs in '09. Ovi has had the Caps in the playoffs 7 out of 8 years. Kovalchuck helped the devils to the 2011-12 Cup Final. Iginla to the 2004 Cup Final and five straight years in the playoffs. These comparisons aren't even close.

I agree that Hall can't do it all on his own, but it's actually hard to find other players with superstar level talent who have so persistently failed to make a serious, consistent impact.

 

[Replacement*]

Nash took the Blue Jackets to the playoffs in '09. Ovi has had the Caps in the playoffs 7 out of 8 years. Kovalchuck helped the devils to the 2011-12 Cup Final. Iginla to the 2004 Cup Final and five straight years in the playoffs. These comparisons aren't even close.

I agree that Hall can't do it all on his own, but it's actually hard to find other players with superstar level talent who have so persistently failed to make a serious, consistent impact.

3 of those citations are EC teams playing in the much weaker EC. That deserves to be noted. The other, the Flames, occurred in an atypical year when a lot of players were sour on the CBA and more worried about a deal than making or playing in the playoffs. The Player dissatisfaction that year was unprecedented. Allowing a half wit team like Calgary to go deep that year because most high priced talent that year were more interested in visiting their lawyers and NHLPA brethren.

One player does not drag a team into the playoffs. A few outlier citations aside.

 

[oobga]

Has any NHL team ever been as consistently broken as the Oilers have over the last decade? We're even spending so much on this 30th place team that we could be in danger of a cap penalty this year.

There is no previous example to go by on how to salvage a team this messed up. The only sure way is heavy player turnover in the significant positions. Just flipping expendable D and 3rd/4th liners isn't enough.

 

[oljimmy]

3 of those citations are EC teams playing in the much weaker EC. That deserves to be noted. The other, the Flames, occurred in an atypical year when a lot of players were sour on the CBA and more worried about a deal than making or playing in the playoffs. The Player dissatisfaction that year was unprecedented. Allowing a half wit team like Calgary to go deep that year because most high priced talent that year were more interested in visiting their lawyers and NHLPA brethren.

One player does not drag a team into the playoffs. A few outlier citations aside.

Agreed on all points, but even compensating for conference differences (say, add 8 points to their season totals) the Oilers aren't in the playoffs the last 5 years. It is hard to find a relevant comparison. Olli Jokinen 2000-2007 maybe.

 

[Psychoil]

Has any NHL team ever been as consistently broken as the Oilers have over the last decade? We're even spending so much on this 30th place team that we could be in danger of a cap penalty this year.

There is no previous example to go by on how to salvage a team this messed up. The only sure way is heavy player turnover in the significant positions. Just flipping expendable D and 3rd/4th liners isn't enough.

I agree. But i want to add to that by saying even if we lose trades on hall nuge and Eberle, how much worse will we be? Supposed we stack up on 2 or 3 defensemen who are very good but not elite. We couldn't possibly be this bad so to me, it's obvious that hesitating on a trade with exact value hurts us more.

If the isles want Eberle for hamonic, do it. If the ducks want yaks and a 2nd for vatanen I say do it

 

[Pressure]

I think you might be watching the wrong sport if you think one player can make that big a difference to a team's fortunes.

Marcel Dionne, Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin are just a few players who never led their teams anywhere. They must be overrated slugs too.

What? What is your definition of "leading"?? Our team has been a lottery team every year since. The players you named have had successful teams and made the playoffs. I don't even understand what you're trying to compare here.

 

[tikkanen]

We have got similar leadership from the core 2.0 as the HMS Titanic and the Hindenburg. IF we don't change the core 2.0 for a better group around Macdavid-Drai-Talbot-Klefbom-Nurse -Laine or Mathews -and Davidson we will be in the same spot in 3 years and have all the great core 2.0 up for free agency and actually be in a worse spot then we are now. What the hell do we have to lose. Trade nuge-hall and ebs and yakapov for a couple solid defensemen- 2/3 is fine...and a solid number 3 shutdown center-which we definitely to not have-and a 2/3 winger who can bang and provide added and real leadership. Another guy like Maroon. This is a matter of getting the right team balance and real leadership for rebuild 3.0. What do we have to "lose" by acting now? Perfect time to do it.

 

[Del Preston]

Apparently they had a very tough practice today. It'll be a shock if they actually show up on Wednesday night though.

 

[Young Lions*]

Nash took the Blue Jackets to the playoffs in '09. Ovi has had the Caps in the playoffs 7 out of 8 years. Kovalchuck helped the devils to the 2011-12 Cup Final. Iginla to the 2004 Cup Final and five straight years in the playoffs. These comparisons aren't even close.

For reals?

Iginla played 8 years in Calgary before he sniffed the playoffs.
Kovalchuk made the playoffs three times total in 12 years in the NHL.
Nash: four playoff GP in 9 years in Columbus.
Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time and his team has never made the final four.

I agree that Hall can't do it all on his own, but it's actually hard to find other players with superstar level talent who have so persistently failed to make a serious, consistent impact.

I just did tho.

 

[BlackDogg]

Apparently they had a very tough practice today. It'll be a shock if they actually show up on Wednesday night though.

I figured they'd probably play just well enough Wednesday in order to **** the bed properly on Saturday.

 

[Tarus]

Nash took the Blue Jackets to the playoffs in '09. -veteran team with an ultra defensive coach, which also served to inflate Steve Mason's numbers that year. Nash didn't take them into the playoffs alone, Ovi has had the Caps in the playoffs 7 out of 8 years -One of the best teams in the league for many of those years, he definitely wasn't alone. Kovalchuck helped the devils to the 2011-12 Cup Final - Veteran team, stingy defensive coach, Brodeur. Kovi wasn't alone at all. Iginla to the 2004 Cup Final and five straight years in the playoffs. - Veteran teams, stingy defensive coach, a solid defense, and spectacular goaltending from the newly found Kiprusoff. Iginla definitely wasn't alone These comparisons aren't even close.

I agree that Hall can't do it all on his own, but it's actually hard to find other players with superstar level talent who have so persistently failed to make a serious, consistent impact.

There is a running theme in all of your examples there - veteran players, defensive coaches, and hot goaltenders; something the Oilers haven't had much of in the last 5 years. They've been especially deficient on defense, where on some nights they've been dressing a roster of 6 players with less games played combined than the older veteran defensemen in the league. A team built with young, inexperienced defensemen, backed by bad coaching, and consistently let down by poor goaltending is a recipe for failure, if not outright disaster. Blaming any of the young players for the failures of the prior management group is ultimately silly.

Iginla is actually quite a good example of how little a lone player(a non-goaltender that is) can impact the success rate of a team as well. He was one of the best wingers in the game for a decade there, runner up for the calder and hart trophies; it still didn't stop the poorly managed and financially disadvantaged Flames from missing the playoffs for 7 years in a row.

 

[BlackDogg]

The outcome of the next game multiplied by some factor X will be directly proportional to the number of new threads bashing the oilers on the main boards. The last game brought out about a zillion of them - many were cleverly disguised enough to be not locked.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Has any NHL team ever been as consistently broken as the Oilers have over the last decade? We're even spending so much on this 30th place team that we could be in danger of a cap penalty this year.

There is no previous example to go by on how to salvage a team this messed up. The only sure way is heavy player turnover in the significant positions. Just flipping expendable D and 3rd/4th liners isn't enough.

Actually there is one team, the Florida Panthers. Think back like 5 years ago.
They followed the pretty blueprint to become what they are this season. It's not complicated, they built the way most fans would know how to build a team.
1. Got a legitimate #1 goalie. They were lucky to get Luongo in a but-low scenario.
2. Drafted a franchise defenceman. We all know almost every #1 defenceman out there was drafted and developed by their current team. Ekblad is a stud.
3. They built down the middle. Barkov and Bjugstad weren't the sexiest players in the draft pool, but they are both big and defensively responsible.
4. They got veterans to mentor the young players. This has always been an Oilers issue. We've never had a defenceman as prolific as Brian Campbell to help the dmen out. Cup winners like Jagr and Bolland to teach.

 

[harpoon]

Actually there is one team, the Florida Panthers. Think back like 5 years ago.
They followed the pretty blueprint to become what they are this season. It's not complicated, they built the way most fans would know how to build a team.
1. Got a legitimate #1 goalie. They were lucky to get Luongo in a but-low scenario.
2. Drafted a franchise defenceman. We all know almost every #1 defenceman out there was drafted and developed by their current team. Ekblad is a stud.
3. They built down the middle. Barkov and Bjugstad weren't the sexiest players in the draft pool, but they are both big and defensively responsible.
4. They got veterans to mentor the young players. This has always been an Oilers issue. We've never had a defenceman as prolific as Brian Campbell to help the dmen out. Cup winners like Jagr and Bolland to teach.

Bravo. Great post. This is the kind of thing that should just infuriate Oiler fans.
We're talking the Panthers here ffs, and looking up at them in admiration.
There simply is no excuse for being as bad as the Oilers have been.
Like you said, any fan knows these things. But not Katz, Tamby, Lowe and MacT.
They pick the sexiest guy every time in order to maximize that lotto ticket face time with the media, and drum up conversation about their shallow franchise.
You watch, Chiarelli is going to botch this, and we are going to be another five years in the desert with the whole league screaming that we are ruining the career of the McDavid.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Would Campbell and Jagr ever have come to Edmonton?

It's no wonder that Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg are at the bottom of the standings.

 

[oobga]

Actually there is one team, the Florida Panthers. Think back like 5 years ago.
They followed the pretty blueprint to become what they are this season. It's not complicated, they built the way most fans would know how to build a team.
1. Got a legitimate #1 goalie. They were lucky to get Luongo in a but-low scenario.
2. Drafted a franchise defenceman. We all know almost every #1 defenceman out there was drafted and developed by their current team. Ekblad is a stud.
3. They built down the middle. Barkov and Bjugstad weren't the sexiest players in the draft pool, but they are both big and defensively responsible.
4. They got veterans to mentor the young players. This has always been an Oilers issue. We've never had a defenceman as prolific as Brian Campbell to help the dmen out. Cup winners like Jagr and Bolland to teach.

Florida only matches us in years missing the playoffs, but at being as terrible overall? I don't think they stack up. They actually had 4 straight >.500 seasons. They didn't go more than 4 years in a row of losing seasons, we about to get #7 in a row. Plus, they were a budget team for a lot of years and were never really expected to win much. Katz gave the signal to management that money is not an issue since he took over and we haven't made proper use of that one bit.

Aside from that point though, yeah, Florida has been properly managed for a while now and are enjoying the benefits of it now. Every point you list is the opposite of what Kevin Lowe and Friends did, and it's very sad to look back on today. Hopefully Chia can save us.

 

[Staghorn]

3 of those citations are EC teams playing in the much weaker EC. That deserves to be noted. The other, the Flames, occurred in an atypical year when a lot of players were sour on the CBA and more worried about a deal than making or playing in the playoffs. The Player dissatisfaction that year was unprecedented. Allowing a half wit team like Calgary to go deep that year because most high priced talent that year were more interested in visiting their lawyers and NHLPA brethren.

One player does not drag a team into the playoffs. A few outlier citations aside.

I don't get why people on here battle so hard to legitimize and protect these players who have let everyone down, players that frankly are total and complete failures. Taylor Hall is a gutless player who shows up for maybe 40% of games, and frankly none for the past what? Month? Yet the pumper team on here wages war as to why "The Core" is so great. This after one of - if not THE - most pathetic efforts I have ever seen. What a joke.

 

[Bangers]

We've been told numerous times by management and coaching that the players are being evaluated this season in regards to all aspects of their games. The evaluation is pretty much done and the report cards will come in this summer in the form of who Chiarelli ships out and who he retains.

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop to define potential trade partners. Chiarelli will be watching to see where we pick for the 2016 draft, which pretenders once again flop in the playoffs, will expansion occur and what are the exact protection rules defined by the NHL/NHLPA, and what is the final 2016-17 salary cap level.

This is what I see as well. As unhappy with Chiarelli as I was last offseason for not making more moves (I knew the team would finish bottom 5 with this roster), I can understand why he didn't make any big moves. Now, he and McLellan have probably had extensive talks on who/what is wrong with the team, and based on the moves he's made so far (minus the Reinhart deal), I trust him to make the right moves.

 

[Mr Positive]

This is what I see as well. As unhappy with Chiarelli as I was last offseason for not making more moves (I knew the team would finish bottom 5 with this roster), I can understand why he didn't make any big moves. Now, he and McLellan have probably had extensive talks on who/what is wrong with the team, and based on the moves he's made so far (minus the Reinhart deal), I trust him to make the right moves.

The defense we need are never available just because we want them. Chiarelli is a good GM, I'm fairly sure of that, but no matter how good he is, the other team needs a reason to trade the defenseman. The reason has to be better than just "it would be cool to have Eberle or Hall on my team". Defense is the position that good teams keep to stay good (look at how Boston fell apart after sending defense away), and they are the players that bad teams keep in order to build themselves up. After all, you build from the net out. So it's pretty much impossible.

You need an x-factor. That's why part of me thinks the only major defense available this offseason is Hamonic. Maybe there is a cash crunch in Winnipeg that would push them to trade Trouba (who is better than Hamonic btw). There was no defensemen last season that had these kinds of factors behind them. FYI, for all we know both Hamonic and Trouba will stay on their teams, and if that happens it means the factor pushing them out was just not strong. Both teams overwhelmingly want to keep those players.

 

[BlackDogg]

Would Campbell and Jagr ever have come to Edmonton?

It's no wonder that Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg are at the bottom of the standings.

Part of the problem is allowing players to have no-trade cities on their contracts. Yah, guess what - the one's that are -30 in winter are going to be first on the no trade list. That's a huge problem in itself.

Florida is the opposite - veteran players want to go their to finish their careers.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Part of the problem is allowing players to have no-trade cities on their contracts. Yah, guess what - the one's that are -30 in winter are going to be first on the no trade list. That's a huge problem in itself.

Florida is the opposite - veteran players want to go their to finish their careers.

Which great veteran players did Florida attract out of free agency? Jagr signed for the money. He had been following the trend for years prior. Campbell was traded to the Panthers. I'll give you Luongo, but other than that the Panthers haven't attracted any sort of older free agent player that Edmonton wouldn't have been able to get.

 

[Aequitas]

I don't get why people on here battle so hard to legitimize and protect these players who have let everyone down, players that frankly are total and complete failures. Taylor Hall is a gutless player who shows up for maybe 40% of games, and frankly none for the past what? Month? Yet the pumper team on here wages war as to why "The Core" is so great. This after one of - if not THE - most pathetic efforts I have ever seen. What a joke.

He might not be as great as some people here say he is but being the opposite end of the crazy spectrum does you no credit. The major problem for this team has been and will continue to be defense unless they get some solutions. I will be the first guy to point out when one of our forwards makes a bad play but you can't judge a player by a short term window and you especially can't judge a forward who has played on a team with at most 3 nhl defensemen on its roster for the last 6 years.