Do the Oilers have it too easy with the Local Media?

[Mr Positive]

I'll agree somewhat with the "worst is behind us" part, mostly because the cancer that was Eakins is gone.

But the "another great decade of Oiler hockey" stuff just makes me roll my eyes. Shut. The. ****. Up. Mac T.

To be honest I don't know if this core will ever been anything all that special.

Between Hall, RNH, Yakupov, Eberle, and Draisaitl the only one I see with true superstar ability is maybe Hall and he's injury prone and does some really stupid things on the ice at times. Good player, don't get me wrong, but Stamkos/Tavares tier he isn't IMO.

They're nothing like the 80s Oilers, so stop alluding to that.

They honestly may not even be as good as the late 90s Oilers.

Weight >> Nugent Hopkins
Guerin < Hall (closer than we'd want to admit though)
Smyth > Eberle
Niinima > any Oiler D right now
Mironov > any Oiler D right now
Cujo >>> any Oiler goalie right now
McAmmond > Yakupov (sorry as of right now this is true)

And the 90s group had far more heart/fight on top of that.

I definitely agree with most of that assessment, but I would say give it a year or two of development and most of our current squad will be better except for in net of course.

Seeing that list though, it makes me wonder why we can't retire anyone from that era. It's like a lost chapter of our history just because they weren't as good as the dynasty.

 

[Tarus]

I definitely agree with most of that assessment, but I would say give it a year or two of development and most of our current squad will be better except for in net of course.

Seeing that list though, it makes me wonder why we can't retire anyone from that era. It's like a lost chapter of our history just because they weren't as good as the dynasty.

None will(or should) be retired because those teams weren't very good, and the majority of those players were only here for a few years.

Smyth being the lone exception, and he was an above average player that became a star by default in a talent starved market. He shouldn't be in any conversations for jersey retirement either.

 

[SometimesY]

He's not a reporter, he's a presenter for the Oiler's broadcasts.

Expecting him to ask hard questions is the equivalent of expecting Ryan Seacrest to grill American idol contestants.

OK, I will give him a pass. I figured he worked for Sportsnet not the Oilers. I can see how he is just a fluff bit for the broadcasts. No harm there I suppose.

 

[Soundwave]

None will(or should) be retired because those teams weren't very good, and the majority of those players were only here for a few years.

Smyth being the lone exception, and he was an above average player that became a star by default in a talent starved market. He shouldn't be in any conversations for jersey retirement either.

It's too bad we couldn't have won just one more game in 2006. That'd make Smyth a lock for jersey retirement IMO.

Most franchises would retire Ranford too.

 

[Tarus]

OK, I will give him a pass. I figured he worked for Sportsnet not the Oilers. I can see how he is just a fluff bit for the broadcasts. No harm there I suppose.

He does work for sportsnet on the broadcast team, but his role is comparable to something like James Duthie on TSN, rather than being an actual reporter.

It's too bad we couldn't have won just one more game in 2006. That'd make Smyth a lock for jersey retirement IMO.

Most franchises would retire Ranford too.

I don't think so on Smyth personally. He was always the support member on any line/team, even in the Stanley cup run.

Ranford probably deserves some recognition though, I agree. He's really hurt by how bad the Oilers were in the mid 90s, and how short his career window was(he started tailing off badly by 95).

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

A better and relevant question might be...

Who isn't to blame for the Oilers mess? It goes deeper than anyone can possibly imagine.

 

[Dorian2]

I don't follow all of the media out there, but the vast majority of it seems very fair. I don't think most GMs or coaches really have to sit there and be grilled after every game, and I do see some tough questions now and then during pressers. There was that great Mark Connolly interview recently. I like online media too, like Lowetide, and most of them will give very reasonable opinions, and very often very critical of management and ownership. I don't see all the stuff out there though or watch the interviews generally.

However, in no shape or form should we be wishing we had Toronto's media presence. That is an absolute cancer. It seems over there you are bound to be well known as a player, and either as a god or as a villain. Maybe we could have a bit more of that, but personally I don't care for it, especially the tabloid trash type of bashing that regularly goes on there. I don't know the whole picture with that media, but the bit I do see is not great.

Boy, you sure do live up to your user name.

While I'll agree that there is a time and place to grill these guys, as you alluded to, the media in this isn't nearly tough enough on these guys, particularly the Management.

I cannot even remember when a pertinent question was asked regarding.......anything really. Sounds like Spector tried but was shunned for it.

On the other hand, is it possible that they are asking the questions but just not getting the proper answers? Both MacT and earlier Eakins were quite deft at side stepping certain types of questions.

Maybe we just ain't getting answers and are used to these vast repartee's, which don't really answer the original questions, that Management seems to relish.

 

[guymez]

Mark Spector is about as tough as it gets for the local media

Lowe/Mac T would be eaten alive in Toronto.

This was posted in a different thread but this thread is a more appropriate place for it.

For some brutal honesty you would never hear from any local media check out the first 3 round table sessions (Bill Waters) staring from the top of the page.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bill+waters+on+dallas+eakins

Language warning.

 

[Spawn]

Is there actually an example of a media member in Edmonton being blacklisted?

I see the suggestion that it's something the Oilers would do should they be asked tough questions.... has it happened?

 

[Playa Hejda]

Spector was apparently too tough on the Oilers before Christmas and was kept off a broadcast.

 

[Tarus]

Spector was apparently too tough on the Oilers before Christmas and was kept off a broadcast.

Yeah, Katz was supposedly pissed that Spector dared to criticize Mactavish a bit

I remember when bloggers were just starting to become a thing, one got hired to cover the game and got shut down and punted out of the building for live blogging content that was deemed objectionable by someone upstairs.

http://coveredinoil.blogspot.ca/2008/10/it-ends.html

Through both sets of conversations, there were a few mentions made to "when the guys upstairs see what you're doing" and "writing stuff like that," which led me to believe the content of the blog was at least part of the problem, but the official reason given was that I had misused my press pass and that the Oilers didn't allow bloggers.

Gee, I wonder who that might have been

 

[WayneGreatzky]

Hard hitting Principe, asking other teams leading questions trying to get some quotes on Oiler positives. That is our media.

Oh man, I love Gene but that makes me cringe everytime

 

[Mr Positive]

Boy, you sure do live up to your user name.

While I'll agree that there is a time and place to grill these guys, as you alluded to, the media in this isn't nearly tough enough on these guys, particularly the Management.

I cannot even remember when a pertinent question was asked regarding.......anything really. Sounds like Spector tried but was shunned for it.

On the other hand, is it possible that they are asking the questions but just not getting the proper answers? Both MacT and earlier Eakins were quite deft at side stepping certain types of questions.

Maybe we just ain't getting answers and are used to these vast repartee's, which don't really answer the original questions, that Management seems to relish.

bear in mind that I'm not counting those staged events with Oilers employees giving the interviews. I can see straight through that stuff.

 

[WayneGreatzky]

I'll agree somewhat with the "worst is behind us" part, mostly because the cancer that was Eakins is gone.

But the "another great decade of Oiler hockey" stuff just makes me roll my eyes. Shut. The. ****. Up. Mac T.

To be honest I don't know if this core will ever been anything all that special.

Between Hall, RNH, Yakupov, Eberle, and Draisaitl the only one I see with true superstar ability is maybe Hall and he's injury prone and does some really stupid things on the ice at times. Good player, don't get me wrong, but Stamkos/Tavares tier he isn't IMO.

They're nothing like the 80s Oilers, so stop alluding to that.

They honestly may not even be as good as the late 90s Oilers.

Weight >> Nugent Hopkins
Guerin < Hall (closer than we'd want to admit though)
Smyth > Eberle
Niinima > any Oiler D right now
Mironov > any Oiler D right now
Cujo >>> any Oiler goalie right now
McAmmond > Yakupov (sorry as of right now this is true)

And the 90s group had far more heart/fight on top of that.

Just the other night I was looking at the 1997 Oilers roster and I was shocked how much better and well rounded it was. No huge stars but well balanced at all positions. Looks like a SCF team compared to the roster now. Sather was a wizard

 

[Klimando Kostani]

Is there actually an example of a media member in Edmonton being blacklisted?

I see the suggestion that it's something the Oilers would do should they be asked tough questions.... has it happened?

what? a tough question?

 

[Oilers10]

Put it this way....would the SHhhh show that has been going on in Edmonton for the last decade ever have been allowed to go on in Toronto? Absolutely not. Many coaches and GM's have gotten fired in Toronto. Lowe and MacT keep getting promoted.

 

[Throttlehead]

This was posted in a different thread but this thread is a more appropriate place for it.

For some brutal honesty you would never hear from any local media check out the first 3 round table sessions (Bill Waters) staring from the top of the page.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bill+waters+on+dallas+eakins

Language warning.

Those interviews are pretty great

 

[Seedling]

One question I sure would like to see asked is "What ever happened to the forensic audit and who conducted it?"

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

I don't really like Craig Button (I know he's not media here, but 1260 and OilersNow have him on occasionally) but he's been pretty entertaining since Dallas Eakins took over.

 

[McArthur]

for how bad moral can be in the locker room, I would have no issues if the media exposure was sheltered. these guys are hockey players, not politicians. i'm not going to pretend to know better than management either. we have a group of guys trying to accomplish the same thing as 29 other groups of guys in management roles. they more they lose games now, the more games they win later. we just don't like how long its taken. its going to happen.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Yes. Lowe should have been crucified for hiring MacT as GM, but only John MacKinnon asked anything but gimme questions.

 

[McArthur]

Is there actually an example of a media member in Edmonton being blacklisted?

I see the suggestion that it's something the Oilers would do should they be asked tough questions.... has it happened?

would it be a far cry to say ryan rishaug

 

[redgrant]

Rishaug is a total piece of *****. The fact that he gave a guy like Nail Yakupov 100 times harder questions than anyone in management shows how gutless he is.

I know he reads these boards so let me reiterate it again. He is gutless and exactly what the problem is in the media holding management's feet to the fire.

 

[WayneGreatzky]

Rishaug is a total piece of *****. The fact that he gave a guy like Nail Yakupov 100 times harder questions than anyone in management shows how gutless he is.

I know he reads these boards so let me reiterate it again. He is gutless and exactly what the problem is in the media holding management's feet to the fire.

That "impatient city" comment was unreal. If the Oilers were just about any other team they would be bankrupt and on the move right about now.

Unbelievably passionate, patient and loyal hockey fans in this city Its a cruel fate we've been saddled with this management. We deserve so much better.

 

[guymez]

Those interviews are pretty great

Yeah.. I thought they were pretty interesting as well.

The honesty was refreshing.