Every other lottery team last year is in the playoffs

[plikestechno]

Complete lack of scoring chances from our 3, 4th lines combined with those lines bleeding goals against killed us this year. I'm not the biggest Staples fan but his article tonight shows a lot. If those lines can't score they can't be getting scored on or we'll go nowhere. Smyth and Belanger the main culprits but all the role players Tambo tried to bring in were terrible. Thankfully all these marginal players are on short contracts and are the easiest to replace. I actually am optimistic that Mactavish and Howson are going to have a much stronger 3rd, 4th line and bottom pairing next year. It would be hard for them to be worse.

We were in a playoff spot with 12 games left. I wonder if this collapse will propel the Oilers forward next year like Toronto blowing it last year helped them this year.

 

[harpoon]

What the heck are you talking about? Where did I say anything about that season ticket holder thing?

Talking about how all the kool posters are dumping on Lowe for stuff he never said and for four years of owner mandated tanking. I was trying to state my surprise at someone criticizing him for something he may actually be responsible for (ie hiring MacT).

I don't know if you realize this but we've already had MacT for 8 years. He wasn't anything special, so I have no idea how that warrants a job be has no experience in.

Yes we had MacT when our ownership group couldn't afford to ice a competitive team, and then for a few more years after our rich daddy drug bucks owner decided that he wanted to blow it up real good and roll out a half AHL lineup every night. Face it, MacT never had anything decent to work with except for half of the 2006 season. Judging his potential as a GM off what he was able to do as a coach with a roster full of dregs and wimps is probably not the smartest thing to do.

Anyways back on topic. leafs locked their spot, so Edmonton will become the reigning champ for playoff drought.

Its pathetic. This we can all agree on. Mercifully it was only a half season .... just imagine how bad this team would be if given the full 82 games to get their fail on.

 

[Tarus]

How about we give MacT more than five minutes on the job before we start saying it was a terrible hire.

Oh hell no to that!

 

[fuswald]

2011-2012 Draft Lottery

26
Toronto NE 82 35 37 10 80 (5th in East)
27
NY Islanders ATL 82 34 37 11 79(6th East)
28
Montréal NE 82 31 35 16 78 (2nd in East)
29
Edmonton NW 82 32 40 10 74
30
Columbus CEN 82 29 46 7 65 (8th in West)
.

Shows me how weak the east is this year. Much tougher and parity in the west.

 

[dem]

Those teams aren't relying on kids...

 

[Butane Fan]

Well 3 of the teams are in the east and there are lot of the better teams that have had really up and down years. Realignment next year is going change the whole look.

 

[syz]

Most of those teams are just proof of what can happen in a short season. The only one I would give a chance after 82 games would be Montreal, who were only ever in the lottery due to injuries.

 

[Hockeylaw]

Thank goodness Toronto has provided us with another 3 year cushion of wandering the wilderness.

I doubt we will go 10 years without a playoff appearance.

It's 9 years, actually. Seven seasons. You have two more years to go to experience the same level of frustration. Granted, this will likely be your seventh season without making it to the playoffs, so in that sense Oilers fans and Leafs fans are on equal footing.

I thought for certain your team would make the strides necessary to enter the post-season this year. I love the Oilers, and I've been pulling for you guys, but it seems there is still a need for some improvement.

I know that your defence has been suspect, but the numbers suggest it could be worse. I think that once your young offensive core starts firing on all cylinders, you have the potential to simply outpace below average defensive play with steady scoring. But I think you should move one or two of your younger assets to round out your team a little more, as many Oilers fans have suggested. A couple of physical, defensively responsible veteran players would go a long way to changing the feel of this team.

Honestly though, I imagine that once everything clicks, the Oilers will take a sudden, massive step forward, and likely remain competitive for years to come. Give it time. As a Leafs fan, I know how hard the waiting can be, but you guys are very close. You have so many assets. Your GM just needs to shake things up a little bit.

 

[flashy]

Shows me how weak the east is this year. Much tougher and parity in the west.

Enough with this excuse. The Oilers would get schooled in the east as well. This team is brutal other than like 5 players.

 

[PaPaDee]

This team has more than 4 players on it.

Hemsky was our most experienced top 6 player at 29 years old.

After that we have:

Gagner - 23
Paajarvi - 22
Eberle - 22
Hall - 21
Nugent Hopkins - 20
Yakupov - 19
J. Schultz - 22

It's really hard to have success when all of your "key" players are that young.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Enough with this excuse. The Oilers would get schooled in the east as well. This team is brutal other than like 5 players.

Would they? Last year we beat Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the rangers, the senators, caps, and the panthers, 6/8 playoff teams in the east last year

 

[flashy]

Yes we had MacT when our ownership group couldn't afford to ice a competitive team, and then for a few more years after our rich daddy drug bucks owner decided that he wanted to blow it up real good and roll out a half AHL lineup every night. Face it, MacT never had anything decent to work with except for half of the 2006 season. Judging his potential as a GM off what he was able to do as a coach with a roster full of dregs and wimps is probably not the smartest thing to do.

You're right in the sense that I shouldnt be judging by coach. However, I am judging that there was no interview process. Mact doesn't have a lick of GM experience. The guy could not find a job with any other NHL team for the life of him. His buddy gives him a vice-president position and than gives him the GM position.

This doesn't seem like terrible decision making to you? This lets give the guy a chance stuff not a good argument. Why are we exactly giving the time of day to a guy that probably won't have a clue what he's doing for the first 6 months of his job. Is frustrating because we are just going to end up in the same cycle of losing with the same 3 morons running the show. Its musical chairs and thats what pisses me off.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You're right in the sense that I should be judging by coach. However, I am judging that there was no interview process. Mact doesn't have a lick of GM experience. The guy could not find a job with any other NHL team for the life of him. His buddy gives him a vice-president position and than gives him the GM position.

This doesn't seem like terrible decision making to you? This lets give the guy a chance stuff not a good argument. Why are we exactly giving the time of day to a guy that probably won't have a clue what he's doing for the first 6 months of his job. Is frustrating because we are just going to end up in the same cycle of losing with the same 3 morons running the show. Its musical chairs and thats what pisses me off.

The jackets hired a guy with zero NHL gm experience. Just sayin. Also all gms in the league had no experience at some point

 

[flashy]

Would they? Last year we beat Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the rangers, the senators, caps, and the panthers, 6/8 playoff teams in the east last year

Well if you think one game sample sizes mean anything sure. The Rangers beat us in the two seasons before 2012. The Pens beat us 4 straight seasons prior to us beating them last year. Ottawa we split with the last 2 seasons. The capitals beat us the 2 seasons before last year in our match up.

So if anything this team is still losing the grand scheme of things. The panthers are the only exception in that we've beaten them the last 3 games. Thats nothing to brag about, they are a horrible team and would be West or East.

 

[flashy]

The jackets hired a guy with zero NHL gm experience. Just sayin. Also all gms in the league had no experience at some point

The guy was regarded as one of the best scouts in the NHL, and a huge reason for St.Louis's turn around.

Mact was fired, not hired by anybody then brought back to a position that I think he is clearly unqualified for.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The guy was regarded as one of the best scouts in the NHL, and a huge reason for St.Louis's turn around.

Mact was fired, not hired by anybody then brought back to a position that I think he is clearly unqualified for.

Still zero gm experience. It's the same with any job. You have to be given a shot to get the experience.

 

[Beerfish]

Still zero gm experience. It's the same with any job. You have to be given a shot to get the experience.

You should be givien a shot if you have displayed anything that could be deemed as a reason to give a shot, not because you are buddies with the president and the owner.

 

[Gord]

those other teams haven't discovered the magic of a 5-7 year re-build.

that's pretty well it.

it's what happens when you have a mangement team who is content to tank for top picks, and sit on their hands during the season and hope guys play over their heads or develop without being surrounded by quality vets.