News Article: Friedman: Oilers ‘an organization on edge’

[Soundwave]

All running a sports franchise really is is taking advantage of opportunities when they fall into your lap. That's basically the whole gist of it. You don't even have to to get it right like even 50% of the time. 30-40% will do. It's nothing mystical or magical.

The teams that do well hit pay dirt on a few of the several home run pitches that come their way. The ones that are bad just make excuses

We couldn't have known ...

We didn't see that coming ...

We overestimated ...

We were in a tough spot ...

Bu ... but ... last year ...

 

[PBandJ]

Most of this board was yelling for them to take Barzal. You would have a better team if you let this board by committee run the franchise.

And we're nothing special, but even the people on this board know more than the idiots in charge here.

100% this board takes Barzal + DeBrincat at minimum and the Hall and Eberle trades are both laughed off the table.

And then we continue to be a bottom feeder. Awesome.

 

[Soundwave]

And then we continue to be a bottom feeder. Awesome.

No they wouldn't but if that is the attitude of this franchise, that nothing they do matters and it's all just the same, and just some kind of bad luck, then trade McDavid now. Stop wasting his time.

Trade him to Toronto for Nylander + cap dump or to Colorado and let him be happy and win Cups there and stop dicking around the best player in the world.

 

[belair]

All running a sports franchise really is is taking advantage of opportunities when they fall into your lap. That's basically the whole gist of it. You don't even have to to get it right like even 50% of the time. 30-40% will do. It's nothing mystical or magical.

The teams that do well hit pay dirt on a few of the several home run pitches that come their way. The ones that are bad just make excuses

We couldn't have known ...

We didn't see that coming ...

We overestimated ...

We were in a tough spot ...

Bu ... but ... last year ...

Good to know we've got someone with experience here to tell us how it is.

 

[Soundwave]

Good to know we've got someone with experience here to tell us how it is.

You don't need to have experience, you can study any pro sport, it's the same story.

The Oilers in the 80s had 5 jack pots in the 79 and 80 drafts, that's the reason they could screw up virtually every other pick in the 80s and still win 5 Cups.

The Chicago Bulls made a lot of dumb moves in the 80s/90s but they hit a massive home run with the Scottie Pippen pick and that basically set them up for 6 championships.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Well it's pretty simple actually. The post has absolutely nothing to do with Peter Chiarelli.

Your post was suggesting an out for the present regime, that the problems in the org were due to MacT.

I responded by stating that Chia had inherited a better core than he has put together now 4 years later. He's added nothing too it. Of course the Friedman article, and the thread, is about what the current clowns have done to this org. You went off to the twilight zone complaining that the Current problem is due to MacT "scorched Earth. Its not even clear what you're talking about.

 

[PBandJ]

No they wouldn't but if that is the attitude of this franchise, that nothing they do matters and it's all just the same, and just some kind of bad luck, then trade McDavid now. Stop wasting his time.

Trade him to Toronto for Nylander + cap dump and let him be happy and win Cups there and stop dicking around the best player in the world.

Except that isn't their attitude. They weren't happy with Hall and his buddy Ebs winning dick all even with McDavid, so they tried something different.

Add overrated Barzal or any offensive whiz, this team still sucks without getting a good D and that's Chiarelli's major failure.

 

[Soundwave]

Except that isn't their attitude. They weren't happy with Hall and his buddy Ebs winning dick all even with McDavid, so they tried something different.

Add overrated Barzal or any offensive whiz, this team still sucks without getting a good D and that's Chiarelli's major failure.

The team sucks because there's little to no talent.

There's no single player in 4 years acquired/draft/traded/signed here that you look at and go "wow! What a dynamic talent!". Not even in a Sergei Samsonov kind of way.

As such you predictably have a team that sucks when ever McDavid is off the ice.

You don't need an All-Star team on your blue line. The Leafs are going to be a 100+ point again easily this year with a caliber of blue line that was achievable for the Oilers with the assets they had. You guys are too hung up on this "the blue line needs to be an All-Star team" nonsense. No they don't.

You can't suck for 40/60 minutes of a hockey game though. That was same story as when Hall was here and it's the same thing now McDavid is here. When those two were on the ice, the Oilers outscored their comp and were a playoff trending team. When they leave the ice .... good night.

 

[PBandJ]

The team sucks because there's little to no talent.

There's no single player in 4 years acquired/draft/traded/signed here that you look at and go "wow! What a dynamic talent!". Not even in a Sergei Samsonov kind of way.

As such you predictably have a team that sucks when ever McDavid is off the ice.

You don't need an All-Star team on your blue line. The Leafs are going to be a 100+ point again easily this year with a caliber of blue line that was achievable for the Oilers with the assets they had. You guys are too hung up on this "the blue line needs to be an All-Star team" nonsense. No they don't.

You can't suck for 40/60 minutes of a hockey game though. That was same story as when Hall was here and it's the same thing now McDavid is here. When those two were on the ice, the Oilers outscored their comp and were a playoff trending team. When they leave the ice .... good night.

And the Leafs will likely be run out of the playoffs yet again when defense becomes tighter and they can't galavant over other teams.

 

[Missing smitty]

The team sucks because there's little to no talent.

There's no single player in 4 years acquired/draft/traded/signed here that you look at and go "wow! What a dynamic talent!". Not even in a Sergei Samsonov kind of way.

As such you predictably have a team that sucks when ever McDavid is off the ice.

You don't need an All-Star team on your blue line. The Leafs are going to be a 100+ point again easily this year with a caliber of blue line that was achievable for the Oilers with the assets they had. You guys are too hung up on this "the blue line needs to be an All-Star team" nonsense. No they don't.

You can't suck for 40/60 minutes of a hockey game though. That was same story as when Hall was here and it's the same thing now McDavid is here. When those two were on the ice, the Oilers outscored their comp and were a playoff trending team. When they leave the ice .... good night.

Good God, just go cheer for TO. Aside from the penguins, no team wins a cup without a good defense core. Regardless of what anyone says, defense and goaltending wins championships.

 

[Soundwave]

And the Leafs will likely be run out of the playoffs yet again when defense becomes tighter and they can't galavant over other teams.

They're gonna get theirs eventually. Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington are old teams with huge mileage on the odometer, they won't be able to hold Toronto down forever. That's not how hockey works (ask the 80s Islanders).

 

[Soundwave]

Good God, just go cheer for TO. Aside from the penguins, no team wins a cup without a good defense core. Regardless of what anyone says, defense and goaltending wins championships.

You can win in a multitude of ways, in any case no one wins shit with Adam Staois Larsson as their center piece blue line addition. Find me the Cup champion that won on the philosophy of signing/overpaying for no.2/3 d-men and then loaded up on forwards that can't skate, shoot, or pass.

Which team won with that philosophy.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Friedman: Oilers ‘an organization on edge’

“A couple of years ago, they started looking internally at, ‘Do we run our organization efficiently,’ and they’ve made a lot of changes behind the scenes. The kind of stuff we don’t see on the outside. People in the business side, the people whose work doesn’t necessarily impact the hockey decisions. And it’s put the whole organization on edge. And I think that has continued now over to the hockey side. I know that a lot of us are talking about McLellan, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. I don’t know too many people that feel that safe there right now.”

“Like I said, I think it’s just about everybody in the hockey ops department,” noted Friedman. “I think the only guy who’s probably 100 percent safe, if that, would probably be Gretzky. But other than that, I think everybody there is looking at it like, ‘This organization has made a lot of off-ice change. It’s not working yet on the ice.’

didnt he post the same thing right after thebad start?

 

[MaxR11]

i agree this team needs to get fixed and changes need to happen. but what's the answer or right move(s)?

people are sour on todd, so he goes. people don't like chia, so he goes. noone trusts lowe nicholson macT etc to make the right decision on who to hire as gm or coach. noone trusts katz to make these decisions.... so where does that leave us? perpetual suckage? what realistic answers are there if they're all supposedly morons?

 

[Soundwave]

didnt he post the same thing right after thebad start?

Pretty much. This franchise sure loves to "evaluate".

Here Katz I'll evaluate for you -- you a have a f***ing one-line team that sucks when 97 is off the ice.

It's no mystery that requires Sherlock Holmes to be brought in and careful inspection for 30 games minimum you idiots.

Anyone with half a brain can tell you the problems with this team because they're plainly obvious.

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

didnt he post the same thing right after thebad start?

Yeah, it's comically similar.
Friedman: Everybody is feeling the heat of Oilers’ start

 

[Soundwave]

Talbot playing out of his mind in 16-17 honestly in a lot of ways was a bad thing for this franchise.

Now 100% they can't make a decision because their head is stuck up their asses with the "yeah, but in 16-17 things went good!" reasoning every time they have to evaluate something.

They're too stupid to evaluate what's happening here because this team cannot handle any success at all without letting it get to their head and turning into morons. Everything gets obscured by the "yeah bu ... but 2016-17!" nonsense.

Any other competent franchise would have fired both the coach and GM months ago.

 

[belair]

Your post was suggesting an out for the present regime, that the problems in the org were due to MacT.

I responded by stating that Chia had inherited a better core than he has put together now 4 years later. He's added nothing too it. Of course the Friedman article, and the thread, is about what the current clowns have done to this org. You went off to the twilight zone complaining that the Current problem is due to MacT "scorched Earth. Its not even clear what you're talking about.

The post you quoted was a response to a poster speaking of MacTavish's work. Nowhere in that quote do I mention anything about Peter Chiarelli or any kind of 'core'. You're not exactly the type of poster I'd expect to ignore the context of a conversation. It was a direct response to the quoted post.

Not that I'm really interested in what you're bringing here, but what exactly do you expect the next GM to add when the biggest hurdles of the organization over the next three seasons are the state of the defense, the state of the prospect cabinet and the team's quickly inflating payroll?

 

[MaxR11]

No they wouldn't but if that is the attitude of this franchise, that nothing they do matters and it's all just the same, and just some kind of bad luck, then trade McDavid now. Stop wasting his time.

Trade him to Toronto for Nylander + cap dump or to Colorado and let him be happy and win Cups there and stop dicking around the best player in the world.

don't kid yourself. the stench goes deep. much like you can potentially bring in any coach or gm and still have suckage, it would be similar with bringing in different, "better" players. i think it has something to do with the attitude and culture all the way up top trickling down. you can have all your "golden boys" here, hall, ebs, barzal, heck throw in tavares and eriksson for s***s and giggles, and this team would maybe still underachieve.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah, it's comically similar.
Friedman: Everybody is feeling the heat of Oilers’ start

Friedman is just a joke at this point. He should just copy and paste his stuff. Would hardly notice. He doesn't have a single clue or contact of note. Just basically winging it on this like any of us can.

I've seen more insiders posting on this board.

 

[Soundwave]

don't kid yourself. the stench goes deep. much like you can potentially bring in any coach or gm and still have suckage, it would be similar with bringing in different, "better" players. i think it has something to do with the attitude and culture all the way up top trickling down. you can have all your "golden boys" here, hall, ebs, barzal, heck throw in tavares and eriksson for s***s and giggles, and this team would maybe still underachieve.

Trade him if that's your attitude.

The truth is you've never had a truly talented team here. You guys just got ahead of yourselves because you thought "oh 1st overalls = talent". Not if the 1st overall is Yakupov and RNH it doesn't.

McDavid is nice, but not if you subtract Hall and then surround him with untalented players past 2 guys.

That's not talent, the Leafs (as much as people hate me bringing that up they are the obvious distinction) are legit talented, put McDavid on that team and they win the Cup in a year or two.

Also speaking of "attitude and culture" why no peeps from anyone on this board about Lucic swearing at Gulutzan, slamming the bench door multiple times, throwing hissy fits in practice ... no one here gives this guy any flak for that but when Taylor Hall accidentally squirted water on Eakins it was the end of the world.

 

[Missing smitty]

You can win in a multitude of ways, in any case no one wins **** with Adam Staois Larsson as their center piece blue line addition. Find me the Cup champion that won on the philosophy of signing/overpaying for no.2/3 d-men and then loaded up on forwards that can't skate, shoot, or pass.

Which team won with that philosophy.

I don't know how to answer that, because your question is stupid. TO isn't winning a cup with 1 defenseman, because that's all they have.

All you do is spout the shtick over and over again like people don't understand that Chiarelli is ass. Then you spout hot takes like you don't need defence to win. You aren't smarter than everyone else, just back away from the keyboard until you can come up with an original thought.

 

[Soundwave]

I don't know how to answer that, because your question is stupid. TO isn't winning a cup with 1 defenseman, because that's all they have.

All you do is spout the shtick over and over again like people don't understand that Chiarelli is ass. Then you spout hot takes like you don't need defence to win. You aren't smarter than everyone else, just back away from the keyboard until you can come up with an original thought.

They'll be in the Finals within 4 years. Hate to say it. If McDavid was on that team (in place of Matthews) they'd win for sure and soon just like Crosby did. They'd be the new Penguins.

 

[Oilhawks]

I think Nicholson is considered more to be on the business side, so I don’t think he’s in any danger.

It’s legitimately possible though that all of Chia, MacT, Howson, Green, and McLellan could be gone. Same goes for all those “directors of player development” like Carriere and Moores.

If that actually happens, that's reason enough to celebrate. Bobby Burgers should be gone too but flushing MacT and Howson are things I never thought would happen at this point.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The post you quoted was a response to a poster speaking of MacTavish's work. Nowhere in that quote do I mention anything about Peter Chiarelli or any kind of 'core'. You're not exactly the type of poster I'd expect to ignore the context of a conversation. It was a direct response to the quoted post.

I agree with the poster you responded to. Your rebuttal was unconvincing at best. Really the poorest of excuses. essentially you're saying the Oilers suck now because they had to start Caggiulia earlier because we didn't have a stack of ELC's. Even though we did with Connor, Leon, etc.

Maybe if your rebuttal made any sense I would understand what you are trying to state.

To be more clear I don't think any of your positions in this thread have made any sense.