Hitchcock calls out team.

[EdmFlyersfan]

Unless you are in the locker-room and sitting with him during team meetings you don't know if he is a weak leader or not...I would wager Hitch has a MUCH better idea and more experience than you in determining who is a leader and who isn't.

If Hitch indirectly says McDavid is "lazy" then it probably is true, especially from a coach of his caliber.

It was imply and opened up all sorts of criticism to McDavid which he doesn't need right now when it's his time to lead this team into the post season.

I should add that I've worked in all sorts of sports and industry and McDavid is by far the best leader I have ever seen.

 

[Tofveve]

Maybe he should try some Fortnite.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

I say 3 seasons max, and he will have had enough; especially if he loses another season on top of that to a lock-out.

My prediction: McDavid will ask for a trade if the Oilers miss the playoffs the next two years.

 

[DFF]

I've had about enough of Hitch right now, sure his hiring gave us a shortlived 10 game bump but now that he's specifically criticizing McDavid and basically calling him lazy/selfish, he needs to go.

Time for Gulletsan to step up and get this team into the post season. Gulletsan is well known for rallying the Flames in 16-17 to dig themselves out of a slump and into the PO's.

I totally support this as a Flames fan.

 

[Habaneros]

I said the minute Hitch got hired..this wasn't goona work...

 

[The Drop]

Oilers are just going to Have to ride out the rest of the season. Their new GM will fire Hitch pretty quick.

They had to do something at the time and fire Mclellan. Hiring hitch was a bad idea.

 

[Habaneros]

"Not going to be fixed overnight" might be the most colossal understatement of the year.

another 12 year rebuild coming?..

 

[Habaneros]

Oilers are just going to Have to ride out the rest of the season. Their new GM will fire Hitch pretty quick.

They had to do something at the time and fire Mclellan. Hiring hitch was a bad idea.

Bad ideas and the Edmontoin Oilers???

 

[mpir3]

Didn't Mcdavid not too long ago say something along the lines of "If you don't believe in this group and you're in the locker room you need to leave"? Sure he patched over it saying he doesn't think that's the case with anyone...but if that was true why would it even have been said at all? I think there's definitely more to it.

Sure the roster is a joke but I don't think that's were Hitch is going with his comments. I'm a coyotes fan so I know a bad roster when I see one. I watch about half an AHL team every time they play but I'd rather watch this Years team than years past were it was just a bad culture of not trying and complacent. The fans can get behind an honest effort.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

It was imply and opened up all sorts of criticism to McDavid which he doesn't need right now when it's his time to lead this team into the post season.

I should add that I've worked in all sorts of sports and industry and McDavid is by far the best leader I have ever seen.

I think most everyone else recognizes that McDavid isn't the problem and Hitch's comments weren't directed at him. However, some people want to interpret those comments as ripping on McDavid as well, .... well, OK.

 

[DFC]

They haven't had as many really high draft picks, but Arizona would give Edmonton serious competition here.


We didn't ever really see it demonstrated with Gretzky, but this is a great point. Even truly elite players have needed other pieces around them to get to the game's greatest heights. McDavid is putting up league-leading kind of numbers with basically a half dozen other NHL-caliber players on his roster; get him some freaking help, and who knows what he does.

It's not really much of a point with Gretzky. Nobody's saying Edmonton sucks because they have yet to start the dynasty with McDavid (as they did with Gretz). They're saying Edmonton sucks because they can't even be a consistent threat to make the playoffs, four years into McDavid's career.

That's not a knock on McDavid. But it's a knock on the organization as a whole, from the front office to what I'm convinced is a faulty culture/work ethic in the lockerroom.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

This reminds me of the Rangers from 98 to 2004. Lots of individual talent but just could not function as a team. Took them to blow up the team, a lockout, and elite seasons from Jagr and a Lundqvist to finally change the culture of the organization.

umm, they have one great player and one good player.

 

[SaltNPeca]

It all started when they traded smyth. They’ve been lacking that gritty character type ever since. A real locker room guy.

That was Lowe doing Lowe stuff. Tells you a lot about the Oilers culture and player management.

At the time of the trade, Smyth was scoring at a point-per-game pace with 31 goals and 22 assists over 53 games. Oilers were only a season away from reaching SCF Game 7. Guy was widely considered poor at shooting, stick-handling and skating yet put up 30+ 4 times due to pure determination, effort, and a stick blade built like a shovel.

Besides a gimmick on his last night, he was never good enough to be considered Captain for his beloved Oilers, but was named Captain of Team Canada 6 times. Notably the only player in hockey history to win gold in all of Olympics, World Cup, World Championships (2x), World Juniors, and Spengler Cup.

I always felt the Oilers took Smitty for granted. He wasn't the smartest or coolest kid in the room. Hall and Eberle got "A" on their jersey while Smyth was something of a hang-around to appease the fans. Guys like Ryan Whitney got named Assistant Captain and guys like Ethan Moreau got named Captain. Instead of building a winning, hard-working, blue collar team around #94 (1994-2014) they built a draft lottery champion tank machine.

 

[Oilslick941611]

That was Lowe doing Lowe stuff. Tells you a lot about the Oilers culture and player management.

At the time of the trade, Smyth was scoring at a point-per-game pace with 31 goals and 22 assists over 53 games. Oilers were only a season away from reaching SCF Game 7. Guy was widely considered poor at shooting, stick-handling and skating yet put up 30+ 4 times due to pure determination, effort, and a stick blade built like a shovel.

Besides a gimmick on his last night, he was never good enough to be considered Captain for his beloved Oilers, but was named Captain of Team Canada 6 times. Notably the only player in hockey history to win gold in all of Olympics, World Cup, World Championships (2x), World Juniors, and Spengler Cup.

I always felt the Oilers took Smitty for granted. He wasn't the smartest or coolest kid in the room. Hall and Eberle got "A" on their jersey while Smyth was something of a hang-around to appease the fans. Guys like Ryan Whitney got named Assistant Captain and guys like Ethan Moreau got named Captain. Instead of building a winning, hard-working, blue collar team around #94 (1994-2014) they built a draft lottery champion tank machine.

And the brain trust behind the draft lottery tank machine is arguably still in charge.

 

[Saltcreek]

It was imply and opened up all sorts of criticism to McDavid which he doesn't need right now when it's his time to lead this team into the post season.

I should add that I've worked in all sorts of sports and industry and McDavid is by far the best leader I have ever seen.

McDavid is missing a step right now and he does play uninspired. I think this is party due to the fact that the refs will let every player interfere, hook, trip, etc with no calls. I really think that more people should be calling out the refs (and not McDavid) as it is pretty disgusting what people get away with. Other than that a large majority of the team is simply not putting in the effort. It is pretty depressing what Chia did with this team (maybe there was input from Lowe and co?) and there will be no quick fix.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

It's not really much of a point with Gretzky. Nobody's saying Edmonton sucks because they have yet to start the dynasty with McDavid (as they did with Gretz). They're saying Edmonton sucks because they can't even be a consistent threat to make the playoffs, four years into McDavid's career.

That's not a knock on McDavid. But it's a knock on the organization as a whole, from the front office to what I'm convinced is a faulty culture/work ethic in the lockerroom.

Yeah, that was the point I was kind of getting at without making the specific comment you do in your last sentence. Having a superstar only gets so far; you gotta surround him with good players to make him better so he can carry the team more easily. Edmonton hasn't done that. McDavid and his all-world talent only gets you so far with like 6 other NHL-caliber guys and a bunch of others who wouldn't crack well over half the other NHL rosters.

And what's the saying about winning and losing and how each feeds on itself? That locker room has little idea how to win; it certainly had none before '16-17. It's evident in stories that have come out of there since. It's also evident in some of those same stories that guys just don't give a rat's ass about being good, they're more interested in going out and having fun and being toasts of the town. Throw in Kevin "I know how to win" Lowe and Darryl "I know how to run a team" Katz and the rest of the lot of miscreants, and you have a recipe for ... well, what we've been watching in Edmonton for 12 years and counting now. It's not a 3-year or even 5-year fix, and it's quite possible you see some guys just say I've had enough, get me out of here now.

Possible that it all gets better and Edmonton gets it turned around in that time frame? Sure. Likely? Not with the cast of characters present and wanting to help call the shots.

 

[I am toxic]

Runs deeper, right up to the ownership.

It is the water.

 

[Kranix]

Hitch knows what's wrong. There's too much hockey and not enough work being done.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Are you even an Oilers fan?? I can't remember all the details but Gulletsan basically tore the players a new one last year and threw his stick into the upper deck which resulted in a 10 game winning streak putting them back in a playoff spot before the players quit on him (it's a weak character team). We basically got a top caliber head coach for the price of an assitant (while Calgary still pays him head coach $$$!)!

The stick throwing incident where he got a temporary bump, then the team completely fell apart on him. He's a terrible coach he had no understanding of the players when it came to game planning, and the players tuned him out.

And I'm absolutely not an Oil fan, however I watch tons of Edmonton games because I watch a ton of hockey, and that Oilers team has very little work ethic and determination. They play like a team that would rather be golfing. The fact that you called Gully a top caliber head coach is hilarious by the way, I nearly did a spit take with my coffee.

 

[StevenF1919]

Weren’t they the same issues before and as a result they got rid of Hall and Eberle for peanuts?

The Oilers front office has cycled out all of the players several times and still hasn't figured out that the only culture issue that team has is with the morons in upper management.

It's only a matter of time before Katz's lapdogs in the media (Rishaug, Spec, and Bum Stuffer) start running McDavid out of town and blaming him for this shitshow. And the fans will eat it up like they did with Hall, Eberle, Petry, Schultz, Penner, Poti, Comrie, Arnott, and so on.

 

[TheOrganist]

It remains mind-boggling to me that there were not one, but TWO franchises that thought Ken Hitchcock was still a relevant and a capable coach after his tenure in St. Louis. Ken Hitchcock is literally the only reason the Blues didn't win the Cup in 2016. He is a fossil.

 

[glovesave_35]

The Oilers front office has cycled out all of the players several times and still hasn't figured out that the only culture issue that team has is with the morons in upper management.

It's only a matter of time before Katz's lapdogs in the media (Rishaug, Spec, and Bum Stuffer) start running McDavid out of town and blaming him for this ****show. And the fans will eat it up like they did with Hall, Eberle, Petry, Penner, Poti, Comrie, Arnott, and so on.

Hopefully it happens sooner than later. I feel genuinely bad for the dude.

 

[StevenF1919]

Hopefully it happens sooner than later. I feel genuinely bad for the dude.

I feel bad for all of the players. 95% of them are giving an honest effort every night and they're just completely and utterly overmatched. It's sickening that they're getting the blame for this mess.

Connor needs to demand a trade this offseason. That team won't be competing for at least another 5 years.

 

[Cup or Bust]

The roster is not good enough and this is a skating and scoring league right now, really no mystery as to why they are bad. When you have players with 5 goals or less playing in the top 6 on a regular basis, you cannot expect to win games.

 

[bleedblue94]

It's the culture that has infested the organization for the past decade, going back to Andrew Ference's days there. His interview on spittin chicklets last year basically alludes to issues that can easily still be perceived in the team today. Hitch comments on how well the team played and was committed on the road, and then they come home and lay an egg again and again at home. These are the kind of culture issues that several organizations have had to fight out of over the years (NYR back in the dark ages, BUF during the Murray days, etc) and are a perfect reason why the whole "tank" and lets lose for high picks mentality can be so dangerous. Establishing an acceptance of losing is never a good idea and is often much more problematic long term than are the rewards, as is simply blaming the roster when the players aren't willing to commit to a team game and giving complete effort in games...