"I'll be judged on that decision." - MacT after hiring Eakins

[oobga]

MacT's choice of Eakins was only one part of his horrible tenure here and should not over shadow the litany of other terrible, rookie like moves he has made.

Well, now that we've invested 2 years (oh, sorry, ONLY 20 months) into MacT's on the job GM training, why not just stay the course now? We've spent what, 100 Million or so on player salaries for him to experiment and figure out the job so far? Eakins said he needs 5 years. So, 3-4 years of training and hopefully in year 4 or 5 he can fix all his stupid errors from those first 3-4 and we will be a tiny bit ahead of where we were when he took over.

 

[Tarus]

Well, now that we've invested 2 years (oh, sorry, ONLY 20 months) into MacT's on the job GM training, why not just stay the course now? We've spent what, 100 Million or so on player salaries for him to experiment and figure out the job so far? Eakins said he needs 5 years. So, 3-4 years of training and hopefully in year 4 or 5 he can fix all his stupid errors from those first 3-4 and we will be a tiny bit ahead of where we were when he took over.

Taking Eakin's advice on anything is a bad idea

Letting Mactavish flush a few hundred more millions down the drain is also a really bad idea. The guy has virtually no ability to assess NHL talent, compounded by the fact that he clearly lets his loyalty to people get in the way of making objective decisions(Most recently, Eakins, but also the "Horcoff belongs on the Canadian Olympic team" back in 2010 for obvious examples). His offseasons have been rubbish as well, as he's displayed in both years a severe lack of ability to recognize even the most glaringly obvious problem areas. It's a trait he displayed even back when he was coaching, suggesting that there isn't much of a chance he's going to figure it out anytime soon.

Even more concerning, he's shown a crippling case of delusional bias in almost all his decisions - which applies to the Eakins and center ice woes this year where he has right to the end, denied anything was even wrong with either of those situations even while he was being forced to fire the coach and dump the centers he chose to go into the season with.

You don't keep people around who make the types of mistakes Mactavish has been making, because they aren't "rookie" type mistakes that can be ironed out with experience; they are the mistakes of a mindset that is fundamentally flawed when it comes to building and running a team.

Keeping him around will just result in more disastrous offseasons, and an even bigger mess for whoever has to eventually come in and clean everything up.

 

[SPIRIT]

Taking Eakin's advice on anything is a bad idea

Letting Mactavish flush a few hundred more millions down the drain is also a really bad idea. The guy has virtually no ability to assess NHL talent, compounded by the fact that he clearly lets his loyalty to people get in the way of making objective decisions(Most recently, Eakins, but also the "Horcoff belongs on the Canadian Olympic team" back in 2010 for obvious examples). His offseasons have been rubbish as well, as he's displayed in both years a severe lack of ability to recognize even the most glaringly obvious problem areas. It's a trait he displayed even back when he was coaching, suggesting that there isn't much of a chance he's going to figure it out anytime soon.

Even more concerning, he's shown a crippling case of delusional bias in almost all his decisions - which applies to the Eakins and center ice woes this year where he has right to the end, denied anything was even wrong with either of those situations even while he was being forced to fire the coach and dump the centers he chose to go into the season with.

You don't keep people around who make the types of mistakes Mactavish has been making, because they aren't "rookie" type mistakes that can be ironed out with experience; they are the mistakes of a mindset that is fundamentally flawed when it comes to building and running a team.

Keeping him around will just result in more disastrous offseasons, and an even bigger mess for whoever has to eventually come in and clean everything up.

Agreed.

Dallas Eakins (obviously) had no credibility going into his departing press conference. If he did, the "it will take any GM 5 years" comment would have gutted all of it.

What a profoundly weak, losing view point.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Who came up with this "it takes five years to rererebuild" excuse. Since when does it take five years?

It sounds even weaker when used as an excuse to keep MacTavish. Will it take him less? By all accounts, it appears that he might not be able to accomplish it at all.

 

[Dorian2]

So if MacT didn't hire Eakins, would he still be a bad GM?

I happen to like some of the pieces he's assembled thus far. There are of course a few glaring holes to fill, like a #1/#2 D, #1 goalie, and C depth.

I'm still sitting on the fence regarding MacT (my patience is a vice at times), but he seems pretty even in good vs bad trades and acquisitions.

And I hope Nelson is a keeper. If we go through yet another coach, my patience shall be extinguished.

 

[Halibut]

So if MacT didn't hire Eakins, would he still be a bad GM?

I happen to like some of the pieces he's assembled thus far. There are of course a few glaring holes to fill, like a #1/#2 D, #1 goalie, and C depth.

I'm still sitting on the fence regarding MacT (my patience is a vice at times), but he seems pretty even in good vs bad trades and acquisitions.

And I hope Nelson is a keeper. If we go through yet another coach, my patience shall be extinguished.

I say he's still bad. Relies on young guys filling holes too much and fails to acquire any depth to shelter them. No way we should have went into this season with 2 centers, last season with one goaltender who wasnt proven as a starter and his pickups to give us depth on the blueline havent been inspired.

 

[Beerfish]

So if MacT didn't hire Eakins, would he still be a bad GM?

I happen to like some of the pieces he's assembled thus far. There are of course a few glaring holes to fill, like a #1/#2 D, #1 goalie, and C depth.

I'm still sitting on the fence regarding MacT (my patience is a vice at times), but he seems pretty even in good vs bad trades and acquisitions.

And I hope Nelson is a keeper. If we go through yet another coach, my patience shall be extinguished.

No he would still be a horrible gm without the Eakins debacle. He's failed at almost everything he has attempted. Has ignored horrible holes with no reasonable excuse to fill some of them, tried to fill them after the fact, always costing us assets and has bloated our cap space.

Probably a worse gm then Tambo, he has certainly assembled players no better than tambo but has paid them far more handsomely.

Even a few good aspects of this team like Nelson he was dragged kicking and screaming into making. He is a lousy judge of players, and to boot he was a raw rookie handed the most important job in the org. Kevin Lowes last pure awful move to kill the franchise.

 

[Replacement*]

Who came up with this "it takes five years to rererebuild" excuse. ?

.

Trotsky or Lenin.

 

[Up the Irons]

Well, now that we've invested 2 years (oh, sorry, ONLY 20 months) into MacT's on the job GM training, why not just stay the course now? We've spent what, 100 Million or so on player salaries for him to experiment and figure out the job so far? Eakins said he needs 5 years. So, 3-4 years of training and hopefully in year 4 or 5 he can fix all his stupid errors from those first 3-4 and we will be a tiny bit ahead of where we were when he took over.

too much learning on the job from the whole organization.

Who came up with this "it takes five years to rererebuild" excuse. Since when does it take five years?

It sounds even weaker when used as an excuse to keep MacTavish. Will it take him less? By all accounts, it appears that he might not be able to accomplish it at all.

nothing but a trick to buy yourself 5 years of employment. Most teams rebuild on the fly. and the Oilers experiment has reinforced the folly of their method. I was one of those that got fooled on the scortched earth rebuild (hey, there's another Commie tactic!!)

in the immortal words Roger Daltry: 'and I'll get on my knees and pray, we don't get fooled again!!!!'

Trotsky or Lenin.

lol. but wasn't the Stalin? same dif. good one.

 

[Replacement*]

lol. but wasn't the Stalin? same dif. good one.

Stalin was the expert at the rerebuild. Good call, I missed the fine print..

 

[I am the Liquor]

So if MacT didn't hire Eakins, would he still be a bad GM?

I happen to like some of the pieces he's assembled thus far. There are of course a few glaring holes to fill, like a #1/#2 D, #1 goalie, and C depth.

I'm still sitting on the fence regarding MacT (my patience is a vice at times), but he seems pretty even in good vs bad trades and acquisitions.

And I hope Nelson is a keeper. If we go through yet another coach, my patience shall be extinguished.

What holes has he filled?

 

[Spawn]

What holes has he filled?

I know eh. The team has more holes on the roster now than it did before he took over. At least we had what seemed to be a #1 goalie when MacT took over.

How long do people expect it to take to fill these holes?

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

I know eh. The team has more holes on the roster now than it did before he took over. At least we had what seemed to be a #1 goalie when MacT took over.

How long do people expect it to take to fill these holes?

It's funny/devastating,

Islanders vs Oilers in filling same holes:
2C: Grabovski / Arcobello
Top pairing d-man: Boychuk / Nikitin
2nd pairing d-man: Leddy / Fayne
2nd line winger: Kulemin / Purcell
#1 Goaltender: Halak / Scrivens

 

[oilinblood]

I think the funniest thing every year is people who believe players even give attention to edmonton as an option.

The perspective has no place in reality, outside of unwanted borderline players that will get opportunities here that they will not get elsewhere.

Know why no centres signed here? Because its edmonton. There is nothing edmonton can offer, other than overpayment from the oilers organization. Established players will get paid from 29 other locations. There is no shortage of options and soon likely two more better locales. Its not the team, its not the organization.
And when you pay someone the necessary edmonton tax to move thier lives to siberia, people yap about the salary you make. Dont like overpaying rediculously? Dont look at ever signing a player who has negotiating rights to play here. You better have...complete powers of slavery, draft, or you better be putting some huge figures on checks or you better be the best shot a player has at getting an opportunity to prove himself or extending his nhl bank account earning years.

Oh and oil is now down...so the only positive that people used to point to is drying. Welcome back to the 80s where people who extended themselves walked away from their houses.

 

[AJGass4]

New York/Edmonton

Might have something to do with that? Seriously, even a blind squirrel would have got the former rather than the later if the option was available.

If not, well then yes, he is an idiot.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Trotsky or Lenin.

Trotsky would have turned this gong show around in no time.

 

[BlowbyBlow]

I think the funniest thing every year is people who believe players even give attention to edmonton as an option.

The perspective has no place in reality, outside of unwanted borderline players that will get opportunities here that they will not get elsewhere.

Know why no centres signed here? Because its edmonton. There is nothing edmonton can offer, other than overpayment from the oilers organization. Established players will get paid from 29 other locations. There is no shortage of options and soon likely two more better locales. Its not the team, its not the organization.
And when you pay someone the necessary edmonton tax to move thier lives to siberia, people yap about the salary you make. Dont like overpaying rediculously? Dont look at ever signing a player who has negotiating rights to play here. You better have...complete powers of slavery, draft, or you better be putting some huge figures on checks or you better be the best shot a player has at getting an opportunity to prove himself or extending his nhl bank account earning years.

Oh and oil is now down...so the only positive that people used to point to is drying. Welcome back to the 80s where people who extended themselves walked away from their houses.

The thing about this post Is while I agree (and I do agree at the predicament), I also disagree.

You ALWAYS have to put the right people who are going to make a ****** situation (in this case: place) better

Have they chosen the right leaders: Ference, Horcoff, Moreau - not exactly Chara or Toews or guys who bring others together. Horcoff basically mailed it in after his contract. Moreau arrogant self entitled s.o.b, Ference is a good guy but your not getting the ultimate alpha male - which this organization begs for a Doug Weight/Jason Smith captain.

Lets look at management. I am sorry ever since Sather this organization has always acted like a big shot, old boys club fraternity who reeks of narcissism and arrogance to "certain types of players" I mean think of this for a second - there was incidents of management mistreatment back to the days of guys like Todd Marchant who talked about it (I know long time ago but it was there) then the infamous Comrie situation, then of course Pronger (which you can side with management) but you had Laforge, Nichols, Lowe all saying **** in the media (the whole burning furniture incident) .

Then you seen how they would be disloyal to good guys like Glencross, Brodziak while at the same time trying to lure guys that didn't want to be here (Vanek, Hossa, Heatley, Nylander, ect)
- smack talked about Corey Perry (in the potential trade for Comrie)
- insulted Bobby Ryan (a player he knew nothing about personally/privately)
- Lowe tried to trade injured players to L.A.,
- 100,000 dispute over Ryan Smyth (franchise player)
- tried to play a injured player in Souray - these are little minor things in the grand scheme but players talk (remember players talk)

Finally they couldn't get the big fish so they started a rebuild while firing a generally well respected good coach (Tom Renney) fired another well to do - not a huge downside coach in Krueger (over skype no less) hired a equally arrogant guy in Eakins - setting the franchise back 2 years.

They hired (which there many things I will tend to steer clear of being psychic or foretelling) but we all knew Tambo was a lame duck G.M. his highest position/ranking in 10 years with Vancouver wasn't even a sniff at G.M, ; and whats he now a pro scout.

Bring back a guy in Scott Howson who was a completely horrible G.M in Columbus



Let's look at scouting/drafting.

Pendergrast wasn't great (you don't have to write all the busts down)

Drafting for this team has never been great unless your talking 80's drafting. 90's sucked. 00's there was some gems in Torres, Stoll, Greene, Brodziak, Horcoff, Chimera, (while not bonafide superstars) they had those guys in Weight/Guerin but it was brief and circumstances then were different (salary cap) - an excuse they don't have



But lets look what he have to this point being a player on the outside your seeing a team that is

- a small fish bowl of a city
(history of mistreatment whether contract disputes, trying to play a injured player
- a locker room that carried entitlement issues.
- don't know what the F they are doing in scouting (if Klefbom, Marincin, Pitlick, Lander become successful then perhaps its not so bad, but when you essentially have 2 #1 picks each year (can't count #31-33 very low) you gotta have to develop pros
- whether you like it or not (and I am not saying every player gets mistreated within the organization) Lowe, MacT (from his days of coaching) seem to pick favourites and guys they like more (Jason Chimera comes to mind)
- they treat coaches expendable yet get free passes.
- have a fan boy owner who disrespects fans by only acknowledging them by letter (through this amount of ****) he should be at the arena doing a mid season state of the union, or season in review address ---but here's the kicker not only does he not do that - (recently - which the forensics is on the organization) writes most likely written by him or the direction of the Oilers P.R. system a letter applauding the ol great mighty leader)
- a former second pairing d-man who has exalted himself as the second coming of Bobby Orr - by saying how many rings he had, and calling out fans as being Tier 1 fans
- a G.M. that was led by this baffoon to say he's been on the job 18 months and inherited a mess (obviously not the masters fault who led the puppet (Tambo)
- a recently fired coach saying Craig will need at least 5 years to reroute the ship.
- and now I know its not a huge thing, but a radio station (the gestapo in disguise...lol) insults the fans intelligence and only gets those positive moron fans (maybe tier 1 fans) talking positively. Fire all these guys and the Matheson, stauffer guys who seem to be the parasites left after someone die)

I mean these guys have absolutely no respect for people's intelligence, for people's positions in life (catering NOW ONLY to "tier" 1 fans) and they don't care if me or you know either - so there actually not self respecting human beings either.

 

[Up the Irons]

The thing about this post Is while I agree (and I do agree at the predicament), I also disagree.

You ALWAYS have to put the right people who are going to make a ****** situation (in this case: place) better

Have they chosen the right leaders: Ference, Horcoff, Moreau - not exactly Chara or Toews or guys who bring others together. Horcoff basically mailed it in after his contract. Moreau arrogant self entitled s.o.b, Ference is a good guy but your not getting the ultimate alpha male - which this organization begs for a Doug Weight/Jason Smith captain.

Lets look at management. I am sorry ever since Sather this organization has always acted like a big shot, old boys club fraternity who reeks of narcissism and arrogance to "certain types of players" I mean think of this for a second - there was incidents of management mistreatment back to the days of guys like Todd Marchant who talked about it (I know long time ago but it was there) then the infamous Comrie situation, then of course Pronger (which you can side with management) but you had Laforge, Nichols, Lowe all saying **** in the media (the whole burning furniture incident) .

Then you seen how they would be disloyal to good guys like Glencross, Brodziak while at the same time trying to lure guys that didn't want to be here (Vanek, Hossa, Heatley, Nylander, ect)
- smack talked about Corey Perry (in the potential trade for Comrie)
- insulted Bobby Ryan (a player he knew nothing about personally/privately)
- Lowe tried to trade injured players to L.A.,
- 100,000 dispute over Ryan Smyth (franchise player)
- tried to play a injured player in Souray - these are little minor things in the grand scheme but players talk (remember players talk)

Finally they couldn't get the big fish so they started a rebuild while firing a generally well respected good coach (Tom Renney) fired another well to do - not a huge downside coach in Krueger (over skype no less) hired a equally arrogant guy in Eakins - setting the franchise back 2 years.

They hired (which there many things I will tend to steer clear of being psychic or foretelling) but we all knew Tambo was a lame duck G.M. his highest position/ranking in 10 years with Vancouver wasn't even a sniff at G.M, ; and whats he now a pro scout.

Bring back a guy in Scott Howson who was a completely horrible G.M in Columbus



Let's look at scouting/drafting.

Pendergrast wasn't great (you don't have to write all the busts down)

Drafting for this team has never been great unless your talking 80's drafting. 90's sucked. 00's there was some gems in Torres, Stoll, Greene, Brodziak, Horcoff, Chimera, (while not bonafide superstars) they had those guys in Weight/Guerin but it was brief and circumstances then were different (salary cap) - an excuse they don't have



But lets look what he have to this point being a player on the outside your seeing a team that is

- a small fish bowl of a city
(history of mistreatment whether contract disputes, trying to play a injured player
- a locker room that carried entitlement issues.
- don't know what the F they are doing in scouting (if Klefbom, Marincin, Pitlick, Lander become successful then perhaps its not so bad, but when you essentially have 2 #1 picks each year (can't count #31-33 very low) you gotta have to develop pros
- whether you like it or not (and I am not saying every player gets mistreated within the organization) Lowe, MacT (from his days of coaching) seem to pick favourites and guys they like more (Jason Chimera comes to mind)
- they treat coaches expendable yet get free passes.
- have a fan boy owner who disrespects fans by only acknowledging them by letter (through this amount of ****) he should be at the arena doing a mid season state of the union, or season in review address ---but here's the kicker not only does he not do that - (recently - which the forensics is on the organization) writes most likely written by him or the direction of the Oilers P.R. system a letter applauding the ol great mighty leader)
- a former second pairing d-man who has exalted himself as the second coming of Bobby Orr - by saying how many rings he had, and calling out fans as being Tier 1 fans
- a G.M. that was led by this baffoon to say he's been on the job 18 months and inherited a mess (obviously not the masters fault who led the puppet (Tambo)
- a recently fired coach saying Craig will need at least 5 years to reroute the ship.
- and now I know its not a huge thing, but a radio station (the gestapo in disguise...lol) insults the fans intelligence and only gets those positive moron fans (maybe tier 1 fans) talking positively. Fire all these guys and the Matheson, stauffer guys who seem to be the parasites left after someone die)

I mean these guys have absolutely no respect for people's intelligence, for people's positions in life (catering NOW ONLY to "tier" 1 fans) and they don't care if me or you know either - so there actually not self respecting human beings either.

Whew. Pretty much got everything.

Close thread

 

[McThome]

- a former second pairing d-man

I'm as frustrated as everybody else in regards to the ineptitude of the organization.

But Lowe a second pairing D-man? The guy was top ten in Norris voting four times. The guy was a seven time All Star. The guy was top 20 in First Team All Star voting ten times. The guy played in the playoffs with broken ribs.


You might not like Kevin Lowe the hockey executive (who does?). Hell, you might not like Kevin Lowe the person (despite his nearly unequaled dedication and commitment to charities in the city of Edmonton by a professional athlete) because you find him arrogant.

But to call him nothing but a second pairing d-man only makes you look either ignorant or idiotic.

 

[Oilfan2]

I'm as frustrated as everybody else in regards to the ineptitude of the organization.

But Lowe a second pairing D-man? The guy was top ten in Norris voting four times. The guy was a seven time All Star. The guy was top 20 in First Team All Star voting ten times. The guy played in the playoffs with broken ribs.


You might not like Kevin Lowe the hockey executive (who does?). Hell, you might not like Kevin Lowe the person (despite his nearly unequaled dedication and commitment to charities in the city of Edmonton by a professional athlete) because you find him arrogant.

But to call him nothing but a second pairing d-man only makes you look either ignorant or idiotic.

Well said..

 

[Beerfish]

I'm as frustrated as everybody else in regards to the ineptitude of the organization.

But Lowe a second pairing D-man? The guy was top ten in Norris voting four times. The guy was a seven time All Star. The guy was top 20 in First Team All Star voting ten times. The guy played in the playoffs with broken ribs.


You might not like Kevin Lowe the hockey executive (who does?). Hell, you might not like Kevin Lowe the person (despite his nearly unequaled dedication and commitment to charities in the city of Edmonton by a professional athlete) because you find him arrogant.

But to call him nothing but a second pairing d-man only makes you look either ignorant or idiotic.

Agreed, Lowe the player was tremendous, Lowe the front office guy is pure terrible. One of his big problems as a front office guy is his innability to shed his mean streak persona he had as a player.

 

[SPIRIT]

Agreed, Lowe the player was tremendous, Lowe the front office guy is pure terrible. One of his big problems as a front office guy is his innability to shed his mean streak persona he had as a player.

We are seeing the last years where anyone assumes a connection with hockey talent and executive talent.

Absolutely a quack.

 

[rboomercat90]

We are seeing the last years where anyone assumes a connection with hockey talent and executive talent.

Absolutely a quack.

For sure, I'd even suggest that time came and went 3 or 4 seasons ago or even longer.

Perhaps former players can be used in ambassador roles in the organization but that's it. Too much of a big business now and CBA is too complex to trust in the hands of untrained former players.

 

[oilinblood]

The thing about this post Is while I agree (and I do agree at the predicament), I also disagree.

You ALWAYS have to put the right people who are going to make a ****** situation (in this case: place) better

Have they chosen the right leaders: Ference, Horcoff, Moreau - not exactly Chara or Toews or guys who bring others together. Horcoff basically mailed it in after his contract. Moreau arrogant self entitled s.o.b, Ference is a good guy but your not getting the ultimate alpha male - which this organization begs for a Doug Weight/Jason Smith captain.

Lets look at management. I am sorry ever since Sather this organization has always acted like a big shot, old boys club fraternity who reeks of narcissism and arrogance to "certain types of players" I mean think of this for a second - there was incidents of management mistreatment back to the days of guys like Todd Marchant who talked about it (I know long time ago but it was there) then the infamous Comrie situation, then of course Pronger (which you can side with management) but you had Laforge, Nichols, Lowe all saying **** in the media (the whole burning furniture incident) .

Then you seen how they would be disloyal to good guys like Glencross, Brodziak while at the same time trying to lure guys that didn't want to be here (Vanek, Hossa, Heatley, Nylander, ect)
- smack talked about Corey Perry (in the potential trade for Comrie)
- insulted Bobby Ryan (a player he knew nothing about personally/privately)
- Lowe tried to trade injured players to L.A.,
- 100,000 dispute over Ryan Smyth (franchise player)
- tried to play a injured player in Souray - these are little minor things in the grand scheme but players talk (remember players talk)

Finally they couldn't get the big fish so they started a rebuild while firing a generally well respected good coach (Tom Renney) fired another well to do - not a huge downside coach in Krueger (over skype no less) hired a equally arrogant guy in Eakins - setting the franchise back 2 years.

They hired (which there many things I will tend to steer clear of being psychic or foretelling) but we all knew Tambo was a lame duck G.M. his highest position/ranking in 10 years with Vancouver wasn't even a sniff at G.M, ; and whats he now a pro scout.

Bring back a guy in Scott Howson who was a completely horrible G.M in Columbus



Let's look at scouting/drafting.

Pendergrast wasn't great (you don't have to write all the busts down)

Drafting for this team has never been great unless your talking 80's drafting. 90's sucked. 00's there was some gems in Torres, Stoll, Greene, Brodziak, Horcoff, Chimera, (while not bonafide superstars) they had those guys in Weight/Guerin but it was brief and circumstances then were different (salary cap) - an excuse they don't have



But lets look what he have to this point being a player on the outside your seeing a team that is

- a small fish bowl of a city
(history of mistreatment whether contract disputes, trying to play a injured player
- a locker room that carried entitlement issues.
- don't know what the F they are doing in scouting (if Klefbom, Marincin, Pitlick, Lander become successful then perhaps its not so bad, but when you essentially have 2 #1 picks each year (can't count #31-33 very low) you gotta have to develop pros
- whether you like it or not (and I am not saying every player gets mistreated within the organization) Lowe, MacT (from his days of coaching) seem to pick favourites and guys they like more (Jason Chimera comes to mind)
- they treat coaches expendable yet get free passes.
- have a fan boy owner who disrespects fans by only acknowledging them by letter (through this amount of ****) he should be at the arena doing a mid season state of the union, or season in review address ---but here's the kicker not only does he not do that - (recently - which the forensics is on the organization) writes most likely written by him or the direction of the Oilers P.R. system a letter applauding the ol great mighty leader)
- a former second pairing d-man who has exalted himself as the second coming of Bobby Orr - by saying how many rings he had, and calling out fans as being Tier 1 fans
- a G.M. that was led by this baffoon to say he's been on the job 18 months and inherited a mess (obviously not the masters fault who led the puppet (Tambo)
- a recently fired coach saying Craig will need at least 5 years to reroute the ship.
- and now I know its not a huge thing, but a radio station (the gestapo in disguise...lol) insults the fans intelligence and only gets those positive moron fans (maybe tier 1 fans) talking positively. Fire all these guys and the Matheson, stauffer guys who seem to be the parasites left after someone die)

I mean these guys have absolutely no respect for people's intelligence, for people's positions in life (catering NOW ONLY to "tier" 1 fans) and they don't care if me or you know either - so there actually not self respecting human beings either.

Just to point this out...sather ALWAYS hired from within...with no interviews.

The point is pretty moot since most organizations hire from within or else people will leave your organization and have zero loyalty. This why i felt Nelson should have been offered the job before Eakins. Lets also remember lots of teams were interested in Eakins. So everyone yaps about the OBC...but eakins was an outside hire. I think, had this organization not fired so many coaches in such a short time before eakins...eakins would have been fired after the season last year.

I agree Renney should have never been fired. I dont believe he was going to be the coach that takes you to the cup finals...but he was what we needed until we got to that point. Also there is no telling if he could have eveolved to be that coach, had he -like an evolving player- been given the time. Personally i saw him as a good coach who could run his bench, set a tone in the dressing room, and hold people accountable.

As for scouting...sather let his main scout read the css reports from mexico as the basis of their scouting research. If it wasnt for players like gretzky...who promoted coffey and others he met during canada cups and wjhc then those early big drafts would have been barren for us as well.



HOWEVER MY ORIGINAL POINT STANDS...this is edmonton. Take a look around. Edmonton. The reason people come here...more money to be earned than elsewhere. When the money dries up and they can make the same anywhere else? They will leave. Hockey players are like anyone else...they want to be happyand have elite happy women and live their lifes in prosperity and lavish options for entertainment and relaxation and lots of sports and athletic activities.

Frankly i often feel sorry for players here...they have no real equals and instead they get alot of people that think they know the game and can do better because they like...play shinny and beer league...and can see the holes in their elite nhl level games. Their closest athletic comparison are part time cflers who drive frito trucks for a living. Now if they go to any american city they will have football, basketball, baseball, and they can slum down and chill with the amateur levels and collegiates who will be making eight figures soon. People like themselves. People they can relate to. Thats before you ever put the fact its edmonton *looks around* into the equation.

Plus edmonton had its time of prosperity and didnt diversify its economics (at a provincial level) so i imagine the next 24 months is going to look alot like an exodus. There way nothing here but money and now the money is drying up...the oil companies i believe will be suing for royalties back before they walk away from projects and jettison from this hole without so much as leaving a twenty on the nigt stand. And everyone who held their head up so high with their consumerism for the past decade and extending themselves is in for an introduction to 80s alberta. Just wait to see the mice eat eachother when the interest rates need to be raised.

The point is...edmonton is edmonton...dont bother looking at the ufa list...and never think any athlete will come here without a huge edmonton tax added to their market value.

Does anyone remember the huge offer we made to Lindros? Nedved? The list goes on. Players will take less money and pay a higher cost of living to be anywhere but here. Now...a guy like Roy...you might be able to get. A good depth centre who if he joins a true nhl hockey team wont have much of a leash before he sees press box time. Those teams will pay him 1-1.5 m, you better be offering 2.5 for him to be here and an extra year term...or else dont bother even starting the negotiating.

 

[Captain Catatomic]

judged by whom?