"it would be nice to have another veteran guy on the team that’s for sure"

[FlyOil]

Why is this spoiled brat talking to the media about veterans? Trade him now

 

[nullterm]

If Hemsky cared more, he would take that role.

Do you ever get angry at an orange for not being an apple?

If you expect a person to be someone who they aren't, you're only going to be disappointed.

Lack of leadership is a GM problem not having made sure there was enough.

 

[McClelland]

It really helped to give away Smid for peanuts!

Its heartbreaking to see other teams success with their prospect, Brodin plays + 20 min a night even without Suter his second season, look at Hampus Lindholm , Mckinnon and even Monahan in a crap team looks good 7+4 ! The list is long and sad to read!

 

[Replacement*]

Interesting. You certainly loved the idea of him as captain this summer. What has changed your mind?

Objectively looking at his play thus far after the injury.

He's playing with the football helmet type thing, reduced visibility, was eating through a straw much of the time, and his energy and jam doesn't look up to snuff on the ice.

He's not ready to be playing right now. What does that have to do with my views on him as a mentor?

 

[The Nuge]

Do you ever get angry at an orange for not being an apple?

If you expect a person to be someone who they aren't, you're only going to be disappointed.

Lack of leadership is a GM problem not having made sure there was enough.

Agreed. Hemsky is a shy person. Big deal. Not everyone has to be a leader as they get older

 

[Seedling]

Objectively looking at his play thus far after the injury.

He's playing with the football helmet type thing, reduced visibility, was eating through a straw much of the time, and his energy and jam doesn't look up to snuff on the ice.

He's not ready to be playing right now. What does that have to do with my views on him as a mentor?

Fair enough. It has nothing to with a role as a mentor. You just seem to be backing off of your stance that he is captain material from the discussions during the summer. I agree. He is not ready.

I am not a Gagner booster but I really wonder how different our team dynamic may have been had he not been injured. I also think he may have rushed himself a bit coming back. Just my opinion.

 

[Groucho]

Pang said it perfectly this morning on 1260.

If Tarasenko was pissed at his ice-time, not a chance in hell guys like Backes, Steen, and Jackman let him say a word to the media about it.

Not criticizing Ference....he's obviously a warrior on the ice and exactly the type of guy we need that embraces the community and stuff....but he can't do it alone. We need another guy or two.

That's not exactly what Pang said. He said there's no way guys like Backes and Steen would listen to him about it, they'd tell him to get a grip etc

 

[Oil80]

We need something

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

We need something

what we need

 

[oilinblood]

That's not exactly what Pang said. He said there's no way guys like Backes and Steen would listen to him about it, they'd tell him to get a grip etc

this is another reason why i think the players on the team dont want yaks. how can you whine about playing time and avoid hits giving up a slot chance to a 60 goal scorer. never mind all the other half-efforts and chicken **** plays by the guy but that was the biggest bail in the history of the oilers, maybe the nhl of the last decade.

personally i think everyone in the room was like...let him talk his way out of town.

no one on that team believes he is needing or deserving of more ice time.

 

[Suxnet]

this is another reason why i think the players on the team dont want yaks. how can you whine about playing time and avoid hits giving up a slot chance to a 60 goal scorer. never mind all the other half-efforts and chicken **** plays by the guy but that was the biggest bail in the history of the oilers, maybe the nhl of the last decade.

personally i think everyone in the room was like...let him talk his way out of town.

no one on that team believes he is needing or deserving of more ice time.

You mean the play where Hall sent Yakupov a suicide pass? "Biggest bail in the history of the Oilers"

How old are you?

Oh..the lengths some people will go to vilify a player.

 

[sepHF]

Good thing we just traded one of the more vocal veterans in Smid for more magic beans.

 

[Game 8]

I see a lot of similarities between the Oilers right now and the Blues circa 2010 or so. We were reaching the end of the first stage of THE REBUILD, we had a couple of blue-chip prospects, most of the team was young guys drafted and developed by the team, we'd been picked to "break out" for the previous couple of seasons and failed quite miserably to deliver, and everyone was wondering if we should BLOW IT UP and trade away everything and try a new approach. It took a few years, really until the young core reached the 23-25 age range and proper coach was brought in, but eventually they started to play winning hockey. We did have to trade away a big-time blue chip guy (Johnson) but got a great return for him and improved the team quite a bit.

When things finally came together in 11-12 it was the kids doing all of the heavy lifting. The only vets on the roster by that time were either useless (Arnott, Langenbrunner) or hurt (McDonald). Point being, I don't think that there would have been much if any value added via a major veteran acquisition any time between 06 and 11...the thing that made the difference was the young guys improving. It took a while and was painful though.

Great post! Lots of ideas on here about what the team lacks and needs but reality is anything we trade away of value leaves another hole. Like it or not (and I dont) another loosing season should add another good player to the roster while giving the current group time to grow and develop (if possible in this freeking circus). Way to many holes here yet to start thinking about trading a first overall player for some magic beans that will get us back in the playoff race.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

Maybe they can bring him back in a management capacity as "senior player liaison" whose main job would be to crack heads in the locker room.

1st sensible idea I've heard in awhile. Won't happen though. Isn't there still a bounty on his head in the chuck?

 

[belair]

Not shocking to hear him say that at all.

I must admit, it's been difficult to ignore the 'behind the scenes' rumors and such. It's incredibly easy to hate on these guys when they're playing so poorly. Perhaps giving the C to a guy who's new in the locker room wasn't such a good idea.

But my question is what these guys think of Captain Canada.

He's been struggling to keep his head above water the past few years, so is he even a guy that these kids can look up to now?

As for who's available, maybe Scott Hartnell wouldn't be such a bad idea if we could figure out the financial aspect of a deal.

 

[oilinblood]

Good thing we just traded one of the more vocal veterans in Smid for more magic beans.

yup, one of the few players on our roster with any value

people on this board are unbelievable. who had value on this team:

the big 5

ference
petry
smid
gordon
perron

THATS IT. The last two have probably been our mvps this season...little doubt Gordon is our on-ice leader from a viewer point of view but on 3 occassions i saw him tell Yakgod what he needed to do. Saw him vocal and pointing, and all 3 times yak didnt do it at all, and all 3 times we got scored on, and all 3 times gordon looked at yaks in disgust and went to the bench.

Biggest was ovechkins goal on the draw where instead of at least checking the stick yak stood next to OVs weak side (thus not interfering with the releqase) and asked him how his day was while watching OV take a pass and release with no effort at a\lll.

I was a smid fan but the writing was on the wall with the system that eakins wantss run.

 

[belair]

1st sensible idea I've heard in awhile. Won't happen though. Isn't there still a bounty on his head in the chuck?

Jason Strudwick would have to be the fallback of that plan then. The guys always liked him anyways.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

this is another reason why i think the players on the team dont want yaks. how can you whine about playing time and avoid hits giving up a slot chance to a 60 goal scorer. never mind all the other half-efforts and chicken **** plays by the guy but that was the biggest bail in the history of the oilers, maybe the nhl of the last decade.

personally i think everyone in the room was like...let him talk his way out of town.

no one on that team believes he is needing or deserving of more ice time.

Yeah he knew it was Stamkos coming in there. Start watching other players that will bail so as not to get steam rolled. Ebs has done it. Hemsky has done it. Nice that you choose that play to dump on him. You would have shat your pants in the same situation. Get real.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

Jason Strudwick would have to be the fallback of that plan then. The guys always liked him anyways.

I missed something here?

 

[Horseradish]

I think Nick Schultz, Ryan Smyth, Ales Hemsky and Boyd Gordon aren't slouches when it comes to NHL experience, and even as leaders.

That said, I think Edmonton most definitely lacks vocal veterans: something Ference and Horc are both known for. Unfortunately that's something Smid was known for too.

I think Hall will be, but it's often hard to do that as one of the youngest guys in the room without any playoff or even winning experience at this level.

A vocal, strong defensive (and decent offensively too) leader among the forwards would be a god-send...ie, Horcoff.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

I'm not surprised, Hall is 100% right and I've been saying this myself for a while. We need to insulate the youth with capable veterans, simple as that. I'm not talking about 1st line vets, I'm talking about vets that can at least handle top lines sometimes though. We need at least 2 more in my opinion, one on defense and another for the 2nd/3rd line.

 

[Angry Boys]

There is more than 1 style of leadership. All this focus on talk, talk, talk is a problem if it isn't backed up by actions.
We need someone who is going to take a " Follow me into the Battle Boys" attitude onto the ice on game day, instead of the incipid performances that we are seeing. We need to see some emotion from our leaders/players - that big hit, not taking the cheap shots from our opposition that we seem to see every game, that absolute gut wrenching effort to back check effectively- these are examples of what we need to see and are worth much more than words

Talk is what has been getting us into trouble - Yaks agent talking, Eakins talking MacT into giving him the big coaching role - less talk , more action please.
This doesn't have to come from the veterans either, the young fellas giving it all will inspire teammates just as much. Similarly, it can come from the quietest guy on the squad as well. Teammates love a quiet assassin, a silent but deadly guy on your team

Cmon guys, show us something on the ice please