Just because someone wasn't an NHL all star doesn't mean that they're not knowledgable about the game.
I agree, and I haven't posted anything to the contrary. I sure wish people would read the entire content of a post before slapping off a scolding. I don't know much about Strudwick's show, but I'll now make the effort to listen based on the recommendations of the overwhelming majority of posters.
Still, facts are facts, and no matter how wonderful his radio show may be, to me Strudwick will always be the poster boy for the worst years of the tank - the seasons when it was so obvious that the team wasn't even trying to ice a competitive roster. Cause I mean why else would an NHL roster in 2009/10 have Strudwick as one of the top six defenders and key penalty killer? I certainly don't blame the man for taking the money and prolonging his career about three seasons past when anyone else would have given him an NHL job. Strudwick was a gamer but he was flat out terrible for about 150 of his 200 games in Edmonton. Worse by a country mile than Nikitin or Schultz.
It shouldn't be forgotten that
he personally was the guy out there killing penalties and failing at every turn to defend his own zone, so slow that he was afraid to venture further into the corner than the edge of the circle cause he knew he'd never get back if he went further, stick flailing around in desperate attempt to deflect a pass. That guy, if he knew anything about hockey (and many here seem to think that he does), would have known that the team was tanking. He must have known that his terrible play night after night was a like a symbol of the tank for everyone to see.
How does that guy get to call out the "sorry state of the organization"? Respectfully, I think he doesn't. In this case "being an NHL player" isn't a positive thing because he was a member of the most stinking teams this city has ever seen - and didn't do squat to improve things with his play. Now as I said before if we are talking
strictly about Strudwick the broadcaster being critical of no physical response from the current gutless lineup, then that's an area where I think Strudwick the player was certainly an example a lot of current Oilers should look to.