Mactavish appreciation thread

[Cizin]

But cautious optimism, healthy skepticism, and maintaining cynicism about the old-boy network are still my votes for correct reaction here.

I agree, Mr. Snrub. The bag comes off when they make the playoffs.

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

eh, he'll have my appreciation when we win more than we lose

 

[FunkyChicken]

The BAD:

• Still bottom 5 goaltending. Lots of hope that one of them can step up as a number 1.
• Bottom 5 defense. Even with the additions.
• Bottom 5 at center.
• Bottom 5 in coaching.
• Lots of over paid bottom players like Nikitin, Ferrence, Pouliot, Purcell, Gordon, Hendricks and almost Clarkson. We could have 8M committed to our bottom pairing (Ference and Nikitin). Reminds me a little of when the Moreau's and Pisani's got their over pays and how it screwed up the teams financial structure. Poor cap management which could become a big problem if the cap doesn't increase next year.
• Gave away Smid, Hemsky and Gagner at bottom value, who if moved the prior year would have fetched significantly more. Sell lows.
• Took flyers on a couple of Russian defensemen when our team desperately needed NHL caliber D.
• Brought in a rookie coach for an inexperienced team who was in over his head most games and is still learning.

The GOOD:

• The Perron deal was great.
• The Fayne signing was very solid.
• Very aggressive in filling roster spots. Seems to have a direction for how he want the team to play...puck possession.

Overall:

• Average GM, but big improvement from Tambo who didn't even try to address team needs nor have a direction for it. Hard to really judge because the lineup had so many holes to begin with.

 

[plikestechno]

He has a plan. Its nice to see someone that has a plan as opposed to someone that just took a cheque, sat in his office all day, did nothing and prayed for the team to get better. And any moves he did make were mostly awful.

For better or worse, hes another guy in the Slats/Klowe mode. Hes just going to make a bunch of deals until the team is competitive again. Read the Rangers board. They completely hate Slats and he probably loses more trades and signings than he wins but he keeps that team competitive. He lost lots of deals here as well.

That doesnt necessarily mean playoffs but i think we will be more competitive next year. I think we will be picking outside of the bottom 5 for sure next year.

I like all the guys he has shipped out so far. They were more the problem than the solution and had been here too long. The return however...especially for Gagner and Smid left a lot to be desired. If they werent part of the plan they should have been dealt last summer.

The jury is out on Purcell and everyone today but MacT specifically targeted these guys and got them. Of course they got paid but thats life here. No sloppy seconds for MacT today. He pushed those guys to put pen to paper early to avoid getting outbid. Fayne especially.

In time, they also have to get back to producing their own productive bottom 6ers and middle, bottom defenseman instead of overpaying at UFA time. Our bottom 6 has been junk and in my opinion is why weve lost so many games the past few years. The top 6 cant be the heroes every night. We used to have decent bottom 6ers and we traded them all away or let them walk without being able to replace them through the draft. We though guys like Stoll, Greene, Brodziak, Torres, Cogliano and Glencross would be easily replaceable but they werent. Not yet at least.

 

[coolwasabi]

I'm a big fan of MacT.
He's clearly a smart guy and he's a great communicator, both to us fans and seemingly to his players. Contrast this with Tambellini (literally the worst GM the NHL has seen this decade) who couldn't communicated with his fans (just smirked and used words like "poise") nor to his players (e.g. the Souray fiasco).

 

[plikestechno]

The only talk i dont like is trading Petry. Unless its for a bonafide middle pair NHL D or in a package for 2C, we cant trade him, we still need him.

 

[oilman9482]

I liked him a lot as a coach and I like what I see out of him so far as a GM. He is a very thoughtful, intelligent person and seems to be making the right moves. I wanted the Oilers to go after Pouliot but didn't know much about Fayne. Hopefully they both pan out. I like Scrivens, he seems to be a poor man's Cujo.

 

[McVespa99]

Exactly anyone could bring in NHL caliber players if you vastly overpay them.

Draisaitl is more a product of us being bad, and then was he even the best choice?

I'd also like to add in
Hired and stuck by the worst coach in the NHL
Grebeshkov (everyone knew it was bad from day 1)
Big contract to Gagner

This may be the most foolish comment I have ever read on HF and that is saying a lot. I am pretty sure any fan of the team knows already that the only way to get any free agent to come to Edmonton at this point is to overpay them. The only alternative is sign no one and go status quo from last year. Does that seem like a good idea to anyone.
Yes IMO LD was the best choice of who was left. It was him or the other center that is built like a 16 year old girl. We were not bad because of the Gm we had for one year
How did the Gregs shot in the dark hurt the team? It didnt. Just a long shot that didnt pay off
As for Gags the contract looked ugly because he got hurt and had an ugly year. The fact is we had no one to replace him and therefore had pretty much no choice to sign him to what he wanted. As soon as we had a possible replacement MacT dumped him and the contract for a player that looks to be better suited to the team.
As for the coach I think it was a questionable signing at best. he was supposed to be the golden boy and MacT was not the only Gm trying to hire him so there may still be a good coach there that our pathetic roster neutralized. We will see

 

[plikestechno]

I hope the Craig Ramsay hiring and getting rid of a few of the clown coaches does that. He has turned some teams around or at least helped pull them out of the basement.

 

[Oiler4Life2797]

This took longer than it should have:

It's also nice that his biggest blunder is one that didn't go through (Clarkson)

That is beautiful lol

 

[OVOXO*]

When we signed Belanger, he was a better player than Pouliot...then he magically fell off a cliff in Edmonton. I thought Belanger would be a GREAT signing. Great faceoffs and more offense than Pouliot (actually hit 40+ points before), veteran with experience. We never know but Pouliot may go the route of Belanger.

 

[McGlassbangers]

When we signed Belanger, he was a better player than Pouliot...then he magically fell off a cliff in Edmonton. I thought Belanger would be a GREAT signing. Great faceoffs and more offense than Pouliot (actually hit 40+ points before), veteran with experience. We never know but Pouliot may go the route of Belanger.

Or Pouliot does what he was expected to do when he was drafted and he puts up 40+ points. It's impossible to tell, the only fact we know is that the last season was career year for him.

 

[hemskysuncle]

Its amazing how many people's oiler morale raises so much with a few signings. Its nice to see but MacT still hasn't proven anything by what he has done. I like a few of the things he did but it hasn't shown any fruit yet.

On the other hand -->

Fasth - backup goalie
Scrivens - backup goalie
Nikitin - over paid hopeful, bottom pairing on majority of teams
Ferrence - over paid + long term, bottom pairing
Fayne - good signing
Purcell - over paid hopeful
Pouliot - way over paid + way to long term for career 3rd liner at best
Gordon - over paid 4rth line center but solid
Perron - steal of a trade
Draisaitl - anyone could of drafted him

There are people like this that are eternally negative - although it seems he likes 2 things MacT did!

First - they didn't decide to pay Purcell what he is making. Second, all other comments of "overpaid" were based on UFA signings, which are ALWAYS overpayment. The point of getting a UFA is not to say "what a great contract" but see what they can do for your team. Saying he overpaid anyone on July 1 is like saying you get wet when walking in the rain.

 

[Oilerz]

The BAD:

• Still bottom 5 goaltending. Lots of hope that one of them can step up as a number 1.
• Bottom 5 defense. Even with the additions.
• Bottom 5 at center.
• Bottom 5 in coaching.
• Lots of over paid bottom players like Nikitin, Ferrence, Pouliot, Purcell, Gordon, Hendricks and almost Clarkson. We could have 8M committed to our bottom pairing (Ference and Nikitin). Reminds me a little of when the Moreau's and Pisani's got their over pays and how it screwed up the teams financial structure. Poor cap management which could become a big problem if the cap doesn't increase next year.
• Gave away Smid, Hemsky and Gagner at bottom value, who if moved the prior year would have fetched significantly more. Sell lows.
• Took flyers on a couple of Russian defensemen when our team desperately needed NHL caliber D.
• Brought in a rookie coach for an inexperienced team who was in over his head most games and is still learning.

The GOOD:

• The Perron deal was great.
• The Fayne signing was very solid.
• Very aggressive in filling roster spots. Seems to have a direction for how he want the team to play...puck possession.

Overall:

• Average GM, but big improvement from Tambo who didn't even try to address team needs nor have a direction for it. Hard to really judge because the lineup had so many holes to begin with.

You are ragging on a GM for a move that he didn't make last year. True fan here.

 

[Eirhead*]

I don't understand what he has done today that tambo didn't do before? Over paid bottom 6 forwards and bottom pairing defence.

Tambo liked to fill our team with brink (A/N)HLers. As much as Pouliot's contract maybe kinda sucks, at least he's an NHL quality forward.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

This is really premature. He has looked decent so far but lots of his moves could end up failing big time. Remember that he really wanted Clarkson last year.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

You are ragging on a GM for a move that he didn't make last year. True fan here.

He had the intent to do it. I don't see how lucking out removes all responsibility from MacT

 

[Oilfan2]

This is really premature. He has looked decent so far but lots of his moves could end up failing big time. Remember that he really wanted Clarkson last year.

He had the intent to do it. I don't see how lucking out removes all responsibility from MacT

I don't see the problem with trying for Clarkson. No one here outside MacT and Clarkson/agent know what was offered. Only speculation from some media/fans. If the offer was so great I have no problem believing he would have signed with the Oil.
We have no way of knowing if he would have performed the same in Edm as Tor...none. Complaining about something that 'might have happened' is silly. The fact people bring it up probably means they can't find any real fault in MacT so have to find stuff that almost happened..

I have no problem people being conservative with Pouliot's signing and watching how he turns out. If he fails, it's a terrible signing. If he does what he's been signed for, excellent. A major need on the team.
I actually think the contract he signed was closer to what MacT offered Clarkson than what was reported anyway.

 

[Aerchon]

We finally have a good GM folks. In just over year, MacT has added

Fasth
Scrivens
Nikitin
Ferrence
Fayne
Purcell
Pouliot
Gordon
Perron
Draisaitl

That's a good group of NHL players there. All have enjoyed success on some pretty good teams. We are starting to surround our young core with some good pieces. Time for them to step up and start carrying us now. Here is what MacT had to say after the draft

"We've got a lot of skill, but we're in need of somebody down low that's capable of sustaining the play. We have David Perron that fits that bill and now Leon will be a guy that can really protect the puck." It became pretty clear his goal was to get bigger and bring in good possession players. By replacing Hemsky/Gagner with the likes of Fayne/Pouliot/Purcell, he has clearly done that.

It's nice to have a GM that recognizes team needs and goes out and attempts to address them. Not sure about his decision to hire Eakins, but as the Gagner trade has shown us, he is not afraid to fix a mistake.

Things are looking up Oiler fans. I trust the man in charge.

The bolded portion of your post is what I truly hope. I don't know why but I have this feeling Eakins is the one piece that Mac T will not budge on. Eakins is very very very obviously incapable of handling this team, and Mac T just keeps throwing him support. There is just enough that is interesting about Eakins that, for the sake of the team, I hope he can be THE guy, but everything I have seen to date says fire him. Fire him asap. No way he should of been allowed to bumble around all last season. He needs to be on a very short leash next year. 10 or 20 games max with positive consistent performance from the team.

Mac T's player acquisitions have been stellar but with a few stinkers as well. At this point his success will be based on Eakins success.

 

[Beerfish]

You are ragging on a GM for a move that he didn't make last year. True fan here.

The Oilers management over the last 8 or 9 years very best moves were all ones that through the luck of god fell through.

Vanek offer sheet
Heatley trade attempt
Nylander signing attempt
Clarkson signing attempt

MacT is not afraid to make moves that much I'll give to him but his logic behind some moves is a bit puzzling and a good number of his moves have been in response to poor judgement of team talent and direction in the 1st place.

 

[McRobbiezyg]

I like how MacT seems to have a plan and he seems to know what a team needs in order to be a team. As far as on ice production goes.. i'm not giving him any appreciation until I see some wins!

 

[Up the Irons]

There's a sense of competency and understanding with MacTavish right now that makes me feel a hell of a lot better about the future of the team. He understands where the problem areas are and is defining them, outlying a plan to address them and making moves to improve it. We're at least clear of the vague PR run-around and intense non-action of the Tambellini era.

What will make this summer the best one for the Oilers in 8 years is whether or not they can acquire a 2C.

This. It just seems like he knows what he's doing. Tambo didn't.

Eh. I'd like to see how the team competes before I give him credit.

This. I've been fooled too many times. Eakins is the wild card. Still no evidence he can get anything out of these players, and lots of evidence that he can't.

 

[hoofhearted]

Eakins is the wild card. Still no evidence he can get anything out of these players, and lots of evidence that he can't.

This is my only red flag with GM CM... I just haven't been sold on his choice of head coach - the lack of feeling of cohesiveness in team play suggests no effective plan, or no buy in from the players, either of which makes me question the coaching

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Too early for this, there's still a number of important holes to fill and some of his moves are still questionable, especially Nikitin and Pouliot. Lets see how they pan out first. I do however appreciate that unlike Tambo, he's at least making an effort.

 

[McPuritania]

It's okay to be pleased with the direction MacT has taken the team so far. It's okay to reserve judgement too. I think people are still smarting from the little hope we had last year of challenging for the playoffs. I think that's why many are wary to show any appreciation as of yet. It's okay to do so though, admitting he's done well on paper before seeing results isn't drinking the kool-aid or setting one's self up for disappointment.

I'm pleased so far. A centerman is still a big must, and a top pairing defender would be fantastic (albeit very hard to acquire), but so far so good. I'm not willing to name him GM of the year or be confident that we are a playoff team. But I like what I see so far.