I don't understand this narrative I keep seeing people trying to force. OEL was on the team when we were making the playoffs, we went through a down period, took steps to rebuild, and appear to be trending up if the 2nd half of last season is any indicator. He was part of those special years for us when there were so many things going wrong. Why would he not want to be part of that again?
We are still likely to miss the playoffs one more year unless we make a great trade this off-season but again, we appear to be trending in the right direction. How is it that a great player, entering into his prime hockey years, living in a fantastic city, and playing for an organization that is clearly trying to build something great, gets dumped on for that decision? I just don't understand it, especially because no athlete wants to lose so he clearly sees potential here.
OEL is not someone who just needs a team to give him a job, he'd have plenty of teams willing to offer him that, he sees a team on the rise and a chance to be part of it and part of the leadership that gets there. To suggest he may never win a cup with us is fair, because it may not happen, but given some of the things that have happened with teams around the league, you can't look at this situation and say he doesn't want to win. If that is your stance, I pity you, life must have been hard, because it's plain as day that good things are happening here.