Please, Chia, please gut this core.

[KarmaPolice]

A Good Friend of mine asked me at what point do the Oilers start to put their First overall picks on Defense.

Dmen jerseys don't sell as good as fancy offensive forwards. (See: Yak pick over Murray which was Katz's decision)

 

[orbiter11]

I'm done with this ****.
You guys can have fun with Katz as he hangs on to his favorite pals: Lowe, MacT, and the rest of the scum that have kept this team down for almost a full decade.

Pocklington may have sold Gretzky, but at least he put together a management and GM that built a team that won 4 'Cups before he sold Gretzky. I would easily take 4 cups if it meant we had to sell McDavid right after. Anyone who wouldn't is a fool. I'm not even a Pocklington fan. I hate him. But I hate Katz much more. Katz is the worst owner in the league.

HOW the HELL is Lowe and MacT STILL employees in this organization? HOW???

Please, someone give me ONE good reason to keep these two in management. Just ONE reason. Please, someone enlighten me.

Katz is a ****ing joke. Worst owner of all time, which explains everything: Lowe, MacT, Tambo, Eakins, the Yak pick, and so much more.

Yea it almost seems like there hands and ears are still hanging around if a big player move was made. A Gm should have complete anonymity to make moves for this team. Maybe Chia has been givin this maybe not....

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yep. This is an org that had Ference as captain and thought he offered useful leadership.

Yeah, for the boyscouts.

When people praise Eberle the only thing mentioned is goals scored. Not that he's chronically a minus player, a limited player, who is small in the WC and gets outworked regularly. The player brings no intangibles. does not hit, does not challenge anybody, is one of the easiest players in the league to play against playing on a butter soft team.

Eberle is a good player. He has value, it strikes me he may not be the right player for this team.

Eberle is also part of a leadership core on this club that is not nearly resilient enough.

The measure of a valuable player is how they play when the bounces are not going well. By that yardstick a lot of the Oilers look to have really bad habits. They simply still don't know what solid contributions they can make when goals aren't coming like gravy.

I don't think anyone on this team brings any leadership except Hendricks.

But alas.

 

[McJadeddog]

Now this is just ridiculous.

so you are saying that the talbot, reinhart, and gryba trades have all worked out well then?

i don't think chia should be fired or anything crazy like that, but he hasn't made a single good move yet, not one.... the sekera signing, which has been "meh" at best, is likely his best move.... almost all the other ones have been terrible.... the klefbom signing has the potential to be good, but its too early yet to tell for sure

as far as the idea of the post, gutting the "hall core", yes, yes, a thousand times yes.... keep hall long term, keep RNH until drai and mcdavid have some more experience, trade the rest

 

[McJadeddog]

4 First overall picks...check

2 High End Talents:
Hall
McDavid


2 Weak First overalls:
RNH
Yakupov


It's all about getting the 1st overall pick when there's a Top End Talent to be had.The Oilers are better off keeping the pick being that Matthews is in the category of McDavid and Hall.

umm, no he isn't.... he *might* be a "hall level" player, but he is nowhere approaching "mcdavid level"

 

[Gone]

I don't think that's good enough. This isn't a trial and error process where you get mulligans.

Additions to a team made by a GM can be considered hits or misses and theres enough sample to start discerning how much help has really arrived. This game was very revealing in that sense of just how much the bottomsix of even a bad NHL club was than ours tonight.

Tonight I got the sense of a real short lineup of helpful players. Not much chemistry, and a lineup that isn't really defined on anything. As in "what is this team" what does it do? This club continues to have limited identity.

What strikes me is we didn't really bring in one character guy. One difference maker. Not even in the slightest sense. These were easily obtained players. These were readily available players.

If theres players you think Chia deserves to be given credit for what are the names.
.

Thankfully I am not alone in thinking this. The biggest disappointment to me is Talbot, but a close second Sekera. We are saddled with this guys contract for six more years. Yikes.

The Oilers need to manage their assets better. The last 10 years have shown, no matter who the GM is, that this organizational structure 9 times out of 10 results in blown trades. Poor UFA signings. Poor drafting.

We must focus on drafting and player development. Rather than try and be good at many things, at least get good at drafting beyond the 1st overall pick.

Even with McDavid, this team is years away from being competitive. Chia (from within the Oilers structure) no matter what he does, will not be able to speed this process up. Draft and develop.

 

[Canovin]

Chia's moves have been a mixed bag. Sekera has been fine, Talbot has been mostly a disappointment but there's time for him to turn things around. Nilsson had been better than I figured he would. Grayba has surprised me for sure.

The bottom 6 has been an utter disaster for the most part though.

I trust Chia to make several good trades and turn the ship around and time is up to keep waiting on the worm to turn.

The bottom 6 was fine last year. Oh right, we had Roy and Gordon and Klink.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Yeah let's rely on the Oilers stellar record on drafting and development

 

[KarmaPolice]

Yea it almost seems like there hands and ears are still hanging around if a big player move was made. A Gm should have complete anonymity to make moves for this team. Maybe Chia has been givin this maybe not....

Yeah, I'm not sure that Chia does have full control over personnel decisions. Past GMs didn't appear to have it (see: Yak pick). Part of the problem is that Katz has had his hands in things that he doesn't know enough about -- not to mention putting his child-hood favorite players into positions they were not qualified for (MacT as GM anyone? Lowe as President of Hockey Ops while this team has sucked for that entire time?)

Katz is awful. Lowe, Tambo, MacT: all that stuff ultimately falls unto HIS lap. This was the mess that HE created. No GM in the world could've patched up this mess of a team in a three month span during the off-season. To expect such is insanity. This team had NOTHING before Chia came in besides the 1st round picks that we got thanks to sucking for so long. What other depth did we have? And that is still an issue, but it's not on Chia. Quite the opposite. He's done about as much as one could realistically expect. MacT was trading top-4 Dmen for picks, and signing players like Grebeshkov, Belov, and a bunch of other crap who were NOT legit NHL players. Tambo was much the same.

I have infinitely more faith in Chia than I ever did in MacT. But you can't build an enitire team that had nothing in the time he's been here.

If people are demanding trades, ask yourself this: how many trades have there been since the season started? Yeah, there's your answer for how hard it is to make a trade. No one is willing to trade yet, unless YOU are willing to bend over and take one pretty hard.

Luckily I probably don't have to even be saying this, because I don't think people are dumb enough to believe the crap that people are speaking to the contrary of what I'm saying.

 

[Canovin]

Trade rnh and eberle for defensive upgrades. Seth Jones and Harmonic. Make a statement. If the losing gets to McDavid's head, this team is as good as done

 

[McJadeddog]

Thankfully I am not alone in thinking this. The biggest disappointment to me is Talbot, but a close second Sekera. We are saddled with this guys contract for six more years. Yikes.

The Oilers need to manage their assets better. The last 10 years have shown, no matter who the GM is, that this organizational structure 9 times out of 10 results in blown trades. Poor UFA signings. Poor drafting.

We must focus on drafting and player development. Rather than try and be good at many things, at least get good at drafting beyond the 1st overall pick.

Even with McDavid, this team is years away from being competitive. Chia (from within the Oilers structure) no matter what he does, will not be able to speed this process up. Draft and develop.

yup, i would hazard that with the current core, we would never, and i mean never, make the playoffs.... even once these current players were all "veterans" in 5 years from now, we still wouldn't make the playoffs.... other than hall, the "hall core" simply doesn't have any difference makers... we only have one more for-sure difference maker, which is obviously mcdavid.... then we have one who *might* be a difference maker in drai, but that isn't for sure yet.... nurse *might* become a top-pairing guy, klefbom *might* become a reliable 2nd pairing guy.... other than that? crickets

RNH is a good 2nd line C i suppose, and plays the game the right way more or less.... but thats it folks, there isn't anybody else.... we need AT LEAST 5-7 new players on this team, and all of those 5-7 new players need to be good players.... this is a ridiculously tough thing to do, and i don't expect it will be done anytime soon

 

[MinimaMoralia]

I miss the EIG. I do. They were a timid, bizarre, malfunctioning, slightly ominous figurehead, it`s true. But under them, every season was life or death. Every season, it seemed, the Oilers had to put on a good show, or risk getting moved out of town. That was goddamned accountability, and it worked. Those teams were never world beaters, but goddamn did they try.
Katz doesn't care. He has his arena. This team could suck for the next twenty years and he wouldn't care. We have rued the day he bought this once proud franchise. He has done more damage to this team than any other single individual.

 

[Raoul Duke]

One bad game is understatement of the decade. They are in dead last yet again. That doesn't happen from one bad game.

It's just one bad decade, don't overreact!

 

[Replacement*]

Thankfully I am not alone in thinking this. The biggest disappointment to me is Talbot, but a close second Sekera. We are saddled with this guys contract for six more years. Yikes.

The Oilers need to manage their assets better. The last 10 years have shown, no matter who the GM is, that this organizational structure 9 times out of 10 results in blown trades. Poor UFA signings. Poor drafting.

We must focus on drafting and player development. Rather than try and be good at many things, at least get good at drafting beyond the 1st overall pick.

Even with McDavid, this team is years away from being competitive. Chia (from within the Oilers structure) no matter what he does, will not be able to speed this process up. Draft and develop.

The really deplorable thing is, and depressing really, is that if you look at the roster now and how the players are playing guys like Pouliot and Purcell Gordon, Roy are/were much better forward additions than any of what Chia has brought in.

Too young prospects, Nurse, and Klef have looked better than the two D Chia brought in.

Letestu, korpi, Sekera have been pretty bad.

Chia brought in around 8 roster players. Again I can't think of one that has been a solid addition. I can think of several that have looked lousy. If you look at the Chia additions and net impact on the team it actually looks like a loss.

Without the out of this world efforts of plaeyrs like Hall and Drai and McDavid on this team this lineup is indescribably bad. Worse than what Eakins or Nelson had to work with

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Apparently the solution lies with MacTavish. This is what we have come to.

 

[Narnia]

The bottom 6 was fine last year. Oh right, we had Roy and Gordon and Klink.

Oilers still have Klink but he's injured since the Minnesota game.

 

[KarmaPolice]

The bottom 6 was fine last year. Oh right, we had Roy and Gordon and Klink.

That must be why we finished out of the bottom 3 of the league standings. Our strong bottom 6, to go along with the rest of our good team.

Oh wait. That didn't happen.

There are some REAL stupid people on this planet. Klink wouldn't even make most NHL rosters. Roy COULDN'T make any NHL rosters. Gordon is a 4th line forward. Yeah, those sure are the guys you win with...

 

[harpoon]

I hope we win 2 in a row, so everyone can be a star again.

And just wait till McDavid gets back, then this team is going to murder the NHL. Yes, someone actually posted that.

 

[McJadeddog]

I miss the EIG. I do. They were a timid, bizarre, malfunctioning, slightly ominous figurehead, it`s true. But under them, every season was life or death. Every season, it seemed, the Oilers had to put on a good show, or risk getting moved out of town. That was goddamned accountability, and it worked. Those teams were never world beaters, but goddamn did they try.
Katz doesn't care. He has his arena. This team could suck for the next twenty years and he wouldn't care. We have rued the day he bought this once proud franchise. He has done more damage to this team than any other single individual.

yup, his continued failed management style has irrecoverably damaged this franchise.... lowe and mact still being on the payroll is an affront to all oilers fans everywhere, and continues to weigh down this once proud franchise... katz's indefensible and flawed loyalty to "the boys on the bus" does nothing but cast a long shadow

 

[Up the Irons]

I don't think that's good enough. This isn't a trial and error process where you get mulligans.

Additions to a team made by a GM can be considered hits or misses and theres enough sample to start discerning how much help has really arrived. This game was very revealing in that sense of just how much the bottomsix of even a bad NHL club was than ours tonight.

Tonight I got the sense of a real short lineup of helpful players. Not much chemistry, and a lineup that isn't really defined on anything. As in "what is this team" what does it do? This club continues to have limited identity.

What strikes me is we didn't really bring in one character guy. One difference maker. Not even in the slightest sense. These were easily obtained players. These were readily available players.

If theres players you think Chia deserves to be given credit for what are the names.
.

Rep, its not the poor additions to these players that are problem. its THESE players!!!! At some point, you have to see this. THESE so called core players are just not that good.

If RNH was at least close to Tavares or Toews good, if Yak was Tarasenko good, if Gagner was Johnny Gaudreau good, if PRV was Brenden Sadd good, if Schultz was TJ Brodie good, do you really think they'd have been a bottom feeder all these years?

this is the root of the problem. they didn't recognize that they didn't have real top end talent.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Apparently the solution lies with MacTavish. This is what we have come to.

Trading our best Dman at the time in Petry for a magic bean was a great move, and YOU know it. Admit it!



Truth is, a Klefbom-Petry pairing would probably be our best pairing, and it would mean that Klefbom wouldn't have to play with that awful Fayne, who was responsible for a goal tonight with an AWFUL pinch.

 

[Replacement*]

I'm done with this ****.
You guys can have fun with Katz as he hangs on to his favorite pals: Lowe, MacT, and the rest of the scum that have kept this team down for almost a full decade.

Pocklington may have sold Gretzky, but at least he put together a management and GM that built a team that won 4 'Cups before he sold Gretzky. I would easily take 4 cups if it meant we had to sell McDavid right after. Anyone who wouldn't is a fool. I'm not even a Pocklington fan. I hate him. But I hate Katz much more. Katz is the worst owner in the league.

HOW the HELL is Lowe and MacT STILL employees in this organization? HOW???

Please, someone give me ONE good reason to keep these two in management. Just ONE reason. Please, someone enlighten me.

Katz is a ****ing joke. Worst owner of all time, which explains everything: Lowe, MacT, Tambo, Eakins, the Yak pick, and so much more.

When I feel like this I play something like "Climbing up the Walls' really loud...

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Trading our best Dman at the time in Petry for a magic bean was a great move, and YOU know it. Admit it!

You know we are at the end of our rope when MacT additions are getting praise.

 

[Canovin]

That must be why we finished out of the bottom 3 of the league standings. Our strong bottom 6, to go along with the rest of our good team.

Oh wait. That didn't happen.

There are some REAL stupid people on this planet. Klink wouldn't even make most NHL rosters. Roy COULDN'T make any NHL rosters. Gordon is a 4th line forward. Yeah, those sure are the guys you win with...

What are you saying? Our bottom 6 last year was a NHL bottom 6. This year I don't know what it is.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Yep. This is an org that had Ference as captain and thought he offered useful leadership.

Yeah, for the boyscouts.

When people praise Eberle the only thing mentioned is goals scored. Not that he's chronically a minus player, a limited player, who is small in the WC and gets outworked regularly. The player brings no intangibles. does not hit, does not challenge anybody, is one of the easiest players in the league to play against playing on a butter soft team.

Eberle is a good player. He has value, it strikes me he may not be the right player for this team.

Eberle is also part of a leadership core on this club that is not nearly resilient enough.

The measure of a valuable player is how they play when the bounces are not going well. By that yardstick a lot of the Oilers look to have really bad habits. They simply still don't know what solid contributions they can make when goals aren't coming like gravy.

Can't argue this.
I had hoped he could just be a complimentary goal scorer but it's hard to defend his effort with that letter on his chest. It sure would send a message if he were moved.

As an aside, my 13 year old son is in first year bantam.
When a defending player waves his stick at the player instead of taking the body and tries to avoid all contact my boy calls it an "Eberle stick check, you know, for softies."