The Definition of Insanity...

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

except fans and media alike....who all had the Oilers near the top of the league even knowing Sekera's injury problems...

I didn't. Maybe I should have a job on TSN. There were a few other people around here who didn't buy into the hype either especially given the offseason.

Some predictions have already started rolling in and some of them don't have the Oilers in the playoffs. Hopefully they're wrong again.

 

[Section337]

Unfortunately for the Edmonton Oilers fan, this argument basically leads to going and watching another sport. Afterall, you can point to too much being similar to next year, but going forward and letting the team try to dig themselves out of a year poor play the prior year is almost the only thing the team hasn't done. McLellan is the longest tenured coach since MacT, guys have constantly been thrown out with the bath water, free agents have mostly been less than expected and rosters have undergone huge yearly changes in the failed search for manufacturing a team. It's crappy.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I didn't. Maybe I should have a job on TSN. There were a few other people around here who didn't buy into the hype either especially given the offseason.

Some predictions have already started rolling in and some of them don't have the Oilers in the playoffs. Hopefully they're wrong again.

of course not, you're one of the most pessimistic posters on this board...part of the "happy to be wrong" crowd

no one saw the Oilers having that horrible of a season...just like no one saw the Avs making the playoffs after one of the worst seasons in recent history the previous year

 

[Mr Positive]

Yet the roster is worse than the one we started last season with. Most notable of the losses being Maroon, our best winger. Nurse also still unsigned.

I don't think losing Maroon is that big a deal. He is similarly talented as Reider. It shouldn't take long for JP to surpass Maroon as well. RNH is already better, and he's a winger for us now.

I like our forward core a lot. We are finally set down the middle with McDavid-Draisaitl-Strome. We weren't ready for that last season, and Drai was moved on McDavid's wing part way into the season because nothing on the top line was working- and Maroon was part of that problem.

I strongly feel that having Drai as 2C permanently, and Strome emerge as 3C is such a huge upgrade to how we started last season. We still have a weakness on the wings but it is not really that bad. With the centers figured out, and Brodziak added to that (who I feel could challenge for 3C in a good way), I think we should see our wingers playing to their best potentials.

It also seemed like towards the end of last season, we were starting to get out of the crazy awful special teams play that sunk us. It still wasn't good, but I'd definitely say we are starting this season better than last season, and that's not even accounting for the off ice changes to coaching to address this problem.

 

[JariCurry]

Frankly Chia and the rest of the management has bungled up big time since lucking out and getting McDavid. Prematurely blew their load with the lucic, eberle, reinhart, hall trades/acquisitions and now they have it all over their face. Why more people aren't seeing it as it is mystifies me.

Could go down in history as one of the worst tenures ever. If the boys get off to a bad start next year it's going to get ugly (highly likely with the way the rosters shaping up).

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Frankly Chia and the rest of the management has bungled up big time since lucking out and getting McDavid. Prematurely blew their load with the lucic, eberle, reinhart, hall trades/acquisitions and now they have it all over their face. Why more people aren't seeing it as it is mystifies me.

Could go down in history as one of the worst tenures ever. If the boys get off to a bad start next year it's going to get ugly (highly likely with the way the rosters shaping up).

except for MacT and Tambo's tenure...because they never made the playoffs as GMs

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

of course not, you're one of the most pessimistic posters on this board...part of the "happy to be wrong" crowd

no one saw the Oilers having that horrible of a season...just like no one saw the Avs making the playoffs after one of the worst seasons in recent history the previous year

I said last year the Oilers weren't contenders especially since nothing was done to upgrade the roster (and in fact the opposite was done). I still thought they'd at least make the playoffs but hey, I guess I was wrong. Can't say I'm too happy they missed the playoffs.

Nobody saw the Oilers making the playoffs the year they did either. Of course the Avs have nothing to do with us in any regard other than being a Western Conference team.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I said last year the Oilers weren't contenders especially since nothing was done to upgrade the roster (and in fact the opposite was done). I still thought they'd at least make the playoffs but hey, I guess I was wrong. Can't say I'm too happy they missed the playoffs.

Nobody saw the Oilers making the playoffs the year they did either. Of course the Avs have nothing to do with us in any regard other than being a Western Conference team.

yes it does...it proves no one has a hot clue about a team until the season starts

Connor Hellybuck made Cheveldayoff look like a genious last year by turning into a #1 goalie...because Chevy's idea of fixing the goaltending was bringing in Steve Mason....dude even started game 1 of last season

no one saw that coming

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

yes it does...it proves no one has a hot clue about a team until the season starts

Connor Hellybuck made Cheveldayoff look like a genious last year by turning into a #1 goalie...because Chevy's idea of fixing the goaltending was bringing in Steve Mason....dude even started game 1 of last season

no one saw that coming

So that means that the Oilers are going to magically turn it around because other teams did? It's true that anything can happen but when a team misses the playoffs for 11 out of 12 years and doesn't tangibly upgrade the roster that failed to do anything last year... well, the results shouldn't be too unexpected if they come to pass.

It doesn't matter one bit what other teams do because we are not them, nor are they us. Vegas reached the SCF in their first season, and you know what it means for the Oilers? Absolutely nothing.

 

[Slats432]

A common quote is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Unfortunately, I feel this describes the Oilers to perfection...

I agree mostly with this sentiment. The Oilers/Chia painted himself in a corner with no plan to get out. I don't mind moving out Letestu, Maroon, etc. But you have to fix that f***ing backend. Playing Bouchard in the NHL is stupid, but they will probably do it anyways. (And what the f*** was he doing signing a backup to $2.5 Million)

I do think we can be a playoff team just by the normalized average of players that shit the bed last year. Talbot, Benning, Lucic, etc etc can't all be terrible again. Draisaitl won't get off to a horrible start. PK can't be as bad. PP should be better. Coaches should be better.

But you could have had a contender......we coulda been a contenda.....

 

[ThePhoenixx]

I guess if you exercise and do certain reps every day you can't expect to get better.

The result will be the same. Repetitive practice is useless.

Some people even attributed the quote to Einstein.

 

[JariCurry]

except for MacT and Tambo's tenure...because they never made the playoffs as GMs

Except Chia had waaay more to work with until he squandered it

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Except Chia had waaay more to work with until he squandered it

MacT and Tambo had three #1's, Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry, Devan Dubnyk, Andrew Cogliano..seems to me they had plenty of talent to work with...

 

[Spawn]

“At least he’s not MacT/Tambo”

Damn are expectations low

 

[bucks_oil]

Yeah, with Sekera out I'm very down on our chances at the playoffs but I do think that if we can figure out how to run a PP we might see McDavid put up some crazy numbers. He won the art Ross with almost no PP points relative to winners other years. If he can keep that up AND add a standard pp boost to his stats, watch out!

From a personnel perspective we are up a number of little (to mid-sized) upgrades from last year and lost very little. (Brodz, Reider, possibly Upshall, Koskinen, that younger 7th D guy... an extra year of experience for Yama & Pulju.

Sekara was ostensibly out for the whole year. So no change.

Lucic & Talbot had their confidence shattered early in the year and Klef was injured.

But you are right, the biggest boost could come via our best offensive guys due to improved special teams. From that perspective, both McD and Drai took huge steps forward at ES last year (which compensated for no PP).

I think we all agreed unanimously that our special teams were predominantly NOT a problem with personnel, but rather coaching... and given that was the biggest issue last year, shouldn't we stand some substantive improvement based on that?

I get wanting bigger gains in the player personnel area this summer, but let's not forget that it was mostly NOT about the horses.

 

[bucks_oil]

Anyone that would command that price. We dont have the flexibility because of guys like Lucic and Russell.

I'm just not sure a substantive upgrade has been available to us. Perhaps missing out last summer on Green?

Pickings have been very slim for D over the last 4-5 years (hence the Sekera & Russell contracts in the first place feeling a bit rich).

Lock up Nurse, develop our group and add one when the adding is good (i.e. not necessarily via UFA, but say at TDL).

 

[StevenF1919]

We'll be having the exact same conversations next offseason, with the exact same posters continuing to defend Chia and co while screaming that "no one could have seen this coming!!"

 

[redgrant]

MacT and Tambo had three #1's, Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry, Devan Dubnyk, Andrew Cogliano..seems to me they had plenty of talent to work with...

Where is the centre in there? Youre lying to yourself if you think thats a top pairing of dmen and Dubnyk wasnt hot garbage here.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Where is the centre in there? Youre lying to yourself if you think thats a top pairing of dmen and Dubnyk wasnt hot garbage here.

RNH?
in any case, I was told Chiarelli gutted all our talent and depth, so surely Tambo and MacT had plenty to work with

 

[Joey Moss]

It is the exact same situation but to be fair we didn't have the assets or cap space to do anything significant. They made the right decision with the 10th pick taking Bouchard instead of trading it for immediate help. Of course, this is on Chiarelli who failed miserably managing the cap and getting abused in his three biggest trades. His first season he did pretty well with what he had (with the exception of the Reinhart deal) and it went downhill from there. If we don't make the playoffs I don't see any hope for him staying as GM even considering this is the Oilers we're talking about.

The only thing I'm optimistic about is the drafting and I think next off-season some of our prospects we took early in Chia's tenure could be nice assets or even be ready to step in. Guys like Maksimov, Bear, McLeod, Benson, Jones I could easily see having big seasons to improve their stock.

 

[redgrant]

RNH?
in any case, I was told Chiarelli gutted all our talent and depth, so surely Tambo and MacT had plenty to work with

I dont have time to argue with you. I realize you'll defend chia to his grave.

I'm going to plead with you to think a little dynamically that Tambo and MacT didnt have 2 guys named McDavid and Drai to gut all the talent. Can you comprehend this?

 

[Roof Daddy]

So that means that the Oilers are going to magically turn it around because other teams did? It's true that anything can happen but when a team misses the playoffs for 11 out of 12 years and doesn't tangibly upgrade the roster that failed to do anything last year... well, the results shouldn't be too unexpected if they come to pass.

It doesn't matter one bit what other teams do because we are not them, nor are they us. Vegas reached the SCF in their first season, and you know what it means for the Oilers? Absolutely nothing.

Maybe part of Chia standing pat with the D corps (aside from the fact he handcuffed himself with poor cap management) is that he has faith in Klefbom and Larsson bouncing back and playing like a legit top pair (like they did in 16-17 season)? Is that really farfetched when you consider they had their season's derailed due to injury/personal tragedy. Is it unrealistic to expect Nurse to continue improving? While none of those guys have true #1D ceilings, they all can (and have) played like #2D's, it's just a matter of maintaining that level of play. That's where Yawney comes in. I think he'll bring a lot to this team based on his previous work with Anaheim's D corp.

I think it's fair to point to Winnipeg as an example of a team that had a dramatic turnaround despite very little roster turnover. Different in some regards - they had a strong prospect pool they were waiting on - but they still leaned heavily on a lot of guys who were the same group that underachieved the year before.

I'm not saying I'm pleased with the lack of moves/upgrades this summer, but coaching changes and expected bounce backs for a number of players has me optimistic at least. Seems a lot of players are being written off based on last season.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I dont have time to argue with you. I realize you'll defend chia to his grave.

I'm going to plead with you to think a little dynamically that Tambo and MacT didnt have 2 guys named McDavid and Drai to gut all the talent. Can you comprehend this?

no, they collected all that talent and then let it die on the vine by surrounding them with garbage...

 

[Soundwave]

no, they collected all that talent and then let it die on the vine by surrounding them with garbage...

When Jordan Eberle is your 2nd most talented player, you're not that talented.

McDavid and Draisaitl however are the real deal, Chia doesn't get a pass. He also had the benefit of Klefbom and Nurse.

He basically had two rebuilds worth of players to work with, Tambellini and Mac T really got no impact from McDavid or Draisaitl or Klefbom or Nurse. That's not insiginifcant it would be like giving Tambellini Crosby, Kopitar, and two reasonably solid top 4 D to go with Hall and everything else.

I suspect Ralph Kruger or Tom Renney would've been ok with that.

 

[WaitingForUser]

I’ve said it before and I will say it again.
No general manager could have had any better results with the players we had to trade. Look at this way MacT and Tambo completely sewered our assets we had to work with.
Schultz was thrown to the wolves and forced to play WAY over his head. Went for peanuts because his reputation was he was a bad player who lacked effort.
Hall was always being criticized as being a coach killer and a me first player. Traded for a number 2/3 stay at home workhorse.
Eberle had the worst year of his career and was labeled by many GM’s to be a lazy one dimensional winger. He was so bad in the playoffs he was playing on the 4th line.

We didn’t lose these deals because Chia is the worst GM in the league. We lost these deals because our players were tarnished from years of being bottom feeders. The only deal that Chia made that was terrible at the time and later was the Reinhart deal.

His FA record is questionable but on the trade front his hands were tied. Even the best GM in the league wouldn’t have faired any better because when you suck for a decade + right or wrong your players value is ****.