Time For Former Oilers To Speak Up?

[Bryanbryoil]

Earlier this season we had Gretz trying to calm the masses by saying that MacT and Lowe are working hard, etc. Basically standing by them while they flounder. Well that sure as hell doesn't help matters when Katz hears stuff like that. It seems like unless Katz hears that Lowe and MacT are doing a poor job from the likes of Gretz, Mess, Coffey, Anderson, Kurri, etc. that he thinks that all is good in the world.

At what point do our former players get fed up of the mockery that the Oilers logo has become? Guys that bled for the jersey and the city of Edmonton, how can they keep sitting back and watching this perennial train wreck without calling their former teammates and asking them to take a step back for the sake of the team? Or straight up saying that changes need to be made in the media?

Click to read more...

 

[Hugo McStiglitz]

Dave Lumley does chirp them out a lot on twitter. Of course, he doesn't have the influence that a Gretzky, Coffey or Kurri would have.

 

[Tarus]

I sincerely doubt they care. If they are even paying attention, they are probably more loyal to each other as former teammates than they ever were/will be for the brand they played for a long time ago.

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

What players do you think should be be speaking up?

Do the Oilers really have enough of a history for it to mean anything?

If neither Gretz or Mess will say anything, who will?

I look at a guy like Doug Weight, but he's heavily involved in the Islanders organisation, so I don't think he'd bother.

Sather is too involved with NYR.

We've had some former players speak out against the management team, but none of them were winners, so not sure they make much of a difference.

The only guy who I could see is maybe Smyth.

 

[SometimesY]

"Hey, you guys hiring?" That is probably all alumni say

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

They have and are always vilified by the fans imo

Souray, Laraque, Comrie, Whitney, Belov, NSchultz; even agents Winter, Gillic; and other GM's Burke, and Lombardi.

Just off the top of my head from the last decade, and there's surely more.

That is highly unusual in any industry. You will always find disgruntled employee's but the agents and other managers is crazy

Add smid, and Petry too, as well as Trotz' comment

 

[Faelko]

Haven't former players done enough damage?

 

[rboomercat90]

I sincerely doubt they care. If they are even paying attention, they are probably more loyal to each other as former teammates than they ever were/will be for the brand they played for a long time ago.

This.

What never gets talked about anymore is how all those dynasty guys got the hell out of Edmonton as fast as they could once it was possible for them to make more money elsewhere. Granted a lot of that was on Pocklington but it's still a fact.

I remember reading something on the main boards a few days ago from a Ranger fan still annoyed after more than twenty years that Messier passed the Cup to Kevin Lowe instead of Brian Leetch. He figured it should have been passed first to a life long Ranger. These guys are loyal to each other long before anything else.

 

[rboomercat90]

What players do you think should be be speaking up?

Do the Oilers really have enough of a history for it to mean anything?

If neither Gretz or Mess will say anything, who will?

I look at a guy like Doug Weight, but he's heavily involved in the Islanders organisation, so I don't think he'd bother.

Sather is too involved with NYR.

We've had some former players speak out against the management team, but none of them were winners, so not sure they make much of a difference.

The only guy who I could see is maybe Smyth.

And he'd be the last guy to do it.

 

[Blue And Orange]

One time I had a very candid conversation with Georges Laraque at a special event party. Nice guy and he had nothing but negative things to say about the Oilers organization ran by Kevin Lowe.

I always felt that Laraque is a community first guy and was willing to accept less pay to stay with the Oilers in 2006 but apparently Lowe and Laraque didn't see eye to eye.

Take it for what it is but Laraque said Lowe is stuck in his ways. It should speak volumes for what this organization is as a whole. "stuck in its ways"...no wonder the oilers haven't made the playoffs for the past decade.

 

[The Nuge]

They have and are always vilified by the fans imo

Souray, Laraque, Comrie, Whitney, Belov, NSchultz; even agents Winter, Gillic; and other GM's Burke, and Lombardi.

Just off the top of my head from the last decade, and there's surely more.

That is highly unusual in any industry. You will always find disgruntled employee's but the agents and other managers is crazy

Add smid, and Petry too, as well as Trotz' comment

Those guys weren't all vilified...

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

They have and are always vilified by the fans imo

Souray, Laraque, Comrie, Whitney, Belov, NSchultz; even agents Winter, Gillic; and other GM's Burke, and Lombardi.

Just off the top of my head from the last decade, and there's surely more.

That is highly unusual in any industry. You will always find disgruntled employee's but the agents and other managers is crazy

Add smid, and Petry too, as well as Trotz' comment

What did Nick Schultz and Petry say? Also I think Trotz regretted his comment he was more so taking a poke at Dubnyk, for not having the right attitude when getting advice from the goalie coach.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Those guys weren't all vilified...

The only one who deserved to be vilified was Whitney cause he was basically just being a cry baby about ice-time, not realizing he was no longer an NHL player and then after the fact he blamed us for ruining his career, when he should be blaming his wonky ankles.

 

[Mr Positive]

they would never do that. There are always going to be alumni events and maybe even games like the heritage classic, and so creating a schism with Lowe/MacT would only hurt the chances of those events happening. I'm guessing those who take part get paid handsomely

 

[Jumptheshark]

BBO--you have finally lost the plot

So you want say Messier and Gretz to step it up against mact and lowe and call them out

remember back in the 80's when SI said MORE THEN HALF THE OILERS WERE DOING?

The old boys club will not roll on each other because with the acceptation of Fuhr--it is pure speculation who was doing what. SI has always maintained that number and they said at the time and every time since--if we are wrong sue us and no one has ever--they stated they had "retained counsel" but nothing came of it

there is an expression


"Keeping the faith" it means different things to different people.

The old boys club know each others dirty little secrets and it is more or less agreed self destruction if they start bickering amongst themselves

The old boys club aint going to roll over on each other over a few loses--most have moved on and only deal with the oilers when their is a free meal involved (many clubs it is like that).

I will call anyone here a liar if they say they know what is going on with the oilers behind closed doors--friends of friends do not count

 

[oilinblood]

i dont think i can say it on here (rules of discussions without witnesses)...but to be general i have heard two hof oilers go on tantrums about eakins when talking with me. im pretty sure i can state this as long as i dont use names? both supported mact pretty passionately but felt mact got duped (this was during eakins first season)

 

[rboomercat90]

i dont think i can say it on here (rules of discussions without witnesses)...but to be general i have heard two hof oilers go on tantrums about eakins when talking with me. im pretty sure i can state this as long as i dont use names? both supported mact pretty passionately but felt mact got duped (this was during eakins first season)

How could they support a guy who was not only dumb enough to be duped by Eakins but yet continued to employ him for a season and a half? It's one thing to make a mistake, admit it and correct it. That can be forgiven and respected. There were a lot of fans who were smart enough to realize Eakins was full of **** before he had even coached a single game. Mactavish took a lot longer and still refuses to accept it as a mistake. You say two HHOF's still support him? I guess that shows why none of them are still working in the league unless it's with the Oilers.

 

[guymez]

Dave Lumley does chirp them out a lot on twitter. Of course, he doesn't have the influence that a Gretzky, Coffey or Kurri would have.

Lumley apparently isnt a Katz bosom buddy either.

I think that (relationship) explains why we don't hear anything critical from any of the more prominent Boys on the Bus.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

How could they support a guy who was not only dumb enough to be duped by Eakins but yet continued to employ him for a season and a half? It's one thing to make a mistake, admit it and correct it. That can be forgiven and respected. There were a lot of fans who were smart enough to realize Eakins was full of **** before he had even coached a single game. Mactavish took a lot longer and still refuses to accept it as a mistake. You say two HHOF's still support him? I guess that shows why none of them are still working in the league unless it's with the Oilers.

Precisely, MacT still won't knock Eakins which tells me that all of this failure falls at MacT's feet and he's probably too dumb to even realize that. Too bad that the guys that should be making the calls aren't telling him that he should go and follow Eakins to his next job because he is no longer employed here.

 

[guymez]

Precisely, MacT still won't knock Eakins which tells me that all of this failure falls at MacT's feet and he's probably too dumb to even realize that. Too bad that the guys that should be making the calls aren't telling him that he should go and follow Eakins to his next job because he is no longer employed here.

I am not a MacT fan but not saying anything negative about a former employee is not exactly a tell.

Its quite common actually.

 

[I am the Liquor]

Lummer is the only player Ive heard publicly say anything negative about Lowe/Mact. And even then he was trying to be diplomatic about it. Its not these guys place to be throwing ex teammates under the bus in the media. That would be a bs way to treat someone imo. Whether they deserve it or not.

Fact of the matter is we all have to decide on when enough is enough, and at that point, just tune out. It's not worth the aggravation and it would seem that changes are not forthcoming anytime soon. So why bother with it any more? **** the Oilers. **** Katz and his flying monkeys.

There. That was easy.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I am not a MacT fan but not saying anything negative about a former employee is not exactly a tell.

Its quite common actually.

There's a difference between not kicking a guy when he's down and continuing to kiss his ass when he was clearly a problem here.

 

[guymez]

There's a difference between not kicking a guy when he's down and continuing to kiss his ass when he was clearly a problem here.

I dont think MacT is kissing his ass...he is just not saying or implying anything negative. Thats the best way to move forward from an obvious mistake without creating any controversy. The NHL is a pretty small world...nothing good comes from throwing someone under the bus even if its in a small way.

Lots of items to chew on with this team...I just don't think that's one of them.

 

[RattsSSV]

The problem is it's called an Old Boys Club for a reason. You don't rat on your friends. Why besmirch the organization when they throw good such a good reunion party. Who knows, we might get another one next year seeing how we'll have a development team to cheer for.

We the fans were a means to an end for Katz. He got his arena and development deal. He isn't going anywhere and it's apparent he doesn't care what we think.

And as much as we may disagree with what is being done, there is nothing we can do to get a change in management unless people stop going to games. Not just by not attending, but also not buying season tickets.

People have been throwing good money after bad biding their time to get season tickets in the new barn when they have been wasting money on a sucker.

 

[Up the Irons]

BBO--you have finally lost the plot

So you want say Messier and Gretz to step it up against mact and lowe and call them out

remember back in the 80's when SI said MORE THEN HALF THE OILERS WERE DOING?

The old boys club will not roll on each other because with the acceptation of Fuhr--it is pure speculation who was doing what. SI has always maintained that number and they said at the time and every time since--if we are wrong sue us and no one has ever--they stated they had "retained counsel" but nothing came of it

there is an expression


"Keeping the faith" it means different things to different people.

The old boys club know each others dirty little secrets and it is more or less agreed self destruction if they start bickering amongst themselves

The old boys club aint going to roll over on each other over a few loses--most have moved on and only deal with the oilers when their is a free meal involved (many clubs it is like that).

I will call anyone here a liar if they say they know what is going on with the oilers behind closed doors--friends of friends do not count

this little snow storm you are refering to has always made me suspect that this could be a part of the reason why Katz refuses to (is afraid to?) fire Lowe.

People jokingly say Lowe must have pictures of Katz.... maybe not so far from the truth.