Was Lucic the most idiotic thing Katz and his friends have done ?

[Spawn]

Peter Chiarelli was his biggest mistake.

I for sure got that one wrong too. I was so jazzed when Nicholson hired Chia. Thought for sure that we had hired one of the brightest GMs in the league who must have learned from his past mistakes when he traded away Seguin. There was no way he'd do something crazy like that again.

I don't know if I've ever seen a GM cripple the NHL roster of a team as effectively as Chiarelli did here.

Horcoff contract was worse. 5.5 back then would be like paying Draisaitl money for a 3C.

What I want to know is how the hell did MacT manage to get out of the final 2 years of that contract without taking any salary back or retaining anything.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Katz allowing the OBC to hang around and mettle was his biggest mistake

the lack of accountability from Katz' perspective is astounding

 

[I am the Liquor]

Katz allowing the OBC to hang around and mettle was his biggest mistake

the lack of accountability from Katz' perspective is astounding

Was?

 

[rboomercat90]

Horcoff contract was worse. 5.5 back then would be like paying Draisaitl money for a 3C.

I’m shocked it took until post 25 for this to be mentioned. The Heatley fiasco came earlier but the Horcoff contract was the first of a long list of “what in the hell are they thinking moments”.

That said, I honestly think Katz’ biggest mistake was not firing both Lowe and Mactavish the day he took control of the team. Lowe especially, he’s bungled the roster and the cap so badly after 2006 that it was clear he was in over his head with it. He’d also alienated the NHLPA and other GM’s by then too. So much so that Tambellini was hired in hopes he’d be a shield for Lowe.

 

[Zenos]

meh he was a apart of the wcf run

and despite chias blundering that was the best oilers team since pronger and smitty.

1. That "WCF run" ended in game 7 of the second round.
2. The disappearing act of Lucic and the entire "2nd" line (RNH, Ebs) was a huge contributing factor. Credit where credit is due: Lucic was the oilers 5th best scorer. But he was pretty awful 5v5.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

1. That "WCF run" ended in game 7 of the second round.
2. The disappearing act of Lucic and the entire "2nd" line (RNH, Ebs) was a huge contributing factor. Credit where credit is due: Lucic was the oilers 5th best scorer. But he was pretty awful 5v5.

They got beat by refs.

Imo you could make the case they were a top 4 team in the league that year. They were a tough team to play against for pretty much the entire year.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Hopefully this will be the last summer where trolls run wild at HfOil.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Looch was highly regarded by some teams that offseason. This was considered a big win for Oilers when they signed him and fans were estatic. I had no issue with this signing at the time.

There were waaaaay more headscratching moves Katz and his friends did. This wasnt even near the top

 

[Beerfish]

Hopefully this will be the last summer where trolls run wild at HfOil.

It's funny that if you take the worst sports front office and ownership group to task and look at their moves with a critical eye (because after 15 years they have earned 0% trust) you are called a troll.

If the 'trolls' ran this team the last 12 years it would be in a lot better shape than it is.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

It's funny that if you take the worst sports front office and ownership group to task and look at their moves with a critical eye (because after 15 years they have earned 0% trust) you are called a troll.

If the 'trolls' ran this team the last 12 years it would be in a lot better shape than it is.

Yes. This is a highly constructive thread meant to teach critical thinking.

I obviously meant the other ones...

 

[Jumptheshark]

Curious. He was a terrible Oiler. But that had Katz and his buddies thumbprints on it. Worst thing Katz was a part of? Or has Katz done worse things to the Oil?

nope


and to defend the move and toss what may posters have been saying under the bud

when he signed his contract 90% of this board had no problem--but nearly all agreed--we thought he would fall off the face of the earth on or about year 4 or 5 of the contract --not year two

The Hall for Larsson trade-I will still defend because I was one of the 90% that put Lucic on with McDavid for a couple of years and I still believe Larsson is a better D man than he has been the last two years. I think he has not shaken off the death of his father (for those who either do not know or remember, Robert Larsson died while in Edmonton visiting Adam--there are reports that is was Adam who found his father and others saying he arrived shortly after that). While I was not close with my father, reportedly Adam was very close to his father and I think he is still working through it.

The Reinhart trade--sticking to my guns here--no scout saw Reinhart play after he left the Oil kings--the fact they did not have an to date scouting report is a major reason why the moment the trade happened--the NYI board was doing back flips--even before it was announced they had picked

Eakins--do I need to say more

Sacking Krugar--Mact and the boys did not like he was smarter then them,

The Yakupov draft pick--night before the draft the oiler scouts left a meeting where it was decided Murray was the guy--RHD! now Murray has had his own problems--but all reports are that Katz either later that night or the next morning made the decision that it was Yakupov.

this list goes on

Lucic might just out of the top 5

 

[Drivesaitl]

Looch was highly regarded by some teams that offseason. This was considered a big win for Oilers when they signed him and fans were estatic. I had no issue with this signing at the time.

There were waaaaay more headscratching moves Katz and his friends did. This wasnt even near the top

Several posters here including myself didn't want the player. My disgust with the org rose so high during that time I had zero confidence in the org and its moves. Hall for Larsson, replaced by Lucic? My immediate impression at the time is it was a surreal joke, that the org must hold its fans in absolute contempt, or be so mind numbingly stupid to believe moves like that make any kind of sense.

But then you look at Chiarelli, Nicholson, Lowe, and you know the bar isn't set very high. None of these people know what they are doing and none of them should have managerial positions.

 

[Drivesaitl]

This should be interesting reading on Lucic, and to look at it years later. the Lucic hoopla was all people in love with the thought of who Lucic was rather than the player, he actually was. Smelled this from the beginning and broke it down.

This is just one of the threads, and what people were saying;

Player Discussion - Milan Lucic

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

This should be interesting reading on Lucic, and to look at it years later. the Lucic hoopla was all people in love with the thought of who Lucic was rather than the player, he actually was. Smelled this from the beginning and broke it down.

This is just one of the threads, and what people were saying;

Player Discussion - Milan Lucic

Yup, fans LOVED this signing when it happened. And to be fair, many rival fans were mad cause they were hoping for him

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yup, fans LOVED this signing when it happened. And to be fair, many rival fans were mad cause they were hoping for him

People hoping for Lucic deserve what they get I guess. He was overpaid from the start and like stated in that thread he was only going to get slower and worse.

Talented players like Taylor Hall can bend results given a team to work with. A player like Lucic is just along for the ride, he'll go only as far as others take him, then, not that far at all usually. Always preferred Maroon to him.

Least I don't have to see Lucic around anymore, good times, wish we never had the player. What a sorry saga.

 

[Up the Irons]

hiring Chiarelli, then not firing him last summer so he could absolutely sink the team in the next half season.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Drafting Yakupov is up there, although that was also a league-wide consensus scout failure as well.

This. The scouts apparently didn't even want him but Katz interjected and made them take him. That's overstepping in my opinion. And a waste of a number 1 pick.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Horcoff contract was worse. 5.5 back then would be like paying Draisaitl money for a 3C.

Horcoff wasn't a 3C when he signed that deal though. The mistake with that deal was in not taking the shoulder injury into consideration. That's what derailed Horcoff.

 

[MessierII]

Horcoff wasn't a 3C when he signed that deal though. The mistake with that deal was in not taking the shoulder injury into consideration. That's what derailed Horcoff.

By the time the deal kicked in you could say he was a 2C that year 08-09. He was definitely a 3C at best for the rest of the deal. Lucic wasn’t a 4th line winger when he signed this deal either. It doesn’t really matter.

 

[TheNumber4]

Ridiculous that this is put on Katz. Can we stop deriding Katz. He’s an OWNER, as an OWNER he’s one of the best that the Oilers could hope for. It just happens that we lucked out with an Edmonton based billionaire (rare) that is willing to put up the money no matter what for this team to succeed.

As an OWNER he’s doing everything he can to make this team good, his big pockets ensure the following:
- New Arena and exciting ice district gives us SOME free agency attractiveness
- There’ll never be threat of losing this organization
- We’ll pay for the most expensive and experienced GM in the league in Holland
- We’ll way whatever Dollar amount contracts and bonuses to get deals done (Lucic)
- Theoretically, we’ll have just as much resources as the big market teams in competing

It could be ALOT worse in Oil Town if we had another owner. Could you imagaine how bad we’d be if we operated with an internal cap? Could you imagine how much worse our attractiveness would be to free agents and draftees if we still played in the run down stink hole that was Rexall place?

 

[Drivesaitl]

Ridiculous that this is put on Katz. Can we stop deriding Katz. He’s an OWNER, as an OWNER he’s one of the best that the Oilers could hope for. It just happens that we lucked out with an Edmonton based billionaire (rare) that is willing to put up the money no matter what for this team to succeed.

As an OWNER he’s doing everything he can to make this team good, his big pockets ensure the following:
- New Arena and exciting ice district gives us SOME free agency attractiveness
- There’ll never be threat of losing this organization
- We’ll pay for the most expensive and experienced GM in the league in Holland
- We’ll way whatever Dollar amount contracts and bonuses to get deals done (Lucic)
- Theoretically, we’ll have just as much resources as the big market teams in competing

It could be ALOT worse in Oil Town if we had another owner. Could you imagaine how bad we’d be if we operated with an internal cap? Could you imagine how much worse our attractiveness would be to free agents and draftees if we still played in the run down stink hole that was Rexall place?

Deep pockets is some of the reasons that the on ice bottomline, or any bottomline, doesn't matter for this owner. There are two extremes which may be problematic in ownership. An owner that never has to care about money or profit, and an owner that always has to.

We went from one extreme to the other and neither may be ideal.

Katz biggest fault, as a hockey owner, that undoes everything he pays for is trusting the wrong people to this point. For a Billionaire he's pretty bad at picking people to run the hockey operations.

Katz is guilty of being inured to the wrong people, to the players he loved decades ago, and figuring they would be good at anything.

 

[elmeroil]

I loved the Lucic signing until I heard it was 7 years. I think the majority knew it was 4 years too long and of course he wasn't going to live up to it. Heck it was actually 5 years too long!

 

[oXo Cube]

Horcoff injured his shoulder at the all star game like a week after he signed that contract and his shot/hands were never the same.

 

[Blue Line Turnover]

That theres such a long list of things to consider is indictable enough. But that people are actually debating a trade of Hall, a subsequent MVP, (for Larsson straight up, lol) to be replaced by Lucic and cheese, and that theres worse things, lol, what org would have worse than that.

That's frightening to even consider.

Oh wait, Boston, under Chia, getting rid of Sequin, Not worse, but as bad as...

What org trades away MVP calibre players for pennies on the dollar in return value?

In both cases (Seguin and Hall), I have a sneaking suspicion that they were betting on the players stagnating or fizzling out due to their alleged "partying" lifestyles. The fact that the media teams of both organizations enforced this narrative immediately after the respective trades occurred seems to be too coincidental. In both cases, they were dead wrong lol

 

[joestevens29]

Horcoff injured his shoulder at the all star game like a week after he signed that contract and his shot/hands were never the same.

He signed the contract in July.

Guy should've never gotten that considering weeks before Langkow who was quite the comparable went for less years and dollars.