What Is Truly Wrong With The Oilers?

[McDrai]

Kind of interested to hear what your opinions are in regards to what is truly wrong with the Oilers? We have had 1 playoff appearance in the last 13 years while continuously overturning roster players, coaches, and GMs.

My opinion is that it starts at the top with Katz. Ever since he took over as owner we haven't been a competitive team at all despite being gifted numerous top picks and freedom to spend to the cap.

If he truly wanted to win he would fire Nicholson and replace him with someone who isn't afraid to clean out the OBC and bring in the best available talent from scouts to f***ing physiotherapists.

Every great organization has that winning mentality at the top. Say what you want about Pocklington but the guy was obsessed with winning and he did anything and everything to build a winning team. In Katz I just see someone who just wants to collect cheques and hang out with the boys on the bus every once in a while. It's like a Golf and Country Club with this guy.

I truly think this team is doomed as long as Katz owns the team. Sorry to say.

That's my take anyways. Curious to hear if there are other opinions as to why we have been an abomination for over a decade.

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[guymez]

Kind of interested to hear what your opinions are in regards to what is truly wrong with the Oilers? We have had 1 playoff appearance in the last 13 years while continuously overturning roster players, coaches, and GMs.

My opinion is that it starts at the top with Katz. Ever since he took over as owner we haven't been a competitive team at all despite being gifted numerous top picks and freedom to spend to the cap.

If he truly wanted to win he would fire Nicholson and replace him with someone who isn't afraid to clean out the OBC and bring in the best available talent from scouts to ****ing physiotherapists.

Every great organization has that winning mentality at the top. Say what you want about Pocklington but the guy was obsessed with winning and he did anything and everything to build a winning team. In Katz I just see someone who just wants to collect cheques and hang out with the boys on the bus every once in a while. It's like a Golf and Country Club with this guy.

I truly think this team is doomed as long as Katz owns the team. Sorry to say.

That's my take anyways. Curious to hear if there are other opinions as to why we have been an abomination for over a decade.

I agree especially with the bolded.
Its frustrating beyond belief to see just how mismanaged this team has been ever since Katz took over. The Hockey Ops has been an unmitigated disaster. Fail after fail after fail.
Katz is the person that hires the people to run the team. Katz is the person that would have the power to meddle after the fact. Katz is the person responsible for inserting the OBC into various positions that always survive whenever there is a purge. These people then get passed on to the new GM and coach that get hired. Its a package deal...they are forced to accpet the OBC as part of the job.
There is absolutely no accountability for people like MacT, Lowe and Howsen. Might was well throw Green in there too. Their jobs are safe regardless of how bad the team is and how many coaches/GM's get fired.

We never had these kinds of issues prior to Katz owning the team. That isnt a coincidence....it is all about Katz IMO.

 

[MikeGrier99]

Katz <- Has no idea how to hire NHL staff
Lowe/Nicholson <- Have no idea how to hire NHL staff
Tambo/MacT/Chia <- Well below average at their jobs
Everyone else in the organisation <- Likely to underperform

It's as simple as that.

 

[Soundwave]

They don't have enough good players even though they're gifted multiple opportunities to get them. Because they have a poor GM and surrounding management.

That's all it is.

Falling into the trap of "this is a voodoo curse!" is the worst lesson you could draw here. It's not.

There is no voodoo. The Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs 18/20 seasons at one point before becoming the greatest dynasty in modern pro sports because an interim GM had the balls to take Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the draft when others in the front office told him not to.

The New England Patriots were awful in the 90s and on the verge on being moved before becoming the top NFL franchise for like 20 years now.

The Chicago Bulls were so bad that Magic Johnson told them straight up he would refuse to report there if they chose him with their draft pick. They get Michael Jordan and they're still bad for multiple years but eventually start to get some decent players around Jordan and next thing you know they are a 6 championship dynasty.

The Chicago Blackhawks missed the playoffs 9/10 years prior to winning 3 Cups in the following 7 years.

Start with a GM that makes one good move. Now make another. Now make another. And before you know it you are on your way. That's all it is.

 

[GodPucker]

Easy. No talent.

 

[Ragss]

fluoride

 

[bodechek]

For me it starts with Kevin Lowe. Longest serving exec in the organization, trying to relive the 80's. Problem is, the game has changed since he last played.

 

[Del Preston]

Katz and his heroes from the 80s.

 

[MaxR11]

starts at the very top and trickles down. culture. bad culture bad decisions, bad way of doing things, bad habits, bad values, bad ideals, bad players, players underperform in bad culture, bad communication, bad treatment of people and players. it boils down to a bad overall culture in the organization. leads to incompetence.

whehter jesse actually had it in him to be a good player or not, this organization showed it's bad culture in how they handled him. stupid ideals. treating first rounders different than other draft picks. you wonder why good organizations can turn mid round picks into talent goal. proper handling... proper culture.

people can scream about lack of talent and that is for sure true... but it's the bad culture of handling things that led to this roster we have. and to have this roster even under perform.

and when you have this bad organizational culture with poor values and standards it affects the room as well. when you have a poor culture people start to turn on each other, buy in goes out the window and people do their own individual things and are not a cohesive unit anymore.

it's gong show mess from top to bottom. a tire fire. kinda sad.

 

[Tyrolean]

I think most knowledge fans know the problem is with Katz and the OBC. We could have an Ottawa situation someday also where all the stars don't want to be here anymore. If you lose McDavid like this, it would spell the real end of fan support.

 

[Soundwave]

The OBC needs to go, but the fact is they hired a bad GM in 2015 with a deceptive track record.

Four years of his work should result in a bad team ... and it has. There's nothing shocking or surprising here.

Bad GM = bad team. It should be that way and it is. The Oilers deserve to be bad for hiring that GM and letting him run amok on the roster.

 

[OilerSuperstar17]

It's a lot of things. Everything from Katz, to hiring GM's/coaches without actually conducting a search and interviewing multiple people, to those GM's not allowing prospects to properly develop, which in turn makes them sell low on those assets, which brings nothing of value back and the cycle continues.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Katz lack of accountability

the losers that got us into this mess to begin with are still employed...its astounding really

 

[Tyrolean]

starts at the very top and trickles down. culture. bad culture bad decisions, bad way of doing things, bad habits, bad values, bad ideals, bad players, players underperform in bad culture, bad communication, bad treatment of people and players. it boils down to a bad overall culture in the organization. leads to incompetence.

whehter jesse actually had it in him to be a good player or not, this organization showed it's bad culture in how they handled him. stupid ideals. treating first rounders different than other draft picks. you wonder why good organizations can turn mid round picks into talent goal. proper handling... proper culture.

people can scream about lack of talent and that is for sure true... but it's the bad culture of handling things that led to this roster we have. and to have this roster even under perform.

and when you have this bad organizational culture with poor values and standards it affects the room as well. when you have a poor culture people start to turn on each other, buy in goes out the window and people do their own individual things and are not a cohesive unit anymore.

it's gong show mess from top to bottom. a tire fire. kinda sad.

There are some bright spots. The Condors are doing really well and there are a few young players showing great promise in the junior and Euro leagues. You just have to clear the rot at the top before moving ahead.

 

[The Batman]

It's not the organization. It's the water. Something is in it.

On a serious note it's the total ineptitude across the board. Losing trades, poorly developing prospects, drafting busts, and giving up on players for them to only thrive elsewhere. Oh, and the nepotism; hire/draft someone without your last name maybe.

 

[Soundwave]

The Leafs showed pretty plainly how much of a skill gap there is between them and the Oilers.

The Oilers just played one gutsy, grind-it-out game against Nashville ... against Toronto they were simply outclassed on talent.

They don't have the fire power to match up to that.

 

[MaxR11]

Every great organization has that winning mentality at the top. Say what you want about Pocklington but the guy was obsessed with winning and he did anything and everything to build a winning team. In Katz I just see someone who just wants to collect cheques and hang out with the boys on the bus every once in a while. It's like a Golf and Country Club with this guy.

.

yup. that's culture. this organization is lazy A.F. they've won their cups (obc). the hunger is not quite there. or at least directed in the wrong way. i mean seriously... they hire coffey who half a** part times it. gretzky?.... come on how much work do you think the guy does. these guys are not committed. these guys all get together and drink red wine holding important meetings. this is the culture of this obc management. it's a club house hobby for them. theyre all there to hang out with buds and feast on katz's wealth. it's like the player who gets the $10 mil contract for 8 years and packs it in. the hunger is gone. they can say they care all they want but the things they do are so wishy washy. the culture is rotten.

 

[DrDrai]

Give me 7-8 days and I’ll... oh wait nvm.

 

[Soundwave]

They didn't take Barzal when they had the chance.

They didn't take DeBrincat when they had the chance (and there was a clear logic in taking him).

They didn't take Chabot, Boeser, Tkachuk when they had the chance.

They did bet the farm on Milan Lucic.

They destroyed their forward depth by gifting Hall to the Devils for a middling, run of the mill D-Man in Adam Larsson, the level of D that other teams pick up for a draft pick at the trade deadline.

They deserve to be where they are. They don't deserve success today because they didn't do the work in 2015, 2016, 2017.

It's like a kid that complains about why they're getting bad grades but spent the week leading up to their exam playing Fortnite instead of studying. You got what you deserved kiddo, there's no mystery as to why your report card sucks.

 

[MaxR11]

it makes a massive difference how much time you put into scouting, into decision making, analyzing things on video etc etc.... i really feel this management is very lazy and you can tell by the stupid moves and trades that were made. you can tell they didn't really take a lot of time to rationalize things out and get ACCURATE and detailed scouting reports. they just wing it on a gut feel. i mean TWO pro scouts is all this team has???? ridiculous. these f***ers probably get to work at 10am and pack it in at 3pm. it's not a NHL exec full time job for them. i bet good org execs put in 12-15 hour shifts everyday. it's culture.

you hear about guys like Chris Jones who puts in ungodly hours preparing etc. that's why he's successful. none of these guys in the oilers org puts in any serious hours... and when they're around they likely just chill and watch they game with celebs llike garth borrks and get tipsy. it's a fu**ing jooke. it's no surprise why this team is a gong show. it starts from the top. katz needs to grow a pair and fire the obc and get real managment in to save this franchise. enough with this old buddies country club management culture.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Problem 1: Katz misguided loyalty to a bunch of ass clowns who have thought they were smarter than everyone else in the room for 15 years or more, and continue to do so.

Problem 2: Profit > product. Zero incentive to change so long as the organization which now includes real estate development along with a myriad of entertainment focal points keep rolling in the dough. Much like MLSE there was no incentive to change until they decided they were tired of being the leagues laughing stock.

Problem 3: Dysfunctional at the draft table.

Problem 4: Barren of brains at properly developing players.

Problem 5: Fan loyalty.

 

[Soundwave]

How much work is really needed to realize Barzal should've been taken at 16, DeBrincat in the 2nd round?

Tons of people were saying that on this board ... these people aren't professional scouts, hell half of them are probably kids.

How the hell do kids know better than your freaking $3 million a year Mega-Hyped Bruins GM and his goofball amateur/pro scouts?

How the hell do you pay like 5x more what any other sane organization would pay to get a d-man in Adam Larsson that really addresses none of your actual large scale needs on the blue line?

 

[T-Funk]

Lowe, MacT, Howson, Nicholson, Bob Stauffer, etc etc etc

Katz doesn't treat this like a real business. Instead of fixing problems, he sends people out to straight up LIE to his fans/customers that there is no problem.

 

[The Nuge]

Simple. There’s a massive lack of skill on the wings. Fix that, and the other problems will disappear, just like they did in 16/17.

Soundwave’s thread the other day covered our issues well

 

[Panthera]

They suck

Alright, with that out of the way, I can move on to answering some other tough questions, like why is drinking water healthy and why do kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch

More seriously...they suck. The roster is terrible and has been for ages because the team first didn't commit to rebuilding when it needed to (held onto players too long, rushed players into the lineup to try to desperately speed up the process), then made a ton of bad decisions when it came to drafting, trading, contract negotiations...everything, really. Katz doesn't know or doesn't care that his boys just don't know how to do their jobs, the OBC probably still has ample influence despite being bad at everything related to running a hockey team, and even if you could bring in competent management it would take a while to turn things around most likely. This organization has valued what it perceives as good character and culture over actual talent, and the end result is unsurprising: We have little talent outside McDrai, and all the character in the world doesn't stop everyone from being miserable due to losing all the time.

Unfortunately, it's hard to see a way out. Katz doesn't seem keen on making any big changes to how he does things, so the team will go looking for another GM that thinks like the OBC does. Even if they manage to find a good one, we have a garbage roster with little of value to offer in trades (seriously, do we have *anyone* outside our top three centers and Klefbom that any team in the league would offer anything significant enough to make a difference for?), prospect depth looks...maybe alright, but with how dire our roster is we can't really afford to give much away because we need quite a few of them to become solid NHLers, and that's never a sure bet, can hardly justify trading many draft picks because we need prospects that can hopefully make the team on ELCs because the cap situation isn't great (and they're nice early picks, of course!), the thought of any player worth having waiving a no trade clause for us is a sick joke and a player wanting to sign here in free agency is enough to make you wonder if they know they can't cut it anywhere else. It's not impossible to be good again, but it might be impossible to be good again before the 2021-2022 season.