Absolute breaking point? Manning trade.
Near breaking point? Not firing McLellan for a year after it was apparent he'd lost the team.
Point of serious questioning? Not replacing Eberle after trading him for Strome.
Summer of 17
1) He knows Sekera is out for most of the season. Signs no replacement.
2) He knows we rode Talbot raw... signs Montoya as a backup.
3) Trades Eberle short after publicly slandering his effort, saves cap that isn't needed (or used) until a summer later. Does nothing with that flexibility
That was what got us here. If we signed a vet D, we probably don't monumentally collapse in the first 20 games... confidence remains high... Eberle reminds us that he's a great regular season scorer... can be traded for decent futures at the deadline... a real backup goalie helps Talbot remain sane in what is an off year and we probably squeak into the playoffs knowing there are real weaknesses in the depth, but at least we have some non-depressed assets and cap to address them in summer 18.
This exactly - this is when we knew it would be a repeat of last year at best.For me, it was the off season for the 17-18 season. He knew damn well Sekera would be out until February and did nothing to address it. That was it for me there, then he had the lack of brain cells to do it AGAIN this off season.
That was seriously as awful a summer as there has been around here. The Oilers had the chance to build on a successful year and he decided to not help in the team in any meaningful way.Summer of 17
1) He knows Sekera is out for most of the season. Signs no replacement.
2) He knows we rode Talbot raw... signs Montoya as a backup.
3) Trades Eberle short after publicly slandering his effort, saves cap that isn't needed (or used) until a summer later. Does nothing with that flexibility
That was what got us here. If we signed a vet D, we probably don't monumentally collapse in the first 20 games... confidence remains high... Eberle reminds us that he's a great regular season scorer... can be traded for decent futures at the deadline... a real backup goalie helps Talbot remain sane in what is an off year and we probably squeak into the playoffs knowing there are real weaknesses in the depth, but at least we have some non-depressed assets and cap to address them in summer 18.
I honestly still feel like 16-17 was more of a mirage than anything.
Talbot played out of his mind and Klefbom was fully healthy and they would get juuuust enough offence at the right times from supplemental sources to look better than they were.
The whole "experiment" of "lets build a big heavy team full of Lucics, Larssons, and Reinharts around McDavid" IMO was always going to blow up in the Oilers face sooner or later.
That was never going to work. No one built a team like that around Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, or Ovechkin and ever had any success with it.
Yup, this is exactly it for me. I muffled my hatred when we made the play-offs because I wanted to believe in the process, but I've never forgiven him for that move and have been calling him out since that trade. Also, the Lucic signing. When it was clear that we essentially moved Hall out to make room for that signing, I knew.Reinhart.
The moment he made that trade, I knew that he likely wasn't the saviour.
Hall was the killer.
That was it for me as well. Back then he still had supporters but all that summer I argued to add a piece and keep the team rolling.Inaction during summer '17. Team was coming off their best reg season since 1987! and had a good playoff run for the first time in a decade and he did nothing to push them forward/keep them on the right track.