When would you start believing again?

[Tyrolean]

The Oilers always matched up well against teams like the Lightning who play an offensive style. It's the big teams in the west that dont give you much that they can't ever seem to beat. Need to compete in and win some of those.

They also can't beat Calgary.

 

[Cawz]

Premature title aside,


What do the oilers need to do

They need to stop pissing me off

 

[Raab]

When they hold a playoff spot midway through march. I don't expect them to make the playoffs but they should be challenging. No more excuses.

 

[McDynasty]

I have to concur with everyone else here, .500 hockey would be heaven for me. My expectations are pretty low and I just enjoy watching our team compete. If they loose it is not the end of the world if they put in a solid effort. Playoffs are out of the question this year I think, so just to see some competition would give me hope.

Other things that would keep me watching all the games this year:

-Hallsy scoring 40 goals
-Seeing Yakupov get more icetime, and not being traded.
-Nuge dominating
-Good defensive play
-Solid goaltending
-Eakins flipping his hair

 

[McDynasty]

My first question to people in this thread is what do you mean by .500? You mean the real .500? Or the phoney baloney loser point .500?

You are still a terrible team if you have a .500 record in the NHL these days.

Obviously in the west we would not make the playoffs with .500, but I'm looking for an increase every year, not giant leaps. Sad thing is we regressed and that's why most fans just want a team that can win half of the games.

 

[shoop]

My first question to people in this thread is what do you mean by .500? You mean the real .500? Or the phoney baloney loser point .500?

You are still a terrible team if you have a .500 record in the NHL these days.

Agreed about the loser point. It's as if .500 has no meaning, because who cares if a team is .500 with the loser point.

That being said if the Oilers could get back to even loser point .500 overall in the next 15 games they would have to go 9-6-0.

That would be a pretty decent stretch.

 

[Mr Positive]

I refuse to have a strong opinion either way until I see more games. I agree that if we hit that .500 mark in a relatively short amount of time that will be a very good step forward.

edit: and as an aside I hope we start winning a lot right away not just for winning's sake but I think it would be great if we could keep our main young guys. Yakupov has been in a lot of rumours lately. So in a way I'm also cheering for Draisaitl and Arcobello because if they are good enough to stay in their current roles, then we probably won't see a need to trade someone like Yakupov (or Eberle)

 

[CupofOil]

Playing .500 means little to me. If they are .500 and getting severely outchanced every night like the Leafs of 2 seasons ago but are being carried by unsustainably hot goaltending and good fortune then I really couldn't care less about the record because it will only crash down at some point.

What I want to see is them start to play as a cohesive unit on a consistent basis, buy into some sort of system and not get pushed around by the elite teams of the west.

I want to see the young guys commit to a 200 ft game, the defensemen to be positionally sound and for the goalies to make a big save every now and then.

I want to see them look like a real NHL team, not a team that plays a disjointed game and relies solely on other teams to commit mistakes for them to get any scoring chances.
I want to see them dominate the puck and take it to the other team and be the ones dictating the pace more consistently. We have seen flashes of this but mostly from the 4th line, the other lines need to buy in and the defensemen need to cut down on those junior level breakdowns that wind up sinking team confidence.

The bottom line is that having a decent record is one thing but looking the part on the ice is quite another.

 

[Beerfish]

Last year a grand total of 5 teams in the league were less than .500

If you are .500 these days you stink. At least the way people seem to like to think of .500

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

My first question to people in this thread is what do you mean by .500? You mean the real .500? Or the phoney baloney loser point .500?

You are still a terrible team if you have a .500 record in the NHL these days.

which is light year better than they been the past 4 years...

I'm looking at being .500 after this homestand...then I'll believe

 

[OilerPensfan97]

Bascially what most of the others are saying.

Getting back to .500. That is the only way to challenge.

 

[Replacement*]

Bascially what most of the others are saying.

Getting back to .500. That is the only way to challenge.

The current NHL definition of .500 is nothing close to challenging, or a playoff spot.

This org needs to focus on being in the running for a playoff spot. I'm done with "well maybe next year".

 

[I am the Liquor]

Fire the OBC management and replace them with someone competent.

Anything else is just a band aid on a hemorrhaging artery.

 

[Beerfish]

Bascially what most of the others are saying.

Getting back to .500. That is the only way to challenge.

LOL challenge for what? Bottom 5? Because that what .500 gets you in this league.

 

[dem]

LOL challenge for what? Bottom 5? Because that what .500 gets you in this league.

This thread is about the next 15 games..

You have the rest of the year to get above .500..

 

[BowDangles]

LOL challenge for what? Bottom 5? Because that what .500 gets you in this league.

I guess this matters what you consider .500 is... Last year Dallas went 40W 31L 11OTL and were in 8th.
So in terms of strictly wins and losses they went 40W-42L...

The flip side of it is if overtime didn't give you any points, 41W-41L does not get you into the playoffs...

So i would be happy with a .500 record as long as 10 or more of those losses are over time losses.

 

[Seedling]

Complete regime change. Really, that's the only thing that would give hope to the fans.

 

[Gone]

Fire the OBC management and replace them with someone competent.

Anything else is just a band aid on a hemorrhaging artery.

This.

 

[Gone]

Complete regime change. Really, that's the only thing that would give hope to the fans.

And this.

 

[Psychoil]

Playing .500 means little to me. If they are .500 and getting severely outchanced every night like the Leafs of 2 seasons ago but are being carried by unsustainably hot goaltending and good fortune then I really couldn't care less about the record because it will only crash down at some point.

What I want to see is them start to play as a cohesive unit on a consistent basis, buy into some sort of system and not get pushed around by the elite teams of the west.

I want to see the young guys commit to a 200 ft game, the defensemen to be positionally sound and for the goalies to make a big save every now and then.

I want to see them look like a real NHL team, not a team that plays a disjointed game and relies solely on other teams to commit mistakes for them to get any scoring chances.
I want to see them dominate the puck and take it to the other team and be the ones dictating the pace more consistently. We have seen flashes of this but mostly from the 4th line, the other lines need to buy in and the defensemen need to cut down on those junior level breakdowns that wind up sinking team confidence.

The bottom line is that having a decent record is one thing but looking the part on the ice is quite another.

Lol see this is the kind of answer I was looking for. Everyone on here is crying about playing .500 hockey, but the fact is, I want to look like a team that is dominant against other teams, only then will I start to believe. But I think winning will come as a by product so what the hell do I know?

 

[Section337]

Consecutive years in the playoffs.

 

[DarkSaturn]

Being ahead of the flames in the standings would be a really good start.

 

[Up the Irons]

30 consecutive games that they:

-competed in, maybe two or three "nights off" in that whole span,
-used the kids intelligently, in roles that they were expected to be playing in when they were drafted, and with players that they can learn from,
-exhibited a disciplined defensive system and played smart along the boards.


These are things that we haven't seen in Edmonton since before MacT was the coach. I don't have the slightest bit of hope that we are going to see it with the current leadership of the team.

Something like this, and I'd add a couple:

1. See management actually make a move that convinces me they are trying to compete in the here and now. I still don't believe they care about this season.
2. Go on an actual winning streak. You know, win 7 in a row, or get 20 pts of a possible 25. When's the last time that happened?

 

[Beerfish]

This thread is about the next 15 games..

You have the rest of the year to get above .500..

The thread title says when will you start believing again, zero people will start believing them again after 15 games unless we go like 8-2

 

[dustrock]

When they hold a playoff spot midway through march. I don't expect them to make the playoffs but they should be challenging. No more excuses.

Yup.