Where exactly did the rebuild go wrong?

[Stud Muffin]

to add my ideas on why things went bad


1) all of Gagner, Yak and Nuge should have went back to Junioir--Hall had proved everything he needed and McDavid is the chosen one

Yak and RNH were ready.

 

[sportsdynasty]

we will go around in circles on this--but the fact they refused to admit it was a rebuild and kept trying to get short fix solutions to rather large problems

They came out publicly and said it was a rebuild after drafting Hall. Oilers fans rejoiced and thought they'd be back to the playoffs soon with their 1st overall pick.

6 years later, the team is in worse shape than when they first drafted Hall. The team was run into the ground by Lowe and MacT, who are still with the Oilers organization getting paid alot of money.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

 

[rosemount289]

You people are forgetting..............???

They came out publicly and said it was a rebuild after drafting Hall. Oilers fans rejoiced and thought they'd be back to the playoffs soon with their 1st overall pick.

6 years later, the team is in worse shape than when they first drafted Hall. The team was run into the ground by Lowe and MacT, who are still with the Oilers organization getting paid alot of money.

People are forgetting who was the GM when the Oiler's won the lottery last year for the right to draft "Connor McDavid".

I know what you Lowe and MacT haters are going to say.........it was luck, spin of the wheel, good fortune, timing, etc..........but all of you seem to blame Lowe and MacT for everything else at least gave them the credit for McDavid.

 

[Up the Irons]

Yak and RNH were ready.

seriously? skill-wise, Nuge was ready, but not physically.

Yak isn't NHL ready now!! Yet to be proven he ever will be.

 

[Up the Irons]

People are forgetting who was the GM when the Oiler's won the lottery last year for the right to draft "Connor McDavid".

I know what you Lowe and MacT haters are going to say.........it was luck, spin of the wheel, good fortune, timing, etc..........but all of you seem to blame Lowe and MacT for everything else at least gave them the credit for McDavid.

credit for having the 3rd best odds of winning the McDavid lottery?!?!??! Credit for finishing 28th, ahead of two teams (Buffalo and Arizona) that were blatantly tanking?

You don't give credit for being terrible., and yes, I do blame Lowe and MacT for everything including Global Warming.

 

[Jumptheshark]

They came out publicly and said it was a rebuild after drafting Hall. Oilers fans rejoiced and thought they'd be back to the playoffs soon with their 1st overall pick.

6 years later, the team is in worse shape than when they first drafted Hall. The team was run into the ground by Lowe and MacT, who are still with the Oilers organization getting paid alot of money.

The rebuild started with Smyth to nyi

 

[Jumptheshark]

Yak and RNH were ready.

No they weren't

 

[Young Lions*]

No they weren't

RNH most certainly was. Not his fault the team lacked any decent vets to give him cover.

 

[Stud Muffin]

No they weren't

They definitely were RNH had 52 points in 62 games, in what world is that not ready.
Yak Was most definitely ready he was close to a PPG player in the the worlds second best league.

 

[Up the Irons]

They definitely were RNH had 52 points in 62 games, in what world is that not ready.
Yak Was most definitely ready he was close to a PPG player in the the worlds second best league.

Yak had (still has) less defensive awareness then most AAA bantam players

Nuge separated his shoulder by falling into the boards.

 

[Jet Walters]

Two roads diverged in a wood, and we, we took the one that sucked.

Then the Trailmaster tried to find an old road that used to be there in the 80's, with no success, and eventually we got out of the woods only to find ourselves in a desert.

Then some lottery balls gave us a chance.

 

[Jumptheshark]

RNH most certainly was. Not his fault the team lacked any decent vets to give him cover.

They definitely were RNH had 52 points in 62 games, in what world is that not ready.
Yak Was most definitely ready he was close to a PPG player in the the worlds second best league.

physically Nuge was not ready


we point too much to pts sometimes as examples of players being ready

how many times has Nuge played 80 game in a season? Once(if you pro rate the shorten year then 2) but he took a lot of hits in year one and I think that affected his ability. He was a little boy against men and got his head handed to him that year--pts aside--physically he could have used that extra year

 

[The Panther]

Yak (was) ready.

Yes, ready for the garbage-bin.

Three years later, and he's even more ready!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and we, we took the one that sucked.

Then the Trailmaster tried to find an old road that used to be there in the 80's, with no success, and eventually we got out of the woods only to find ourselves in a desert.

Then some lottery balls gave us a chance.

This may be the post of the century. Well-done.

 

[Oilers10]

People are forgetting who was the GM when the Oiler's won the lottery last year for the right to draft "Connor McDavid".

I know what you Lowe and MacT haters are going to say.........it was luck, spin of the wheel, good fortune, timing, etc..........but all of you seem to blame Lowe and MacT for everything else at least gave them the credit for McDavid.

LOL WHAT? Credit for a rebuild gone so wrong that 6 years after it started we won a 11.5% chance at McDavid out of pure luck?

 

[joestevens29]

They definitely were RNH had 52 points in 62 games, in what world is that not ready.
Yak Was most definitely ready he was close to a PPG player in the the worlds second best league.

A lot of rookies are ready, but then once the rest of the NHL figures you out then you aren't ready. This is why drafting top 5 kinda sucks in development. You have very few options. Guys are too good for Junior and aren't going to learn anything there, but they aren't allowed to go to the AHL. Both Nuge and Yak could've used AHL time along with Gagner, but it wasn't an option.

I'm really curious to see if more guys take the Mattews path. Go to Europe get a pay cheque and then still have the option to play in the AHL if he needs it.

 

[Young Lions*]

Yak had (still has) less defensive awareness then most AAA bantam players

Nuge separated his shoulder by falling into the boards.

What? That never happened. Nuge had a shoulder injury in junior, I believe it was a torn labrum.

physically Nuge was not ready

we point too much to pts sometimes as examples of players being ready

As opposed to what? He came in and put up 52 points in his rookie years as an 18 year old playing the most ES minutes of any centre on the club. There's no doubt he was, at minimum, NHL-ready.

how many times has Nuge played 80 game in a season? Once(if you pro rate the shorten year then 2) but he took a lot of hits in year one and I think that affected his ability. He was a little boy against men and got his head handed to him that year--pts aside--physically he could have used that extra year

He played 76 games last season.

There's no evidence an extra year in junior would have better prepared him to handle the rigors of playing as a 1c in the western conference at 19 instead of 18.

 

[Up the Irons]

What? That never happened. Nuge had a shoulder injury in junior, I believe it was a torn labrum.



As opposed to what? He came in and put up 52 points in his rookie years as an 18 year old playing the most ES minutes of any centre on the club. There's no doubt he was, at minimum, NHL-ready.



He played 76 games last season.

There's no evidence an extra year in junior would have better prepared him to handle the rigors of playing as a 1c in the western conference at 19 instead of 18.

there is no evidence that it would have been bad for him, either, and there are many examples (latest being Mitch Marner) of players benefitting from staying an extra year in Junior.

Yes, skillfully, he was ready. the team wasn't ready for a small #1 C. the whole thing was a mess.

 

[Young Lions*]

there is no evidence that it would have been bad for him, either, and there are many examples (latest being Mitch Marner) of players benefitting from staying an extra year in Junior.

Marner wasn't a 1st overall picks. First overall picks don't go back to junior.

Yes, skillfully, he was ready. the team wasn't ready for a small #1 C. the whole thing was a mess.

So we can agree then that RNH was NHL ready in his first season but was not placed in a position to succeed by the team. That's not his fault.

 

[Up the Irons]

Marner wasn't a 1st overall picks. First overall picks don't go back to junior.



So we can agree then that RNH was NHL ready in his first season but was not placed in a position to succeed by the team. That's not his fault.

for the most part, we agree. It wasn't his fault he was the best centre in the Oilers' organization. but doesn't mean sending him back to Jr. would have hurt him. He wasn't a superstar in Red Deer, just a shade above 1.5 ppg.

the fact that first overalls don't go back to Jr. is not a positive development. I believe it would have been good for RNH, tho not really practical because, well.. its not surprising the best 18 yr in the world can make the 30th place team.

In the case of Yak, however, he absolutely should have been sent back. He is still barely good enough to play in the NHL. course, in Jr he was free to do whatever he wanted, so what would he have really learned?

ah, 20-20 and all that. What we have here is people trying to come up with reasons why 2 of our 1st overalls are underwhelming. One's a pretty good centre and one is a below average 2nd line winger; and that is probably how it would have ended up, regardless of the path.

it is what it is.

cheers.

 

[joestevens29]

for the most part, we agree. It wasn't his fault he was the best centre in the Oilers' organization. but doesn't mean sending him back to Jr. would have hurt him. He wasn't a superstar in Red Deer, just a shade above 1.5 ppg.

the fact that first overalls don't go back to Jr. is not a positive development. I believe it would have been good for RNH, tho not really practical because, well.. its not surprising the best 18 yr in the world can make the 30th place team.

In the case of Yak, however, he absolutely should have been sent back. He is still barely good enough to play in the NHL. course, in Jr he was free to do whatever he wanted, so what would he have really learned?

ah, 20-20 and all that. What we have here is people trying to come up with reasons why 2 of our 1st overalls are underwhelming. One's a pretty good centre and one is a below average 2nd line winger; and that is probably how it would have ended up, regardless of the path.

it is what it is.

cheers.

This is what I see with marner next year. What good is he to go to Junior? He's already being given free reign and not exactly learning to develop other skills. He's just going to dance around everyone next year, but at the same time I don't know that the kid is ready for men at the NHL level.

Would sure be nice to have that AHL option.

 

[rboomercat90]

People are forgetting who was the GM when the Oiler's won the lottery last year for the right to draft "Connor McDavid".

I know what you Lowe and MacT haters are going to say.........it was luck, spin of the wheel, good fortune, timing, etc..........but all of you seem to blame Lowe and MacT for everything else at least gave them the credit for McDavid.

This team wasn't trying to tank going into Mac T's final year as GM. Arizona and Buffalo showed us what tanking teams looked like, trading away everybody they could.

The organization was clearly trying to improve going into that season. The Oilers increased the budget the previous off season and let Mactavish spend close to cap. His moves drove the team even further into the ground. He screwed up. Why should he get any credit for that? Again, the team ending up in the toilet that year wasn't intentional. If it was, Eakins doesn't get fired in mid season and Nicholson isn't publicly talking about an internal audit to determine why this organization is so bad. Neither Lowe nor Mactavish deserve any credit for MacDavid, especially Mactavish. He was just awful.

 

[Titsuple]

I like mac T. Seems like he would be fun to take in a game with and talk hockey. That said this team took a huge turn for the worst the day he became GM. IMO if we got a experienced GM in place of mac t we would have been in playoffs by now

 

[Bangers]

physically Nuge was not ready


we point too much to pts sometimes as examples of players being ready

how many times has Nuge played 80 game in a season? Once(if you pro rate the shorten year then 2) but he took a lot of hits in year one and I think that affected his ability. He was a little boy against men and got his head handed to him that year--pts aside--physically he could have used that extra year

Nuge was too good for junior and should have played his rookie season; however, he should have gotten the Thornton/Stamkos treatment (favorable matchups, 10-12 minutes a night) his rookie season.

 

[phaedrusDH]

The rebuild started with Smyth to nyi

The rebuild started with CFP to Anaheim