Where's MacT?

[Arctic Fox]

I have two concerns with this decision

1) If the Oilers decided he wasn't good enough to be GM, why did they keep him in an important role with Chiarelli. How awkward is it for PC to work with MacT and Howson to undo the damage that MacT and Howson created.

2) Did Chiarelli really want MacT as #2 or did Lowe/Katz show loyalty instead of sound business decision making

They just want to see the team improve in the standings. And as soon as it happens, PC will be out the door for some made-up reason. Lowe+MacT will get reinstated to reap the rewards, waive their 6 rings and talk about their great vision. They already tried this strategy with Tambo. Same shyt, different year.

 

[kickaction]

They just want to see the team improve in the standings. And as soon as it happens, PC will be out the door for some made-up reason. Lowe+MacT will get reinstated to reap the rewards, waive their 6 rings and talk about their great vision. They already tried this strategy with Tambo. Same shyt, different year.

Here come the conspiracy theories

 

[Dorian2]

My "cotton ball protection plan" would work well here.

 

[Up the Irons]

Your alone in the hockey world thinking there qualified for anything. Watch any sports outlet after the Mcdavid lottery, they all said our MANAGMENT doesnt deserve a thing.

Its fans like you that make this franchise think that there making good decisions.

Everybody in the league thinks Oilers are a joke and they are. You fire these people for PR so people actually think that someone knows what there doing. This is why no one signs with Oilers. They keep idiots around.

agreed. there is no point in keeping these guys, other than they would have to pay them out, and its better, financially, to just keep them here till their contracts run out.

KLowe and Mact bring NOTHING, other than their bad reps. As long as these guys are around, the organization will have to battle the reputation of no accountability and cronyism.

We'll see how it all works out. Chia should do fine even if Mact is in the room adding his 2 cents. They can probably overcome the negative aura of Mact.

So, we wait.

 

[McJadeddog]

i'll just leave this here.... http://www.coppernblue.com/2015/5/2/8538153/peter-chiarelli-demotes-craig-mactavish-number-2

 

[Oilers10]

i'll just leave this here.... http://www.coppernblue.com/2015/5/2/8538153/peter-chiarelli-demotes-craig-mactavish-number-2

This is the same Craig MacTavish that wasted the only thing Steve Tambellini left him - cap space - by signing horrendous contracts for Andrew Ference, Keith Aulie, Luke Gazdic, Justin Schultz, icing the worst defense in the NHL and then blaming Devan Dubnyk (Vezina and Hart-worthy Devan Dubnyk) for the team's inability to keep pucks out of the net. He "fixed" that problem by adding 6th defenseman Nikita Nikitin and expecting him to be a top pairing guy, then blaming Jeff Petry when the team couldn't keep pucks out of the net.

MacTavish single-handedly put the team on the brink of a cap disaster and somehow made the Oilers worse in doing so.

That sums up MacT as a GM right there. This not even mentioning the hiring of Eakins. I'm really disappointed by this move by Chiarelli.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Don't blame MacT! He's still learning on the job!

 

[rboomercat90]

Who knows yet how this is going to play out. I, like most of us, want this to work because I want to see the team finally improve. If it was me I would have demanded Lowe not have any say whatsoever in hockey decisions if he wasn't going to be completely removed from the organization. We were initially led to believe this was the case but Nicholson alluded to him working on the hockey side where ever Chiarelli felt he could help. To me that leaves it open to mean anything. Good or bad. That leaves me uneasy. Many on here feel Mactavish is a good hockey guy. I don't see much to support that.

I said months ago that for any meaningful change to occur that both Lowe and Mactavish needed to be removed from the organization. Lowe has been head of the organization for fifteen years. Mactavish has been here for twelve of those years. These two have had their shot and have failed miserably. They are set in their ways and I doubt they are open to bending on their views. Why did it take for Nicholson to come in and demand change for it to happen if they were? What bothers me the most moving forward is that everybody else in this organization was hired by them. Many being questionable hires with poor performance records. Human nature suggests it'll be Lowe and Mactavish they are loyal to and not Chiarelli. This organization doesn't fire many people it tends to just add on. We could see a situation down the road where Chiarelli starts adding on to the organization by bringing in his own people and have two sides working against each other. This set up could lead to even more dysfunction than what we have right now. It would have been much better just to purge everyone at the start of the new regime.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

That sums up MacT as a GM right there. This not even mentioning the hiring of Eakins. I'm really disappointed by this move by Chiarelli.

The Aulie and Gazdic contracts aren't hurting anyone. That said I agree with the sentiment of that quote.

 

[Tarus]

i'll just leave this here.... http://www.coppernblue.com/2015/5/2/8538153/peter-chiarelli-demotes-craig-mactavish-number-2

I'm a little surprised, the Copper and Blue blog I remember from years ago could have been mistaken for the Mactavish fan club blog(a title that goes to Lowetide of course).

Seems they nail it here though

I've already said my piece in this thread; a new GM gets hired and not a single person is fired despite being a tire fire for a decade, reeks of meddling behind the scenes by the owner. The hiring of Chia is turning out to be not so much of a cleaning of the house, but more like a hoarder adding a new piece of furniture to a house already stuffed full of junk

 

[HumbleEgomaniac]

I think this is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. While I agree that MacT was not a good GM, that doesn't necessarily mean all of his opinions or ideas are worthless. He is being kept as an additional voice, but Chia is making the final decisions on this team. Also, if MacT is under contract, I would gather is makes more sense to keep him around and use his experience wherever Chia needs it (I think scouting will be a big one).

 

[Dorian2]

I'm a little surprised, the Copper and Blue blog I remember from years ago could have been mistaken for the Mactavish fan club blog(a title that goes to Lowetide of course).

Seems they nail it here though

I've already said my piece in this thread; a new GM gets hired and not a single person is fired despite being a tire fire for a decade, reeks of meddling behind the scenes by the owner. The hiring of Chia is turning out to be not so much of a cleaning of the house, but more like a hoarder adding a new piece of furniture to a house already stuffed full of junk

I think I like that.

Crazy

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

He just wants part of the inevitable glory. Because he's friends with Katz, he will never get what he deserves based upon his abysmal performance.

 

[Faelko]

I think this is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. While I agree that MacT was not a good GM, that doesn't necessarily mean all of his opinions or ideas are worthless. He is being kept as an additional voice, but Chia is making the final decisions on this team. Also, if MacT is under contract, I would gather is makes more sense to keep him around and use his experience wherever Chia needs it (I think scouting will be a big one).

My thoughts as well

 

[joestevens29]

I think this is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. While I agree that MacT was not a good GM, that doesn't necessarily mean all of his opinions or ideas are worthless. He is being kept as an additional voice, but Chia is making the final decisions on this team. Also, if MacT is under contract, I would gather is makes more sense to keep him around and use his experience wherever Chia needs it (I think scouting will be a big one).

I agree with this. I think it's a move that makes sense for both sides. MacT isn't getting a GM job in the NHL anytime soon, so for him he should try bounce back and do good things here. For PC, he doesn't know a lot about our organization. Does it really hurt to have MacT around while you try figure out what players need to be purged?

 

[Wheathead]

i'll just leave this here.... http://www.coppernblue.com/2015/5/2/8538153/peter-chiarelli-demotes-craig-mactavish-number-2

If MacT still had GM prospects in the NHL, he'd be walking out that front door of the Oilers office with a box of his things in a second.

The only reason why he was GM in the NHL with 0 management experience is because Kevin Lowe and Darryl Katz were too lazy to do a full, conclusive search for the right candidate (or find someone willing to work with Lowe sticking his nose in their business.) Sure, he has an MBA, and yes it's from Queens, but you don't hire someone to run a company with zero experience in management just because they have a degree.

MacT isn't a clueless hockey guy. He's been around the game his entire life so I'm sure he has some valuable opinions. It's just a lot easier to give someone an opinion on a deal than it is to go out and make the deals yourself. Plus I doubt Katz wanted to pay MacT to sit at home and watch re-runs of the Golden Girls. Put his mind to work.

This isn't a bad thing for MacT, either. He gets to learn from a Stanley Cup winning GM who has had a lot of success. Kind of like a paid internship, really. Why wouldn't he take advantage of it? He has no job prospects yet.

 

[Halibut]

I think this is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. While I agree that MacT was not a good GM, that doesn't necessarily mean all of his opinions or ideas are worthless. He is being kept as an additional voice, but Chia is making the final decisions on this team. Also, if MacT is under contract, I would gather is makes more sense to keep him around and use his experience wherever Chia needs it (I think scouting will be a big one).

I hope you are right but the more we hear about the details the more it seems the Chiarelli hiring was a PR move to shut up the Lowe must go people. More and more it sounds like they will have input on hockey moves and sure PC has the final say but they are influencing him, giving him the same bad opinions that brought the team to where it is.

Or maybe MacT will become the George Costanza of the organization. Ask for his opinion and then do the exact opposite of what he suggests.

 

[Del Preston]

I hope you are right but the more we hear about the details the more it seems the Chiarelli hiring was a PR move to shut up the Lowe must go people. More and more it sounds like they will have input on hockey moves and sure PC has the final say but they are influencing him, giving him the same bad opinions that brought the team to where it is.

Or maybe MacT will become the George Costanza of the organization. Ask for his opinion and then do the exact opposite of what he suggests.

It doesn't sound like that at all. Maybe if it was a rookie GM coming in but no Stanley Cup winning GM would come here as a PR move. Bob McKenzie said Chiarelli wanted full control and thats what he got. If he was willing to work as part of a group he would have had more discussions with the Leafs.

 

[The Nuge]

i'll just leave this here.... http://www.coppernblue.com/2015/5/2/8538153/peter-chiarelli-demotes-craig-mactavish-number-2

That's clearly written with bias. Guys like Gazdic and Aulie make 800k. Those aren't horrendous contracts. And Dubnyk was not the same goalie in his final year here. His game needed a complete overhaul, and most teams had no interest in him. MacT screwed up with Nikitin, and Petry, but his real failures as a GM were personnel decisions. He hired an terrible coach, and stood by him, and he didn't recognize we had a goalie coach who was clearly teaching our goalies anything but how to stop pucks.

 

[Halibut]

It doesn't sound like that at all. Maybe if it was a rookie GM coming in but no Stanley Cup winning GM would come here as a PR move. Bob McKenzie said Chiarelli wanted full control and thats what he got. If he was willing to work as part of a group he would have had more discussions with the Leafs.

I hope so but I dont think it's a simple thing of having control and the buck stops there. It's more like his thoughts and ideas being influenced by the surrounding environment which we all know has been bad. Rather than completely new ideas we get new ideas that are being mulled over by the OBC. The bold moves get worn down to moderate moves because of the group think.

 

[CupofOil]

I hope you are right but the more we hear about the details the more it seems the Chiarelli hiring was a PR move to shut up the Lowe must go people. More and more it sounds like they will have input on hockey moves and sure PC has the final say but they are influencing him, giving him the same bad opinions that brought the team to where it is.

Or maybe MacT will become the George Costanza of the organization. Ask for his opinion and then do the exact opposite of what he suggests.

Influencing him?

This is a well respected, cup winning GM. Listen to him speak, he has a plan and looks completely in control of the situation. Do you think he's going to be influenced by the likes of MacT? Come on now.

I don't see anything wrong with MacT getting him familiar with the players and city.
If he doesn't like the input that MacT gives him, he'll probably replace him with his own people within a year.

I'd like to see the OBC removed completely but lets be honest, that was never going to happen right away. Lowe is a lifer for sure.
As long as these guys aren't primary decision makers, that's fine with me.
I'm not going to let this ruin for me what has been a historic offseason for the Oilers thus far.

 

[ddawg1950]

I think the Oilers are about to become a very serious team again. With McDavid coming your way, I would guess that the playoffs are right around the corner...particularly if you add Todd Mclellan as coach.

I presume that returning to repectability is what has promoted the negative commentary from other fan bases.

But I wonder that, when you do return to winning hockey, how long it will be before Lowe and MacT emerge from their hidey holes to try and take some credit. I just don't see how a guy like Lowe will be able to resist.

 

[kickaction]

Influencing him?

This is a well respected, cup winning GM. Listen to him speak, he has a plan and looks completely in control of the situation. Do you think he's going to be influenced by the likes of MacT? Come on now.

I don't see anything wrong with MacT getting him familiar with the players and city.
If he doesn't like the input that MacT gives him, he'll probably replace him with his own people within a year.

This this and this.

To the people who think this is a PR move, REALLY? Think of it from PC's viewpoint. Do you think he's stupid enough to take this job knowing that he's just a "puppet"?

He has the power through being POHO and GM to do what he wants. He's not going to be sitting around waiting for MacT to tell him what moves to do. MacT will just be another voice in the room. If PC agrees with some of his opinions, great, then maybe he'll make that move. If he doesn't agree with MacT, then I trust that he's intelligent enough to discern whether or not MacT is completely wrong, or if there really is some sort of value in what he's saying.

That and it's not like PC can bring in his whole team from Boston or elsewhere as they are likely still under contract.

 

[Halibut]

Influencing him?

This is a well respected, cup winning GM. Listen to him speak, he has a plan and looks completely in control of the situation. Do you think he's going to be influenced by the likes of MacT? Come on now.

I don't see anything wrong with MacT getting him familiar with the players and city.
If he doesn't like the input that MacT gives him, he'll probably replace him with his own people within a year.

I'd like to see the OBC removed completely but lets be honest, that was never going to happen right away. Lowe is a lifer for sure.
As long as these guys aren't primary decision makers, that's fine with me.
I'm not going to let this ruin for me what has been a historic offseason for the Oilers thus far.

Lowe supposedly wasnt a primary decision maker while Tambellini was here either, it still felt an awful lot like he was involved. When MacT and Howson came back with all the talk of bold moves things quickly reverted to picking up 3rd pairing d-men and depth forwards and hoping the 1st round draft picks would turn things around.

I'm hopeful that the addition of Chiarelli, an experienced coach and McDavid make a difference. I'm hoping we're talking of actual moves this summer and not just about whatever longshot defenceman we've drug up is going to be able to do more than fill in on the third pairing. I hope that we've found a goalie this summer and arent just going with Scrivens and some other UFA who has never started more than 30 games at the NHL level. I also hope they find a decent goaltending coach. We wont be able to know about our drafting or development for several years but I'm still hopeful we'll see signs of guys from the later rounds taking steps.

Right now I believe Chiarelli will change things, I'd feel better if it was a clean break and they were gone because I dont want their influence in the organization leading to complacency or undermining the changes that happen. The fact that they fired one guy from the business side and that's it makes me a bit suspicious.

 

[Oilfan2]

Influencing him?

This is a well respected, cup winning GM. Listen to him speak, he has a plan and looks completely in control of the situation. Do you think he's going to be influenced by the likes of MacT? Come on now.

I don't see anything wrong with MacT getting him familiar with the players and city.
If he doesn't like the input that MacT gives him, he'll probably replace him with his own people within a year.

I'd like to see the OBC removed completely but lets be honest, that was never going to happen right away. Lowe is a lifer for sure.
As long as these guys aren't primary decision makers, that's fine with me.
I'm not going to let this ruin for me what has been a historic offseason for the Oilers thus far.

This this and this.

To the people who think this is a PR move, REALLY? Think of it from PC's viewpoint. Do you think he's stupid enough to take this job knowing that he's just a "puppet"?

He has the power through being POHO and GM to do what he wants. He's not going to be sitting around waiting for MacT to tell him what moves to do. MacT will just be another voice in the room. If PC agrees with some of his opinions, great, then maybe he'll make that move. If he doesn't agree with MacT, then I trust that he's intelligent enough to discern whether or not MacT is completely wrong, or if there really is some sort of value in what he's saying.

That and it's not like PC can bring in his whole team from Boston or elsewhere as they are likely still under contract.

Pretty much this.

As well, I would assume there's already been conversations by MacT with other teams, and free agents, regarding potential trades and signings. PC will want to look at those, consider where the conversations were going, etc. Why start all over again if there's been some good work done already.

Pretty sure PC has a good handle on what he wants and won't be persuaded to make any deals that aren't within the realm of what he's looking for.