What a Mess

I was born in 1979, the Oilers joined the league in 1979 as well. Of course I don’t remember this but my earliest memories of the Oilers are of a hardworking team with equal amounts skill and work ethic. Now I’m not talking about grit and truculence, but those to things play a part as well. The first game I ever got to see live was a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in which the Oilers lost the game 11-9 (That’s right) I was a young lad, but what I remember most about that game besides the 20 goals scored, there was no give up, not once moment in that entire game that I nor the people around me had to think that the team in white, orange and blue had mailed it in and was accepting of the outcome that was on the way that night.

Flash forward about 30 years. Last night after watching team Canada earn a decisive victory against a surprisingly competitive German squad, instead of turning the game on to watch the Oilers, whom I automatically assumed would lose in a poor effort against the rivals down highway 2, I did some chores first. These tasks are something that I normally wouldn’t even dream of starting before the game was over, until recently.

I’ve always been an Oilers optimist and I take a lot of flak about that to, The Oilers Rig as a group I’m very often found trying to coax our other writers, Alex specifically off the cliff. Why not, I’ve been a fan since the beginning, I’ve seen bad times, hell the mid-nineties were awful and the team made it out of that they can make it out again right? WRONG.

This team is approaching NHL records in futility and they aren’t showing any signs, not one damned sign, of turning this garbage fire around. Last night was the straw that broke the camels back for me, it should probably have happened much sooner but well it actually took this long to drain all the optimism from my Oilers heart. And as I turned on last nights game it was still 0-0, 5 minutes later it’s 3-0 Calgary and my TV gets turned off and I head to bed. Angry as hell though. Hell, that’s the reason I started blogging a few years back, I enjoy playing armchair GM, I like to think I could build a winner if I was given the chance. Let’s face it those last 2 statements are way off, I don’t have the experience or the know how to do either at least not with an NHL team.

What is wrong with this team? What would I do if I was charged of fixing this team? I’ve been thinking all night and all this morning, and you know what the answer is? I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA, the team, the whole organization is broken. To the point where we might be entering the 4th rebuild in less than a decade. THAT’S EFFING TERRIBLE. At the start of this article I mentioned that I remember the team being a hardworking bunch, where the hell did that philosophy go? Even in the 90’s when this team was bad they worked, they competed most nights, they fought tooth and nail for playoffs spots, sometimes they made it an some times they didn’t but they could never be accused of not trying. Edmonton is a blue collar town and fans related to that type of blue collar work ethic.

So why in the eff doesn’t this group have it? Sure there might be 3-4 players on the roster who give in their all but those aren’t the skilled players that are getting the most of the ice time, these are the “role” players. A competitive NHL team, an NHL team that wins consistently has players all through the line up who exemplify the blue collar work ethic this team is missing. Think about it a second, when do you see anyone on this team get in a scrum, how do players get in a scrum, they work their asses of to get the puck in the tough areas, THE OILERS DON’T DO THAT. Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Jeff Petry, Nail Yakupov, Mark Fayne, Oscar Klefbom, Mark Arcobello, None of them work hard, this is not a skill you can teach. I’m afraid these players will never have what it takes to win, and management will never have what it takes to admit this.

I’m sorry this blog is a little (a lot) rambly, but for F*CK SAKES, I’VE HAD IT.

Thanks for Reading.