Merry Christmas Eve folks! The Oilers gave a decent gift last night with a good effort and a convincing 6-2 over the visiting Winnipeg Jets. The team got it’s 12th win of the season, and finally showed the heart and effort expected. Sure, it’s only one game, and no one should be remotely excited, but it’s nice to see.
You know, if the Oilers played that hard every game, this team would have a fighting chance, a fighting chance at the playoffs that is. That’s the big gift I’m handing out this Christmas Eve, a fighting chance at the playoffs. It’s something this organization desperately needs.
I’m gonna be realistic for a moment here and tell you that hope for a chance this season is long dead. The Oilers dug themselves too big of a hole at the start of the year, and then dug it even deeper to the point of no return with that six game losing streak.
That said, does anyone know what a chance at the playoffs would mean for this organization? It would be a welcomed, and quite frankly deserved, reality for arguably the loyalist fanbase in sports. A group that has endured seven, and soon to be eight, rough seasons in a league were two-three is too many in a row. The building is sold out every night, and everyone is talking about the team almost year round. That’s loyalty if I’ve ever seen it.
From a player standpoint, it would be a huge momentum boost. For players like Hall, Eberle, RNH and Perron, guys used to winning, a chance at the playoffs would be a welcomed feeling and would push these guys to that next level. It would also show potential free agents of what could be in Edmonton, and might attract some players.
We saw this in Chicago, when Kane and Toews just missed the playoffs in 07-08. As a result, free agents like Brian Campbell, Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa saw what was happening and joined on. The result? Two Stanley Cups and a potential dynasty in the making.
It would give the coaching staff and management team a sense of where the team truly is at, and would allow them to make a move for more veteran help and the final few pieces to push Edmonton into a consistent playoff club.
Maybe most importantly, it would give every player on that team, and everyone involved in the organization some confidence in the process. Hope can only sell so far, but tangible results can buy you anything in pro sports. A tangible, close to playoff season, would be a huge boost to an organization which is lacking confidence, and who has a fanbase fed up and angry.
That sad reality of it is though, that this gift is darn near impossible to give this season. Like I said above, the Oilers dug themselves way too big of a hole at the start of the season, then dug it even deeper with that six game losing streak. That said, this gift can be brought forward in a different way this season.
That different way? Just win baby. Don’t worry about the standings, don’t worry about how far back you are. The Oilers need to set the foundation right now. I’ll use an example here. The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars are a young, and quite frankly bad, football team. That said, they started winning games in the later part of this season, setting the foundation for years to come.
Right now, that’s exactly what Edmonton needs to do. Snag a couple of games and jump up as far as you can in the standings. People appreciate effort, and appreciate winning. Start showing it now. If the Oilers can do that, and make their final record look somewhat respectable, then everything I said above regarding a playoff chance applies this season.
If you haven’t watched Craig MacTavish’s interview on OilersTV, I recommend you do. It’s basically Craig laying out what the plan for the team is, and talking about how they’ll use free agents and trades, including taking a position of strength to fill another, to augment the process. In order to accomplish that kind of goal, the Oilers will need to lay the foundation.
That’s the gift I’m giving on this Christmas Eve. The Oilers winning games. A chance at the playoffs is ideal, but I know that I, and I think most Oilers fans, would settle on this team just winning some games and setting that foundation. It could be the gift that keeps on giving, and could be the most important gift anyone can give to this team this Holiday season.
I’ll be taking the next two days off from writing. I just want to say thank you to all the Oilers fans who have visited this site the last few months and helped us grow. When I started this back in June, I never could have imagined it would grow how it has. I wish everyone a safe and happy Holiday season, and a Merry Christmas to everyone tomorrow. Go Oilers!
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