The Edmonton Oilers were a proud franchise. They boasted Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and countless other legends of the game. They were arguably the greatest team ever assembled, they won five Stanley Cups in a seven year span. They are the last great dynasty in the NHL, maybe even the last great dynasty in sports.
The Edmonton Oilers are a train wreck, they are the biggest embarrassment running in pro sports currently, and have become the butt end of jokes from Calgary, to Boston, and all the way down to Dallas. This team not only isn’t very good, but is running around in a circle, and is quite frankly making fools out of themselves. The Edmonton Oilers are, in my mind, the worst run organization in sports.
Do you know who it starts with, Mr Katz? It starts with, well you.
Sure, the Oilers will get a big and shiny new arena to play in a few seasons from now, and it’s going to be one of the best in the NHL. It’s going to help the downtown area go through a rebirth, and it’s going to help the city of Edmonton grow. Those are all important and great, but do you know what this arena really is? Your shiny new building is nothing more than a new toilet for the turd that has become the Oilers.
It’s sad, and it’s true.
This team has problems all over, and it starts up top. It starts with ownership.
Ownership for this team has been no where to be seen since the rebuild started back in 2009-10. Outside of that first interview with Bob Stauffer, showing up at the draft every year, and threatening to move the team, Mr. Katz has been absent from Edmonton. What’s even worse, is that there is no accountability here with this guy. There is no pressure from above to make this hockey club better. It is a country club atmosphere, and it is problem number one with this team.
Katz was a fan of the 1980’s Edmonton Oilers, and right now is far more focused on being friends with his old idols than running a hockey team. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact. There is zero pressure on Kevin Lowe or Craig MacTavish from above, and it’s for that reason right there. As long as the bottom line is green and Katz can golf with his buddies, who really cares right?
Let’s take a look at management, shall we? We heard MacT and Lowe tell everyone and their mother that this team was improved, and that there was actually significant improvement here. Four games into the season, and Edmonton is once again winless, and somehow, someway actually looks worse. Improvement though, right KLowe?
This is the same management team that watched Edmonton crash and burn during the 2006-07 season, and didn’t bother to fix it. They tried to patch the holes, and half-assed their way into the biggest mess the NHL has ever seen before. Lowe oversaw the fall in 2006, and has over seen the failure since then. To me, he’s another major part of the problem.
What about MacT, the guy who came in yelling about bold moves and improving the hockey club, What has he done? Well he’s made a lot of moves, that’s for sure, but has he improved the team? The answer is a resounding no.
The Shawn Horcoff trade and signing of Boyd Gordon even out, while the Mark Fayne signing, Benoit Pouliot signing and Gagner for Purcell trade are all wins in my book. The jury is still out on the trades for Hendricks, Fasth and Scrivens, but a number of moves, headlined by Andrew Ference, have been absolute failures.
On paper, the Oilers are better today than the day MacT took over, but that means nothing, because on the ice, they are worse off than they were. Some how, some way, this team has gotten worse.
Coaching is a major issue as well. Dallas Eakins has made decisions that are simply stupid and can’t be defended. Healthy scratching Jeff Petry against the Kings? Absolutely asinine. Playing JUSTIN SCHULTZ the most among defenders? Absurd. Keeping up Leon Draisaitl when he clearly isn’t ready for the NHL? There are no words.
Beyond that, the system play is arguably the worst I have ever seen. The “Swarm” is mocked by fans, media members, and former players alike. It doesn’t work and it is painfully obvious. The Oilers have given up, in four games, a total of 23 goals. That is absolutely absurd, and quite frankly in inexcusable for a team that claims to be in the NHL.
Dallas Eakins means well, and seems like a nice guy, but he just doesn’t have it right now. His system is a mess, the players aren’t buying in, and his coaching decisions just can’t be defended. That is an awful combination for a head coach in any sport at any level.
This guy simply does not deserve a job as a head coach at the NHL level. There is no debate here, it’s that simple.
Player wise the issues fall both on the guys, and away from them. This group isn’t good enough, and that goes back to management. There were clear holes on this roster that were not filled, and they are currently killing this team. That isn’t on the players, but rather is on the management team for not putting a good team together. No veteran center and no top-pairing defender killed this season before it started.
The players can buy in however, but the young guys have not. Regardless of what Hall or Eberle might tell you in off-season radio interviews, the buy in is not there on the ice. These guys do not have the same hustle coming back to play defense, and do not have that same intensity and fire when in their own zone.
It’s not just me noticing this either, I’ve got word that people within the hockey community, very respectable people working for other NHL organizations, see this too. They all think the talent is there, but that the buy in is not, and that these kids are far too lazy to win at the NHL level. To be honest, I think that is exactly part of the problem here. These guys are far too focused on the stats and not the wins. You just can’t tell me otherwise right now.
The problems with this team are everywhere. Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing, and actually kind of funny to see. There is ZERO accountability from ownership, there is no urgency from management and absolutely no lessons learned from them, hell they do the same stupid crap year after year! Coaching? It’s awful, from the foolish systems to the mind-boggling decisions, it’s arguably the worst in the NHL right now.
The Edmonton Oilers were once a powerful dynasty, but today they are nothing more than a traveling circus act that other teams can circle as two free points on the NHL schedule.
It’s become a sad-sack organization from an owner the seemingly does not care, down to a management team far too comfortable in their jobs, to a coach that, to be brutally honest, appears to have not the slightest clue what he is doing. Oh, and we can’t forget a group of players that just refuses to buy in and a tandem of goalies that is seemingly allergic to the puck.
My plan to fix this thing? Find an owner willing to actually step up and bring accountability, a GM with a real front office background, a veteran NHL coach with a winning track record, and trade one of these wonder kids that feels invincible.
Enough of the country club culture. This organization has become a joke throughout the sports world. Wake up Mr. Katz, bring some accountability back to Edmonton and to the Oilers, or do the honorable thing and sell this team, or shall I say shell of a team.
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