Dallas Eakins said it wasn’t an excuse anymore. During training camp this year, the Oilers new bench boss made sure to let everyone know that being a young team isn’t an excuse anymore, and that the rebuilding part is over, it’s time to win some games. GM Craig MacTavish echoed this statement many times over the last few months, calling for bold moves and calling himself an impatient man.
Heck, even Kevin Lowe said last April that the Oilers were behind schedule and it was time to take steps forward. A lot of talk from the three guys with the most say in the hockey ops department, sounds like they mean well and things will turn around, it sounds, or at least sounded, like the Oilers rebuild was finally over after seven long years, and that it was finally time to win again in Edmonton.
Just a month and a half into the season, it’s quite clear that isn’t the case, and that sadly the Edmonton Oilers are very much still a rebuilding hockey club. It’s frustrating, watching teams like Calgary, Colorado and the Islanders be comfortably ahead of you even though their rebuilds started after or on time with yours. That’s a tough pill to swallow for the fanbase, and hopefully is a tough one for the organization to swallow too.
The Oilers will be missing the playoffs for the eighth straight spring when this season mercifully ends in April, and unfortunately it looks like they will once again be picking in the top five draft picks. Why is this?
It’s because contrary to what we have all been told, the Edmonton Oilers rebuild is simply not over yet.
The Oilers still have too many holes on their roster that have been of issue for years. They still don’t have a number one, or for that matter a number two, defender, still lack a veteran leader up front, and still need some sort of power-forward, a position plaguing them since the trade of Dustin Penner.
Those are all major flaws and are keeping this team back from competing. The team’s defensive coverage is terrible, their effort is too inconsistent and far too often the defensive unit makes a major mistake that kills momentum and finds its way into the back of the net. It’s a major issue, and has been for years.
What’s the solution for this? It should be to go out and acquire some help, someone like Buffalo’s Christian Ehrhoff or Florida’s Brian Campbell. That’s what a team that is serious about winning would do, get an established top-pairing option on a secure contract and infuse him into the lineup.
What are the Oilers actually doing? They are trading off veterans for unknown young pieces, the definition of rebuilding, and boy it sucks. Ladislav Smid, an established top-four defender, was traded to Calgary for futures on Friday night. A decent goalie prospect who is a few years a way minimum, and a forward who at best might end up as a bottom six option down the road. That’s not exactly a good return for a team in dire need of defensive help.
If anything, the Oilers made a position of weakness even weaker, and once again swapped proven veteran talent for unproven young talent that may or may not make an impact on their NHL roster down the road. It’s the sign of a team rebuilding, of a team that admittedly is not ready to compete yet. After seven years, that’s just flat out unacceptable.
The worst part of this latest development? Smid was acquired by the Oilers in the summer of 2006 from the Anaheim Ducks in the deal that sent Edmonton’s last legit number one, Chris Pronger, out of town. Smid was billed as a defender for the future, and was one of the first pieces, along with Tom Gilbert, Kyle Brodziak and Robert Nilsson of the Oilers post-cup rebuild.
Now we see Smid, a guy brought in as a young talent to be part of a rebuild, traded for more young talent that will be part of a rebuild. It’s official folks, the Edmonton Oilers rebuild has come full-circle, just as we all thought it would. There’s only one problem though, this circle is going the wrong way.
The Oilers have hit Atlanta Thrasher, Florida Panther and New York Islander territory. They are now in their 3rd consecutive rebuild, and are now moving pieces once thought to be for the future for more pieces for the future. It’s a sad realization, but this team is chasing it’s tail the wrong way.
Sure, the move saves a lot of cap space, about $3.5 M on the books, but that really means nothing when you don’t do anything with that cap. If there was a second shoe to fall, like the Oilers acquiring a legit top-pairing defender or at least an upgrade, in a second deal then fine, but here there was only the signing of a huge risk goalie.
The Oilers are addressing the wrong hole to the roster, and are weakening their biggest hole. They are making the team worse and are shipping out veteran players for futures. Sorry friends, but that’s the definition of the word rebuild.
They said it was over, they said it was time to win, they promised us no more pain like this. That promise is broken, and the Edmonton Oilers are still stuck in their everlasting rebuild. We expected changes and trades, but didn’t expect them to worsen the team Tambellini style.
Thought the rebuild was over? You better think again..
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