Craig MacTavish, February 25, 2014:
“I never go down that path of ‘untouchable’. I think that there are guys, certainly, that I’m valuing more than the rest of the league probably. We’ve paid a pretty serious and severe price for a lot of these players that we’re not going to be parting with but I don’t want to go down the path of untouchables.”
You know, being an Oilers fan since the beginning has been hard on the heart. The Oilers have basically invented the phrase “anyone can be traded” back in 1988. Watching my favourite player after favourite player get traded has made me numb over the years. From Coffey, to Gretz to Mess, Anderson, Ranford, Weight, Smyth, Pronger & most recently, Hemsky. All of these players have played here over my lifetime, each pulled me out of my seat someway or another thus creating their own memories for me, only to have management rip my heart out by dealing them. Now, once again, we’re at a crossroads as it’s likely one of or possibly, all of Hall, RNH & Eberle will likely be dealt this summer, with such a trade will come some tears compounded with anger, so much anger.
The easiest way to deal with this is as a fan is simple, never fall in love with a player.
What makes these three players different from a few of the Oilers legends I mentioned earlier though is that they are good players, but with the arguable exception of Hall (who is top 7 in 5v5 league scoring the last 200GP), they’re not great. The other difference is, which is an important one is that these 3 players are linked to an Oilers era of sacrifice going from a really good team (Pronger for the Eberle pick) to a decent team picked apart with injuries to everyone to being a legitimately terrible team in 2010-11 & taking RNH. Losing any or all these 3 players will undoubtedly be difficult for the modern day Oilers fan (modern day Oilers fan are those I deem in the 12-20 year old range, who either haven’t experience ANY playoff games OR are too young to remember consecutive playoff trips) to digest because we, the fan base, sacrificed so much pain (losing) to get them.
Imagine, if you will a team that made the playoffs for 13 straight seasons from 1980 to 1992, only to make it another 7 times (SEVEN) since. Furthermore, the Oilers made the playoffs 7 times in the last 23 years, 5 of those consecutively between 1997-2001 & only 2 playoff berths in the last 15 years…TWO. To put this in perspective, the Oilers only missed the playoffs once, in my entire life as a grade schooler, my grad year in 1993. So I can understand the distaste from the modern day Oilers fans to move these players because they are basically the foundation of this epic rebuild that has arguably lasted a decade & therefore seemingly difficult to let go of.
The Oilers have continuously traded away their best players & also, every one of their captains, except one. Andrew Ference will become the 1st Oilers captain in Oilers history to not be traded, words can’t really describe how disappointing a feeling that is. Ference frustrations aside, starting this summer, the modern day Oilers fan will understand what the pioneers of Oilers fandom have always known, good (even the greatest) players can & will get traded here from Edmonton. All we can hope (hope is the staple of Oilers fandom for 10 consecutive years now) that next season’s team will turn the page in a new barn & make the playoffs. Making the playoffs at this point is in itself like winning a Cup, because for many an Oilers, it’s something not seen before. Things are different today from other years for the Oilers though, they’re trading their “best” out of necessity to get better, not just to get by.
This new, modern day Oilers fan will soon understand what many of us have had to learn the hard way back in 1988.
No Oilers player is ever, untouchable.
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