I think an award should be given out to the fans who have to put up with the most garbage a franchise can throw at them. No, I am not talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs, I am talking about the Edmonton Oilers and their fans.
I have never seen a fan base so loyal. This fan base takes so many punches to the gut and yet they still stand by their team. That is true loyalty, but for the past couple of seasons there are some cracks starting to show in this fan base and they are almost ready to crumble.
Edmonton Oilers Front Office Needs a Full Housecleaning
As we all know by now, the Edmonton Oilers haven’t made the playoffs since that fantastic run in 2005-06 where they almost won the Stanley Cup, but lost in game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Since then they have had one winning season: in 2007-08 when they went 41-35-6 and still missed the playoffs.
They have gone through five coaches and three GMs since the Stanley Cup run. Let’s not forget that good old Kevin Lowe has been either the GM or the President of the team during this drought and unless you have been living in a cave for years with your fingers in your ears and your eyes shut, you know Lowe has been going through some scrutiny.
Can you really blame the fans for disliking Lowe at this point? As a GM or president, he hasn’t made the best decisions. He has created a revolving door of friends and teammates to run the Oilers organization and it’s getting really old. As fan of another team I am on the outside looking in, but even someone who is not the Oilers number one fan can see the old guard needs to go and fast.
Whenever that day comes, Edmonton’s scouting staff should not be exempt, because this master rebuild has taken forever and the results are disappointing at best. It is so bad that the Calgary Flames, who haven’t been rebuilding as long seem to be in a better position already, have drafted all kinds of different players while the Oilers, who have been blessed with a plethora of high-positioned first round picks year after year, seem to keep drafting the same kind of player.
Since 2007 their first round picks have been Sam Gagner, Jordan Eberle in 2008, Magnus Paajarvi in 2009, Taylor Hall in 2010, Ryan Nugent Hopkins in 2011, and Nail Yakupov in 2012. They finally stopped drafting forwards and picked up a much needed defensemen in 2013 in Darnell Nurse, but as we know defensemen take a few years to develop.
The point is, they kept drafting forwards in those years, which isn’t a bad thing, but most of these players have the same skill-set and style of play; it gets easy to beat them. When drafting a team you need a mix of players with different skill-sets and once in a while a goalie and some d-men can help too.
Let’s play a game using the “what if” machine, from Futurama. I am going to put down a name, then show you who the Oilers could have picked up instead of who they actually drafted (exempting Eberle, who I personally believe is a big-time player and a steal in the 2008 draft).
Now, let’s start the “what if” machine: in 2007 Logan Couture or Kevin Shattenkirk, 2009 Ryan Ellis, or Chris Kreider, 2010 Tyler Seguin, 2011 Gabriel Landeskog, 2012 Filip Forsberg or any of the defensemen in the top 10 because, let’s face it, at that point they really needed a defensemen. They really didn’t need to draft Yakupov just because he was rated number one.
Their actual roster at the time before they moved Paajarvi and Gagner looked like this:
Paajarvi, Gagne, Eberle, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, and Yakupov.
While the “what if” machine could have made a roster that looks like this:
Kreider/Ellis, Seguin, Landeskog, Shattenkirk/Couture, Forsberg/a top 2012 defensemen.
Which roster looks better on paper? If you said the second one, congratulations! So do most of the people who have seen the actual roster fail year after year.
I can understand why they would pick some of these guys, but the best teams in the league (Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Montreal, Anaheim) have picked a variety of players. These teams have taken players with different skill-sets, they developed them with patience, and helped them grow. Yes, drafting in the NHL is a lottery and sometimes players work out and sometimes they don’t, but more often than not when you are drafting in the top 10 you are usually getting a player who will take your team to the next level.
As of the first of December, the Oilers are 6-14-4. They haven’t won a game against a Western Conference team yet, which shouldn’t be possible, and it is inevitable something’s got to give.
Considering all this, I firmly stand by the fans when they say Lowe must go. When he does go, the Oilers should remove anyone who has any connection to this disaster of a rebuild. Maybe someone will write a book one day about how to rebuild a team. It won’t be a long book, because all it will say is: “do the exact opposite of what the Edmonton Oilers have done”.
I apologize for being so cynical, but enough is enough and its time for a big change. The Oilers have the power to make this change. Eliminate the old guard, bring in someone who has hockey smarts from a team like LA, or Chicago, or Anaheim or any of a number of other teams that have seen sustained success and make sure they have no connection to the Edmonton franchise.
The Oilers need to start looking towards a real change, or there will be more than just jerseys thrown onto the ice. There will be empty seats and a lot of money lost. At one point or another fans will say enough, stand up, and walk out on the Oilers completely and never look back.
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