When a team is bad, normally fans can start to spin it that we could get a top 5 pick or even a player like Celebrini. The Oilers situation next year is so bad, I don't see any positives out of this.
Leon - no way he is signing next summer if they miss the playoffs.
UFAs - I don't see any of them getting much even with salary retained if they sold at the deadline.
Bouchard - is actually putting up huge points and will need a new contract soon.
Goalies - both signed for years.
Cap - even if the sell and fix the Brown bonus issue, they have 13 guys signed and about $14mil to spend. I could see them buying out Campbell to help but that is a mistake IMO.
Prospects - Holloway with another significant injury. Bourgault has 5 points in 11 games in the AHL. Broberg has shown nothing. No help coming outside if they get a top pick.
Age - start of next year Kane 33, Hyman 32, Nuge 31, Ekholm 34, Leon 29, Nurse 29. McDavid 27, Ryan 37, Ceci 30, Kulak 30. This group is going to be very old and likely will need to add cheap vets over 30 to fill out roster.
Then....McDavid is eligible to resign. Why would he stay on a team full of cap issues, guys in their mid 30s and no prospect coming. There will be teams lining up for him.
The Oilers are such a perpetual circus. They are the gift that keeps giving for us. That clown show yesterday in warmups followed by the 4 quick goals against and McDavid’s sour face being shown just brings me pure joy.
I feel like I owe Gordon Lightfoot an apology for what you're about to read:
Spoiler!
(*ahem*)
The Wreck of the Edmonton Oilers
The legend lives on from Fort Chipewyan on down
To the shore where the Bow River’s flowy
The Greasers’, it’s said, playoff hopes are long dead
When the skies of November turn snowy
Such a load of No Good, defence passed where they stood
Just like pylons at practice they cluster
From the Stanley Cup chase they can soon be erased
For the squad is so lacking in luster
The team was the pride of the Sweatpanters’ side
Skating ‘round in the District of Ice
With a roster so thin it’s as though it had been
Chewed on by hungry legions of field mice
A line-up of heels ‘cause of big money deals
That were signed by McHobo and Pissy
And a blueline so bare (much like Ron MacLean’s hair)
Makes the Wonder Twins throw such a hissy
The net, if you please, it is filled by Swiss cheese
Having no backstopper? It’s such a hobbler
Coach Woody on the bench couldn’t mask up the stench
Now they’re coached by some guy called The Knobbler
Evander’s a rat and the power play’s flat
So no extra points they’ll be stealin'
At the end of each game as the final buzzer came
T'is the curse of No Good that they’re feelin’
Columbus may stink, and the Wild too (I think)
But their records beat Edmonton’s yawners
And the ‘Hawks and the Jets they have more pucks in nets
From their rosters’ respective Connors
And further on down Sharks from San Jose town
Are holding the NHL cellar
But gone head-to-head – put the Oilers to bed
And finished the game looking stellar
From Detroit to Mulletville, poor Kenny H
Sees his legacy rendered asunder
As daily, he rues. not e’en rose-coloured hues
Can hide such a huge career blunder
The legend lives on from Fort Chipewyan on down
To the shore where the Bow River’s flowy
The Greasers’, it’s said, playoff hopes are long dead
When the skies of November turn snowy
He did not roll in his grave.
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Per @bigheadhockey, no team with 5 wins through its’ first 18 games has made the playoffs in the NHL’s salary cap era. Edmonton has 5 wins and is trailing Carolina 5-2 after two periods in its’ 18th game.
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Woodcroft got one up on us for dropping that mud quote before he left. CP latched on to it and ####ed up one of the most legendary titles of all time: E=NG: Blood, Sweatpants and Tiers.
Now we have this atrocity that makes no sense. Oh well, a no good team deserves a no good title I suppose.
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