I wouldn't go so far as saying the Oilers are useless, however I would go so far as saying the Oilers are the most annoying franchise in the NHL. I have nothing against their players. I don't hate Oiler fans (fans in Alberta are pretty delusion about their teams in general). But from top to bottom the Oilers brass piss me off.
1. Darryl Katz--Holds the city of Edmonton hostage, threatening to relocate the team, so the government will subsidize the building of new arena, saying such a building is a service for the good of the people of Edmonton. At the same time, him and his buddies have shut down the league, and all those servers, bartenders, security guards, parking lot attendants living in Edmonton, who will be paying for this super arena with their taxes, have hit hard-times because there is no hockey being played. dick move
2. Hockey Canada--Was it a conflict of interest for Kevin Lowe to name Ryan Murray to Canadian WHC team? Hockey Canada never names undrafted prospects to the Canadian senior team, but last year they did. I guess Ryan Murray did not impress enough because the Oilers didn't even draft him.
3. Serving notice to the rest of the league saying, "here we come."--Did Taylor Hall really have to be on the podium to draft Nugent-Hopkins? Did Nuge have to be on the podium to draft Yakupov? Hot-doggin it at the NHL draft, in front of twenty-nine other GM's, is actually pretty stupid.
4. Business model, 'Scorched Earth'--Why does tanking it have a totally epic name? Creating a losing culture is nothing to brag about. It's actually insulting to your season ticket holders who pay thousands of dollars every year to watch an inferior team.
5. Building for the future Part 2--I'm still surprised Lowe traded Ryan Smyth as trade dead-line rental to, of all teams, the New York Islanders. dick move
6. Building for the future Part 1--I'm still surprised the Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky for fifteen million dollars. double dick move
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