Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
It's possible but I wouldn't count on it that quick. Goaltending is a question mark (no franchise goaltender) and we are placing a lot of hope on players that have yet to play in the NHL or ones that have just started out. Lots of unknowns and lets not forget that the Oilers have burned through a lot of bad coaching hires Quinn, Renney, Kreuger and if they got the coaching hire right the first time they may be a year or two further in their developement. I'm not sold that Hartley is the man for a rebuild considering how much of a disaster last season was and how impatient he was with rookies.
This team will need the right coach and a lot of these unproven young players to meet or surpass their potential or the Flames could just as well be the next Oilers, Jets, Jackets, etc that seem to wallow in medioctrity and failure.
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Absolutely, to be honest I think it's silly to predict either way.
re: Hartley, hoping he has a new mandate like Feaster seems to have. He was harder on the younger guys (Sven especially) because he seemed to be in the win now mode and defaulted to vets. Hopefully we see less of that. As Conroy said during the camp last week, the tie will go to the rookie player in camp over the veteran for a roster spot.
We'll see how it plays out.