Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
I think there a couple of things going on with that. One, people tend to try and "prove" or back up their previous assertions. For the past few years, many in the media jumped on the Oilers bandwagon, "this is how you rebuild" mantra and don't don't want to be shown up or proven wrong. So they look to make excuses as to why things haven't gone as they thought so far, and will likely continue to do so until things actually do work out, or all hope is truly lost.
One thing about the Oilers rebuild though that can't be denied is that at least up front, their prospects are playing the "key" roles for their club. That is not the case on mass in Calgary. When healthy, you can argue Monahan is playing a key forward position for us! but other than that it's simply not the case. Roles being played by Hall, Eberle, RNH are being played by vets down here, like Cammy, Stajan and Stempniak. I think the Oilers have gone too young, so you ca argue which style is better, but you can't argue that the Oilers key positions are being held down my much younger players than in Calgary at this point in the rebuild, something that has to reflect positively for them in regards to how close they are to competing.
|
It's true our younger players aren't playing as big a role yet but the bigger point is that the oilers as a team is not getting any better. Their no better of a team now than they were in the days of Hemsky, O'Sullivan, Penner, Cole, Brule, and Cogliano... Min fact they are worse. The organization seems to have done very little to make their team deep at forward or defense.
Meanwhile, the flames have made smart moves to acquire players like colborne and Russell... Guys who are still young and being depth to the team... Don't need to be top line guys but can be players who can move up and down the line up when needed.