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CaptainCrunch · 12-16-2013, 11:06 AM

The bottom line is that at this point the talking points on TSN and sportsnet and hockey night in Canada have to keep up the line about the Oilers, because they backed them so hard with the somethings special crap year after year.

For them to turn around and say that they were wrong is not going to happen.

Deep down everyone of them know that the Oilers are a failed franchise who are a strong bottom 6, entire blueline, at least 2 centers and a decent long term goaltending solution away from even competing for a playoff spot.

On top of that, because of drafting failures outside of their first round picks their prospect pipeline is heading rapidly towards questionable at best.

With their big 4 playing lazy give away hockey and with the weaknesses above, a terrible coach, a GM who has no experience and a President who's mark on the franchise is breaking fans into tiers, the Oilers are in huge trouble. The potential here is to become Florida Pantherish in terms of franchise success values.

I would think if the Oilers finish bottom 5 again that they are stuck, they really can't fire Mac-T he needs to be given a couple of years to figure it out, they can't keep firing coaches even though Eakins is a disaster who seems to have lost the room early on based on the lack of effort most nights. They certainly won't fire Lowe because Katz adores him in a semi gay kind of way.

What they'll do is dump one of the two assistants and maybe a scout or two and then proclaim themselves as ready to compete for a playoff spot next year, this will happen after fan optimism goes through the roof in the last 10 games of the season when the Oilers playing pressure free hockey reel off some wins.

The Oilers don't have much to look forward to in the pipe outside of Nurse who could be a very good defensemen, but is years away from that.

Drafting another uberkid does the franchise no good due to development time.

I think that the Oilers are as near to unfixable as possible without a change in philosopy and another two years of re-structuring.

Oh and on top of that, outside of having to massively overpay for middling or aging players on the free agent market (boyd, Ferrence) Its not the city that makes it hard to attract free agents, its the franchise itself.

It used to be fun making fun of Oiler fans, now its kind of like kicking a puppy that's just looking for a bit of love.

12-16-2013, 11:06 AM	#42
CaptainCrunch Norm! Join Date: Jun 2002 Exp:	The bottom line is that at this point the talking points on TSN and sportsnet and hockey night in Canada have to keep up the line about the Oilers, because they backed them so hard with the somethings special crap year after year. For them to turn around and say that they were wrong is not going to happen. Deep down everyone of them know that the Oilers are a failed franchise who are a strong bottom 6, entire blueline, at least 2 centers and a decent long term goaltending solution away from even competing for a playoff spot. On top of that, because of drafting failures outside of their first round picks their prospect pipeline is heading rapidly towards questionable at best. With their big 4 playing lazy give away hockey and with the weaknesses above, a terrible coach, a GM who has no experience and a President who's mark on the franchise is breaking fans into tiers, the Oilers are in huge trouble. The potential here is to become Florida Pantherish in terms of franchise success values. I would think if the Oilers finish bottom 5 again that they are stuck, they really can't fire Mac-T he needs to be given a couple of years to figure it out, they can't keep firing coaches even though Eakins is a disaster who seems to have lost the room early on based on the lack of effort most nights. They certainly won't fire Lowe because Katz adores him in a semi gay kind of way. What they'll do is dump one of the two assistants and maybe a scout or two and then proclaim themselves as ready to compete for a playoff spot next year, this will happen after fan optimism goes through the roof in the last 10 games of the season when the Oilers playing pressure free hockey reel off some wins. The Oilers don't have much to look forward to in the pipe outside of Nurse who could be a very good defensemen, but is years away from that. Drafting another uberkid does the franchise no good due to development time. I think that the Oilers are as near to unfixable as possible without a change in philosopy and another two years of re-structuring. Oh and on top of that, outside of having to massively overpay for middling or aging players on the free agent market (boyd, Ferrence) Its not the city that makes it hard to attract free agents, its the franchise itself. It used to be fun making fun of Oiler fans, now its kind of like kicking a puppy that's just looking for a bit of love. Last edited by CaptainCrunch; 12-16-2013 at 11:09 AM.