I think something that is constantly overlooked is that the oilers might have the lowest hockey IQ in the NHL... It explains a lot of their problems.
They may have talented players in hall, eberle, RNH, gagne, yakupov, Hemsky, and Perron... But when I see the terrible decisions those guys make night after night it becomes obvious that they all have a low hockey IQ. Similar to the problem with butler on the flames. It also explains why changing the coach and the system doesn't seem to help them. These players only seem to be able to play one way and they can't seem to grasp playing differently.
For example, Taylor hall reminds me of the forward version of dion phaneuf... Lots of skill but prone to so many stupid mistakes and doesn't respond to coaches very well.
It is an alarming problem for the oilers cause in most cases, players don't increase their hockey IQ very much. That's why they still suck and will continue to suck as long as their core players are all have low hockey IQ.
And let me be clear... We will see same thing next year. It seems we CP guys are the only ones that can see this... cause nearly every analyst gives this team the benefit of the doubt every season no matter what happens... They are treated like it's only a matter of time before the oilers are dominating the NHL. It's hilarious hearing "this is the year" from these people season after season and I can say without any doubt in my mind that it won't be every time. Nothing will change until they get a huge influx of hockey IQ on this team.
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