Quote:
Originally Posted by Trailer Fire
I want our team to win, not lose to win. That's the Oilers mantra.
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I'm really tired of that line.
The problem with the Oilers is that the entire organization felt that they only thing they needed to do to become competitive was draft a few high picks. They didn't have to build a defence, they didn't have to surround them with support players, they didn't have to have a culture of winning, they didn't have to have any veteran leadership to counsel their young stars into being good pros. It doesn't have anything to do with the fan base "cheering for losses".
The Flames have a decent, young, puck moving defence anchored by a top 10-15 defenceman in the league who happens to be a great leader and our captain.
We have an excellent cast of supporting players like Backlund, Bouma, McGrattan, Stajan, etc. who play the right way, play to win, and give it their all every shift.
Bob Hartley has worked hard to instill a culture of winning despite four bad seasons prior. There's no question that this team believes in doing the right things and playing the right way. The love to win and hate losing and will put it on the line to do so.
As mentioned, our captain is a great leader and we have guys like Cammalleri, Stajan, Hudler, and a young Backlund turning into a leader. The organization has put a lot of effort into making Sean Monahan a good pro on and off the ice and avoiding the spoiled star player problem that has grown like gangrene in Edmonton.
What we're missing is a bit more really high-end talent. For us to really be competitive, almost every one of Granlund / Poirier / Klimchuk / Gaudreau / Jankowski / Baertschi are going to have to turn into good top 9 players. Monahan and two of them are going to have to turn into bona fide top line NHLers. This is highly unlikely. We also have no top pairing D in the system.
So, for those of you on your high horse about "not cheering for losses" because we're going to "turn into Edmonton", p*** off.