[sureLoss]

Spector's reaction to the press conference:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/o...a-new-outlook/

t was with a raised voice and perfect clarity that MacTavish distanced himself from the current Oilers management team, new President Bob Nicholson excluded, which leaves him right in step with whatever fans this team has left. They don’t want any part of these guys either. That admission — basically ‘Hey, don’t lump me in with that lot,” — tells you all you need to know about this organization.

MacTavish doesn’t have Lowe’s back, or Howson’s. Nicholson, we suspect, is not fully behind his GM or his coach at this point, though that is speculation on my part. On the ice, as we saw last month, an opposing player can drill Edmonton’s 19-year-old centre from behind as hard as he likes without a single Oiler coming to Leon Draisaitl’s defence.

We are in “Every Man For Himself” territory now in Edmonton. Next stop, Pink Slip City.

MacTavish did admit an amateur scouting staff that, since 2005, has produced but one decent player (Jeff Petry) who is not a first round pick is a big problem.

“It undermines the performance of everything we do, on and off the ice,” MacTavish said. “You’re right: There were two players in our lineup the other night in Winnipeg that we drafted outside the first round. We are acutely aware of our former inadequacies of our drafting.”

“Former inadequacies.” Don’t worry folks, we are aware of how bad it is here in Oil Country, but it’s going to get better. That, once again, was the theme of what has become the annual State of the Union address by a beleaguered MacTavish, who truly had nothing to gain by holding Friday’s 9 a.m. availability, and undoubtedly fell further into arrears with the fan base by doing it anyhow.

Or this: “The Winnipeg game (a 3-2 OT loss) was a real positive for us. We did a lot of things right. We played a smarter, more mature game than we do normally. We’re in the game, ready to win the game. Nashville (1-0 loss in OT) was the same thing. We managed the puck better. We went to the hard areas of the ice better. We finished our checks…”

Imagine, for a moment, Darryl Sutter at that same podium, his team on an 11-game losing streak, applauding his players for finishing a few checks. What would Darryl have said, in this situation, I found myself wondering.

This is exactly why a front office clean-out is required in Edmonton. Because with new bosses would arrive a new level of expectation.

Worse yet, the new GM keeps bringing in players like Anton Belov, Nikita Nikitin, Teddy Purcell, Denis Grebeshkov, Jesse Joensuu, Justin Schultz… None of whom make this team any more difficult to defeat, all of whom perpetuate the same, tissue-soft game that anchors this franchise to the bottom of the standings.

“We’re behind in our time line,” MacTavish admitted on Friday. “We understand the frustration of our fans. But the plan does not change for us.”

Had the carefully orchestrated queue for questions allowed it, we’d have asked one more thing of MacTavish:

“Can you explain Calgary…?”