Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The important point here being that he no longer remembers a hell of a lot of stuff.
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Yup.
If he thinks the Oilers are in any imminent danger of winning the Stanley Cup, one thing he's forgotten is that you have to play defence as well as offence.
Another thing he's forgotten is that you don't get fancy offensive numbers unless the defencemen are good enough to contribute.
The last time the Oilers were good, they were an offensive powerhouse right up to the day they traded Paul Coffey. Even with Gretzky, Kurri, Messier, Anderson, and Tikkanen up front, they could not put up the same numbers without that QB driving the play from the back end. There were times when they had to put five forwards on the power play because none of their D were good enough to play the point. The current Oilers, in that respect, are kind of a poor man's version of the late-80s' Oilers. They haven't got the superstars up front, but they do have the sucky defence corps.
So, yeah. No doubt Ron MacLean has forgotten more about hockey than I'll ever know. But you know, there is something to be said for those of us who learned less but actually remember it.