[Ruttiger]

This year is a little more painful. I was under no illusions they were going to keep up their early season pace - they weren't going to be a front-runner this year but had hopes they'd be in the playoff conversation at least.

It's still quite possible. Every team goes through slumps and down periods but the good teams don't lose 5 or 6 straight. They find ways to mix in a win here and there and keep the losing streaks limited to 2 and 3 games. The Oilers are reverting to what they've been for the last decade. I'm hopeful I'm wrong and they'll snap out of it but a decade's worth of evidence to the contrary doesn't leave me optimistic.

I think the next logical step if they're a bottom feeder at the end of the year again is to fold the team and redistribute the talent to the other 29 franchises. Calgary gets Fayne.