Look f I can be serious for just a minute
I've been following this train wreck of a franchise for a while as a source of bemusement and comedy. I remember when they made the playoffs a couple of years back and I was convinced that that club was just an incredible perfect storm of fluke and luck.
This is an Oilers team that has been chewed up and spit out by the NHL yet, somehow their fans try to convince us that their suckiness is the fault of officials, the NHL, a tough schedule, whatever.
Then Oiler fans will continue to tell us that injuries and bad goaltending and fired GM's and fired coaches were at fault. But the funny . . . no check that . . . . the hilarious thing is that these injured players return, they bring in a highly sought GM or coach, and the result doesn't change.
Look maaaan, its not simply a matter of development of young players, or line matchups or strategies. Its not a matter of a goaltending or even to an extent talent. Because beyond the whole puzzling maze of analytics and statistics and probabilities lies what differentiates a team that wins or finds a way and a team like the Oilers.
Intangibles , my friends are what differentiates teams at an elite level. What's happening in that dressing room, who's stepping up and who's stepping back. Vegas had leadership and intangibles and drive and desire out the a$$ last year.
But you can't tell me that a team that's supposedly desperate to make the playoffs is going to collapse late in the last two games and then get utterly, completely and overwhelmingly dominated in the third period of a crucial game against a team trailing you in front of your fans.
The Oilers got outshot 14-4 in the third period, they got outscored by 5 goals in the third, in a game that they really had to have. Even more damning was the last two minutes when the Hawks basically Harlem globetrottered the Oilers to kill the clock. There has been no real desperation shown from that team since the all star break. Its like they're dreaming of members only golf courses, boats loaded with liquor and models, and a few month without hockey.
No matter how much they change their lineup, their coaches, their GM's the results remain the same, they go from Talbot to the newly rich wunderkind and the result is still the same.
I watched McDavid, and maybe he's lost his desire, but he just coasts without the puck, he coasts on his own side of the blueline. Maybe he's burned out from over use. But lets be honest, the only time that the Oilers have on a whole looked decent in this game was when they had two man advantages.
I can't say something stupid like "Hey man, I don't blame Connor" I can take it further and echo what Oiler fans harp over and over again "Connor will do anything to win, he's all desire and character"
I can't say it because I don't believe it. I don't believe that he leads by example, when things get tough or tight, he vanishes as does the rest of their leadership. That core as small as it is, its rotten.
On top of that whas the other factor that is consistent. That's right the ex oilers club, since there's no accountability with Mac-T and Lowe and Gretzky, why should the players give a big green runny poop?
Playoff hopes, 4 points back, give me a break, the floor is about to drop out of that stupid club, and the NHL needs to make sure that they don't get a top 5 pick. And the Oilers need to tear the whole fricken thing down and burn the soil
Its gone from hilarious to pathetic.