How much longer do you think the Oilers will be this bad for?

[Plett25]

What kind of team can the Oilers ice in 2 years if Eberle, Hall, RNH, Yakupov and Schultz all sign for around $6 million each?

Nearly 1/2 the salary cap tied up in 5 players and the other $35 million split 20 ways.

[jschick88]

hahaha disgruntled Oilers fan trying to sell his tickets for tomorrow night.

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-...AdIdZ477724110

[browna]

Problem is the fact that Lowe has made the Oilers an unattractive destination for UFAs and for guys who would have to waive no trade clauses.

All that young talent needs to have proven leaders alongside them, and also just plain decent NHL players to provide depth and character, at the forward and defense positions. The Oilers cannot attract them thanks to Lowe.

After the Comrie thing and then Pronger, then things like then Souray, its no surprise guys like Heatley and Nylander said no, and countless others too,(look at the way they handled Glencross) pretty clear the guy in charge has poisoned the pool. Only able to draft top overalll guys, and call in favours from Gretzky to get Schultz, and sign a goalie that was good for a one or two year deal with chronic back problems, for 5 years, was the only way to get roster churn.

UFAs have a choice of any situation, players have NTCs and can't be forced to go there. Given what took place last week, that blacklisting of the Oilers is likely to continue and the losing culture is going to continue to fester and get worse, ruining once promising talent.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Corsi numbers (relative) are very interesting.
Those three Oilers are very high.
So are the Sedins, Bergeron, Crosby, Malkin, etc
Good company, to say the least

Yeah for the corsi numbers! You can use them to tell yourself the Oilers are winners!

The most telling stat is the standings.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by AlbertaOiler72

RNH is more cerebral,

Coffee almost came squirting out through my nose when I read that.

"Don't Stop, Believing ....... "

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

They should rename the team to the LOiLers. hahahhahaa
$6mill for Eberle and Hall. hahahhahahahahahahahahhahahaha

LOilers! Hahaha.. aww man it's going to be tough to get that one out of my head

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Yeah. Hall at 6 mill for the next 7 years. How terrible for Edmonton. Lol

Don't mind Bertuzzied, he's the forum equivalent of that annoying guy in the movie theatre that laughs out loud at his own jokes and makes obnoxious comments.

[Robbob]

If Hall is on then I think 6 million is a good deal (injuries and recklessness are the only factors). Eberle I think had an off year and I would be a little hesitant saying that is a good contract until he rebounds. I know he battled some injuries but a cap hit of 6 million should get you a bit more. As of right now his stat line is comparable to Cammalleri. I think we can agree that that salary hit makes people a bit uncomfortable.

Not saying he won't rebound, but you can't say you would be happy with the current production at that cap hit for that term.

[Tinordi]

I think Eberle is the guy they trade if they trade any of them. Very doubtful they trade Yak.

[ah123]

I think the Oilers have the pieces in place to quickly upgrade their team, so they could be good really fast. The question is, do they have the management team to make the right moves? As a Flames fan, I hope not

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by ah123

I think the Oilers have the pieces in place to quickly upgrade their team, so they could be good really fast. The question is, do they have the management team to make the right moves? As a Flames fan, I hope not

I think they have way too many holes to quickly fix them. Its not like its tremendously easy to build a effective bottom 6 and to get good functional bottom 3 defensemen. Especially if you're like the Oilers where outside of number 1 draft picks they just can't draft.

On top of it with Tambellini or without him that management group is pretty much the same and they've shown themselves to be balls out incompetent and unable to make moves to improve their team.

On top of that, the Oilers have a cultural issue, they don't work particularly hard and they fold pretty much in the face of adversary and that has to change, its to the point now where from top to bottom that team has just accepted losing as the way its going to be.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Oilers end up trying to do another rebuild.

However Kevin Lowe still has all those Stanley Cup rings and apparently knows winning.

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

^
Is Hall going to stay healthy though? He plays a pretty reckless game. He needs to get that teenage invincibility mindset out of his head before something gruesome hap...oh right..

He's talked about having made a conscious effort this year to not put himself in position to be injured like he has in the past and the results are there. Part of the maturation process that he's grasped.

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by Ark2

Don't mind Bertuzzied, he's the forum equivalent of that annoying guy in the movie theatre that laughs out loud at his own jokes and makes obnoxious comments.

I may have to update my signature with that.....

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

I think Eberle is the guy they trade if they trade any of them. Very doubtful they trade Yak.

I think they should package Eberle and a defensive prospect for two 20 goal scorers, a 4th line grinder and and undersized defenseman on a career season. Trading some quality for quantity seems like a good way to fill the gaps.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Just heard something I didn't realize. If you look at the last 8 teams in the standings last season, 7 of those teams are in a playoff position right now. 7/8 is pretty damn good.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by ah123

I think the Oilers have the pieces in place to quickly upgrade their team, so they could be good really fast.

I agree. There are a few holes (the biggest are on defense) that can be filled. They have some bottom-six forwards coming up through the system. Defense will be a bigger challenge.

[Walter Reed]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I agree. There are a few holes (the biggest are on defense) that can be filled. They have some bottom-six forwards coming up through the system. Defense will be a bigger challenge.

The Oilers young core is fine although they probably too similar in terms of size and obviously can use some greater size & grit. Someone will most likely be traded, and I agree it might be Eberle. Hall is an outstanding young player kind of reminiscent of Messier, although without the mean streak. I also would echo that it is easy to draft the 1st picks given where they have drafted the past 3 years, it's the 2nd round > that they haven't impressed, at least thus far from what I observed. They may have some potential NHL calibre players in the pipeline, but they are still in the juniors or overseas, not on their AHL team. The surrounding or complementary cast is where the Oilers reflect the greatest weakness. Those players are simply not good enough. I also think the coaching staff need to be upgraded. Never understood the hiring of Buchberger or to a lesser extent Smith as assit. coaches. Time will tell whether MacT will follow thru with his statement of making bold changes. I'm hugely disappointed in the lack of progress or improvement by the team this year. The fans attending games are as well based upon the booing that has been witnessed at Rexall in recent games. Fans expected more. That said, what can one do as a fan, hope for the better results next year .....

[TheGrimm]

That mess up north used to be funny but is quickly progressing into being just sad...

[moon]

Originally Posted by ah123

I think the Oilers have the pieces in place to quickly upgrade their team, so they could be good really fast. The question is, do they have the management team to make the right moves? As a Flames fan, I hope not

They could if they hit on about 3 trades/FA signings but the holes are so big that they really need to make 0 mistakes to do so which seems unlikely for many teams and especially this management group.

The other issue as pointed out many times is the ELC contracts are coming up so they start to have issues with fitting everyone into the line-up especially if the bottom level guys aren't working out and you need to spend money on them.

And as always with average to bad goaltending with Dubnyk they don't get the benefit of that helping to mask issues on the team.

I think they can be a 6-10th place team quickly but need a lot of help and right moves to get into the top of the conference race consistently.

[Francis's Hairpiece]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

That mess up north used to be funny but is quickly progressing into being just sad...

Strongly disagree.

Not only does it make them look bad, but it helps expose the "experts" on TSN as the frauds they are.

3rd place indeed.