[OOT] December 3rd - 9 games

[Igster]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

NBC is awesome.

Surprised no one mentioned the fact that we may have already seen the start of the TSN exodus with Gord Miller calling the NBC game with Pierre McGuire. Pierre has been long gone, but having Miller call the NBC game is a first that I'm aware of. It was fantastic. Love the tandem of Miller and McGuire.

Canada really losing out if Miller is indeed going to NBC now. The start of how the new Rogers contract with the NHL is going to kill some of the talent here.

[getbak]

Miller tweeted yesterday that this is the third year he's been working some NBC games.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

The Flames are behind the Oilers in goals against per game and last in the NHL.

You're right I didn't do the calculations right.

However I will add that the Oilers are far behind the Flames in terms of 5 on 5 gf/ga ratio. But the Oilers are beating the Flames on Special teams which is kind of funny in itself.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by getbak

Miller tweeted yesterday that this is the third year he's been working some NBC games.

Huh. I have never heard him do an NBC game before. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go full time with them now though.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

29 games into the season (to the Flames 26) and the Oilers are still behind Calgary in the standings......a Calgary team in it's first year of rebuilding, and missing the likes of Giordano and Glencross for massive chunks of the season so far.

Nice rebuild you pathetic excuse for an NHL franchise.

I've said this before, but I'll reiterate, they're up against the cap, so the rebuild is over. This is the final product.

Originally Posted by zamler

Ference is a very frustrated player. Or maybe completely demoralized is a better word.

Ference had better get used to it. He is going to be bearing the brunt of the frustration for a while. Ference can smile at the camera and spout anything he wants but he went to Edmonton for one reason and on reason only: Money.

Hes the 'Heart and Soul' guy on a team with no heart or soul.

No other team was giving him $15M. Hes being paid to be a top 2 to top 4 defenceman, something which he isnt and hasnt been for a long time.

Hes going to smile at the camera and say inspirational things and as soon as the cameras are off hes going to laugh maniacally and swan-dive a-la Scrooge McDuck into his massive piles of money while the Oilers get bent over, over and over again.

But a new arena will solve all of that. I'm sure they've already designed Kevin Lowe's shiny new office.

And hand the Oscar to Roberto Luongo right now. That was embarrassing. You know its bad when the guys on Sportscentre are tired of his diving. He shouldnt come anywhere near a Team Canada jersey. Canada has enough good goaltenders that we dont need Luongo.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Locke

I've said this before, but I'll reiterate, they're up against the cap, so the rebuild is over. This is the final product.

This is huge and people completely ignore it at time. Either the Oilers ability to attract and sign free agents is severely compromised, and they have to add pretty huge Edmonton top ups ala Ference and Gordon and Bryz. Or they are such a poor judge of what it takes to put together a winning team up there that they had an expectation that this collection of poo with a few shiny bits of corn in it was actually going to be a winning team and make a push to a playoff spot. For them to be on tract to be worse then last year and singularly bad against any team in the top 20 in the NHL shows the poor level of talent, and if you look at their upcoming prospects that are not Hall, Eberle and RNH its not the stuff of building a team. They might have one or two good blueline prospects in Klefbom and Nurse (Who I believe is two to three years away) but after that its a big pile of meh with questions starting to form around guys like Marincin and Musil. Up front their winger prospect depth is really horrible and their center depth could be defined as dire. Even though they did pick up a decent prospect in Broissent, he's years away from competing for an NHL job.

The Oilers are suddenly in a lot of trouble and are probably going to be either reduced to a massive sale at the deadline or trying to trade one of the big players at the deadline to balance out their lineup, and Oiler fans should be terrified of the idea of having Mac-T with Lowe looking over his shoulder trying to swing a competant trade. My biggest hope is that the Oilers trade one of the big three in a trade for either Del Zotto of the Rangers or Gardiner of the Leafs who are exactly the type of blue liner that they really don't need.

Originally Posted by Locke

Ference had better get used to it. He is going to be bearing the brunt of the frustration for a while. Ference can smile at the camera and spout anything he wants but he went to Edmonton for one reason and on reason only: Money.

Hes the 'Heart and Soul' guy on a team with no heart or soul.

No other team was giving him $15M. Hes being paid to be a top 2 to top 4 defenceman, something which he isnt and hasnt been for a long time.

Hes going to smile at the camera and say inspirational things and as soon as the cameras are off hes going to laugh maniacally and swan-dive a-la Scrooge McDuck into his massive piles of money while the Oilers get bent over, over and over again.

I like Andy I think he's a very classy guy off of the ice, I think he's way over his head on the ice, and he can't carry that blueline by himself. He's also not really the guy who's going to mentor and succession plan for the guys like Klefbom and Nurse. I do believe he went there for the money. I also believe that he bought the hype of the Oilers and now that he's in the dressing room he knows what he's got. I also think that the team didn't do him any favors with putting the Captaincy on him instead of Hall. That's tough for any free agent to sign one day and be Captain the next day.

But he's now like a hooker who lays back and closes his eyes and says "Think about the money" over and over again while the rest of the teams in the league have their way with him.

It wouldn't surprise me to see him either moved, or being bought out in a couple of years as his game continues to diminish.

Originally Posted by Locke

But a new arena will solve all of that. I'm sure they've already designed Kevin Lowe's shiny new office.

New building fever only lasts so long as does new building good will. Usually teams will really make a hard push when they move into a new building to put a good team on ice, but the Oilers are incredibly handicapped with not much coming up behind the big three to get excited about unless they draft first again.

The only thing that they might be able to do is lame duck through this year and possibly next and then fire every one in the off season before the building opens and sell the public on a new Oiler vision, because I just don't see with that management team, that group of players on the ice, and the upcoming prospects how they can fix this organization in anything short of 4 or 5 years. It looks that dire.

Sure they can beat the Bluejackets and the Flames and the occasional good team, but the build of that team and the incompetence of management and coaching is on public display for everyone to see, point fingers at and laugh.

A new arena might fix things temporarily in terms of fan acceptance, but after 40 games of looking at increased ticket prices in a new building for the same garbage is a prospect that no Oiler fan wants to see.

But then again after years of hearing from the media that they're building something special up there, and the wonderful talent up there. Combined with Oiler fans boasting and making dynasty predictions and Kevin Lowe's channeling of Charlie Sheen.

It looks good on em.

[Enoch Root]

The Oilers have one (Ference) defenseman signed for next year.

I am sure they will try to make a trade or sign a free agent to shore up the group (best of luck with that), but for the most part, they are likely to go with an onslaught of youth on D next year: Nurse, Klefbom, Marincin, etc.

I fully expect that they will be worse next year than they are now. It is difficult to imagine, but it seems pretty inevitable at this point.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

The Oilers have one (Ference) defenseman signed for next year.

I am sure they will try to make a trade or sign a free agent to shore up the group (best of luck with that), but for the most part, they are likely to go with an onslaught of youth on D next year: Nurse, Klefbom, Marincin, etc.

I fully expect that they will be worse next year than they are now. It is difficult to imagine, but it seems pretty inevitable at this point.

....theres no way.....they cant possibly think thats a good idea.

They'll obviously keep Schultz, but even still....if they did that they'd be terrible for another 5 years or more. And there arent likely any UFAs that could have a serious chance of turning that team around.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

The Oilers have one (Ference) defenseman signed for next year.

I am sure they will try to make a trade or sign a free agent to shore up the group (best of luck with that), but for the most part, they are likely to go with an onslaught of youth on D next year: Nurse, Klefbom, Marincin, etc.

I fully expect that they will be worse next year than they are now. It is difficult to imagine, but it seems pretty inevitable at this point.

Nurse won't be ready next year. Its the rare defensemen that is ready for the NHL at that age and you stand a chance to ruin him.

Klefboom is still adjusting to the NHL sized rinks and hasn't been terrific on the farm. I'd say its wait and see if he's ready and they shouldn't be writing him into the lineup.

Marincin by everything I've read and heard is a question mark, he's not the sure thing that he was last year.

If you put these guys in the NHL next year in a sink or swim type of thing you'll probably wreck two out of three of them. Especially with Eakins coaching there.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Nurse won't be ready next year. Its the rare defensemen that is ready for the NHL at that age and you stand a chance to ruin him.

Klefboom is still adjusting to the NHL sized rinks and hasn't been terrific on the farm. I'd say its wait and see if he's ready and they shouldn't be writing him into the lineup.

Marincin by everything I've read and heard is a question mark, he's not the sure thing that he was last year.

If you put these guys in the NHL next year in a sink or swim type of thing you'll probably wreck two out of three of them. Especially with Eakins coaching there.

From the way you describe it, it sounds inevitable.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Locke

....theres no way.....they cant possibly think thats a good idea.

They'll obviously keep Schultz, but even still....if they did that they'd be terrible for another 5 years or more. And there arent likely any UFAs that could have a serious chance of turning that team around.

Even though plus/minus is a relatively bad measuring stick, in Schultz's case its pretty telling because the guys play on the ice leads to a lot of goals against.

He's an utter disaster in the defensive zone, and he's not learning. The mistakes he made last year he's making this year and he's added new ones to his collection of tricks.

He might get you offensive points but he costs you far more then he produces.

I think that with him going to restricted free agency and probably looking for something in that 3 million dollar range that he's a guy that you package to get something better on your blue line.

I don't think Yakapov has that earth shaking value based on his abysmal play this year. I think you are more likely to get the big returns from Hall or RNH if you have the sack to make that deal.

But to me, with their pipeline, lack of success beyond the first round and their cap situation, this rebuild is failing and failing badly.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

From the way you describe it, it sounds inevitable.

No but this isn't a fantasy land where the Oilers can throw more young players into the lineup and it magically turns around.

With one signed defensemen next year and suddenly relying on three really young blueliners that might not be ready it sure speaks to crappy succession planning doesn't it?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Nurse won't be ready next year. Its the rare defensemen that is ready for the NHL at that age and you stand a chance to ruin him.

Klefboom is still adjusting to the NHL sized rinks and hasn't been terrific on the farm. I'd say its wait and see if he's ready and they shouldn't be writing him into the lineup.

Marincin by everything I've read and heard is a question mark, he's not the sure thing that he was last year.

If you put these guys in the NHL next year in a sink or swim type of thing you'll probably wreck two out of three of them. Especially with Eakins coaching there.

I never said I thought it was a good idea.

But not only would it not surprise me from that organization, but rumblings have left me with that impression.

Can't remember exact sources or quotes, but my impression is that they think Klefbom is pretty much ready and they actually thought that Nurse almost made the team last year and if I recall, MacT said something to the effect of 'he's very close' or something like that.

Again, I agree that it would be a massive mistake - rushing defensemen ruins them more often than not - but it's the Oilers, it's what they do.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

No but this isn't a fantasy land where the Oilers can throw more young players into the lineup and it magically turns around.

With one signed defensemen next year and suddenly relying on three really young blueliners that might not be ready it sure speaks to crappy succession planning doesn't it?

Sorry, I meant to imply that the argument was sound, it is inevitable.

[neo45]

Oilers Defense next year if they want to make playoffs:

____ - ______
____ - Petry
Ference - J Schultz

So ya they are screwed. Petry is their only legit top 4 and he is due for a big raise, which will bring them closer to the cap. Nurse and Klefbom aren't ready, while Larsen, Belov, Grebeshkov, Potter etc aren't NHL quality

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Sorry, I meant to imply that the argument was sound, it is inevitable.

Yeah, I think I misunderstood you. My bad

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Nurse won't be ready next year. Its the rare defensemen that is ready for the NHL at that age and you stand a chance to ruin him.

Klefboom is still adjusting to the NHL sized rinks and hasn't been terrific on the farm. I'd say its wait and see if he's ready and they shouldn't be writing him into the lineup.

Marincin by everything I've read and heard is a question mark, he's not the sure thing that he was last year.

If you put these guys in the NHL next year in a sink or swim type of thing you'll probably wreck two out of three of them. Especially with Eakins coaching there.

Sounds like Marincin was called up today - that should fix their D!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Sounds like Marincin was called up today - that should fix their D!

More likely he gets lit up like an emergency strobe light. I vote they partner him with Justin Schultz.

When people with Italian sounding names swear its always hilarious