I think it all started with management this season..
Going into the season, everyone in the Oilers seemed confident and optimistic, and then the whole "Vladdy Hockey" thing happened and I really think that was the first domino to fall in the debacle. With such fragile confidence after years of losing, all it takes is some negative press to really destroy the psyche of the players.
MacTavish keeps saying that they don't have confidence, but how are players supposed to have confidence when their bosses constantly bring negative attention to them?
No doubt that some of the players are probably ruined and will never overcome the downward spiral, at least not in Edmonton; but MacTavish basically directing everything at them sure won't help. His message was mixed and he seemed to say the players are good, they just play like ####. Yet he refuses to try and understand where that comes from. Not coaches or management, at least according to him.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 12-05-2014 at 11:01 AM.
1. They've had several coaches who had the same message. Ummm - why did you fire a coach only to hire another one with the same message?
2. You were never part of management decisions as a coach. Except you know the details of Horcoff's demands and what was done in response. And, I guess, this means you never bothered to tell management what kind of players would fit in your coaching systems.
3. You won't talk about players. Except Yak. And Hemsky (in order to call him a baby who couldn't take criticism). Note: I didn't like Hemsky as an Oilerbut he had more heart than any of the current crop. He took some crushing hits from Regher and kept on playing.
4. Drafting is hard. No later round players on the team is because of Tambellini and Lowe?). MacT didn't have any 2nd a 3rd rounders because they were traded away. Who did that. BTW, he's against trading picks for players.
5. The core players are developing. The fact they've been in the league for 3-5 years and the team is getting worse every year is meaningless.
6. Eakins was sought after. Nikitin is an NHL Dman. Drasaitl needs to develop (but not go down).
7. No NHL centres? Not his fault. Where is Sam Gagner anyway?
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I can't believe none of the reporters there had the guys to actually push MacT for real answers. Here is just one of the tamer kinds of questions they should have been asking:
"You've said the exact same things today that we heard last year and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and so on. But you still won't make the 'bold moves' you talked about. Moves that, at this point, wouldn't even be considered bold cause it's painfully obvious that this team can't compete and never will with this core group.
Everything you've said today is telling us that you are tanking for McDavid. I know you are going to deny it and say that's not true... But every single person knows that's what's happening. You say you're continuing to evaluate but that's just an excuse to keep everything as it is for now so that this team is assured of finishing last. I know it. You know it. Everyone knows it. You'll fire the coach once you have locked down a bottom finish and claim his evaluation is complete.
And stop with the 'it's hard to make trades' excuse. That's basically admitting that you can't do your job cause it's too hard and the other guys won't help you.
So my question is this... Where can I get some of the drugs that you are on that make you believe that this team is progressing? Cause that seems like some crazy stuff."
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"I think the game you are referring to is the Pheonix game"
Erm, no. He was talking about the Arizona game. No wonder they are losing when they get such basics right. Media pundits is one thing, but a GM not getting a name right just shows how incompetent he is.
Phoenix was their name for a decade and they are still playing in the same building in the same location so this should hardly be something to get worked up over or worthy of insults.
The edmonton media is a joke too. How long does the organization actually have to suck to ask the real tough questions of the people in charge. There were maybe 1.5 good difficult questions asked in the entire presser, and the remainder of the fools were content to just toss up the same old simple questions that get vague answers.
If I was an Oilers fan (god forbid) I'd be absolutely livid that the media didn't press a lot harder on the core issues with the organization, starting with Kevin Lowe.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
Holy crap that was bad. I do question the intelligence of this man and I would be absolutely furious if I were an Oilers fan. Fortunately I am a Flames fan, and so this was music to my ears.
He said nothing substantive other than stay the course. And, he talked in circles and contradictions repeatedly: the effort is there/the effort isn't there; the players are better/the players aren't any better; there's accountability/there is not enough accountability; we have made good player moves/it's impossible to make good player moves; scouting's been good/scouting hasn't been good. And the best part: "I am not going to talk about individual players but here are my opinions on a bunch of former and current players."
The Oilers are completely lost. They have a management team whose plan has completely imploded and now have no idea what the hell to do about it. That's pretty clear to me.
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Phoenix was their name for a decade and they are still playing in the same building in the same location so this should hardly be something to get worked up over or worthy of insults.
haha oh how the "mighty" have fallen. You were one of the better boastful ones over the years, now the best you have is defending MacTavish over the Coyotes name.
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Get your laughs in now kids because in a couple of years we'll be in a fancy new building watching a team compete for Stanley Cups, watching the 2016 NHL Allstar game, while enjoying a drink of the worlds finest while you guys will be watching your team of nobody's scrape out 8-10th place finishes (yay) in the oldest building in the league. While it may seem dark now in Edmonton it won't be long before you are pulling down the shades to try to shield yourself from the glare of the glory which will be arising from the ashes.
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Get your laughs in now kids because in a couple of years we'll be in a fancy new building watching a team compete for Stanley Cups, watching the 2016 NHL Allstar game, while enjoying a drink of the worlds finest while you guys will be watching your team of nobody's scrape out 8-10th place finishes (yay) in the oldest building in the league. While it may seem dark now in Edmonton it won't be long before you are pulling down the shades to try to shield yourself from the glare of the glory which will be arising from the ashes.
hahahaha amazing! Been hearing this from you since you signed up buddy, I bet even your fellow Oiler fans would be embarrassed seeing this. You're the last one beating that old tired drum.
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I can't believe none of the reporters there had the guys to actually push MacT for real answers. Here is just one of the tamer kinds of questions they should have been asking:
"You've said the exact same things today that we heard last year and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and so on. But you still won't make the 'bold moves' you talked about. Moves that, at this point, wouldn't even be considered bold cause it's painfully obvious that this team can't compete and never will with this core group.
Everything you've said today is telling us that you are tanking for McDavid. I know you are going to deny it and say that's not true... But every single person knows that's what's happening. You say you're continuing to evaluate but that's just an excuse to keep everything as it is for now so that this team is assured of finishing last. I know it. You know it. Everyone knows it. You'll fire the coach once you have locked down a bottom finish and claim his evaluation is complete.
And stop with the 'it's hard to make trades' excuse. That's basically admitting that you can't do your job cause it's too hard and the other guys won't help you.
So my question is this... Where can I get some of the drugs that you are on that make you believe that this team is progressing? Cause that seems like some crazy stuff."
That's far from a tame question. You'd be blacklisted in the media if you asked questions like that
Phoenix was their name for a decade and they are still playing in the same building in the same location so this should hardly be something to get worked up over or worthy of insults.
And they've been renamed for 5 months and you've already played them 3 times. If that isn't long enough to get something which is pretty simply right, how can you expect him to get the advanced and difficult things correct?
Its a minor thing I admit. I really should insult him for his laughable answers, casual swearing in a live presser and coming on TV looking like a smartly dressed hobo. I admire you're courage at even showing your face on the internet today, but are you or anyone in the organisation really in a position to defend anything he does or says at the moment?
