Oilers call press conference for Friday 9am

[Finger Cookin]

I want to see TSN destroy this on SC/TH, but curling is on. :|

[868904]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

If the Oilers were to be obstinate and try to hold them for the full two years before making a deal, it would cost them two years of unrestricted free agency and probably $10+ million.

Could McDavid and Eichel opt out of the draft?

Then they would only be one year back.

They could go play in Europe and earn good dough probably.

Assuming the Oilers aren't in the last two spots again the next year, which is a big assumption.

[Street Pharmacist]

So while I was searching for that quote a few posts up I came across the entire year end press conference from MacTavish in which he said the above quote. What's more interesting, is what else he said:

http://globalnews.ca/news/1272471/oi...-about-future/

“We’re closer to the end in my mind than we are to the beginning in terms of the development of this team,” MacTavish said Tuesday at a season-ending media availability.

MacTavish has no plans to add anything “middle of the road” to the current defence core and feels the team’s younger players can fill those positions.

He does plan to target a high-end defenceman in the off-season.

“We need a few pieces that can really move this thing along,” said MacTavish.

“We’re building our team around this group,” he said. “And you have to have pieces in that locker-room that you view as guys that are going to develop into winners and guys that are going to develop into superstars.

“I feel strongly that we have a number of those pieces in there and those are the guys we’re going to build that team around. I want them to feel the ownership, I want them to feel the loyalty from myself and the coaching staff that we have the confidence in them to drive this team forward.”

So which one is the high end defenseman again????

[browna]

I do feel a slight bit sorry for MacTavish.

I think he did inherit a mess, and also got a bit hoowinked by Lowe, like so many others have, telling him the grass is nice and green, when its actually dead. (extra points for identifying the Oilers poster from a decade ago who said that as it related to Calgary) Marginalizng the issues, downplaying the bad things etc to get MacT on board initially.

Recall, he has history with Lowe, and not positive. His contract was up at the end of the 2005-6 regular season, and the Oilers had to pick up the option by the end of the regular season. Lowe didn't, so MacTavish was around for only as long as the Oilers were in the playoffs. Of course, they get to a period and a half away from winning the Cup (shiver) and thus Lowe had no choice but to bring back MacTavish. Of course Lowe then opened the vault for marginal players like Pisini and Horcoff as well, while waving by to Pronger, another guy Lowe duped.

Lowe brings him back as GM years after finally letting him go (for the Renney/Quinn "what a great idea Kevin, let me pat myself on the back" experiment) to do some dirty work and day to day stuff. Lowe also knowing the landmines that he's set for his GM; after Lowe decides on Eakins at the last minute, its MacT who has to hurredly fire Kruger awkwardly.

MacT knows he can't make any trades because no agent wants to talk to them, because their clients won't go there. Other teams don't bother talking to the Oilers because the teams know players the Oilers will want, won't waive NTC's.

Then, Lowe catches wind of the Snets and TSN's of the world starting to write articles after the team is losing 8 or 9 games, and figures he has to appear to that same media that the organization is responding. A so called forensic audit that took what, 36h?

Then, he throws MacT in front of the wolves, both in an attempt to put out the firestorm.

I think MacT's simply towing the company line today, and whether he believes what he is saying or not, just doing what Lowe's telling him to do and say (thus some of the outrageous comments heard today), but a couple breaths later, he can't bite his tounge any longer and things slip out.

He says he has to stick with the plan, and that's only because the Oilers don't want to be paying three head coaches, MacT knows they can't acquire impact players through the trade thanks to the hole Lowe has put them in for almost a decade.

He did not look comfortable or ready...such a hastily prepared presser just reeks of Lowe setting this all up as some sort of band-aid solution to the media uproar.

[Coach]

Not sure if anyone heard the interview with Johnny today, but a reporter asked him if there was a turning point for him where he realized that he can do this, play in the NHL. Johnny's response is (paraphrase):

The game I got sat really opened my eyes. Made me think I could get sent down, made me realize I had to be better. I think since then It's been good.

Just thought that might fit in here...

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

If the Oilers were to be obstinate and try to hold them for the full two years before making a deal, it would cost them two years of unrestricted free agency and probably $10+ million.

Can they afford to obstinate for 2 years though? It's a fun hypothetical, but if the agents make enough noise about either not wanting to go on grounds of location/poor player development/culture then something will have to give. Either Nicholson will clean house to appease McEichel or McEichel gets shipped since "we want players that want to be Oilers." There is no way Nicholson can afford to posture for 2 years with the franchise's golden ticket. McEichel has an extraordinary amount of leverage in this scenario. More so than almost any other first overall pick in recent memory.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by 868904

Could McDavid and Eichel opt out of the draft?

Then they would only be one year back.

They could go play in Europe and earn good dough probably.

Assuming the Oilers aren't in the last two spots again the next year, which is a big assumption.

Even if top prospects did want to burn a year of what would most likely be contract time, why would they? Edmonton is going to be in the bottom three again next year.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

The Phaneuf trade still looks awful, not because Phaneuf was a great player, but the return was a marginal return that did little to nothing to benefit the team. A bold move that isn't adventitious to the long term prospects of the team, in particular a team that prides itself on the rebuilding of the team isn't a good trade. It isn't as though the Phaneuf trade has propelled the Flames to new heights. They sucked with Phaneuf and they sucked without him as well.

I don't think that the Oilers should make massive trades right now, the season is already done and making a trade now would reek of desperation and knowing that the return would be awful.

But not making a trade/firing right now is knowingly tanking the season. It's management knowing that the team is so terrible that it cannot compete and doing nothing to even attempt to fix it or at least spark the team. It is blatantly obvious that Lowe and MacT are now shooting for McDavid/Eichel and nothing else.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

https://twitter.com/dantencer/status...007391744?s=09

"@dantencer: MacTavish says the player development department and processes within the organization are "the best in the game"

April 15th, 2014

hahaha, wow. That's so awesome.

[Daradon]

Yup! Surprised you hadn't heard that before.

I guess it was opposite day. It is very possible it is the WORST in the game.

[drewtastic]

Originally Posted by browna

I do feel a slight bit sorry for MacTavish.

(I read your whole post but edited the quote down for space reasons )

I used to also feel sorry for him in some small way, but today changed that. His overly defensive responses to legitimate questions (i.e. about Nikitin not being a top pairing Dman), his willingness to deflect his responsibility in previous years as coach ("I've only been GM for 18-20 months") and the fact he agreed to go through with the presser (even it it 'reeked of Lowe', as you suggested) all show a level of arrogance and/or ignorance that, until today, I didn't really believe that team up north possessed.

I cannot believe the sense of entitlement that this organization has. After drafting so high for so many years, they still have the gall to imply that their current situation is the result of bad luck. Saying that they look better "visually" while admitting that there is no "tangible evidence" to support this reveals a self-delusion that permeates the organization.

Until today, while I enjoyed reading all the threads and comments on this board related to the Oilers' plight, I never actually believed that upper-management could possibly be as delusional about the team's situation as posters here intimated. After today, I no longer doubt CP posters' opinions about how completely incompetent the "special" regime in The Chuck really is.

Listen to Hartley speak. Listen to Conroy, Treliving, Burke. Can you imagine any of these men speaking the way MacT did today? If Edmonton is going to have success, a massive overhaul is required, because there is absolutely no identity or accountability.

Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster I'm a Flames fan...

[drewtastic]

And also, this is awesome:

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/201...d-his-message/

[drewtastic]

<double post>

[browna]

Originally Posted by drewtastic

...all show a level of arrogance and/or ignorance that, until today, I didn't really believe that team up north possessed.

Don't get me wrong, I have no delusions that MacT is some innocent soul, he's got his ego, but he's really just a mouth peice for the crazy ideas Lowe has about how to make things work....but from top to bottom, the arrogance, and ignorance of that organization is, and has always come from Lowe.

Him "making a stand" when it came to Comrie, and asking for his signing bonus back in order to trade him (for yes, as we all know, Corey Perry) in the early 2000's shows the delusion that Lowe has about the way things work. Its as if he learned a lot from Sather and how he ran things in the 80's, and figures he could push the limit even further with the players under him, even though the league is a total different landscape.

Him trying the two coaches, Quinn and Renney. Him telling Pronger he was just once peice of a superstar team he was going to assemble that year.

This is also the guy caught on camera laughing about the Flames ending nowhere near the top of the Crosby lottery....he hadn't wiped the smile off before the Oilers got picked next and the camera focused on him.

And of course the spat with Burke, ignoring the Sabres when they said they'd match Vanek, the Tier 1 and Tier 2 fans comments, etc etc...just solidifies the warped world that Lowe tries so hard to be "unconventional = better" and its just ruined the franchise since all that hot air has blown up in his face.

IMO, a lot of those statements today are all coming from Lowe's ideas that he's passed on to Mac T; Lowe's egotistical arrogance, passing through MacT's unrefined filter.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Of course they are going to give him a tough ride. He's delusional. The only thing that would make this more obvious is if MacT was pushing a shopping cart with his belongings in it through Rexall on his way to the press conference while reciting the starting line-up to the '85 championship team.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by 868904

Could McDavid and Eichel opt out of the draft?

Then they would only be one year back.

They could go play in Europe and earn good dough probably.

Assuming the Oilers aren't in the last two spots again the next year, which is a big assumption.

No, they can't. They could sign in Europe if they so choose regardless of who drafts them in the NHL, but the Oilers would still hold the rights for two years, after which they go back into the draft and pray the Oilers don't take them again.

Originally Posted by Dagger

Can they afford to obstinate for 2 years though? It's a fun hypothetical, but if the agents make enough noise about either not wanting to go on grounds of location/poor player development/culture then something will have to give. Either Nicholson will clean house to appease McEichel or McEichel gets shipped since "we want players that want to be Oilers." There is no way Nicholson can afford to posture for 2 years with the franchise's golden ticket. McEichel has an extraordinary amount of leverage in this scenario. More so than almost any other first overall pick in recent memory.

No, the Oilers can't really afford it, but we are talking about an organization that is notorious for making the wrong decisions.

[drewtastic]

Originally Posted by browna

IMO, a lot of those statements today are all coming from Lowe's ideas that he's passed on to Mac T; Lowe's egotistical arrogance, passing through MacT's unrefined filter.

I would say that I could completely see that too, because I agree with you about Lowe. However, MacT faced the media's questions today on his own, and still came out looking amazingly arrogant.

Don't get me wrong--as a Flames' fan, I love this. Stay the course, The Chuck!

From an outsider's standpoint (outsider to the Oilers, that is), however, it became painfully clear to me today that the Oilers cannot turn this around by retaining ANY of their current management team, including MacT. Even if he's tainted by Lowe as you suggest, he's still tainted.

[Flaming Lips]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Really shows you how dangerous arrogance can be when the person wields power over something that others care passionately for.

Lowe for decades has done some of the most insane things all because he thinks he's better than anyone he shares air with.

...

I think its telling what extreme success can do to a brain. The Oilers seem to be run by a full squad of narcissists.

Contrast with one of the most successful men the game has ever known in Mr. Beliveau.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CaptainCrunch]

Normally if a corporate representative came out in a press conference and threw the current and former management of that company under the bus, that representative would be suddenly and at high velocity be looking for another job.

In Edmonton they probably had cake and juice and laughed about pulling the wool over their fan bases eyes.

[doncherry]

@ MAC T
@ amazing_oilers




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNHuqHWefU