my son and i were outside this afternoon playing some ball hockey. my little guy was in goal sporting a flames goalie mask.
an amazon delivery arrived for my wife and the driver asked if we were flames fans. i replied "absolutely!!". he cheers for the oilers. my son's response was gold... "oilers!??! YUCKY!!!!" (he's only 5!).
we chatted for a bit and it was everything i could do to bite my tongue when he said he really likes the oilers and cheering for drysaddle after all those YEARS he played for the rockets. i didn't have the 'heart' to tell him that the german gretzky only played about a half season for the rockets.
edmonton fans... like edmonton, are no good!
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I mean their own media doesn't do their research except when it has to do with their 80s teams, so you can't expect their fans to be particularly well informed on specifics of players.
There is no Loubardias on that side of the fence that avidly follows the junior leagues while covering the NHL team. They mainly care about da top Condorz playaz / future HOFz nn da oilyaz.
When I think of Yakupov I remember that tying goal in the final minutes of a regular season game, and him skating out to centre ice. Then that Oiler fan paints the moment on his garage door. Wonder if he ever painted it over with a picture of McDavid.
When I think of Yukupov I think of that oiler fan that claimed he was the same caliber of player as Pavel Bure. Oilers probably would have settled for Valeri.
I understand the disdain for Nail, but I can't help think of him as a great tragedy. He did have a good rookie season, 31 points and 17 goals in 48 games. But Edmonton chewed him up, ground down his confidence, and spit him right out. He has never looked the same since getting just pummeled into the dirt by local media, fans, and the organization. I honestly think his confidence was completely robbed and will never be rebuilt.
Have to wonder if he would have turned out better elsewhere. I think he'd at least still be in the league as a middle six contributor.
And then you remember how entitled Burke said he was in the interviews and then you don’t feel so bad for him anymore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monahammer
I understand the disdain for Nail, but I can't help think of him as a great tragedy. He did have a good rookie season, 31 points and 17 goals in 48 games. But Edmonton chewed him up, ground down his confidence, and spit him right out. He has never looked the same since getting just pummeled into the dirt by local media, fans, and the organization. I honestly think his confidence was completely robbed and will never be rebuilt.
Have to wonder if he would have turned out better elsewhere. I think he'd at least still be in the league as a middle six contributor.
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I understand the disdain for Nail, but I can't help think of him as a great tragedy. He did have a good rookie season, 31 points and 17 goals in 48 games. But Edmonton chewed him up, ground down his confidence, and spit him right out. He has never looked the same since getting just pummeled into the dirt by local media, fans, and the organization. I honestly think his confidence was completely robbed and will never be rebuilt.
Have to wonder if he would have turned out better elsewhere. I think he'd at least still be in the league as a middle six contributor.
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you there.
This kid just didnt have the head for the NHL. He thought he was God's Gift to Hockey.
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I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you there.
This kid just didnt have the head for the NHL. He thought he was God's Gift to Hockey.
But I think a regular NHL club with real development plans and vets would have shut that right out of him. Maybe not, but going to the Oilers of all places with that type of mentality, then getting overhyped by fans and the expectations... yikes lol. All I am saying is that the Oilers were probably the worst possible destination for this player, and deserve partial credit for having messed up his career.
But I think a regular NHL club with real development plans and vets would have shut that right out of him. Maybe not, but going to the Oilers of all places with that type of mentality, then getting overhyped by fans and the expectations... yikes lol. All I am saying is that the Oilers were probably the worst possible destination for this player, and deserve partial credit for having messed up his career.
They are totally to blame, are you kidding me? They are in the business of professional hockey. They should know how to develop players, and they methodically ruined him.
It all likely started at the interview process where they told the kid they are going to recreate the Oilers of the 80s where it's nothing but offense. Then when he was drafted, his bosses told him to just go score goals and do nothing else. Then they got mad at him the team was losing.
The players even admitted as much. I remember Eberle on an After Hours segment once talking about their "high powered offense" management had created despite being like 27th in goals in the NHL that year. And how they would just throw pucks toward goal to bring up their shot metrics and possession stats.
This is all on the Oilers, including Mr Hollywood himself, Katz.
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