Billionaire for a Reason

Michael Sciarpelletti

The SMS SOS

There has been a lot of hooting and hollering over a text message sent to local sports reporter Jason Gregor from Oilers owner Daryl Katz regarding the future of head coach Craig MacTavish. I must ask the one question it seems no one has thought of: are we perhaps not reading into this enough?

Put yourself in the fine Italian shoes of Katz and see the world from his perspective: you are the first year owner of a struggling franchise that is on the brink of playoff elimination and media pundits are swarming your players with plenty of distractions regarding the future of the organization, prophesying the untimely end of not only their coach but in some cases the player themselves.

This makes for a tough working environment, and for these young NHLers the added distractions make it even harder to find motivation as the fans also have turned their backs on this struggling team that seemed to have such a bright year ahead of them.

But, lucky for you, one weapon is at your disposal and is so rarely used that it becomes one of your greatest assets; your voice.

Whenever Katz says something it becomes the gospel of Edmonton, and that is indisputable. No one can (or should) blame Katz for the year the Oilers are having and I’m sure every Oiler fan appreciates what the billionaire playboy has done for this team long-term.

Speaking up and saying MacTavish’s job is safe (perhaps even when it’s not) Daryl has removed a lot of pressure from this team as now most of the media frenzy takes place at the round-table discussions where the talking heads debate the six words that are going to give the Oilers a chance.

It’s the slimmest of chances, but that certainly must count for something for a team whose fans have developed a keen knowledge of statistical analysis as it seems every year we have to take into account the minute shifts in odds at every hour of the day as we obsess over this club.

Meaningless

In addition to acknowledging the strategic genius of Katz’s move one must also note that the actual message itself means very little as the chances of MacT returning behind the bench of the Copper and Blue next year are about as likely as a playoff berth this season.

DK made a point of saying that he wasn’t going to mess with the Oilers management this year, preferring to let this year ride out before making any big changes. But people are misinterpreting this grace year as indication that Katz is a “hands off” owner.

For a man who personally negotiated with super-star Marian Hossa this off-season such innuendo must seem a bit strange.

MacTavish has the benefit of being one of the Boys on the Bus, and as such will be given a proper exit, likely “stepping down” much as Lowe was “promoted”.

While that may seem like gentle handling for a coach who has made little progress with this team perhaps it is instead an indication of how in tune Katz is with the feelings towards his embattled franchise.

Ex-Oiler Georges Laraque was quick to point out after the Oilers signed Dustin Penner to an offer-sheet that free agents in the league weren’t interested in the Oilers organization simply because of all of the drama that has gone on in this city over the past few years.

Cognisant of this, the Oilers have made a point of quelling as many rumours as possible, even when they are true.

Ace in the Cole

Love it or hate it the Oilers moved Erik Cole back to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline in a three team deal that saw Buffalo send the Oilers Ales Kotalik.

The trade had been in the works for awhile and as such many rumour mills in the league had pegged Erik Cole as the most likely Oiler to move and suggested either Buffalo or Carolina as likely destinations months in advance of his departure.

As the deadline neared the pressure began to mount on Cole as he under-performed and the rumours seemed all the more true in the process causing a distraction in the locker room.

Suddenly Steve Tambellini descends from heaven with a message from above: Cole isn’t going anywhere.

Just a few words and the player is no longer distracted, able to do his job without the constant nagging doubts of whether or not the team was actually shopping him.

Funny part being: they actually were, the Oilers shipped him off and in all of the hoopla nobody pursued the contradiction to a great extent as most were more interested in what we got rather than what we gave up.

Similar situation, similar method, and both times the team got what they wanted without unnecessary distractions.

Can you tell why this guy is a billionaire?

The Seven Man March

Bobby Roy

Y’all Whiners

With the Oilers season going down the drain it looks like Oiler fans are getting frustrated and angry as usual when it comes to this time of the year. This year it seems like even more Oiler fans are angry, disappointed, frustrated… ya da ya da ya da. I could go on all day about what is wrong with the Oilers, but instead I’m going to gripe about how some Oiler fans are making Edmonton look like a terrible hockey city.

Oilers head coach MacTavish is the main reason Oiler fans are so perturbed. He has been the Oilers coach since the 1999-2000 season and for some it’s time for him to go. I’m going to have to agree with most Oiler fans when I say there is a need for a change in the locker room. Some people say its not the coach that should take the blame for how the team performs, but being a good coach involves motivating and pushing your players. MacT just isn’t doing that anymore, but the way some so called ‘Oiler fans’ are handling the situation is pretty embarrassing.

Facebook Groups

Facebook has revolutionized the way we can express our love and hatred for something, and in the case of MacT its the hatred. When you search up ‘Fire MacTavish’ on Facebook 14 different groups show up expressing such titles as “The Official Fire MacTavish Rally” “Fire MacT!” “Hire Pat Quinn as head coach”. One of the groups has almost 12,000 members in it. This past Sunday there was supposed to be a rally to fire MacTavish at Rexall, and there is even a group in which it stated over fifty people were supposedly going to attend.

Obviously it is quite childish to think a rally to fire a head coach of hockey team would actually work, but 7, yes 7 “Oiler fans” decided to show up at Rexall allowing the rest of Canada and other hockey fans have a good hearty laugh about how pathetic this is. I’m not saying that it was pathetic that only 7 people showed up, but that anyone showed up at all. Was a rally really going to accomplish something? Absolutely not. Do you think Kevin Lowe and the rest of the management were praying that this rally wasn’t going to happen? I’m sure the thought barely crossed their minds.

How bad do you think these 7 fans felt when they showed up to Rexall on Sunday and actually thought something was going to be accomplished? I know I laughed a little when I saw this story on sportsnet. It’s good that Oiler fans care this much about hockey, but it’s just embarrassing to see something like this happen in our city much like the Whyte Ave riots during the Oilers playoff run. I know that there are tons of die hard Oiler fans here in Edmonton and across the country, and I agree that MacT should be fired, but there are other ways to voice one’s opinion.

Constructive criticism on radio shows, emails, letters, and on blogs are all good ways to show one’s displeasure with the coach, but the statements made need to be intelligent and have reasons to back up what one is saying. These are the ways to get to Kevin Lowe and management even though it may seem like the fans have no say. Fans pay the money and support the team, so they definitely have some say.

It’s been hard enough for the Oilers these past couple years to attract good talent into Edmonton, and this past Sunday’s 7 man march shenanigan isn’t helping Edmonton and it’s hockey fans smooth out their image.

Fading Fast

Bobby Roy

Down to the Wire

This week has not started off good for the Oilers at all, and the playoffs seem to be fading fast. With only 5 games remaining in the regular season the Oilers are going to need a miracle to make it.

After losing to the Ducks last night a lot of Edmonton papers have decided the Oilers are finished. The Sun’s headline read “Stick a fork in em”. You can’t get more done than that, well at least until the fat lady starts singing. She is starting to warm up those vocal cords though.

Who’s Left

For the past month it’s been a rat race at the bottom of the western conference and nothing has really changed, but it seems the teams are beginning to show who deserves to be in and who doesn’t.

The Ducks, Preds, Blues, Oilers and Wild are the 5 battling for the final two spots. Columbus can’t really be included, because it just doesn’t seem they’re going to be denied their first playoff berth in franchise history.

The Final 5 in 5

The Ducks sit in 7th with 84 points so we’ll start with them. Their 5 remaining games aren’t easy, but they have been playing the best hockey of late compared to the other 4 teams.

They’ve got 3 on the road and two at home. Their next two games are on the road and are against top ranked Western Conference teams. They play in Vancouver and then in SJ.

They then head home to face SJ again. They finish off their season at home to Dallas and then in Pheonix. If the Ducks lose 2 of the next 3 the Oilers could erase their loss against them and possibly pass them.

The Preds sit in 8th tied with the Ducks at 84 pts. The Preds also have a tough schedule to finish the season, and have two key players injured. Legwand and Erat are done for the season.

They have 3 on the road and 2 at home. They have the Hawks up next and then two at home against the Jackets and the Hawks again.

They finish up the season in Detroit and in Minny. All of these games are tough, as all of these teams will be fighting for playoff positions and in the Wild’s case the playoffs.

If they Oilers can put together a winning streak they can catch the Preds, because unless the Preds finish really strong they are going to lose a couple of these games.

The Blues sit in 9th with 83 pts and have 5 games remaining. They lost tonight against the Hawks, which is good for the Oilers as they continue to sit 3 points out of 8th.

They also have a tough schedule with only one remaining home game and 4 games on the road. Their opponents are not as tough as the Preds, but there really isn’t an easy game in this league anymore. They will go on a 3 game road trip starting tomorrow where they will play in Detroit and then to Dallas and finish in Pheonix.

They then head home to face the Jackets and finish their season in Colorado. The Blues only play one team that is in the playoffs so give them the advantage of making the playoffs as long as they take care of business against the lower seeded teams.

The Wild are also in dire need of help and almost need to win out to make it. They sit in 10th tied with Oilers at 81 points.

The Wild play 3 at home and 2 on the road to finish up the season. They play the Wings, Stars and Preds at home, while they Wings and Jackets on the road. The Wings, Flames and Jackets will pose a huge test for the Wild and will need a miracle to make the playoffs. Don’t count on it.

Now we come down to our old faithful Oilers. While many have given up there still is hope Oiler fans. They just need that spark. Maybe it can start with playing the best team in the league, or maybe not.

The Oilers sit in 11th with 81pts and have 5 games remaining. They have the next 4 at home and then a final one in Calgary to finish off the season. The final four games at home include games against the Sharks, Canucks, Kings and Flames.

Only one of these is easy, but then again who knows when the Oilers are included. They can only afford maybe one more loss and with this kind of schedule and the type of season the Oilers are having this is asking a lot, but then again crazier things have happened.

For up to date odds on teams making the playoffs click here.

The season has been very interesting and should come down to the final days of the season.

For the Oilers it’s been a disappointing season, but all that can be fixed with a 5 game winning streak to end the season and a little help from up top.

The Oilers Girls

The Edmonton Oilers Girls (left to right): Margaret Zygaldo, Jackie Czaja, and Pam Twerdy. Photo by Michael Sciarpelletti / Oilverse

Not Just a Pretty Face

The Edmonton Oilers in a way have fallen prey to the changing times. When the other teams in the NHL toyed with the idea of mascots, hockey purists in the City of Champions jumped all over the idea and probably saved us from seeing an over-sized oil drop fidgeting around Rexall.

And while some teams have girls in pom-poms the Oilers too have put some attractive girls up to the task of a kind of cheerleading, but you should know that the Oiler Girls don’t like to be called cheerleaders. In fact, you’d be surprised to realise that not only do our Oiler Girls or ice girls as they are affectionatly referred do more than just that, you’d also be surprised to learn they probably know more about hockey than you do.

“Well different teams use different strategies to get people excited during games. Our fans in Edmonton don’t need short skirts and pom poms as you put it to get pumped and into the game. It’s enough that we are there interacting with fans and just having fun,” says Margaret Zygaldo, who has been an Oiler Girl since the start of the 2008-2009 season.

John Ulan / The Globe and Mail / Epic Photography

“We set up and carry out the promotions that happen during games,” says Margaret Zygaldo, ” So things like t-shirt tosses, give-aways, on camera shots, intermission contests.”

That means that if you are seeing Margaret, it might just be your lucky day.

They Know Hockey

Margaret also knows her players, pointing to Sheldon Souray as a solid Oiler on and off of the ice.

Margaret Zygaldo says that she likes his charitable efforts for the shoot out for kids with cancer during an Oil Kings game.

Zygaldo points to Souray’s fantastic point production as another reason to love #44.

I suppose you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and Oiler fans should appriceate rather than hate on the Oiler Girl movement because they do nothing but help promote our game.

Even when our game isn’t very fun to watch.

The Resurrection of Sam Gagner

Michael Sciarpelletti

Ah the Memories!

Remember where you were when the Oilers drafted Sam Gagner? I do not, I hardly if ever pay attention during Draft Days, the Oilers have put in so many forgettable appearanaces at the draft that caring was something I did not embark on.

He looked good in an Oil jersey at the time and I imagined him back in the OHL for a few seasons with the London Knights playing the story of local boy makes good game in and game out as he continued to dominate with that team (gotta love the Knights, classy organization and just scary dominant) before being strung out to dry in the AHL with the rest of those scrubs, perhaps someday traded, and then hoisting a cup years later with an organization that knew what to do with a player like Gagner.

But holy shnikes the Oilers were so bad that year out of training camp that the Oilers decided to go with the kid, and he proved incredibly useless to begin his sorid NHL career.

The coaching coached him to crap, as I first envisioned upon hearing he would stay with the organization longer than the tenure of Schremp in his first go at the Copper and Blue.

Schremp is the perfect story of what Gagner could have and likely would have been if the Oilers had one last roster spot that year, and that is because the more you let these talents sit below you the more you imagine them as below you, or at least that seems to be the train of thought running through MacTavishville, Kansas.

The Player you Think was Awesome

So here was young Gagner coming to the Oilers after looking downright impressive at the WJC. He came back and had a full tank at try-outs and seemed to be a total workhorse.

And then a miracle happened, but let us be honest for a moment here: no it did not.

Gagner has stats, and these stats are not compelling stuff.

In his alleged rise to prominence Gagner posted a -21 in a span of 79 games.

Put it this was, the suck-tastic Jaroslav Modry who was so bad that Columbus parted ways with him at the end of the season was at least able to post a -6 in nine played games and he played less minutes in those games then Gagner did.

Basically speaking: kid plays in OHL and is able to put the puck in the net so often that the other team hardly gets the puck the other way A) because they are a club filled with crappy players and B) because the London Knights are so front-loaded it actually may someday cause the universe to implode.

So anyway, this player then is able to put together great stats for points, assists, goals, and yes, even plus-minus. The Edmonton Oilers look at this and say HEY WHAT A DEFENSE FIRST KIND OF GUY and pick him up and coach him to be a more offensive player.

However, once he stops playing against OHL players he starts getting the puck stripped from him, the players skate back the other way, they back check, they put pucks in your net and make you look bad.

All because the Oilers do not see this trend. Schremp still is having problems in the AHL because of it and Ales Hemsky never fully achieved superstar status until he started playing on the Czech National team and started getting defense pointers from some of the best NHL talent avaliable.

Suddenly, he is responsible two ways, not because of the Oilers coaching staff but because outside forces taught him so that he could play at their level, the Edmonton Oilers should thank the Czech Republic for making their best player their best player.

They should not in any circumstance thank themselves for the gift to the Oilers that Ales Hemsky is night in and night out, whether or not he is putting the puck in the net and even though he gives it away with sometimes grizzly results, because at least he posts a better plus-minus than Sam Gagner.

That is so, Mr. Gagner, that is so.

I first met Sam Gagner in his rookie season and at all places a bar, and not just any bar, a country bar in Edmonton, Alberta.

He was there with Tom Gilbert and Andrew Cogliano, and he looked exactly like me and my friends did at 18 going to the bar, except we rolled there in Civics not Cadallics and we pre-drank because our salaries at the time were a heck of a lot less than NHL minimum.

And Gagner booze-hounded, I was very tempted to ask him if he had a rough day at the office, but thought better of insulting a more physically fit man with more than likely an abundance of testostrone. Plus I was drunk, and as a young journalist making an ass out of yourself is never a good thought.

I remember asking him if he had a game tommorow and he had a sly smile as he replied to the negative before slamming back shots like his liver owed him money.

When I see his face nowadays I get the same sort of an impression, and I am not even that much older than Gagner and Gilbert is actually older than I am, but even I can fairly say that they have more of the childish spirit in them, who could not have that with the amount of money these very young kids pull in nowadays.

At his age I was working retail and drinking every dime I made there, so should be the same if I ever achieved what Gagner achieved and made it onto an NHL roster.

What Makes you so Smart

I never even played in the WHL, I barely even got the interest of one team to pick me up, and they did not even offer me billet housing, I had to pay my own way.

So I passed it up, that is how much better of a player Gagner is than me, because I know people always ask the person bringing down a hockey player something along the lines of you would not do much better if you were in his shoes at his age with that pressure etc. etc. ad nasuema.

You are right, I got drunk on team trips and mouthed off players that were my senior, I had no better the work ethic than Gags though guess what, I was not a -21.

And I was a fighter, not an expected saviour of a very unintimdating Oiler offense that could not even think about putting the puck in the net on most given nights.

That is until a little late season magic, and that is when Gagner and Cogliano shot to stardom in the eyes of the Oilers faithful, as they got a little hot at the end of the season.

Oilverse reporter Etai Handman once told me that he felt Gagner had not even come close to being at his prime. That he had not peaked and would not peak for awhile, and I guess we can all hold out the hope that he will someday be that player.

Trading him away seems fruitless, he is not in Dustin Pennerland in that regard because Gagner really looks like a player that could someday be better, and I guess that was Etai`s point.

But he needs to be better in the faceoff dot (did you not learn anything from Stoll) and he needs to score with more regularity as he often gets into funks that exclude the end of the season where he dominates (apparently).

I guess, though, we might get something worthwhile at him in the playoffs, Pisani has established his career off of getting hot in the playoffs (once upon a time), something that this team values way too much.

Well, Pisani did not go the way of Fraser, I suppose, but pretty darn close. He gets kudos for colitis though, something that puts him ahead of Gagner. In fact, there are a lot of players that have looked better than Gagner at times over his Oilers career, some of the being flat out embarassing (Zach Stortini).

But a hat-trick later and Gagner is the golden kid once more, leading me to believe that Oilers media and fans sometimes have ADD, which is probably why these old-school ads featuring new and old Oiler plays are just so darn popular with the Oilers faithful.

And if you have not noticed, the article title is there for a reason: the media seems to be spinning this time as Gagner coming back into spotlight… when should he have ever been in the spotlight, the kid is average.

I can think of so many better 18-year-old players (and no thats not John Tavares, get your heads out of the clouds with that kid, Mike Bossy has a better chance of leading the Islanders back to prominence).

But that might just be the way I see it, I have been called an idiot when it comes to hockey many times before.

Oil Oldie

Michael Sciarpelletti

Mullet Return?

Ryan Smyth brought that white trash style of mullet back into the fashions of the NHL during his time with the Oilers, and still continues to sport the greasy doo. Jagr donned a the slightly sophiscated European “It’s Still a Mullet!” mullet for years, and soon could also be sporting that style with a blue jersey on.

Or, at least maybe.

Allegedly because Omsk (KHL) and the Oilerse have made some form of mini-transfer agreement that basically states that if the team were to not make the playoffs, Omsk would then loan / send / assign him to the Oilers (Oilers assign someone to Springfield like Omsk would assign him to the Oil) thus perhaps bypassing the priorly imagined issue of re-entry waivers.

Well, looks the Oilers may break the system again just like they did bringing 80s players over for years before the NHL institued the Oilers rule or the Sather rule. They could be pushing the envelope again unless this provision is covered, since the depths of the Oilers rule seem to be somewhat endless.

Czech Connection

Two happy Ales’ make a merry little brew. Hemsky is happy because the father figure role model hockey player Jagr would finally play by his side in the NHL, and Kotalik is happy because there is more of his kind of folk on the team. Re-sign Kotalik, and the Oilers have a mean looking roster regardless of the outcome of this season.

Or do they? Is Jagr, at his age, really worth it?

It’s something worth pondering, especially after the fiasco that was the Adam Oates signing, though he did teach many of the centremen on the Oilers how to take the face-off he did not help the team very much during his time here.

However, he did lay groundwork, and if Hemsky could somehow be mentored by him then the signing would be paid for by that alone. And even still, Jagr is very effective on the powerplay and could add to a unit that could probably use some extra mustard with the likes of Pouliot garnerning minutes on a sometimes frustrating-to-watch unit.

Market Watch

Player also love teams that are building up, and considering the drama (oh Burke!) and clamourings that have gone on in the Oilers’ camp for the past off-seasons, one could stand to reason that an off-season that was productive and not destructive would perhaps be inviting to other high profile off-season signings. Katz appeared to have Hossa very interested in Edmonton.

Maybe after a year in Detroit and a chance at the Cup Hossa goes back to a team where he can help build rather than just work off of the sweat of others (not to suggest he be the lazy variety, God knows carrying Atlanta must be back breaking at times, Ilya).

End the Blog Witch Hunt

Also, this may mark the end of Edmonton Oilers blogs being targeted for being “dumb” or “misinformed” now that two rumours that were hogwashed have been proiven true. Smid said that blogs just write crap, but it was later proven that he had indeed requested a trade and that the reporter that was asking Smid to bash the blogs simply misinformed him by saying that the blogger had written this staement very recently and over and over again.

And now, Jagr had been courted by the Oilers as reported, David Staples rocks.

Go team!

(Although the “health benefits” joke was poor taste, laughing about someone’s death does not make you edgy or clever, it makes you a complete and utter idiot Mr. Wyshynski since you are talking about sports which should never trivialize death, but I will link to your article anyway).

What’s up with the West?

Bobby Roy

How the West was Weird

As we near the end of the season I can’t seem to ever remember in my lifetime as a hockey fan where the race for the final playoff spots was this close. From 7th place to 12th place there is still a heated race to see who is going to make the playoffs. For Oiler fans this is nothing new especially when it comes to battling for 7th or 8th place, but there are never this many teams still involved so late in the season.

Yet it seems that no one really wants to take control of the final two spots. This race has been going on for over a month and the water is still as murky as to who will come out on top. Sure Nashville has been recently hot with 7 wins in their past 10 games, but they just vaulted back into 7th spot a couple of games ago. Other than the Preds the Blues have been heating up of late and only sit 2 points out making tonight’s game against the Oilers that more significant.

The Stars, Oilers, Wild and Ducks don’t seem they want to be in the playoffs at all, since in their past 10 games played not one of them hold a record better than .500.

What’s Up, West?

In the past 10 years or so the West has been the holder of the more dominant teams, and year after year it seems the prognosticators pick the Stanley Cup winner to come out of the west. Well other than New Jersey and this year is looking no different, as many are picking the Devils to come out of the East.

Detroit and SJ are the clear favourites this year, but I’m gonna put my money on Detroit being the clear cut favourite. Their goalie situation is the only thing that worries me. Calgary, Vancouver and Columbus have all but clinched a playoff spot in my mind and look pretty strong overall when compared to the teams ranked 7th to 12th. Even I can’t believe I’m saying this about Columbus, but the way they have been playing, their coaching, and strong goaltending show to me that they could go on a run.

This will also be the first year in a while that it won’t take almost a hundred points just to make the playoffs, which goes to show that maybe just maybe this salary cap thing is finally working? Well maybe and maybe not.  The cap has forced teams to take a different approach of making a team.

It is hard to explain why this year has turned out so different from the past years, but maybe it’s the equal talent on the teams that rank 7th to 12th that can explain the closeness. Then again maybe not. The Blues have overachieved, and they don’t have too many players that you could say are top league talent. The Predators have never really had any player who has been near the top of the league in points, but they are probably right where they deserve to be with players like Sullivan, Arnott, Legwand, Erat, Weber and de Vries.

The Stars looked poised to improve on a great year last year, but although they have recovered from a slow start they probably shouldn’t be in this mess.

The Ducks have looked uncomfortable all season, and with all the talent they have in their lineup there is a serious problem in Anaheim.

The Oilers were actually picked to make the playoffs this year, and more surprisingly they were picked in the top 6. They have the talent and on some nights they do show flashes of brilliance, but on others they look like they could be battling for the rights to Tavaraes.

I really can’t see much changing in the West’s final playoff spots until the last day, and that could be very exciting to say the least. It’s almost like there is a mini-playoffs before the postseason actually begins… well not really, but if you’re a fan of one of those teams battling for the final spots it gives you something to look at even if you don’t make the playoffs.

Time for MacTavish to be Fired?

Etai Handman

What Has Been Done and said

The Oilers say their goal is to model their management style, hockey personnel, coaching, and to have an on ice and off ice winning culture to breed consistent success, like the Red Wings or Devils. Both those teams are the toast of the league in this department. Since the 94- 95 lockout shortened season, when Detroit sat on top of the standings and the two met in the cup finals, they have combined to win seven cups, and countless other individual player awards.

When Oiler brass speaks about Edmonton, it is always said we are a rabid fan base, a knowledgeable fan base, we expect good hockey, the best hockey! Just like the bigger, original markets like Montreal and Toronto. If anything we are more compared to Montreal because of their winning culture and no bull approach, similar to the Oilers who average a cup every six years compared to the Habs who are just over one every four (over 100 years compared to 30 but still damn good).

In Toronto, where they have not won a cup in 41 years, it is fair to say they have developed a losing culture. Yet, their fans still demand the best and to be the best. So even-though they have tried to be the best and have a losing culture, it is not for a lack of trying, it is that they have had incompetent management to get the job done right.

So, am I saying that the Oilers have incompetent management? No, at least not yet. For the first time in a long time it seems that there is great stability within the Oilers upper echelon.

The Oilers have a very wealthy owner, who can afford to let the team spend to the cap, as well as make contract blunders in tough times; A.K.A Dustin Penner. They have Kevin Lowe a great hockey mind running all of hockey operations. Steve Tambellini, long time friend of Lowe’s and also an excellent hockey mind, is the GM.

Tambellini had him self a shrewd first trade deadline clearly improving the Oilers with the acquisitions of O’Sullivan and Kotalik. The amateur scouting division has done an excellent job in the past few seasons of re- stocking a nearly empty cupboard with some top tier talent. With the likes of Gagner, Cogliano, Plante, Eberle and Gilbert the Oilers have some solid youth in their system.

The Oilers finally have an AHL affiliate of their own giving them a better chance at developing this talent. The NHL scouting department has done a great job of identifying players the Oilers should trade for, but it seems a little odd that those players play a year here, under-achieve, move on, and flourish else where.

Like I explained earlier, the Oilers brass is saying the right things and putting, what on paper, might seem like the right pieces, but for some reason the results are the same year in and year out. The Oilers are mediocre and finish between 7^th and 10^th in the West every year.

They fight for the playoffs year in and year out. They are constantly trying to be buyers at the trade deadline to make a push for the playoffs, and except for a magical 2006 run it is the same result every time, a first maybe second round playoff exit.

Mediocrity and inconsistency breeds apathy from the players toward the club. They grow tired of playing for a team with no clear direction. Not up nor down. At least if the Oilers were the worst team in the league for a few years, they would at least be in a clear rebuilding mode stocking up on high draft picks like Chicago or Pittsburgh.

Both of those teams fired their coaches this season when their GM’s felt mediocrity and inconsistency could no longer be tolerated. They had been given all the pieces in the world and it was on the coaches to make it work.

So, the question then becomes: When does mediocrity and inconsistency become acceptable? If it is not accepted, then when has enough time passed in Mac T’s tenure? That one can say he has been given an ample chance with many different players, and it is time to show him the door. This writer feels that time is now.

Common Denominator

I have a theory on how to weed out the bad seed or the problem. It is called the common denominator theory. Example: Imagine two people have a confrontation. Then one of those people has a similar or different confrontation with a 3^rd person, and that this person continues to have even more confrontations then clearly that person is the bad seed, and he is the common denominator in each confrontation.

This theory applies to the Oilers. Kevin Lowe has done everything up to, and including removing him self from the GM’s position, except for firing Mac T. He has changed players, scouts and owners (not his doing but he is part of that transition). So why does Mac T still have his job? Is it because they are good friends? That might be it but as evidence shows smart GM’s put friendships aside when a job needs to be done.

For example Montreal this past week fired their coach Guy Carbonneau who is really good friends with GM Bob Gainey. Gainey fired him not because they weren’t friends anymore, but because the team was under achieving and he felt the team needed a change at “ice level”.

I feel that Oilers GM Steve Tambellini is smart enough to fire Mac T and Kevin Lowe is too, but they are having a brain freeze. So here is a look at what other GM’s have said and done this past season and how their teams have performed. Maybe that will wake up the Oil fan base to demand of management to make a coaching change.

Gainey fired his coach who was a Jack Adams trophy finalist for coach of the year after leading the Habs to the top spot in the east.

He explained that this was the reason why he made the coaching change, “There were certain games when I had a real confusion about the overall … it showed up as effort, but I felt like it was emotional engagement to a game,” Gainey said.

“Our team (did) not seem to be emotionally engaged.” The Habs record was 35-24-7 when the move was made. This is comparable to the Oilers record but mediocrity will not be tolerated in Montreal and in Edmonton it seems to be becoming acceptable.

The Penguins went to the finals last year and fired their coach this year when the team slipped out of the playoffs. Shero said this was why a coaching change was made. “I didn’t like … the direction the team was headed,” Shero said on a conference call.

“I’ve watched for a number of weeks and, at the end of the day, the direction is not that I wanted to have here. I wasn’t comfortable, and that’s why the change was made.”

The Oilers play like they have no direction so how come Mac T still has a job? The Oilers went to the cup finals gave their coach a four year extension then haven’t made the playoffs since. Shero fired his coach before the team had a chance of missing the playoffs, the year after a cup final birth.

Former Oilers GM Glen Sather fired his coach Tom Renney earlier this season. The Rangers were in a playoff spot at the time and had a record of 31-23-7.

“We had lost our zip at some point,” Sather said of the move.

The Oilers have lost their zip on countless occasions so how come they didn’t make any changes? They Oilers aren’t motivated most times on the ice, and that is what a coach is supposed to do he supposed to motivate his players.

The Suggestions

The Oilers have a few options facing them. For starters they could fire their coach right now but as I am not the GM a end of season coaching change might not be the best option for this team and only a GM can judge that based on the pulse of his team. The Oilers also might feel awkward and would want to let Mac T finish the year and let him resign.

It is a tough choice when needing to get rid of a staff member that is so entrenched in the fabric of the organization. I do not envy the job that Tambellini and Lowe have but something must be done the time for action is now. Talk is cheap. If you want the fans to believe that you are trying to build a winner than make the move and steer the ship into the right direction.

Why Penner Belongs in Jail

Michael Sciarpelletti

What a Thief!

When Dustin Penner signed an offer sheet with the Edmonton Oilers, I was ecstatic to say the least. The kid seemed to have a bright future ahead of him… how naive can you be?

The bulky forward has been an absolute bust for the team, and has been a shining example of what is wrong with this team, incredible underachievement.

According to NHL Numbers only Sheldon Souray and Lubomir Visnovsky are pulling in more money than Dustin Penner who is an average cap hit of $4.25 million US. That means that Penner, the 3rd highest paid Oiler, makes more than Ales Hemsky.

A better Dustin to invest in would be Brown of the LA Kings. At a cap hit of $3.175 he is not only a more offensive player (on a much worse team) but also has a bright future ahead of him.

Lowe’s “Promotion”

If anything, Dustin Penner is probably reason number one that the Edmonton Oilers “promoted” Kevin Lowe to the office. Despite the accusations that Steve Tambellini is merely a puppet for the former GM, we clearly haven’t seen moves of this level of ineptitude.

Oiler fans trusted Lowe far too much after he made some reasonable moves on route to a 2006 Stanley Cup berth, and believed that he knew what was best for them. Obviously, they were wrong, and this move exemplifies what a knee-jerk reaction will get you.

I suppose had Penner panned out Lowe would have been considered a genius, but Lowe was supposed to be a GM: General Manager, not Gambling Man.

Mere idiots would try to convince you that Penner was a worthwhile investment, the reality is that we could have done a heck of a lot better in replacing the slot left vacant by Ryan Smyth.

I’m not going to be one of those people to tell you that we should have re-signed Ryan Smyth, I think that too would have been a grevious error, I think that we had to recognize where we stood rather than try to mask the truth.

“Guys are asking what’s going on in Edmonton in terms of management. You look at the (Mike) Comrie saga, the Pronger saga. There’s drama. The NHL is a big family. We all know each other. When players have to make a choice, they don’t want to be part of something that might turn into a drama. (Mike) Peca. (Joffrey) Lupul. It seems every year there is a drama and that goes around the league. It’s like a soap opera. The unrestricted free agents, the 30-year-olds, a lot of them want to avoid it.”

- Georges Laraque, former Oiler

Reality Check

The Oilers are not going to win the Presidents Trophy this year, nor next year, nor the year after. This team is simply not ready to dominate, but they can provide excellent hockey to watch and certainly will contend for playoff spots year after year.

The problem with this team is not being exciting, the problem is the fact that we are never progressing. By tossing away draft picks and cap space on a player like Penner, they are simply prolonging their existance as a medicore team.

San Jose worked under that theory for their years of medicority and succeeded all the while having the vast majorty of their line up consisting of players that they themselves drafted, rather than a slap together group of players that have no idea how to play together (see: the Tampa Bay Lightning fiasco).

Shark fans get to enjoy a team that they know will make the playoffs every year, and now just have to figure out a way to be a better playoff team. And while proponents of that team might say they are a bad team for constantly making the playoffs and failing, I would suggest that they might be on the right track.

Bad Coaching

Don’t sit your young players, let them get their game together. Robert Nilsson has shown flashes of brilliance, but they are merely flashes in between long periods in the press box or as a plug on the fourth line. How can they expect their young players to ascertain any level of confidence with themselves if they know that they will be sitting at the first sign of trouble?

The Edmonton Oilers produce a great number of players who show low levels of confidence but a great deal of potential, and then are dropped in favour of “quick solutions” that turn into busts. And those exact same players go on to have fantastic careers.

This doesn’t mean that the crowd is too rough on them, it means that our coaches are doing a bad job, plain and simple.

Future for Failure

By signing Penner to an insane offer sheet we not only gave away draft picks but we also set a precidence for our own players.

If 45 point seasons mean you get $4.5 million US a season we’re going to be over cap in no time at all.

Not only that, but we also pawned off what could have turned out to be fantastic players for what has turned out to be a fourth line plug. We could have had 3 fourth line plugs, Mr. Lowe.

Patience is a virtue. At the end of the day, Oiler fans want to be more like the San Jose Sharks than the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Dustin Penner is a nice guy, but a medicore hockey player, so I feel bad writing this about him, but I’m just making a point.

Sorry Dustin.