Holy crap, biased write-ups from the Edmonton Oilers' team page! I thought I'd seen it all, but that really takes the cake.
 

I actually thought you wrote it. :)
 

don't worry, Edmonton, in three or four years, you'll suck less!!
 

Look, it is one thing to complain at Lowe's trades, etc.

But honestly, expecting the team to win with 11 skaters out of the lineup is a bit much, don't you think?

I know, I know, if I'm not bitching and moaning I must be a Lowe apologist. Sue me.
 

Man, I could have sworn volume 2 would have been about the fact that tonight is 'Fan Appreciation Night' at Rexall.

Colour me mistaken.
 

The best one was "Peterson's Goal Not Enough" in the 5-1 loss.

Seriously though, this team is giving its all and to expect them to win with that D - its not going to happen.

Certainly not with Lupul, Torres and the few other vets up front not scoring, anyhow.

From the few highlights I have caught they've been competing but no finish.

Top three pick coming. And that's alright in my books. If you're going to finish out of the playoffs you may as well get something possibly useful out of it.
 

I think we're all on the same page here, it's best for the Oil if they don't win another game all the way out, right?
 

Seriously, what do you expect them to say on the team page?
 

Given our "let's go early draft picks" philosophy, I'd argue that a one-goal loss would be the best possible result! The Oilers page is tacitly admitting that we're tanking! GOILERS (to the cellar)!
 

don't worry, Edmonton, in three or four years, you'll suck less!!

And Canuck and Flame fan anonymous posters will always be stupid.
 

But honestly, expecting the team to win with 11 skaters out of the lineup is a bit much, don't you think?

This team could be completely healthy and still have lost all those games. I'd have been a little more surprised, but not much. It's good to see that you are already primed for the excuses we are going to hear all summer, though. It won't be the coaches fault. It won't be management's fault. It will just be sheer chance that the Oilers sucked so hard this year.
 

All I'm saying is that it isn't all the fault of the coaches/management.

I know that you don't like Lowe, and that's fair enough; but I'm not sure why you seem to think that having 11 skaters injured is totally irrelevant to the Oil's losing streak (i.e., "This team could be completely healthy and still have lost all those games").

But hey, keep it up -- I love bombastic arguments as much as the next guy.
 

Sacamano: I agree with your general sentiment, but this smacks eerily of:

But honestly, expecting the team to win ---insert excuse here--- is a bit much, don't you think?

Instead of "with 11 skaters out of the lineup" you could also go: "without a player of the calibre of Smyth or Pronger" or "with Lupul playing significant minutes" or "with Craig Simpson running the PP" or "with Smid and Greene playing too many minutes" or "in a small market town with top ten revenue" or "while claiming to lose money for the past six years" or "while claiming to spend 75% of revenue on player costs."

Personally, I'm warming up to "with Kevin Lowe as GM."

(BTW, it's scary how few of those things will change for next year.)

That's the problem I have. Your tone is the same as everything we see out of Edmonton these days. Sure injuries have obliterated the season, but is that even the main complaint? Who's worried about this year anymore anyway? I'm worried about next year and the years after that. I think the current critics of the frnachise have their eyes on the next couple of years as much or more than just this year's total embarrassment.
 

Meh, maybe it's because I'm not living in Edmonton and don't get my daily overdoes of Stauffer and Ireland. The only tone I get is from the Oilogosphere -- and it is monotonously over-the-top negative.
 

I don't think it's over the top at all Sac. I'm really worried about next year and I think everyone should be.

Regarding right now, I just can't get on these kids. It's hard for some of these guys to develop without the safety net of vets to play the real min. Nilsson looks like nothing after having a great first game but he's playing big min and tough min to boot, ie he's playing with horc so that means he was against sakic last night, so what can we expect out of him. Only the truly effective would thrive in that role and if Nilsson isn't that kid then it's not his fault. But it is the Oilers brass fault for failing to pay the Smyths of the world and instead bringing in the Nilssons.

You had a D tandem of 60/76 last night, as we would say here in old timey NL lingo that's a sin. One guy's a kid in the minors and the other's a less than touted guy who doesn't even have a year of minor pro. Greene's on the record trash and Svyret isn't a big prospect. That's your second tandem. These guys are 7 and 8 dmen. What in the fuck do you expect from these guys? . JFJ's been a huge disappointment and I think I'm his biggest supporter. But what's Stortini SUPPOSED to be? Is the effort there? Sure it is. Brodziak's a top niner at absolute best. What is he supposed to be? Pouliot and Thorsen look like players but how hard is it to show it in these environs?

It's OK to say the players or the vets suck and I'm make some excuses here for the team considering that three of their top ACTUAL top four are missing, ie 24-25-29. Notice I didn't include Smid in the top four because my quality quartet is real and not Kevin Lowe and Pendergast "Smid is a top 4 because we think he is" real.

I don't mind the papers calling people out, in fact I want that, but I'm getting a little tired of how much of the piling on's directed towards the players and not the brass

My point is look at what the team was doing BEFORE this, they were still out of the playoffs. It's the easy ride to slam a crew for losing 12 games but fuck it's been without 16 and 83 and 94 goes out for nothing tangible. there's your offense right there. then the D starts getting hurt and the second stringers like gilbert and roy go down. the team's getting a pass from me since the 94 trade and 83-25-21 injuries and they're getting a pass from everyone with any sense.

But they aren't getting a pass from me pre injuries and trade. That team was built to be super thin in D and who's to blame for that? who looked at lupul's numbers and thought it was a great idea to bring a guy who and pay him when he hasn't even yet excelled playing soft min? who had that fucking bright idea?

The Pronger trade, the EIG and kevin lowe.

let's see that in the fucking papers instead of shitting on a team that's being fuelled by a bunch of kids who don't have a tonne of potential hanging off them in the first place.
 

sacamano said...
Meh, maybe it's because I'm not living in Edmonton and don't get my daily overdoes of Stauffer and Ireland. The only tone I get is from the Oilogosphere -- and it is monotonously over-the-top negative.

I'll tell you this - you find me a silver lining to the Oilers' current situation and I'll write a post about it.

Personally, I struggle to find positives for the Oilers. I guess we're left with the draft.