Oilers face lottery but it's AOK

IF - Last night's game v the Nucks proved anything, it's the future of this team is bright.

The Nucks spent the entire night running Theo Peckham, it was fantastic to see how much hate Peckman is already starting to get.

Just as I was starting to get into the idea of a Oil victory(after all divisional games are supposed to mean something) bang! In goes the winning lottery goal.

Horcoff's days as first line center seem to finally over, now that Sam Gagner is playing great with Hall/Eberle. Finally, a first line, although kind of wet behind the ears. next season will be the big tell, and I am happy to put money down to anyone stupid enough to bet against this trio's surging up the list of NHL power lines, for the upcoming season.

But it's still 2010, and these things haven't happened yet.

Game THOUGHTS SHARKS V OILERS 0-0 AFTER 1ST PERIOD

Love the American production values for the Sharks. Katz fire everyone and give me the contract. :)

Oilers physical v the Sharks LOL

Heatley looks like he's wearing special skates for his cloven hoofs.

Eberle takes the hit, makes play. Players this good 2/3 of the NHL doesn't even have.

The beginning of the Cup winning team playing the Sharks away, to a 0-0 after 1st.

WTF 10 ROOKIE POINTS IN A SINGLE GAME!

These guys are starting to piss me off! Just when I write them off again, they screw me up by putting in a devastating performance!

6th in the West here we come!

*delusional fan*

Delusional

Oilers have been manhandled the past few games.

Time to stfu about playoffs.

Lottery here we come!

Oilers 7 2 1 in last 10 games!

I'm going to have to start talking up the Oilers to finish 6th in the West again if this keeps up.

The team loses Horcoff, and Hemsky, yet doesn't seem to care at all now that they have some real talent to ice.

Not saying the former have no talent, but I never saw either of them do much with the cup on the line. The new kids, once they mature, will definitely win at least 1 cup for the Oilers.

Book it!

PS: In case you're skeptical(which btw is a good idea), check out the standings. Oilers aren't much more than another 7 2 1 run away from playoff position.

Sharks @ Oilers

Good game. Oilers lose another 2 points, and looked pretty good doing it.

Face it, this year is for learning, and if the best players start emerging this year instead of next, well, that's good, right?

Right as of now Oilers are 29th - wonderful.

Another top draft pick - get this one right and we're as good as set up(I must be out of my mind this team is so disfunctional...but...

When they play they play very well. It's not a talentless, clueless bunch this year.

I've run out of things to say this season. Stop reading this blog - it stinks.

Oilers Are OK Again!

I like this team. last night in Anaheim, they came through with a great effort. Sure Gilbert makes the odd bad play, and all the rest, but it's a TEAM game, so when the TEAM plays well, fuck the individual attacks.

In a blowout of course, with endless errors, it's all so much simpler to wax and wane.

Theo Peckham's fast becoming one of my fave Oilers. This guy puts real fear into the opposition. If the enemy pressured him more I'm fairly sure he'd be getting pilloried right now, but he's too scary. You can tell he's scary by the way the other team refuses to check him hard against the boards. Who wants to fight this guy?

Hall was great last night, so was Eberle. MPS I barely noticed, but hey, the guys a rookie and he's never played the greasy North American style so he get a full season pass.

Dubnyk? I'm worried he's going to win too many games this year, haha.

Belle I liked during the exhibition season, I hope they keep him up and lose the other guys instead.

PS: memo to Katz: Hire the entire Fox Duck crew for the Edmonton Oilers, and lose every fucking one of the hicks currently boring the hell out of me and others. And I mean cameramen, director, producer, every announcer, whoever buys the suits, you name it. Ducks show was/is light years ahead of the 1980's or earlier level of style where the Oilers sad current production ranks. You want Edmonton to look bad? Just keep these dolts. Want to use the Oilers like AC Milan? Then get some California professional announcers, instead of these hicks you inherited.

That's right, just sack the entire lot of them. Then, hire the entire last night's Ducks crew, right down to the DJ who plays rock music the way it's supposed to be played between stoppages. Details, Katz, details.

Checklist:

No debts, okay.

Nice GF, okay

Excellent/iffy apartment with cool location, ok.

Prospects spotty but promising, check.

Health good, check.

Hockey season over in November, check.

I'm just trying to see the good things before closing the book on this season.
As readers(there are 2,900 hits so assume there are a few) know, I predicted 6th place in the west for this team. Obviously I live in denial, and am delusional, but so what? I like to give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.

Now it's simply a race for 30th place - again. All the best to the Oilers, I think they have a great shot at this. From what little I know, there are a few great prospects out there this season, maybe in the 1-4 spot. We look set. It stinks, I hate it, but there's nothing anyone can do about it.

I'm drinking beer, so no wit no wisdom, just either a rant or else this attempt at liquored up rationality.

How about another pic? Just to put a cap on tonights thoughts.

APATHY

I've had it. And I'm not alone either.

The Oilers have for the past decade constantly iced a team that has glaring holes, whether goalies(2006), or defencemen(2010-11), whatever.

I'm simply bored with the process.

Like Kurtz in Apocalypse now, I doubt if there is indeed any method to this former dynasty/cum Disney Channel wannabe posterboy.

Players run out town on a rail, coaches that can't coach, always fucking ALWAYS at least 2 totally worthless pylons on defence, never a centre worthy of the name, smurfs against grown men, rookies who fail to develop, UFA's who (naturally) shun the situation while the "management" blames the fans, you name it.

I pity the young fans, who have never seen excellence wearing the copper and blue, sans 6 or so weeks in 2006. I at least got to see Jari Kurri, live.

What - Me Worry?

Imagine Oilers are the Leafs for a moment. Managed by a blowhard who trades away the future(2nd overall pick plus wtf knows what this season) for a soft, American born scorer. Coached by a pure asshole.

I mean, just look at Ron Wilson's face. This dude is a grade A prick. Maybe he's a good coach for an Olympic squad(so was Pat Quinn), but a young rebuilding team? Never!

Today is my fave game of the season(I hope). Oilers at MSG. As always I just want the three rookies to score a pair of points between them, then I'll be happy. Win? Who cares?

HURRICANE!

Amazing season so far. OIlers beat the cup champs twice away, while in lottery position.

Looky looky who's 1 place above Oilers in the NHL this morning - the Flames!

Tonight the Canes(Whalers) are up - and I should have realised the Whalers always had Oilers WHA number so losing to them in the NHL wasn't the shock it could have been. Oh well, another one for the WHA.

POS will be the highlight reel for me tonight - hands down the biggest coward I've ever seen make the NHL.

Oilers sit comfortably in lottery position right now, but this could change, haha.

SUPPOSE THE TEAM GELS IN A HURRY?

I'm still not convinced this team is a lottery pick, despite some of the early data. it might be, and I hope it is as much as anyone, but I can't shake this naggin thought they're going to figure it out soon.

Then it's the annual race for the playoffs, started earlier than the All Star break.

I'm incoherant. So what?

Tonight's game:

Red Wings. Beat these bums, at least score youngsters.

PS: Jari Kurri was a great player.

Is This Really Far Fetched?

I know. I picked the Oilers to finish 6th in the West, and until it's lottery day I'm going to stick to my water pistols...err...guns.

Last night's game v the Hawks proves one thing - these Oilers are a potential cup winner down the road. Sure the Hawks thought this would be an easy game, and sure they looked a hell of a lot more competant say, in the late second period...but as we all know the race doesn't always go to the most talented. It goes to the most prepared, the one who is ready to win on the day.

I see the Oilers of 2010-11 as a team that's going to be getting it's ass handed to them by the big bad tight checking teams, and even then look out because if Hall and company explode like they already have for a few early or late goals...well...you can check all you want with a 3 goal deficit and you still lose the game when the buzzer sounds.

Similarly, those teams(like the Hawks) who are good enough to actually play hockey the way it's meant to be played, these teams will want to play and the 2010-11 Oilers will accomodate them.

Sure they have holes, sure the defence is nothing to write home about and blah blah blah. Hockey is a game of mistakes, of percentages, and ultimately of willpower. It's a game of talent also, which is manifested in Daigle like losers with all the talent in the world but no idea or guts to see the thing through, or the Bobby Orr/Taylor Hall types who actually do everything they can to get better and win.

Can't Anyone Play This Game?

Okay. I'm delusional. I reckoned the youngsters were going to shove this club, 1979 Wayne Gretzky-like into the playoffs.

After the first couple of games, I felt like a fucking genius. Four games after that, and I dread the rest of the season. Although it's going to be fun when they play the Rangers at the Garden in November.

MPS is already starting to worry me. He's getting a few belts, and already seems to have lost his fearlessness. Nice. Hall and Eberle, well, they're good ole boy Canucks.

I don't really know whether I want them to end up in 15th for the entire fucking season, yano?

Oilers already struggling

Turns out their little 2 game win streak was a mirage viz their storming through the NHL like the ghosts of dynasties past, but look to see MPS front and centre on the top two lines from now on.

Throw the one who's struggling for points(Hall) down with the dregs for a little while.

Whatever the coach does, something tells me these three players are going to figure this league out anytime between Christmas and the trade deadline. Look for another Oilers storming up the charts late in the season, after they've dug a hole for themselves early on.

Congrats to the Flames - avoiding another humiliation, for now.

Biggest Game of the Season Tonight!

Only four games in and geez, this is a huge game for the youngsters.

Only one of them has managed to score, and the last game result means that unless the boys manage a W tonight they're already starting a losing streak.

Obviously many think this is just a bad team, going nowhere, but until I see the wheels fall off am maintaining my bold 6th place finish, lol.

You have to laugh. The odds right now look debatable, but sooner than later some of that trio will explode, and hey the Flames are already our girlfriends this season, with highlight reels to prove it.

PS: Only just learned the Flame's lost haha so they're definitely ripe for the taking tonight.

Huge game for the young Oilers - win and everything is forgiven and they have almost a week until their next game; lose and only four games in and they're on their first losing streak.

Incredibly, a L for the Flames sticks them firmly behind the eight ball, less than 10 games into the season. Hilarious.

Oilers head into Saturday's tilt with the Flames no worse off than .667 on their new record.

Of course we want them to win tonight, and in time they will be able to always beat these bad teams, but for now let's just hope the boys win in Calgary Saturday night, and let tonight be for October fun.

Calgary drops their next game of course then loses to the Oilers...lol it can happen.

The Sweet Smell Of Success

One game.

But this accused fool understands hockey in ways most allegedly sane fans do not.

How?

I was able to grow up with the greatest collection of offensive players in the history of hockey playing a few miles up the road from where I lived. Toss in Paul Coffey(in my opinion the greatest defencemen not named Bobby Orr), and the heart-attack goalie of all time in Mister Cokehead(elementary kids knew and discussed it at the time lol), and what are you left with? The Oxford University of hockey awareness.

Thurday's game was like watching some fantasy I've been harbouring since I more or less decided to get back into hockey viewing a decade ago. Namely, a seriously incredible team appearing in Oilers uniforms out of the blue, destroying the opposition. Well, I got my wish on Thursday night.

What's to come? Black Dog predicts a fairly easy schedule for October(I'm not so confident yet), and a really hard one in November(bring it on!).

Hall - skates around the offensive zone like it's the OHL.
MPS - already looks like a polished performer.
Eberle - the one player I had the most doubts about until Thursday. Oilers have stolen the next Mike Bossy.
Peckham - Dissed constantly, I always loved his rep from juniors. I've encountered a few guys like Theo - hard as nails, and simply painful to contact in any physical way. And I mean Painfull! You could tell by the third period the Flames were already scared to go near him.

This team is seriously well coached(when the fuck was the last time Oilers could claim this!??). I have no worries going forward, none whatsoever. The boys have the right sutff, and the right stuff isn't fragile.

LMAO Don Messer & his Islanders

Just A Theory

I've always had this theory, that athletes sometimes need to be drafted by the right sports team, otherwise their careers languish.

Reggie Leach is a good example of this. I don't know who drafted him, but he was going nowhere in Boston(insane stacked team) and California(insane bad team) before going over to the Flyers where after being re-conjoined(excuse the expression, but I took a sentential calculus course once) with his junior linemate Bobby Clarke, instantly became an NHL star.

The reason I use Leach is one of my uncles saw the Flin Flon Bombers in the I dunno late 60's, and said that Leach, not Clarke was the best player on the ice.

Yet Clarke goes onto the captaincy of the Flyers, while poor Leach very nearly busts. Why? Does it follow that Gretzky's presense on the early Oilers helped the Messier's, Coffey's, Anderson's, and Kurri's, or would all of these guys have ended up starring anyway? Or, would some have been stars and some not have been stars?

I saw what an idiot savant(MacTavish did to Jani Rita and a whole lot of other young talented forwards, and I think I'm seeing the exact same situation in Toronto between Ron Wilson and Kadri.

FEARLESS PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2010-11 SEASON

Every season I pick the Oilers to finish in 6th. This year is no exception. Why?

For one thing, they seem to have a real coach. As a long time bandwagon Rangers fan, I was able to witness Renney as he turned around the most moribund Rags team imaginable. After MacT"s gay shopteacher kitch, plus Quinn's basically non-coaching, the team will respond wonderfully to the discipline imposed by a real head coach.

Secondly, Tambellini has addressed many of the glaring weaknesses in the team. O'Sullivan, Nilsson, and Moreau plus Pisani being gone provide addition by subtraction. In the case of Pisani, the Hawks get a pretty good player with major health issues. As for the others, none of them should even be playing in the NHL.

Finally, the rookies. Call me old fashioned, but the history of hockey has taught me that when you have rookies of this calibre, they have every chance of barnstorming their way right out of the starting gate. See the 1970's Buffalo Sabres, or early 80's Oilers for proof of this theory.

Of course they might end up in the lottery. I haven't been right predicting this team since DOS was the buzzword in computing.

HALL TAKES ICONIC NUMBER 4

Glad to hear it.

Thanks, Kevin.

LEGALISE DRUGS

Seems like in the early 1960's the deal was that metropolitan NYC had over half the hard drug users in America - the war on drugs back then was seen as a good fight against a bad thing(drugs).

Fast forward to 2010 - and you have to wonder what the market share for NY is, now that every part of the USA is now drug infested, with all the profits going to organised crime lords.

The point is, drugs will never go away. Part of their allure is the fact that kids think they're "cool" and it's more of a right of passage thing to take them. Also, some people will die from drugs of course, like alcohol users, or car drivers, or gun users.

So legalise everything - including smack. In other words, de-mystify them, and make them available either on prescription, or some other relatively easy to obtain manner. Take the casualties and treat them like the sick fucks they are- while providing them with the drugs their bodies need.

Of course the retards running things will never be able to do this - so instead organised crime will continute to rot the fabric of society, safe from the authorities, who prefer to exercise "control" over their charges...oops I mean citizens.

Fuck me i can't pick winners in team sports at all

At the start of this tournament i declared in my stupid way that neither Spain or Holland had a chance in hell of winning the World Cup - now tomorrow they tee off to decide just how big of a moron yours truly can be.

I pick Holland, even though Spain hammered the krauts. After all, anyone who can stuff(and i mean stuff) Brazil should just have the cup handed to them right there and then.

It's weird, because these nations used to be one sort of...until something happened about 400 years ago. My history on this stinks so...

Anyway I hope it's the Dutch. Spain look great, so it's going to be a good final, no matter what.

So Much For Predictions

Cor Blimey Guv!

Holland and Spain to contest for the World Cup!

Am a bandwagon Holland fan. Great team, great looking women, coffee shops, and all the rest.

Moreau, POS, Nilsson on waivers?

I don't give a flying monkey for POS or Nillsson, both heartless flops, but Ethan Moreau is a real Oiler, kept on until he simply was no longer fit to play NHL hockey.

I remember him mainly for his name. Ethan is old fashioned, and I took to that name, and always wished him well, particularly since he was at his best during the Mike Grier football players on skates 90's team.

Ethan, I doubt if you will read this but thank you all the same from this fan. When Taylor Hall brings us the cup I hope you're in the building. You helped land him, after all.

WORLD CUP OF FOOTIE

i don't know where to start. My team, England(until they're booted then I immediately jump back on the Brazil bandwagon) have that excuse I predicted, that indeed they had tied the game, and yes, were it given and counted they did appear to have momentum.

As a fan, I buy that argument.

Of course they still might not have won, but, who knows?

Look back at English great reasons for WC failure in the past:

2006: Rooney was being rugby tacked by the entire team he was dribbling through, yet he's the one sent off.
2002: I don't remember this one, other than Sven let them down at halftime, for not exhorting them to beat Brazil more.
1998: Beckham was robbed, being sent off.
1990: Poor Gascgoine
1986: The hand of god goal.
1982: If only Brooking and Keegan were fit.
1970: Stomach bug and noisy enemy supporters disrupt the gentlemenly world champions.

Anyway like predicted it's back to the big boys: Germans, Brazilians, Dutch, Argentinians. Surely one of these will win the real World Cup.

Good Luck Riley

I recall some Oil fans in the blogosphere viciously attempting to attack me when I stated that clearly Nash was a moron, for turning down the chance to earn potentially millions of dollars in order to comparatively shlep around the Ivy League circuit. Apparently these fans(one of them a high school teacher) do not understand the dynamics of the real world, so I'll attempt to recap:

NHL players in essence are handed the money of a top level 45 year old CEO. Nash, as a mid level first round pick had the opportunity to command all kinds of contract money, so long as he was able to produce as advertised.

But as we can see from the expression in his face, Riley prefers to have it his way, and with a stubborn Irishness that goes with it(I'm Irish btw, black not red so fuck off PC fucktards), he's now been traded to another NHL team, with the first one having decided to cut bait and return to the marina. Nash for his part, three years later and still able to get an agent, no doubt will go to the Hurricanes training camp and who knows, he might end up on their AHL team.

His stock now starting to plummet, only time will tell how Nash pans out(my money says b.u.s.t.) as a player, so in a way it's a great idea, that he remains in the Ivy league and finish that degree off.

Oilers select Taylor Hall today and secure their future as a premier franchise for the next decade.

hunter1909's fantasy lineup:


hemsky hall mps
eberle gagner penner

bottom 6 too big a mess

defence suspect

goal suspect lol



Sure the top 6 won't look like this next season, possibly 2011-12, anyone's guess at this point.

lynch mob

The Hall v Seguin 'debate' is taking a nasty turn as the Seguin apologists, armed with their loser mentality that demands 'assets' off Boston(who almost certainly are not going to provide), hysterically attack anyone who so much as dares voice an alternate opinion.

These armchair generals love to wheel and deal, secure in the knowledge that they are under no real life pressure, and that all of their dumbassed ideas just harmlessly float into cyberspace.

Oh well. The draft is in a week or less, and the football is enough to help forget about the nhl.

WORLD CUP OF FOOTIE

So far Germany look the best team but it's very early.

the ball looks crazy, from all the weird goals.

too much handball, but the refs have been outstanding, taking no shit from the players, it sets a great tone for the tournament.

nice to see Ghana beat out the first win for Africa, theyre all pulling together. they look like cannibals.

England is laughing at their football team, as per expectations.

My team is always Brazil, once England goes - theyre always in the top 2 or 3 teams like Canada but they need ice over there and look out when they start getting drafted to the NHL.

Kane scores in OT wins cup

Congrats Hawks.

Kane is a top 5 forward in the NHL.

Pronger doesn't beat up old cab drivers over 20 cents.

Tonight's Finals game between Flyers(home) and Hawks(away)

Pronger for me is enough to never write off tonight's team especially since they're in a do or die scenario, and at home.

I'm useless at hockey scores but Flyers take it 4-4 + OT 5-4 Flyers.

THIS GUY HITS THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD

We have been waiting over twenty years to get a player like Hall. We went through one of if not the worst season in franchise history. We dodged a bullet at the lottery. And now we are contemplating, some even encouraging throwing that away to get the second best player. If this team does this deal, then they deserve to be rendered into Leaf like obscurity.

Logic of Losers

Here's one of the many ways that losers come to their poor decisions:

- Hey we have a 30th place team!
- We're getting to pick first!
- But we always wanted a big centerman, and the BPA is a winger!
- No problem!
- Let's go for that big centerman anyway, I've got 6 cup rings!

"But what about the best player available? He might turn out to be another Mark Messier!"

- We've got lots of wing prospects coming up the pipes who look great(in junior, in Sweden etc) - we need a centre!

"Jani Rita was considered the 2nd best prospect in all hockey, whatever happened to him? Also, a 30th place team has to flat out stink - why not draft the best player, the one who's been pimped for the past 3 years as the number 1 pick?"

- We always wanted a big centerman, and the BPA is a winger!
- I have 6 cup rings!
- Look at how many push ups he can do! The other guy can't do any!

"That's because while your pick was at home practising, the other guy was starring in the Memorial Cup, as two time MVP(never happened before in history by the way)."

- Ah, so what! Central Scouting has my guy rated ahead of him! He gets hit too much! Who needs players like that!?

"Central Scouting, riight - the organisation where scouts go that can't even find a real job working for a real NHL team."

- I've got 6 cup rings!
- We sure have got a lot of wingers!

The finals are here!

Philly takes the cup.

I know, the Hawks are great, but Philly has Pronger, and goons, and Kane might end up with his 160 pound arse in ER by the time this series is through.

Win or lose, this is one cup I won't worry too much over who wins it in the end.

WTF predicting playoffs isn't so easy!

I'm 6-8 LOL.

Unless the habs come back, which they won't in their abysmal series v the cheesesteaks.
It sure was easier in the old days, when you got the Oilers v the Jets, etc.

Just draft Hall, okay?

Some Oiler fan calls Hall "a rich man's Ryan Smyth". I call him a potential Gordie Howe.

Thursday May 13 Predictions in a Hurry

Habs for the finals in the east - they're playing lights out like a team I remember in 2006, and probably keep M.A. Bergeron off the ice in game 1.

Whoever beat the nucks for the west.

Canucks fans, saying the season's been a dismal failure, LOL.

Terrified Predictions

Okay, I'm 4-4 from round 1 - ridiculous considering I(kind of) picked the Canucks to reach the finals in the reg season.

Pens v Habs - Penguins in a walkover. They're almost two time winners already.

Boston v Philly - The hunch says go with Pronger, so Philly it is.

Sharks v Wings - Wings all the way, until they lose.

Hawks v Canucks - This pains me the most, but I'm going back to the nucks.

I wouldn't be surprised to go 0-4 this time.

Draft him

Oilers lucked out for a big difference and now are able to select Taylor Hall in the lottery draft.

Steve Bonsignore(Jason?), no one needs a second dose of that in a lifetime.

FEARLESS PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS!

Washington over Montreal in a walk.

Philly over Jersey.

Sabres over Boston(hope they take Seguin).

Pens over Sens...


Avs over Sharks(Sharks get bounced eventually, this is percentages plus Avs might surprise).

Hawks over Preds in a batttle.

Kings over Nucks, as Nuck fans celebrating their 2010 cup win can now return to normal programming.

Wings over Yotes - I wouldn't pick the Wings to go far yet, but like the old Oilers they know what winning is.

Doppelganger

The Oilers are 1 point away from 30th. And with this, the right to draft one or the other of the premiere players in the upcoming draft.

Now consider the Flames. They're right where the Oilers spent the last decade, with a team that's not good enough to go far but not bad enough to get the top draft picks. They're maxed to the cap, with a lot of heartless or disinterested players, and are basically fucked.

I almost feel sorry for them, because i know what they're about to go through.

Who knows?

I know one thing. Oilers are the worst team in the NHL.

That's good. They can't get any worse.

The next question is, how long will they remain the worst, and will they ever reach the number 1 spot?

Oilers to be the Star's bitches again in future?

Recently I'm reading Oiler fans(almost certainly ones who are too young to have seen THE DYNASTY) talking about moving down in the upcoming draft, in order to get hidden/perceived "gems".

This reminds me of the old fable about the dog with a bone that sees it's reflection in the water, and, thinking the dog in the water has a bigger bone than it, proceeds to lose the real bone grabbing for the reflection.

Oilers fucked up that 3 first round selection draft royally. Sam Gagner(a great pick), Alex Plante(a stupid pick), the Riley"I think going to a soft Ivy league college is more important than playing NHL hockey" Nash(a ridiculously stupid pick).

Obviously the Oilers "organisation" lives in a fantasy world, just like these deluded fans. None of them seem to realise that you simply go for the best player available, and in the year of Plante/Nash that would have been Alex Cherapanov.

Even now, I'd still make that pick.

Hangovers

Last night I got drunk. Recently haven't been too active on the sauce. Not sure exactly why, but it feels better to be normal than pissed out of my head one night then shitfaced all the next day. I don't understand why.

Canada Wins Olympic Gold

I suppose that's a good thing.

Katz Speaks!

Katz talked to the press yesterday, and not surprisingly, made a whole lot of sense.

He accepts that Oilers are rebuilding, is committed to getting them back on top, and like me is a fan a lot longer than he's owned the team.

I doubt it Tambellini gets canned this year. I also doubt even more that Lowe gets the chop. Like it or not, we're stuck with both of them.

I don't know obviously whether this is a good thing or not. Maybe Kevin Lowe isn't a moron, despite his actions to the contrary(handing out star contracts to clearly second rate players for a start). Maybe Tambellini isn't a total fool, despite the fact the team is in 30th, after the now almost obligatory announcement pre season that yes, Oilers were going to the playoffs.

Besides, with everyone whining about the exact same shite I've been yelling about for the past 20 years, it's all starting to get boring.

Everything Going To Plan

When Oilers had 5 games coming up before the Olympic break, I decided to make a projection for Wins/Losses/OT losses that ended up having them lose the next three games, followed by a win then OT loss(in no particular order).

So far everything's working out.

Then I check the standings. The Leafs aren't winning like I want them to, as a result threaten first place were Oilers to start winning any of their games. It's hard to be a last place team when you win.

Oilers 42 points.
Leafs 49 points.

So, Oilers take 3 out of their next 4 points and suddenly the Leafs are right back into the 30th place derby.

Oh yeah - Messier with the cup to my mind is the last time Oilers had a good team.

Who's Running This Team Anyway?

Last year Pat Quinn and Tom Renney were introduced as some kind of coaching dream team.

Now we're all living in a nightmare, some even worse than me, who do we blame?

I don't honestly know. The team is too fucking small, is full of AHL players, the AHL team itself is halfway across the continent(see Leafs and Nucks for how to position an AHL team), the entire culture of the organisation reeks of failure.

Gee, I wonder why no one wants to come here to play, unless offered ridiculous contracts?

Awwww what a cute baby

Oilers have 5 games left between the time these fingers type this dirge into the world wide web, and the Olympics.

My fearless predictions:

@ Avs = L
@Yotes = L
@Ducks = L
@ Kings = OTL
Ducks = W

If they can manage that record, I'll be pretty happy.

I'm fucking terrified of Gagner these days. He's getting too good as he always does this time of the season. Also the team is starting to play way too loosely, for my liking. Squeeze those sticks harder!

Flames = bad Oilers

Darryl Sutter's gone absolutely barking mad.

He's gone and traded one of the most exciting young players in the game for Toronto's second and third rate trash.

Something now tells me that the Flames and Oilers are run in the same manner - the "vets" call the shots with a sense of entitlement, while the young whippersnappers are expected to stfu.

Then on the coaching side, the players are expected to fit the coaches model, regardless of well, whatever. This would hark back to the MacT era, of course, since Quinn doesn't give a fuck about anything.

Clearly Dion Phaneuf wasn't interested in toeing that particular line of letting the "vets" run the team, and so ends up booted off to the Leafs, where he will probably blossom into a superstar player.

All of which for this Oilers and new Phaneuf fan(well he is a local boy), is absolutely wonderful.

Why Never to Trust the Oilers Drafting Anyone Ever

Here are a pair of bona fide first round Oiler busts from the past decade of futility.

Luckily one has found himself - on another team, lol.

Schremp is now a point per game player, although over a small sample size.

Of course he wasn't getting 2-3 million a season, so they just couldn't keep him. No, better to keep wimpy little creeps like Nilsson and O'Sullivan around, to provide punching bags for the opposition, without any fear of actual offensive production in return.

It's the Oilers way.

It's Weird

How everyone seems to have suddenly realised exactly what a shitty organisation the Oilers have become since Lowe took over. Hell, since Messier was "traded".

A losing culture, that will never stop until those "leaders" ala Moreau, Staios, and yes, Horcoff, are all run out of town on a rail.

Oh well, the Gaylords of Hockey(that's Calgary Flames to the uninformed) are getting their asses handed to them with that all star defence.

We get to draft Hall/Seguin/Fowler.

It Really is Their Fault

This is the fact: Oilers today sit 29th in a 30 team league.

If this were the English soccer league, we'd be staring at the AHL for next season.

Sighs.

Personally I'm worried these twats might yet pull out another fucked up winning streak, that would be nothing more than a losing streak.

You know what? If Oilers can't even get a top three lottery pick from this season, I think I might be through with them. It's getting beyond a joke.

PS: It's getting to the point where I'm almost afraid to see how well Rob Schremp's doing. Case in point - last night he didn't score in regulation and I'm breathing a sigh of relief, only to see he scored first in the shootout. I want to cry, except it's tears of apathy.