Sure look at it however you want to turn it into a trash Oilers management rant.
Fact Sather has ponied up money to sign Gomez, Redden, Gaborik and Richards. Some UFA's work out and others don't. Sather got lucky on the early two that he was able to bury one in the minors and that Montreals GM thought he he had a foolproof idea of re-uniting Gionta and Gomez for some magic.
I know, that caught my eye too. A guy who has robbed so many teams blind in trades as Sather has gets my benefit of the doubt. He doesn't get lucky in trades, he just flat out wins them.
I was never a fan of his on-air contract squabbles, and how hard is it to put to gether a winning team with Wayne Gretzky on it?
Darth Sather can stay where he is.
Except he retooled the Oilers to win the Cup again in 1990 without Gretzky, Fuhr, and Coffey.
And then they made the conference finals in '91 without Gretzky, Coffey, and Kurri and *again* in '92 without Gretzky, Coffey, Kurri, AND Messier, lol.
Then he retooled the Oilers again on a shoe string budget to become 1st round killers in '97 and '98.
Obviously though he's going to retire in New York. But they are definitely going to have to have Glen Sather night here when it's all said and done.
Sure look at it however you want to turn it into a trash Oilers management rant.
Fact Sather has ponied up money to sign Gomez, Redden, Gaborik and Richards. Some UFA's work out and others don't. Sather got lucky on the early two that he was able to bury one in the minors and that Montreals GM thought he he had a foolproof idea of re-uniting Gionta and Gomez for some magic.
you seem to be determined to give sather no credit for anything, so fair is fair. and i'm not trashing oilers management. i just want you to put their record over the last 6 years side by side with Sather.
the only advantage sather has is location. the vast majority of players would rather be in NY than edmonton. doesn't mean Sather hasn't done a good job.
sure sather has made some mistakes, but for something like Gomez, he for the most part has fixed them. over priced oiler mistakes usually end up staying in an oiler uniform. i.e. horcoff. plus all the mistakes that the oilers escaped because the player wanted to avoid edmonton like the plague. i.e nylander, Heatley
do i want sather back? no. but he's done a much better job than Tambo/Lowe.
The Oilers had some success with the players that they got back from trading away their hof'ers but they still went from dynasty to lower middle of the pack under Sather's watch.
Our scouting/player development went from best in the league to worst in the league while he was here.
He's definitely not the guy that you want at the head of the draft table when the high first round picks are being selected.
Yeah. 80s was all luck. NY, location, location, and luck.
No, I wouldn't want Sather back, but to discount his work both in Edmonton and NY is foolhardy.
The guy was as important to the success of this franchise as any other individual.
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DD only signs in Edmonton if he is a big fan of losing. The image that the Oilers are an up and coming team is dead. - WingedWheel1987