Love the rebuild. Im as disappointed as anyone and as excited after a loss. This is the first time since the glory days I feel we are actually paying our dues and getting the kind of talent that wins championships.
How in the world does losing on purpose constitute paying ones dues ? That phrase would suggest hard work .
Doing a rebuild like the one Tamby is currently "leading" us through requires one only to stop trying and sink slowly to the bottom .
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I like the fact that this year we are going to get one of the top picks, and if that is the result next year I will be fine with that too.
The patience of Job right here Narnia ... are you reading this ? Nobody should ever get to say Oiler fans don't have patience for the rebuild .
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Everything has a cycle, I think we have the talent now and oddly enough the toughness we traded away (throw ins) back when Gretzky and Messier were sent away is exactly what we are short of. Everything comes full circle!
How in the world does losing on purpose constitute paying ones dues ? That phrase would suggest hard work .
Doing a rebuild like the one Tamby is currently "leading" us through requires one only to stop trying and sink slowly to the bottom .
Are we not trying? I thought it was a talent issue!
The patience of Job right here Narnia ... are you reading this ? Nobody should ever get to say Oiler fans don't have patience for the rebuild .
What....?
We now have and will add to the pool of talented players this draft. What we are lacking is the muckers that get the job done when teams try to play a physical game against us. Not clear which part of this you have issues with??
I actually think now wouldn't be a bad time to have a proactive GM like a Brian Burke, but only after we've secured Hall/Eberle/RNH + one of Dumba/Murray/Grigo/Yakupov.
He'd really just have to build around those core pieces.
I honestly can't see the Leafs winning a Cup with Kessel as the best player though.
It's frustrating because you can see the potential a mile away and we have seen glimpses of it, but horrible luck with injuries the last few years as well as a very thin blue line has really dashed any hopes of a consistent play.
I actually think now wouldn't be a bad time to have a proactive GM like a Brian Burke, but only after we've secured Hall/Eberle/RNH + one of Dumba/Murray/Grigo/Yakupov.
He'd really just have to build around those core pieces.
I honestly can't see the Leafs winning a Cup with Kessel as the best player though.
Carolina didn't have a superstar d-man when they won the cup... can you think of any other teams who pulled that off?
I think that we really need to draft Dumba or Murray.
We now have and will add to the pool of talented players this draft. What we are lacking is the muckers that get the job done when teams try to play a physical game against us. Not clear which part of this you have issues with??
Hartikainen, Lander and Pitlick surely fit into that mold. Hamilton might as well.
It's frustrating because you can see the potential a mile away and we have seen glimpses of it, but horrible luck with injuries the last few years as well as a very thin blue line has really dashed any hopes of a consistent play.
the injury excuse is pathetic. all it does is hightlight how awful management has been in building any sort of depth.
doing the rebuild the right way. ha.
all the oilers have done is do what they were forced into doing by being so lousy in the first place.
Picking 1st or 2nd overall isn't a sign of doing the rebuild the right way, or being smart.
anyone could make those picks. look what management have done to surround those picks inthe last two years. especially on defense. is that really doing it the right way?
the injury excuse is pathetic. all it does is hightlight how awful management has been in building any sort of depth.
doing the rebuild the right way. ha.
all the oilers have done is do what they were forced into doing by being so lousy in the first place.
Picking 1st or 2nd overall isn't a sign of doing the rebuild the right way, or being smart.
anyone could make those picks. look what management have done to surround those picks inthe last two years. especially on defense. is that really doing it the right way?
The injury excuse wasn't pathetic. Doesn't matter how bad your team is. You shouldn't ever be taking that many injuries. Not too bad this year compared to the past few years.
And yes, coming in last place IS working well for us. Gagner, Hopkins, Eberle and Hall are coming along. Smid, Petry and Gilbert are looking like really good top 4 d-men. Dubnyk has flashes of greatness from time to time which make you almost believe he'll cut it as a starter. So we draft Murray at this draft and continue to watch our seeds sprout in the right direction and we should be seeing progress, correct?
The Calgary model(which it sounds like you'd prefer) wouldn't have worked out for us because we didn't have enough core players to make a trade to fix our team up.
the injury excuse is pathetic. all it does is hightlight how awful management has been in building any sort of depth.
doing the rebuild the right way. ha.
all the oilers have done is do what they were forced into doing by being so lousy in the first place.
Picking 1st or 2nd overall isn't a sign of doing the rebuild the right way, or being smart.
anyone could make those picks. look what management have done to surround those picks inthe last two years. especially on defense. is that really doing it the right way?
They brought in very good complimentary players like Smyth, Eager and Petrell.
Belanger for faceoffs
Potter, Barker and Sutton for the back end.
IF Hemsky and Whitney were playing to potential we would not be a lotto team.
Smid,Gilbert and Petry have been good. Whitney has been on par if not worse then Sutton.
They brought in very good complimentary players like Smyth, Eager and Petrell.
Belanger for faceoffs
Potter, Barker and Sutton for the back end.
IF Hemsky and Whitney were playing to potential we would not be a lotto team.
Smid,Gilbert and Petry have been good. Whitney has been on par if not worse then Sutton.
smyth forced himself back on the team, and Tambo seemed to do everything he could to screw it up. I'm sure a lot of people would agree that Belanger (who was brought here for more than just faceoffs), Eager and especially Barker are disappointments. Potter had a great early season, but really isn't a top 6 defenseman on a good team. Sutton I've liked, I admit.
I don't know how they can be described as very good.
If hemsky was playing to ppotential. heh heh. if only.
there are alot of things to look forward to in regards to this team, but I think current management has hindered the process at the NHL level.
smyth forced himself back on the team, and Tambo seemed to do everything he could to screw it up. I'm sure a lot of people would agree that Belanger (who was brought here for more than just faceoffs), Eager and especially Barker are disappointments. Potter had a great early season, but really isn't a top 6 defenseman on a good team. Sutton I've liked, I admit.
I don't know how they can be described as very good.
If hemsky was playing to ppotential. heh heh. if only.
there are alot of things to look forward to in regards to this team, but I think current management has hindered the process at the NHL level.
You cant blame the GM for what players turn out to be. Belanger based on all the stats\reports was a great pickup. I only responded to GM surrounding our picks with complimentary players. IMO Tambo did just that.
Paajarvi, Hemsky, Gagner for first portion of the season, Horcoff and lately Smyth have been well below par.
Guys
After this draft we will have added four world class players to this team. What other team can say that? Tambo isnt trading one of them, all that is left is maybe adding one more world class player and filling in the rest of the holes with average/above average quality. We could not have asked for a better future!
Carolina didn't have a superstar d-man when they won the cup... can you think of any other teams who pulled that off?
I think that we really need to draft Dumba or Murray.
Think about our team if we draft Yakupov*
Hall-Gagner-Eberle
MPS-RNH-Yakupov
If all of those players play to their ability, that will be the best Top 6 in the league in only a few years.
As soon as next year, Hall and Eberle could be Top 5 in the league in LW and RW respectively. RNH and Yakupov could get there too in a few years. Gagner and MPS could end up being excellent complementary pieces if they find their games (Gagner may already have, he looks like a #1C between Hall and Eberle). I'm talking 4 or 5 players in the Top 30 in league scoring with 2 or 3 being in the Top 10.
Have you seen an offense like that post-lockout? I haven't.
Of course, everyone echoes the idea that "that lineup will score 5 goals per game and give up 6 or 7". I think if we have a defense-by-committee set-up and a better goaltender than we have now, we would be in great, great shape. We could be tops in the league in goals for and still in the Top 10 in goals against.
I like what Tambellini has done so far.
*Assuming Yakupov's interview goes well and the Oilers scouting staff likes his attitude and work ethic.
smyth forced himself back on the team, and Tambo seemed to do everything he could to screw it up. I'm sure a lot of people would agree that Belanger (who was brought here for more than just faceoffs), Eager and especially Barker are disappointments. Potter had a great early season, but really isn't a top 6 defenseman on a good team. Sutton I've liked, I admit.
I don't know how they can be described as very good.
If hemsky was playing to ppotential. heh heh. if only.
there are alot of things to look forward to in regards to this team, but I think current management has hindered the process at the NHL level.
Eager has been a disappointment...? Have you even been watching lately?
smyth forced himself back on the team, and Tambo seemed to do everything he could to screw it up. I'm sure a lot of people would agree that Belanger (who was brought here for more than just faceoffs), Eager and especially Barker are disappointments. Potter had a great early season, but really isn't a top 6 defenseman on a good team. Sutton I've liked, I admit.
I don't know how they can be described as very good.
If hemsky was playing to ppotential. heh heh. if only.
there are alot of things to look forward to in regards to this team, but I think current management has hindered the process at the NHL level.
Eager had a bad start to his career as an Oiler, but since Christmas has exceeded expectations. Belanger has disappointed me, but is doing the biggest reason we signed him was for his faceoff and pk ability. He has been good in both areas, we just need to see him put up a few more points. Barker was a gamble, and the only signing I didn't like. He had the potential to help the team though, he had 40 points in Chicago a couple of years back. It didn't work out though. Sutton and Potter have been better than expected. Potter looks to be a powerplay specialist, but we need one of those so until we get someone better in that role, I`m fine with Potter being there and think the signing was great.
Tambellini is doing what he said he would. He's building slowly. He`s building a great group of prospects, which is a necessary base level for any successful team. He isn't going after big name UFA's, which is why we haven't improved as quickly as many hoped. But if you compare where we were last season to where we are now, there is certainly progress. Last year we not only lost more games, we were not even competitive in most of the games we lost. You can't say the same this year. We're still overmatched in terms of overall team quality, but most games we're keeping close. There aren't nearly as many of the games where we were blown out from the opening faceoff. And we've actually had a few games where we were dominant for the entire game. It's taking time, like Tambellini said it would. I'm not sure if the fans were not listening when they said it would be a few years of rebuild or what, but we look to be on schedule, if not ahead of schedule.
On top of that, look at what our defense could look like in three years if we draft Murray
Murray - Klefbom
Gilbert - Smid
Marincin - Musil
If all of those guys develop properly, look out. That's not even considering guys like Fedun, Blaine and Gernat, who are looking better than they should considering their draft positions. Rebuilding takes a few years, Patience is key.
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Originally Posted by ZugNugget
Think about our team if we draft Yakupov*
Hall-Gagner-Eberle
MPS-RNH-Yakupov
If all of those players play to their ability, that will be the best Top 6 in the league in only a few years.
As soon as next year, Hall and Eberle could be Top 5 in the league in LW and RW respectively. RNH and Yakupov could get there too in a few years. Gagner and MPS could end up being excellent complementary pieces if they find their games (Gagner may already have, he looks like a #1C between Hall and Eberle). I'm talking 4 or 5 players in the Top 30 in league scoring with 2 or 3 being in the Top 10.
Have you seen an offense like that post-lockout? I haven't.
Of course, everyone echoes the idea that "that lineup will score 5 goals per game and give up 6 or 7". I think if we have a defense-by-committee set-up and a better goaltender than we have now, we would be in great, great shape. We could be tops in the league in goals for and still in the Top 10 in goals against.
I like what Tambellini has done so far.
*Assuming Yakupov's interview goes well and the Oilers scouting staff likes his attitude and work ethic.
I actually think now wouldn't be a bad time to have a proactive GM like a Brian Burke, but only after we've secured Hall/Eberle/RNH + one of Dumba/Murray/Grigo/Yakupov.
He'd really just have to build around those core pieces.
I honestly can't see the Leafs winning a Cup with Kessel as the best player though.
I sure hope Tambellini is not coming back as a GM. he did a good enough job of cleaning Lowe's contract mess, but with so many good young players in the fold, it is time for the franchise to make bold moves. Time to convert some of the excess prospects/draft picks from 2013 into quality.
Make an aggressive move on Suter on 1 july. Heck, I'd even move 2012 1st (Yakupov/Grigorenko) +Paajarvi/Gagner+Marincin/Musil for Weber provided he's signed for at least 5 years.
I actually think now wouldn't be a bad time to have a proactive GM like a Brian Burke, but only after we've secured Hall/Eberle/RNH + one of Dumba/Murray/Grigo/Yakupov.
He'd really just have to build around those core pieces.
I honestly can't see the Leafs winning a Cup with Kessel as the best player though.
Good point. With young players, you have to be really careful about trading them, as the development curve can happen at vastly different times. And most of out best trade bait is of the young variety. Tambo has to be very careful, and I'm glad he is taking his time. Veterans, on the other hand, well, you pretty much know what you have in a guy by the time he gets to Hemsky's age. Which is why I have no problem moving him.
I would offer sheet Schnieder this year and go after Suter or Weber. With 2 of those three we would be set to be in the playoffs
We won't get Suter or Weber. Stop dreaming. And offer sheeting Schneider just smells like a horrid move. We aren't at the point where we can be risking upcoming draft picks yet.
Signing Josh Harding would be the ideal move though.
I sure hope Tambellini is not coming back as a GM. he did a good enough job of cleaning Lowe's contract mess, but with so many good young players in the fold, it is time for the franchise to make bold moves. Time to convert some of the excess prospects/draft picks from 2013 into quality.
Make an aggressive move on Suter on 1 july. Heck, I'd even move 2012 1st (Yakupov/Grigorenko) +Paajarvi/Gagner+Marincin/Musil for Weber provided he's signed for at least 5 years.
First I would change the Gagner/Paajarvi to a prospect like Hamilton. REALLY I think the 1st or 2nd overall for Weber straight up is fair, but if we're making a win-now deal, it should be prospects.
If we made this move, other things would have to happen. 1) a ufa goaltender signed who can challenge Dubnyk (get rid of khabi). 2) a top 6 forward signed instead of omark... I'd even take Hemsky there if need be. 3) If the buy-out clause happens, get Horcoff out of there.
Hall RNH Eberle
Paajarvi Gagner Hemsky
Smyth-Lander-Jones
Eager-Belanger-Hartikainen
Weber-Petry
Gilbert-Smid
Whitney-Sutton
Potter
Vokoun
Dubnyk
If OKC can provide the depth to handle injuries.... then that's a playoff team.
