The joke that's become the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers

[420since1974]

calgarypuck has a "vancouver is no good" thread which is cute considering that they havnt been to the playoffs in 6 years. So its nice to see them fall from grace, they were on that high horse for a while and was starting to get cocky thinking they were actually a good team.

They have a lot of kids at Calgary Puck.

The Calgary Flames MB is much more civilized.

[tas]

I was listening to a local Edmonton radio station this afternoon, CHED960 I believe.

There are only 2 players on the roster that MacT is not responsible for acquiring.

That said, I completely agree with you about KLowe.

MacT even let it slip once hat he had to run potential trades by KLowe.

I'm all for cleaning house completely from KLowe down through Howson, MacT, & the rest of the suits, pro & amateur scouts, and the coaches.

Hopefully, Nicholson will be allowed by Katz to do so.

you either heard wrong or the edmonton radio goons are even worse than i thought because by my count there are at least 11 players that have played for the oilers this year that were brought in before mactavish was named gm in 2013, and the bulk of them were around before he rejoined the organization in 2012 as well.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

It's not like we're doing any better guys... Let's not talk smack when we're not exactly winning either.

We are two points up with 3 games in hand. 3 games with teams that we "should" beat. 3 games that if we win will put us 2 points within the league leading ducks. And guess which team we play on the fourth game....Ducks.

Still a long and I mean long season to go. so much can happen in the next 50 games. Flames and Canucks will have there ups and downs, all teams do,....

Except the oilers, they just have downs.

[CALGARY!]

We are two points up with 3 games in hand. 3 games with teams that we "should" beat. 3 games that if we win will put us 2 points within the league leading ducks. And guess which team we play on the fourth game....Ducks.

Still a long and I mean long season to go. so much can happen in the next 50 games. Flames and Canucks will have there ups and downs, all teams do,....

Except the oilers, they just have downs.

Well said, its tough to make predictions in mid December. Come Feb/March I excpect the top 8 teams in both the West and East will be sitting closer to where they will finish the season at. The Western Conference as a whole has started quite slow I think, we've yet to see the best from Minnesota, LA, Dallas, and San Jose to name a few. I expect the west will up its pace here shortly, and then we will have a good idea of who are playoff bound and who arent.

[Down by the River]

Kevin Lowe's biography on the Oiler's website is comical. This guy is such a narcissist.

http://oilers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=33071

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nhl-grab-bag-hail-canada/

Kevin Lowe had a tough week. His team is a mess, fans want him fired, and a few days ago Twitter rediscovered the old story about him turning down a Corey Perry–for–Mike Comrie trade.

So I’m hesitant to pile on any further. But I feel like we all need to take a moment to appreciate the glorious madness that is Lowe’s bio on the team website. While the other execs get the standard few paragraphs outlining their related experience and accomplishments, Lowe has a sprawling2,700-word masterpiece.¹

A few highlights:

• “Lowe has been instrumental in the renewed success of the team both on and off the ice.” It’s possible this page hasn’t been updated in a while.

• “In recent years, Lowe has been assisting the strategic rebuild of one of the outstanding franchises in the League.” Yeah, definitely not updated in a while.

• Did you know that Lowe was the first draft pick in Oilers’ history? You’re about to, because that fact is mentioned four separate times.

• For some reason, we get detailed breakdowns of random years from Lowe’s playing career, including his scoring stats against every other NHL team, which we can all agree is important information to know about a front-office executive.

• “(T)he Oilers never failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Lowe in the lineup.” Those last three words end up being kind of an important qualifier.

• The mystery of those eight “unaccounted for” penalty minutes. I sure hope the FBI is looking into this.

• “As GM, he became one of only 40 general managers in the history of the NHL to get his team to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006.” Apparently the Carolina Hurricanes had 39 GMs that year.

• “MOST GOALS, ONE GAME: 1; 84 Times.” That’s definitely the most impressive possible way to say you never scored two goals in a game.

[aqua59]

Never did like this thread, as many (our) team is just one step away from being there.

Seems like a jinx of sorts to weigh in on other teams as being "jokes".

Do you really thinking Vancouver is close to being a joke like Edmonton? You believe in jinxes?

[Warhippy]

Oilers fans paid for a full page advert advocating and demanding they fire Lowe

http://www.letsgoflyers.net/2014/12/20/oilers-fans-take-out-a-full-page-ad-to-fire-presid/

[Canorth]

Oilers fans paid for a full page advert advocating and demanding they fire Lowe

http://www.letsgoflyers.net/2014/12/20/oilers-fans-take-out-a-full-page-ad-to-fire-presid/

Can't hardly blame them. Must be frustrating as hell. Hell, I'm frustrated for them.

Interesting to see if it gains any traction.

[TheXFactor]

Do you really thinking Vancouver is close to being a joke like Edmonton? You believe in jinxes?

Its very possible actually. Defense has shown how bad they are without Hamhuis and Tanev is really the only D who's been anywhere close to being impressive. Goal tending is iffy, Miller is under performing and we don't know how long until (if) Lack is ready to take over starter. Vrbata and the Sedins are aging and way past their primes yet we have no one on the roster who is anywhere near ready to take over the 1st line.

The near future is relying on our prospects exploding into the season and JB acquiring some serious firepower from the trading block. The team could very easily fall to bottom feeder status.

...But I doubt we'll be as bad as Edmonton. At the most, we'll be forced into full rebuild for 3-5ish years.

[420since1974]

I don't believe that Vancouver could possibly do any worse than Edmonton with a full rebuild.

A rebuild should follow the tried and true manner:

#1 goalie

Two x first pairing defense-men

#1 C

# 1 RW

# 1 LW

Edmonton decided to do it backwards, and have drafted in the first round a RW, LW, C, RW, and most recently another C.

Only Taylor Hall is a true # 1, the other 4 are at best 2nd liners in their positions, though there is still a chance that RNH could develop into a # 1 C..

They also made the great error in rushing their prospects, most of them should have had another year of Jr., and at least one year in the AHL.

Unfortunately, a Canucks rebuild will not be easy due to 44% of the current roster having NMCs & NTCs, so it may take longer than normal unless Benning convinces at least half of them to waive those clauses.

I'm cheering for Benning to pull it off, and hope that he doesn't fall into the trap that Calgary did by trying to squeak into the play-offs every year.

That just resulted in getting poor return value for their vets when they finally decided to commit to a rebuild.

The Canucks need more in the cupboard, so IMHO the worse thing that they could do is trade draft picks or top prospects.

Roster players for picks and prospects is the way to go if they are serious about rebuilding.

From my point of view, Vancouver has started off right by bringing in a competent management and coaching group.

4 - 5 years is a reasonable timeline for a full rebuild.

Calgary is in year 2 of theirs, and they are steadily improving, even though it isn't showing up much in the standings yet.

They are another 3 seasons away from being a real contender.

My definition of Contender = make it past the first round of the play-offs.

Are the Canucks fans willing to live with the inevitable losses that come with a rebuild?

[CALGARY!]

I don't believe that Vancouver could possibly do any worse than Edmonton with a full rebuild.

A rebuild should follow the tried and true manner:

#1 goalie

Two x first pairing defense-men

#1 C

# 1 RW

# 1 LW

Edmonton decided to do it backwards, and have drafted in the first round a RW, LW, C, RW, and most recently another C.

Only Taylor Hall is a true # 1, the other 4 are at best 2nd liners in their positions, though there is still a chance that RNH could develop into a # 1 C..

They also made the great error in rushing their prospects, most of them should have had another year of Jr., and at least one year in the AHL.

Unfortunately, a Canucks rebuild will not be easy due to 44% of the current roster having NMCs & NTCs, so it may take longer than normal unless Benning convinces at least half of them to waive those clauses.

I'm cheering for Benning to pull it off, and hope that he doesn't fall into the trap that Calgary did by trying to squeak into the play-offs every year.

That just resulted in getting poor return value for their vets when they finally decided to commit to a rebuild.

The Canucks need more in the cupboard, so IMHO the worse thing that they could do is trade draft picks or top prospects.

Roster players for picks and prospects is the way to go if they are serious about rebuilding.

From my point of view, Vancouver has started off right by bringing in a competent management and coaching group.

4 - 5 years is a reasonable timeline for a full rebuild.

Calgary is in year 2 of theirs, and they are steadily improving, even though it isn't showing up much in the standings yet.

They are another 3 seasons away from being a real contender.

My definition of Contender = make it past the first round of the play-offs.

Are the Canucks fans willing to live with the inevitable losses that come with a rebuild?

I reckon 2 years sounds right for Calgary, last year was an amazing change in playing style and atmosphere, this year is building on that, and, in the next few seasons I think the Flames ought to be able to iron out the wrinkles and become a very solid team.

Canucks fans will have to deal with the losses of a rebuild one day or another, very few teams can transistion from contending core to condending core year in and year out, save for Detroit, and no doubt the Canucks will have to deal with the age of the veterans. Lucky though is that they have alot of solid talent in the AHL, CHL who have time to tweak and perfect their game while the current core winds down their careers.

[Gaudette Celly]

Canucks need to have productivity from the Sedins for at least another 2-3 years. It will take 1-2 just to get the young guys in the lineup but then they need time to become productive as most don't just step in and do so. When the Sedins flounder or don't produce, things tend to get ugly.

[Guest Dasein]

Johnny Hockey saves the Flames before the break

[spur1]

LOL...the oilers lose 5-1 to a team that lost 7-1 the night before.

[Guest Dasein]

LOL...the oilers lose 5-1 to a team that lost 7-1 the night before.

Well teams that get blown out usually come out really motivated to win so it's not as easy an opponent as you indicate, but at the same time, Edmonton is the gutter of the league.

[Lancaster]

Much like the girls in Edmonton... the Oilers are the easiest slumpbusters, lol.

[Ghostsof1915]

Maybe I'm in the minority. But I'm willing to give JB 3-5 years and miss the playoffs all in that time if the end result is a Stanley Cup.

Too long we've taken shortcuts, bad trades, and lost our depth for short term gains, and eventually long term impact. I want us to have a team that not just makes one "all in" run. But is good enough to win EVERY year.

For the first time in years, we have legitimate NHL prospects. And better still we're taking our time developing them. Even now it's harder for good players to get ice time. Having to make hard choices because we have too much talent is a nice problem to have.

We're weak on D, but strong in centre prospects. And for the first time in years I have faith in our drafting and scouting.

I trust in Benning's and Linden's vision. I think coach WD is giving our team the best chances of success.

Edmonton on the other hand. I can't believe that I feel sorry for a team that gave Canucks fans such massive grief when they were winning cups. They need to clean house in the executive office. They need to find the best scout in the NHL, hire him as GM. Hire a lawyer to handle the cap, and contracts as an assistant. Fire their entire scouting staff. Then trade some of the underachieving players like Yakupov and get some solid defensive prospects. And use some of those draft picks to build the team that's able to compete in the Western Conference.

It's sad when Calgary gets worse draft position, gets better players in the 4th round, than Edmonton's first rounders. Building through the draft is Edmonton's only salvation, and it's key to better days.

[drdeath]

Well teams that get blown out usually come out really motivated to win so it's not as easy an opponent as you indicate, but at the same time, Edmonton is the gutter of the league.

Let's put it this way. The Coyotes have only 3 wins in the month of December, all against Edmonton. They outscored Edmonton 12-4 in those 3 games and in their 7 other games (all losses) were outscored 34-11. The Coyotes are playing terrible hockey and are still leaps and bounds ahead of Edmonton.

[Chicken.]

Let's put it this way. The Coyotes have only 3 wins in the month of December, all against Edmonton. They outscored Edmonton 12-4 in those 3 games and in their 7 other games (all losses) were outscored 34-11. The Coyotes are playing terrible hockey and are still leaps and bounds ahead of Edmonton.

Man, Edmonton is such a terrible hockey team in the modern era. Hard to wrap your head around it actually.

[CALGARY!]

Poor Oilers, I was so excited for the last 5 seasons that they would break out. Now Im just excited to see what kind of trades and management changes are made by seasons end/draft day.