I know the Oilers must play terrible against the Stars (it says so in the CBA), but Friday night's game was much more stupidly Oilers hockey than regular. Could you guys at least try not looking like a last-place team for the rest of this season? You'll still get more time off this summer than any other NHL team, I promise. For now, just try.
Here's why I hate the Oilers:
- Khabibulin, while he can't be blamed for the loss, didn't help his team out either. Look south. See the Calgary Flames. See the awful, terrible team in Calgary that is worse than the team in Edmonton. See the awful Flames team have more wins because they have a goalie and the Oilers don't. Steal a game once in a while, Nikky. We'd like you more. I'd put this guy on re-entry waivers daily if I could. And if that doesn't get rid of him, I'd try the space shuttle.
- Coaching. OMG, Tom Renney. K, so let me understand this: On Friday, the experiment was to put Lennart Petrell in the Top 6. But after a period and a half, yep, failure. Better get him off that line. Bad coach. Bad, bad, bad. If you're gonna try someone out, give them a few games. From what I saw, Petrell was the best player on the line until Renney yanked him.
Renney does what MacT use to do, and the fans absolutely hated it. If the team is playing bad, the lines get scrambled in almost a completely random way. Why confuse the players? This guys are jocks; they aren't there because they have brains. Changing things up half way through the game just confuses them. You don't take remove the mouse from the maze half way to the piece of cheese.
- Not everything is Renney's fault, because a coach can only work with what he has. Oilers players have mastered the "skate around with the puck until you run out of options and never shoot" thing. Renney doesn't ask the players to do that. Ales Hemsky, I could punch you. And you're rubbing off on Hall, and he's skating around with the puck for no reason now, too. I hope you're happy. $5mil per season, my butt.
Speaking of the Oilers limited roster options, Corey Potter is so hot and cold. On Friday...very cold. Eric Belanger looked overrated even in a 4th line capacity. Nick Schultz took penalties in a game where the refs weren't calling anything. Shawn Horcoff did his usual thing. I assume Horcs golfs. Is his handicap 137? Seriously, every time he touches the puck, he slices it into the trees. I bet he can't drain a two foot putt when he has a steak dinner on the line.
The Oilers players were pretty vacant. They weren't so pretty, no not pretty. And they didn't care.
- Lots of people filling my Twitter with "Fire Renney" messages. K, first of all, just because Leafs fans got to fire their coach doesn't mean Oilers fans get to fire our coach too. Secondly, as I said, Renney can only work with what he's given. You can't take a team with no goaltending, forwards who don't shoot, and a stack of 4/5/6 pairing defensemen and expect to win games. I hate how Renney handles the lines, but other than that, I have no idea if he's a good or bad coach because it's management and not the coaches who have messed this team up.
Firing the coach with 18 or so games to go just is an embarrassing and classless thing to do. You think the Leafs can pull their season out of the fire now? What a joke. What an insulting thing for Brian Burke to do to Tom Wilson? John Wilson? Sorry, I've forgot who he is already.
Anyway, the Leafs did a jerk thing to Timmy Wilson firing him now, but I wouldn't expect any differently from a team that has a fan base like the hotheads in TO. The only reason Burke did the deed is because he knew one more Jim Wilson loss would result in his domestically-made SUV getting egged by some hoser in a Leafs retro-1947 jersey. Nope, Burkey can't have paint scratches for a friend. Better fire Tood Wilson and humiliate him. Poor Corey Wilson will be lucky if he can get a job at a Wal-Mart in Etobicoke now as a greeter. Hmmm...reminds me of a skit I saw on Family Guy once.
The Oilers aren't going to fire anyone. They instead will wait till contracts run out. The Oilers have accidentally on purpose leaked that GM Steve Tambellini will be re-signed, but we've heard nothing about Renney being kept around. Why? Because he won't be. Oilers management realize someone needs to take the fall for the 29th place season, and it won't be them. Renney will be baked, not fried.
I suspect Renney's replacement will be Barons Head Coach Todd Nelson. Or it could be Ralphy Boy Krueger. Or it could even be a former Oiler player. Doug Weight, who is an assistant in Long Island, perhaps? The way Ryan Smyth is playing lately, they could make him coach. The guy needs a hip replacement more than Mike Comrie did.
So apparently now the Oilers are going to Palm Springs or something? Good. Give Horcs time to work on his short strokes. Actually, I think most of the Oilers players were working on their short strokes during the Dallas game on Friday. Whatever they were doing out there, it wasn't hockey. And it left us fans feeling cheap and unappreciated.
I hate you, Kenny Wilson.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»