I must say I do agree with most of what you said. I honestly think if you are obviously trying to lose to get high draft picks (which is clearly what the oilers have done) the NHL should take your first round draft pick.
- Maxwell1985

lol what?

habs also have a goalie, whereas the flames don't
- Oil_Addict

kipper when hot is comparable, but those are a few of the tweaks i think they want to make. That being said carolina is the highest shooting team in the league with an average of 33 ( might be off by a few) shots per game... habs kept them to 5 in the first 8 in the second and 6 in the 3rd. its all about a good system!!

kipper when hot is comparable, but those are a few of the tweaks i think they want to make. That being said carolina is the highest shooting team in the league with an average of 33 ( might be off by a few) shots per game... habs kept them to 5 in the first 8 in the second and 6 in the 3rd. its all about a good system!!
- munky123

well kipper is 34 games away from retirement

i agree 100% with your assesment of the oilers. i said this befor the season that they were lacking vetran leaders to help derect the youngsters. I took alot of heat with that. It drives me nuts to see clouts post his oilers of the future and none of his line ups consist of any vets. If the oil continue by not addressing those needs, this will fail like the caps have.

I think the habs could be a great benchmark for the flames. The habs are in no way the best team, but they play hard and are in the top 5 teams, imo, for difficultly to play against. They consist of above average skill, but have 4 lines that constantly pressure the opponents and make it hard to create rushes. How many teams can boast 4 lines that are producing? If the flames can create an environment that is similar they too can succeed. The proof is in the standings. The habs are a point out of first in the east. a big jump from 15th in the east last year.

The flames will still have to move some vets to bring in some decent youngsters, but they dont have to go into a firesale to be competitive a few years from now.
- munky123

season is still young and I am sure most are not totally sold on the Canadiens they have had some ugly losses this season their future is bright with Gally and Gallagher price still young but they haven't won me over quite yet and there is a big difference imo of the young caps vs these young oil alot more Canadian or North American young talent and players then the caps

I must say I do agree with most of what you said. I honestly think if you are obviously trying to lose to get high draft picks (which is clearly what the oilers have done) the NHL should take your first round draft pick.
- Maxwell1985

The Oilers definitely should have traded the no-value players that they had for better players. That way they could try and draft in the 8-14 range, I mean it's only fair to the rest of the league

You're not wrong. It definitely gives some validity to the idea of trying to re-tool and get younger on the fly though. Much easier on fans (and owners) when they can still walk into the rink with hope for a win night in and night out.
- jtommyt

So giving fans false hope that the flames can win night in and night out is a good thing???

Hmmmm.

I think it is fair you responded to Clouts one sided blog... Unfortunatly... Just saying please don't take this as an Oilers suck Calgary rules blog and then quickly creating a very one sided, obvious Oilers suck and Calgary rules blog, is even worse than Clouts blog. It's like saying I disagree with you and don't want you to take it personaly but... you suck and you continue to say it over and over again as your only arguement.

#1. Depsite flames fans insistance, the Oilers have not tanked intentionaly. As mentioned by Clouts after Pronger left Edmonton signing any decent RFA's became impossible. Our drafting sucked for an extrended period of time. The two together naturaly creates a last place team.

#2. The Oilers suck because they didn't provide a supporting cast for new players. This is true... but refer to #1 as to the reason.

#3. The Oilers have sold out almost every game since 2006 and done well financialy, with sponsers etc... While attempting to do well, they sucked and still people came. Only 3 years ago did they officialy go into full rebuild mode and did it openly and honestly with the full support of... everyone. Common sense say the biggest loser is the one who just barely misses the playoffs. There is no point struggling as hard as possible to just continuealy miss the playoffs year after year anyways. Financialy it doesn't make sense either.

#4. Is the best plan? It was the only real option for the Edmonton Oilers to be come competitive again. And they are not the pioneers of such rebuilds either. Talk to Pits, Chi, and Ottowa fans as to whether they supported the moethod of thier teams success.

#5. The flames have missed the payoffs 4 of the last 5 years? This is about the same time the Oilers decided enough was enough. You do not know if the flames will go full rebuild or not. You do not have a clue. If the flames tank this year I think common sense would be for them to go into a rebuild. And all this BS you and a few flames drum up about the "ethical" way to build a hckey team will make you guys into the biggest hypocrits in the game. I notice flames fans dont use the same BS on Pits, Ott, Chi, and Ottowa.

#6. Our supporting cast the last couple of years is the reason why the Oilers have been losing.

#7. Gagner and Cogliano... Gagner is a good player right now in the NHL and is only 23. 15 points in 14 games atm. But he is not an "elite" top pick. I am not even sure when Cogs was drafted. You can not build a team around Gagner and no one has ever said you could... at least no decent hockey minded Oiler fan I know of. Right now most our best players are under 24... Getting older is getting better (to a certain point) and the Oilers are doing thier damnest to stop adding youth to thier roster.

#8 Perpetual rebuild is a flames fan myth... or depest desire. The Oilers have only been in rebuild mode for 3 years. Thier supporting cast is weak. Going from last, last, to second last was technicaly speaking a substaintial increase in productivity for the team. I (and most Oiler fans) do not expect the Oilers to actualy make the playoffs this year. If they do they are ahead of schedule. If they don't you can look no further than thier roster of under 25 players as the reason. But what everyone expects is that the Oiler move out of the basement permanently for the next 10+ years. Anything worse than a 22nd overall finish will be considered a failure at this point. Player do not hit thier peak till 25. Only after all thier big names get to thier peak and we are still having trouble making the playoffs can you call this a perpetual rebuild. Most unsuccessful successful rebuild... Look at Ottawa, Chicago, and Pitts for comparables. Edmonton is not even slightly off those teams.

#9 Sick of "the next year Oilers will be great". Is pure BS. This is the first year in forever some NHL anaylsits have said "This year the Oilers could make the playoffs". Big difference Mr. exageration/fabrication.

#10 How much worse is it going to be if your "ethicly" built flames finish in the bottom 5 of the league this year after doing everything thier "strong coaching and general managing" had them do? How much worse is going to be when you have to eat crow and do a rebuild yourselves for the next 4-5 years...?

PS: And if you pull some BS about injuries hurting you look back to our two last place finishes where we had one of the most injuries out of all NHL teams for both years.

Hmmmm.

I think it is fair you responded to Clouts one sided blog... Unfortunatly... Just saying please don't take this as an Oilers suck Calgary rules blog and then quickly creating a very one sided, obvious Oilers suck and Calgary rules blog, is even worse than Clouts blog. It's like saying I disagree with you and don't want you to take it personaly but... you suck and you continue to say it over and over again as your only arguement.

#1. Depsite flames fans insistance, the Oilers have not tanked intentionaly. As mentioned by Clouts after Pronger left Edmonton signing any decent RFA's became impossible. Our drafting sucked for an extrended period of time. The two together naturaly creates a last place team.

#2. The Oilers suck because they didn't provide a supporting cast for new players. This is true... but refer to #1 as to the reason.

#3. The Oilers have sold out almost every game since 2006 and done well financialy, with sponsers etc... While attempting to do well, they sucked and still people came. Only 3 years ago did they officialy go into full rebuild mode and did it openly and honestly with the full support of... everyone. Common sense say the biggest loser is the one who just barely misses the playoffs. There is no point struggling as hard as possible to just continuealy miss the playoffs year after year anyways. Financialy it doesn't make sense either.

#4. Is the best plan? It was the only real option for the Edmonton Oilers to be come competitive again. And they are not the pioneers of such rebuilds either. Talk to Pits, Chi, and Ottowa fans as to whether they supported the moethod of thier teams success.

#5. The flames have missed the payoffs 4 of the last 5 years? This is about the same time the Oilers decided enough was enough. You do not know if the flames will go full rebuild or not. You do not have a clue. If the flames tank this year I think common sense would be for them to go into a rebuild. And all this BS you and a few flames drum up about the "ethical" way to build a hckey team will make you guys into the biggest hypocrits in the game. I notice flames fans dont use the same BS on Pits, Ott, Chi, and Ottowa.

#6. Our supporting cast the last couple of years is the reason why the Oilers have been losing.

#7. Gagner and Cogliano... Gagner is a good player right now in the NHL and is only 23. 15 points in 14 games atm. But he is not an "elite" top pick. I am not even sure when Cogs was drafted. You can not build a team around Gagner and no one has ever said you could... at least no decent hockey minded Oiler fan I know of. Right now most our best players are under 24... Getting older is getting better (to a certain point) and the Oilers are doing thier damnest to stop adding youth to thier roster.

#8 Perpetual rebuild is a flames fan myth... or depest desire. The Oilers have only been in rebuild mode for 3 years. Thier supporting cast is weak. Going from last, last, to second last was technicaly speaking a substaintial increase in productivity for the team. I (and most Oiler fans) do not expect the Oilers to actualy make the playoffs this year. If they do they are ahead of schedule. If they don't you can look no further than thier roster of under 25 players as the reason. But what everyone expects is that the Oiler move out of the basement permanently for the next 10+ years. Anything worse than a 22nd overall finish will be considered a failure at this point. Player do not hit thier peak till 25. Only after all thier big names get to thier peak and we are still having trouble making the playoffs can you call this a perpetual rebuild. Most unsuccessful successful rebuild... Look at Ottowa, Chicago, and Pitts for comparables. Edmonton is not even slightly off those teams.

#9 Sick of "the next year Oilers will be great". Is pure BS. This is the first year in forever some NHL anaylsits have said "This year the Oilers could make the playoffs". Big difference Mr. exageration/fabrication.

#10 How much worse is it going to be if your "ethicly" built flames finish in the bottom 5 of the league this year after doing everything thier "strong coaching and general managing" had them do? How much worse is going to be when you have to eat crow and do a rebuild yourselves for the next 4-5 years...?

PS: And if you pull some BS about injuries hurting you look back to our two last place finishes where we had one of the most injuries out of all NHL teams for both years.
- Aerchon

After reading all of this I have to say......"OTTAWA" oh and enjoy your ban for speaking the truth.

we were pretty delusional with Gagner and Cogliano
- Oil_Addict

Gagner and Marcanin for Jaybo and Cervenka plus the girls at cowboys for the Octane girls.

After reading all of this I have to say......"OTTAWA" oh and enjoy your ban for speaking the truth.
- ruttager17

I don't ban for that.

Gagner and Marcanin for Jaybo and Cervenka plus the girls at cowboys for the Octane girls.
- yaktalksback

Now if it was the Dallas crew...
http://www.thehockeyfanat...hockey-cheerleader-teams/

I don't ban for that.
- jtommyt

True, banning him will not help him with his atrocious spelling.

True, banning him will not help him with his atrocious spelling.
- ruttager17

or lack of employment... man how did he find the time? Unless... Clout's alter ego... he has allll the time in the world apparently.

Good luck with all that...

In Edmonton on business and off to the oil vs L.A. tonight. Go Kings!

or lack of employment... man how did he find the time? Unless... Clout's alter ego... he has allll the time in the world apparently.
- geta02it

If it was clout's it would be done at 4am or so cause the guy never sleeps. Plus clout's generally has excellent spelling and grammar indicative of being educated.

Dude was right about the blog being one sided and hypocritical, but I wouldn't expect anything less from a flames blogger or an oilers blogger because we are supposed to hate each other, that's what makes it fun. At the end of the day, who gives a flying (frank) what route an organization takes to achieve success. If they are eventually successful does it really matter?

Hmmmm.

I think it is fair you responded to Clouts one sided blog... Unfortunatly... Just saying please don't take this as an Oilers suck Calgary rules blog and then quickly creating a very one sided, obvious Oilers suck and Calgary rules blog, is even worse than Clouts blog. It's like saying I disagree with you and don't want you to take it personaly but... you suck and you continue to say it over and over again as your only arguement.

#1. Depsite flames fans insistance, the Oilers have not tanked intentionaly. As mentioned by Clouts after Pronger left Edmonton signing any decent RFA's became impossible. Our drafting sucked for an extrended period of time. The two together naturaly creates a last place team.

#2. The Oilers suck because they didn't provide a supporting cast for new players. This is true... but refer to #1 as to the reason.

#3. The Oilers have sold out almost every game since 2006 and done well financialy, with sponsers etc... While attempting to do well, they sucked and still people came. Only 3 years ago did they officialy go into full rebuild mode and did it openly and honestly with the full support of... everyone. Common sense say the biggest loser is the one who just barely misses the playoffs. There is no point struggling as hard as possible to just continuealy miss the playoffs year after year anyways. Financialy it doesn't make sense either.

#4. Is the best plan? It was the only real option for the Edmonton Oilers to be come competitive again. And they are not the pioneers of such rebuilds either. Talk to Pits, Chi, and Ottowa fans as to whether they supported the moethod of thier teams success.

#5. The flames have missed the payoffs 4 of the last 5 years? This is about the same time the Oilers decided enough was enough. You do not know if the flames will go full rebuild or not. You do not have a clue. If the flames tank this year I think common sense would be for them to go into a rebuild. And all this BS you and a few flames drum up about the "ethical" way to build a hckey team will make you guys into the biggest hypocrits in the game. I notice flames fans dont use the same BS on Pits, Ott, Chi, and Ottowa.

#6. Our supporting cast the last couple of years is the reason why the Oilers have been losing.

#7. Gagner and Cogliano... Gagner is a good player right now in the NHL and is only 23. 15 points in 14 games atm. But he is not an "elite" top pick. I am not even sure when Cogs was drafted. You can not build a team around Gagner and no one has ever said you could... at least no decent hockey minded Oiler fan I know of. Right now most our best players are under 24... Getting older is getting better (to a certain point) and the Oilers are doing thier damnest to stop adding youth to thier roster.

#8 Perpetual rebuild is a flames fan myth... or depest desire. The Oilers have only been in rebuild mode for 3 years. Thier supporting cast is weak. Going from last, last, to second last was technicaly speaking a substaintial increase in productivity for the team. I (and most Oiler fans) do not expect the Oilers to actualy make the playoffs this year. If they do they are ahead of schedule. If they don't you can look no further than thier roster of under 25 players as the reason. But what everyone expects is that the Oiler move out of the basement permanently for the next 10+ years. Anything worse than a 22nd overall finish will be considered a failure at this point. Player do not hit thier peak till 25. Only after all thier big names get to thier peak and we are still having trouble making the playoffs can you call this a perpetual rebuild. Most unsuccessful successful rebuild... Look at Ottawa, Chicago, and Pitts for comparables. Edmonton is not even slightly off those teams.

#9 Sick of "the next year Oilers will be great". Is pure BS. This is the first year in forever some NHL anaylsits have said "This year the Oilers could make the playoffs". Big difference Mr. exageration/fabrication.

#10 How much worse is it going to be if your "ethicly" built flames finish in the bottom 5 of the league this year after doing everything thier "strong coaching and general managing" had them do? How much worse is going to be when you have to eat crow and do a rebuild yourselves for the next 4-5 years...?

PS: And if you pull some BS about injuries hurting you look back to our two last place finishes where we had one of the most injuries out of all NHL teams for both years.
- Aerchon

Bet you were typing feverishly hoping that the conversation was still going on when you were done so people would actually read your well thought out and concise arguments.
War and Peace has nothing on you
Dances with wolves of comments

Better make is someone they will recognize.
Paul Coffey
- Sam67

Naw, we got him in Shultz.

As an Oilers fan up in Grande Prairie, I think you make some great points. The fact is, IMO, the Oilers haven't done enough to make themselves a winner ... yet. They haven't gone out and gotten the pieces that you need to win with (i.e. the third- and fourth-liners). They seem quite enamored with continuing to stockpile youth and potential ... for now.

But I have to disagree with you on one major point, and that’s the notion that the Oilers have intentionally “tanked” for the past four years or whatever. I’ve stuck my neck out on Oilers blog sites on this point and I’ll stick it out again.

I think you’re giving Tambo and Co., way more credit than they deserve. I don’t think there was any intention to force the Oilers downward in the standings. I think it happened just as organically and naturally as it does for many other last-place teams. They stunk on their own, through general on-ice incompetence, injury troubles, personnel issues, etc. In other words, I don’t think Tambo intentionally set them up to fail. They failed on their own the old-fashioned way.

Put it this way: I didn’t see any tanking like I saw when the Penguins and Devils raced to the bottom for Mario Lemieux in the spring of 1984 or when the Senators owner openly mused about taking for Alexandre Daigle in 1993. I don’t remember there being too many trades or roster moves that suggested “tanking.”

Heck, even when they traded Smyth away in 2007 over that petty contractual issue, the Oilers were in the middle of their biggest injury run in team history (by the trade deadline, they were calling up d-men from the QMJHL to fill in). It wasn't the trade that pushed them over the edge into badness. Heck, it was a trade that looked bad at the time, but for a while, it looked good for the Oilers – especially the year after when Gagner, Cogliano and Robert Nilsson had some good chemistry (they totally blew the first-rounder they got that year – either Riley Nash or Alex Plante).

Otherwise, they signed Penner to try to get better. They signed Souray to try to get better. They signed Khabby to try to get better. They tried to sign Tomas Vanek to an offer sheet. They replaced coaches to try to get better. They replaced scouts. They replaced dressing room staff. They moved farm teams.

They did many of the honest, earnest things that bad teams do to get better, and well … they didn’t work out, obviously, for several reasons. To suggest that they were part of a Grand Plan is a bit much on the conspiratorial side of crazy. And I have a hard team believing guys like Kevin Lowe or Craig MacTavish – fierce competitors as players – would ever stick around an organization they’ve shed blood for just to be a part of some under-the-table plan to have a table in the front row of draft for 2-3 years … especially when hockey people will say that picking first doesn’t really guarantee you anything.

While I’m here, I think you’re also giving Oiler fans way too much credit. It’s flattering that you think that we’d care enough to compare the Oilers Rebuild Program with Calgary’s. Really, honestly, we don’t. We have enough problems of our own to do a comparative analysis of Tambo-metrics vs. Feaster-metrics.To be honest with you, the Flames are barely on my radar screen.

But if Feaster’s philosophy is to hang onto Iggy and Kipper and build through trades and free agency, more power to him. It’s a method that’s worked for some of the big market teams like Detroit and New York (Rangers) and Philly. If Feaster thinks he can make that work, and the ownership is behind him, great. But just know that Edmonton dipped its toe in that pond around five or six years ago and it didn’t work with a fiddler’s darn. Tanking or not, it’s taken this long to rescue the franchise back from that brief, doomed philosophy.

I don't blame Calgary fans for criticizing Edmonton's rebuild. There's plenty to criticize. But I'm just not sure Feaster's philosophy, as it stands right now, is going to work.

Courage, Calgary. Courage.

Blogger battles.

I hope you both get painful testes.

We're 1/4 of the way into the season. If you think the Oilers aren't a much improved team compared to last year then you clearly don't know hockey and/or haven't been paying attention to the Oilers this year. Also, last time I checked, the Flames were below the Oilers in the standings..

Don't blame Dambrauskaskaskraus though. Clouts had it coming.

I just want to clarify that my blog was in no way directed at Colin and his blogs. There can be a healthy debate over the approaches used by both clubs. I am happy Colin wrote a blog in response presenting a different point of view and opinion.

Colin Dambrauskas: Calgary Flames Post Game thoughts // The Edmonton Oilers Perpetual Rebuild
- Colin Dambrauskas

Great article! I remember hearing 5 years ago about how "great" the Oilers will be in 3 years!