41 games into the season the Oilers find themselves the subject of extreme disappointment and frustration from fans who were expecting a step forward. It didnt happen, and in fact the team took steps backwards in the goaltending department, the defense, and in special teams as well. The symbol of this season may well be the image of a fan's jersey thrown on the ice in disgust.
The language used by the Oilers took a sharp turn at the Christmas break and it marked some serious back-pedaling by a group that started the year with a bravado that, as it turns out, they could not back up. This September was about shedding the "Young" tag that accompanied the team. It was about making sure the team, the fans, and the league in general knew that the Oilers werent in the business of rebuilding anymore. They were in the business of winning games and competing for the playoffs.
That level of cockiness seems laughable now that we've been subjected to 41 games of Oiler hockey, but at the time it was exciting. Even rookie GM Craig MacTavish was buying into the hype. Despite failing to upgrade the goaltending in the offseason and leaving key spots on the defense to inexperienced players, MacT was telling the media that the Oilers' 1st round pick was available because he didnt think another 18 year old was what the club needed.
The losses piled up. The goaltending failed. The defense proved to be overmatched. The bottom 6 was just as ineffective as ever. The word "Rebuild" re-entered the vocabulary of the team's management. Yes, the same MacT who was peddling his 1st rounder through Bob Stauffer and the MSM stood in front of a camera just before Christmas and started talking about being a rebuilding club and how important the Draft is as a tool in the Rebuild.
So where is this team now? Well from a day to day perspective it hasn't progressed at all from where it has been the last 4 years. The team has been out of the running for the playoffs since November and the value of their pick has exceeded the value of the returns they are being offered for it.
This Rebuild is not going to last forever, but it will last at least 41 more games. If that disappoints you into throwing your jersey on the ice or taking a vacation from the Oilers for a while then so be it, I wont judge you. You aren't a quitter, as the coach who has only been invested in this thing for 4 months proclaims, it just means you are no longer willing to accept constant failure.
We are at the halfway mark of a lost season in which we were promised more. We deserve better—You deserve better. They've gone back on all their talk from the beginning of the year, but let's see how the rookie Coach and rookie GM learn from their mistakes in the next 41 games.