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Cheap, Lazy and Safe: the Oilers Have Made Another Terrible Mistake

May 25, 2019, 12:55 PM ET [77 Comments]
James Tanner
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The Edmonton Oilers are stuck in a cycle of never ending terrible decisions.

They finally caught a break, drafted Connor McDavid and everything looked like it was going to work out. The problem was injuries. In McDavid's rookie year, the Oilers were too injured to make the Playoffs.

Since it was by then like year 89 of consecutive failure, they panicked. Hall was traded in what is and will always be the worst trade in NHL history.

Imagine a team made up of McDavid, Hall, Draistaitl, Eberle, RNH, and Yakupov (I still think if managed properly he could have been a star)?

Never mind, don't do that, it will only make you mad.



After trading Hall, they predictably have been terrible. So terrible they were forced to fire their GM and their coach again.

OK Fresh start. Time for something new.

Nope.

Just more of the same.

Bob Nicholson is the problem and he's still in charge.

So old-school it is.

Because when you've had years of failure, nothing is easy than doing the safe thing.

And hockey is all about reputation, and past success.

So the Oilers, who can't possibly take any more failure, have elected to go the safe route.

They should have 100% fired Nicholson, found their own Brendan Shanahan, their own Kyle Dubas and a head coach with ideas from this century.

Nope.

They went full Nineties.

Cause it's easier to dust off Bruce Willis for another Die Hard than to come up with something original.

In 1997 Ken Holland was a good choice to be the GM of the Red Wings.

You don't think 22 years later there isn't a guy 22 years younger with some contemporary ideas that might be a better choice?

Dave Tippett was named a head coach of the Stars in 2002. Back then he was young and had some ideas that probably seemed good for the time.

But in 20 years, you don't think anyone is out there who might see today's game in a more recent light?

I watched and hated Dave Tippett for years as the Coyotes coach. He relies on old-school ideas about dumping in the puck, relying on veterans etc. The NHL needs new ideas, tactics and less of the ingrained, idiotic, bro-friendly hockey dogma that guys like Tippet are all about.

He will coach the Oilers like they're back in the Dead Puck Era.

In five years (hopefully less) he'll be hated and derived for wasting Connor McDavid's prime.

This team is a joke.

For years they failed by giving their jobs to experienced guys. So with a chance for a fresh slate what do they do? More experienced guys.

Guys who have failed and been fired for doing more or less the same thing the guys they just fired did.

it's so stupid and it makes you want to smash your head against a wall.

I feel so sorry for fans of the Oilers. Your team is ran by an incompetent mad man and it won't get better.

Hiring two past their prime old guys whose only qualification for their jobs is that they've done them before is lazy and pathetic. It's safe and cheap.

The Oilers needed to take a risk. They needed to get their team into this decade. In to this century.

Dave Tippett? Ken Holland?

You honestly don't think anyone under 60 knows anything about hockey?

What a joke.

The fans deserve better.

Mark my words: short of Barry Melrose, Dave Tippet is the worst person they could have hired. This is exactly like the Taylor Hall trade in that the day it happened, every smart person around knew it was a disaster.

Good day for the Flames though, I guess.
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