Sigh.
Sigh.
Sigh.
What is there left to say right now?
Sure I could hit on some of the positives from last night's game. We could discuss how the McLeod, Puljujarvi, and Hyman line looked strong with McLeod going 50% in the dot and while he didn't produce any points was heavily involved in the play. His line went 5-0 in 5 on 5 scoring chances. We could talk about how Duncan Keith and Tyson Barrie were actually a strong possession line for the Oilers and were the team's best pairing last night. We could even talk about how the Oilers scored 3 EV goals without McDavid or Draisaitl being in on any of them.
But to be frank I just don't see much point in that. This team should be far past parading around any moral victories or discussions about "trusting the process." We are in McDavid's 7th NHL season and once again we are looking at this team as a non-playoff team. Once again the Oilers have the top two scorers in the NHL and again it doesn't matter.
Once again I need to discuss how this organization is rotten from the very top, down throughout. Daryl Katz continues to hire 80's old hockey men who have not won anything substantial in over two decades. Bob Nicholson was heralded as some genius because he was the president of Hockey Canada and each year was simply able to look at the best teams in the NHL and pick the best coach, GM, and players. Anyone with a marginal inkling of hockey could produce a list that would look very close to the end product.
You have Ken Holland who won a bunch of Cups in an era without a cap and one in 2008. His decisions crippled the Red Wings for years and only now is the team starting to recover from the decisions he made. Very similar to when Bob Nicholson hired Peter Chiarelli after he did the exact same thing to the Bruins.
Holland had over 30 million dollars to improve this team last summer. He has clearly utterly failed in his execution and next season the Oilers are going to be in cap hell again next season. Next season Edmonton is going to need to pay Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, and Ryan McLeod more money. The only real cap relief the team is going to get will be from Mikko Koskinen and his 4.5 million coming off the books but that money will need to immediately go to finding a legitimate starting goaltender.
A reminder that Holland again thought that Mike Smith was the answer as starting goaltender this year even though he has only had one season above 0.915% in the last four seasons. That was last year in a shortened schedule playing against only Canadian teams.
This Oilers team remains one of the few organizations left in hockey that has not spent real money on an analytics department. There is a correlation between their decisions, that lack of information, and their place in the standings. From the top, down this organization is obsessed with proving that the model used 30 years ago is better than what is being done now. It's like Moneyball, except the reverse, everyone is stupid, and no one is as good looking as Brad Pitt or Jonah Hill.
With this final loss, blowing a 2 goal lead going into the third period against the Ottawa Senators, Dave Tippett may finally be fired and at his press conference I hope at least one MSM reporter has the stones to ask Holland how it's possible that two days earlier Tippett is "the guy" and now the team needs to make a switch. The only reporter I trust who might ask that question is Daniel Nugent Bowman.
Edmonton will now sit and lick their wounds again for four days until they host the Florida Panthers. I don't know how anyone can take a look at this team right now and have faith in a win. This is as low a point for the organization since the early 2010's. At that time we all knew the team was bad and as much as all the losses stung, it was to be expected from the get-go with the roster. This year most people expected Edmonton to at bare minimum finish second in the division and now there is a good chance the only team they finish ahead of is the Seattle Kraken and who knows, even that can change.
Something has got to give eventually. Will it be Tippett being fired? Holland leaving? Or one of the stars asking for a trade? Right now it's anyone's guess.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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