Dumb Oilers fans
Posted 5:53 AM ET | Comments 0
Hello everyone and welcome!<br /><br />
I've been an Oilers fan since about 1982. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of hanging out one evening each with Gretzky and Messier. As a kid, I used to go to those games and remember watching Gretz and Company score. Then after Messier left, I stepped away. The playoff wins against Dallas were fun. The 2006 Cup run was amazing and like everyone else, it became a religion for me. But then we sucked again. But then, we got Taylor Hall and the hope came back and it's been growing. I flew to Vancouver to see the Oilers and stayed in the same hotel and got to meet a lot of them, including Coach Krueger, who is a very nice person.<br /><br />
I now follow everything about the Oilers, and read and listen to everything I can on a daily basis.<br /><br />
So, anyway, there's me ... and with all that, I'm now also sick and tired of some Oilers fans asking stupid questions or making dumb, uneducated remarks. So much so, I've decided to start a blog on here to rant about it.<br /><br />
Okay, let's get to some smart answers to some stupid questions.<br /><br />
1. Who will be captain now that Horcoff is gone?<br /><br />
Taylor Hall will be captain. Any other choice is ridiculous. Period. Stop asking. If you don't think Hall is the best player on the team and deserves the "C", then you don't know poop about the Oilers.<br /><br />
2. Did MacT do a good job on Free Agent Saturday? <br /><br />
Trades so far make Oilers slightly better on paper than last year, so yes.<br /><br />
3. Is Dubnyk good enough to be a starter?<br /><br />
Dubnyk IS the #1 goalie and will be even better than last year, which he was fantastic. Top 12 goalie in the league as far as save percentage.<br /><br />
4. Will the Oilers defense ever improve?<br /><br />
With Coach Ralph Krueger gone, his defensive system is gone, therefore our entire defense will automatically be better, and now bigger especially with the addition of Ference, Belov, and hopefully Klefbom.<br /><br />
5. Are the Oilers going to trade Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, or Justin Schultz?<br /><br />
Any trade talk of moving Hall, Ebs, Nuge, Yak, or J. Schultz is trolling and you just wasted everyone's time even thinking about it. Those guys are NOT part of MacT's "bold moves" you moron.<br /><br />
6. What positional holes do we need to fill to be a more complete team?<br /><br />
Pretty much everyone agrees we now need a big #2 LW, #3 RW (if Hem traded), big #4 C, and a #1 D.<br /><br />
7. MacT sucks. Same old same old. Why can't he get a good UFA? <br /><br />
MacT appears to be doing the best he can going after top UFAs without overpaying or giving up too much in return. Some just don't want to play up in Edmonton. Jagr is considering Edmonton because he wants to play with Hemsky. Overall, MacT is already proving to be smarter and 'bolder' than Tambo. The best UFA #2LW out there at a good price is Brendan Morrow. That would be a big win.<br /><br />
8. Why did we trade Horcoff? <br /><br />
Trading for Horcoff was the right thing to do. It was time to move on. It's been 14 years. Filling that role with Boyd Gordon was a good replacement. Gordon is tops on the dot and has better Corsi stats. <br /><br />
9. Nuge sucked last year.<br /><br />
No he didn't. Nuge played very well last year despite fewer ppg, especially defensively, despite Krueger's stupid defensive system which was too onerous on the centres. Gagner's defense dragged also because of Krueger's poopty d-system.<br /><br />
10. We should trade Smyth.<br /><br />
Smyth will play his final year with reduced minutes. Putting him at #4 centre was a mistake, especially under, you guessed it, Krueger's defensive system, which I'll point out, no NHL team has ever used.<br /><br />
So what about Krueger's d-system? Why did it suck?<br /><br />
Oilers were one the worst defensive teams in league pretty much giving up more shots than anyone. Ironically, these shots made Dubnyk improve. However, the problem was the wingers were not pinching in on the defensive mid-boards to help the d-man. The centres were then charged to do that AND get the puck up the ice to the sprinting wingers. It worked less often than not and why teams were able to fly into the mid slot and hammer shots at Dubnyk or pass to the streaking off-wing. It put too much pressure on the centres and why Gagner's and Horc's D suffered. Nuge on the other hand, adjusted, but his offense dropped as a result. When well-coached teams figured out our weakness, we got exploited.<br /><br />
Thanks for reading! I look forward to arguing with some of you.
I've been an Oilers fan since about 1982. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of hanging out one evening each with Gretzky and Messier. As a kid, I used to go to those games and remember watching Gretz and Company score. Then after Messier left, I stepped away. The playoff wins against Dallas were fun. The 2006 Cup run was amazing and like everyone else, it became a religion for me. But then we sucked again. But then, we got Taylor Hall and the hope came back and it's been growing. I flew to Vancouver to see the Oilers and stayed in the same hotel and got to meet a lot of them, including Coach Krueger, who is a very nice person.<br /><br />
I now follow everything about the Oilers, and read and listen to everything I can on a daily basis.<br /><br />
So, anyway, there's me ... and with all that, I'm now also sick and tired of some Oilers fans asking stupid questions or making dumb, uneducated remarks. So much so, I've decided to start a blog on here to rant about it.<br /><br />
Okay, let's get to some smart answers to some stupid questions.<br /><br />
1. Who will be captain now that Horcoff is gone?<br /><br />
Taylor Hall will be captain. Any other choice is ridiculous. Period. Stop asking. If you don't think Hall is the best player on the team and deserves the "C", then you don't know poop about the Oilers.<br /><br />
2. Did MacT do a good job on Free Agent Saturday? <br /><br />
Trades so far make Oilers slightly better on paper than last year, so yes.<br /><br />
3. Is Dubnyk good enough to be a starter?<br /><br />
Dubnyk IS the #1 goalie and will be even better than last year, which he was fantastic. Top 12 goalie in the league as far as save percentage.<br /><br />
4. Will the Oilers defense ever improve?<br /><br />
With Coach Ralph Krueger gone, his defensive system is gone, therefore our entire defense will automatically be better, and now bigger especially with the addition of Ference, Belov, and hopefully Klefbom.<br /><br />
5. Are the Oilers going to trade Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, or Justin Schultz?<br /><br />
Any trade talk of moving Hall, Ebs, Nuge, Yak, or J. Schultz is trolling and you just wasted everyone's time even thinking about it. Those guys are NOT part of MacT's "bold moves" you moron.<br /><br />
6. What positional holes do we need to fill to be a more complete team?<br /><br />
Pretty much everyone agrees we now need a big #2 LW, #3 RW (if Hem traded), big #4 C, and a #1 D.<br /><br />
7. MacT sucks. Same old same old. Why can't he get a good UFA? <br /><br />
MacT appears to be doing the best he can going after top UFAs without overpaying or giving up too much in return. Some just don't want to play up in Edmonton. Jagr is considering Edmonton because he wants to play with Hemsky. Overall, MacT is already proving to be smarter and 'bolder' than Tambo. The best UFA #2LW out there at a good price is Brendan Morrow. That would be a big win.<br /><br />
8. Why did we trade Horcoff? <br /><br />
Trading for Horcoff was the right thing to do. It was time to move on. It's been 14 years. Filling that role with Boyd Gordon was a good replacement. Gordon is tops on the dot and has better Corsi stats. <br /><br />
9. Nuge sucked last year.<br /><br />
No he didn't. Nuge played very well last year despite fewer ppg, especially defensively, despite Krueger's stupid defensive system which was too onerous on the centres. Gagner's defense dragged also because of Krueger's poopty d-system.<br /><br />
10. We should trade Smyth.<br /><br />
Smyth will play his final year with reduced minutes. Putting him at #4 centre was a mistake, especially under, you guessed it, Krueger's defensive system, which I'll point out, no NHL team has ever used.<br /><br />
So what about Krueger's d-system? Why did it suck?<br /><br />
Oilers were one the worst defensive teams in league pretty much giving up more shots than anyone. Ironically, these shots made Dubnyk improve. However, the problem was the wingers were not pinching in on the defensive mid-boards to help the d-man. The centres were then charged to do that AND get the puck up the ice to the sprinting wingers. It worked less often than not and why teams were able to fly into the mid slot and hammer shots at Dubnyk or pass to the streaking off-wing. It put too much pressure on the centres and why Gagner's and Horc's D suffered. Nuge on the other hand, adjusted, but his offense dropped as a result. When well-coached teams figured out our weakness, we got exploited.<br /><br />
Thanks for reading! I look forward to arguing with some of you.