BY JAY PARR-PEARSON – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
Edmonton Oilers faithful have had good reason to question the direction of the rebuild lately with the team’s performance over the last six weeks. The Oilers have lost 14 of their last 18 games, and with significant injuries on the blue line the situation doesn’t look to get much better anytime soon.
Despite the obvious need to add some quality defencemen to relieve the AHL callups, the calls have gone unanswered by general manager Steve Tambellini. There is a lot to be frustrated about.
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As an Oiler fan now approaching his fourth decade, I have witnessed the Oilers dynasty. The Oilers back then were a cocky, juggernaut dynasty that won five Stanley Cups in seven seasons. It is an era of hockey we will never see again. The Oilers in my opinion, and likely others in my age group, are in their third rebuild since the death of the dynasty era Oilers in the 1992 Campbell Conference final.
The only winning the fans of the post-dynasty era have known were the little victories of 1997 and 1998 that knocked out the Stars and Avalanche and the 2006 miracle run to the Final. The dynasty Oilers didn’t do it over night and neither will this group of Oilers.
The Oilers were hampered in their previous rebuilds by poor drafting, a fire sale of the great players at the end of the Glen Sather and Peter Pocklington era. In the EIG era, the team was further hampered by the previous regimes drafting and their own poor draft record along with finances. Further adding to the problem were some of the poor signings, bad trades, and poor decisions of the Kevin Lowe regime.
Under EIG the playoffs were made a major concern, so the “if we can just make it in anything can happen” model was established. Another problem was the feeling that the Oilers didn’t need an AHL team to develop talent, they figured to know better than 29 other NHL franchises. They had figured wrong. Now under the reclusive Darryl Katz and Lowe era they too were hurt by the previous regimes poor drafting and dealing.
Finally after two horrible seasons the rebuild was started by Mr. Katz and Steve Tambellini entered the picture as general manager.
There has been a lot of negativity about the team on twitter, various message boards, and blogs. A lot of it isn’t wrong; it is however probably misguided and misplaced. Under Tambellini, the Oilers have finished 30th overall twice and are possibly headed to another bottom five finish.
While the development is coming with the young players, the team has failed to address the issues of size and veterans players to mentor the rebuild for at least four consecutive seasons.
While a Hockey Hall of Fame scribe penned a piece about blowing up the Oilers, you cannot continually add younger pieces and trade away veterans. The fans stress levels are at an all-time high because of the perceived failure to add the missing pieces to help climb out of the toilet.
Drafting low and developing young players takes a lot of time and usually means a losing record. However, it should not be used as an excuse for not addressing team needs and making bad signings. With the Oilers stuck in a 5-14 streak, the holes in the lineup have become more glaring and unavoidable. But, they were there from the start of the season.
It is easy to sit here and say that Tambellini needed to add more power forwards and puck moving defencemen. Perhaps the Oilers should have been more aggressive, but in the end a player goes where he wishes to. These holes weren’t filled partially due to the lack of a dance partner in trade or UFA signing. An expectation of playoffs was foolish; instead progress should be the goal.
The fans of this era live in an on-demand culture. Winning now. NHL legend now. Trade now. Free agent signing now. It isn’t that easy, there will always be changes. The rebuild and the development of the Oilers will take time.
We can’t follow the Detroit model. We can’t follow the Chicago model. We can’t even follow the Pittsburgh model. The Oilers are in a different situation from those teams. The Oilers will need to be patient and prudent in the moves it makes. The fans will have to exercise patience and long term vision.
The future is bright.
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