Biggest Disappointment This Season

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Who has been the biggest disappointment in the Oiler Organization this season

  • Jeff Jackson and the summer of our discontent

    Votes: 62 50.4%
  • Evan Bouchard and his pop gun offense

    Votes: 8 6.5%
  • RNH and his season long indifference tour

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • McDavid is not generational

    Votes: 13 10.6%
  • Zach Hyman, this generations Tim Kerr

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • The Skinners, either/and or…you pick

    Votes: 31 25.2%
  • Knoblauch coaching and line up decisions (?)

    Votes: 7 5.7%

  • Total voters
    123
  • Poll closed .
Holloway wasn't playing "mostly with Draisaitl" Indeed Holloway on most nights wasn't playing a lot at all, and its also a complete joke the team kept sending a valid winger back to Bakersfield.

Holloway did show it to us in playoffs to anybody watching. All his goals were highlight beauties. Most were rush goals and being hands goals at high speed. A guy making those plays and finishing at this level those can score at this level.
Too bad our coach would've given him the J Skinner treatment even if we had managed to keep him, like he had been getting his entire career up until this point. Another dinosaur who hates youth and overvalues old and washed pkers. No chance hollywood gets a stable opportunity to produce here. He's only doing what he's doing because he escaped our wretched organization unfortunately.
 
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Pretty easily Jackson. If we don't ever win a cup in the McDavid era that off-season will be looked back on as being the reason. Not only set us back this year but set us back for the rest of the McDrai era.

I personally think Jackson trading McLeod after he took his bridge played a role in Holloway signing the offer sheet with the Blues. Holland asked McLeod for a favor when he took sub 1M in 2022 because they were so strapped for cash, he did that instead of holding out and risking getting traded. McLeod pretty obviously wanted to stay here and his reward after doing the team a favor was getting shipped off to Buffalo. I like the Savoie trade but we're also trying to win a cup now and it did make us worse in the short-term.

I think the org trying to get Broberg/Holloway signed to lowball deals after they saw McLeod do just that and get shipped off to the worst org in the league 100% played a factor in both players minds. There's also the reality that the team is telling you that they're in win now mode and want you to take less so they can ice the best roster possible shipping off their young 3rd line C for a prospect. It's hard to preach to a a player about putting the team first and taking less now so they can make more later, when they have evidence of a player doing that and getting traded to hockey hell as his reward. If the team isn't going to reward the team first mentality then the players have no reason to be loyal.
This plus 1000. Players need to feel more than just a cog in the McDavid/Draisaitl cup run wheel.
 
Pretty easily Jackson. If we don't ever win a cup in the McDavid era that off-season will be looked back on as being the reason. Not only set us back this year but set us back for the rest of the McDrai era.

I personally think Jackson trading McLeod after he took his bridge played a role in Holloway signing the offer sheet with the Blues. Holland asked McLeod for a favor when he took sub 1M in 2022 because they were so strapped for cash, he did that instead of holding out and risking getting traded. McLeod pretty obviously wanted to stay here and his reward after doing the team a favor was getting shipped off to Buffalo. I like the Savoie trade but we're also trying to win a cup now and it did make us worse in the short-term.

I think the org trying to get Broberg/Holloway signed to lowball deals after they saw McLeod do just that and get shipped off to the worst org in the league 100% played a factor in both players minds. There's also the reality that the team is telling you that they're in win now mode and want you to take less so they can ice the best roster possible shipping off their young 3rd line C for a prospect. It's hard to preach to a a player about putting the team first and taking less now so they can make more later, when they have evidence of a player doing that and getting traded to hockey hell as his reward. If the team isn't going to reward the team first mentality then the players have no reason to be loyal.
We should've had multiple cups before Jackson was even in the picture. We blew our best shot prior to him taking over, and it was only because mcdrai went completely supernova. It's not like the makeup of the team was that good.

This singular offseason is not the defining moment if we do fail to get a cup. It's the 10 years prior. The 10 years of refusing to address particular needs, 10 years later still needing a top 4 dman and bonafide starting tendy, 10 years of failed drafting impact 1st round fwds and top 6 talent (yams, JP, bourgault...etc), 10 years of deliberately cucking our young star players (Holloway, Broberg, letting Bouchard rot for 2 years and resiging barrie for no reason), 10 years of barely any impact players drafted outside of the 1st round. 10 years of almost no homegrown players to solidify roster spots. 10 years of failing to get competent top 6 wingers outside of Hyman.

I could keep going on. Yes, this offseason was an unmitigated disaster, but we've likely already blew our best shot to win a cup. I refuse to believe Dylan Holloway is the singular reason we aren't winning a cup. McLeod was a non-factor in the playoffs. Broberg has been replaced by Walman. It's all of the brain dead decisions our incompetent front office (empowered by incompetent ownership) has done since we drafted McD, and now we are stuck with this group for the foreseeable future.
 
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Man the Holloway love is fierce.

I think a lot of guys need to find a girlfriend…. Err significant other.
He was our best prospect in a decade. Its not like he was some kind of nothing. He's already fan favorite player in STL and at age 23 already the third best player on a team. No slouch.

No credible org trying to contend loses a player like that to an affordable offersheet. Dunce management once again is hard to get over.

How good Holloway is, it just doesnt' seem to be understood in context of 2025 and being overshadowed by Drai and McD. If this is say 1995, or even 2010 Holloway would be the best young player on a team. Like he is now on an NHL team. Just sadly not this one. Its a huge loss. Holloway would be third in pts here too. Not just in STL.
 
Pretty easily Jackson. If we don't ever win a cup in the McDavid era that off-season will be looked back on as being the reason. Not only set us back this year but set us back for the rest of the McDrai era.

I personally think Jackson trading McLeod after he took his bridge played a role in Holloway signing the offer sheet with the Blues. Holland asked McLeod for a favor when he took sub 1M in 2022 because they were so strapped for cash, he did that instead of holding out and risking getting traded. McLeod pretty obviously wanted to stay here and his reward after doing the team a favor was getting shipped off to Buffalo. I like the Savoie trade but we're also trying to win a cup now and it did make us worse in the short-term.

I think the org trying to get Broberg/Holloway signed to lowball deals after they saw McLeod do just that and get shipped off to the worst org in the league 100% played a factor in both players minds. There's also the reality that the team is telling you that they're in win now mode and want you to take less so they can ice the best roster possible shipping off their young 3rd line C for a prospect. It's hard to preach to a a player about putting the team first and taking less now so they can make more later, when they have evidence of a player doing that and getting traded to hockey hell as his reward. If the team isn't going to reward the team first mentality then the players have no reason to be loyal.
It was the another Chiarelli offseason. Scorched Earth. Go to SC final and an idiot org figures it should lose 7 players off its roster. For all the reasons you describe it was shambolic asset management and offseason moves.

The reality is when a club doesn't respect their own prospects it sends a palpable bad message that hardly anybody is respected. Said before why would young players even want to come here or be drafted by this team that makes cardinal brutal mistakes with its prospects. An Expansion club with no experience wouldn't have dealt with this situation so badly.
 
The fundamental problem is simply the goaltending still.

There is no team in the league that would win a Cup with this tandem. Go ahead and list who you think would. Not Vegas, not Florida, not Colorado. But McDavid/Draisaitl/etc. are expected to pull it off.

The rest of the stupid around the management at this point I just come to expect it. They're the moron friend you have that always gets themselves into a bizarre situation.
 
The fundamental problem is simply the goaltending still.

There is no team in the league that would win a Cup with this tandem. Go ahead and list who you think would. Not Vegas, not Florida, not Colorado. But McDavid/Draisaitl/etc. are expected to pull it off.

The rest of the stupid around the management at this point I just come to expect it. They're the moron friend you have that always gets themselves into a bizarre situation.
Lack of goaltending and pointless player turnover. What other contender team has ever reached he final only to lose 7 players from its roster? NOBODY does that. Well one org does...

Whether you think this offseason makes or breaks its the cumulative lack of improving roster from one season to the next, and the massive personnel changeover and its been mostly the case for a decade. Rearranging deck chairs. EVen spending copious more assets and cap to do that. Come down to idiot circus Arviddson. Heres your 8M bucks from our limited cap. you'll get to play all year with Drasaitl despite not being in anyway even remotely suitable for that. jebus.
 
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Lack of goaltending and pointless player turnover. What other contender team has ever reached he final only to lose 7 players from its roster? NOBODY does that. Well one org does...

Whether you think this offseason makes or breaks its the cumulative lack of improving roster from one season to the next, and the massive personnel changeover and its been mostly the case for a decade. Rearranging deck chairs. EVen spending copious more assets and cap to do that. Come down to idiot circus Arviddson. Heres your 8M bucks from our limited cap. you'll get to play all year with Drasaitl despite not being in anyway even remotely suitable for that. jebus.

I don't think last year's team was some magical mix anyway, people get way too carried away with that shit.

They were fortunate that they were able to get by in the earlier rounds without facing a great goaltender.

The last series' that they've been forced to play a really good goalie who was actually on their game (Hill in 2023 and Bob in 2024) they lost both rounds.

Yes we are good and yes we are close to a Cup, but the management hasn't done their jobs well either and if we have to play another team where they have an edge in net, it will be hard to win such a series, doesn't matter if you kept the exact same forwards/D otherwise.

I'd rather honestly have the forwards from 2022, that was our best forward group because Kane was healthy and pre wrist cut injury, our forward corps IMO has never been as dangerous as it was then.
 
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It was the another Chiarelli offseason. Scorched Earth. Go to SC final and an idiot org figures it should lose 7 players off its roster. For all the reasons you describe it was shambolic asset management and offseason moves.

The reality is when a club doesn't respect their own prospects it sends a palpable bad message that hardly anybody is respected. Said before why would young players even want to come here or be drafted by this team that makes cardinal brutal mistakes with its prospects. An Expansion club with no experience wouldn't have dealt with this situation so badly.
Biggest disappointment in the McDavid era is trying to win a cup for an 18 year old superstar.I lay the fault at Katz’s feet.
New building with a generational star on board so no rebuild.Oilers have poured almost all of our assets away in this pursuit and here we are.
 
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The fundamental problem is simply the goaltending still.

There is no team in the league that would win a Cup with this tandem. Go ahead and list who you think would. Not Vegas, not Florida, not Colorado. But McDavid/Draisaitl/etc. are expected to pull it off.

The rest of the stupid around the management at this point I just come to expect it. They're the moron friend you have that always gets themselves into a bizarre situation.
How much more of a sample size do you need to see how lacking Skinner is at almost every part of goaltending ? No flexibility, terrible glove hand, bad positioning, horrific stickhandling, cant control rebounds, cant track pucks, lacks fire, lacks self critical analysis, allows soft goals consistantly and at terrible times.

Bowman and Jackson are absolute morons.
 
Oilers played great for 4 periods without McDrai aside from Stuart. Let's talk about Holloway and how great he would have been on the Oilers
 
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The fundamental problem is simply the goaltending still.

There is no team in the league that would win a Cup with this tandem. Go ahead and list who you think would. Not Vegas, not Florida, not Colorado. But McDavid/Draisaitl/etc. are expected to pull it off.

The rest of the stupid around the management at this point I just come to expect it. They're the moron friend you have that always gets themselves into a bizarre situation.
It doesn't matter what management group we have in place. It doesn't matter the IQ, hockey astuteness, or gamesmanship shrewdness the GM possesses.

This is the NHL and Bettman and the board of governors want it this way. What I, you or anybody else wants, outside of Bettman and the board of governors, amounts to an insignificant value because it won't make people interested in professional hockey in Florida. Only winning will do that.

You can win by drafting top-notch players. The secret is "to not give away excellent young players, just coming into their own, for scraps to a conference rival."

By the way St. Louis is only 6 points back of the mighty Edmonton Oilers. Go figure.

Nice job Stan Bowman. Performing an exemplary job, just as demanded by Bettman and the board of governors... which Daryl Katz is one of. Revenue sharing, gaming revenue, and real estate development has doubled the man's wealth.

Oilers played great for 4 periods without McDrai aside from Stuart. Let's talk about Holloway and how great he would have been on the Oilers
What were you watching? I watched a devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival followed by a clown show against a cellar dweller of the Pacific Division. Here's a nickel kid.
 
It doesn't matter what management group we have in place. It doesn't matter the IQ, hockey astuteness, or gamesmanship shrewdness the GM possesses.

This is the NHL and Bettman and the board of governors want it this way. What I, you or anybody else wants, outside of Bettman and the board of governors, amounts to an insignificant value because it won't make people interested in professional hockey in Florida. Only winning will do that.

You can win by drafting top-notch players. The secret is "to not give away excellent young players, just coming into their own, for scraps to a conference rival."

By the way St. Louis is only 6 points back of the mighty Edmonton Oilers. Go figure.

Nice job Stan Bowman. Performing an exemplary job, just as demanded by Bettman and the board of governors... which Daryl Katz is one of. Revenue sharing, gaming revenue, and real estate development has doubled the man's wealth.


What were you watching? I watched a devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival followed by a clown show against a cellar dweller of the Pacific Division. Here's a nickel kid.

I don't buy that, the NHL has no beef against any franchise, they are happy as long as league revenue and franchise value is going up.

How smart your GM is certainly matters.
 
Oilers played great for 4 periods without McDrai aside from Stuart. Let's talk about Holloway and how great he would have been on the Oilers
What thread do you think you're in? heh.

Aside from that the Oilers needed a Kraken goal called back just to get by almost the worst club in the conference. On home ice. You know if Skinner was some ebug that was just in due to injury I could get by it. My PTSD is that Skinner will be our playoff goalie. He demonstrates time and again how much he adversely impacts the club and results.
 
What were you watching? I watched a devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival followed by a clown show against a cellar dweller of the Pacific Division. Here's a nickel kid.

One looking to have a problem with everything they see would have this take.

Outplayed the Jets in the 3rd period despite no Connor/Leon and were easily the better team against the Kraken. All this with guys we've been waiting for to make an impact all year making an impact. I have no idea what expectations are supposed to be without 97/29, but I think most reasonable people would sign up for the last 4 periods.

"Devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival." lol. Give me a break.
 
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It doesn't matter what management group we have in place. It doesn't matter the IQ, hockey astuteness, or gamesmanship shrewdness the GM possesses.

This is the NHL and Bettman and the board of governors want it this way. What I, you or anybody else wants, outside of Bettman and the board of governors, amounts to an insignificant value because it won't make people interested in professional hockey in Florida. Only winning will do that.

You can win by drafting top-notch players. The secret is "to not give away excellent young players, just coming into their own, for scraps to a conference rival."

By the way St. Louis is only 6 points back of the mighty Edmonton Oilers. Go figure.

Nice job Stan Bowman. Performing an exemplary job, just as demanded by Bettman and the board of governors... which Daryl Katz is one of. Revenue sharing, gaming revenue, and real estate development has doubled the man's wealth.


What were you watching? I watched a devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival followed by a clown show against a cellar dweller of the Pacific Division. Here's a nickel kid.
Blues weren't even expecting playoffs this year. JJ sure helped them with that. I wonder if he's getting a Blue Star for that. Look at how much the Oilers have depreciated in win% from their McDrai peak and how much Blues improved.

I thought the object of a GM was to improve ones own team. Silly me..
 
One looking to have a problem with everything they see would have this take.

Outplayed the Jets in the 3rd period despite no Connor/Leon and were easily the better team against the Kraken. All this with guys we've been waiting for to make an impact all year making an impact. I have no idea what expectations are supposed to be without 97/29, but I think most reasonable people would sign up for the last 4 periods.

"Devastating benchmark loss to a conference rival." lol. Give me a break.
The Jets were grounded by the Nucks and Sabres in the same week. Outplayed, outskated, outworked. Obviously that team isn't playing well in the moment. They were awful in the game here and still got a result.

"Easily the better team against the Kraken" I suppose. But Skinner making every W much more difficult than it should be.
 
The Jets were grounded by the Nucks and Sabres in the same week. Outplayed, outskated, outworked. Obviously that team isn't playing well in the moment. They were awful in the game here and still got a result.

"Easily the better team against the Kraken" I suppose. But Skinner making every W much more difficult than it should be.

Ok, again, this is all in the context of 97 and 29 being out. Yet the group if anything, played better against the Jets after 97 went down. Not sure why we have to work so hard to qualify this objectively positive thing as a negative.

Skinner doesn't factor in to the analysis if he sucked before and sucked after the injuries.
 
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Ok, again, this is all in the context of 97 and 29 being out. Yet the group if anything, played better against the Jets after 97 went down. Not sure why we have to work so hard to qualify this objectively positive thing as a negative.

Skinner doesn't factor in to the analysis if he sucked before and sucked after the injuries.
Skinner is our goalie moving forward. The one unfortunately we have to see in playoffs. The team lost to the Jets despite the Jets being mired in their worst play of the entire season. That was a positive? I've lost sight of where the bar is. In last couple months the Oilers have gone from first in division and third place in league to now being third place in division and 10th place in league standing. I should get my myopis fixed. ;)

jk aside it hasn't seemed that positive a ride for months. The team was falling back in standings and in win % with or without McDrai.
 
Skinner is our goalie moving forward. The one unfortunately we have to see in playoffs. The team lost to the Jets despite the Jets being mired in their worst play of the entire season. That was a positive? I've lost sight of where the bar is. In last couple months the Oilers have gone from first in division and third place in league to now being third place in division and 10th place in league standing. I should get my myopis fixed. ;)

jk aside it hasn't seemed that positive a ride for months. The team was falling back in standings and in win % with or without McDrai.

Yep, embarrassing. Not relevant to the last two games though.

I'll take a new 3rd line that has showed a lot of life from 3 guys that had none before, Jeff Skinner being a driver, a demonstration of strong team work ethic that hasn't been there in months, and guys that we have been wanting more from producing as positives, but what do I know. Twisting oneself up to find a way to make this a bad thing is an exercise in looking for the glass to be half empty.

Skinner sucking is expected, and shouldn't factor in to how the play of the rest of the group is judged. It's wasted air at this point. We win and he's the conversation, we lose and he's the conversation. Enough already. If the default expectation is he's the worst ever no matter what, then whining about him every game is a waste of time.
 
Yep, embarrassing. Not relevant to the last two games though.

I'll take a new 3rd line that has showed a lot of life from 3 guys that had none before, Jeff Skinner being a driver, a demonstration of strong team work ethic that hasn't been there in months, and guys that we have been wanting more from producing as positives, but what do I know. Twisting oneself up to find a way to make this a bad thing is an exercise in looking for the glass to be half empty.

Skinner sucking is expected, and shouldn't factor in to how the play of the rest of the group is judged. It's wasted air at this point. We win and he's the conversation, we lose and he's the conversation. Enough already. If the default expectation is he's the worst ever no matter what, then whining about him every game is a waste of time.
Every moment online is arguably wasted time. yet we do it. In my case this is my only online interaction and the Oilers my only remaining sports team addiction. I have no other addiction or vice and I'd be cured of this one if McD or Drai weren't here.

The big bottomline is the org has squandered over a decade of McDrai and this is the disappointment thread. You know, context.
 
The Jets were grounded by the Nucks and Sabres in the same week. Outplayed, outskated, outworked. Obviously that team isn't playing well in the moment. They were awful in the game here and still got a result.

"Easily the better team against the Kraken" I suppose. But Skinner making every W much more difficult than it should be.
I watched the Jets - Buffalo game, WPG was not outplayed, outskated or outworked. They got goalied, Comrie was a pumpkin. Buffalo was dominated all game.

That said, WPG will go as far as Helly takes them. Could see them being upset in the 1st round by the 2nd wildcard seed.

Capture - Copy.JPG
 
Lack of goaltending and pointless player turnover. What other contender team has ever reached he final only to lose 7 players from its roster? NOBODY does that. Well one org does...

Whether you think this offseason makes or breaks its the cumulative lack of improving roster from one season to the next, and the massive personnel changeover and its been mostly the case for a decade. Rearranging deck chairs. EVen spending copious more assets and cap to do that. Come down to idiot circus Arviddson. Heres your 8M bucks from our limited cap. you'll get to play all year with Drasaitl despite not being in anyway even remotely suitable for that. jebus.
I don't think player turnover is the issue. Even Cup winning teams see a decent amount of roster turnover. This the way of the salary cap world. The problem is which players are you picking and how/with whom are you replacing them with. If the 7 players from last year's roster dropped were named Henrique, Ryan, Janmark, Perry, Ceci, Kulak, and Desharnais, we'd still be one of the best teams in the league in terms of skaters (f*** this goaltending tandem and more importantly f*** Jack Campbell), including some addition by subtraction pieces like Henrique and Ceci. Unfortunately, the players we lost were Holloway, Broberg, McLeod, and Foegele, all of whom are significantly than any player we acquired this year besides Walman. Instead we kept some of the very worst players in the NHL like Henrique, Janmark, Ryan, and Stecher, and added Skinner and Arvidsson's useless bodies to that pile.
 

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