Biggest Disappointment This Season

[Shanahanigans]

The problem with Broberg/Kulak is neither of them. It’s Nurse. He’s not a 9.25 mill defenseman, but as of now, Broberg is better than him. Kulak is more reliable than him. This organization has never been a meritocracy. If it was, our left side should have been Ekholm, Broberg , Kulak. If it was, the vets we re-signed would never have been given multi year deals with NMCs and guaranteed spots. Who runs a team, or even a business like that ? SMH

 

[ManByng]

Not the way they are currently playing, but if Bouchard finally takes a step forward in his own end and stops giving away grade A chances, if Nuge produces (never really has in the playoffs) and the goalie can limit the goals against to 0-2 every game. Then for sure. And if all the other teams have injuries and our injured players are all recovered by then.

It's a little more than that, more like an entire team that needs to play better defense and goalies that need to make a CLUTCH save, something that seems to be rare this season, and forwards that need to step up and not depend on McD and Leon to produce everything. Tall order !! I'm thinking we might be screwed for this year because I don't believe we're better than last year !

 

[Spawn]

There’s no scenerio where we should have traded Kulak

Kulak has never been anything more than a good bottom pair dman. He’s as much a microcosm of everything that went wrong this summer as guys like Skinner and Henrique are.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The problem with Broberg/Kulak is neither of them. It’s Nurse. He’s not a 9.25 mill defenseman, but as of now, abrobeeg he better than him. Kulak is more reliable than him. This organization has never been a meritocracy. If it was, our left side should have been Ekholm, Broberg , Kulak. If it was, the vets we re-signed would never have been given multi year deals with NMCs and guaranteed spots. Who runs a team, or even a business like that ? SMH

It really cannot be overstated how much Holland bungled that extension.

 

[McFlash97]

Objectively this just isn't the case and it isn't even close to being the case. Some things are quantifiable.

NHL Stats

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If this is the best Oilers team you've seen get your eyes checked.

Its definitely Jeff Jackson. Maybe even Bowman

 

[MessierII]

Kulak has never been anything more than a good bottom pair dman. He’s as much a microcosm of everything that went wrong this summer as guys like Skinner and Henrique are.

That’s absurd

 

[The Panther]

The problem with Broberg/Kulak is neither of them. It’s Nurse. He’s not a 9.25 mill defenseman, but as of now, Broberg is better than him. Kulak is more reliable than him. This organization has never been a meritocracy. If it was, our left side should have been Ekholm, Broberg , Kulak. If it was, the vets we re-signed would never have been given multi year deals with NMCs and guaranteed spots. Who runs a team, or even a business like that ? SMH

TRUTH!

Chiarelli and early-Holland really did a number. Chia gutted the club of all wingers for Drai and McDavid, leading to years of them playing with Puljujarvi and Yamamoto (both currently out of the NHL), while Holland somehow wound up (after two seasons) with only Nurse and Larsson as viable NHL defencemen. He gave up like a farm-girl on prom-night to Nurse's agent in 2020, getting taken to the cleaners and overpaying by about $4-5 million per season what Nurse was really worth. Then he somehow isolated Larsson or let him wait too long (see: Broberg, Holloway), and lost him later on.

The org's (and Dave Tippet's) unhealthy attachment to Mike Smith apparently led the org to think they didn't need to worry about goaltending... And why would you, when you've attached your sails to a 40-year-old who'd never won anything? This lack of goaltending priority in turn has led to the current best goalie on the club (who just gave up 5 to Seattle) being a career AHL-er who couldn't make the 2020 or 2021 Red Wings (two of the worst teams of all time). In between these disasters was the $10 million of cap money they paid to Jack Campbell to play in the AHL.

Then, Holland's exit strategy was (as is his wont) to prioritize aging vets over up-and-comers, so he let Broberg and Holloway sit and wait... and wait.... The org in general managed to double-down on this error by having NO GM at all during the summer period, leaving the unsigned players ripe for offer sheets that duly stripped our roster of the only two important young(er) players we had.

NHL scoring since Dec. 23rd, 2024:

8. Sidney Crosby -- 45 points (-17)
13. Dylan Holloway -- 43 points (+17)
19. Connor McDavid -- 41 points (-1)

Yep.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

If this team gets swept or misses the playoffs does Katz clean house

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

If this team gets swept or misses the playoffs does Katz clean house

The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. We have looked like ass whilst having high expectations many times under Katz and he has never hinted of cleaning house before.

The only thing Katz does is make nepotistic hires who make further nepotistic hires and the gopher wheel the team is on continues to spin round and round.

 

[Slats432]

If this team gets swept or misses the playoffs does Katz clean house

Only if he self fires because he is the guy calling the shots. If you pick your guys and they don't get the job done, then you only have yourself to blame.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. We have looked like ass whilst having high expectations many times under Katz and he has never hinted of cleaning house before.

The only thing Katz does is make nepotistic hires who make further nepotistic hires and the gopher wheel the team is on continues to spin round and round.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were already internal discussions about who to blame if they fail to win the Cup.

Remember Bob Nicholson blaming Tobias Reider for us missing the playoffs?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were already internal discussions about who to blame if they fail to win the Cup.

Remember Bob Nicholson blaming Tobias Reider for us missing the playoffs?

Technically he blamed the water that Toby drank.

 

[nturn06]

TRUTH!

Chiarelli and early-Holland really did a number. Chia gutted the club of all wingers for Drai and McDavid, leading to years of them playing with Puljujarvi and Yamamoto (both currently out of the NHL), while Holland somehow wound up (after two seasons) with only Nurse and Larsson as viable NHL defencemen. He gave up like a farm-girl on prom-night to Nurse's agent in 2020, getting taken to the cleaners and overpaying by about $4-5 million per season what Nurse was really worth. Then he somehow isolated Larsson or let him wait too long (see: Broberg, Holloway), and lost him later on.

The org's (and Dave Tippet's) unhealthy attachment to Mike Smith apparently led the org to think they didn't need to worry about goaltending... And why would you, when you've attached your sails to a 40-year-old who'd never won anything? This lack of goaltending priority in turn has led to the current best goalie on the club (who just gave up 5 to Seattle) being a career AHL-er who couldn't make the 2020 or 2021 Red Wings (two of the worst teams of all time). In between these disasters was the $10 million of cap money they paid to Jack Campbell to play in the AHL.

Then, Holland's exit strategy was (as is his wont) to prioritize aging vets over up-and-comers, so he let Broberg and Holloway sit and wait... and wait.... The org in general managed to double-down on this error by having NO GM at all during the summer period, leaving the unsigned players ripe for offer sheets that duly stripped our roster of the only two important young(er) players we had.

NHL scoring since Dec. 23rd, 2024:

8. Sidney Crosby -- 45 points (-17)
13. Dylan Holloway -- 43 points (+17)
19. Connor McDavid -- 41 points (-1)

Yep.

Only on hfboards can one argue that 41 points in 32 games is much worse than 43 points in 39 games.

 

[aggressive forecheck]

If this team gets swept or misses the playoffs does Katz clean house

Why would Katz fire anyone, he's winning where it matters most to him. Other than keeping up appearances status quo has been tremendously fantastic.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were already internal discussions about who to blame if they fail to win the Cup.

Remember Bob Nicholson blaming Tobias Reider for us missing the playoffs?

Nicholson doesn't get enough credit for squandering McDrai's peak. Yeah, let's hire a guy because he won a bunch of World Juniors with the best pool of hockey talent in the world. What a hard gig that must have been. And I can't even fathom how supremely incompetent his current replacement is....

Brought in Chiarelli who inherited a Cup-winning core and traded away future superstars for peanuts, then almost ruined the Bruins before sanity prevailed in that org. Then Nicholson hired what was basically a retired Ken Holland who pissed away valuable cap space with the Nurse contract, and signed Campbell even though he had just shit the bed in the postseason (and was outplayed by 40-year old Smitty) and nobody was asking for him to come here. And of course, didn't think a combined three f***ing million was worth it for two first round picks with massively high ceilings in Holloway and Broberg.

 

[McShogun99]

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..

Hiring Montgomery is more likely the reason why the Blues are where they are. His coaching style and system have really allowed Holloway and others to flourish.

 

[McShogun99]

So one goal erases the fact he’s been our most consistent D man in every playoff since we’ve had him? How about score more than 1 goal?

That goal was on Foegele. Kulak let Reinhart get to deep but he was trying to prevent the pass to the guy with an open lane to the net then Skinner slightly cheated for the pass and Reinhart sniped it. Regardless, I still think we should have traded Kulak before the 23/24 season to clear a path for Broberg.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Nicholson doesn't get enough credit for squandering McDrai's peak. Yeah, let's hire a guy because he won a bunch of World Juniors with the best pool of hockey talent in the world. What a hard gig that must have been. And I can't even fathom how supremely incompetent his current replacement is....

Brought in Chiarelli who inherited a Cup-winning core and traded away future superstars for peanuts, then almost ruined the Bruins before sanity prevailed in that org. Then Nicholson hired what was basically a retired Ken Holland who pissed away valuable cap space with the Nurse contract, and signed Campbell even though he had just shit the bed in the postseason (and was outplayed by 40-year old Smitty) and nobody was asking for him to come here. And of course, didn't think a combined three f***ing million was worth it for two first round picks with massively high ceilings in Holloway and Broberg.

Hockey Canada poison, never mind all the shady shit that’s come out about team Canada over the past few years. If he was crossing the street I’d think twice about braking.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Hockey Canada poison, never mind all the shady shit that’s come out about team Canada over the past few years. If he was crossing the street I’d think twice about braking.

Some would say he should probably be in prison... And speaking of shady Oiler employees, would Bowman have been able to dodge that subpoena if he wasn't working in Canada?

 

[The Panther]

Only on hfboards can one argue that 41 points in 32 games is much worse than 43 points in 39 games.

Nowhere did I "argue" that one player's production is better than the other. I simply show, as a fact, that Holloway has outscored McDavid since Dec. 23rd (and had much better ES results, overall). This is a cold, hard, fact.

It was fairly obvious to me, and presumably to several fans / pundits, that Holloway was ready for a break-out season and probably deserved a regular chance in the top-six for the current season (as Puljujarvi and Yamamoto got... endlessly... despite showing less promise). Therefore, the thing to do last spring / summer was to lock-down Holloway with a contract. The thing NOT to do was to let him sit for ages, wondering why they were ignoring him, while the org went about signing washed-up vets.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

It was fairly obvious to me, and presumably to several fans / pundits, that Holloway was ready for a break-out season and probably deserved a regular chance in the top-six for the current season (as Puljujarvi and Yamamoto got... endlessly... despite showing less promise). Therefore, the thing to do last spring / summer was to lock-down Holloway with a contract. The thing NOT to do was to let him sit for ages, wondering why they were ignoring him, while the org went about signing washed-up vets.

This is beyond head scratchingly true. If you want to summarize the gross incompetence of Oiler management, coaching, player development and scouting in one sentence, it’s this one.

I salute you sir.